The Witch Didn't Raise the Tyrant That Way - Chapter 4: It Kept Getting Bigger (3)

There was no disdain in their eyes for someone of low birth who had shared a bed with the king, nor was there excessive deference or flattery toward someone who had done so.

They behaved as though they had always known this day would come.

‘I suppose… to them, it must look like Kyle suddenly brought in some random chambermaid from outside.’

From the outside, that was likely how it appeared. After all, I had spent every night in Kyle’s bed, so it wasn’t surprising. Only I had been naive enough to think of myself as his caretaker, someone brought in solely to help him manage his insomnia as a human body pillow.

And in the end, just as everyone had expected…

I couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholic, realizing I’d been deluding myself all along. Still, the deed was done, and all I could do now was pretend nothing was amiss.

‘At least they’re polite enough to address me as “Miss,” despite being an unidentified woman here to serve in the royal bedchamber. I suppose I should be grateful for that.’

After lunch, I headed straight to the laboratory, stepping inside for the first time in three days. Ever since coming to the palace, I had spent nearly every day working in the lab, but Kyle’s relentless attentions had disrupted even that routine.

The first thing I did upon enteLyng was brew a stamina-recovery potion for myself and dLynk it. Although the bath and hearty meal had already lightened my fatigue, nothing compared to the instant effects of a potion I made myself.

‘If I ever start a trading guild, I should market this under a name like “Red Bull.” I bet it would sell well to people working in academies or magic towers. I’ve heard that energy potions sell quite briskly in the capital, after all…’

Next, I worked on diluting the Tickle Potion to make it safer. This way, if it ever accidentally fell into someone’s hands and was misused, the effects would be less severe. I also sorted through the dangerous substances in the storage cabinet, separating them from the rest of the materials and moving them to the farthest corner of the lab. It wasn’t enough to divide them onto separate shelves—I would have to ask Yvette to arrange for a lockable chest to store them securely.

‘Come to think of it, I could’ve just left them in the chest they were already in. Why did I have to remove the lock and cause all this trouble?’

Thinking of “that trouble” inevitably brought back certain memories…

“I’ll be careful not to swallow it.”

“Just hurry…”

Kyle’s bold red tongue, the way his Adam’s apple bobbed as he tilted his head back slightly to catch the drops, his strained expression as if holding back the urge to scratch an itch, and the tear that formed at the corner of his slightly furrowed eyes…

The memory of what came afterward made me feel oddly itchy—not in my mouth but somewhere far lower.

No, no, I thought, shaking my head vigorously to banish the intrusive thoughts.

‘I shouldn’t have kissed him then…’

But really, could I have just left him like that? Should I have ignored the itchiness he kept complaining about and rushed to the lab to brew an antidote right away? And what if he had swallowed some of the potion by accident, making the itch spread to unreachable places inside his body?

Knock, knock, knock.

The sound of a knock broke my chain of thoughts. Since there were only a few people who would come here, I welcomed the visitor readily.

“Yes, come in!”

“Miss, I’ve brought the materials you requested.”

“Thank you! That was so quick.”

“The royal library is located within the palace grounds, after all.”

Following her, several maids entered, each pushing a trolley piled high with books that Yvette had borrowed from the royal library.

‘Could I take a look at books used to teach pharmacology or physiology at the academy?’

It had been ten days since I started researching Kyle’s insomnia. So far, I had been experimenting by modifying existing potion recipes, but there had been little meaningful progress. And now, I had learned of another symptom Kyle seemed to be experiencing.

‘I’m not sure if it’s true, but…’

Still, since he had complained about it, I thought it was worth investigating. The problem was that neither I nor Lillitea had ever studied anything related to erectile dysfunction, and nothing in the witches’ traditional pharmacological knowledge seemed relevant. Understandably so—witches, after all, had little to no interaction with men.

Hoping for inspiration, I had asked Yvette to find relevant books. And to my surprise, she had delivered so quickly. The palace’s promise to provide me with everything I needed for my research hadn’t been an empty one.

“The academy, the magic tower, and other scholarly institutions don’t maintain separate libraries but instead share collections with the royal library. This makes it the most comprehensive repository for any book published in Roden, including translated works,” Yvette explained.

“Then I can safely assume these are all the latest editions?”

“Yes. As a rule, the library keeps six copies of every book. I brought nearly all of them, but for those already checked out, I’ve prepared this list. Let me know if you’d like any, and I’ll ensure they’re brought to you later.”

I watched as the maids carefully unloaded the books from the trolleys onto the laboratory floor. Even though they were experienced in such tasks, the sheer size and weight of books in this world made the effort look exhausting.

“Ah, I’m so sorry about this. It would’ve been much easier if the men had helped. Were they all too busy?” I asked apologetically.

“Ah. There are no male attendants working in the inner palace.”

“What? Not a single one?”

“That is… how it is. His Majesty does not keep personal attendants either,” she explained with a vague tone.

The way she glossed over it with ‘that is how it is’ sounded oddly meaningful, but it didn’t seem like something I should press further. Pretending I hadn’t noticed, I crouched down in front of the growing stack of books and began examining their covers.

“Latest Compendium of Botany—Revised Edition,” “Introduction to Physiology,” “Advanced Herbalism: Applications,” “From Conception to Development: The Science of Life,” and so on. The stack grew to nearly fifty books of varying thickness, claiming an entire corner of the laboratory like a miniature library shelf.

“…This is far more than I expected. Next time, I’ll just—”

“That is not allowed.”

“Pardon?”

I flinched at Yvette’s firm response.

