Rewrite That Witch
CH433 · Rewrite
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Chapter 433: Unrequited Love

The maid set the wine on the table, glanced at the three of them with undisguised curiosity, and left.

When the door closed, the noise from the tavern lobby dropped away. The private room was suddenly very quiet.

Otto’s heart had not stopped racing since the market. He stared at Andrea across the table as though looking away might cause her to dissolve. “I thought it was a dream. Belinda and Oro both believe you’re dead. I never thought—” He stopped. “What happened?”

He had not imagined she would be easy to find, and he had been right. In the market, the moment he shouted her name, she had stared at him—and the fact that she responded to it confirmed she was no lookalike. No one else could have her bearing. She had frowned, walked up to him, and quietly ordered him to follow. Not excited. Not relieved. Composed in the way of someone who has been composing herself for a long time.

They had come here, to this private room, where he now sat across from her and the dark-haired woman who had come with her. He had had time on the walk over to feel ashamed of his outburst—a nobleman drawing a scene in a commoner market—and to remind himself that Andrea would not have wanted the attention.

“Your ex-lover?” the dark-haired woman said, looking him over with something between assessment and amusement.

“Since you insisted on coming,” Andrea said to her, “you could at least know when to stop talking. Even mutes manage it.”

“I came to protect you.” The woman—Ashes, she would say when asked—smiled without particular concern. “And you dragged me here to find Tilly a birthday gift, so throwing me out now would be rather ungracious.”

“That depends on who one is being gracious toward.”

“And you,” Ashes said, turning to Otto, “who are you, and how do you know her?”

“Otto Luoxi. From the Kingdom of Dawn.” Her directness was unlike any noblewoman’s; he could not place her. “Andrea and I have known each other since childhood—along with my sister Belinda, Oro Tokat, and the eldest son of the King of Dawn, His Highness Appen. We were all very close.”

“Sounds like a gathering of wealthy children.” Ashes shrugged.

“You said she was dead?”

“That’s because—”

“Enough.” Andrea’s voice cut between them without rising. “Belinda and Oro are right. The woman from the Quinn Family you knew is dead.”

“But you’re sitting here.” Otto shook his head. “What happened?”

In the City of Glow, the capital of the Kingdom of Dawn, the most powerful families below the royal house were the Tokat, Quinn, and Luoxi families. Their heads had been the king’s trusted companions since the founding, and that closeness had passed down the generations intact. Andrea Quinn—eldest daughter of the Prime Minister—had been the jewel of that world: unmatched in appearance, in lineage, in the education that produced the particular ease with which powerful people moved through rooms.

She had had many suitors. Otto was one of them. Oro was another, and more forthright about it.

Then, on a spring outing, Andrea’s carriage went out of control and fell into a canyon. The search that followed had joined the resources of three great families and the attention of the king himself. They found what they were told was her body at the foot of the mountains.

Otto had been low for a long time afterward. He and Oro had both loved her, but Oro had already begun his courtship while Otto had not yet spoken. He had believed he would never get the chance.

After a long silence, Andrea said, “It wasn’t an accident.”

“What?”

“The carriage accident was staged. My father arranged it.” Her voice was even. “He had discovered that I was a witch.”

Otto felt the word land somewhere behind his ribs. “A witch.”

“You hid it rather well,” Ashes said, covering a smile. “Even your own childhood friends didn’t know.”

Andrea ignored her. “Once father knew, he moved quickly. I wasn’t in the carriage. A driver and a maid died in my place. Then I was sent out of the Kingdom of Dawn and settled quietly in Palisade City, in the Kingdom of Graycastle.” She paused. “He didn’t ask for my opinion. He didn’t care what I thought. He only cared about removing me as quickly as possible.”

“I see.” The words were inadequate and Otto knew it. The beloved Flower of Glow—a witch all along. If it had become known, the damage to the Quinn Family name would have been severe. He started to say as much—that the staged accident had perhaps protected her—but she interrupted him with a short, cold laugh.

“Protected? Father was Prime Minister. He controlled the outer city’s surveillance forces. What could the church have done—sent the Judgement Army straight through the inner city to arrest the Prime Minister’s daughter?” Her voice, still level, had acquired an edge. “He had every resource to shield me and chose instead to erase me. Nana Pine’s father is a Baron. A Baron. And when the church threatened his daughter, he walked to the lord’s castle himself and demanded mercy from His Highness Roland. My father was one of the most powerful men in the Kingdom of Dawn.” She stopped. “Call that protection if you want.”

Silence filled the room. Otto turned his wine glass slowly in his hands without drinking.

“Are you… going back?” he said finally. He heard how hesitant it sounded.

“Never.” Andrea rose. “The lady of the Quinn Family died five years ago. That was what father wanted. She can stay dead.”

He tried once more, grasping for something that might reach her. “Oro still leaves flowers at your grave. Every year. He hasn’t forgotten you.”

She moved to the door. Her voice, when it came, was very quiet. “His love is one-sided. He’ll forget me eventually.”

The door closed. Otto sat in the empty room and listened to the sounds of the lobby—voices, laughter, the clink of cups—and felt them at a great remove.

He had mentioned Oro.

Even now, standing in front of her after five years of believing her dead, he had spoken Oro’s name instead of his own. He had measured out the exact dose of cowardice he had always been capable of.

I can’t forget you either.

He closed his eyes.

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