When Freese was ten years old, she had a younger brother.
The male descendants of the Noita family could not inherit the bloodline of witches, but they would inherit the family’s estate.
From the moment he was born, her younger brother Pegg received the parents’ favor. The care and love that used to belong to her were all transferred to him. He took away everything from her.
On a winter day heavy with falling snow, Freese walked out of the house and into the forest.
Her parents only cared about taking care of Pegg. It took them an entire day to realize she was missing, and they found her in the forest.
That night, in the forest, she met an owl that was on the verge of freezing stiff.
“My name is Bole, I am a messenger. But I have not formed a contract with a witch, so I am about to freeze to death. The winter here is really cold.”
Freese looked at him with her clear green eyes, picked him up from the snow, and wrapped him inside her clothes.
Her small body was actually very cold as well, only a little warmth left near her chest.
“Hm? You are a little witch?”
“Yes, but I don’t like magic.”
“Why?”
“If I didn’t know magic, if I weren’t a witch, maybe my dad and mom would love me more.”
“Poor little girl…”
“But, now I suddenly understand. Actually, it has nothing to do with magic. I was just too naive before.”
Words like these coming from the mouth of a ten-year-old girl, still carrying the childish tone of a child, were somewhat funny. Mr. Owl Bole let out a laugh in his old voice against her chest.
The little girl poked his chest seriously, “Will you be my messenger? I’ll form a contract with you, share my magic power with you, then you can like me instead of my dad and mom, okay? I will like you too.”
Mr. Bole was already a very old owl. He actually did not want to form a contract with a witch again. However, the little girl walking alone in the forest, those green eyes reddened, she looked so very pitiful.
“All right, all right. From now on, I will be your forest messenger, my little master.” He was a soft-hearted owl.
After that, he stayed by Freese’s side for a very, very long time.
What saddened him the most was that humans always grow up. They always learn to do bad things in order to obtain something, and they always forget the promises and vows they once made.
After Freese was found from the forest when she was ten, she began to develop an interest in magic. Before, although she had strong magical talent, she never studied magic seriously.
When she began to study seriously, in just a few short years, she had already become an outstanding forest witch. And she became obedient and sensible, no longer rejecting her younger brother. On the contrary, she took great care of him.
Her parents felt relieved and sighed that she had grown up. Her naughty younger brother Pegg also liked to follow behind her and play.
Pegg had known since childhood that his sister could use magical powers, but he could not. Because of this, he had cried countless times, questioning his parents why he could not learn magic like his sister.
He envied his sister extremely. He also wanted to enter that magical world.
“Does Pegg really want to learn magic?” His sister Freese, who loved him, gently touched his hair after he once again clamored to learn magic, “If you really want to learn that badly, big sister will think of a way for you, okay? But, you must not tell Dad and Mom.”
Pegg’s eyes lit up. He hugged his sister’s arm and swore, “I definitely won’t tell Dad and Mom!”
“If you want to use magic, unless you become a witch. Are you willing?”
“I… I-I’m willing!” Pegg didn’t hesitate for long before nodding.
“Then all right, big sister will help you.” Freese smiled with unusual happiness.
According to the secret notes left behind by the witches of the Noita family through generations, Freese successfully turned her younger brother into a witch. But she did not tell him the price of becoming a witch — he would die early from magic depletion.
Once Pegg grew happy about being able to use magic, and began to recklessly and wantonly abuse magic, he naturally discovered this.
He rushed to question her, asking why she hadn’t made everything clear beforehand.
“But, wasn’t it you who said that no matter what, you wanted to have magic? Big sister was only fulfilling your wish.” Freese spoke with a smile.
Fulfilling her younger brother’s wish, while conveniently testing the magic she had modified.
Then, unintentionally, she let her desperate younger brother see her notes, which recorded the method to create a magical body. Using a body connected to one’s bloodline, nourishing the fairies’ lives from childhood, and when reaching adulthood, transferring one’s own soul into that body.
He wanted too much to escape his increasingly weak body, and wanted too much to continue using magic. Freese knew exactly what he would do, and she happily pushed him toward doing it.
So she deliberately let him escape, secretly watching him all the while, watching him grit his teeth and give birth to a child as an experimental subject.
