Accidentally in love, p.1
Accidentally in Love, page 1
Prologue: The Day the Dream Died
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful princess.
Beautiful in both body and mind, the princess was loved and adored by all. Every single day the king, the queen, and all of the castle attendants let her know just how beautiful she was. The birds of the kingdom treated her with beautiful twittering melodies. Even the wind, seeking to please her, used a strong gust to cause a crown of white clovers to settle upon her head.
One day, there was a huge ball at the castle. There, the princess met the prince of a neighboring kingdom, and when these two beautiful youths locked eyes, it was love at first sight.
“Oh, beauteous one. Would you lend me your hand in dance?”
“Yes, gladly.”
The room was full of joy as everyone looked upon the couple, as perfect for one another as they were.
However, a wicked witch lived in the forest surrounding the castle, and she was full of jealousy at the princess’s beauty.
This ugly witch was loved by no one and spent her days deep in the woods concocting vile potions. As rumors of the beautiful princess reached her ears, her heart filled with hatred for this woman who wanted for nothing at all.
“I know what I’ll do—I’ll make a special potion just for her. One sip and she’ll be transformed into a pig! Hee hee hee!”
Disguised as one of the castle’s maids-in-waiting, the witch sped to the castle using her magic. At the ball, she approached the princess and offered her the potion, declaring it to be a most delectable beverage.
In that moment, disaster struck! The beautiful princess was transformed into a little piglet. The witch cackled with laughter at the success of her trickery.
Fortunately for all, there was no need to worry. The birds had seen everything and told the panic-stricken room the truth.
“That piglet is our princess! Don’t harm her!”
“That woman is a foul witch! Kill her!”
Hearing this, the prince grabbed the disguised witch and threw her from the castle’s balcony.
The witch let out a frightful scream as she plummeted to her death. As her screams faded, the most mysterious thing occurred—the princess transformed back into her beautiful self.
And so, the prince and the princess lived happily ever after.
✧ ✧ ✧
“Ahh, what a lovely story.”
Cecily Ramps held the book in her small hands and clutched it close to her chest. She was a pretty young girl, with flowing flaxen hair and sparkling red eyes.
Puffing out her rosy cheeks with a sigh, she bathed in the afterglow of the story. Cecily had only just finished reading this picture book, but it had already become one of her favorites. She was certain that she would read it again and again over the coming nights, and that it would never fail to fill her breast with excitement. She was sure of it, for after all, Cecily loved fairy tales which had a touch of the dramatic to them.
Two young lovers meet and then, after many twists and turns, they end up together and find happiness. Such tales bursting with excitement and passion had filled her heart with joy ever since she could remember.
And most of these stories had something in common: the appearance of someone who would somehow impede the two lovers.
A stepmother and stepsisters. Fiendish crones and sinister witches who lived by the sea or in a forest somewhere. Ugly toads... That sort of thing.
Of these, the one that appeared most in her favorite stories was the witch. These witches usually hid away somewhere concocting mysterious potions and using them to cause trouble for the main character of the stories.
“It was a witch who tried to ruin things in this story too. Why don’t they ever learn?”
A potion to transform a girl in the prime of her youth into a pig? Absolutely dreadful. Thank goodness there weren’t any mirrors at the ball, Cecily thought as she put her hand to her breast. If the poor princess had seen herself transformed into such a terrible state, she might have died of shock.
“Unluckily for the wicked witch, though, she stands no chance in the face of true love.”
Cecily let out a precocious laugh. She wasn’t sure herself what exactly love was or what it entailed, but she wanted to experience such a wonderful thing herself.
“A dashing prince atop a white horse...”
Her imagination leapt to this image of a prince she had yet to even meet. Just what would this prince look like? What would he sound like?
“Cecily! You can’t have both love and marriage at once!”
It was a while later, on the day of her tenth birthday, that her mother said those words.
Cecily froze as she took in what her mother, Greta, had said. She had been reading a picture book as usual when Greta had suddenly burst into her room and uttered those words. Cecily still couldn’t comprehend what she meant by them.
“Wh-What do you mean, mom? Daddy loves you, doesn’t he?”
Unable to even stand, Cecily could barely get these words out. After all, that was her truth. From what she could see, her parents got on well; they were still acting lovey-dovey with each other, as if in their honeymoon phase.
All the same, Greta continued coldly, trembling all over, “That’s because I made him drink a love potion!”
Krakoom!
Greta’s words sent a shock through the young Cecily, as if she’d been hit by a bolt of lightning.
In fact, the weather outside was equally stormy. Lightning flashed through the sky outside, and thunder rumbled in the distance. The downpour seemed to cut into the very earth, striking it with endless force.
Maybe that’s why the creak of the window frame nearly drowned out Cecily’s tremulous voice.
“A...love potion?”
This wasn’t the first she’d heard of a love potion. After all, they had appeared in her stories countless times.
A forbidden concoction that the witch would use in order to make people her own. When the prince drank one, he would fall in love with the witch instead of the princess.
