Chapter 6: The Eventful Night and the Witch

Chapter 6: The Eventful Night and the Witch

ROSE had a hard time enjoying her free time now that Harij was gone. Especially during the winter, when there was less work in the fields and fewer potions to make. There were other things she needed to take care of to replenish her magic ingredients while the animals and plants hibernated, but she wasn’t motivated to do any of it. The less occupied her hands were, the more time she had to think. Every time the memory of the ashen-haired man crept into her thoughts, she banged her head against the wall to repel them.

It didn’t help that she was practically forced to think of him when Safina brought her food once every two days. Even more ridiculous was the anticipation that filled her heart every time she heard the bell ring. Maybe the actual person came today instead…, she would think hopefully.

“Who knew love makes you so weak? No wonder people want to use love potions,” Rose grumbled to herself.

In her current state, Rose was liable to willingly accept any unreasonable demands Harij might make of her.

Surely she could forget all about this odd blip in time once Harij returned and she could thank and bid him and Safina farewell for good. That was her only hope to regain some semblance of her former self.

How she longed to peacefully fade into obscurity within the lake’s cool depths. Only then would her heart stop being so restless.

Realizing her thoughts had gravitated in a dangerous direction, Rose rushed outside. In winter, the sun stayed up for only a few hours, darkening the world and hearts alike. She had to do something before the doom and gloom thought process took over!

Blowing on her numb fingers, she raked leaves and branches out of her garden, then roasted some potatoes with them. She stared off into space as she watched the thin coils of smoke billow toward the heavens.

How long did she stay like that for? Noise from the forest finally brought her back to the moment. Curious what was going on, she looked over to see some children playing in the woods.

Her heart sunk when she strained her eyes. They were the same children who had pelted her with mud balls.

A piece of her was impressed by how daring they were to attack a witch like that. Watching them for a bit, she noticed they didn’t get too close to the dock. Daring as they were, they still feared the Witch’s revenge.

Feeling mischievous, Rose pulled a potato from under the fallen leaves. She held the skewered vegetable up high. The children stopped playing to look at her, then shuffled closer to the shore while keeping a set distance. As much as they wanted the roasted potato, they were afraid to accept it from the Witch.

Rose stood up. The children fled and hid in the forest as if they had just seen a creepy crawly bug. She went to the dock and reeled the boat in. After placing the roasted potatoes on the boat, she returned it to the forest dock.

She watched for a while, but the kids never came near it.

I have to stop fooling around and finish my chores. Rose went back inside the hermitage.

In the evening, she suddenly remembered the potatoes and went out to check on the boat. Every last potato had been taken.

∴ ∵ ∴

DING-A-LING.

The long-awaited bell rang exactly one month after Harij had departed.

Rose’s eyes snapped open. She woke up with a surprisingly clear mind. Safina had visited her yesterday. He only came by once every two days, so it wasn’t him. Besides, Safina never visited at night.

Rose couldn’t suppress the excitement in her chest. She threw off her quilt and rolled out of bed. Too excited to put on socks, her bare feet hit the cold floor, which instantly sapped the heat from her soles.

At night in the winter forest, silence fell as if all living things were fast asleep. The dark sky spread above the frosted trees, studded with bright stars. Reflecting those twinkling lights on its inky surface, the lake glittered as if someone had flipped over a treasure chest of jewels. Since a young age, Rose had loved the sky luxuriously decorated by stars and the lake when it was colored pink by the sun at dawn.

She gently slid the curtain over with her fingertip. Someone was standing on the unlit dock. Without candlelight, she could barely make out their blurry shadow concealed beneath heavy, darkly colored winter clothes under the starlight. But Rose recognized that shadowy figure. She was positive it was him. After all, the tall, dark silhouette was a near perfect match to the one she always spied through her window.

Rose pressed a hand against her chest. Her heart ached.

She didn’t have time to get fed up with herself for being this eager to see him again. Wanting to see his face as soon as possible took precedence. Combing her fingers through her bed hair, she added paper and firewood to the glowing embers in the fireplace. Then she stopped as doubt crept in.

Why didn’t he light the lantern?

Harij always brought a lantern with him. One with a thick candle that a nobleman was likely to choose for incognito travel.

Rose glanced out the window again. The person had already boarded the boat. And still there was no lantern lighting the bow.

Did he just forget? Forget the lantern needed to navigate the treacherous forest trails? That logic was so absurd Rose laughed dryly at herself.