That was also her experimental subject. After all, even if her younger brother succeeded, that body was destined to belong to her.
During the waiting period, Freese left home and married the lord of Senhai Territory, Murphy.
Their first meeting was by the sea. She had just walked out of the forest, holding a blooming branch in her hand, surrounded by beech fairies. The sickly man taking a walk by the shore turned around and saw her, stunned and unmoving for a long time.
He fell in love with her at first sight, and coincidentally, she needed a place to stay, so she accepted his proposal.
They were together for three years, then Murphy passed away.
During the period before his death, when he was tormented by illness and in unbearable pain, Freese personally took action to help him be freed.
The only man in this world who loved her for no reason died in her arms.
Alex saw with his own eyes the woman he admired and secretly loved kill the only relative he had — his uncle Murphy.
Of course he knew that she only wanted to end his uncle’s suffering. This woman who appeared gentle yet was terrifyingly cold, gave the rare softness of her heart to his uncle.
He knew that his uncle made him inherit Senhai Territory in order for him to take care of Freese in his place. He also knew that Freese tolerated him and allowed him to approach her only because of his uncle.
He knew everything. He saw everything clearly, especially clearly that as he grew older, he still loved Freese.
However, compared to love, there were other things he wanted more.
Power, or perhaps freedom. He wanted a Senhai Territory not controlled by witch magic, wanted to break free from this long-unanswered affection.
Just like Freese ended his uncle Murphy’s life with death, he would also end her with death.
He grew up by her side, taught by her. Of course he should be just like her.
【About Hesha’s Witch Friend】
Ever since more than ten years ago, when that house at the forest’s edge — the one where a witch had appeared — was set on fire by the people at the market, no one ever dared to go near that place again.
Later, no one knew from which year it began, but the wild land leading to that part of the forest turned into a swamp. Even if the people from the market wanted to go over, they had no way to get close.
“There are terrifying witches over there. They kill people, eat human hearts, and there are swamp monsters that drag anyone they see into the swamp!” The adults would scare the naughty and curious children in their homes like this, warning them to stay away from the swamp.
The children of the Aiden family also grew up listening to those terrifying legends, but their parents did not use witches and swamp monsters to frighten them.
Instead, whenever they asked about those scary stories, their mother Hesha would hold them in her arms and tell them wonderful tales in a mysterious tone.
Stories about witches, monsters, and fairies. In her telling, it seemed like another world entirely.
The youngest daughter of the Aiden family, Diana, was only a few years old. Such a young child was always prone to illness, and the poor child had been lying in bed for three days without improvement, instead growing worse and worse.
Seeing her child fall into a coma, Hesha wrapped her in a blanket one night and carried her out of the house.
She passed through a hidden path that crossed the swamp separating the market and the forest, arriving at the forest’s edge.
There was a small wooden house there. In the darkness, the house gave off a warm glow.
The owner of the house sensed her arrival, pushed open the door while wrapped in a shawl, and came out with a lantern to welcome her.
More than ten years had passed. Hesha was already the mother of three children. Her former companion still retained the appearance of a young maiden, but Hesha had long since grown used to it.
“The child is sick? Why did you only come to me when it got so serious? Hurry and bring the child inside.”
“I didn’t want to trouble you… Didn’t you say last time you were planning to visit the snowy mountains soon…? Can Diana really be cured?”
“Don’t worry. I am a powerful witch. I will definitely cure your Diana. As for the snowy mountains, I’m still preparing. I’ll go in a few days.”
Little Diana was half-conscious, feeling a coolness flow from her forehead into her body. The heavy weight pressing on her disappeared, and she slowly opened her eyes.
She saw the brown curls of her mother Hesha hanging before her chest. She reached out and grabbed them, then looked around.
She was in a very beautiful house — filled with various exquisitely patterned knitted items and handmade toys and decorations, all unlike anything she had ever seen before.
She also saw a big sister, who smiled at her gently and touched her forehead.
The little girl was held by her mother and carried out of the house. As they stepped outside, her attention was caught by the large garden around the house.
What a beautiful garden it was — clusters of blazing yellow broom flowers and azaleas blooming in a sea of color, along with irises, daffodils, and many other flowers she did not know the names of. The big sister stood at the doorway waving at them, as if standing right in the middle of the flower bed.
