Chapter 49: The Return
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 49: The Return
“Yohan, there you are.”
Evangeline entered the room and spoke as she walked slowly toward Yohan. She moved without hesitation, as if the little witch before her wasn't even there.
Naturally, Beatrice wasn't one to just stand by and watch. Just as she had done to Yohan, she whipped out her thin, strong threads and bound Evangeline's limbs.
“Wh-who are you?!”
“...Oh my.”
Evangeline smiled faintly as she looked at Beatrice, who had stopped her in her tracks. Judging by her height and the magic she possessed, she was a young witch, not long into her life.
Normally, Evangeline would have gone easy on such a young witch, or perhaps ended things peacefully with a lecture about the lines that witches shouldn't cross.
“I can’t understand a word you’re saying, little girl.”
However, Evangeline was on edge after Yohan had been kidnapped, and on top of that, the compatibility of their curses was just too poor.
Between the witch of love, who could never be loved by anyone, and the witch of dolls, who could only speak to dolls...
...no productive conversation could ever take place.
“Y-y-you monster—!!”
To Beatrice, Evangeline was a monster. A being with a repulsive appearance, so horrifying that a child might mistake it for a nightmare.
And to Evangeline, Beatrice also felt like a monster. She kept opening her mouth and chattering on, but her words sounded like the garbled mumbling of a monster.
“Dieeee—!”
Beatrice used her magic, lunging at Evangeline just as she had at Yohan earlier.
Thousands of stuffed dolls swarmed toward Evangeline, who simply scoffed and casually activated her own magic.
The dolls that reached Evangeline lost their form one by one, reverting to their base forms of separated electrons and atoms.
“Wh-what?”
Seeing this, Beatrice stared blankly at Evangeline in a daze. Evangeline met her gaze and smiled faintly.
“You… you’ve never fought another witch before, have you?”
Evangeline spoke as she slowly approached. Beatrice couldn't understand what she was saying, but she felt an instinctual fear.
She backed away, step by step. But the stride of Evangeline’s long legs was greater than that of Beatrice’s short ones.
It didn't take long for Evangeline to catch Beatrice. She grinned and was about to use her magic on the girl.
“Teacher—!”
“Kyaheung!?”
To be precise, she was about to use it.
If only Yohan hadn't rushed up from behind and wrapped his arms tightly around her, stopping her from casting her spell.
When I first saw my teacher enter the room, I could only look at her, trembling with anxiety.
I was never worried that I wouldn't be able to return home. That’s how much I trusted her.
But that same trust was also the source of my anxiety. If she found out I was here not of my own will but because Beatrice had imprisoned me, my teacher might actually kill her.
That can't happen.
For someone from Earth, killing a child was unthinkable. But for a witch, it was a different story.
Witches, who live with curses, are all hikikomoris, social misfits, and extremely individualistic people.
When you’re cursed to be hated by everyone, or to be completely invisible, it was probably inevitable that you’d turn out that way.
“Disciple, how did you get caught like this?”
Margaret let out a yawn, covering her mouth—Haaah—and walked over without paying the other two any mind, cutting the threads from my arms and legs.
Freed from my bonds, I rubbed the red marks on my wrists and watched my teacher and Beatrice.
“─!%#^”
“～#$%#”
They were too far for me to hear what they were saying, but I saw Beatrice attack my teacher with her dolls, just as she had with me. And I saw my teacher effortlessly sweep them aside as she closed in on Beatrice.
Seeing the terrified Beatrice and my teacher approaching her with an indifferent expression, I bolted forward and threw my arms around my teacher.
“Teacher! Don’t!”
“Kyaaat!?”
I had hugged her so suddenly that I crushed her chest, but I ignored that and focused on pulling her back.
“You can’t, Teacher! You can’t kill her!”
“Yo-Yohan? What is this all of a sudden… Nngh- let, let go, will you? Please?”
“I’m not letting go until you promise you won’t kill her!”
“F-Fine, I get it! I won’t kill her!”
To be honest, I wanted to keep hugging her whether she promised or not, but I quickly spun around, placed myself between her and Beatrice, and carefully let her go.
My teacher rubbed her chest where I had squeezed her tightly, her face slightly flushed as she looked at me.
“...Alright, Yohan. So? Why are you protecting her?”
“Beatrice is my friend.”
“Friend? I don’t know what kind of friend kidnaps and imprisons someone… but you can’t be friends with a monster like that.”
“A monster? Teacher, take that back.”
I said, looking at Evangeline steadily. Beatrice is a younger version of Evangeline. The Evangeline from her childhood, who couldn't interact with people because of her curse and spent her days locked away in a small room.
