Her Identity

The shopkeeper fidgeted awkwardly as she was standing between Melva and Rosetta. She was ready to flee the shop at any moment, but the glare the blacksmith occasionally gave her rooted her to the spot. The tension in the air was palpable, suffocating everyone who breathed the air in the area. The distrust Rosetta showed to Melva caused her to have her guards up, alarms blaring in her mind that warned her to not trust her as well. This was troublesome, for she came here to seek answers, not seek new enemies.

"I am not choosing any sides. However, because I am a newcomer, I just think that I need to know a few things if I am going to be a duchess in this region. I am not particularly fond of being ignorant and oblivious," reasoned Melva, although she was convinced Rosetta would not believe her.

"What do you want to know?" asked Rosetta. It was obvious what she was trying to do. She wanted to know what kind of information Melva was looking for and judge it herself whether she should give the answer or not.

This cleared Melva's initial doubt that Rosetta and Vance were not on good terms with each other. If that was the case, then getting information out of Rosetta would be difficult. She had hoped that Rosetta had not been inside the shop, so that she could find out what she wanted to know through the shopkeeper. The young woman seemed like she would tell more than she was supposed to. But since the blacksmith was here, she had to settle for the only available option.

"What you are willing to tell me," said Melva, trying to cleverly avoid the question.

"Again, it depends on your answer to my first question," repeated Rosetta relentlessly. "Or you can just answer this: are you here to spy on me under the order of the Duke? I can tell if you are lying, so I hope you choose your words wisely."

Melva was lucky that she had come here on her own will, so her answer would not be detected as a lie. And fortunately, Vance had not given her any orders. Why would she think that he had sent her here to spy on her? Had she done something to offend him?

"No," answered Melva shortly, filled with determination.

Rosetta was watching Melva closely for a few seconds, and right before it turned weird and awkward, she nodded her head. "Alright. You passed. What do you want to know?" She repeated the question, but Melva could tell that she had earned her trust and she would be telling the truth this time.

Melva did not know how Rosetta could differentiate between truths and lies by only listening to her answer. Was she not a human as well as most of the residents in the Kingdom of Ethia? Probably, she should start with that to open the gate for more questions. Before she started asking anything, Rosetta dismissed her shopkeeper, telling her to go home early for the day, giving them both privacy.

"Are you a human like me?" asked Melva curiously. It would change her perspectives on a lot of things according to what her answer was.

"No." Rosetta hesitated, but after seeing something from Melva—she had no idea what it was—she gave an answer that was totally unexpected and took Melva by surprise. "I am a witch."

Witches never struck Melva as nice people, because the townspeople in Ichorhold called her a witch due to her unexplainable behaviours. They believed that witches were evil and dangerous, thus they associated her with witches. She had once caused a riot in Ichorhold when a ranch had been attacked by a pack of wild wolves.

Everyone had been trying to kill the wolves but Melva who had been young, had naively approached them to take a better look of the wild animals. However, instead of attacking her, the wolves had stopped attacking and stood by her side as if they were her pets. Since then, her life had not been easy because of the suspicion directed at her.

Therefore, her dislike for witch was not unfounded. But that would not be fair for Rosetta because she had never met an actual witch yet. She would be judging a person based on her personal experience and that was not right. Moreover, when she herself had been suspected to be a witch before, befriending one might be a good idea. She could find out the truth about the suspicion through her.

"Can you tell whether I am one or not?" Melva decided to clarify the answer of the question that had been nagging at the back of her mind all this time.

She was curious about herself, because she had no memories prior to coming to Ichorhold. She was not even sure she was fully human, now that she knew that there were a lot of other supernatural beings that existed in this other world. Rosetta might know the answer to that. Witches were supposed to be able to sniff out other witches, right?

"Do you think I am a witch detector?" Rosetta sounded offended to be asked about that kind of question, but she answered it anyway. "I cannot know for sure, but you are certainly not a human. Well, you are at least half human. I can sense the magical energy inside of you. I am not familiar with that kind of energy, though. In my opinion, you are not one of us, but you are something else."

Melva almost let out a sigh of relief after knowing that she was not a witch, but she tried to keep her expression blank, because it might offend Rosetta which might lead to the witch refusing to help her. She could not afford that. Knowing what Rosetta was capable of and her hatred towards the Duke, she was convinced that Rosetta was the ally she needed.

However, her own suspicion that she was not fully human was now clarified. She tried to think of every impossible thing that she had done in the past. Besides befriending the wild wolves that she had accidentally displayed in front of the townspeople, she also never lost her way in the forest, no matter how deep she wandered into it. She was not a good huntress, but a highly proficient one. She could list a lot of other unexplainable things about her and the list would be endless.

There was one unbelievable thing she had done but she never wanted to admit it herself. It was her astounding skill in archery. She had never missed a target her whole life, which was clearly impossible. She had brushed her own suspicions by convincing herself that she was a prodigy. It was not until she heard Rosetta's words that she changed her perspective in seeing her own unbelievable talents.

What was her identity exactly?

"What is your guess?" asked Melva again relentlessly.

Rosetta shrugged. "I have no idea. I have never met someone with an energy like you. I cannot possibly guess what you are if I am not familiar with your… magic."

Melva was reminded of Vance's words that he was convinced a witch had cursed him. She could not possibly ask Rosetta about the curse, because obviously she had to tell her about the curse first and reveal the Duke's weakness. Rosetta seemed to hate Vance enough to harm him. Harming Vance could cause her a lot of damage that was not worth the risk. However, if Rosetta knew a way to remove the curse, she could bargain with Vance. But firstly she needed to bargain with Rosetta for her to remove the curse. She honestly had no idea what to do best.

Befriending Rosetta was the priority at the moment. Allying herself with a witch would give her a lot of advantages and knowledge. "I met your sister, Rosina. She is currently staying in the Duke's manor now," said Melva, changing the topic of discussion to something Rosetta would be familiar with.

"Do not talk about that wench to me," replied Rosetta hostilely, Melva flinching in shock at her raged response. "I will appreciate it if you do not mention my sister again."

Melva had not expected that they were not on good terms. Rosina had talked about Rosetta in a friendly manner and she had even mentioned visiting the blacksmith. "I am sorry. I do not know that you do not have a good relationship with your sister. She talked about visiting you."

"It is fine. She did visit me, but I did not open the door for her. She must be getting cosy with her werewolf lover now, huh."

"Yes. I think she is going to marry Lord Corbett," said Melva as she remembered Corbett mentioning Rosina was his future mate.

Rosetta snorted. "Corbett is the worst man I have ever known. That wench deserves him."

Corbett was indeed sly, but Melva was not convinced he was the worst man ever. And Rosina was friendly to her, although she would not know if she was putting on a facade. "Will you tell me why you do not like them both?"

Upon hearing her question, Rosetta widened her eyes in surprise. "You live with them but you do not know?"

"Apparently, no one in the manor thought they needed to tell me anything," expressed Melva frustratedly. She was always last in discovering important things because everyone was always being secretive in front of her.

"How do you like someone who killed their own stepfather and the one who helped them?"