Chapter 8
Without realizing it, I nodded.
“Will my sleepwalking be cured?”
Duke Harry asked with pure curiosity. There was no doubt toward me in his sharp eyes. I could’ve lied and said it would be cured, but I didn’t. There was no reason to lie to someone who trusted me.
“I can only see the future through prophetic dreams. I only say what I see in my dreams. So, if I see that your sleepwalking is cured, I’ll let you know then.”
“Tch.”
Duke Harry clearly looked disappointed. The way he pouted his thick lips made him look a bit cute.
The next moment, he walked past me. I quickly turned my body and hurried to follow him.
“Are you going back now?”
“No. I’m going to the Empress’s Palace.”
I already knew that, but I asked on purpose because I had overheard him talking to the emperor earlier. I grabbed him and pretended to apologize with words I didn’t mean.
For one reason only.
“Then, may I come with you?”
I wanted to enter the Empress’s Palace with a royal like him.
Duke Harry shrugged without even hesitating.
“Suit yourself.”
My heart pounded wildly.
Finally, finally, I could meet the witch.
❖ ❖ ❖
Late at night, Louisville sat in his office chair and pressed his eyelids with his fingers. He was exhausted, but he didn’t want to sleep.
He knew he’d just have another nightmare tonight.
At that moment, a black shadow appeared by the moonlit window. The shadow, who had entered through the window, knelt in the pitch-black room.
Sensing someone, Louisville removed his hand from his face.
“Bath.”
It was his trusted aide. When Bath lifted his head, the tip of his long black hair, tied in a ponytail, reached his waist.
“Lady Bella did board a ship heading overseas three years ago. But we still haven’t found where she’s living.”
“Still?”
Louisville’s face darkened instantly.
He thought he had her, but he lost her again.
Louisville had always wondered—who had first told his mother about the witch’s curse?
Then, five years ago, his aunt Bella suddenly left the Grand Duke’s estate.
She left only one message behind:
“This is all my fault.”
He later found out that it was Bella who told his mother about the witch’s curse.
It was a huge shock, especially because he had respected her deeply. That incident made his already deep distrust of people even worse.
“Where does she keep disappearing to?”
Louisville simply wanted to find her and ask why she did that to his mother.
“Keep looking for her.”
“Yes.”
Still kneeling on one knee, Bath slightly raised his eyes to read Louisville’s expression.
“But, well…”
“Speak.”
Louisville’s sharp gaze fell on Bath’s composed face. After clearing his throat, Bath continued.
“There’s a woman on an island a bit off the eastern continent who claims to be a priestess, but… some say she might be the witch. Her hair isn’t red, but her eyes are.”
“…”
Louisville leaned back against his chair, his expression turning cold.
Ever since he found out about the curse three years ago, he had been chasing the last witch’s traces. For three years, he only heard rumors with no proof. But recently, through a skilled guild member, he confirmed that the last witch truly existed. Now, he had to find her and end the curse.
“Shall I go and confirm it myself?”
Bath asked seriously.
“No. I’ll go.”
Louisville refused immediately. If she really was the witch, he had to go himself—someone she couldn’t curse or cast spells on.
As Louisville motioned with his hand, Bath disappeared without a trace. In his place, Clark, who had been standing by the door, approached with a worried look.
“Clark.”
Louisville crossed his long legs and looked at the knight captain standing in front of him. As Clark gave a silent bow, Louisville asked bluntly,
“What about Harry? Is he gone?”
“No. He’s still at the Empress’s Palace.”
The Empress Dowager was so unpredictable that anyone who wanted to meet her had to wait at least half a day—sometimes even a whole day. It had gotten worse lately.
“He’s got a hot temper, but he’s lasted this long alone?”
Louisville murmured, thinking about Harry. That’s when Clark said something unexpected.
“Maybe because he’s not alone. Lady Anier is with him.”
One corner of Louisville’s lips curled up.
“Ha—”
So, she went there in the end? That’s some strong will.
