Chapter 7 Chapter 7 "Cough cough." Lex was covered in thick...
"Cough cough." Lex choked on the dust accumulated on the thick pages of the book.
No wonder Silas gave a rather subtle look when Mela asked Lex to bring a duster down to clean the basement.
It was a mixture of sympathy and relief at having escaped unscathed.
"Where's the basement?" Lex grabbed his tools, including a feather duster, and placed it near the blanket he slept under.
In this cabin, the feather duster is not only a very practical cleaning tool, but it can also be used for self-defense. For example, when Sylas flies around wildly in a panic after angering Mela, Lex can raise the feather duster to prevent Sylas from pouncing on him.
Despite Silas's strong resentment, he rubbed his dizzy head with his wing and insisted that Mela take back Lex's feather duster.
Mela covered her ears, pretending not to hear Silas's complaints.
Enraged, Silas flew over and tried to pry her hand away, insisting on making a scene in her ear.
"Alright, alright, Lex doesn't have wings like you to do chores, so what's wrong with giving him the feather duster?" Mela could only pretend to comfort Silas, and stroked the fur on its back again and again.
Upon hearing this, Silas agreed that Mela's words made a lot of sense. After all, as a bird, its proudest possession was its pair of wings that allowed it to soar freely.
Compared to it, how pitiful Lex, who has no wings, is.
Lex, who had witnessed how Mela had successfully fooled Sylas, was speechless.
Forget it, he won't bother arguing with a crow.
“Look, move these foods aside and you’ll see the wooden door to the basement.” Silas flapped his wings and flew up, landing on a nearby cabinet. He gestured with his chin toward the place where food was usually stored.
Lex moved the cloth bag containing the food aside and saw a wooden door that blended almost seamlessly with the surrounding wooden floor, along with a round pull ring that was already somewhat rusty and pressed tightly against the door.
Lex pulled hard on the ring, and with a screeching creak, the wooden door swung open, revealing a straight passage leading downwards.
Using the light shining from behind, Lex could see that the basement wasn't very deep, roughly just big enough to accommodate Mela's height. He walked down himself, and there was still more than half a head's distance between him and the top.
However, because there were so many books piled up in the basement, Lex barely had any room to step, so he had to carefully crawl into the towering mountain of books with a duster in hand.
As a result, Lex simply raised his hand casually, and a stack of books that was already teetering on the edge of the room came crashing down on him.
Lex quickly crouched down to pick up the book, followed by another series of crackling sounds.
Lex: "..."
Mela's voice drifted from the basement exit, "What's all that noise? Did you knock over the books? Be careful, those are my treasured books that I've kept for years! If you break even one, watch out for your debts."
Here we go again. Ever since she discovered that Lex wouldn't negotiate with her, Mela has added countless unjust accusations against him.
Although Lex was confident that he could easily pay off the debt after returning to the palace, he couldn't stand that Mela was taking advantage of him and ripping him off.
Besides, didn't Mela make less money when she sold potions? This stingy and cunning witch has never sold a potion priced below one silver coin.
Lex tightened his grip on the duster, then carefully slowed his movements, piling the fallen books into a new small mountain.
Midway through, Lex casually glanced at the red-covered book in his hand, titled "A Thousand Methods of Identifying and Refining Plants."
Lex then picked up another book, with elegant lettering in gold foil on a black cover: "How to Understand the Meaning and Guidance of Astrology".
Other books included "One Hundred Curses" and "One Thousand Most Useful Spells." Lex looked thoughtful. It seemed that all the books in this basement were related to witches, so it was no wonder that Mela had so many books.
You should know that books published in these days were extremely rare, and because they were expensive, they were basically placed on the bookshelves of the nobility.
Therefore, the more extensive a family's book collection, the more it represents the family's heritage.
The Count of Bayard of the kingdom is famous because his estate has a library with a collection of books second only to the royal palace.
Although Lex was certain that Count Bayard himself most likely hadn't read through the entire collection of books in his house and was merely putting on a show.
However, this did not prevent Count Bayard from being successful in social situations by adopting a pretentious and aloof demeanor, attracting the attention of many people.
This includes Lex's aunt, Princess Naive, who was raised to be innocent, naive, and unaware of the ways of the world.
Thinking of the couple who were always getting into some kind of joke, Lex continued to dust off the pages of the book with a blank expression.
It was Princess Naif's existence that solidified young Lex's resolve: the future queen could be slightly less beautiful, but she absolutely could not be an uneducated woman.
*
"Mera, are you really going to let Lex go to the basement? There are all those books in there that you paid a fortune for, full of knowledge about witches. What if he accidentally sees them?"
Silas landed on the armrest of the rocking chair, tilted his head, and asked Mela, who was bending over to count the materials.
