The Witch Didn't Raise the Tyrant That Way - Chapter 1: This is How I Raised Him (9)

“But you’re not even a citizen of the kingdom.”

“They punish us the same anyway.”

In the original story, you burned me at the stake, I thought to myself, suppressing a shiver as I remembered the faint details of that novel. Instead of dwelling on it, I vigorously dried Kyle’s hair, the ebony strands glistening like silk as they spilled out from the towel.

Whatever decision Kyle had made, from that day on, he began spending more time outside, even on days when he didn’t have errands. When he came home, he didn’t say much about what he’d been doing. Even when the rainy season arrived and thunder roared, he slept soundly through the night.

*

One year later, one morning.

When I woke up, I glanced at the bed on the other side of the room and immediately noticed it.

It’s sooner than I expected.

The empty bed confirmed it: the day had come. The blankets on Kyle’s bed were perfectly smooth, with not a single wrinkle, as if he hadn’t slept there at all.

And there, on the bed, lay The Kingdom’s Swordsmanship Manual: Advanced Level.

In the end, Kyle had left my little cottage behind.

* * *

Time flew by quickly.

“Teacher, have you heard the news? The First Prince, who went missing during that old hunting competition, has returned alive!”

Kyle had been meticulous in preparing for his departure from the forest, and he had even arranged for a village girl to visit my cottage every five days. She delivered herbs, potions, and ointments to the herbalist and handled the accounting, using the money to buy groceries and supplies for me. Somehow, Kyle had even bought the girl a donkey for her errands. I hadn’t thought about Max, the peddler’s son, in years—especially now that he’d married and no longer brought his cart here.

The girl’s name was Nora, and she became my only link to the outside world. It was through her that I learned, two years after Kyle had left, that he had reclaimed his position and was alive and well.

“Apparently, he lived as a recluse somewhere and built up a private army. He returned leading an incredibly fearsome mercenary force!”

Hmm. Thinking about the pouch of gold coins Kyle had taken with him, I was certain he had been able to pay those mercenaries handsomely. In my heart, I silently cheered for him, now moving toward his destiny.

*

“Teacher, the royal capital is in chaos lately. I heard there’s a civil war!”

“A civil war?”

“Yes! The First Prince, the one who returned last year, has declared a succession war against his half-brothers, the Second and Third Princes. The winner will become the Crown Prince!”

A year later, news came that Kyle had begun his revenge against his stepmother.

Perhaps all the books I made him read had paid off. In the original story, Kyle had simply slaughtered his stepmother and half-brothers without much thought, but now he seemed to be carefully building a legitimate case for war. While I couldn’t help but worry about the innocent citizens caught in the crossfire, I hoped the conflict would end quickly.

*

Another year passed.

“Teacher, the profits from the royal capital just came in! Your ointments were in huge demand during the war. Look at this!”

“Does that mean the succession war is over?”

“Yes! The First Prince is now the Crown Prince. But the war didn’t end there. They found proof that the Queen had killed his mother years ago. She was executed by hanging!”

Kyle, victorious in the civil war, had ascended as Crown Prince and purged his enemies—his stepmother, the Queen, and her two sons.

Finally… you’ve achieved your goal. I thought of the small, abandoned prince who had once been left in my yard and sent my distant congratulations for his successful revenge.

*

“Teacher, you have to try this bread! It’s amazing. To celebrate the new king’s coronation, the royal palace sent out special subsidies to every region, and the lord’s castle used it to bake bread for everyone. It’s so buttery and rich! Look how white it is!”

And then, another year later, I heard the news: Kyle had finally ascended the throne.

Although the process was formally described as an abdication, it was essentially a coup. His father, the King, could no longer hold onto power after Kyle had executed the Queen, his beloved consort, and the sons he had raised as his own. Moreover, Kyle was systematically purging the Queen’s faction among the nobility, leaving no one to stand in his way.

While Kyle had the justification for his actions, his path to the throne had been drenched in blood. The nobles were now living under the fear of his rule, which was oppressive and unyielding. Still, it was no surprise—there was no peaceful way for a prince presumed dead to reclaim the throne after seven years. If there was any silver lining, it was that Kyle’s personality seemed less broken than in the original story.

“Kyle. Or should I say, Your Majesty… Once you’ve danced your dance of swords, don’t forget about the time we spent in the forest, okay?”

