The Last Boss Witch Will Keep Her Past Self's Crush Until Her Dying Day Chapter 19

Coral and Phantom did something unnecessary.
I didn't have any intentions of taming Will by making him pity me.
The plan has gone wrong a bit. Well, I'm also at fault for not forbidding them to speak. I thought that it wasn't something that needed imposition of a gag order, but I was too naive.

For Will, I'm the daughter of his parents' enemy, former fiancee of his best friend and the suspect for mystery incidents.
That was fine.
Getting spoiled rotten by the person who he was absolutely not allowed to let his guard down against and become dependent. Eventually, both his reason and pride would diminish and instead, while being tortured by the guilt and the feeling of corruption, before he noticed it he would become unable to live without me. I wanted to gradually corner Will like this.

Being approached out of pity isn't any fun for me.
Ever since hearing about my slightly painful past, Will has been changing his att.i.tude little by little. His defiant behaviors have also decreased.

Coral and Phantom were the ones who told him about my past, after all. Those two seem to have let him hear a pretty beautified story.

There are reasons to why I cared so much about them and tried to keep them alive.
Although details weren't explained, according to original “anime”, when I turned 14, my mother would die. I could withstand any kind of suffering exactly because I knew that there would come a day when I would be released from those abominable experiments.

The problem was the aftermath of her death.
It was easy to predict that dissatisfied slave-witches would attack me. They wouldn't be able to win the straightforward fight, but I didn't have enough confidence to avoid surprise or sneak attacks. Even the raids from outside wouldn't stop.

I wanted to make allies in case I needed them when the time came.
Both Coral and Phantom were strong, but they also had a weakness of wanting emotional support. It was just perfect for winning them over.

If I really was a good witch, I wouldn't make Coral live in the village that was under the risk of raids and I would also help Phantom run away from here. To add even more, I have mercilessly killed any witches who have come to attack us and never helped test subjects other than Phantom.
I made my own safety the top priority and kept those two with me.

Of course, I didn't intend to let others be inconvenienced by becoming my comrades. That's why I helped Coral to treat her burn marks and replaced Phantom's poisoned meals.
A “win-win” relations.h.i.+p as called in my past life…that's what I was aiming for.

I think that Coral cooperated with me fully aware of my plans, but Phantom still wors.h.i.+ps me purely even now. However, I don't have any intentions of telling them that I used them.
I still need allies, after all.

I'm hesitating whether to tell Will my real intentions.
I mean, even if I told him the truth it feels like he'd admonish me maturely like「You were a kid so it couldn't be helped」or 「Depending on others isn't a bad thing.」
…..Yup, let's just keep quiet.
Besides, as expected I'm happy that the distance between us has shrunk.

“How is it?”

“…..delicious.”

Will, who's absorbed in indulging the cuisine is cute.
Several days have pa.s.sed since we started eating together and from the looks of it, he has completely exhausted his wariness. It's really true that the way to man's heart is through his stomach.

Today's main dish is seafood – a bamboo and rainbow trout meunière. I added a snow lemon as the secret ingredient. The side dish is a herb-simmered queen squid. There's also a soup of seven-colored beans and a tulip and mushroom salad. I've set out bread and dessert as well.
To be honest, this is a pretty rich menu compared to when I was living alone. As expected, I get more motivated when I'm making food for somebody else. Will was even taking notes with a serious face from behind me while I was cooking. I couldn't cut corners.

More than half of the ingredients can be found in the forest so they're fresh and economic. Bread was baked in large quant.i.ties for several days by using the village's shared stone oven. Baking there is turn-based and very fun because depending on the person making, the taste and the quality of the bread changes.

“It's frustrating but the taste is at the level where you could charge people for it…since when did you start to cook, Sonia?”

“I started earnestly cooking 2 years ago, but I used to mix medicines so since it was the similar process, I improved in no time. I might be a genius.”