Excitement turned to dread. Mayhap he blew out the candle so as not to wake Rose? That was just as ridiculous. He wouldn’t have stood on the dock, then.

After all, Harij knew that standing on the dock set off the bell in the Witch’s hermitage.

Rose looked out the window for the third time. The boat was out of sight. It seemed less as if the person had become lost in the dark and more as if they had altered their course to avoid being seen. Whoever it was chose to come ashore explicitly avoiding the dock.

The bad inkling clawing at her chest became a sure feeling. Determining it was an emergency, Rose ran to the shelves where she stored her potions and rummaged hastily through the vials, causing them to clang and clatter.

SHATTER!

Hands trembling from panic and impatience, she accidentally knocked several vials off the shelf. The sound of glass breaking echoed through the dark.

Her spine went ramrod stiff. If they didn’t know before, whoever was trying to creep up on the hermitage must have realized the Witch was awake now. Rose had no chance of beating them without the element of surprise on her side. No magic was instantaneous—there were steps to follow to get it to work exactly how she wanted. She couldn’t count on having the time to go through those steps or on the intruder to be considerate enough to let her.

Giving up on the offense, Rose rolled up the rug under the bed. She moved the trapdoor aside and hid inside the prayer room. She reached out as far as possible to arrange the rug so that nothing looked out of the ordinary. The more pressured she felt to hurry, the more her trembling fingers fumbled like sausages.

Someone moved around outside the house. Rose gave up on making the rug look perfect and moved the door back into place. Inky darkness enshrouded the cramped cellar space without a thing to sit on. Quieting her breathing, Rose curled up in a ball and hugged herself. The erratic beat of her heart pounded in her ears.

She heard something rattling above her. Wondering what it was, she listened closely and discovered she was vibrating the trapdoor with all her shaking. Realizing how scared she was only furthered fueled her fear.

This wasn’t the first time she had been in this situation.

And yet she was more scared than ever before.

Probably because she wanted to cling to life now. All because she longed to eat delicious apples with Harij again.

Rose squeezed her eyes so tight it hurt and put her head between her knees. The doorknob rattled for a few long moments before the door creaked open. It had been unlocked from the outside. That proved it—her visitor was an intruder.

She had allowed a suspicious person to boldly walk in through the front door uninvited—into the Witch’s hermitage, her home, that had been cherished and protected by generations of witches who had grown up there.

Fear, sorrow, and frustration gnawed at her.

Every step the intruder took, the floorboards creaked.

Shuffle. Crrrreeeak. Thud. Crrrreeeak.

She heard the intruder gradually closing in on her location. What in the world could anyone want with this shady and run-down hovel? Rose had no idea.

For some time, the intruder wandered aimlessly around the house. Probably because the lights were off. There was the occasional sound of something being kicked over or knocked down. Each time, the intruder cursed in a low tone. Naturally, Rose didn’t recognize their voice. Every angry utterance and sound reached her under the floorboards.

“Well, damn. The Witch isn’t here. I came all this way to have some fun with her because I heard she’s a young broad.”

Rose didn’t know what kind of fun he intended to have with her, but she knew it didn’t mean anything good.

“This place sucks. There ain’t nothin’ worth shit here. They said she sells drugs by the boatload. I expected to hit the jackpot.”

Clanging and clattering followed the man’s frustrated cussing. It sounded as if he was after the proceeds she made off of selling potions. The payment for Harij’s two love potions just so happened to be right under her butt. She had hidden the massive of sum of money in the cellar in the same bag she received it in.

The second she learned she was literally sitting on what he wanted, she shook uncontrollably, because it felt as if she had no way out now. Her shaking knocked loose some of the coins underneath her.

The coins clanged against the floor.

“…Well, that’s a nice surprise.”

Rose clamped her hands over her mouth, otherwise she might make a sound. The man’s voice grew closer. The floorboards cried in protest under his heavy feet.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

From the sound of his voice alone, Rose knew the man was sneering.

Shuffle. Crrrreeeak. Shuffle. Crrrreeeak.

He scuffed his feet slowly over the floorboards, as if enjoying the fact that he had cornered his prey. Trapped prey with nowhere left to go can only tremble until death is upon it. Rose’s shallow breathing filled the tiny cellar. The icy chill under the floor clung to her paper-white skin. Mildew infiltrated her every gasp for air, wreaking havoc on her train of thought.

Shuffle.

The scraping feet stopped…right above her head. Things crashed into the floorboards as he threw stuff around in search of her. The loud smashes shook her head. She barely stopped from jumping. Desperately wanting to scream, she tightly clamped her mouth down.

