✧ Chapter 5 ✧
“This is how you do it. Step on the chestnut burr with your foot, and when the chestnut pops out, pick it up.”
After I showed her how to collect chestnuts safely without hurting her hands, Luna quickly learned.
Luka was still clumsy with using his feet, so he kept missing the round chestnut burrs.
In the end, he gave up.
Whenever Luna stepped on a burr, he happily picked up the chestnuts that popped out.
The two little chestnuts ran around doing their own jobs together.
They were just too adorable.
“Ah… you little chestnuts.”
As soon as we got home, I lit a small fire in the backyard and roasted the chestnuts.
“I’m hungry! I’m hungry!”
“Me too!”
“If you keep running around, you’ll only get hungrier.”
The children had been running around the fire like hungry baby birds, chirping that they were starving.
But the moment I took out the first roasted chestnut, they quietly sat down.
When I cracked open the blackened shell, steam rose into the air, revealing a perfectly roasted chestnut inside.
I peeled it carefully, blew on the golden chestnut until it cooled a little, and handed it to them.
“Eat slowly.”
“Wow! Chestnuts taste like honey.”
“It’s yummy!”
After washing the soot from around their mouths and finishing some housework, it was already dinner time.
Tonight’s dinner was grilled homemade sausages with a mushroom omelet.
The children watched curiously while I cooked.
As I picked out fresh mushrooms, they came over and searched through the basket.
“This is the one I picked, right?”
“This one! This one’s mine!”
I made each omelet using the mushrooms they had picked themselves.
This time, they finished every bite.
Just yesterday they said they hated mushrooms…
Maybe slicing them thin and mixing them with eggs hid the texture and taste.
But more than that…
I was sure it was because they had picked them with their own hands.
Oh…
Maybe I should try the same thing with carrots next time.
Honestly, carrot cake barely tasted like carrots.
It wasn’t very helpful if I wanted them to actually like carrots.
The next day, I took the children to the vegetable garden to pull up carrots.
They happily carried little garden shovels and freshly dug carrots covered in dirt.
…Didn’t they even have a garden at home?
The children said it was their first time harvesting vegetables.
Why are there so many things they’ve never done before?
Holding back my tears, I made a promise to myself.
I’ll let these little ones experience everything they’ve missed until now.
I had them wash the carrots they had picked.
Since peeling them was dangerous, I let the enchanted kitchen knife do that part.
“Have you ever baked a cake before?”
“No.”
Sigh…
Whoever their parents were…
They were truly terrible.
“Then today, Luna and Luka will bake a carrot cake all by themselves.”
“What do you think?”
“Okay!”
“Yay!”
I put flour, salt, and the other dry ingredients into a large bowl and placed it in front of Luka.
Since Luna was better with her hands, I gave her another bowl with eggs and oil.
“Be careful not to spill.”
I handed each of them a small whisk and showed them how to mix the ingredients.
Luna had never beaten eggs before.
But she was patient.
She carefully followed everything I taught her.
Luka, on the other hand…
Was still little.
He spilled flour everywhere until the whole table looked like early winter.
After mixing everything together, we added grated carrots and chopped walnuts.
Then we poured the batter into a round cake pan and placed it inside the oven.
The children sat together in front of it.
Resting their chins on their hands, they stared at the oven as if praying for the cake to come out perfectly.
“Now…”
“Pick out the carrots we’ll use for lunch.”
Using the prettiest carrots they carefully chose, I made beef stew.
“Huh?”
“It tastes like potatoes.”
“Yeah!”
Since the carrots had been chopped into tiny pieces and cooked until they were soft, they no longer had their usual taste.
At first, the children carefully pushed the little carrot pieces aside with their spoons.
But after accidentally eating a few pieces mixed in with the potatoes…
They happily started eating bowl after bowl.
“Then…”
“Good children who finish all their carrots deserve a reward.”
I brought over the carrot cake that had been cooling by the window.
The children clapped happily.
“I wish big bwother could eat this with us too.”
While I searched through the cupboard for tea leaves, I heard Luka whisper behind me.
Big brother?
So they had an older brother.
There wasn’t another sibling in the original fairy tale.
“Shh.”
“Don’t talk about Oppa.”
“What if she sends us back?”
So…
The story about their house burning down really had been a lie.
“But…”
“I miss Oppa.”
“I wish he could live here with us too.”
“With that king of nagging?”
“Even so…”
“He abandoned us.”
…Abandoned them?
Just moments ago, I had been thinking about inviting their older brother to visit.