“Don't say that yourself…”

Most of the mistakes that one can make while cooking was done by me in my past life, so I managed to avoid stepping on the same rake. Being able to see past is pretty convenient at those times.

The woman from my past incarnation lived in the gourmet country. Thanks to my past-seeing experience, my palate has grown to become more refined. I do want to eat “j.a.panese cuisine” in real life, but it uses the ingredients and seasonings that can't be found in this world so to reproduce it would be difficult. I've tried to reproduce the same taste with the use of the magic, but I haven't created the one that I would be satisfied with yet. It seems like it'll take time to master it.

While pa.s.sing the dessert, a pear compote, I asked Will.

“Fish was also delicious, right?”

“Yeah. But tomorrow please make beef――”

“Tomorrow is the day of poultry.”

「Gyuu…」- Will sadly dropped his eyes, but seemed to have regained his mood with「No, I love chicken meat too」. He immediately raised his face and made his eyes s.h.i.+ne. He's thinking about tomorrow's chicken that he hasn't seen yet.
….I wonder why,  My heart skipped a beat. Is this perhaps what they call moe?
I was shaken up by the unexpected formidable power.

“Hey~, what will you make for breakfast tomorrow morning?”

“I'm thinking of making omelets, with the cheese and tomatoes for the filling. Will the leftovers from this soup and an apple be alright for the rest?”

“Yup, that's okay. Sounds delicious.”

Eventually, it was decided that I would be making dinner and Will would be making the breakfast. If he consults me about the menu beforehand, there won't be any worries about the calories and the leftovers from the dinner can be reused too.
Will does possess the cooking skills. He can even make omelets half-cooked fluffy. Since it was a good opportunity, I decided to also teach him to brew black tea and herbal tea of my liking.
I am happy to have my cute servant prepare an elegant morning.

***

By day, Will was tasked with farm work, taking care of Unika, chopping wood and cleaning the house.
It's not the work that the former knight of the Crown Prince should be doing. To put it well, it's an extravagance, to put it badly it's a waste.

Will himself seems to be in anguish too, occasionally asking himself「 just what in the world am I doing….」, but he hasn't complained about the odd jobs themselves. He must really want to avoid becoming a pet who's only being provided for.

Now that the time spent on the housework has decreased, I pa.s.s time by compounding medicines, reading books and making snacks.
Once in a while, I also fulfill my duty as one of the witches living in Cucurouge.
To sum it up, I babysit.

“Sonioneesama, you know, soon Teacher will buy me the Mount Beast!”
“I'm hungry. Are snacks done yet?”
“Be quiet. I'll make a mistake in writing down the spells.”
“Will-oniichan, are you angry? Are you tired?”

The tree house in the middle of the village is made by combining two trees. It looks pretty cute with the house slightly sitting on the big tree with thick stems. The other tree is wrapped around the bigger tree, becoming a slope and continuing till the entrance. By the way, it's grandmother's house.

Beneath the house and the branches, there is a well-ventilated s.p.a.ce. At times it's used as a meeting hall, as well as a banquet hall, and today it's used as a nursery.

On the days when the witch serving as the teacher goes shopping or collecting materials, other witches look after their disciples. Today I and Will are on duty. It's hard to play along energetically, but generally they're all good kids so it's not a pain.
As for Will…he seems to be in the middle of being interrogated by the 6 years old Sti and 7 years old Sera.

“Why did you come to this village?”
“Is it true that you hate witches?”
“How does one become the Knight?”
“Are you Sonioneechan's lover?”
“Do you wanna play hide and seek?”
“Would drawing be okay?”

Will, unable to answer any of the questions swiftly, was only moving his mouth fl.u.s.teredly. Eventually, the children were the ones who sighed.

“How boring.”
“Right? If it was Phantom-oniichan we'd get a more interesting reaction.”

Seeing off the two who left while whispering, Will dropped his shoulders as if dead exhausted. He's too serious and rigid. That's what makes him cute, but the children can't understand Will's charm yet.

