Chapter 10
Palesa has a Witch Street. Once a place where witch hunts and burnings took place, this street changed its reputation the moment it was believed that all the witches in Dalkatir had been executed. People fled from the frightening, dirty, and acrid-smelling street.
However, with limited housing in the crowded capital, poor artists and the impoverished settled in Witch Street. They cleaned up the area, and as artists decorated it, people began to flock back just as its previous notoriety was fading.
They started calling this street where witches had died “Witch Street,” and some even commercialized the concept of witches. This was possible due to the change in perception of witches over the past few decades. Now, Witch Street was the most vibrant and safest street in Palesa. It was paradoxical.
After killing so many people for no reason…
But Adi had nothing to say.
After all, it was the Grimaldi family who had led this charge.
The Grimaldi family itself was rebuilt on the ashes of witches.
Adi delivers the letter to the registry. Whether the palace would check it or not was uncertain. The wax seal was carelessly applied, so it wouldn’t be difficult to inspect. However, since she often sent letters with no content, it didn’t arouse suspicion.
Adi headed towards Duke Yuls Woodpecker’s residence. It was quite a distance to the inner palace, so she arrived around the time the servant had mentioned.
“You’re on time. At least you’re punctual,” Bert said. He added that he should go to sleep now and asked Adi to take good care of the Duke. As he patted Adi’s shoulder, saying nothing would happen, there was strength in his touch.
Yuls Woodpecker was dressed more casually than Adi had expected. There were no ornate decorations or jewels, just clothes made of ordinary cotton. It was in the style of adult clothing. Clearly, it had been tailored to fit his physique. The clothes showed signs of use. It seemed this kind of outing was quite common.
“Shall we go, Your Grace?”
Yuls Woodpecker didn’t answer. But from her few experiences, Adi recognized that this silence meant affirmation.
The Duke refused to ride in a carriage bearing the Palesa Palace crest. Adi agreed that a plain carriage would be better for moving around.
Even though it was called plain, the carriage from the palace still looked like one belonging to a noble family. The clothes Yuls wore, though ordinary for his status, still indicated he was at least from the lower nobility or gentry class.
The carriage departed as soon as Yuls and Adi boarded, suggesting the coachman had been informed of their destination in advance.
The carriage left Palesa Palace. For Adi, this was her first official outing.
A dry wind entered through the open carriage window. Until recently, the weather had been cold and magnolias were in bloom, but now they had all fallen, and even the pale pink flowers had disappeared, replaced by lush greenery filling the streets.
Yuls observed Adi. While Adi Grimaldi occasionally glanced at him, he mostly looked outside. Knights always do this, scanning left and right to check if anyone is approaching.
Bert had mentioned that Adi was quiet, but he was so silent that even his breathing was barely audible. Adi Grimaldi’s barely-there presence was quite appealing to the usually sensitive Yuls.
With his eyes closed, it felt like he was alone in the space. Unlike other knights, Adi didn’t smell of sweat or wear overpowering perfume.
“Adrian,” Yuls called out to Adi. It had been so long since she was called by that name that Adi hesitated for a moment.
“Do you know much about Witch Street?”
“No.”
“I heard you’ve been in Palesa for a few years.”
“I haven’t been outside Palesa Palace.”
“To be an escort, you should know the surroundings well.”
“I haven’t been assigned to the Second Knight Division for long.”
“…”
Yuls fell silent at Adi’s response. Accustomed to giving orders but not to casual conversation, Yuls didn’t know what to say next. The carriage was once again filled with silence.
After a while, Adi opened her mouth with an “Ah.”
“This must be Witch Street.”
Her face looked as if she was seeing something for the first time. Adi Grimaldi’s eyes lit up as she gazed out the window. It really seemed likes he had never been outside Palesa Palace.
“Yes.”
“The street is full of white flowers.”
“It’s almost festival time. The May Festival, you know.”
“Ah, right.”
Around this time, even the knights would relax, going out all night on holidays. Adi, having no one to socialize with and not being the type to wander around, always just trained and stayed in his quarters.
“Doesn’t Grimaldi have festivals too?”
“There are, but I’ve never enjoyed them.”
During festival periods, her mother would go to rest at a villa in the southern part of the territory. When she was young, she took Adrian with her, but as Adrian’s health deteriorated, the two of them stayed in the mansion.
During the day, people would look after Adrian, but at night, Adrina would sneak in. Wrapped in soft bedding that wasn’t meant for her, Adrina and Adrian would talk about various things. Most of it was nonsense.
‘I’ll definitely get you out of here,’ Adrian had said. As Adrian had promised, Adrina escaped from Grimaldi. But Adrian couldn’t escape. And Adrina, wearing his mask, couldn’t completely escape either.
“We’re here,” Yuls Woodpecker said. At the same time, the carriage came to a stop. Adi got out first. As the carriage was too high for Woodpecker to step down easily, Adi offered her hand, but Woodpecker got out by himself with a displeased look.
“Is this really where you’re going?” Adi asked with a puzzled expression. It was understandable, as the place didn’t seem to suit Duke Woodpecker at all. She had heard that Witch Street sold various symbolic items and diverse things, but…
‘A fortune-telling shop…’
Or maybe it did suit him? Would someone of his rank believe in such things? Adi looked confused, but it wasn’t her place to judge.
In any case, the Duke seemed to have business here, and since fortune-telling was quite personal, it didn’t seem appropriate to go in together. So how should she handle the escort duty?
Adi looked at the sword at the Duke’s waist. It was too short for Adi but a bit long for a dagger. Could he defend himself with that? Was there a possibility of someone threatening the Duke inside?
“Have you been here often?”
“I come every year.”
Then there probably wasn’t any particular danger. The Duke might even know the situation inside better than Adi.
“Should I wait outside?”
Adi asked. Yuls narrowed his eyes. Adi didn’t seem to lack perception. If he had insisted on coming inside, it would have been difficult to speak frankly.
“Wait comfortably in the carriage.”
Even if told this, knights typically wouldn’t listen and would wait outside. If they heard any sound from inside, they would rush in immediately. Though that wouldn’t be necessary. Yuls placed his hand on his sword once, then lowered it.
“You can come in if I don’t return within an hour.”
“Understood,” Adi replied.
* * *
It was an incredibly dark space. In a place with no light, it’s difficult for human eyes to easily discern objects or paths. Perhaps only an animal’s vision would suffice. However, what resided here wasn’t human, so it could move easily even in such darkness.
The same was true for Yuls Woodpecker. It wasn’t that he had the eyes of a beast. Rather, he had visited this place for 10 years, and during those 10 years, nothing in this place had changed.
Even the dirty cloth decorations, strange beads, and objects on the floor remained the same. If anything had changed, it might be the positions of cobwebs or insects. That was inevitable for living creatures.
He had told Adi Grimaldi to come in if anything happened, but nothing would. This space itself wouldn’t allow anything unwanted to enter.
Even if something did happen, after coming here for so long, he could probably escape even with his eyes closed. Yuls knew the paths here better than anyone except for it.
“You’ve come again this year,” a woman said. It wasn’t just the place or the position of furniture that hadn’t changed in 10 years. Yuls Woodpecker himself hadn’t changed a bit since then. The boy who hadn’t grown looked at the girl who, like him, hadn’t grown.
“Yes, and you’re still the same.”
The woman smiled brightly. It was a sight that didn’t match this dark space.
“Witch.”
She was the last remaining witch in the Kingdom of Dalkatir.