Lying on her mother’s shoulder, Diana suddenly seemed to faintly see a tall, thin human-shaped figure by that big sister’s side. And many tiny glowing little people were dancing through the garden.
The little girl blinked and slowly fell asleep again.
Later, she finally recovered from her illness, but that night, like a dream, became the scene she would remember for her whole life.
“Mother, was that really just a dream I had when I was sick?”
Her mother laughed, “Who knows?”
No one knew that the ordinary little girl named Hesha had been friends with a witch all her life. It was the greatest secret and happiness of her ordinary life.
【About Meili and the Swamp Monster】
After Freese’s problem was solved, Meili studied magic for another three years with Gloria, and only then did she bring the swamp monster back to the place where they first met.
The house where Lady Pegg once lived had already been burned down. Meili did not choose to rebuild on the same spot. Instead, she built a wooden house by the lake in the forest.
This was her true home in this world, belonging to her and the swamp monster.
All the paths leading from the market town had turned into swamp, so aside from Hesha, who would occasionally visit, only other little fairies would come by their small house.
Using magic to help, building a comfortable home — for Meili now, it was no longer a difficult task. She enjoyed every bit of it.
Whether the garden or the vegetable patch, she planted everything little by little. Of course, as the other owner of this home, the swamp monster was responsible for watering, so all these plants grew extraordinarily lush.
The purple irises she brought from Gloria’s place spread across the wetland. At some unknown point, daffodils began growing among them, and many daffodil fairies came to live there as well. At night, Meili would often hear them singing by the water — it was a wonderful lullaby.
Meili’s body had been modified by Madam Pegg. She possessed a much longer lifespan than ordinary witches. Besides studying magic, she had plenty of time to do things she liked — such as playing with mud.
She used mud by the waterside to sculpt figures resembling the swamp monster. At first they did not look human at all, but as she understood more and more about the swamp monster’s body, the figures she crafted became more precise and vivid.
The completed swamp monster figures were solidified with magic into statues and placed in the middle of the marsh as decorations.
When the swamp monster first saw a mud statue exactly like himself, he circled around it twice and stared at it for quite a while.
Meili found it amusing, so she tried shaping different human faces out of mud — she couldn’t remember whose face it was, probably some character from a game she once played.
The new half-finished mud figure was placed by the lake, and sure enough, the swamp monster became curious as well, staring for a moment.
That night, Meili waited for the swamp monster inside the little house, only to receive a newly made mud figure walking back to her — that game character-faced mud person walked toward her, scaring her so much she nearly fell off her chair.
She foolishly ran outside to look for the swamp monster, and seeing the half-finished mud figure was still by the lake, she finally realized — the one inside the house was the swamp monster — he could even change his face!
He must have thought she liked the new mud figure, so he changed into that form. This was… too exciting!
In short, Witch Meili was addicted to playing with mud.
The witches’ gathering was held every few years. Meili attended several times, and everyone began calling her the Swamp Witch — the only Swamp Witch — because the swamp monster was always by her side, inseparable.
The swamp monster did not like traveling around. He preferred staying in one place for a long time. But Meili needed to go out.
She had to attend witches’ gatherings, visit the mountain witch, and also her newly acquainted friend, the snow mountain witch.
“I’m going out for half a month. You’re sure you won’t come with me?” Meili squatted by the swamp, poking the swamp monster who was curled into a U-shape.
“If you keep ignoring me, I’ll go by myself, you know?”
“I’m really leaving?”
The swamp monster didn’t react at all. Meili stood up, “All right then, I’m leaving.”
She packed her things and slowly set out. After walking through a forest and resting for a day, that very night, she would find a muddy, dripping swamp monster following behind her.
The swamp monster didn’t like going out, but he disliked being apart from his Swamp Witch even more. So when their home quieted down, with no movement from the Swamp Witch nearby, he would pull his head out from the ground and reluctantly follow her scent to catch up.
His witch had already expected it. Standing on a rock, she spread her arms wide, “Come on! Carry me!”
Because the swamp monster moved very slowly, every time the Swamp Witch went out somewhere, she always had to leave a long time in advance.
