The Last Boss Witch Will Keep Her Past Self's Crush Until Her Dying Day Chapter 11

Leaving the last town, we continued our journey while taking breaks here and there. I was worried that we would be trailed by Chalot and the others but that didn't seem to be the case. I wonder if they really only come to take a glimpse at Will?

In the evening, we reached a small village. This area is already the territory where I have visited before, so it feels like a local region.

“S, Sonisama?! Why are you at such a place…?”

“It's been a while, Village Chief. Due to some reasons, the marriage was canceled.”

“What?!”

Looks like the news of the engagement annulment hasn't reached small villages yet. When I summarised the situation, not only the Village Chief but also the other adults of the village were astounded.

“Well, umm, I don't know what to say…”

“I don't really mind it. Rather, I'm glad that I was able to come back to my hometown. That being said, I'm sorry for being abrupt, but would you lend us a tent? I want to spend the night on the high ground in the forest tonight.”

“How can that be?! Please stay at my house. There's nothing much in this village, but we'll offer you the hospitality to the utmost ――”

“I'm sorry, that will have to be put off for another occasion. I have something important to do. I'm sorry to add even more, but no matter what, don't get close to the forest tonight.”

I made an unreasonable request all of a sudden, but the village chief only nodded without asking anything, set up a tent on the high ground and even brought us refreshments before the dinner. On top of that, he even took Unika to keep in the village.
Beneath the starry night, I and Will were sitting opposite each other with the bonfire between us. When I finished eating the warm meal, I heard a single muttering.

“You seem to have a lot of trust……”

“They must be feeling a sense of grat.i.tude after I exterminated the magical beasts that  settled around here just a while ago.”

One ought to do good deeds. Thanks to that, we don't have to worry about the magical beasts tonight.

“And? what's that important matter you mentioned?”

I don't know if it was done unconsciously or was supposed to be a threat but Will pulled Witch Killer towards himself. I replied with a grin.

“We should be able to reach Cucurouge tomorrow. Thank you for taking care of Unika and getting rid of the magical beasts during the journey. As a reward, I'll give you anything you want, Will. Be it money, a feast or anything else.”

I have to compensate him appropriately for his efforts. Well, I'm planning to excessively pamper him though.
Will, who kept staring at me in hopes of seeing through my scheme, eventually said in a low voice.

“The only thing I desire is the truth. Tell me all about your dirty secrets without lying.”

“Fufu, I do have one or two embarra.s.sing secrets. I could tell you, but that way it won't be a reward. I'm sure you will cry.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“I'm not, but, well…I don't mind telling you if you will behave like a good boy at least for tonight, Will.”

Will's face became grim like a wounded tiger.
When I'm shown a guarded expression like that, I can't help but give a bitter smile. Just what exactly does he think I would do to him?
It's useless. It seems that roundabout words will only be taken in that way.
I gave out a sigh.

“…I think that the King's messenger will be coming soon. If you want to attend the meeting, you must be obedient at least for tonight. I want people to recognize that you are unmistakeable my servant and not the person from Rain-sama's side. Do not do anything unnecessary and go along with my story. Can you promise that?”

“…His Majesty's messenger? why do you know that?”

“Because that's what I would do. We will have the talk that must not be heard by anybody as far as possible from the royal capital, just before entering Cucurouge. To be honest, this is the talk that must not be heard by Will…by the people on the Prince's side, but I will allow you to attend. It's not like you can do anything even if you heard it, after all.”

While being offended by my provocative words, Will somehow looked uneasy. He probably couldn't even imagine that there was a connection between me and His Majesty.

“If you can't even pretend to be obedient, there won't be any other choice but to have you sleep in the tent. What will you do?”

“…I will accompany you, obviously. There won't be a meaning if I run away now. I got it, I will absolutely not say anything unnecessary.”

Satisfied with his answer, I immediately moved next to Will and entrusted my body to his arms.

“Hey, what's your intention?”

“It's a practice. You have to be obedient tonight, remember?”

Even when I rubbed my head against him like a wheedling cat, Will remained frozen stiff and didn't move. His mind might even be blank right now.

“Hey, Will, tonight you might even start to hate everything and want to die.”

“…Is that a threat?”

“Wrong. I just want you to be mentally prepared and remember that I will protect you. I won't abandon you even if you break and become unusable, so rest a.s.sured.

Through the warmth, Will's confusion was transmitted.

You see, I know.
That before now you have lived without being protected by anyone.

Will is a Knight so he uses his sword in order to protect somebody. He sacrifices himself for somebody's happiness.
It's his reason for existence, both in the original work and in reality, which I think is splendid.

