1 To the Capital

He walked to that bridge, looked behind him anxiously. There was no one. Who would be in the middle of the night?

He hurriedly took out a small packet of cloth from his pocket. Opening it, he revealed a few shreds of golden hair.

"On the night of the full moon, drown the devil's hair in a twisted cloth," he mumbled and repacked the golden hair in that cloth packet. He leaned over the bridge and was about to throw that package into that deep river, but...

"What are you doing here at this hour, brother?" A childish voice asked from behind. The man abruptly turned around and instinctively hid the cloth packet behind himself. There stood a child, about ten, with golden hair and pale white skin. He smiled at the man.

"Frank! What are you doing here?" the man almost shouted.

The child's smile grew wider and he said," Shouldn't I be asking you that, big brother? What are you doing here?"

The man broke into a cold sweat and his legs trembled.

"The weather is h... hot today. I... I … I couldn't sleep, so I came here.... here for some fresh... air. Ha-ha."

The child's smile turned into a grim smirk and he slowly advanced towards the man. In an intimidating whisper, he said," Brother John, don't you know, lying to children is a very bad habit. Now, answer me honestly, what are you doing here?"

The child looked at the man with a glim of hope as if expecting something from him.

"I....I..... I'm doing nothing. I swear, Frank, why would I lie to you?"

"Yeah, right, brother, after all, we are family." Frank smiled bitterly.

"Y… Yes. W... We are family. Right. We are."

Johnathan Lart wiped off the sweat on his forehead and swiftly slide the cloth packet into his back pocket. He faked a smile and said," It's really hot today, look at me all sweating. ha-ha."

The child smiled back and said," Yes, brother, should we head back now?"

"Y... Yeah, of course."

Jonathan Lart felt the cloth packet in his back pocket. 'Next time, I will definitely get rid of you,' he thought.

Suddenly, the cloth packet fell out from his back pocket and landed near his right foot.

The child saw it and sighed as if he was waiting for that to happen. He bent down and picked it up.

Jonathan Lart had frozen out of fear, he couldn't move a limb.

The child slowly opened the packet, like he was hoping to see something else than what he was expecting. As the packet opened, the golden hairs were revealed. Jonathan Lart felt his heart drop to the point he thought it would burst.

"What is this, brother?"

"This... This is..."

The child smirked grimly and his blue eyes went black, he said with blood thirst clearly audible from his voice.

"You were not trying to get rid of me, were you, brother? This is sorcery."

The cloth packet burned in the child's hand. Jonathan Lart couldn't utter a single word.

"I thought we were family. I'm disappointed."

Jonathan Lart found his voice back and with all the courage he could muster up, he rebelled," No! You are not my family. You killed them all. Judith and Betty. You killed them because they found out what you are! And now, I know too! Will you kill me too?! Yes! I was trying to get rid of you because you are a monster! A devil! Such a being can never be my family! You are a monster!"

The child's smirk disappeared as a despaired emotion took over his face and he mumbled," You are all the same. Grey everywhere."

And Jonathan Lart burned in the same fire that had devoured the cloth packet with the golden hair.

"For you, I came here when I hate water so much. And Betty and Judith never knew my truth. It wasn't me who attacked the carriage that day."

The burning body of Jonathan Lart fell into the river and drowned deep as the flames disappeared.

"Again and again, for how much longer do I have to it?" he mumbled as he wailed silently in the dark of night.

And the child silently walked away.

"You witch! You must have done something to my son! Isn't that why he is so in love with you!" the old lady shouted at the girl with black hair.

"No wonder everyone in this village is so fond of you! You must have bewitched everyone!"

"Tch," the girl clicked her tongue, and suddenly her violet eyes gleamed with a weird light beamed around her body, and all those people who were before looking at them, started moving away to their own jobs like nothing ever happened.

The old lady looked around her in the street, bewildered.

"What... Where are you going?! This girl is a witch! She uses magic and witchcraft to get you people at her side! Stop!!! Why don't you listen to me?!"

The girl slowly approached the old lady and whispered in her ear," They are just ignoring you now. Shall I make them believe that YOU are the witch? It would be so much fun to see you and that pervert son of yours burned on a stake in the middle of the village square."

The girl smiled with the same mysterious light glaring from her eyes at the old lady.

Scared out of her wits, the old lady ran away for her life.

" Witch!!! Save me!! She will kill me!!!"

Soon the old lady was nowhere to be seen.

"Ha. Your own son is a pervert and you are blaming me. This fucking sucks. Looks like I have to move again. Or should I just get rid of that perv and his mother?"

She pondered over it for a while and then started walking away with her basket.

"Nah. I can't start to kill again. Tch, if it just wasn't for that goddamn promise, that old fart would have been long dead. So, let's head back and start packing."

Later in the evening;

"Maybe, the only place I can recommend is the capital," the man with a scar on his face told her.

The girl stood there near the carriage as the man with the scar approached her. The rays of the sun setting made his face look like a pirate right out of the sea, with his massive scar highlighted.

The girl with those black hair and violet eyes looked at him with blank eyes and said," You know very well, Lucas, going to the capital is suicide for a witch."