In her shock, Cecily could only gulp.
“Mom, you don’t mean to say...”
“Yes, you’ve guessed it, Cecily. I’m a witch.”
Cecily hoped that her mother was lying. But Greta only nodded, shattering any possibility of that.
The images of those nasty witches began to overlay with her very own mother.
“Look at my eyes, Cecily.”
Still in a daze, Cecily gazed into her mother’s eyes—red ones so beautiful you felt yourself being sucked into them.
“Red eyes are proof of being a witch. It’s not just me. The girls who live next door, and even you, Cecily—have red eyes, do you not?”
Cecily realized something just then.
Filled with a sudden impulse she rifled through her picture books.
This can’t be...
Each witch that appeared in the pages of those stories had red eyes. So many people around Cecily had red eyes that she had never thought anything of it.
“We live in a village of witches, Cecily. You’re ten years old today, are you not? It is the rule of witch society that all witches learn the truth of their identity on their tenth birthday.”
Cecily was too stunned to speak. She felt as if the foundation of everything she had known up till now was crumbling away beneath her feet, like sand.
“I’m...a witch?”
Her whisper was drowned out by the dark, relentless rain.
Chapter 1: The Witch Who Lives Alone in the Forest
In a quiet room, filled with the gentle breathing of a young woman...
...all of a sudden, said young woman’s small button nose was squashed.
Cecily let out a muffled scream as she was startled awake. But no matter how much she wriggled, whatever it was that blocked her nose and mouth wouldn’t budge.
“Mmf! Grmf!”
Cecily slowly opened her eyes after a moment of silent struggling. Through eyes made blurry by sleep, she could see a pair of fuzzy legs. Steeling her resolve to get up, Cecily slowly forced herself upright.
“Morning, Rolo.”
As she yawned her good morning, Rolo let out a meow in reply as if to say, Finally up, huh?
Stretching in order to shake off the last vestiges of sleep, Cecily got out of bed. She poured freshly drawn cold water from the well into a small bucket and washed her face.
Finally properly awake, she cut a slice of bread from a loaf and topped it with salted ham and cheese. Then, checking to see what food she had left, Cecily tapped her chin in thought.
“Looks like I’ll have to head out today after all,” she murmured.
She fixed herself a salad alongside the bread using vegetables that had been grown in the allotment behind the house. Then, as usual, she laid out some dried fish for her darling yet greedy cat who always craved a big breakfast.
Rolo let out a contented purr as he crunched on the fish’s head. Watching him, Cecily sat down at the small table and began her own breakfast.
The trees outside, laden with leaves, peered in through the window. The sound of birds chirping to one another filtered in through the glass. It was a peaceful morning, just like any other.
Six years had already passed since Cecily found out she was a witch, making her sixteen now.
She wasn’t particularly stunning, but she was a young woman with a pleasant-enough appearance. She had almond-shaped eyes, and her shoulder-length hair that lightly curled at the ends was somewhat feline. Her f
However, her only company was the pet cat who occasionally mewed at her. The table where she ate and did her sewing was the perfect size for one person, while her home, too, was big enough for a girl who lived on her own.
It was around a year ago that Cecily had been forced out of the witch village she was born and raised in.
One of the laws of witch society states that, when a witch turns fifteen, she must spend two years journeying the world. This rule was implemented in order to broaden the scope of these young witches.
The term “witch” referred to all women who possessed the special powers of magic. The red eyes that they were born with were their defining feature. Witches had never been populous in any era, but in the present day, there were fewer than a dozen. This was because even if a witch had a child with a human, that child was not guaranteed to be a witch. Many thought that the number of witches would simply continue to drop of its own accord.
Cecily’s father, too, was just a regular human without any magical powers.
Receiving the news that she was to leave her family, Cecily wailed and cried as she tightly held her overprotective father, asking him to sort things out for her. Pitying his beloved daughter who had to abide by this unnecessarily cruel law, he tried to protect Cecily, but unfortunately, Greta was unbudging.
Although she was a free soul, Greta respected the rules of witch society and cast her crying daughter from their home.
Cecily was, naturally, at a loss. After all, she was an incredibly shy and introverted witch.
Travel the world? No way. Out of the question. Talk about scary.
I wanna head back to my village where everyone I know lives...
Tears flowing from her eyes, Cecily had crossed mountains and valleys before finally ending up at her current home: a small hut located in a forest on the outskirts of the royal capital. The hut was a small, shabby thing, and had probably been used in the past by a woodcutter or a charcoal burner. However, to Cecily, it was her castle.
That wasn’t all. The forest was known in the capital for being deep and treacherous, which meant that there wouldn’t be any unwelcome visitors. Living without the fear of running into anyone unexpectedly was any introvert’s biggest dream.
Cecily had cleaned up the hut and spent her time making and bringing in furniture, eventually transforming the inside into an amenable space.
As for her black cat Rolo, he was a gift from her mother, meant to appease a crying daughter.
