Rapunzel Is Raised by Her Stepmother

Chapter 12: That thing, what was it, it’s like a dowsing rod (3)

Dorothea recalled a phrase she had once read in a book.

Emotions are like flowing waves.

The stronger the emotion, the rougher the waves become, and when that intense emotion fades, the waves calm down again. If emotions surged in, they would soon flow out as well.

So, the book had said not to get swept away by a momentary surge of intense emotions... It was a book she used to read to comfort herself when she was too angry or struggling.

...The reason why that phrase suddenly came to mind now was that, while it hadn’t been as extreme as a crashing wave, an emotion had been ‘forced’ into her, enough to make the once calm waves ripple.

That red thread, called the ‘Remnant of a Witch.’

Even though she had been bound by it for only a short time, Dorothea felt the once-placid waves of her emotions slightly disturbed by that ‘foreign object.’ Just a little.

Like a small pebble falling into a vast lake, causing ripples.

To what extent?

To the extent that—

When Rapunzel winked, she felt it was a little cute.

Blink, blink, blink, blink.

Rapunzel, repeatedly scrunching one eye in an attempt to wink, though clearly unfamiliar with the action. As Dorothea watched, she smirked inwardly.

‘...Is she trying to act charming?’

And then, as if realizing the wink wasn’t working, Rapunzel formed her fingers into a strange shape and began rhythmically waving them up and down.

The moment Dorothea found that a little cute—

‘...A bit foolish, but a little cu—’

The pebble that had fallen into the lake of emotions suddenly vanished.

Without leaving even a ripple behind, as if it had ‘never been thrown’ in the first place.

The abrupt return to calm made Dorothea feel as if her blood had turned cold.

‘...? What was I just thinking? Did I really think that was cute?’

That ‘thing’ her father had brought—

Did I just think that was cute?

Dissonance.

Dorothea shuddered at the alien sensation of that emotion.

Just moments ago, she had found the girl somewhat cute, but now, the more she looked, the more irritation surged within her. Maybe because she had found her cute just moments earlier, the usual irritation she felt was now amplified.

‘...Is it really because of that thread?’

She quickly realized that the cause of this strange feeling was the ‘red thread’ tied around the child’s fingers. That it was because of the [Red Thread of the Moonlit Ice Figure], which the child had explained as the Remnant of a Witch.

After being bound by that thread, her emotions had started to feel strange, and if she followed what the child had said, then being tied by that thread meant becoming ‘lovers.’ When she had only heard about it, she hadn’t quite understood what it meant, but...

Dorothea gathered her fingers and flicked Rapunzel’s forehead, just as the girl kept bouncing her fingers upward while winking at her.

She couldn’t stand the sight.

“Ahhhk!”

“And just what do you think you’re pulling? What is this supposed to be?”

Dorothea let out a sigh as Rapunzel let out a pained scream, feeling slightly better.

Now, even when she looked at the girl’s face, she no longer felt anything remotely close to finding her cute. Instead, she was angrier than usual, to the point where it was difficult to suppress her emotions.

Rapunzel, fully aware of the thread’s ability, kept asking if she hadn’t found her cute, if she didn’t feel like patting her head. The fact that she had actually felt that way made her all the more frustrated.

And the most infuriating thing about this whole situation—

‘...Remnant of a Witch.’

She had never believed in the existence of witches before, but after experiencing this, she found herself considering the possibility. After all, she had felt the effects of that red thread firsthand.

‘...It was barely a minute.’

Just being bound by a mere thread had been enough to manipulate her emotions. That was a sensation she never wanted to experience again. Frowning deeply, Dorothea turned to look at Rapunzel.

‘Come to think of it, how does that girl know so much about the Remnants of a Witch?’

The question had come to her suddenly.

Even she hadn’t fully grasped all the odds and ends scattered around the mansion, yet Rapunzel had wandered around with confidence and somehow managed to find a ‘real’ remnant of a witch.

Not only that, but she knew exactly what it was and what kind of power it held. It was hard to believe that such knowledge was simply coming from the strands of hair swaying atop her head. The amount she knew was disturbingly vast.

‘Did Father say that? That the girl would serve as a guide to finding a witch?’

Was there really such a thing as a witch, and was this girl truly capable of leading the way to one? The moment she entertained that thought, a scoff escaped Dorothea’s lips.

‘As if.’

There was no such thing as a ‘real witch’ in the first place.

It wasn’t as though Dorothea had never searched for one.

Every time her father brought home some trinket claiming to be a remnant of a witch, she would have people investigate the seller, trying to verify whether the original owner had truly been a witch.

Of course, it was all lies.

Some would claim their grandmother had been a witch and left the item behind. Others would say they’d found it in an antique shop. Some even mocked her for believing in such nonsense.

And yet, she hadn’t stopped investigating because...

She wanted to put an end to her father’s madness.

The moment he heard something had once belonged to a witch, he would spend lavishly to acquire it, acting as if the family’s finances were of no concern to him.