Rose couldn’t escape from the small cellar, which reeked of fear. Biting back her sobs made her sick to her stomach.

CRASH! CLATTER! BANG!

There was an extraordinarily loud crash that sounded like an overturned toolbox. Rose was shaking out of control. A gasp spilled through her fingers. She dug her fingers into her cheeks to stop another sound from coming out. Rose froze with her eyes bulging.

Was he taking out his anger on her stuff because he didn’t know where the cellar door was? Or was he just kicking stuff around to intimidate and frighten her?

Fear consumed her the more she thought about it.

She couldn’t stop trembling. Her teeth chattered obnoxiously in her ears. Intent on not alerting him to her exact location, Rose frantically tried to calm down, but her body wouldn’t stop shaking.

Then light shone into her dried-out eyes, which bulged with fright. A single ray of illumination flashed overhead. Lamplight filtered through the gaps between the trapdoor and the floorboards.

The rug was thrown aside. She couldn’t breathe.

The air felt thin and her head spun.

The trapdoor opened. The light of the lamp was too bright; she wanted to close her eyes. Yet her fear-stricken body refused to listen.

“…Rose.”

Tears spilled from her wide eyes. Why is he here? Why…now?

Sounds tumbled from her lips. Not even Rose understood what she had said.

“Are you all right?”

Harij’s concerned voice and caring expression greeted her on the other side of the light. The door had been completely moved away, and the lamp set to the side.

Her shallow breaths came fast and panicked. Air violently returned to her lungs and painfully coursed through her. Inhaling too much air at once shocked her system. Rapid breathing seized Rose. Her shoulders jerked painfully up and down, as if in a spasm.

I was so scared. So scared. So terribly scared. Horribly scared. Scared to death.

“I’m sorry for being late.”

She clung to the hand he reached down to her, and he pulled her up. For some reason, his arm was colder than ice and soaking wet. Harij pulled away at first but then threw aside the thought and hugged her.

He rubbed soothing circles into her back, calming Rose’s labored breathing and violent shakes. Their closeness caused the water to soak through his clothes into Rose’s and gradually chill her body. As the wetness spread to her, she felt as if she were being permeated by his feelings.

“Are you hurt?”

Harij’s arms seemed to tremble ever so slightly while they embraced her.

Finally calming her breathing, Rose exerted the utmost effort to force her lips into saying “No.”

All the tightness went out of Harij’s tensed body. He exhaled a loud, tortured sigh.

“What a relief,” he said and hugged her even tighter.

Their embrace lasted for a short moment until he patted her reassuringly on the back and let go.

Rose, however, still clung to Harij’s clothes. Realizing where her hands were, she tried to let go, but as she was still gripped by fear, her hands remained clenched around the fabric. Harij’s big palm encompassed her trembling hand. After he massaged the locked digits for a while, she was finally able to pry them loose.

“I-I’m…s-sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” He gave her a reassuring smile and stood up. Then he swung his leg back.

His bare foot connected with something that launched a few feet into the air. It landed on the floor with a hard thud.

“Oh, my bad. I’m such a klutz, my foot bumped into this by accident,” Harij said as if he were reciting a script.

Rose gaped up at him. Harij had accidentally bumped into a person. A man with the same build and ashen hair as his. He was definitely the thief the City Guards had mistaken Harij for. The man had fainted, his eyes rolled back into his head.

So were all the loud bangs and crashes she heard from the cellar the sound of Harij taking down the thief? For some reason, the hoe from her garden was on the floor next to the unconscious man.

Something bound the man’s arms to his torso. He had been tightly tied up like a noblewoman’s corset. Harij grabbed the man he had tied so tight there wasn’t even space for an ant to crawl through.

“I want to stay here with you, but I have to cart this fiend off first. I’ll send Safina right over. Whatever you do, don’t open the door for anyone until he arrives.”

“B-But it’s not like I o-opened the door this time…,” Rose objected, wanting to make it clear she wouldn’t do something that stupid.

Hearing her unyielding voice drew a small, relieved smile out of Harij rather than anger.

“I see. I’m sorry.”

The lamplight cast a gentle glow on his cheeks. His tender smile was breathtaking.

“Okay, I gotta go. Stay warm.”

“Oh, right. Why are you wet…?” Rose realized the answer before she finished asking the question. “Don’t tell me you swam…across the freezing lake in the middle of winter?”

During the cold winter nights, the lake even froze over sometimes. The unforgiving chill seeped into bones and felt like being bitten by frost. Some of the animals that accidentally slipped into the lake lost their lives.

