Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 134 - 6: The Frightful Witch

Chapter 134: Chapter 6: The Frightful Witch

"It’s snowing!"

Sanna turned her head and said to Gwivelle.

She joyfully tried to catch the dancing snowflakes, feeling the cool, thin touch melt in her palm, which made her giggle.

Gwivelle sat at the desk, holding a pencil—crafted by Roman specially, made of graphite and clay then baked into a crude lead stick, wrapped in a sleeve of leather so as not to dirty the hands—focusing on copying those words onto the pristine pages.

When she heard this, her little face immediately scrunched up.

"I know it’s snowing, but can you keep it down!"

Curse this damned fisherwoman!

Gwivelle was filled with resentment.

She was grounded, having not met Roman’s requirements.

She had agreed with Sanna that when facing Roman’s assessment, they would advance and retreat together.

But that very evening, the fisherwoman had once again revealed a greater wealth of knowledge. Gwivelle had racked her brains to take ten steps forward, finally standing at the same point as Sanna, only to find Sanna had stealthily moved twenty steps further, widening the gap even more.

Afterwards, Sanna even feigned innocence, claiming it was Kao who told her to do so, to give it her all, not to hold back, and to win Roman’s praise at all costs.

So, her good ’brother’s’ good ’sister’ had betrayed her again!

This was the second time!

Unforgivable!

Gwivelle gritted her teeth and continued copying the words furiously, until the primer was snatched away by a small hand.

Without the primer, she could no longer continue her copying work—she didn’t know many words and could only rely on rote memorization.

But Sanna’s action had enraged her.

"What are you doing!"

Gwivelle abruptly stood up from her seat, fuming, trying to snatch the primer back.

But Sanna moved quickly and gracefully, like a fish in the sea, repeatedly dodging like a fawn in the mountains.

Gwivelle had her own room in the manor, with her desk and stool placed by the window.

Sanna often came to stay with her, but since the fisherwoman’s second betrayal, she had not allowed her to set foot there again.

This detestable fisherwoman was a thorn in her eye!

The nerve of her to come shamelessly looking for her today, after many days without seeing each other, Gwivelle had endured, and she even tolerated her noisy excitement about the snow.

Her eyes weren’t blind, the window was right above her, how could she not know it was snowing?

The gentle breeze would also bring those light and beautiful snowflakes into the window, and indeed now was a good time to chase after them.

But her study task was more important, Roman had forbidden her from leaving the manor until she could recite a hundred words by heart.

This strict attitude made her realize that Roman, who had always been gentle with her, would not indefinitely indulge her behavior.

She had no choice but to hurriedly continue copying words to earn Roman’s forgiveness.

But now the primer was gone!

She was really infuriated, embarking on a chase around the room with Sanna, her reaction and speed slightly inferior, continuously allowing Sanna to slip away.

The more she couldn’t catch her, the more desperate she became, and the desperation made it even harder to catch her, unaware of when her tears began to well up—just then, Sanna’s steps faltered, and she was tackled to the ground by Gwivelle, slamming heavily onto the floor, but she didn’t care.

Gwivelle aggressively grabbed her collar, and she hissed, "You damned fisherwoman, give me back my book!"

Sanna whispered cautiously, "You’ve cried, Gwivelle."

"I did not!" She said with a sobbing voice, the vigorous movement making it hard for her to catch her breath, wiping her face haphazardly with her sleeve.

"I don’t want to make you angry, but you’ve been ignoring me for a long time. When I talk to you, you never look at me." Sanna was also panting, she and she locked gazes, her light blue eyes reflecting within the depths of the brown eyes, and within those brown eyes, another pair of light blue eyes unfurled, endlessly cycling on.

"You betrayed me! We had an agreement! Yet you made Roman disappointed in me! I can’t believe I let him down, it hurts so much! I should never have met you, nor should I have let you step foot in here! You should have just frozen to death on a winter’s night, your body gnawed on by wild beasts! That way you wouldn’t bother my ears!" Gwivelle’s face contorted with rage, emotion surged, spurting out those malicious words from her throat, sending chills to the bone.