Thanks to the washing and styling she did the night before, Mela's red curly hair was no longer a messy cascade down her back; it was now neatly draped behind her.
However, with Mela's movement, they, along with the white lace shawl, almost fell to the ground.
The reason it's described as "almost" is because Silas, being very perceptive, rushed over and promptly grabbed the end of Mela's hair, also pulling her shawl back into place.
"Let him see what he wants. Do you think everyone who reads the book can turn from an ordinary person into a witch like me? Aren't you underestimating your master?"
Mela straightened up, crossed her arms, and stared at Silas, making him shake his head frantically.
“How could that be? Mela is the smartest witch in the world. No one can compare to Mela!” Silas emphasized deliberately, as if afraid that Mela wouldn’t believe him.
Mela snorted softly. Although the church's propaganda claimed that witches were born with evil magic, there were actually cases like Mela who became witches later in life, though they were extremely rare.
Besides needing an extremely intelligent mind, one also needs to possess extraordinary comprehension skills.
To give an analogy, it's like someone thinking that as long as they learn about herbs and are lucky enough to get a witch's potion recipe, they can brew a corresponding magic potion.
"How is that possible! Wouldn't that mean everyone could become a witch?"
In fact, each witch's potion recipe is different.
Ultimately, potions are miracles created by witches using herbs mixed with magic. Understanding the potion is the key to its effectiveness. Therefore, if another witch were to create a transformation potion, she would never use the exact same materials and dosages as Mela.
As mentioned in "Introduction to the Most Common Magic Potions and Refining Tips", transformation potions require lizard skin, which takes advantage of the lizard's ability to change its skin color. However, Mela changed the lizard skin to the stem of a magic mustard.
The devil's vine is a notorious plant; anyone or any animal that gets close to it will eventually be sucked to death by its blood.
However, the purple kale itself is filled with an extremely rich purple from its roots to its flowers, so it should be very eye-catching. As long as you are careful, you are unlikely to be affected.
But the magic kale has been able to successfully capture its prey time and time again, and has reproduced for hundreds of years. It should be noted that some recorded plants have become extinct during this period.
Therefore, Mela believed that this ability to conceal one's appearance was exactly the effect the shape-shifting serum needed.
So Mela gathered a basket of magic mustard greens, combined them with other ingredients, and personally crafted her first transformation potion, thus acquiring her own unique transformation potion recipe.
While the book does contain much wisdom from other witch predecessors, simply copying its contents may at best make one an excellent apothecary, but it will never make one a great witch.
Even the witch who brought her into the world with ill intentions said that someone like Meera was perhaps the only one like her in hundreds of years.
"Most people in this world have been corrupted by rules, especially lovely girls. In order to survive better, they have to suppress their nature and bind themselves with dogma into boring and vulgar women."
"Only the equally adorable little witches, from birth, are influenced by their witch elders and grow freely into whatever they want to be."
The woman's red lips parted and closed, uttering words that could be described as harsh.
Then she looked at Mela, who was leaning against a tree in front of her, engrossed in reading a book, and said, "You are the most unruly little girl I have ever met."
"Oh really? I quite like myself like this." Upon hearing this, Mela didn't even bother to lift her eyes; her gaze was already captivated by the contents of the book.
As Mela officially became a witch, the woman brought her many new books filled with things only witches would study, such as astrology, prophecy, and curses. They were like an inexhaustible treasure trove, making Mela wish that time would slow down so she could read just a few more pages.
Mela turned a page in her book. "Speaking of which, I used to think that only women with magic could become witches."
"Now you know, that was just the bard's conjecture. It's not that only those with magic can become witches, but that when you become a witch, you possess magic that even the church covets," the woman replied casually.
*
When Lex emerged from the basement, the last rays of the setting sun streamed through the open doors and windows, bathing the cabin in its warm orange glow. Mela sat with Silas in the doorway, enjoying the lingering warmth.
Hearing the sound, Mela turned her head, still clutching the half-braided pigtail in her hand.
"Want to come and enjoy the sunset together?" Mela invited Lex.
Lex paused for a moment. He always heard similar illogical things from Mela. If a normal person wanted to sunbathe, they would choose the afternoon sun when it was at its strongest, not the sunset.
Lex walked over to Mela's side. Years of studying court etiquette made it impossible for him to sit on the ground as casually as Mela; he would at least bring a chair.
If there were no chair, he would rather stand like this.
"How was it? Isn't the sunset so gentle on your skin? The light wasn't glaring, and you could hardly feel the heat as if you were being burned." Mela looked up with a smug look and shared her experience with Lex, who was experiencing the sunset for the first time.
Lex's heart suddenly stirred, and his deep green eyes, now tinged with a bright light, did indeed appear exceptionally gentle.
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