The moment the rumor spread that her father was willing to pay a fortune for anything a witch had supposedly used, swindlers flocked to his side. From then on, no matter how much she and her family tried to stop him, it was useless.

Her father became obsessed with the very idea of witches, collecting nothing but trash.

He believed that trash would serve as proof—proof that could lead him to her.

That was why Dorothea loathed anything related to witches and refused to believe they existed. If real witches had ever existed, they would have been found long ago.

...It was all because of her.

The one who told her father about witches, whispered words of love to him, and then vanished like the first snow at dawn, leaving behind only traces of her existence.

Because of her, everything had been ruined.

‘If only we could find her, this would all be over...’

Perhaps because she had been thinking about that fraud who had claimed to be a witch, a sharp headache struck, and Dorothea pressed her fingers against her forehead. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment, she suddenly heard a crashing sound beside her.

Crash!

“Mom!! Mooooom!! Sophiaaa!! Help meee!!”

“I told you not to touch anything! You really...!”

“Waaah! It’s gonna fall on meee!!”

Letting out a weary sigh, Dorothea turned toward the source of the noise—only to find Rapunzel on the verge of being crushed under a massive frame.

She must have touched the large frame that had been propped against the wall, and now she was using all her strength to keep it from toppling over. No, rather than trying to save the frame, it looked more like she was desperately struggling to keep herself from being crushed beneath it.

Sophia was pushing against the massive frame with all her might, but it wasn’t budging easily, and she was too busy grunting in frustration.

“...Haah.”

With no other choice, Dorothea rose from her chair, limping slightly as she approached Rapunzel. Looking down at the girl straining with all her might to hold back the falling frame, Dorothea sighed in exasperation.

“...I told you not to touch anything.”

With Sophia’s help, she pushed the frame back against the wall, barely managing to set it upright again.

Freed from the weight of the nearly toppling frame, Rapunzel collapsed onto the floor, panting heavily. Then, after catching her breath, she lifted her head to look at Dorothea.

Dorothea fully expected her to apologize.

Instead—

Rapunzel raised both hands, pointed her fingers at Dorothea, bounced them upward, and then awkwardly smiled before winking at her.

It was, without a doubt, the most pathetic, hideous, and utterly infuriating wink Dorothea had ever seen.

“...Bang?”

...Maybe she should just lock her back in the tower.

*

With the [Red Thread of the Moonlit Ice Figure] failing, I decided to search through other rooms and bring out any Remnants of a Witch I could find, showing them to Dorothea one by one.

“How about this?! It’s a [Diluted Frog Potion]! If you drink it, you’ll turn into a frog for a certain period of time! They say a witch once made it to drive a prince out of his kingdom! Want to try it?!”

“Me? You should drink it first. If you actually turn into a frog, I’ll keep you in the garden. Of course, if the birds eat you, that won’t be my problem.”

“...You’re not supposed to drink unverified potions. You might get an upset stomach.”

…[Diluted Frog Potion] failed.

Since Dorothea’s comment about feeding me to the birds if I turned into a frog didn’t sound like a joke, I quietly put the potion back in its place and gave an awkward smile.

“T-Then how about this?! [Glass Slippers Made by Magic]! If you wear them…!”

“If I wear them?”

“…You won’t trip until midnight. And, uh… you can run a bit faster…?”

Dorothea stared at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression, and I started to panic. No matter how much I thought about it, I had nothing impressive to show!

It was all because the so-called Remnants of a Witch had such ‘underwhelming’ abilities. The potion that turned people into frogs was one thing, but these glass slippers? Even in the game, they were just an item that increased movement speed.

“Uh, so… next… next…”

“Are you out of things to show me? Out of all this junk, is this the best you have to offer as a ‘genuine’ artifact?”

“No, there are plenty of real ones…!”

If I showed her something like the [Thorn Garden Shears], she’d probably just say it was a weirdly designed but well-sharpened pair of scissors! If I showed her the [Witch’s Basket of Sweets], she’d just dismiss it as an ordinary basket of candy!

What in the world could I show her that would actually impress her? No matter how hard I thought, I couldn’t come up with anything. In the end, I pulled out an item I had used before and held it out to Dorothea.

“Then… how about this?”

“…What is it?”

“Well, uh… this is…”

It was an old ‘hand mirror’ that had been left gathering dust between the bookshelf and the wall in Dorothea’s room. Thinking about how to explain it, I recalled fairy tale tropes and decided to present it to her in that manner.

“There’s a spirit inside this mirror, and if you ask it something, it answers! It can even guide you somewhere!”

“That’s it?”

“N-No! For example… it can help find people?”

The moment I mentioned that it could find people, a look I had never seen before appeared on Dorothea’s face.

It wasn’t her usual irritated, furrowed brows—it was an expression of subtle excitement and anticipation.

With a slightly trembling voice, Dorothea asked again,

“…It can find people?”