Chapter 02
The Girl Was a Great Witch (2)
Because of the travel expenses, their schedule had been packed tightly. Even the rain wasn’t enough reason to delay the journey.
“Arman is an excellent coachman. We’ll be fine.”
Just as the Duchess said, Arman had faithfully served the ducal family as a coachman for over twenty years.
But even a veteran like him could do nothing against a sudden swarm of monsters.
“Skreeee! Skree!”
“Buzzclaws! Throw away anything shiny before they go after it!”
The Buzzclaws resembled crows. Individually, they were weak monsters.
The problem was that they traveled in flocks.
The two brothers and the knights could easily handle one or two Buzzclaws, but with so many attacking at once, their coordination slowly began to fall apart.
“Damn it! Over here! Come this way!”
One of the Buzzclaws that had been lured by the flashing swords suddenly turned its attention toward the horses and carriage instead.
“Hiiiiiing!”
Terrified, the horses bolted wildly.
“Oh merciful gods, please!”
The carriage swayed violently.
The Duchess tightly wrapped her arms around Mariella beside her.
Unable to withstand the speed, the old carriage tilted sharply to one side. A wheel snapped loose, and the entire carriage rolled down the slope beside the mountain road.
Leaving the knights to fend off the remaining monsters, the brothers rushed after the tumbling carriage in desperation.
But there was nothing they could do.
“No!”
Broken wooden fragments scattered through the air.
As the carriage rolled violently over the rough mountainside, every window shattered. The frail walls groaned and splintered apart.
Crash!
Only after the carriage slammed into the muddy ground did the chaos finally fall silent.
Careful not to slip on the rain-soaked slope and cause another accident, the brothers approached the overturned carriage.
“Mr. Arman!”
The poor coachman was barely clinging to life.
Fear tightening their chests, the brothers hurried toward the shattered carriage.
“Father!”
Blood streamed down Duke Esteban’s head.
“Mother! Mari!”
The Duchess and Mariella, still clutching each other tightly, were unconscious as well.
Despair and grief darkened the brothers’ faces.
What was a witch?
No one knew their true origins, but the most accepted theory claimed they were descendants of failed creations—beings the gods had once intended to take as companions before abandoning them to mingle with humans.
Perhaps that was why witches were all extraordinarily beautiful, retained their youth for centuries, and wielded magic as naturally as breathing itself.
And not only that.
With nothing more than words and willpower, they could create miracles… or curses.
Among them, there was one witch who stood incomparably above all others.
Shyloy.
Even the White Dragon Herais obeyed her as a familiar.
There was truly nothing in the world she feared.
If she desired something, she had to possess it.
If she wished to do something, she did it.
“You damned witch. I’ve been called cruel plenty of times myself, but I’ve never met a woman as vicious as you.”
“Shut up, Herais. Unless you want to spend tonight dancing over lava.”
Even dragons—creatures humans worshiped as perfect beings—dared not openly defy her.
“If you do not correct that attitude, your end will be miserable. Please conduct yourself with the dignity worthy of a Great Witch.”
A mere human.
Just because he knew how to swing a sword, he thought he could lecture a Great Witch?
Wasn’t that deserving of death?
No… killing him quickly would be too merciful.
He should suffer slowly instead.
And so Shyloy cursed his family.
Unlike witches, who valued individual lives above all else, humans often treasured the fate of their family more than their own.
Watching the House of Esteban writhe beneath wave after wave of misfortune brought Shyloy immense satisfaction.
Never imagining how deeply she would regret that decision someday.
When Mariella opened her eyes, the first thing that escaped her lips was a curse.
“…Fuck.”
“M-My lady!”
Betty stared at her in shock.
Then tears welled in the maid’s eyes as she grasped Mariella’s hand.
“You wouldn’t wake up for three days… I was so worried.”
Honestly, Mariella felt like crying too.
They said unlucky people could break their nose just by falling backward.
Then why—
Why had she regained memories of such a pointless past life?
Remembering Borden Pavilion—the traitor she absolutely needed to destroy—had been useful enough.
But along with the memory of that traitor came the unbearable weight of her old sins.
“…My past self should’ve just died.”
“M-My lady! What are you saying?!”
Betty cried out in horror.
Mariella had momentarily forgotten someone else was in the room.
“No, I mean… I should’ve been more careful.”
“My lady… this accident was simply bad luck. What matters is that you’ve regained consciousness.”
Right.
It wasn’t entirely her fault.
