Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Witch of Fate’s Great Call - Chapter 49
Hearing that her sisters had arrived and were meeting with Vylon, Kalynia ran toward the audience chamber, hoping they hadn’t started fighting yet.
As the king, Vylon might consider it only natural to command her family to come to him. But that was a human hierarchy. Witches did not follow the hierarchy of humans.
No matter how great a king might be, they viewed humans as beneath them—unless they were someone especially revered.
‘Don’t worry, I don’t intend to upset your family,’ Vylon had said when she mentioned that her sisters might be angry.
He had no idea!
Kalynia was certain her sisters were already furious. She’d warned him not to engage them alone, but he hadn’t listened. Worried, she quickened her pace.
“Your Majesty! Hah, hah…”
She saw Harriette, who had been trying to keep up with her, falling behind, gasping for breath. Unfortunately, Kalynia didn’t have the luxury to wait for her.
Some of her sisters might be lenient with her husband because he was her choice. But Emily was different. She was kind only to family and treated others—especially humans—with merciless disdain.
Emily, who loved her family deeply, would not easily trust anyone, even if they were brought by her sister.
“I need to confirm if he truly loves you.”
In the name of ‘testing’ them, she would make her sister’s suitors and their families drink poison, offering only one antidote and forcing them to choose who would live.
Though she would apologize and show remorse afterward, Emily always repeated her actions, unable to suppress her deep-rooted distrust of humans.
Even passing the poison test didn’t mean instant acceptance into the family. She would still watch with caution for three whole years before acknowledging them.
‘What if she makes me drink poison too?’
A terrible thought crossed Kalynia’s mind, and she shook her head vigorously, trying to dismiss it, as she ran even faster.
Please, let the other sisters stop Emily!
Kalynia prayed all the way to the audience chamber, but her heart sank when she arrived and saw the situation before her.
Her sisters were standing in a circle around something in the middle, and she could see a foot sticking out from within the circle.
“No…!”
Kalynia pushed past her sisters and knelt beside Vylon’s fallen body. Her hands trembled as she tried to shake him awake, asking why he was lying there, but he remained unresponsive, his eyes closed.
No matter how many times she called his name or patted his face and chest, nothing changed. In her vision, which was blurring with tears, she saw an apple with a single bite taken out of it.
“What… What have you done?”
“We didn’t force him to eat it. He took it willingly,” said Emily, watching calmly, her voice devoid of any remorse or pity.
“You… You gave him a poison apple?”
Kalynia stammered, her lips quivering, shaking her head in disbelief.
He’d said he was resistant to poison, that even Snow White had survived Grimdelwald’s poison apple because of him. If that hadn’t been a boast, he wouldn’t die from something like a poison apple.
“W-Wake up, Vylon. Did you lie to me about being immune to poison? Did you?”
“It’s not poison, Kalynia. I placed a curse of eternal rest on the apple.”
Emily answered in Vylon’s place.
Kalynia’s mouth fell open as she looked up at her sister. Tears started to trickle from her eyes.
“Why… why did you do this? The curse of eternal rest can’t be undone!”
No matter how hard she tried, even with her sisters’ help, there was no way to break the curse.
The reason the curse of eternal rest was so powerful was that not even Emily, who cast it, could undo it. Once someone fell under it, that was the end.
“Why did you do this? Why?”
Kalynia wept, clutching Emily’s leg, hitting her in despair.
“Why!”
“There is a way to break it, isn’t there?”
Through Kalynia’s sobs, Catherine spoke.
“If you truly love him, you can break the curse.”
Of course. True love’s kiss.
Only then did Kalynia remember that powerful magic that could break any curse. It was almost like cheating, a magic that even humans could wield.
Kalynia, tears still clinging to her lashes, looked around at her sisters. As if expecting her to fail, they all looked away, avoiding her gaze.
Why are they reacting like that? Kalynia couldn’t even bring herself to be angry at her sisters. She, too, doubted if she could wake him with a kiss.
Did she truly love him? Enough to break the curse of eternal rest?
“I… I can’t…”
“Then let’s go,” said Emily, smiling faintly as she tried to pull Kalynia to her feet.
But Catherine pointed at Vylon.
“He’s bleeding.”
In the time she hesitated, his condition had worsened, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.
There was no more time to hesitate. Kalynia, who had just said she couldn’t, approached him immediately and kissed him. As their lips met, the blood seeping from his mouth brushed faintly against hers.
“Vylon.”
Kalynia held her breath, calling his name. She watched closely to see if his brow would twitch or his fingers would move even slightly. But there was no response.
So, she didn’t love him enough after all? She didn’t love him enough to break the curse?
“No. If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t feel this sad. It’s like my heart has been ripped out. It hurts so much!”
