Chapter 28
Muniel spoke with a tone full of regret.
“Huh?”
Soles looked confused.
“I don’t think she’s talking to us.”
What Muniel had just said sounded like it was meant for someone who wasn’t even in the room.
But her expression was so complex—so deeply conflicted—that Soles couldn’t bring himself to ask anything further.
“Grandma.”
Nivellia raised her hand.
“I have an idea!”
“What kind of idea?”
“What if I try kissing Azel to wake her up?”
Clever as ever, Nivellia had already remembered the name of the girl lying in the bed.
“You clearly weren’t listening to me earlier.”
Ardores let out a dry laugh.
He had just warned them about kissing people without consent.
Though exasperated, Ardores still glanced at Muniel to get her thoughts.
“Of course not,”
Muniel said flatly.
Nivellia pouted slightly at her rejection.
“Whew…”
Aref quietly let out a sigh of relief.
“Huh?”
He then paused, puzzled as to why he felt relieved.
In truth, Aref hadn’t even fully realized the feeling he’d just experienced was relief.
“Nini, what’s gotten into you?”
Soles asked in surprise.
“You’re saying you want to kiss a stranger?”
“Azel’s not a stranger,”
Nivellia replied with conviction.
“She gave me fifty million Ubas! That makes her a good person! If someone gives you money, they’re good!”
“Money cured your shyness, huh…”
Muniel sighed and gently began correcting her.
“Nini, people don’t just give away money for no reason. Those who do are usually scammers or people trying to hurt you.”
“What does hurt mean?”
“It means hitting or taking advantage of you. Like someone saying, ‘Come with me, I’ll give you money,’ and then selling you off somewhere far away.”
“T-that’s scary…!”
That was how Nivellia learned a little more about the harshness of the world.
Even amid all this chatter, Azel did not wake.
“How about holding her hand instead of kissing?”
Muniel suggested kindly.
“Hold it and pray for her to wake up.”
“Grandma, that’s actually a really good idea!”
“…Nini, that tone of yours was kind of annoying just now.”
Taking Muniel’s suggestion, Nivellia gently took Azel’s hand.
It was ice cold. So thin, her knuckles and bones were clearly visible.
Nivellia held the hand in both of hers and blew warm breaths onto it. Slowly, the cold began to fade.
“Hi. I’m Nini. I’m four years old.”
Just like a proper kindergartener, she started with an introduction.
“I helped save you, Azel. Umm… and I earned fifty million Ubas for it! Thank you! So please wake up soon. Help me earn another fifty million!”
“Nini, I think the prayer was supposed to be about her getting better…”
Soles gave a weary smile and tried to stop her.
But then—
A faint twitch.
Azel’s closed eyelids fluttered ever so slightly.
“Huh?”
Nivellia looked down at the hand she was holding.
A finger moved.
“Mm…”
A soft, broken sound escaped from Azel’s previously still lips.
“Grandma! Grandma!”
“I see it too, sweetheart.”
Muniel calmly reassured Nivellia, then sat down on the edge of the bed. In a gentle voice, she called out.
“Azel, dear. Can you hear me?”
There was no reply.
“You’re at the Deiamor estate now. And my name is Muniel Deiamor. Do you recognize it?”
A faint whisper came, so quiet it was almost inaudible.
Muniel leaned closer, placing her ear near Azel’s lips.
Listening carefully, she caught the words, then glanced toward Ardores. He nodded and immediately left the room.
“Yes, that’s me. Your grandmother told you about me, didn’t she?”
Silence.
“You’re safe now. Rest a little more. When you wake up again, we’ll have warm soup and soft bread waiting for you.”
Muniel slowly straightened and adjusted Azel’s blanket to make her more comfortable.
“Nini.”
“Yes?”
Her wrinkled hand gently stroked Nivellia’s silver hair.
“Azel really did wake up.”
“She really woke up!”
Nivellia beamed.
Although Azel fell back asleep soon after regaining consciousness, she woke again a few hours later.
Ardores had summoned a physician, who examined her thoroughly.
“Her body is very weak, but there don’t seem to be any serious complications,”
the doctor reported.
The prescription was simple: plenty of food, plenty of sleep, and careful application of the ointment he provided for her wounds.
“It’s disheartening. These days, I treat more and more children like her.”
“The world’s getting darker… not that it was ever bright,”
Muniel replied as she saw the physician out.
Then she returned to Azel’s bedside to gently explain the situation once more.
“Do you remember who I am?”
“You’re the Saint, right? My grandmother told me… before she passed… she said I should find you…”
Remembering her grandmother, Azel began to cry, tears falling freely.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner,”
Muniel said softly, offering her a handkerchief.
Azel hesitated, then took it, wiping her tears and blowing her nose.
“Your grandmother and I were comrades. She was actually one of the first friends I made in this place.”
