✧ Chapter 1 ✧
“Gasp!”
The moment I lifted my head above the water, the strong current crashed over me. I still couldn’t breathe.
“What do we do?!”
“Call 119!”
I struggled with my arms and legs, but the river swept me away far too easily. My head sank back into the muddy water, and the screams of the people standing on the riverbank became faint.
“Hel…”
Gurgle.
My cry for help never became a sound. Cold water rushed into my lungs before I could speak.
Was it foolish to jump into the river to save a child when I wasn’t even a good swimmer?
But I don’t regret it.
That child will safely return to their parents today.
I have no one waiting for me.
So it’s okay.
Soon, everything before my eyes turned black. The pain that felt like my lungs were being torn apart slowly faded, and my body began to feel light.
Had my body floated to the surface?
Or was my soul leaving my dead body?
But…
“I don’t want to die yet…”
There were still so many things I wanted to do.
Strangely enough, the first thing that came to mind was that I had never even been in love.
“I don’t want to die yet!”
A strange woman’s desperate scream echoed inside my head.
“Gasp!”
The moment an invisible hand tightly grabbed my wrist, my eyes flew open.
“Ha… haa…”
As the blockage in my throat disappeared, I gasped for air.
Something I had always taken for granted—breathing—had never felt so precious.
Did someone save me?
As my blurry vision slowly became clear, I didn’t see the bright autumn sky or the face of the person who had rescued me.
“Aah! What is this?!”
The skull I threw from my hand rolled across a rough wooden table.
“And what… is all this?”
The skull wasn’t the only strange thing.
Candles and old books were scattered across the table. A huge magic circle, like something straight out of a fantasy animation, was drawn on its surface.
At my feet was a treasure chest sitting wide open.
I picked up one of the gold coins inside.
“Huh?”
The Imperial crest engraved on the coin looked familiar.
“This is the gold coin I drew.”
This made no sense.
I was sure I had died while saving one of the kindergarten children during our autumn picnic.
This wasn’t the park where I had fallen into the river.
Nor was it the afterlife.
“Isn’t this… inside that fairy tale?”
As I looked around, I froze once again.
“…!”
In the mirror hanging on the wall, a familiar yet unfamiliar woman stared back at me with wide eyes.
Soft wavy brown hair.
Emerald-green eyes.
Smooth ivory skin.
A young woman with a face anyone would find pleasant.
“A witch.”
I had become the evil witch from the fairy tale I had illustrated.
* * *
My name was Hazel, the witch of the Black Forest.
I used to have another name, but no one had called me by it for years.
My hobby was baking cookies shaped like people.
My other hobby was inviting people over and serving them those person-shaped cookies.
But the people here were unbelievably mean.
After happily eating my cookies, they spread ridiculous rumors about me.
“Hazel, the witch of the Black Forest, bakes people!”
Because of that, I gained another nickname.
Hazel, the ‘man-eating’ witch of the Black Forest.
After that, no one came to visit my cottage anymore.
It was lonely.
So after thinking hard, I decided to set a cute and sweet trap.
A house made entirely of sweets.
So adorable and delicious that no one could simply walk past it.
Oh, I caught one!
Rustling sounds came from beyond the wide-open kitchen window.
“Haah…”
I even heard someone taking a deep breath.
Trying to calm my pounding heart, I slowly peeked through the window.
A young girl carrying a basket full of mushrooms removed one of the gingerbread people decorating the wall.
She swallowed nervously before taking a bite.
Smiling as kindly as I could, I asked,
“It’s delicious, isn’t it? There are plenty more inside. I even have all kinds of tea.”
“I-It’s the man-eating witch!”
Seriously?
She happily ate my cookie and then called me a man-eating witch.
How rude.
Still reminding myself to stay kind, I tried again.
“Come insi—”
“Help! Someone save me!”
The girl ran away as fast as she could along the path beside the stream.
The basket she threw away while running rolled across the grass.
The corners of my mouth drooped.
But I quickly cheered myself up and rolled up my sleeves.
This wasn’t the first time.
“I guess I have to replace the decoration she ate.”
I flicked my index finger.
The whisk that had been stirring batter by itself inside a large bowl stopped and tapped against the edge of the bowl.
Thick white icing dripped from it.
Holding the bowl of icing in my arms, I opened the door of my small, cozy cottage.