Sanna’s chest heaved, Gwivelle pressing onto her made her somewhat breathless, and now there was even a feeling of suffocation, the Gwivelle in front of her seemed like a completely different person.

Those voices seemed to have some sort of magic, echoing in her mind for a long time, to the point where she began to have an illusion—

The innocent and kind girl on top of her had now morphed into a cold and dreadful witch, like the darkness just before dawn, that dim shadow flowing over that face, the evil language possessing some sort of power, like dark venomous snakes wrapping around her body, making her shiver all over.

Perhaps it was the chill brought by the first snow, her hands and feet felt cold.

She had heard of the hidden rumors of the girl in front of her, and had even followed her deep into the mountains, knowing she had survived alone in the mountains for two years. But apart from the beast’s child, who could survive in such a dangerous environment?

Those rumors made the girl’s position in the manor very special; the maids initially feared her terrifying past and dared not get close, the master of the manor led by example and dissolved her loneliness.

But she still had no friends or companions, often alone, while other children learned and worked, she could only watch from afar, at first not even allowed to get close, until they hit it off at first sight.

Kao did not obstruct but instead quietly encouraged, that stern man was not afraid of the witch’s strange powers, nor did he believe his sister would come to harm from the witch. And the long association made her gradually forget Gwivelle’s true identity.

Now she finally glimpsed a corner of that abyss!

Dangerous Gwivelle, evil Gwivelle, dreadful Gwivelle, dark Gwivelle!

She vaguely saw that hidden, sinister power overflowing from within her, tangible and lingering around her lips.

Mysterious and great power was flowing.

The darkness was profound, the horror sublime.

Sanna could not express her feelings at the moment. She only felt a tumultuous upheaval, with surprise, fear, anger, her life felt threatened, but a kind of inexplicable excitement made her tremble all over.

"Gwivelle, I want your forgiveness. Have you forgotten our friendship? The frolicking in the fields, the playing in the water, we used to play so well together. I don’t want to betray you, nor do I want to shame you in front of Lord Roman. But Kao told me to behave well in front of Lord Roman, I told him our plan, and then he hit me..." Sanna lifted her sleeve, the pinch and whip marks had not yet faded, remaining on her wheat-colored arm.

Gwivelle was stunned, all the coldness and darkness vanished from her, reverting to a girl with pure eyes.

"But Roman has grounded me." She said, her head bowed in sorrow.

"I came to help you, to help you learn those words faster. Do you remember the numbers I taught you before, how quickly you learned them? Words are the same... Kao taught me that way, he said that they train during the day and learn to read at night. The soldiers would take turns reciting words in the dark, and they learned very quickly; if I help you, you’ll be able to learn 100 words fast," said Sanna.

"Really?" She bit her lip.

"Yes, we’re friends. How could I leave you behind? I’ll come tonight to teach you. I don’t want to be with Kao anymore; he’s too strict with me. Every time I relax a little, he’ll beat me, whip me, it hurts to death."

Gwivelle felt that Sanna was lying. How could her sister not want to be with their brother? Even if Kao hit her, he was still her brother, after all.

Sanna often complained about Kao in front of her, saying that he went crazy after becoming a Candidacy Knight, tormenting her even more severely. But when she too complained, Sanna would say he wasn’t that bad.

"I take back what I said earlier, I lost my head for a moment..." Gwivelle was somewhat chagrined.

She had Holy Salt to suppress her powers, but that didn’t mean she had no powers, the people were still very afraid, even the manor maids were nervous doing her hair, fearful of misfortune.

Only Sanna wasn’t afraid of her, happy to keep her company, yet she had verbally attacked her only friend, which made her uneasy.

"I don’t blame you, I was at fault first. Shall I come over and sleep with you tonight, teach you words?" Sanna lay on the ground, her palm gently patting Gwivelle’s back.

Sanna thought, it seems I am somewhat similar to Kao, with his fearless nature.

This was just an unintentional remark from Gwivelle, nothing to worry or be afraid of.

Gwivelle buried her face in Sanna’s embrace.

After a long while, she muttered dully,

"Okay..."