“I heard glass break even though the hermitage was dark. The boat was taking an unusual course around the lake as well, so it was only natural to think something was up.”

The frigid cold should have been eating away at him. Rose pushed Harij to her bed and spread the partition out further than usual.

“You might die, you know?! Please take off your clothes!”

“Rose, wai—”

“Take them off. Now,” Rose repeated, leaving no room for negotiation.

After a moment, the sound of disrobing could be heard from the other side. Did Harij decide it was better not to argue with her?

Rose ran around gathering everything that might be useful and tossed different fabrics and a summer comforter she hadn’t put away yet over the partition. She was in such a rush she may have stepped on the thief a few times.

“Please wrap yourself in the comforter. Lay your wet clothes over the partition.”

She was glad she had stoked the fireplace. The crackling blaze sufficiently warmed the room.

“…You sure are in the way.” Rose kicked the thief until he rolled aside. She tugged on the partition to give the bedroom side more space. Now Harij could warm up by the fireplace wrapped in the comforter.

“Rose, kick the thief over—”

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll pour a sleeping tonic down his throat and sprinkle a paralysis potion on him.”

“Th-That works…”

She fetched the potions from the cabinet and, once she did all the necessary steps, dumped them on the unconscious thief. This was the best she could do at the moment. Rendered harmless, the thief laid paralyzed on the floor.

Digging through her closet wouldn’t bring her any closer to finding clothes that would fit Harij. She squeezed out the soaked clothes he laid over the partition. If she propped them open so warm air could flow inside, the fireplace’s heat should dry them in no time. It had already grown hot enough in the room for Rose’s partially wet clothes to dry.

“That reminds me, you aren’t wearing your cloak or coat! Where is it?”

“I left what I could on the forest dock.”

“I’ll go get it! Stay here and keep warm!”

“Rose!”

Rose rushed out of the house, leaving Harij’s fairly angry shout behind. The boat wasn’t tied up at the dock, as expected. She circled around to the back of the island and found it bobbing slightly offshore. Grateful the waves hadn’t taken it out too far, she grabbed one of the oars the thief had dropped on the island and drew the boat in close with it.

Rose rowed to the forest dock and immediately found the rest of Harij’s clothes and sword—even the stunning blue knight’s cloak that she adored.

She nearly broke down crying on the spot. She scooped up his belongings with trembling fingers. For some reason, when she clutched them to her chest, a great sense of relief washed over her. Kicking her brain into gear that she had to hurry, she returned to the hermitage hugging his things. Harij met her at the door, already dressed.

“Your clothes…! Are they dry enough?”

“Yeah. Good enough. I’ll head out now.”

He was probably worried about leaving the thief in her house for too long. The corners of his lips turned up when he accepted the clothes she held tight to her chest.

“Thanks. You saved me.”

It was Harij who saved Rose. Hot tears stung the back of her eyes.

“Why…?”

Why did you swim across the freezing cold lake to rescue me?

Rose didn’t think it was fair to ask him that. After all, she was only saved because he put his life on the line to get to her.

“…Why were you here?” Rose rephrased her question.

Harij had been away from the capital on a mission to escort Princess Billaura to the border. He shouldn’t have had any business in these remote woods that required him to be in his knight’s attire. Especially not in the middle of the night.

“Were you…tailing the thief?”

Harij shook his head as he fastened on his sword. He made a face as if he had eaten sour candy.

“…I was wondering…what you were up to…,” he murmured uncomfortably.

“…Hmm?”

“I was going to drop by for a bit if the lights were on. I wanted to ask if you had been well…and if you ran into any trouble while I was away…”

Rose stared at him in silent astonishment.

Couldn’t he have just asked Safina when he got home? Rose absolutely didn’t think that was a justifiable reason to venture deep into the woods in the middle of the night on his way back from a month-long excursion.

“You came…just for that?”

Harij scowled, his mood souring with her reaction. “It was worth it. I’m glad…I came. I better leave now,” he said, sulking, and lifted the thief up like a sack of potatoes.

“Ah, Mr.Client…!”

“What?” He turned a sullen face toward her.

Rose squeezed her hands together and bowed to him.

“Thank you very much…for saving me. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.”

Harij silently accepted her gratitude, ruffled her hair, and vanished into the darkness of night.

∴ ∵ ∴

“AZM, calm down.”

A voice called Harij back to reality. Geones, his fellow knight, grimly watched him.