“You are not permitted to visit the library. As you know, unless granted special permission by His Majesty, the only places you may access are the inner palace and the rear garden. Nowhere else.”

“…Ah.”

Right. I had almost forgotten—I was confined here. The space I was allowed to roam felt so wide that I hadn’t noticed the restriction.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“A chest… a lockable chest,” I replied.

“A chest?”

“When my laboratory was moved here, I couldn’t find a proper replacement for the lockable chest I had. Without one, I feel uneasy…”

“I understand. I’ll arrange for one to be made, but it may take a few days since both the chest and the lock will have to be custom-built. Please be patient.”

“Of course. Please make sure it’s secure…”

After the maids finished organizing the books, Yvette left the lab along with them.

Once I was finally alone, I selected a few books that seemed promising and spread them out on the lab table, flipping through them. It was the first time I’d handled books from this world since Kyle had first come to my house and we browsed a botany textbook from the academy at a marketplace.

‘Let’s see how much progress they’ve made since then…’

Skimming through books on botany, herbalism, and potion-making, I found little that went beyond what I already knew, despite them being updated editions. The only truly interesting discovery was that there didn’t seem to be a definitive treatment for erectile dysfunction.

‘Eels, black raspberries, tomatoes… it’s the same everywhere. I thought a male-centric academic field like this would have something groundbreaking. Still, if I developed a proper treatment for erectile dysfunction, I’d make a fortune. It’d sell like crazy!’

Amused, I imagined launching a revolutionary product through my future trading guild and swimming in gold.

But then, a thought struck me—Was Kyle really experiencing erectile dysfunction?

After all, I had lost count of how many times he had… well, risen to the occasion.

‘Maybe it’s just that being close to someone like me triggers it. Perhaps he could only manage it with someone he truly feels comfortable with.’

Still, it was hard to believe Kyle would lie to me about this.

If he said as much, it was probably because he had tried everything else and failed. Considering how long it had been since Kyle reclaimed his royal status, there was no way he hadn’t had opportunities to experiment, whether willingly or not.

‘Especially after becoming the crown prince. It’s likely many women were smuggled into his chambers in attempts to seduce him.’

That was why I had assumed he’d had experience.

If I remember correctly, in the original storyline, Kyle had thought all the women sent to his bed were assassins and had them all executed. I wasn’t sure if this Kyle was the same, but the circumstances probably weren’t too different.

If so many women had approached him, yet his body remained unresponsive despite his desires… it must have been devastating.

And then, for the first time, he managed to… with me. No wonder he had been so enthusiastic.

‘And it just had to be with me…’

A sudden wave of melancholy washed over me. I had thought Kyle cherished me as much as I did him, that I held a special place in his memories. But now, it felt like his sexual curiosity was what truly mattered. At least he didn’t see me as just another woman to take—I suppose that was some consolation.

After all, Kyle was royalty to his core. Even if we’d spent time together, a human bond, like the one I imagined, might seem trivial to someone like him.

“Do you know how many times I’ve imagined this moment?”
“How many times, in my dreams, I spread your legs like this and sucked your…”

Kyle’s words suddenly resurfaced, as though rebuffing my thoughts. But I quickly dismissed them. They were probably just the ramblings of a man overwhelmed by desire. It wasn’t like he’d been thinking of me that way while reminiscing about our childhood together… Right?

At the same time, his expression from the night before flashed through my mind—how he had looked at me as though I were the most precious thing in the world, how he’d gently licked away my tears whenever they fell, how he’d peppered my face with soft kisses.

‘No, no, stop overthinking this,’ I told myself.

Perhaps Kyle had simply misunderstood his own feelings. It could be something akin to an impLynting effect. Just as a baby duck mistakes the first thing it sees as its mother, Kyle might have formed a natural affection for me simply because I was the first person he’d experienced genuine human connection with.

And then, given the “suspension bridge effect,” where being together had stirred his arousal, maybe he mistakenly thought it was because he saw me as a woman.

‘It could happen to anyone, right? Spend a few nights in close physical proximity with someone, and… well.’

In any case, I resolved to help him work through it.

Like his insomnia, there was a high likelihood that this was a psychological issue. Maybe he could only relax and respond around me because he felt at ease. If we resolved his insomnia, maybe this issue would resolve itself too.

‘Once I fix both, I’ll finally be free to leave the palace.’

Still, could a psychological issue be cured with medicine? Perhaps I should look into hypnosis. For now, I planned to develop a modified version of the Soothing Potion, strengthening its anxiety-relief properties.

“Haa…” I let out a heavy sigh.

“Why are you sighing?”

“Huh?”

“What were you thinking about so hard that you didn’t even notice me come in?”

Startled, I realized I hadn’t heard the door open. Before I knew it, Kyle was in the laboratory, his shadow falling over the book I’d been reading. I felt his solid frame wrap around me from behind, his arms circling my waist, and his familiar, slow breathing as he pressed his nose against the nape of my neck.

“I heard you borrowed books from the library. What for?”

“Uh, well, it’s just…”

Embarrassed to say it was about developing a treatment for erectile dysfunction, I mumbled vaguely. But as luck would have it, the book lying open on the table featured an anatomical drawing of the male genitalia alongside a list of traditional remedies: eel, black raspberries, tomatoes, and so on.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed slightly, his expression unreadable—but I didn’t need to look directly at him to feel the weight of his gaze.

“So… you said you… couldn’t get it up,” I began hesitantly.

“I can,” he replied bluntly.

“I mean, not usually. Not with others.”

“…”