The Red Witch - Chapter 15
2.
‘Well now? The curse is broken, isn’t it? So you’re free to fly off wherever you please, just as you always wished.’
That had been Madam Raelin’s reply when Kiara once asked what, exactly, would change after marriage. To just go wherever she wanted — was it really that simple? Madam Raelin had smiled at her dazed, disbelieving expression.
‘Fairies are born in the Black Forest, but they’re far rarer than witches. And among them, a fairy queen born from the lifting of a witch’s curse is something you might see once in a hundred years. A great omen of fortune. You, Lady Kiara… you are that fairy queen. You’ve become Lady Tiona, and now you’ll protect Altnebra.’
Madam Raelin had said it like a fable, tightening the cloth stretched over her embroidery frame. She’d been stitching the wedding veil at the time.
The veil, she’d explained, was sent by the groom to the bride. In Altnebra, it was considered the most important of all wedding gifts. So much so that families would begin seeking skilled embroiderers long before the match was even finalized.
‘They usually embroider the groom’s family crest into the veil. Since the royal family of Altnebra is a distant branch of the imperial line, they’re permitted to use lions in their emblem. See? Here’s one. The mane is especially tricky. Not many can stitch it as sharply as I can.’
Kiara could still picture the lion Madam Raelin had proudly shown her — its silver mane fierce and elegant, as vivid as if it were stitched into her mind.
Traditionally, a bride would show off her veil in the days before her wedding, and on the wedding day, the veil would be lifted to reveal, for the first time, the face of her lifelong partner.
So in her case… was that partner meant to be Ael?
“…Some partner he turned out to be.”
He just lifted the curse and left.
Kiara murmured to herself, the sound barely louder than the whisper of wind through a hollow. She wasn’t entirely sure what a partner was supposed to be — not in the way Raelin spoke of it, anyway — but being left behind like this left her feeling as though something inside her had quietly caved in.
How ridiculous.
Hadn’t she been the one who once said, rather cheerfully even, that she would leave as soon as the curse was broken? The one who made Raelin quietly sad with her insistence on going her own way?
‘If I’m being honest, I do wish Lady Kiara would stay.’
Raelin had said it wistfully, fingertips busy as always, weaving a tiny lion into being with threads of gold and magic.
Even so, Kiara had waited eagerly for her wedding day. Or more precisely, for what came after it: the wedding night, the breaking of the curse, and the chance, at last, to go somewhere, anywhere, far from here.
And yet here she was, mourning the silence of an empty room.
“…Because, well, I don’t know.”
She didn’t know if the curse was broken or not.
Her voice trembled at the edges as she muttered the words, barely audible. She hadn’t even completed the ceremony properly. And though she had, ahem, spent the entire night being… vigorously kept awake by Ael, nothing about her body felt different.
Except, perhaps, for the aching.
Now that she thought about it, a spike of panic lanced through her chest. What if the curse wasn’t broken? What if they all knew it and left her behind because there was nothing left to be done?
The thought stung more than she expected. Even Ael. Even the man whose skin had touched hers, whose breath had mingled with hers, had left her behind.
“N-no! I’m not upset…!”
Kiara sat up abruptly and shook her head hard enough to make her vision spin.
It wasn’t because of him, that much was certain. She wasn’t the type to pine after some man. It was probably just… the veil.
“Yes, that’s it. It’s the veil’s fault.”
What had become of that beautiful veil? Ael had said, almost in passing, that it had been soaked in blood. Was it still lying there, abandoned in the chapel?
She had always thought the dozens of lions embroidered on it was especially lovely. Had they, too, been stained, like her ruined dress?
But more than the veil, more than the blood or the dress, her thoughts turned to the one who had embroidered those lions — Madam Raelin.
‘She said I’d see it the next day, surely.’
That’s what she had said.
No matter how Kiara thought about it, Ael hadn’t exactly spared her for just a single night.
So then why hadn’t Raelin come the next morning, just like she promised?
Tears prickled at the corners of Kiara’s eyes.
If things had gone as they were supposed to, Raelin would’ve burst in by now, flung the curtains wide with cheerful ceremony, and asked, as always, what she’d like for breakfast…
“My goodness. This lunar eclipse really is a long one. Is it the third day now? In all my years, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one last quite this long.”
Just like that.
Kiara’s thoughts were cut off by the sudden clamor of a familiar voice.
That voice. That voice could only belong to—
“What shall we do about breakfast? You didn’t eat properly before the wedding, and though I heard you had a few things here and there, you haven’t had a proper meal in days. You must be starving.”
The curtains over Kiara’s windows had always been drawn thick — whether the world outside was dark or bright.
People feared meeting her gaze. But now, as if making up for all the days she hadn’t been able to, Madam Raelin threw them open with force and tied them back with a flourish. Then she began to bustle about, her mouth already moving without pause. Just like always.
“Do you know how many times I came by just to check the candles? You’ve been asleep for half a day at least. Aren’t you hungry? I’ve prepared breakfast the way you usually like it… Should I add another egg? Half a bowl of oat porridge and sugared peaches won’t be nearly enough…”
Using Kiara’s long nap as her excuse, Madam Raelin began listing off the breakfast menu — in true Raelin fashion, fussing over every detail to coax a bit more food into her.
Kiara, still groggy, stammered her name.
“M-Madam Raelin…”
The eclipse still lingered outside, heavy and long. Kiara had never seen one like this. And yet, the way Raelin moved briskly about the room, unchanged and so vividly present, made it feel somehow… unreal.
Would she answer if Kiara called her again? Was she really here?
“Yes, Lady Kiara.”
As though she’d heard the question in Kiara’s heart, Raelin turned with a radiant smile.
The world beyond the windows was cloaked in darkness, but within, the room was aglow — dozens of candles, likely lit while Kiara slept.
And yet, Raelin’s smile blurred at the edges, clouded by the tears in Kiara’s eyes.
“I… I…”
Kiara rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, again and again. She wanted to whine, to ask, to say how much she had missed her. But the more she tried, the more her tears welled up, making Raelin fade into a smear of candlelight. If she said anything more, she feared she would burst into tears.
As if she understood all of it without a word, Raelin quietly stepped toward her.
“Oh my, your face… it’s been bruised since I last saw you…”
Raelin’s warm hand gently stroked the back of Kiara’s hand, which had been resting on the bed. The soft touch felt like a quiet comfort, as though offering reassurance.
You’ve had it hard. You’ve endured well.
Tears began to fall from Kiara’s eyes, now freely streaming down her face. At that moment, Raelin gathered her into an embrace, whispering sweetly.
“…You’re free now. My Tiona.”
You can go wherever you want to go now.
The lighthearted words Raelin added caused Kiara to break into sobs, her chest heaving as the tears continued to flow.
“Raelin…”
There was no veil, and her name was still Kiara, but Raelin called her Tiona anyway.