Shaking his head, Louisville suddenly murmured with a deeper look in his eyes,
“Was that why she said she wanted to apologize to Harry earlier?”
He appreciated her concern for the Empress Dowager, but the problem was on the Empress’s side.
Even if she went that far to enter the Empress’s Palace, there was no way the Empress Dowager would welcome her. Anier had earned her hatred for saving Louisville’s life.
She might even throw things at Anier on sight.
Then Louisville remembered that Anier had anemia.
She was his lifesaver—he couldn’t let her get hurt again.
With a resigned sigh, Louisville stood up from his chair.
❖ ❖ ❖
The inside of the Empress’s Palace, like the outside, was mostly white. The tall pillars holding up the cloud-painted ceiling were white stone, and the walls decorated with famous paintings were also white at their base.
It looked like a place where pure white angels would live, but the reality was very different. I had been waiting for the Empress Dowager for a very long time in the hallway on the top floor of the palace. Her bedroom door only opened after night had completely fallen.
She greeted Duke Harry while leaning halfway on a long sofa. Her long green hair and emerald eyes that matched it were very beautiful, but the energy around her felt frighteningly cold and sharp.
“You didn’t come for so long I thought you were dead. I was pleased.”
The Empress Dowager, dressed in a dark red gown, spoke softly to Duke Harry. He bowed his head.
“I’m sorry it’s been so long.”
That was all the conversation. Duke Harry turned around as if his task was done.
At that moment, the Empress Dowager and I made eye contact.
“What is that?”
Knowing the witch’s soul was inside her, my whole body stiffened. With a tense voice that barely came out, I spoke.
“G-Greetings. I’m the imperial prophet…”
Then it happened.
The Empress Dowager suddenly pointed her finger at me and shouted with her red lips wide open,
“Witch!”
The witch inside her was calling me a witch. I was shocked. The witch was clearly in her, so why was she calling me the witch?
“Mother?”
Duke Harry turned around in surprise and raised his voice.
“How long will you keep doing this? The last witch was killed by Father 25 years ago!”
It seemed Duke Harry didn’t know the last witch was still alive.
The emperor must not have told him.
Why? Doesn’t he trust him? Even though he’s his brother?
But I soon remembered my first meeting with Duke Harry, and it made sense.
“The witch didn’t die! She’s still alive!”
The Empress Dowager’s eyes widened as she shouted like thunder.
“She comes into my dreams every night and laughs at me!”
Then she turned to me and screamed, veins rising in her neck.
“Get out of my sight, witch!”
She then took off one velvet shoe and threw it at me.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
The shoe hit me square in the stomach. I doubled over, and the pain brought tears to my eyes.
I was so shocked by what just happened that I fell to the floor.
The attack wasn’t over. The Empress Dowager threw her other shoe at me.
Thud!
But it didn’t hit me this time. The emperor had appeared and blocked it with his cloak.
“That’s enough.”
With tears in my eyes, I looked up at him. He stood tall and firm, shielding me.
“Step aside! That woman is an evil witch! Look at her hair!”
The Empress Dowager’s furious voice came from behind the cloak. My shoulders shrank without meaning to.
“Anier is a prophet. She has mysterious powers, and that’s why her hair is red.”
The emperor spoke firmly in my defense, and a tear rolled down my cheek.
It was a tear of frustration.
She’s the real witch—so why is she yelling at me and throwing shoes?
Is this the true nature of a witch?
Was I too naive about her?
I thought when we met, we could laugh and talk it out… Was I a fool?
As I wiped my tears with the back of my hand, the emperor continued.
“Have you forgotten? The witch is known for red hair and red eyes.”
He repeated the same excuse I had once used, then removed his cloak from in front of me.
I looked straight at both the Empress Dowager and the emperor.
“Look. She doesn’t have red eyes, does she?”
When the emperor asked, the Empress Dowager clenched her dark red skirt and stepped forward.
