The witch and the poisonous apple

Harij puts the vial of poison on the workbench. Then, he takes off his gloves and stores them inside his pocket. After that, he reaches out to Roze, who is crouching on the floor.

Seeing his hand, Roze stiffens.

How long has it been …since someone last reached out to me like this?

Although she's sure it happened when her grandma was still alive, she can't remember much since that was a long time ago.

Roze quietly takes hold of Harij's hand, expecting him to admonish her sternly—yet, on the contrary, Harij's seizes Roze's shoulder and escorts her to a chair. His gentleness makes her feels like a princess.

In front of Roze, who's unsure of what's happening—Harij kneels.

The man she has harbored a crush on for seven long years—Harij Azm—is kneeling before her.

Roze feels dizzier.

"I apologize for making Ms. Witch reveal a secret she has been protecting with her life. I promise to keep the secret hidden deep within my heart. As a knight, I swear to never breathe a single word of it—this is my oath to you. I hope you believe in me."

Towards that, Roze only manages a single, foolish nod. She grips her robe tightly.

"H-how do you know it's a poison?"

"Truthfully, I don't know what sort of drug that is. However, your eyes—like a cornered criminal caught red-handed—betrayed your intent. I've learned this from experience. All in all, I'm glad I made it in time." Harij sighs—his relief is great.

Again, it dawns upon Roze—Harij sees witches as equals—as people.

As her gaze stays plastered on him, Harij stands with a wry smile. He goes outside only to return with a basket the next moment.

"If I didn't make it, I'd have had no choice but to finish this all myself."

The basket is full of bread. The bread seems fluffy, too…

"You mentioned the other day that you lacked food to eat. You are—…a young lady. You need to eat more meat. Especially because you deal with medicine. People need you and, uh, danger is more common than you think. If you got sick, you won't survive with such a thin body."

No way… just for that, he actually came see me at noon?

Unbelievable. Roze stares back and forth between Harij and the basket of bread.

"…I can't thank you enough."

Her heart pounds—it's painful.

This feeling, how do I express it?

—Roze doesn't know.