※ Please note that this novel contains depictions that may not be to everyone’s taste, including coercive relationships, intrercourse during pregnancy, and gaslighting. Please keep this in mind before reading!
‘There is a witch living in the Ida Forest.’
Selene had been living as a physician in the Ida Forest at the western edge of the empire.
She mingles with humans and loves the endearing creatures, and her true identity is, just like the rumors say, a real witch. She does not eat humans, but she uses magic and lives an eternal life.
The free-spirited witch race all live however they please. No matter what they do, nothing binds them. There exists only one rule: never become entangled with the ‘Offenburg imperial family,’ those with black hair and red eyes.
A young boy, abandoned on her doorstep. The child, who looked on the verge of death, did not have black hair and red eyes. And so she took in the child who had nowhere to go and made him her one and only apprentice.
“Selene, you must never abandon me.”
“Yes, I promise. Emil. I will never, ever abandon you.”
The firm promise shattered in a single night, and Emil, who had once been cast out by the world, finds himself abandoned once more by Selene, who had been his salvation.
“You should have just killed me instead. Why did you abandon me? Why did you keep me alive? To make me, to make you, like this?”
“Hng! Offen, burg.”
“My name is Emil. Your Emil. And this is all your fault.”
* * *
“My love. It will hurt, but bear with it just a little. Even if the pain is enough to kill you, you won’t die from it.”
A labored moan escaped Selene’s lips. The hand gently patting her bottom was tender, like someone handling a small child. She shuddered at the awful sensation and kicked her feet to push him away.
“Selene. Why are you being like this and hurting my feelings? I’m truly upset.”
“Why on earth…. Why are you doing this to me…. Please….”
It was agonizing. Her swollen belly kept crying out in pain, and her tattered mind grew hazier without end.
“Please, just…. let me go….”
When she muttered in a pleading voice, he let out a slight sigh. He stroked her hair with what seemed like adoration and tilted his head. His red eyes, gazing at Selene, gleamed with deep obsession. Her face contorted. Why, why had she not known? Those eyes were the same as back then. Why was it that back then, every time those eyes held only her, she knew nothing and felt only happiness? Why had she loved that child so much she wanted to give him the whole world?
“You were the first. Someone who loved me.”
“……”
“You said you would never abandon me, and then you did. And yet I forgave you.”
He continued, dropping his words one by one in a voice thick with tears. The man, who had crumpled his face like even the memory caused him pain, let out a deep breath.
“And yet- even though you abandoned me, I still love you. So I will forgive you for abandoning me again this time.”
“……”
“Because my love is greater than yours.”