Like Harij, Geones had just returned from a mission. As one of the officers who lived in the military dormitory, Geones had dropped by the barracks before returning to his quarters, and that was when he spotted Harij carrying in the thief who had been the talk of the town. He was shocked to say the least. The jailhouse was closed at this late hour, so Harij had hauled the thief into the knights’ barracks.

“Do I not look calm to you?”

“Sure, you may have been calm on the outside, but you looked like you were ready to kill him.”

Harij clicked his tongue. If he could’ve killed the man, he would’ve. He despised him enough to do it.

Harij, who had worked without a break for a month, rewarded himself with a visit to the Witch’s hermitage. He was just planning to get a glimpse of her house from the woods.

He never thought he would want to see her this badly after only being apart for a month.

Is she cold? Is she making sure to eat? Does she need any extra help? She hasn’t run into any problems, has she? The cityfolk haven’t done anything mean to her, right? Those ignorant city guards haven’t pestered her again, have they?

He had ordered his trustworthy servant of many years—Safina—to help out Rose the best he could, but he really wanted to be the one to be there for her.

He wanted to cherish and take care of Rose in every way possible.

Was she lonely?

Harij was.

Though he was accompanying Billaura, the girl he protected and cared for like a little sister, on her journey to get married, his thoughts were full of Rose.

He couldn’t forget the moment he saw Rose dressed like the other city girls from his horse. Harij hadn’t expected to see her before he departed, so he felt as if he were walking on air for several days after.

His mind was so full of Rose that even Billaura snickered at him and teased, “You have been afflicted by a sickness not even the Witch’s secret potions can cure.”

At last, Harij understood what affliction she meant. This burning emotion that made one think of another even when they were apart—he knew what thousands, no, tens of thousands of people called it.

Harij thought back to the events of the night.

“…Is she already asleep?”

Rose’s house sat quietly in the middle of the dark lake.

I’m glad she’s getting some rest. I know she’s used to nighttime visitors, but I want her to sleep at night.

Harij refrained from walking up to the dock—afraid the bell would wake her. But he soon noticed the boat was gliding across the lake.

“A client…at this hour?”

Conveniently ignoring that he had been just such a customer, Harij was annoyed with whoever it was who dared come at this time. There wasn’t a single light on in Rose’s house. He had never really paid it any mind before, but Rose was always waiting up with the lights on when Harij came at night. She probably lit the candles to welcome the clients after hearing the dock bell ring.

Even though that was her custom, the Witch’s hermitage was still covered in darkness. The boat was also heading to the back of the island for some reason. Harij couldn’t pry his eyes away as a gut feeling told him something was amiss.

Then he heard glass break in the distance.

Harij peeled off his boots and heavy outer clothes without a second’s delay, as if that sound signaled the start of an urgent race. Stripped down to his pants and thin undershirt, he felt the winter cold sending goose bumps prickling along his skin. He left everything on the shore, including his sword.

He quietly entered the lake so no one would notice. Colder than ice, the water instantly sapped the heat from his body. The bone-chilling cold racked through him, but he swam despite the pain. He approached without making a sound.

The small boat had already landed on the island. No one was on board. As he came up on shore, the chill in the air took what little warmth he had left. Frigid winds blowing over the island from the water mercilessly pounded against his wet body.

He opened and closed his fists several times to warm up. Everything would be pointless if he was rendered immobile during the most crucial moment.

Nothing would be better than if he was just being overly sensitive and jumping to conclusions. The best-case scenario would be if a sleepy Rose had accidentally broken a glass and her visitor was just someone who didn’t know how to row a boat correctly.

He hoped this whole thing could just end with him being a laughingstock for charging head first into a freezing lake.

But…what if something really was out of the ordinary?

“Whenever someone questionable comes by, I immediately hide in the cellar under the floorboards.”

Harij gritted his teeth. When Rose first told him that, his initial reaction was pure and simple pity. Since he was brought up believing women should be protected, Rose seemed pitiful for not having anyone to look after her.

But now he highly respected Rose for doing just fine taking care of herself all this time. And he sincerely hoped she would let him be there for her from now on.

He picked up a hoe from the garden on his way to the front door. The door was ajar. A man’s voice came from inside.

“Well, damn. The Witch isn’t here. I came all the way here to have some fun with her because I heard she’s a young broad.”

