When the Witch is Imprinted

There was a different tension in the castle than before.

No matter how unstable the imprinting was, there was a way to indirectly feel the other person, just like Carlyle recognized Luce who was staggering while drunk for the first time. It was to feel the energy of the opponent, and the energy was typically mana.

Carlyle noticed that there was something unnatural about her memories of her, leaving the door open to the possibility that she might be adept at magic. But he was discouraged, as he wasn't sure how he could get any traces of her mana into his hands, or if he could find her out if she had.

‘That this kind of luck will roll in.’

Hawkins, who visited the store in person, reported that the situation had been understood to some extent. Carlyle was convinced that the owner of that gentle impression was the Ruby who left me that day. I don't know why she dressed as a man for what reason.

“Let’s move quickly.”

He will first have to catch her and then get to know why slowly.

‘Ruby, would you believe it if I wandered around looking for you even in my dreams?’

Carlyle, wearing a black robe, announced the start to a small number of selected knights.

* * * (MTL by Pink Grapes)

“The weather is bad all of a sudden. Sooner or later it will rain.”

It was still early to close the store, but on a cloudy day, there were no customers, so she pondered about closing the business early. After thinking about it for a while, Luce decided to make a product that was out of stock in her spare time rather than just standing at the counter. After checking her warehouse, she went directly to the forest the other day and headed to the manufacturing room with a pile of dried herbs.

After checking the warehouse, she took her dried herbs that she had gathered from the forest the other day and and headed to the manufacturing room.

'It's been a year since I’ve inherited her shop already.'

Originally, Luce lived with an elderly grandmother in a forest cabin not far from here. In a way, the old woman was also Luce's family and savior, as she had been wandering away from her father who killed her biological mother at a young age. And the two had a very special thing in common: they were both witches.

So Luce lived in the hut and followed the grandmother to dig herbs. The grandmother used to take the canned herbs to the village and exchange them with money, and the place where she traded at that time was the shop now owned by Luce.

Luce was grateful towards grandmother since Luce was separated from her mother at a young age and lacked basic education. Grandmother told Luce about the witch's menstruation and things to be careful about. However, last year, Grandma returned to the soil according to the nature's order, and she became alone again.

“Grandma, I am doing well. You told me not to make potions as much as possible because it could reveal my identity, but no one knows that I am a witch, perhaps because of the development of a potion that changes appearance and is a common thing you see everywhere. One day, the fruit shop lady blushed and handed me cookies. Well…… still, sometimes I am afraid that the day will come when people will find out, but I am happy to see the customers happy.”

Is it because of the gloomy weather? Luce calmed her loneliness by talking to herself as she thought of her grandmother for some reason.

She was actually a girl who wanted to blend in with her people more than anyone else.

It was when Luce's eyes went dark.

Bang!

'That surprised me……!’

Suddenly, someone slammed the old door of the store open and entered. Hearing a series of footsteps, it didn't seem like only one or two people came.

“I wonder what’s going on?”

Luce, who was making the ointment in the corner was really so startled that her heart was pounding to the outside.

What's this all of a sudden? She forgot that she had been pounding herbs to the point that her arms ached, and with frightened rabbit eyes, she headed to the counter cautiously.

Strangely enough, her heart raced as she took each step. She didn’t know why, but as she got farther away from the studio, an ominous aura slowly rose up and grabbed her whole body and stretched out.

‘Who is making so much noise…….'

The violent appearance of a stranger who did not have polite etiquette was too much that she could not ignore it.

Was there a problem with a product that I sold the other day? Or the truth about being drunk like last week?

'But it's a little strange that it's quiet like a dead mouse...….'

No way…….

Is my identity revealed?

“……!”

Suddenly, as soon as a family passed by, Luce's eyes fluttered slightly.

'No! No way. I’ve never been seen by my guests, thanks to a specially formulated transformation potion.'

Look now. I'm just the owner of a shop full of medicinal herbs. Mg height has increased and the bones of the face that have changed make me look like a man, right?

Luce checked herself in the small mirror hung on the wall. There, a man with common features, with long brown hair scattered everywhere neatly tied into one, was swallowing his saliva with a bewildered expression on his face.

In addition, the potion she put so much effort into had an effect that modulated her voice, so there was absolutely no danger of being caught. In other words, the uninvited customer who came to the store would never know her identity.

“Customer, the product you are looking for…… is it there?”

“…….”

There should be a response.

‘Why are you not saying anything?’

The man standing suspiciously in a black robe at the front gave a fierce gaze that was terribly cruel to Luce.

Ha, haha. Luce's awkwardly laughing voice resounded sullenly.

‘Did I really get caught?’