To call Beatrice a monster meant that my teacher was also a monster. I didn't like my friend being called a monster, nor did I like my teacher being called one.
“Do you like that child so much?”
“It’s not like that. Teacher, if you just listen to my story…”
“Are you aware that she sent her familiars to kill me twice?”
My eyes shot open at her words, and I turned to look at Beatrice, my gaze asking if what my teacher said was true.
But Beatrice just looked up at me with an expression of complete ignorance.
Ah, don't tell me...
I finally understood the exact nature of Beatrice’s curse, which I had only guessed at before.
A curse that prevents her from talking to people. Yes, a curse like that would explain why she lived all alone in a mansion high up in the mountains, making dolls.
“Beatrice.”
“Yeah…”
“This is my teacher. She said… you tried to kill her twice. Is that true?”
“I don’t know…”
Was it a lie, typical of a child, or did she truly not know? I stared into Beatrice’s eyes.
Her pupils were trembling with fear and anxiety. Seeing that, I let out a small laugh.
“I believe you.”
I gave Beatrice’s head a gentle pat before turning back to my teacher.
“She says she doesn’t know.”
“You don’t believe your teacher?”
“I never said she didn’t do it. I’m just saying it might have been something she didn’t order.”
My teacher frowned slightly at my words, then sighed softly and shook her head.
“Fine, whatever. It’s not like my life was in any real danger, and if you insist, I’ll let it go…”
“Teacher…”
“There, happy? Let’s go home, Yohan. Your teacher has already missed two meals and is very, very hungry.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
At that, I turned back to Beatrice and knelt to meet her gaze. Looking into her young eyes, I spoke gently.
“Beatrice, I have to go now.”
“No… Don’t go…”
“We’re friends. That’s what friends do. They part ways and meet again.”
“I don’t want to, no…”
Seeing Beatrice look at me, crying as if her world were falling apart, I glanced back at my teacher.
She was tapping her foot impatiently, looking at me as if she wanted to leave this very second.
Beatrice grabbed the sleeve of my shirt, clinging to me as I looked at my teacher, ready to depart.
“Can’t you stay here? Please? I’ll take good care of you… I’ll feed you, clean for you, wash you, and put you to bed…”
“That’s not a friend, that’s a doll.”
“Th-then you can do that to me! You can feed me and wash me and put me to bed… or you can just stay with me, that’s all I want…”
Realizing her pleading wasn’t working, Beatrice seemed to give up, her head dropping.
The color drained from her once bright, pale face, turning dark. Seeing her expression, I had a gut feeling that something bad would happen if I left her like this.
It wouldn't be anything good. A premonition that I might lose the first friend I’d made in this world…
Seeing her like that, I carefully stood up and approached my teacher.
“Teacher, I have a favor to ask…”
Back home, Evangeline immediately collapsed onto a chair in the living room, slumping into it. She called out to Yohan, who had followed her in.
“Yohan~ I’m hungry~”
“Yes, Teacher. I’ll be quick.”
At his teacher’s command, Yohan moved swiftly to prepare a meal. The physical training I thought would be useless for cooking had actually given me the stamina to cook much faster.
He cooked rapidly, finishing the dishes in no time. After setting them on the dining table, Yohan called for his teacher.
“Teacher, it’s ready. Margaret, please come and eat.”
Yohan waited for the two of them to be seated before taking a chair himself. Beatrice, who had been watching him intently, carefully plopped herself down on Yohan’s lap.
“...Beatrice?”
“I want to eat here… I like being in Yohan’s arms.”
“B-but you should have good manners when you eat…”
“I like it here. …Is that not okay?”
As she said this, Beatrice tilted her head up and pleaded. Yohan couldn't help but let out a laugh and stroke her hair.
With Yohan’s permission, Beatrice swung her legs back and forth excitedly and pointed at the delicious-looking food.
“I-I want that one—that one.”
“Okay. This one?”
“Uh-huh. Ahhh-.”
Beatrice asked Yohan as if she were a small child who couldn't do anything with her own hands, and Yohan chuckled, feeding her the dishes he had made.
After one bite of the food Yohan gave her, Beatrice’s eyes flew open in astonishment. It was the first time she realized such food could even exist in the world.
“It’s delicious…!”
“Of course it is. It was made with my teacher’s seasonings.”
“Rea…lly?”
Hearing this, Beatrice looked at Evangeline. Then she flinched and burrowed deeper into Yohan’s embrace.
Wondering why she was acting this way, Yohan followed her gaze to the two witches sitting across from them.
The faces of the two witches were twisted into demonic scowls.