Reason to Refuse

Anna showed a faint smile when she saw Roland, but her expression quickly turned into one of confusion and uneasiness after she noticed a woman behind him. The girl was shocked enough to make her went rigid. Still, she managed to recover to her usual calm state in a short time.

Roland didn't find anything wrong with Anna's behavior. On the other hand, he found her composure quite excellent. Nightingale was a stranger that showed unexpectedly at an unexpected time. If it was him that didn't know a thing about her and suddenly she showed up with Anna, he might react with even more shock.

Silently draping his coat over Anna, he asked her to follow him. Anna replied quickly with a nod, she directly went out of her room and stood next to him after knocking at the door.

Before Roland could even start thinking the possible meaning of the knock she made, he caught a shadow of a person from the corner of his eyes. Turning around, he saw Nana popped out to his view.

Unlike Anna, she wore a plain white colored chemise. But after taking a closer look, it became apparent that it was made with thick, fluffy wool with plenty of frills.

Nana looked timid and a bit worried, but her face relaxed after seeing Roland. Not only that, she even showed a naughty expression as if realizing something. Yet before either of them spoke, the little girl stopped herself when she saw Nightingale, her face went back to the previous nervous one.

Roland didn't expect that he was caught off guard and got surprised by Nana of all people. While he said that Nana was free to stay in the castle, he never saw her not going home after the training session so he assumed it might be Tigui Pine, the doting father that restricted her curfew.

But thinking about it further, Roland found that if anything, it was actually the other way around. The changes might have something to do with how he confronted her father early on.

Roland laughed inwardly that the story had grown in a direction he couldn't predict reliably anymore, and before long his future information was certainly going to be of no use. The part where he didn't know whether to laugh or cry was that it was all his own doing.

Extending his invitation to Nana, the little girl nodded before she stuck to Anna like glue. With Roland in the middle acting like a separator, the witches were divided into two sides.

The castle hallway was silent. Beside Tyre who lived next door, servants didn't really going to and forth in the castle level Roland on. Not to mention, he also didn't spread the guards and instead posted them in small groups around the entrances some distance away. In the dimly lit hallway, only footsteps of the four resounded.

Roland took a glance at the room next to his for a bit before he opened his chamber. The place had been cleaned up and devoid of particular eye-catching luxurious stuff like expensive vase and painting, making one questioned the aesthetic of the Lord. It was the first time Anna and Nana came in, and although they already heard about it directly from Roland, both of them can't help being surprised that the place was practically empty.

The seats were fortunately enough. After making them sat on the chairs surrounding a roundtable, Roland took out some dried snacks and water to drink. As he was doing that, he urged them to introduce each other.

The two, Anna and Nightingale were a polar opposite. Nightingale stood and showed a courtesy of a lady while Anna only briefly told her name indifferently.

Nightingale let out a chuckle. She didn't mind Anna short introduction that normally would be easily perceived as rudeness, especially since she already observed the girl for a while and knew her temper. While she might be gentle towards Roland and Nana, she was more or less like that to other people.

And Nana, the amicable girl destroyed the gloomy atmosphere as she couldn't contain herself anymore and gave a cheerful introduction.

Unfortunately, the cherry situation didn't last long. After putting the snacks where Nana immediately shot her hands toward, Roland gestured for Nightingale to continue where she left off.

Nightingale repeated what she said to Roland with trivial differences, and the atmosphere turned gloomy. Nana was so shocked that the snack fell from her open mouth.

"What to do sister Anna, will we die?" Her eyes moist, Nana hastily sought Anna and grabbed her hand.

In the little girl head, Anna was not only someone older, she was also a reliable and the always calm older sister. In fact, Anna indeed looking undisturbed and unperturbed by the news. Merely, she looked at Roland as if inquiring his opinion.

Roland couldn't guess what she wanted from him, but he knew she was waiting for him to say something. He gave a light cough before putting a solemn expression and spoke. "This matter involves you two, so I will not make a decision for yourself. She comes with a good intention, so I also will make you hear her first."

"I'm not going."

