Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Witch of Fate’s Great Call - Chapter 12
When she hesitated to raise her face, Vylon grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up.
“…It’s not you.”
Fortunately, the spell was still intact. Vylon clicked his tongue in disappointment before continuing on his way.
I’m safe…!
Kalynia felt her heart, which had been pounding in fear, slowly relax. She wondered why he had needed to look at her face. It made her nervous that he might have noticed something, but for now, the danger had passed.
This was the risk of working in such a busy area, she thought. So, she subtly hinted to the head maid that she’d prefer to work somewhere more out of sight.
“In that case, you can help organize the storeroom from tomorrow.”
Thankfully, the head maid granted her request. Although the storeroom was further from the king’s bedchamber, Kalynia was okay with that. She intended to lie low and observe the situation for at least a week.
Above all, the king would surely never visit an unused storeroom, so she felt she could relax a bit.
Or so she thought.
In the middle of cleaning the dusty storeroom, the door suddenly burst open.
Standing there with a sharp gaze was the king, inspecting each maid’s face one by one.
“No.”
“No.”
“You’re not her either.”
He declared each maid as not being the one he was looking for, then began searching the storeroom as though baffled.
“Strange. The mirror doesn’t lie. Are you the only ones working here?”
The king asked, and an older maid who’d been in the storeroom for a while confirmed it.
At this point, Kalynia realized why the king was acting so strangely.
He knew that a witch was in the castle and even had her exact location. He must have asked the mirror. It seemed Grimdelwald’s mirror, with its exceptional powers, had put her in danger.
“Somewhere in here…”
If she remained still, she might be discovered. Kalynia’s mouth went dry.
“Pardon, Your Majesty…”
Gathering her courage, she pointed to a corner of the room, claiming she’d seen a woman running away as soon as the king had entered.
Her plan was to slip into his bedchamber to steal the mirror while Vylon searched for a non-existent intruder. Without hesitation, he headed in the direction she pointed.
This was her chance. With the king and all the other maids distracted, she began inching toward the door.
She was almost there. Just as she thought she’d made it, she felt herself being lifted off the ground. Having experienced this before, Kalynia immediately knew who it was.
“Ack! Let me go!”
She screamed, intending to burst Vylon’s eardrums.
No matter how loudly she screamed, it seemed to have no effect on him.
Vylon removed one of her shoes. Not only was her identity as a witch revealed, but he’d also stripped her of her ability to use magic.
“Too bad, Witch. Now you won’t be able to use magic anymore.”
Though she couldn’t see his face, his triumphant tone came through clearly in his voice.
* * *
Kalynia lay sprawled in despair on the cold floor of the dungeon. Without her magic shoes, she was completely barefoot and helpless, with no chance of escape.
“You’re not the first witch to try to steal the mirror. The others all failed and barely escaped with their lives. But you’re out of luck,” the guard taunted her, chuckling.
From his words, it was clear that she had no hope. Even other witches who could use magic had barely managed to survive. Without her shoes, Kalynia knew she was doomed to execution. She felt tears welling up.
“If I’d known it would come to this, I should’ve just let myself be turned into a frog.”
Even if she’d been transformed, her sisters wouldn’t have let her starve. They would’ve fed her something other than flies if she refused to eat them.
Catherine might have been furious, but if Kalynia had been withering away from not eating, she would’ve eventually shown concern, secretly giving her food while scolding her to eat faster.
“Sisters, I miss you…”
With death approaching, the faces of her family members came to mind, one by one—her mother and father, who had passed away long ago…
“It’s been so long that I can barely remember, but I miss them.”
She didn’t know how long she’d been sniffling before she fell asleep. When she awoke, she heard birds chirping through a small window high up on the wall. It seemed a whole day had passed.
So, this is the end of my life as a witch. How pathetic, to die without accomplishing anything.
She had fought so hard to survive, running from danger since childhood.
But to end up captured while trying to steal a mirror and facing execution… it felt so empty.
“At least, on my way out, I should cast a good curse.”
She had never successfully cast a curse. Even now, facing death, it might not work. But humans were easily intimidated. They tended to overreact whenever a witch uttered something cryptic, often scaring themselves.
If she could frighten them enough, the curse might be remembered, and her name could be whispered in the annals of witch lore.
