Chapter 1. Stagnant Time

A witch's time is like stagnant water that does not flow.

For over a thousand years, I viewed the world as if it were a colorless landscape. Emotions like joy, sadness, or anger were foreign words that held no meaning for me. I didn't know the reason why a heart beats, nor why people shed tears.

In that emotionless time where I simply closed my eyes when night came and opened them when morning arrived, I wasn't living; I was merely existing.

There was no one who came to visit me.

Even if a human lost their way and drifted to the edge of the forest once in a long while, the moment they faced me, they fled with a face full of terror. To humans, a witch was an object of fear, and my forest had long since become a forbidden land that no one approached.

I, too, did not try to catch those who ran away.

I was used to being alone, and it was only natural that no one entered my world.

Everything was like that until I met her, Delphi.

It was a snowy day.

Through the ceaseless flurry of pure white snow, a human entered deep into my forest.

Shivering as she took the cold snow with her whole body, she stopped in front of my cabin and knocked cautiously on the door.

"...The blizzard is so heavy. ...May I rest here for a moment?"

She was not surprised even when she faced me.

She didn't run away in fear, nor did she point fingers at me for being a witch.

She simply looked into my eyes and smiled, as if speaking to another person.

It was a look I hadn't seen in a thousand years.

Eyes that looked at me not as a witch, but just as a person.

I opened the door without a word.

I didn't know then that that choice would change me.

Chapter 2. True Magic

The blizzard didn't stop in a single day.

She stayed another day because the path was blocked, and that one day soon became several.

Since when was it?

She naturally came to live with me in my cabin, and I, too, stopped finding it strange.

The daily life I spent with her was nothing special, but it was truly peaceful.

In the morning, I smelled the tea she brewed, and in the afternoon, we spent time together looking at the snow falling slowly outside the window.

Sharing daily life with her like that, I felt myself changing ever so slightly.

Whenever I occasionally made flowers bloom or floated lights in the air with magic, she would look at me with sparkling eyes.

"Statice, you're truly amazing. To be able to use such wonderful magic... I'm really jealous. It's no different from receiving the most beautiful blessing in the world."

She smiled softly, her eyes shining.

At her words of envy, I simply shook my head silently.

To me, magic was a natural phenomenon like breathing, so I could never understand what was so beautiful about it.

Perhaps that was why.

More than the magic, I found myself looking at her, who smiled happily while watching it.

Whenever I faced that smile, an unknown warmth quietly blossomed deep in my chest.

To me, true magic wasn't the light blooming from my fingertips, but her smile that bloomed silently before me.

But foolish as I was, I didn't realize that until then.

I only hoped that this warm daily life would never end.

However.

The time of a witch who lives eternally and the time of a human were different.

Time flowed mercilessly, leaving me behind in my stillness, gradually leaving white traces in her hair and slowing her gait.

The strength also gradually faded from her hand, which had always held mine.

Holding that hand, I learned the emotion called fear for the first time in my life.

And eventually.

The day came when her breathing stopped.

Chapter 3. A Frozen Confession

Her tombstone was made on a small hill in the forest, her favorite place.

Standing before the cold headstone, I quietly called her name.

"Delphi."

No answer came back anymore.

In that moment, I felt something inside me collapse. My vision blurred, and for the first time in my life, something hot flowed down my cheeks.

"Ah... so these are tears."

With the tears I shed for the first time, I finally realized the identity of this strange emotion that had been filling my heart. I had been wanting her deep in my soul.

My first emotion, found after a thousand years of silence, was engraved in my heart on the day she disappeared from the world, under the beautiful yet sad name of 'love.' And that emotion has frozen cold.

Standing by the grave, I uttered the words I could never deliver. A cracked voice flowed out through my choked throat.

"...I love you, Delphi."

Those words, which I could never say to her while she was alive, scattered into the empty forest.

Why did I only realize it now?

Was it so difficult to say this one sentence while she was by my side?

I, who had been emotionless, thus cried out loud for the first time in front of her tombstone.

Chapter 4. A Sweet Curse

One hundred years have passed since then.

Though the scenery of the forest has changed with the passage of time, the confession formed in my heart hasn't faded in the slightest. The sweet curse named 'love' still remains deep in my heart.

In this long life, there are only two things I regret.

One is my foolishness for not honestly saying I loved her while she was alive and breathing.

The other is the fact that I cannot die like humans, so I cannot go to meet her in death.

If only I could go to where she is, I would have gladly given up this long life. I live because I cannot die, and I merely remain alone in this forest, longing for her.

Today, too, I sit by her grave and dare to pray for a miracle that will not come.

If, just if, a miracle happens to me and I can face her again.

I want to say it then without hesitation.

"I love you. Delphi."

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