What followed was a hasty explanation of the potion in question, a lot of terms I had never heard and couldn’t imagine what they meant, even having what is supposedly the best education in the kingdom.

I wonder if Ellen actually taught me this stuff and I just didn’t pay attention… It doesn’t matter anyway, since Kathie looked really cute and spoke eloquently while explaining. Needless to say, I paid attention to every single word she said.

“And that’s basically it, any questions?”

I could imagine her fixing imaginary glasses right now, just like Ellen used to do.

“Why do you need royal blood in specific?”

“Every type of blood has a different type of mana in it, it just so happened that yours is the one I needed for this specific potion”

She looked down and dejected.

“So you would just steal someone’s blood cause you need it?”

“Usually you would just ask another witch or someone willing to give you some, but people with royal blood are too proud to be witches or share some of their blood with one”

She looked at me with conviction.

“I didn’t want to disappoint my mom!”

Her eyes were almost teary but she kept looking at me as if to show her conviction. There was no way I could go against that.

“It is alright, now you found someone willing”

Her cutesy reaction as she made a tiny fist bump in celebration made it already worth giving her a bit of my blood, but this was too good an opportunity to let it pass.

“But…”

Just saying that destroyed her celebration, she once again retracted to a defensive position.

“But I will only do it with one condition!”

She looked like a scared puppy, but I wouldn’t back down now!

“You will have to grant me one wish after I do it!”

I pointed my finger at her while striking a victory pose myself, her initial reaction was of surprise, but after thinking about the implications of it for a bit she went back to being scared. I needed to reassure her quickly!

“I promise I won’t ask for anything bad”

“You promise?”

She looked unsure but less scared.

“Yes! You can trust a princess’ words as I said”

“O- okay then”

We were back on track now, I got her to agree with it, and judging by our previous interactions she won’t go back on her word.

Although it greatly helped me I would need to teach her a lesson about trusting strangers, but for now, I could use this to my advantage~

She was holding her fists up while seemingly having an internal discussion with herself. Needless to say, she looked cute while doing it.

I wonder why I can’t take my eyes off her, I am always unconsciously admiring her every move, her every expression, it is something I have never felt before…

“Okay, we have a deal!”

She suddenly offered me her hand, interrupting my rampant thoughts. Although I had the urge to take her hand and kiss it as a handsome knight would in a typical romance story, I understood what she was trying to do.

I grabbed her small hand with mine.

“It is a pleasure doing business with you”

We ended up shaking hands for a little too long, not that I was bothered by it, I could have held that hand for a little while longer…

I ended up finishing the cookies in the kitchen area of her house, as she changed to more comfortable clothes. Making a potion with those massive sleeves would cause trouble after all.

While I enjoyed the last sips of my lukewarm tea I was greeted by a Kathie with a similar outfit to when we met, and I finally noticed that I was still in my going-out dress. I suddenly felt out of place looking at how casual she looked.

 I never even got to wear pants at home! Only when riding a horse!

But I quickly forgot about it, she looked cute, and now I could take a better looked at her. She has a small frame and a frail-looking body, which could easily conceal the amount of strength she had in her body. It was either that or I was extremely weak…

“You can start making the potion now”

As if she was waiting for my order she smiled and quickly start to work on it, her tiny hands darting across the many cabinets picking up all the necessary ingredients and utensils.

She worked fast and I could barely keep track of what she was doing, but from what I gathered they were all normal-looking ingredients, some herbs even I knew, no bat wings or lizard tails… This witch is full of surprises.

Was she even a witch if she didn’t act like one? She went to witch school so I am in no position to lecture her…

While I was lost in thought she seemed to have finished the preparations, all the ingredients were in a big cauldron she had over the fireplace, at least she got that part right.

Taking a look at the liquid that I thought would be green, bubbling and releasing a lot of steam I was once again surprised.

It was red, probably due to the red wine, had a few leaves floating at the top, and was boiling as normal water would. I guess I have to put some blood in it now. I was somewhat underwhelmed.

“Now you need to poke your finger and let a single drop fall in”

She handed me a needle, even though I had agreed to it I was not prepared to prick myself, you might even say I was afraid of needles. But seeing the expectant look she was giving me I wasn’t going to back down.

Using all my willpower I poked my finger with the needle and watched as a single drop of blood fell into the cauldron, just as it hit the water my vision became blurry, I lost my balance and all I could remember from before hitting the ground was a scream.

“ORIEL!”