Release that Witch

Anna had already become accustomed to the other side’s unwanted behavior of suddenly appearing. She nodded her head, but did not answer, and continued practicing her flame instead.

Nightingale rubbed her own nose and then went to the side of Anna’s bed.

Nightingale had already seen this kind of practice many times. She had even been watching when Anna had just started practicing. Accidentally igniting her clothes in the back garden shed, she always had a bucket full of clothes beside herself into which she could change. Later, she was able to make her flame skillfully dance at her fingertips; then, even Roland no longer supervised her practice, but instead tore down the shed in the garden and turned it into a place to enjoy afternoon tea and sunbathe.

Even so, according to the prince’s orders from before, Anna continued to carry out her practice for one to two hours every day — but now in her own room.

“I brought fish cake, do you want to eat it with me?” Nightingale took out a cloth from her bosom, opened it and divided the fish cake into a piece for each of them.

Anna nodded after she smelled the fish cake.

“Go wash your hands before you eat it,” Nightingale laughed. Fortunately, Anna didn’t hate Nightingale, after all, it would not be good for Nightingale to speak to herself. All in all, Anna was obviously very concerned for Nana but didn’t express her concern very much. In fact, when she was not in front of Roland, she rarely spoke.

In contrast, Roland talked too much. He always had a lot to say. For example, when eating a meal, he would have so many rules — such as ‘wash your hands before eating.’, ‘don’t eat too quickly.’, ‘Don’t pick it up and eat it after it has fallen to the ground.’, and so on… he could give a long statement for everything.

At first, she was very impatient, but later she learned that it didn’t matter because here she was the peasant and he was the master. After all, it was the 4th Prince’s castle, since she lived here and ate his food, she reluctantly began to listen to his speeches. Now, she was also getting used to these rules. She didn’t know why, but when she herself, Anna, Nana, Roland and Carter would compete for places in line for hand-washing, she would feel an inexplicable hint of fun.

Anna reached into the bucket filled with well water and cleaned her hands, and then she lit a flame to dry them. After that, she took her piece of fish cake and sat at the table, cutely taking a small bite into her little mouth to slowly chew it.

“You really don’t want to go back with me?” Nightingale asked her once more. “There, we will have a lot of sisters; they will take good care of you. Here, you can only live and do something within the range of the castle, don’t you feel bored? Although they are called the Impassable Mountains, you can find lots of material to survive, and there we would all be one big family, everyone there has gathered together for the same purpose. Your magic power is so strong, they will happily welcome you. This winter, I’m afraid this winter will be your last…”

When she spoke until there, Nightingale trailed off. perhaps it was already too late, she thought, even if they were back in the camp, for Anna to have such strong magic power, it would be almost impossible for her to get through adulthood. The only thing Nightingale could do for Anna was to stay by her side when she died.

“How was your life as a child, before you joined of the Witch Cooperation Association?”

Nightingale was startled by Anna’s question, after all, she rarely asked any questions. “I… used to live in a big city in the eastern part of the Kingdom. Actually, it wasn’t far from the capital.”

“Did you have a happy life?”

Happy? No, she was unwilling to remember her daily life at that time, she had to depend on others, and was despised and mocked. When they found out that she had turned into a witch, her life became even worse than that of a cat or dog. She had a chain tied around her neck and was forced to work for them. So remembering this, Nightingale shook her head and whispered, “Why are you asking this?”

“I lived in the old town areas.” Anna once more told her own story. “My father sold me for 25 gold royals to the church, but since His Highness had let me out of the prison, I’m living a very happy life here. “

“But, you cannot go out of the castle, and except Roland Wimbledon, the other people outside still hate witches.”

“That isn’t important for me, and he also said that he would change all this in the future, can’t he do that?”

“That will be tough. As long as the church hasn’t fallen yet, they will always speak of the witches as evil.”

Anna didn’t refute immediately and became silent for a long time. It was even so long that Nightingale thought that Anna would never talk about this point again when she suddenly asked, “Where did you have a better life? When you were with the Witch Cooperation Association or living here with us?”