But, it's not fun. Is there any meaning in enduring if you won't get rewarded?
Isn't life only meaningful if you enjoy it? I want to see Will turn bad.
That's why tonight I'm planning to kill a single knight of Mistria.

“…..They're here.”

I heard a distinctive flapping of wings splitting the sky.
A black shadow traversed overhead. It was the fastest Mount Beast in the world ―― Sky Dragon.

As we headed deep into the forest, towards the place where the dragon landed, there were five men waiting. It was dark and they were wearing hoods so I couldn't see their faces.
I felt the signs of concentrated magic power. The men must be sorcerers and warriors with a ‘Core'. The gray sky dragon also should have received combat education. A small group of elites…seems like they're preparing for the battle.

“……It is quite surprising that you would bring Will Obsidia with you.”

The man in the middle stepped one step forward. Looks like he's puzzled by Will's presence.

“I'm sorry. It seems like this adorable servant doesn't want to leave my side even for a second. Your worries are unnecessary, he won't leak anything he heard here. Of course, he won't say anything to Rain-sama either, because he's already been captivated by me.”

It makes me feel sad when I have to tell such lie myself.
Will also looked at me like he couldn't believe what I was saying. It's dark so I don't think they would be able to detect a slight change in his expression but let's divert attention away just in case.
I clung to his arms as if drooping.  Will's face got red either from anger or shame, but he didn't shake me off. Good job.

“Yes, yes, I understand it. Once a serious man tastes pleasure, they can't stop falling. Although it's painful for Mistria to lose such an excellent knight…though in the current situation, it might be for the better that he's infatuated with you. In such a case, I'll allow his attendance. He also has the right to know.”

The man readily took off the hood.

“Lord Sednyl…”

Ignoring Will's little mutter, the man ――Sednyl-san respectfully bowed his head. He's an uncle around his 50s, showing a gentlemanly smile. I can understand even being told. The fact that he's here, at this place, means that twenty years ago he was the confidant of the King of Mistria.

“From my lord, King of Mistria, there are several things I must confirm with the witch Sonisama. I respectfully ask you to answer honestly without any lies.”

Sednyl-san got rid of his gentle smile.

“Have you inherited the truth…about the events that happened twenty years ago? Obviously, I mean not the 『beautiful lie』you spoke at the marriage ceremony but the 『ugly and hideous truth 』”

I heard the sound of breath being sucked in beside me. I casually grasped Will's hand. You mustn't open your mouth now, or else things will become very complicated.

“Yes. I have heard it from my mother.”

In order to prevent large battle and achieve peace treaty between the witches and the Kingdom of Mistria, my mother made her master Jebera attack the royal capital, ultimately causing her and the previous King to lose their lives.
She tainted her hands for the sake of true peace and absolutely not for the personal gain.

That's the story I told at the marriage ceremony.
It's a very impressive moving story.

But, I'm sorry. That's not the actual truth.

“I see. Then would you mind telling the story so we could confirm it? Since there is still a risk that Alonisama told you a false story.”

Getting urged on, I nodded.

“Twenty years ago, Prince Rain's grandfather ―― The King at that time. Stommes Mistria was conducting relentless witch huntings. It was because he learned of the treasure created by a certain witch and was frightened by the witch's wisdom. Or perhaps, because wanted to obtain it for himself.
Most witches were innocent, but even despite that, they were targetted by the witch-hunting unit in the Kingdom solely because they were the witches and fell into a crisis.”

Stronger the witch is, less they like mingling with others.
Even if they might have a teacher-student relations.h.i.+p with the disciples they take in, they almost don't have any side connections. It's because developing magic is their priority and they strongly dislike it being stolen by someone else.

The witches are secretive, you see.
That's why they're very fragile if they get targeted by the nation. No matter how much of a powerful magic they use, if they are outnumbered, it's the end.
They are the creatures who won't join forced unless they're very cornered.

“The one who got impatient thinking that it would be bad if everything went on the way it did, was the Green Witch Jebera. To tell you the truth, it was because the『Rose Gem』that Stommes-sama feared so much was created by her. It has been said that she only succeeded in making one, but the recipe of how to make it was still in Jebera's mind, and Stommes-sama was extremally afraid of it becoming known to others.”

“The Rose Gem…?”

I felt pitiful for Will not being able to follow the story so I kindly explained about the subject.

“The Rose Gem is a miraculous drug that gives person immortality, or more precisely it gives an ability『to always remain in a young and beautiful body』. You use it by embedding it in your stomach. That's why, during the witch huntings, they apparently slit every captured witch's stomach open.”

“Wh”

The captured witches were drained of blood and had their intestines dragged out. This was done not in only in order to make an example out of them, but also to search for the gemstone. By the way, apparently, the drained blood was used to forge the witch Killer. How efficient.

