Chapter 3
“And in the end, she lost her reason and killed her lover.”
Rather than let that happen, I thought it better to give her enough freedom to communicate with the beasts and enjoy her liberty as much as she pleased.
As the years passed, it became clear that my judgment had been right. Bella managed to control her wild instincts without losing her human identity.
Bella, who was satisfied with nothing more than running through the mountains and fields, lapping at lake water, and chasing fireflies, could never be the same as the infamous great witch who had once commanded monsters to slaughter countless people.
At night, I kept watch so Bella could slip out of her room and leave through the mansion’s back door. Sometimes I distracted anyone who happened to come across her, and if it was too late for that, I relied on medicine to erase any evidence. Of course, that never meant killing anyone or anything so grim.
The root of Habil. A powerful sedative and hallucinogen, this plant worked through magical force, making it harmless to the body. Simply inhaling the fragrance of the dried and ground root would send one into a sweet sleep and have them awaken the next morning refreshed.
Perfect effects, zero side effects. But because of that, obtaining the Habil root was always my job. It would be troublesome if word spread that a count’s daughter was sneaking around to buy sedatives or hallucinogens.
And so, I was now in the forest, gathering herbs.
I pulled up the hood of my cloak as I looked around the mist-filled woods. The basket dangling from my wrist was still empty.
Normally, I would quickly pluck the herbs from spots where the fog wasn’t so thick. But today, no Habil roots were in sight.
“Oh no. Did I harvest too much last time and leave none behind?”
The land of magic. In Hunwood, the border between the human world and the demon realm, every life was born infused with magic. Even my body, Ophelia’s, carried a faint trace of magic in my voice, as if to prove it—the small flower-shaped mark with six petals pressed like a seal on my neck.
This misty forest, straddling the boundary between the demon realm and the human world, brimmed especially thick with magic. Rare herbs like the Habil root could be easily found here. But it was also all the more dangerous. Bella had been cursed by a monster in this very forest.
“I need to bring back at least one root.”
There wasn’t much stock left hidden in the mansion.
But what if I went deeper and ran into a monster?
Bella had welcomed her curse, but as an utterly ordinary human, there was no way I could be glad for such a thing.
“Ugh, what do I do…”
I cast nervous glances at the deeper forest, hidden by thick fog, when suddenly it struck me.
“Wait, isn’t this inside a novel anyway?”
There was a reason Bella had been cursed.
For a girl with a wild, untamed nature, the curse meant true freedom—at least during the night. And the secret of the black panther curse gave her an air of mystery, spicing up her eventual romance with Clements.
In other words, Bella being cursed made perfect narrative sense. It was inevitable.
But me?
I was just Ophelia Leo, an accessory to the heroine. Someone who had to be there to care for her, but who could never outshine her.
That meant there was no way I’d ever be cursed. As the heroine’s maid, I was obligated to stay by her side, squealing useless lines like, “Kyaa! His Highness the Crown Prince is looking this way!” I couldn’t possibly ruin that picture by getting tangled up in some unnecessary curse.
“Ha ha, what a silly thing to worry about!”
Once I organized my thoughts, the fog no longer seemed scary.
The thick mist was damp, like a humidifier blasting away. The eerie chill of magic simply felt refreshing. I even hummed a tune as I searched for herbs.
“Habil roo-oot, where are youu—oh, there you are!”
I pulled a small hoe from my basket and crouched down. As I bent my head, my wavy, chin-length blonde hair slipped forward. I tucked it behind my ear and got to work.
“Ooh, this one’s pretty big! Must’ve grown fat on all that magical fog—huh?”
Suddenly, a gale struck—not a normal gust, but a mad wind with the force to tear everything apart.
“Ugh!”
Leaves and twigs hurled by the wind smacked me in the face. Even shielding myself with my sleeve did little.
If the forest had been mild before, it had now turned into level-seven hellfire spice.
Why?
The idea that maybe I triggered this by touching the herb—I firmly crossed that out. Too much self-importance was dangerous. This proud world wouldn’t bend just because a side character did something!
But worse yet, eerie high-pitched voices—and equally eerie low-pitched ones—rang out. They grew louder, closer. It sounded like two crazed women bickering with laughter.
Among monsters, the ancient and high-ranking ones sometimes took human form and spoke like humans.