‘This is all because of that bastard, Esteban Supern…’
Ah.
Technically he was her ancestor now, so calling him a bastard felt inappropriate.
‘Damn it. Damn it all!’
Along with her memories, Mariella had also regained her awful temper.
She suddenly wanted to smash everything in sight.
‘Why was my old self so full of rage…?’
If only she had ignored Esteban like a barking dog and left the ducal family alone.
Then they would still be living proudly as members of a flourishing noble house.
And Mariella, adopted into that family, would’ve enjoyed that wealth and happiness alongside them.
That stupid lizard had always told her to control her temper.
She never imagined those words would hit this hard one day.
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
With hollow eyes, Mariella patted Betty’s shoulder and sighed.
“Marie!”
“You lazy slug. How are you the last one to wake up in a situation like this…?”
Soon, Mariella reunited with her brothers.
Both Morsen and Marey looked terribly exhausted.
‘Father still hasn’t woken up, and Mother’s confined to bed for the foreseeable future… of course they look like this.’
Even if they were older brothers, Marey was only two years older than her, and Morsen merely five.
From the perspective of a Great Witch who had lived over a century, they were little more than children with barely any blood dry in their veins.
Naturally, they couldn’t remain calm while their family lay gravely injured.
Yet despite everything, they still smiled gently at their little sister after she woke up.
That only made them seem more pitiful to her.
“I’m just glad you woke up.”
Morsen spoke in a hoarse voice as he stroked her hair.
Once, his touch had always felt dependable.
But now, after regaining memories of her past life, it felt strangely like a child trying to comfort another child.
“Betty mentioned we’re staying in the Imperial Palace… how did that happen?”
The ducal family didn’t own a townhouse in the capital.
They had originally planned to rent rooms at an inn for a few days.
So Mariella assumed they had simply been moved to a nearby inn after the accident.
But when she awoke, the room surrounding her was far more luxurious and elegant than even her chambers back at the ducal estate.
“By chance, His Highness the Second Prince was patrolling the outskirts of the capital and came to our aid,” Morsen explained. “He helped eliminate the Buzzclaws and provided us with doctors and a place to stay.”
“Patrolling?”
“The capital is usually safe, but during storms like this, low-level monsters sometimes wander into the outskirts.”
“Hmph. Then the capital isn’t all that impressive. Our duchy’s safer.”
Mariella muttered bitterly, biting her lip.
“How are Father and Mother?”
“Mother needs complete rest for a while… and Father…”
Morsen hesitated.
“I’m sure he’ll wake up soon.”
It was no different from what Betty had already told her.
‘I want to believe that too, but…’
The moment her past memories returned, Mariella sensed the lingering scent of powerful Word Magic wrapped around those carrying Esteban blood.
The remnants of Great Witch Shyloy’s curse.
A force dragging the Esteban family toward ruin.
Most likely, Duke Esteban would not regain consciousness anytime soon.
“So don’t worry about anything,” Morsen said softly. “Focus on recovering.”
“Yeah. And stop reading useless books for a while. You’ll rot your bones away.”
Marey teased her playfully, but unlike usual, Mariella couldn’t argue back.
In a way…
All of this was her fault.
Seeing them smile warmly at her while knowing absolutely nothing made her chest ache.
They seemed foolish.
And unbearably pitiable.
“…That’s strange. You’re usually the first to argue back. Are you sick? Should I call the doctor?”
Mariella found it harder and harder to meet her brothers’ eyes.
And just as she expected, Duke Esteban never woke up.
Thanks to the Imperial Family’s final act of generosity, the three Esteban siblings were allowed to use a magic portal to safely and quickly return their injured parents to the ducal estate.
Over a month passed with Duke Esteban still unconscious.
Morsen, who had merely acted as temporary head of the family, officially became the new Duke.
At only twenty-one years old.
Meanwhile, Mariella gradually sorted through the chaos caused by the return of her memories and reached a new decision.
“Right. If I caused this mess, then I’ll clean it up myself!”
The Great Witch Shyloy had cursed the Esteban family out of hatred for the duke of that era.
But the current Mariella loved the people of House Esteban.
Or more precisely—
She loved this family.
They were kind, gentle people.
She no longer wanted them to suffer beneath the curse.
“I have to break Shyloy’s curse.”
If she succeeded, the shadow of misfortune hanging over the ducal family would slowly disappear.
The Duchess would recover completely.
The unconscious Duke would awaken once more.
However, there was one small—
No, rather enormous—
Problem standing in the way of that goal.
