15
“So, you're the kids Cloyce talked about?”
Lillian, from her first meeting, was an amazing and unique person. Daughter of a provincial lord, from a very small province, bordering a quiet forest, right?
“You are more beautiful and kinder than Cloyce described them. Would you like to accompany me apple picking?”
Liliane called Prince Cloïs directly by name, with surprising familiarity, and treated Arcel and Lusca, the sons of the elder nobles, as if they were children of the village.
This style was unfamiliar to Arcel, who was not accustomed to such behavior.
As for Luska, who has a simple nature, he was delighted with the idea of playing and followed it with enthusiasm.
Although Arcel was only five years old, he was calm and mature compared to his peers, which is why he realized that Lilian's actions were strange, different, and even completely unacceptable in the circles of the capital.
“Everyone will consider her rude,” he thought, and distanced himself from her.
Meanwhile, Lusca approached Lillian, accompanying her into the forest as if he were a knight protecting her. The more Arcel saw this closeness between them, the more he deliberately ignored Lillian.
“Mr. Clowes said he was determined to marry her.”
“I know, His Majesty the Emperor was very angry. Now, Clouis may no longer remain Crown Prince, and may even be banned from entering the Imperial Palace again. Do you understand what this means?
“Of course, it means that we, those who support him, are in danger. But, you see, Mr. Clowes's will is unwavering. He will not marry anyone but Lillian, and he will not look at anyone else.”
“Oh my God, who would have thought that this cold man would become like this...”
The Duke of Cairne, Arcel's father, and the Marquis of Ragsleb, Lusca's father, were talking to each other with great anxiety.
Arcel overheard this conversation, and his aversion to Lillian increased.
Clouis was the candidate to succeed the throne, but his love for Liliane made him just an ordinary prince among many princes.
Because of this, his supporters rushed to look for another successor, and not everyone who stayed with him necessarily liked Lillian.
“She comes to the forest every day. There is no doubt that she is a witch. "She must have captivated Mr. Clowes with her charm."
charming. charm. These words increased Arcel's disgust for Lillian.
As Cloïs's wedding approaches, Arcel heads to Lillian's territory to attend the occasion.
The morning after his arrival, he saw Lusca accompanying Lillian into the forest, and he made a disapproving sound.
“Did Lusca also fall under Lillian’s spell?”
He could not understand how Loska could leave him and go with her into the forest every day.
“I'll check myself.”
Arcel followed them, determined not to be forgiving if it was confirmed that she was as witch as people said. But, when he was five years old, he found it difficult to keep up with their steps with his small body.
“How do they move so fast?”
Despite his effort, they were quickly moving away.
"Lillian must be using a strange power."
He began to wonder how he could protect himself if she tried to use her evil power against him. As he continued to follow them, the two suddenly disappeared.
“What happened?”
He looked around and saw their shadows far away. For fear of losing them, he moved faster, but...
“Ah!”
Suddenly, he felt an emptiness beneath his feet, and his body sank. There was a deep hole hidden among the dense grass that he had not noticed.
He felt a sharp pain along with the sound of it hitting the ground.
“Arsel!”
He raised his head with difficulty, and found Lusca looking at him from above with a shocked face, and next to him was Lillian with the same astonished expression.
“They discovered me!”
This anxiety was greater than the pain of his injury. What if Lillian used her magic to kill him here? At that moment, Lillian suddenly jumped into the hole.
“…!”
Will you kill him? Or will she charm him like she did with Lusca? While Arcel was paralyzed from the tension, Lillian placed her hand on his body.
“Get your hands off me, witch! What are you trying to do?
Arcel tried all his strength to push her hand, but Lillian did not back down. Rather, she grabbed his arm more forcefully.
"Yes!"
He felt a tingling sensation in his wounds from the fall.
“She's definitely a witch!”
That's why it hurts him like this.
As he surrendered to the thought of the end and closed his eyes, a warm light suddenly flashed around him, enveloped his body and then disappeared.
“It's really magical!”
He realized that what was said about her was not a lie, so he closed his eyes in fear. But Lillian said:
“Look, I'm healed.”
Arcel opened his eyes and saw Lillian smiling at him warmly. Then he looked at his arm and found that the wounds had completely disappeared.
He stared at his clean arm in amazement.
“They said the witch’s power hurts people.”
They are supposed to curse, kill, and corrupt minds. But her strength… didn't seem like that at all.
“…why?”
"What?"
“Why are you being so friendly to me? What do you want?"
Lillian raised her fist and lightly hit his head.
“When someone helps you, you should say thank you first.”
“…?”
Even his father didn't treat him like that. In the face of Lillian's behavior, which resembled the treatment of a naughty child from the village, he was at a loss for words. From the top of the pit, Lusca laughed sarcastically and said:
“I thank her properly.”
“Of course, Lusca is a good boy.”
When Lillian complimented Lusca, Arcel looked at her warily and said:
“Thank you…”
Lillian smiled warmly as she stroked his head.
“Just like that.”
* * *
After that, Arcel quickly approached Lillian.
The forest, which he saw as a dark and scary place, was no longer that way with Lillian.
It was strange, as if the trees of the forest were protecting her. The vines would move aside to make way, and when it rained, the broad-leaved trees would gather their branches for protection.
“Is this magic?”
“Sort of… but more like an ancient power. Anyway, Arcel, did you collect all the blueberries? We must not lack anything to make jam!”
But it seemed that Lillian was more interested in the fruits of the forest than her strength. On their way back after collecting fruits, Arcel asked her:
“But why are you so friendly to us?”
“Oh, I noticed that.”
It wasn't hard to notice. Lillian wasn't friendly with everyone.
Even with people who had known Cloyce for a long time, there were those she avoided completely.
Of course, they called her a witch and stayed away from her.
“Besides, I was treating you like these, so why…?”
“No, you're different.”
Lillian said firmly.
“And I'll tell you up front, I'm not being nice to you for nothing.”
Loska, who was carrying the basket of apples, was stunned and said:
«What? So, what do you want from us? "I'll tell you in advance, I won't give you the sword my father gave me no matter what!"
Lillian laughed loudly, her playful laugh echoing through the forest. She put the basket aside, then hugged Arcel and Luska.
"I know. You will one day be very important to my child. You will spend a long time with him. Thanks to you, he will be able to laugh and cry, and sometimes be sad or happy...”
Lillian's calm voice echoed through the forest.
“So, be good friends with him. “This is what I want.”
During her speech, neither Arcel nor Lusca said a word. Her voice was different than usual, filled with a firm confidence that her words would come true. It was as if she was prophesying, and her words stuck in the minds of the two children.
* * *
“But, that did not happen.”
Arcel remembered that distant memory while biting his lip. He didn't say it, but he was desperate to be as good a friend to Lillian's child as she said.
As she cared for them, he and Luska wanted to help her child. But Lillian and her baby died. On the day he heard the news, Lusca cried all day, and Arcel, without saying a word, swallowed his tears.
Then he tried to forget Lillian, and in fact he lived as if he had forgotten her...
But at that moment, his eyes fell on a little boy standing among the people. Evie Alden.
Strangely, when he saw that orphan, Lilian's smile came back to him as clearly as if she was right in front of him.
“Please, take care of him!”
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