“It seems that Jebera had fallen in love with a young man called Ambert. At that time, she was already an old woman almost in her 60s, but she probably thought about regaining her youth and spending it once again with him. So she tried to achieve immortality…violating one of the『Seven Great Taboos』.”

“I can understand her. You, young people, wouldn't be able to understand just how wonderful it would be to return to the body that was full of vitality…this feeling must be even stronger for females.”

Sednyl-san showed understanding, but he also said that it was something that one wasn't supposed to wish for. I am of the same opinion.

“If you use the Rose Gem, you might not attain immortality, but you will get the body that will not grow old and die. That itself leads to disturbing the world's order. What would happen if influential people obtained the gemstone? The change of generation won't happen and one person might attain the dominance for eternity.”

I wonder what would people do if they found out that the gemstone of immortality existed?
Would they start to compete with each other for it?
But even if they obtain the gem, it's obvious that next they will be the ones to get targetted. In that case, don't you think it would be best if you shared the good luck and benefits by humbling yourself to an influential person possessing the gem?
And once the world is stabilized, one can even turn their attention to subjugating the countries around the continent.

King Stommes was afraid of that.
If you can't get it for yourself, then just bury it in the darkness along with the recipe.
That's why he was searching for Jebera in a frenzy.

“Indeed, if the person who was a thorn at your side lived forever, it would be a nuisance, right? At that time, there was a person who hated both the witch Jebera and the King Stommes. It was my mother, Alonia Carnelian, and the Crown Prince at that time, Schnel-sama.”

Schnel Mistria.
In other words, the current King of Mistria and Prince Rain's father.

Hearing the King's name at this timing made Will distort his face. I'm sorry, but your bad premonition is right on spot.

“My mother's reason was simple. She just wanted to steal the recipe of immortality from her master and the King found witch hunt irritating and wanted to stop it.
Schnel-sama agreed with his father on the topic of burying both Jebera and the recipe of immortality in the darkness, but he opposed the witch hunting. He must've been the person who could read ahead into the future. In the upcoming era, development of magic would influence the national strength. Thinking that the wisdom would be essential in various fields like everyday life, culture and the war, it seems that he strongly requested to abolish the Witch Hunt. Though Stommes-sama didn't lend him an ear. That's why he decided that it would be better to….”

That was the facade.
According to my mother, both Stommes-sama and Schnel-sama had extremally bad disputes.
Apparently, Schnel-sama was very anxious that he wouldn't inherit the throne even despite being the crown prince. In addition, Stommes-sama seemed to be doting on a distant relative child.

Well, it should be okay if I don't go out of my way just to say this. n.o.body would gain from it, after all.

“My mother and Schnel-sama thought of the same plan pretty much at the same time and the people who had to meet met each other. My mother said that their wavelength matched just like the sibling separated at birth, and then both thought up a plan to kill the nuisances at their side…”

The palm in my hand gradually got colder and started to tremble.
I tightly grasped Will's hand so he wouldn't break down.

“The truth of the attack 20 years ago…is that the King of Mistria and the Witch Alonia collided and killed the former King and Jebera.”

It's a big lie that my mother planned the raid to avoid an even bigger battle.
She wasn't such a person. Calling this a moving tale is just outrageous.

“In other words, it was a coup d'etat.”

—
Notes
Bad news: it was humansTM all along
Worse news: Sonia didn't turn into a s.e.xy wolf girl!

What Will actually says instead of “dirty secrets” is やましい隠し事 which roughly means “secrets you are guilty of” and I couldn't really think of any better way to word it. Hmu if you have any ideas.

Previous King's name is ストムス

Rose Gem is written as 薔薇の宝珠 but read as ロードクロシアン・オーブ (Rhodecrosian Orb). Usually, I'd leave furigana and write kanji in notes, but since Will didn't know about it and still referred to it as Rose Gem it would make no sense to only leave the orb name in Sonia's speech.

The current King's name is シュネロ and I was about to kms trying to figure out what the f.u.c.k to do with it, Google-sama gave me “Schnel” and I just decided to go with it because it sounds like Schnee which is German for “snow” and if you look closely even the stomms sounds like “storms”. I wouldn't put it past this author to make weather puns like that with the names because we already have Prince called Rain. Honestly though, tell me if you know how it's read because I'm already in despair over those names

the drooping part is written as 枝垂れる and can mean “droop/weep”. There are many weeping willow/cherry tree pics if you search it up so that's probably what the author was going for

(the first result)

Tell me about any mistranslations, missed nuances, weird grammar, typos, anything you can find and I'll fix it afap