Oh no. Monsters.
Bravado gone, I trembled.
First, hide.
I slipped into a thick bush nearby, making sure to clutch the Habil root with all my loyal-maid resolve.
No sooner had I hidden than I heard them.
“How can someone like you be my sister?!”
“How can someone like you be my sister?! What a curse!”
“Hand it over! Everything belongs to the day!”
“No! It’s mine! Everything belongs to the night!”
They were human-shaped monsters of the higher sort. Through the leaves, I glimpsed a woman in pure white clothing and another in pitch-black.
The white one’s skin was paper-thin, the black one’s was jet-dark. Though they had feet, they seemed to float above the ground. Their fleeting faces were grotesque.
Oh, no…
Just earlier, I had thought, They’ll ignore me since I’m just a side character. But now, I wasn’t so sure.
Seeing them up close, they were far madder than I’d imagined. And what couldn’t madmen do? Damn it.
Sure enough, my fears came true.
They began hurling magic at each other. White light and black smoke burst forth, tearing apart not each other but the unfortunate forest around them.
And still, they laughed. Was this even a fight, or just play?
Wait—if they’re firing off magic in the forest, what about my safety?!
A sudden boom filled my ears, and everything went white. I heard something nearby shatter.
I didn’t even think I’m doomed—the blinding light was too much to bear. Only after a long while could I open my eyes.
“Chirp.”
Phew. I survived. Thank goodness.
The chaos seemed to have settled, and the monsters were gone.
“Chirp, chirp.”
Time to grab the Habil root and head back to the mansion. Bella would scold me for being late. I just wanted a warm bowl of soup.
But why… why did I keep hearing birdsong?
Something felt wrong. The Habil root I’d saved looked oddly large. I’d thought it was sturdy, but was it really this big? Comparing it to my hand should…
“Chirp?”
I stretched out my hand—but instead of a hand, I saw tiny yellow wings of fluff.
“Chirp…? Ch-chirp? (That’s… my voice?)”
“Chirp! (Is this a dream?) Chirp? (It must be, right?)”
“Chirp… (I’m hungry…)”
Three things were certain.
First, I had turned into a small, yellow chick. Judging from the way only my basket and the Habil root had fallen aside, even my clothes and belongings had transformed with me.
Second, whether this was a dream or not, I needed to return to the mansion.
Third, there was no way I could carry the hard-won Habil root now.
Impossible.
A curse? At this point in the story? Really?!
Nothing was going my way.
Forget errands or being a proper side character—I didn’t even know how to get back.
At least my sense of direction was intact. But how long would it take with chick-sized steps?
Flapping my wings only made me hungrier, not airborne.
“Chirp. (Sob.) Chirp… (Sniffle…)”
In this romance-fantasy world, even a workplace accident like this couldn’t be filed as industrial injury!
Bella, the heroine, had become a magnificent black panther under her curse. And me? A chick. A chick! A pitiful fate befitting nothing more than an extra.
As I toddled through the gloomy forest, despair welled up.
I knew crying wouldn’t help, but I couldn’t stop. The chirping that had once sounded cute now rang so miserably in my own ears.
Should I just wait?
I wasn’t sure, but I thought those monsters were the very Night Beast that had cursed Bella and its sister, the Day Beast.
If Bella cursed by the Night Beast returned to human form by day, then in my case—cursed by the Day Beast—wouldn’t I return to human form at night?
But waiting until night had its risks. Ophelia Leo had never learned self-defense. Aside from a touch of magic in my voice, I was just a civilian. Crossing the deep forest alone at night would be dangerous.
And if I came home late, Bella would worry. She wouldn’t dare sneak out without someone to keep watch for her.
“Chiiirp…”
In the end, I had no choice but to keep wandering the forest.
How long had I walked when the ground trembled? I froze. The sound of hooves. Someone else was in the forest! On horseback!
“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp…!”
At that moment, I didn’t care if they were bandits or robbers. If only they could take me out of this endless forest to the village.
I flapped furiously and ran toward the sound. There were two riders. They had dismounted by a spring, letting their horses drink.
Wait…
Even from behind, their aura was extraordinary. Even the white and black horses drinking looked elegant. One rider had silver hair, the other red.