Now my heart became complicated.
How could he abandon his younger siblings?
But…
How desperate must his situation have been to make such a choice?
Still…
The ones I felt the sorriest for were these children.
I poured milk into their cups and gently patted their little round heads.
“What if she sends us back?”
I understood why Luka felt that way.
He had already opened his heart to me.
But even Luna, who had always been wary of me…
Now wanted to stay here too.
My chest felt warm.
No one had ever wanted to stay beside an evil witch like me.
I understood why.
But it still made me lonely.
Maybe the children wanted to stay because of the delicious cakes…
Or because of Daisy and Lady.
But…
Maybe…
Just maybe…
Those pure little eyes had seen the real me.
Today, I left the forest and went to the village for the first time in a long while.
Luna and Luka ate so well that we had already run out of flour and meat after only a few days.
Holding hands with the children, I walked into the village.
Everyone quietly avoided me.
Yet they couldn’t stop staring.
It was probably because the young witch who always lived alone was suddenly walking around with two small children.
I had wanted to leave them at the cottage and come by myself.
But both of them insisted on coming with me.
Daisy and Lady are there…
But I still don’t feel comfortable leaving two little children home alone.
We stopped at the grocery store first.
While I paid for flour, sugar, honey, and other supplies, Luna looked up at me and asked,
“How does a witch make money?”
She really was sharp.
Even adults who were curious about witches had never asked me that.
“Uh…”
“I just sell jam and mushrooms.”
I felt a little sorry for lying to Luna.
Who would ever buy something sold by an evil witch?
The truth was…
I was incredibly rich.
The basement of my cottage was filled with bags and jars overflowing with gold coins.
Being rich in this life felt like a dream.
Even so, I wanted to live simply.
How did the original owner of this body earn all that money?
I hadn’t forgotten the illustration I drew.
The witch counting gold coins.
Since she was the villain…
There was no way she had earned that money honestly.
My conscience wouldn’t let me spend money that had probably come from hurting others.
So I only spent the minimum I needed to live.
But now…
My family had grown.
I decided it was all right to spend just a little more.
I bought a whole pork leg as big as Luka and a large piece of beef sirloin.
Soon both my hands were full.
I even had the enchanted broom carry the rest of the bags.
Just then—
“I heard the Grand Duke has gone crazy.”
The voices of several women chatting outside the bakery next to the butcher shop reached my ears.
The Grand Duke went crazy?
I tilted my head.
There was only one Grand Duke in the Empire.
Elliot Blaine, the Grand Duke.
After his parents passed away several years ago, he inherited the title while he was still young.
He was the ruler of the Grand Duchy where I lived.
Even after the previous Grand Duke suddenly died, the territory continued to prosper without being caught up in political struggles.
Everyone praised the young Grand Duke for his outstanding abilities.
People also said he was a born swordsman who had earned great achievements in battles against monsters and in war.
And that wasn’t all.
They said he was so handsome that anyone who saw him couldn’t look away.
People always described him the same way.
Silver hair that looked as if fairies had carefully woven it from moonlight.
Purple eyes as clear as the finest amethysts in the world.
There was even a rumor that the greatest sculptor of the age had failed to carve his face in marble and became a hermit afterward.
On top of that…
He was a member of the imperial family and third in line to the throne.
Countless noble families wanted their daughters to marry him.
Even someone like me, who knew almost nothing about the outside world, had heard those stories.
So…
How could such a remarkable man suddenly go crazy?
“What made him go crazy?”
Thankfully, one of the women asked exactly what I wanted to know.
“It’s because of the young Lady and young Master of the Grand Duke’s family.”
Huh?
The Grand Duke has children?
When did he even get married?
No one else asked.
Apparently everyone already knew about his marriage.
Wow…
I really have no idea what’s happening in the outside world.
Maybe I should come into the village more often now that I had children.
After all…
Raising children wasn’t just about having the right tools.
It was also about having the right information.
While I was lost in thought, the women continued talking.
“I heard the Grand Duke has a terrible headache because of them.”
“That’s right.”
“The nannies don’t even last two days.”
“The rules are strict, and the children are so difficult.”
“Tsk, tsk.”
“The family has always been known for being well-mannered and intelligent.”
“I wonder how things ended up like this.”
“But… they still haven’t found it?”
Found what?
Were they talking about another nanny?
I heard them mention an unbelievably huge amount of money.
At first, I thought they meant the salary.
But when I found out what that enormous reward was actually for…
My mouth fell open.