“Grandmother used to say the same thing… That she was the Saint’s only friend.”
“And yet she never contacted me, not even once.
But she was a rare kind of friend—someone who would only send a gift on big occasions like my wedding or the birth of my children.
She could be infuriating, but I still missed her deeply.”
There was a quiet pause.
“I’d like to visit her grave one day.
Will you come with me?”
Muniel’s voice trembled slightly, thick with emotion.
“Yes…!”
Azel sniffled and nodded, fresh tears welling in her eyes.
Waiting until Azel calmed down, Muniel spoke again.
“There are some people waiting to meet you outside.
They’re my grandchildren. Do you think you could greet them?”
At that, Azel glanced toward her left hand.
She remembered the warm touch and soft grip that had held hers when she first woke up.
“Okay.”
The door opened.
Red hair, golden hair, white hair—
And one very tall figure with bright red hair.
The children and the elderly man entered the room in height order, lining up by Azel’s bedside.
“Hi there!”
Nivellia beamed with a big grin.
“Did you sleep well? Is your belly rumbling? Should we go get some cookies—”
Wait?
She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, tilting her head curiously. Something about Azel caught her attention.
Azel, noticing the prolonged stare, tilted her head too.
“Don’t push your cravings onto someone else,”
Ardores said, ruffling Nivellia’s silver hair with a large hand.
Then he introduced the children to Azel.
“This is Soles, Aref, and Nivellia. These kids are the ones who saved you.”
“These… children?”
Azel looked at them in disbelief.
They were so small, so young—how could they have saved her?
But she quickly corrected her expression and bowed her head politely.
“Thank you for helping me. I’m alive today because of you.
My name is Azel, and I’ll be turning fifteen this summer.”
When she lifted her head, her bright crimson eyes sparkled.
“And… I’m a witch.”
A witch.
“Long ago, before the gods existed, when this land was barren and lifeless—
the ones who planted seeds and nurtured life into it were called witches.”
It was early evening. A cool breeze drifted in through the open window.
Muniel gathered the children and began explaining.
“Witches can use mana, just like mages. But only women can be witches.”
“Saint Muniel,”
Aref asked cautiously, his sharp eyes softening.
“But in storybooks, witches curse people…”
“That’s all lies.”
Muniel replied firmly.
“Witches are different from mages.
Their magic only works for nurturing the earth and growing plants.”
“Ah…”
Soles’ expression turned somber.
“So that’s why Azel was captured by those bad people?”
“Yes. Witches have suffered for generations because of their powers—accused unfairly, abused, and exploited.”
“It’s because witches poisoned the land that crops failed!”
“I saw the witch next door take medicine from my husband!
She must have used it to seduce him! That conniving monster!”
“If it weren’t for your powers, do you think I’d have ever married someone like you?
Now shut up and grow my crops!”
At some point, people began treating witches as easy targets—making up excuses to enslave them however they could.
Unlike mages, witches couldn’t use their powers to fight or hurt others.
So in the end, most of them chose to disappear from the world.
“You mentioned curses earlier, didn’t you?
The so-called ‘witch’s curse’ was nothing but a cowardly lie made up by humans who had been abandoned by the witches.”
They owed their survival to the witches—thrived off their work—yet when the witches vanished, they had no idea how to survive on their own.
Instead of admitting their own helplessness, they blamed the witches.
“I’ve never known anyone as kind and noble as a witch,”
Muniel said with quiet conviction.
“What about Grandpa?”
Nivellia asked, pointing at Ardores, who sat beside Muniel with a grumpy face.
“Your grandfather is wonderful and very charming.”
Ardores’s expression finally softened.
“Witches even fought alongside us in the war forty years ago.
They used herbs they’d grown to make medicine for injured soldiers and knights.”
“Witches are awesome!”
Nivellia gave a thumbs-up with enthusiasm.
Having listened closely, Soles nodded.
“So, the bad people who claimed to invent that new technology…
It was actually Azel’s all along, wasn’t it?”
“Stealing is wrong.”
“Yeah! It’s really wrong!”
Nivellia agreed, surprisingly serious.
Then she suddenly stood up and pretended to slice her wrist with a karate chop.
“Like this! Chop off their hands! We’ll make an example of them!”
Her older brother and Aref were stunned into silence by her extreme display.
“Goodness, Nini…”
Muniel let out an exaggerated laugh.
“Where on earth did you learn that?
You sound just like someone punishing a war criminal.”
“You and Grandpa told me!
Cut off their hands and fingers, and then—then—uhh, stick them in every hole—”
“Ohohohoho!”
Muniel’s loud, cheerful laugh completely drowned out the rest of Nivellia’s sentence.
“…Sigh.”
Ardores, meanwhile, rubbed his face in silence, looking utterly exhausted.