Bright sunlight poured down from above.
“Perfect.”
“It’s the perfect day for tea.”
Of course, rainy days were perfect because it rained.
Snowy days were perfect because it snowed.
Just like every day was a good day for a drink.
I walked around the cottage toward the kitchen window.
A tray of freshly baked cookies was cooling on the windowsill.
“Good. They’re just right.”
As I spread icing over the wall and carefully attached a hardened cookie, I tilted my head.
“Hm?”
One corner of the house had been bitten off.
It was about as high as my waist.
“Who ate this? Honestly. They enjoyed it without even saying thank you?”
I scolded the unknown culprit, who might still be nearby, then repaired the damaged spot by sticking on a cookie as big as my face.
Well…
Looks like today’s tea time would be another lonely one.
I skillfully prepared the tea table.
On a bright autumn day like this, a red mushroom-patterned teapot and matching teacups were perfect.
Next, I placed a dessert plate decorated with delicate lace patterns.
Finally, I set today’s prey of the “man-eating witch” on it—
a person-shaped cookie.
“How would you like to look today, sir?”
First, I drew its eyes, nose, and mouth with chocolate icing.
When I crooked my finger toward it, the flat cookie suddenly trembled before standing up on the plate.
“Maybe today… you’ll be a gentleman.”
I opened a cookie box and took out a chocolate cookie shaped like a top hat.
The cookie accepted it, placed it on its head, and gave me a wink.
“Hm… Something’s missing.”
As I watched the cookie pretending to whistle while holding the brim of its hat, I suddenly clapped my hands.
“Ah! A cane!”
A proper gentleman needed a cane.
I took out a red-and-white striped candy cane from the cupboard.
The cookie eagerly grabbed it and spun it around proudly.
Then I decorated it with a bow tie and a fine suit made from icing.
Now the perfect gentleman was complete.
“Go on. Turn around.”
The gentleman cookie spun in a circle before tipping its hat elegantly.
“Perfect.”
“Today’s masterpiece is finished.”
The cookie wasn’t actually alive.
It simply moved like a puppet, following my thoughts and hand gestures.
Leaving it dancing on the plate, I picked up my teacup.
Carrot cake.
Apple pie.
Cookies of every flavor.
A basket overflowing with scones.
Anyone who saw this might think it was too much food for one person.
But my late grandmother always said,
“Even if it’s just one meal, prepare it properly.”
As her granddaughter, I followed those words.
Even when I ate alone, I always prepared a proper meal.
It was my reward for working hard.
My appearance and even my name had changed.
But that habit never had.
It would be perfect…
if only I had someone to drink tea with.
Well, I wasn’t truly alone.
There just weren’t any people here.
“Daisy, I tell you every day—no.”
As I enjoyed my homemade chamomile tea, a tuxedo cat sat at the table, drooling as it watched the dancing cookie.
A Golden Retriever lying on its back beneath the still-warm oven looked over and clicked its tongue.
[Daisy. More like Pigsy.]
“Lady.”
I glared at Lady for teasing Daisy before gently petting the whining cat.
“I’ll bake you some cookies made just for cats.”
[Then I can eat them too? Great! Great!]
[No. Stop trying to make me fatter. Look at your belly. It wasn’t this big when I was using that body.]
Watching a cat acting like a dog and a dog scolding it like a cat, I quietly sipped my tea.
Those two had swapped souls.
The evil witch who originally possessed this body had switched them during one of her experiments before I arrived in this world.
I had seen plenty of stories where people were reincarnated into romance fantasy novels or BL novels.
But reincarnating into a fairy tale?
That was a first.
This was the fairy tale I had illustrated.
Hansel and Gretel in Wonderland.
During the day, I was a kindergarten teacher.
At night, I worked as an illustrator.
Not long before I died, I had received a request to illustrate a fairy tale with that title.
“The original illustrator became ill. Since your art style is similar, could you redraw the witch scenes?”
The book had already been published.
They only wanted the scenes featuring the witch redrawn.
The reason was…
[The witch looks way too scary. T_T]
The review section was flooded with one-star ratings and complaints.
[My 30-month-old daughter had a meltdown!]
[My child used to sleep alone, but now she insists on sleeping between her mom and dad every night. There goes our plan for a second baby… sob.]
Was it really that bad?
Unable to resist my curiosity, I searched for the illustrations myself.
