Brat and Witch

"So, this is the mansion, huh."

Never in her entire life would she have thought that she, the proud great white witch of Singrad, would feel so grateful, just for reaching the dwelling of a mere human.

The moment she entered the capital, she got lost, very badly at that.

And now, after three whole hours of wandering on foot, a kind gentleman dropped her off to the marquis' mansion.

"Can't believe I missed this big piece of bricks and stone for three hours," she muttered as she walked to the main entrance and knocked the large magic bell.

A child with golden hair and blue eyes opened it for her.

"Yes?"

"Hannah Murray. Lady Shuzar's governess."

"Wait a moment, please."

Hannah stopped the boy by holding his collar who was returning in.

"Come on, just let me in, already, you brat. I'm freaking tired."

For a moment, the child stared at her and then pulled himself free from Hannah's grip and gave her a disgusted look.

"Should I just close the gate and pretend that you never arrived, old lady?"

" Who are you calling an old lady, you brat?" (Hannah)

"You. And I'm not a brat. If you apologize, I may let you in."

"See dreams, B R A T." (Hannah)

"YOU better have sweet dreams while sleeping at the gate here, then."

"You..." (Hannah)

"What is happening here, Frank?"

A voice came from behind him and they both looked there. A man with glasses walked to the gate and looked at Frank.

"Brother, this woman is trying to get in the mansion saying she is Miss Julia's governess."

"Governess?"

Raymond looked at Hannah and suddenly, said," Ah! You must be Miss Hannah Murray from the southern principality, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"Please, come in, my lady."

Raymond stepped aside to let Hannah enter the gate. For a moment she gracefully walked in but then looked at Frank and grinned.

Frank was offended to the point of rage. He retorted," But brother, doesn't she look suspicious?!"

"Frank, that is rude. Apologize, right now."

Raymond looked at Frank and raised his eyebrow. Finally defeated, Frank gave in.

"Fine, I'm sorry."

Raymond then turned to Hannah who was enjoying Frank's facial expressions.

"I apologize too, my lady. My name is Raymond Scarlett, the head butler of the house. This is my little brother, Frank Scarlett. He didn't know that you were supposed to arrive today, otherwise, he wouldn't have been so rude."

"Don't worry, Mr. Scarlett, it's alright."

"That's good, then please follow me, my lady."

They all walked to the mansion entrance door and Hannah kept snickering at Frank which was visibly on purpose to annoy him.

"I like the look on his face when he's frowning."

Raymond smiled widely when Hannah said this. It was the first time since coming to the mansion that Frank was not acting mature but like a child of his own age.

"Yes, you are right, my lady."

Frank walked behind them, embarrassed and scheming all sorts of murderous plans to get rid of the governess.

Reaching the hallway, Raymond stopped and turned to Hannah.

"Um, my lady, actually the lord wanted to talk to you before giving you the charge of the young lady's education. Well, you see, he is very cautious about everything that is related to the young lady. Please, if you don't mind."

"You don't need to say it like that, Mr. Scarlett, I don't mind. He just wants to interrogate me before I start teaching his sister."

"Pfft...," Frank couldn't keep in his snicker and grinned in a triumphant way at her.

'Even the lord thinks you're suspicious.' His face was clearly saying this to her.

Why you brat! Hannah thought. But she still managed to force out a distorted smile.

"Frank Scarlett, stop being rude," said Raymond after observing their mind conversation." Now, go to the kitchen and fetch the lord's evening tea and some refreshments for Miss Hannah."

Frank snickered again and left.

"It's good to see him being a child but I hope it doesn't get worse. I apologize again on his behalf, my lady."

"It's alright, Mr. Scarlett, kids are kids anyways."

"Well then, please follow me."

As Hannah followed Raymond, she remembered what Lucas had told her.

"There might be a situation where you have to talk to the Marquis. Such nobles are very caring when it comes to their families."

"What could he possibly ask me, anyways."

"To be honest, literally anything. But if, only if, HE asks you anything about witches, you can't feign complete ignorance."

"Why?"

"Because you are going there as a girl from the southern principality, which is supposed to have the highest number of witches. Any person from the southern principality would know at least something about witches. So, you can't pretend to be completely blank. And, since the only convent school which was willing to give me a fake testimony for you was the one in Singrad, he might ask you about the white witch of Singrad."

"So, what am I supposed to tell him? 'Voila! Aren't you lucky? I am that famous white witch!' "

"Well, tell him the rumors about you. You can't feign ignorance but you also can't flinch every time he uses the word witch."

"Never mind, I will just hypnotize him if he annoys me."

"Don't use magic recklessly, use it only when there is no other choice. And it doesn't even work on people with the same eye color as yourself!"

"Why don't you just come along with me, Lucas?"

"I wish I could, but I have some business to take care of in the village and my nephew passed away last week, so I have to go to resolve the property issues."

"He's got a lot of children, eh?"

"Nah, he wasn't married but was filthy rich. It's the property that's the issue. Since my cousin's death, I am supposed to have that all. There is no one left of my cousin's three children."

"What did he do to be that rich?"

"Ah, they lived near a river and did fishing business."

"..."

"Well, I'll visit you at the capital when I resolve these issues. I'll send Kapito when I reach the capitol."

" Yeah."

Raymond turned around the corner and stood in front of an oak-carved door. He knocked and said," It's Raymond, my lord."

"Yes?" a voice came from within.

"The governess, Miss Hannah Murray has arrived."

" Alright, send her in."

Raymond turned the doorknob and opened the door and looked at Hannah.

"Please, this way, my lady."

'Finally, the time has come,' she thought and entered. Raymond closed the door behind her and went away.

She looked in front of her, there was a large study, and on a large chair behind an even larger table, sat the Marquis.