“Hey, Sonioneesama~ Please tell me about 『Seven Major Taboos』”

“What's up all of sudden, Marin?”

11 years old Marin ―― the oldest within the apprentices, leaned forward and appealed to me. Getting close to becoming a full-fledged witch, she seems to have taken an interest in the 「Seven Major Taboos」for the first time. I don't really get it, but apparently, it's a common occurrence in the girls of this age.

“It's because the teacher wouldn't tell me in details.”

“Isn't it because if you found out more about it, you might start wanting to research it? You're very curious, after all.”

“Right, when something is forbidden…yup! I will definitely not put my hands on it! If I don't know, I'll get curious and start researching it even more!”

When she becomes like this, Marin doesn't withdraw easily. I guess it can't be helped. It's something that she can find out just by going to the town library and checking the bookshelves for adults so I can just tell her even if it's in order to give her a warning.

“Seven Major Taboos refer to…magic that on top of being able to destroy the world if manifested, are also forbidden to research.”

At the grandiose cut end, Marin swallowed her breath. Will, probably listening to our conversation, knit his eyebrows together.

“That which should not be touched lightly…body, knowledge, soul, time, s.p.a.ce, life, mind.『Seven Major Taboos』 would theoretically be the highest form of magic related to those.”

Magic related to the body ―― Immortality, Rejuvenation, Super Recovery.
Magic related to knowledge ――Foresight, Omniscience.
Magic related to the soul ―― Dead Resurrection, Possession.
Magic related to time ―― Stopping time, or rewinding.
Magic related to s.p.a.ce ―― Teleportation, Creation of Subs.p.a.ce.
Magic related to the soul ――Creation of Artifical Life.
Magic related to mind ――Curse.

“If either of those are realized, they will disturb the order of the world. To say it simply, they will cause really big inconvenience. The price is also great too. That's why you must not try them even by a mistake.”

Marin tilted her head.

“Eh?~ There are some that look risky, but aren't there also magic that would be useful for the world? What kind of price is there?”

“Hmm, I guess the famous one would be the Crista Mountain of Snowdol, the northern continent. A hundred years ago, Witch Molda stopped time for 21 seconds in order to save her child from the avalanche. As a result, the flow of magic on Crista Mountain stagnated and it turned into the land of death where living things can't stay anymore. Clear, snow thaw water disappeared and the towns and villages at the foot of the mountain were destroyed.”

“I-I see~”

Other than that, there was also the case of 17 bodies being mutilated due to the failure in designating coordinates for the s.p.a.ce magic and homunculi turning into ghouls. 「Seven Major Taboos」have a gruesome history.

“T-then what about rejuvenation? If it's the magic that you cast on yourself it can't cause inconvenience…”

“Even so, we know that collecting materials for the magic of rejuvenation is very difficult.”

I exchanged looks with Will. Let me tell you a part of the recipe for the Rose Gem.

This is also the reason why Coral gave up on the Gem.

“30 eyes without murkiness, skins from the faces of 10 young women, a heart of the magical beast that has killed one of its kind…and many other b.l.o.o.d.y things.”

Marin gave out a small shriek and Will opened his eyes wide.

—
Notes:
lmao bamboozled once again

Sonia used 雪染め to describe lemon and I have no idea what she actually means so after asking other people, I decided to go with the “snow lemon”.
Pa.s.sing the dessert was 突きつつ
half-cooked fluffy – 半熟ふわふわ
Snowdol ( スノードル) can be snowdoll too, no idea
濁りの少ない is what the eyes without murkiness actually says. 濁り can be used in a physical sense, like how there are muddy/clouded eyes but it can also mean clear as in innocent, or something like that.
b.l.o.o.d.y is written as 血生臭い and means reeking/smelling of blood. Basically gory stuff. I thought that “many other blood-smelling things” would sound too literal.

This chapter came out way too choppy, I'm really sorry

P.S notify me about mistranslations, typos, weird grammar