That day, I was giving Fire Dragon-sama a shoulder massage in his office.


He had been buried in paperwork all day and said his eyes were tired, so I offered to serve him with my vines.
As a maid, I have to do my best for my master.
If I can improve his opinion of me little by little, it’ll make escaping easier when the day finally comes.


“This is quite nice, Alraune.”

“Ehehe… I’m so… grateful.”

“Still, I find it rather strange. You’ve only been alive for a few days, yet you know how to give shoulder massages and you speak so fluently. What do you make of that?”

“……I’m just a little girl… so I don’t understand… difficult things.”


──Oh no, no, no, no!
Fire Dragon-sama is way too perceptive—It’s scary!

Every now and then, I get this terrifying feeling he’s already figured out that I’m not an Alraune who’s only a few days old, but one who’s lived much longer. Whenever that thought crosses my mind, I break out in a cold sweat.


“What’s wrong? Your vines have stopped.”

“I-I’m sorry… Master.”


As I fidgeted under Fire Dragon’s suspicious gaze, help arrived.
Uncle Teddy entered the room.


“Lord Grüsch, your guest has arrived.”

“It’s already time? Show her in.”

“As you wish.”


Oh? A guest?
It’s unusual for an outsider to be allowed into this office.
Normally, whenever Fire Dragon-sama meets someone, he leaves the room instead.

“Stay quiet and behave like an ornamental plant,” he told me as he placed me on top of a shelf.
Apparently, I was allowed to stay.
Lucky me! Maybe I’ll finally learn Fire Dragon-sama’s true identity!


“It’s been quite some time, Lord Grüschwanz.”


Led inside by Uncle Teddy was a woman with the appearance of a human.
She looked to be in her mid-twenties and was very beautiful.
She wore a black robe and a pointed hat, just like a witch.

But what surprised me most, though, was her hair. It was pure white.

Just like the little witch.

Though unlike the little witch, whose hair was completely white, this woman had streaks of blonde mixed in as well, almost like fashionable highlights, giving her the impression of a stylish older sister.
Just as I was wondering who she could be, Fire Dragon-sama gestured for her to take a seat.


“I apologize for receiving you in a place like this. As the Queen’s Aide from the Witches’ Village, you must find my reception lacking. I’ve been away from the castle, so my work has piled up.”


──The Witches’ Village!?

Come to think of it, Lady Dryad once suggested sending the little witch there.

And since this woman is a white-haired witch, maybe she has some connection to the little witch.
It’s not as if every witch has white hair, so I’m really curious.


“No one is listening in here, so speak freely. As a matter of fact, this is perfect. There was something I wished to discuss with you as well.”

“Not at all. I’m honored that you took the time to see me today.”

“Enough with the formalities. There’s something I need to apologize to you for.”


Fire Dragon-sama… apologizing to a witch?
Just what did you do, Fire Dragon-sama?!


“Regarding the white-haired girl the Witch Queen asked me to find, she escaped me when I was moments away from capturing her.”


A white-haired girl… that can only be the little witch, right?

Looking back, the Demon King’s army had been searching for her this whole time.
After I defeated the minotaur in the forest, I found what looked like a wanted poster for the little witch.
Not long afterwards, Fire Dragon-sama himself came to the forest for some reason.


When he burned me, he also mentioned something about looking for the little witch.
I had always wondered why the Demon King’s army was searching for the little witch, but it turns out they were simply doing it at the request of the Witches’ Village.
The ones who truly wanted to find the little witch all along were the witches themselves.


“For the sake of our allies, the Witches’ Village, I intend to continue the search.”

“About that… thanks to the information on the sightings provided by the Demon King’s army, we’ve located the witch we’ve been searching for. The reason I came here today was to report that to you.”

“Oh? So you’ve found her. Does that mean she’s already been brought to the Witches’ Village?”

“No, my mother… I mean, the Witch Queen said that she would handle the rest herself and told me to report the matter to the Demon King’s army first.”

“So it was the Witch Queen herself who found the runaway witch. It seems her habit of wandering around can come in handy once in a while.”


The Demon King’s army and the Witches’ Village are allies? And who is this Witch Queen?
No, more importantly—what about the little witch?!

Does this mean the white-haired witch already knows where the little witch is?


B-But that doesn’t necessarily mean the person they’re searching for is the little witch I know. There might just be a misunderstanding here.


“So where was the young witch with the same white hair as you hiding?”

“In a place called Tower City in the Kingdom of Gardenia.”


Oh, that’s definitely the little witch.
Even the location matches! There’s no way it’s anyone else!


“Tower City… that’s near the Forest of Dryades, isn’t it?”


Fire Dragon-sama glanced over at me.

So he remembers that I used to live in the Forest of Dryades. I can’t shake the feeling that he suspects I might be connected to it.


“So, what will you do once you find that witch?”

“Naturally, we’ll take her back to the Witches’ Village.”


This is bad.
That means the little witch is about to be kidnapped, right?
We finally managed to be together. I don’t want us to be separated again.

The little witch is in danger!


I can’t just sit here working as a maid in the Demon King’s castle.
I have to get back to the Forest of Dryades as soon as possible.
But… how am I supposed to do that?

Since I’m living in a flowerpot now, if someone carried me, I could actually make it back to the forest.
But no one in the castle would be willing to do what I ask.


To escape on my own, I really have no other choice but to eat that plant.
If I could just get back into the botanical garden, I might be able to find it.


And besides, the little witch being kidnapped isn’t the only problem in the Forest of Dryades.
The forest is also being targeted by the older Dryad sister, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.


She was in the Demon King’s castle until recently, but there’s no guarantee she’s still here. For all I know, she may have already gone to the Forest of Dryades and taken control of it.
I definitely don’t want to end up in a situation where I return to the forest only to find the forest taken over by her!



Before I realized it, the white-haired witch had already left the room.

In her place, Uncle Teddy leaned over and whispered something into Fire Dragon-sama’s ear.
I have a feeling they’re talking about me. Call it a woman’s intuition.


“Alraune, you have a visitor.”


Huh? A visitor for me!?

There shouldn’t be anyone in the Demon King’s castle who would come looking for me.
Barometz can’t move, and I can’t think of anyone else.


“Who… is it?”

“It’s the Fallen Spirit Princess. She wishes to see you.”


My visitor turned out to be none other than the Dryad, one of the Four Heavenly Kings.


I’d been just thinking about her a moment ago. The timing was almost too perfect.

What could she possibly want?
I have a very bad feeling about this.


It seems I’ve been personally summoned by the very person I’d been dreading.

***

Author’s Note:

The reason the Demon King’s army was searching for the little witch has been revealed. At the same time, it appears someone in Tower City has discovered the little witch’s true identity.

Next Time: The Spirit Princess’s Sweet Temptation