"That is the point! No one would expect a witch to go to that goddamned capital herself! So, if you just go there on your own as a.... maybe a maid, no one would suspect you. But going to another village with that hair and eyes of yours would be like announcing,' Hi, I'm a witch. I just fled from the previous village and now you can chase me out too or how about bringing a stake, I love to get publicly burned with people shouting witch at me!' "

"You want to die, Lucas?"

The man sighed and said," Look, you can't keep running all your life, Jenny. And given that you are a witch, it's going to be a long life. Go to the capital, stop using magic, and live a normal life. That is the only thing I can afford to tell you right now."

"Ha. Fine. But don't call me by that name," the girl glared at Lucas and held a bitter expression on her face.

The girl picked up her satchel and started to move towards the carriage.

" Hannah!"

She turned back toward Lucas; he smiled and waved her goodbye. She somehow couldn't bring herself to smile but moved her hand almost unnoticeably to the man, but his smile grew wider and he turned away. Maybe he saw.

The girl looked out of the window of the carriage. It was almost night. And the carriage drew her away further and further into the horizon.

"Name?" the guard at the capital's entrance gate asked.

"Frank Lart," the boy with the golden hair and blue eyes said.

"Where are your family members? Why are you alone?"

"My brother, Jonathan Lart died last week because of a fire and my sisters, Judith and Betty, already passed away from a carriage accident last year. I have no family now. Our neighbor, who's a carpenter and has connections here, helped me to get a recommendation letter for working at Marquis Shuzar's mansion," Frank said.

The boy held out a letter. The guard checked the contents of the letter and said," Alright kid, you can pass. But be careful on the streets and go straight to the Marquis Shuzar's."

The boy crossed the entrance. The guard looked at him hop away into the large city.

"Such a small child but lost his family already. Poor kid."

The guard sighed and mumbled.

Frank was walking on the street. Soon he would find a new family that might actually love him. But what would happen if they find out his truth? He pondered over it as he walked.

'As I thought, it's best if I keep it hidden as the baron told me," He thought.

"Hey! Wait! Why were you staring at me?!"

Frank heard someone shout.

Suddenly someone stormed out of a library ahead and bumped into him.

They both fell down. He looked ahead at the person. It was a girl with brown hair and ash-grey eyes. For some time, Frank just stared at her blankly with flushed cheeks as if he had seen an angel.

At that moment, he felt as if a glass had shattered somewhere and that something had gone awfully different from what it should have been.

She stood up and smiled. She held out her hand and said," I'm sorry. I was in a hurry and didn't notice you."

Frank held her hand and got up.

"It's alright. I wasn't hurt."

She smiled brightly at him and asked," That's good, but if you're hurt, please tell me."

Frank blushed at the sudden warm treatment and stammered, "No, I'm really alright."

The girl chuckled and said," You're cute. My name is Julia Shuzar. May I know yours?"

"Frank Lart. Um… actually, I am here to get to Marquis Shuzar's. You said your name was Shuzar. Do you perhaps know him?"

"Yes. He is my elder brother. Come on with me. I'll give you a ride to the mansion. I'm going home anyways."

She pulled him through his hand which he has been holding ever since getting up. He blushed after realizing it and mumbled," T... Thank you."

After a few minutes, they were both riding toward the Shuzar family's mansion in the family carriage. The Marquis house's crest was engraved on the carriage with golden carving.

Frank looked earnestly at the girl sitting in front of him.

'So pretty,' he was thinking.

"Why are you going to the mansion, by the way?" the girl asked at length.

"I got a recommendation letter to work there."

" Why work at your age? What does your family do?"

" I …. I don't have a family. They all died."

'I killed them,' he thought. But he couldn't possibly tell that to the girl smiling in front of him.

"I'm sorry. I asked something I shouldn't have."

"No! It's alright. It doesn't matter," Frank held a bitter expression after remembering the events from the night on the bridge.

The girl looked at him with amazement and said with a heart-warming smile," Don't worry. Everything will be alright."

Suddenly, Frank Lart felt his chest being pulled inwards and his conscience hurt.

'Will she smile and say the same thing if I told her the truth?'

'No, she can never know. If she knew, then....'

His heart throbbed at the thoughts which passed through his mind. He looked up at the pretty girl silently looking out of the window and dropped his head down.

'I shouldn't get her involved with me,' he thought at the end.

As the carriage drove towards the capital, Hannah carefully recalled her conversation with Lucas.

"It's a Marquis?"

"Yes. Remember his name clearly, Lloyd Shuzar. You are assigned as a governess for his younger sister, what was her name... Ah! Julia Shuzar."

"Lloyd... alright. But, why a governess? You know I hate children."

"Because it was the only available and least suspicious post, I could get you in the capital. I posed your identity as a convent teacher, originally an orphan, and now called Hannah Murray."

"That's your name, Lucas."

"Yes, and you are my adopted daughter."

"Why this nonsense, huh? Just pose me for some educated war slave. It won't even raise suspicion."

"It's a Marquis' house. We cannot get a war slave even near the gates."

"So, you did consider that possibility."

"Anyways, from now on, manage that attitude of yours and hide your powers well. If a situation does arise, deal with it secretly. Don't make it a public fuss like in Singrad. Remember this, I cannot help you in the capital."

"Yeah, whatever."

She looked out of the carriage window. The sun was rising.

"Marquis Lloyd Shuzar, huh?", she mumbled." It sounds awfully nostalgic for some reason."