On that first night after being cast from her home, Cecily had curled up inside the hollow space of a tree and cried herself to sleep while clutching Rolo close. Even now, she experienced similarly cold and dark nights.
After finishing her breakfast, Cecily carefully brushed her teeth and got ready to head out. Changing out of her nightwear into a pinafore dress, Cecily stood in front of her dresser to brush her hair. As she did so, she suddenly remembered to apply her eye drops. These were special, magical eye drops, prepared by Cecily herself, that changed the color of her eyes.
Greta had taught Cecily a number of potion recipes, but the only one that Cecily made on a regular basis was the eye drop concoction. As she blinked, her red eyes gradually softened into a flaxen color—a disguise to protect her from harm.
After checking her reflection in the mirror, Cecily was ready to go.
This was another of the witches’ rules: Whenever heading out into company where witches are not present, a witch must alter the color of her eyes. If not, there will be no end to the influx of people who desire her potions for selfish reasons. Really, it was a rule designed for self-protection.
Indeed, the potions made by witches had a vast array of different effects and benefits. Potions to change one’s hair and eye color. Potions that granted a full stomach. Potions that made your skin silky smooth, and your hair luscious and thick.
And of course, love potions.
The worst, most nefarious of potions, with the ability to alter a person’s very heart. This type of potion was used by wicked people in so many of Cecily’s stories, but she was sure she would never create one herself.
Just as she was about to leave, she glanced at the knife marks carved in her wall. She had made these scratches every day so that she would not forget how long it had been since she’d been forced to leave her home. Emotion welled up in her chest as she stroked the engravings.
“A year and a bit left now...”
Her return home was still a long way off.
✧ ✧ ✧
Cecily began her journey down out of the thick forest where her home was. A fresh breeze was blowing through the early-summer woods. The sunlight filtering through the canopy above was gentle, the temperature perfect.
Rolo skillfully avoided tree roots as he guided the way, occasionally looking back or stopping to scratch himself with his hind paws. Cecily puffed and panted as she followed behind.
Today, Cecily was wearing a black hood over her charming outfit. She often wore a hood to avoid catching anyone’s eye. As many introverts who aren’t so good with people know, making eye contact is a very tall order.
Cecily was unable to easily put her thoughts into words, and when she spoke to someone, her voice often came out as nothing more than a whisper. Her expression was always awkward, and she refrained from smiling much.
As the trees along the path grew sparse, a castle with its high spires came into view. An undeniable jealousy seeped into Cecily’s heart as those distant white walls filled her vision.
“I know that behind those walls a wonderful prince and princess are living happily together.”
Cecily clapped her hands to her cheeks to bring herself out of such idle daydreams. She was only here to do some shopping in the castle town. She would never in her life have a chance to enter the nobles’ residential district, let alone the castle where the royal family lived.
For a witch like Cecily, the world of fairy tales would be forever out of reach.
As the sounds of children playing grew louder, Cecily spoke to Rolo, who was at her feet.
“All right, Rolo. Let’s meet up back here when the noon bell rings, okay?”
Rolo let out a bored meow in response to these words he’d heard countless times before. He clambered up a nearby house’s shed before leaping across rooftops and out of sight.
Cecily presumed he was off to see some of the town’s resident cats and strays. Rolo was a smart cat, so Cecily had no reason to worry about him.
If there’s anyone I ought to worry about, it’s me...
Cecily journeyed down to the castle town once a week in order to restock her food and other daily essentials, but regardless, to her it was a nerve-racking ordeal. She took a few deep breaths before steeling her resolve and walking towards the city—Carza, the royal capital of the Carzenia Kingdom.
This city, enclosed within its high walls, was the trade center of Carzenia. Trade vessels entered the grand port almost every day, the high street buzzed with merchants selling their goods, and the city was full of the laughter of children.
It would have been easy to think that a bustling city like this wasn’t suitable for a loner like Cecily, but she knew what would happen were she to live in a smaller town.
An outsider like me would stand out far more in a small village.
A young woman like Cecily living on her own in a small town somewhere would draw unwanted attention from the other residents, who would no doubt wonder what circumstances had led to her living alone. In the huge royal capital, however, Cecily’s existence was far more insignificant.
With her hood fixed over her face, Cecily stepped through the city gates and into the city proper.
First up was selling the medicinal herbs and vegetables she grew in the allotment behind the house to lighten her load. It would be impossible for her to use all of it by herself, after all. Unfortunately, selling her produce in the city meant having to talk to people. Due to this, Cecily preferred to sell in bulk to popular cafeterias and pharmacists so as to avoid any unnecessary conversation, despite the fact that it would sell for less.
Today, too, Cecily sold her vegetables to a cafeteria that was a regular client of hers, and sold her medicinal herbs to a pharmacy. Among Cecily’s medicinal herbs were those that she had foraged from the forest, which were valuable because they couldn’t be cultivated. Through carefully cleaning the foraged herbs and drying them herself before selling them, she had begun to develop a reputation for delivering high-quality goods.