Even though Harij should have been freezing to death, his whole body boiled with anger. He suppressed his rage and hid behind the front door. He looked past the other man’s shoulders into the house. Rushing in without a grasp on the situation was the last thing he should do. The man, tall and with ashen hair, was using Rose’s old lamp to search the house. His appearance perfectly fit the description of the thief who had been causing trouble before Harij left on his mission. But Harij couldn’t take action as a knight until he was positive the man wasn’t a client. The place was a mess, but given Rose’s normal tendencies, he couldn’t pin the blame on the man yet.

Fortunately, he heard the man say, “The Witch isn’t here.” She must have hidden in the cellar. He pictured her in that cramped space, shivering in fear. Harij clenched his hand around the hoe.

“This place sucks. There ain’t nothin’ worth shit here. They said she sells drugs by the boatload. I expected to hit the jackpot.”

Somewhere along the line, the information about her had become distorted. Rose’s potions weren’t the kind of drugs he was looking for.

At any rate, it was clear the man was trying to steal from Rose’s house. Harij decided to speak to the man first, before using physical force. But before he could, the other man said something that caused the vein in Harij’s temple to pulsate.

“…Well, that’s a nice surprise. So this is where you’ve been hiding?”

The man changed directions after hearing something. His gaze shot to the trapdoor, where Rose was likely hiding. The man shuffled forward. His gaze fixed on the rug concealing the door.

The option to speak first was off the table. Before he knew it, Harij was storming the room. By the time the thief realized Harij was coming for him, his mind and body were no longer a part of the waking world. With his last shred of rationality, Harij decided not to use the tip of the hoe, instead ramming the handle into the thief with all his strength.

The man slammed against the wall with a loud bang. Luckily, none of the stuff piled up in that corner of the house broke. Harij was relieved he didn’t damage Rose’s possessions.

Tossing the hoe aside, Harij grabbed the man by his collar and slammed his face into the wall. Once he confirmed the man’s eyes had rolled into his head, Harij tied him up with his belt. He made sure it was extra tight so he couldn’t slip loose.

Silence fell on the room. He searched for accomplices, but the man seemed to be acting alone.

Harij peeled off the rug and opened the door to the cellar. Rose’s deep-green eyes, illuminated by the lamplight, glistened when they found him.

Whenever he remembered Rose’s tears, he wanted to wipe the thief off the face of the planet.

“I’ll watch over him from here. You can’t very well turn over a corpse in the morning.”

Geones’s voice brought Harij back to the moment.

“Thanks. He’s all yours.”

Harij gratefully accepted his colleague’s generous offer and hastened home. By the time he arrived at his manor, purple clouds covered the sky and the morning sun was rising. The manor was alive with activity despite the early hour since he had sent a messenger ahead of him. Safina, the man in charge of organizing the servants, wasn’t there because he had already headed to Rose’s house per Harij’s orders.

Taking a bath helped Harij feel like himself again. Then he quickly filled his belly with a simple meal.

During that time, Geones thoughtfully sent a messenger with the testimony he extracted from the thief.

Apparently, the thief learned the Witch was a young woman from some small talk he overheard at a tavern. Some of the adults living in the city had found out the Witch was a woman of marriageable age when their kids threw mud balls at her and were chatting about it.

Intrigued, the thief asked them for more details. They happily obliged and told him all about how the Witch sold boatloads of medicine all hours of the day.

It was a well-known secret that the Witch’s customers mostly hailed from the upper class. The thief drew the wicked assumption that he could easily overpower a young woman. Thrilled by the idea of obtaining the Witch’s riches, he immediately began to scout the area around Rose.

Rose rarely ventured outside, and aside from getting visits from a man who delivered her food at the same time once every two days, she practically lived like a retiree. The thief’s plans were ready to be carried out in no time.

The messenger also informed Harij that Geones had handled the paperwork for him to take time off. Harij sent the messenger away with his gratitude and then rang for a servant.

“Safina—isn’t here. Is anyone around?”

One of the footmen silently ran over. He must have jumped out of bed to welcome Harij home. He was desperately trying to pat down a stubborn tuft of bed hair.

“Has the item I ordered before I left arrived?”

“No, my lord. We received word it would take more time.”

Harij sat on the sofa and laced his boots. “Please inform them that I hate to rush them, but the item will be pointless if I don’t have it in time.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Before you go, bring me my pick-me-up bottle off the shelf in my room. And prepare my horse. I’m heading out as soon as I finish my drink.”

As might be expected, swimming in the icy lake after working for a month straight with no break was taking a toll on him. Harij pressed a hand against his brow as he exhaled a strenuous breath.

The footman bowed, his unruly hair sticking up without his hand on it, and quietly left the room with his orders.