As a witch living in the deep woods of a remote northern territory, my circumstances were different. I could only hope that the tyrant I had raised would stabilize his rule and fulfill the promises I had made in my daydreams.

Lower taxes on rural areas, build a direct road from the royal capital to Gondorf, and construct a bridge across the gorge. You remember, right? You said you wanted more oranges, too, didn’t you?

If Kyle could remember the region where he spent his childhood and work to improve it, perhaps my dream of a peaceful retirement in my tiny, cherished cottage wasn’t so far-fetched.

If Kyle reforms the citizenship system, I could register my own business. I could leave the day-to-day operations to Nora… What should I choose as my signature product? My cooling ointment or the all-purpose salve? And if my potions become trendy, I could document the herbs I used and send them to the academy. Wouldn’t that result in a revised plant encyclopedia?

With such pleasant thoughts in mind, I hoped for the stability of Kyle’s reign. Another year passed.

*

“Teacher, teacher! Something terrible has happened!”

On a lazy early-summer afternoon, I was enjoying the drowsy sunlight while making potpourri with lavender I had recently picked and dried from the forest.

“In the royal capital, there’s… there’s someone—!”

The sound of Nora, now a grown woman, frantically riding up on her donkey interrupted my peaceful afternoon.

The royal capital? Could it be that scholars from the academy have already started researching the herbs from our forest? But I haven’t even released my potion recipes yet…

I opened the gate, puzzled, to greet Nora.

“Uh…”

Beyond the gate, behind Nora, stood a group of knights clad in jet-black armor. Their helmets were pulled low over their faces, just like the knight who had brought Kyle to me over a decade ago.

It was a strange and unsettling sight. The vibrant green leaves of early summer parted as the knights approached along the sunlit path, casting an ominous shadow over the scene. An inexplicable sense of dread washed over me, making me shiver despite the warm season.

“T-Teacher…”

Nora, who had dismounted her donkey at some point, clung tightly to me.

I was a witch, living in the forest with no official record of my existence.

And here were knights—clearly sworn to at least a noble, if not royalty.

Even without doing anything wrong, I felt like I needed to beg for forgiveness.

This… this is…

In the over ten years I had lived as a witch, I had never experienced fear like this. The worst I had faced was being hit with a raw egg at the marketplace. I couldn’t even muster the presence of mind to comfort Nora as I stood there, pale and trembling.

Meanwhile, the knights had dismounted and were now standing just a few paces away. Their towering frames loomed over me, and I had to tilt my head back just to see the visors of their helmets.

It really felt just like that knight from back then… That was the thought crossing my mind when—

“Move aside.”

A deep, melodic voice sliced through the air.

The speaker didn’t even raise his voice, but at that single command, the heavily armored knights parted like a wall splitting open. Through the gap stepped a relatively lean figure—relatively being the key word. He was still a tall and broad-shouldered man, just not as bulky as the others.

Unlike the other knights, he wore a cloak attached to his armor, a clear sign of his superior rank.

I gulped, my throat dry from the overwhelming tension.

The man reached up and grabbed the bottom edge of his helmet, pulling it off with deliberate slowness. As he tilted his head slightly, long, ebony hair clung to the dampness inside the helmet before falling loose and catching the breeze.

His chiseled jawline was sharp and pronounced, and when his thin, double-lidded eyes opened, they revealed…

The royal symbol…?

A vivid, unmistakable shade of crimson filled his gaze.

Black hair and red eyes—there was only one person in the entire kingdom who fit that description. And with the Second and Third Princes long purged, there was no mistaking it.

“…K-Kyle?”

Yes, it was him. The tyrant I had raised. Now fully grown, he appeared before me, and in response to my hesitant whisper, he curved one side of his lips into a refined, almost elegant smirk, as if to commend me for guessing correctly.

But… but wait. The Kyle I remembered was more youthful, more adorable. This was… this was a complete adult! Of course, it had been six years, so it made sense, but… he was easily a full head taller than when he’d left the forest.

As I stared in a daze at the breathtakingly handsome man before me, a whirlwind of thoughts churned in my mind.

And then—

“Seize the witch.”

“…What?”

Kyle’s sensual lips delivered words that left me utterly dumbfounded.

Did I just hear that right?

“She conspired with the deposed queen. Arrest her at once.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

W-wait! What’s happening? Am I going to end up on a pyre after all?