I had a bad feeling. Luce was anxious and clenched and opened both hands, observing the movement of the visitor. There were five people who entered the shabby store. They were all men with magnificent physique.

All of them standing on the left and right were wearing armor that was hard enough not to break even if a rock was thrown, as well as wearing a large scabbard.

Besides, a strange man standing in the middle of them.

“…….”

His face could not be identified because of a deeply draped hood. However, the man was taller than Luce, who had transformed into a man. He somehow looked angry and stared impatiently at her.

“Are you in charge of this store?”

Luce was unwittingly agitated by the voice that was more tantalizing than expected.

"Yes? I am, but…….”

“…….”

When Luce, who came to her senses quickly, answered his words, the man, who she did not know whether was a guest or an uninvited guest, closed his mouth like a clam again.

‘Why are you so silent?’

She was so nervous that my skin tingled. The ominousness that seemed to have disappeared inside once again poked out its tail and warned Luce.

“Was, was there …… a problem?”

I have to run away. I think something very bad is about to happen.

But where? Already the largest doorway had been rendered obsolete by the knights, and the small emergency door behind her, known only to her, seemed to be caught on the back of her back before she could even reach it.

'I’m ruined.'

I just had that intuition. No matter how many times she would try to run away, she would never be able to outrun this man.

"I didn't expect you to deceive me."

Deceived?

“Sir, did you have any problems with the product?”

Luce pondered for a moment whether he was a member of a noble family who had come to complain. If that is the case, the fact that he appeared with the knights that are rare in such a remote street, or the rude and arrogant attitude was understandable to some extent.

I really wish it were.

"I'm sure all of this pretending to be a man is a shallow trick."

“……!”

Sadly, her hopes were shattered by the words that clearly understood her identity.

How did he know? She's never been caught by anyone. Luce's eyes widened. Her fiercely shaking eyes were obviously someone who had been caught.

"You were going to get caught like this. Such a useless act."

“…….”

I’m caught. The fact that I’m a witch.

Luce, thinking that everything was over, unknowingly took a step back and widened the distance with the man.

“Are you going to run away again?”

The man, Carlyle, wrinkled his face as if he didn't like Luce's rejection very much. And he approached her nose and grabbed her soft chin and spat out as if chewing.

"Why. When the last time you begged for me to fill you.”

“……what?"

What I...… asked you to fill me up?

When Luce seemed to be thinking, Carlyle clasped Luce’s waist and clung to her. The appearance of the two men, who were so close that their lips seemed to touch even at any moment, was simply inconsistent. In particular, Carlyle's tone and emotions toward Luce were like a man who came to catch his wife who ran away at night.

‘Are you crazy? It's not enough to hug me freely, what are you talking about...….'

“Ugh, guest! If you act like this, it’s difficult!”

Luce, who was suddenly unfairly trapped, fluttered around. He was not a customer who had come for a refund, nor was he trying to catch her because he knew she was a witch, and she could not figure out why he had come to visit her.

But her doubts did not last long.

"Ha!"

Finding his face revealed under his robe, Luce instantly recognized who the man in front of her was and what he meant to her.

“It seems you now remember who I am?”

“……!”

Luce couldn't say anything. Whatever his purpose, he...… was the first man she had to mixed bodies with.

Luce sighed in haste as if she had seen something she shouldn't have seen.

She couldn't remember the red eyes that seemed to eat me up, but the man with black hair and a look as gorgeous as a witch felt familiar from somewhere.

'It's crazy!'

There was no mistake. The man in front of her was the man from when she was drunk and did his job. All the words he spit to Luce pointed to that day.

‘How, how did you find me?’

The man, overcome with anger, was convinced she was his one-night stand at the time. Luce was in a state of panic. Besides, didn't he see her in her manly form and understand that she was using magic straight away without even a slight hesitation.

‘There is no way. Obviously my magic was perfect...…?’

Could it be that the memory has not been completely erased? What happened?

Since she was the woman who was confident that she had cleaned up, the situation was even more confusing for her. What was the problem? Do you even know that I am a witch? Unable to let go of anything, Luce shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“……!”

At that moment, Luce made eye contact with a knight. A middle-aged man with gray hair and tanned skin. From his rough body, to his scar marks that went wide across his left eye.

‘That person……!’

It was the customer who had visited the store three hours ago and bought a lot of potions.

He was still wearing a sword at the time, so I thought he might be a knight or a mercenary, but I guess he must have been in a relationship with this man.

Sensing Luce's resentful gaze, Hawkins gently lowered his eyes. Seeing this, Luce instinctively realized that he was none other than the main character who had revealed her identity, and her biting lips trembled. She didn't know how to control the feeling of a nose cut with her eyes open.

