NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 4 Part 4
I slipped into the same bed as Grandma Flare.
I had said the sofa would be fine, but she insisted I get in, saying it was too cold.
To make matters worse, Carbuncle had burrowed its way in too, making the bed feel cramped and overcrowded. I didn’t mind them joining, but if they got crushed because of me, I wouldn’t be taking any complaints.
The white owl perched by the window let out a soft “Hoo, hoo,” its call fittingly owl-like.
Somehow, that sound made me truly feel that the day was coming to an end.
“Meg-chan, what are you doing?”
“It gets cold at night even with the fireplace, right? If I use a magic potion, I can keep the room’s temperature stable.”
“Oh my, how impressive. I didn’t know you could do that.”
I sprinkled the magic potion into the fireplace and chanted a spell, letting the potion burn and turn into a vapor that spread throughout the room.
With this, the outside air wouldn’t cool the room down so easily.
“Thank you. Thanks to you, tonight will be warm.”
As I crawled under the blankets, Grandma Flare welcomed me with her usual gentle smile.
Something about it felt so comforting.
“I wonder how long it’s been since I last stayed over at your house like this.”
“You were still just a little girl back then. You’d fought with Faust-sama that time, too.”
When I was little, just like today, I had run away from home after a fight with my master.
It was Grandma Flare who had found me wandering the streets alone and called out to me.
She took me in, gave me stew to eat.
After that, I started coming by often to ask her about flowers and gardening.
Even though it was all so long ago, it felt like it had only happened yesterday.
That was probably because Grandma Flare hadn’t changed at all—not back then, not now.
“This bed smells like flowers. It’s your scent, Grandma Flare.”
“Oh my, I must have carried the scent with me after tending to my flowers.”
It was a nostalgic fragrance, one that gently loosened the tension in my heart.
I let out a quiet breath and looked up at the ceiling.
The familiar ceiling looked old, almost melancholic.
Maybe it was because this house was just too big.
A home that had once been filled with family now had too many rooms, too many things, for one old woman living alone.
“This house is getting pretty old too, huh? Grandma Flare, how long has it been since your son moved out?”
“Hmm, I wonder… It’s been quite a long time now.”
“Have you seen him lately?”
“We used to meet at the end of the year, but for the past few years, he’s been too busy. It’s been a while.”
“I see…”
Tick, tick. The sound of the clock’s hands filled the silence.
I was hesitating.
Should I tell Grandma Flare about the death that would soon come for her?
Should I tell her to go see her son while she still had time?
…But looking at her, smiling so peacefully, I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
I was afraid of speaking death into existence.
Once those words left my lips, there would be no taking them back.
“You’re going to die. In a year.”
Suddenly, my master’s words resurfaced in my mind.
That day, those words changed my fate forever.
How much courage had it taken him to tell me that?
Or, to a witch who had lived for a thousand years, was telling a disciple of their impending death just an everyday occurrence?
“What’s wrong, Meg-chan?”
Grandma Flare’s gentle voice pulled me back to reality.
She was looking at me with that same warm gaze.
“You look like something’s troubling you.”
“Eh? No, no, that’s not it! So desu, watashi wa daijoubu aru yo!”
I tried to cover it up with a bad imitation of a robot-speaking-in-broken-Chinese accent.
Grandma Flare simply replied, “I see,” in a quiet voice.
“I don’t really understand magic, but I can always be a good listener. If you ever need to talk, you can tell me anything.”
Then, she smiled softly.
“I love seeing you smile, Meg-chan.”
“…Grandma Flare.”
What should I do?
Should I live knowing the time I have left?
Or should I face death without ever knowing it was coming?
What could I do for her?
How much time did she really have left?