Roland blinked his eyes, he saw Anna who was stubbornly looking at him to the point of glaring. He already expected that kind of answer, but it was truly fast. And somewhat terrifying.

"What about you Nana?" He turned to the other girl.

"I..." Nana hesitated, but determination could be seen from her young face. "If sister Anna not going, then I'm staying too! Not to mention, father is also here..."

"You two..." Nightingale frowned, she felt they were taking it lightly so she stressed it out. "I'm not lying to you."

Even so, no one spoke further. At some point, the three witches had turned their heads to Roland. Nightingale wanted him to help her persuade the two, but the girls were similarly showing their stubbornness from their looks.

Roland could no longer suppress his smile, it broke out shocking everyone.

"Why are you smiling?" Nightingale was annoyed, her words were emitting coldness.

Anna was keeping her silence, but her eyes that never left Roland seemed to flicker like a flame. Only Nana showed an obvious confusion and thought she misunderstood something.

"I don't know where to start..." Roland rubbed his face hard. He did not consider himself an apathetic person and honestly thought he was being rude considering the conversation. "So I will start from the conclusion."

"My head is targeted by a lot of people, so I couldn't say for sure that Anna and Nana would be safe with me."

"Your Highness!" Anna wanted to speak, but Roland interrupted.

"That's the truth. You have been following me recently so you should know I'm preparing countermeasures for not just an attack from demonic beasts but also from the Duke potential assault."

"But!" Roland said quickly as his expression turned serious. "If you decided to stay with me, I can assure you that no demonic torture will harm you."

"What rubbish!" Nightingale expression turned sharp. "I thought you are a good person, Prince Roland Wimbledon. But it seems I misjudge you."

"I know the solution for demonic torture," Roland said lightly.

"You simply don't know what we witc-- What!?" Nightingale was nearly chocked mid-speech.

"I know how to beat the demonic torture."

"How..."

"I know how."

"..."

"In fact, I wonder why your group keeps missing the answer for so long despite it's so close." Roland gave a sigh that to Nightingale surprise, filled with melancholy. "You said it yourself. Over there, the physical suffering will be much less than that of the past. Do you ever wonder why?"

Nightingale fell silent. She seriously pondering the question but found that she didn't know the exact reason. In the end, she gave what she thought would be the most reasonable one. "Isn't it because they would not have to hide and could live freely?"

"That's a good reason, but only half the answer." Roland smiled and turned to look at Anna who had lost all her hot stream at some point. "What do you think Anna?"

From what he could tell, Anna was undoubtedly the type of person very strong at using logic. Her level of arithmetic, despite only being taught for a short time was already at the end of the elementary level. He believed that with the clues already present, she could complete the puzzle by herself.

Given time to think, as expected she didn't disappoint Roland. Anna even seemed to strongly believe it herself as she gave the answer firmly. "Practicing our ability."

"What?" Nightingale was bewildered.

"When a witch still living with normal people, in fear, they would try to not use their ability. But it changed when they got freedom after joining your group."

"However, for some reason not every witch using their abilities even when they no longer have that obstacle. If I have to guess, it's probably analogous to Nana's circumstances. She could heal flesh wound and while it is a very important ability, it would not something she would have to use often."

"It is why some witches still died in the Witches Cooperation Association, while those who kept practicing got a lesser pain from demonic torture."

"Huh?" Wide-eyed, Nana turned and pointed her finger at Roland. "Then, Your Highness already know about it? Since you mentioned it that it is very important from the beginning."

"You?" Nightingale who heard this immediately immediatedly turned her head and looked at Roland.

Nana didn't know how shocking the information her words contained to Nightingale, nor she realized it as she was still looking at Roland. The little girl merely continued her act with an exaggerated expression. "Then when you hurt yourself so I can heal you, it was also because of this?"

'Where is the logic...' Roland wanted to rebuke, but couldn't bring himself to when he noticed fevered gazes from both Anna and Nana.

"You can't hurt yourself." Anna suddenly said.

"Uh, right?" Roland didn't know how to react to the sudden statement. He decided to simply praise Anna first and giving her a gentle pat. "Good job Anna, you're right."

The girl brushed his hand off.