“I can hear you rolling your head all the way here.”

“……!”

An eerie voice like a cave enveloped Luce.

“Don’t think about running away. As you can see, there is nowhere to go.”

“…….”

As he said, the store was full of knights with knives, but Luce had no intention of being caught like this.

'No! It's only a matter of time before my identity gets caught.’

Seeing Luce who has returned to her original form, they will soon be reminded of the existence of a witch.

How can i do it? Luce's pupils, who had become impatient as they were cornered, dilated like a frightened beast.

Carlyle looked at Luce's worried face and thought he had bent over her stubbornness, but as a final conciliation to her, he encouraged her with her mellow voice.

“Then stop insisting…… Whoa!”

"Your Excellency!"

“Are, are you all right!”

She felt sorry for him for a moment, but Luce, whose survival was important, used her shin as hard as he could to strike Carlyle's vital point. No matter how strong a knight, he cannot be trained there. Carlyle, who sat down in unbearable pain, groaned, and the knights behind them were astonished, each with painful expressions as if they had been beaten between their legs. Meanwhile, like a running rabbit, she hurriedly ran through the small back door opposite.

'What the ...…'

She was a woman who he had been crazily searching for all this time. Seeing Luce's back, Carlyle had an intuition. His job would be more annoying if he missed her here.

How hard he searched for her? So it couldn’t be. Carlyle closed his mouth and straightened his body, which had lost his center. And gathering his psyche, he took a step and stretched out his arm.

“Ah!”

He succeeded in catching Luce's back, which was almost all in her back door.

She may have believed that she would succeed in her escape, but he could hear a very thin scream in his thick voice.

‘I just need to go a little longer……!’

Luce looked at the tightly closed door with tears in her eyes. She tried to squeeze her strength out and flap her arms, but the force behind her was so strong that she was struggling in mid-air.

Besides, what do you mean by 'Your Excellency'? Luce was shocked when she remembered the titles that came out of the knights' mouths. She guessed that it was unusual from the fact that he had been with a bunch of knights, but she could not have guessed that he was a high ranking nobleman like that. Could he be the one in charge of the Winnington estate? Then things got even more complicated, so Luce prayed that she was wrong.

“You don’t seem to have any intention of being quietly caught.”

“Ugh……!”

In the blink of an eye, Carlyle had Luce wrapped around her shoulders and stood facing the knights.

“I have found her, so go ahead and return to castle.”

“Yes, your honor!”

“Ah, it’s difficult if an uninvited guest comes, so clean up the store.”

In other words, it was a sound to dispose of the notice board that read “Open” in front of the door.

“Excuse, excuse me!”

"Why? When I looked outside, it was written that your were open until 7 o’clock.”

“…….”

She glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was only 7 o'clock. Lost in words at Carlyle's retort, Luce kept her mouth shut with a desperate look on her face. It took only ten minutes for the drug to lose its effect. Realizing this, Luce's heart thumped as if it had fallen off a cliff, and she sank down.

“Right, this moment, get out of my way!”

“…….”

Luce resisted as much as possible, hitting his back with a fist loaded with all her strength and waving her legs violently, but it was not enough to break through Carlyle, who stood firm as if he would never let go.

“Hey, I mean let me go!”

It was quite funny to see a grown man acting like a scumbag child, regardless of the seriousness. The knights could not bear to see it, so they quickly turned their heads as if they had promised and prepared to return in a hurry.

‘In the end, this is what happens.’

Hawkins, who stood at the very back, heard Luce’s rebellion and closed his eyes.

When he left the store and closed the door firmly, the next story was obvious. She, who seemed to be in a hurry to run away, was unlikely to readily accept Carlyle's identity. Carlyle also guessed this, and his red eyes, which fluctuated with impatience, was swaying with wild emotions. Perhaps based on the records of the current him and the Winnington family, Carlyle was more likely to forcefully embrace her because he was in a hurry to maintain the imprint while ignoring Luce's will.

‘Damn, this is my best too.’

Hawkins, who played a major role in finding Luce, felt guilty for causing misfortune to Luce instead of saving Carlyle, and stepped outside with a heavy heart. But what to do? No matter how wrong his Excellency’s actions may be, he was a subordinate who served him, and the image of your Excellency, whose life didn’t seem like it was alive, was gnawing away in his mind.

‘For the hostess……I'm sorry.'

With those words, Hawkins turned over the sign in front of the door and replaced it with the side that read 'Closed'.

“Let’s go back.”

“Let’s hurry.”

The knights with somber faces left the street like that. Luce and Carlyle were the only two left in the small shop that smelled of medicinal herbs.