The Witch and the Doll Swear

There was silence in the conference room.

The people who were still in the Marsula winery were summoned and gathered on the second floor of the castle, in the meeting room that had only been used a few times since the castle was established.

They are direct and collateral members of the family, and they are not many in number. They were summoned here by the bell from the vineyard, from the warehouse, and from every post that is still holding on, but they don’t know what happened. The girl who summoned them stood there. In the corner of the conference room, he covered his expression under the fiery red bangs.

She didn't say anything, and people didn't know what happened, so they could only look at the two ends of the long table, looking at the manager of the winery, and the strange girl with light brown skin.

"...a perfect fit."

Until the middle-aged man's voice broke the silence, he stretched out his hand, and a ring shone with iridescent light in his palm.

Although not everyone could see the ring clearly, the iridescent light still reminded them of the legends that have been passed down since the establishment of Masura Winery.

The coat of arms of the Forster family is divided into two, the family owner holds one, and the winemaker who is allowed to use the name of Forster holds the second.

When the two rings were put together correctly, the incomplete coat of arms returned to its integrity, shining iridescent light, which was the true proof of First's glory.

The man took a deep breath.

Facing the young girl holding a token. He didn't know how to describe his mood at the moment.

"Gradient blond hair, black pupils, ruling the family with a young appearance, and most importantly, that doll...Miss Alice, isn't it?"

"Well, Alice is Alice, are you... a descendant of Atraka?"

Everyone's attention was focused on the strange girl.

Alice stood up gracefully. Now Liliana's identity is the young master of the Forster family, but as a puppet, Alice can ignore the passage of time and tell her the last time she came to this family. their people's names.

After letting out a long breath, the manager of the winery stood up from the chair, looked at the expressionless girl opposite, bowed his head solemnly, and saluted respectfully.

"Welcome back, Lord First. I am the tenth-generation direct descendant of Yamin Village, Jester Yamin, and Atraka is my great-grandfather."

There was a slight commotion in the conference room.

Yamin.

They all know this surname, and they also know that they are not real nobles. They are just given management territory by the nobles who almost never show up, who really own the territory and surname of Furst, and call themselves Furst. power.

This power allows them to call themselves the First Family no matter who they face.

But from the perspective of blood, they are not real nobles, so they can only use half of the coat of arms.

Moreover, in front of the nobles who really bear the name of the Forster family, they are still just Yamin, and the village where the winery is located is their blood relationship.

It's just that the vast majority of people here and their parents have never seen this mysterious family.

Just because of Jester's words, they also gradually remembered the rumors circulating in the winery about the mysterious family who occasionally came to this territory for hundreds of years.

It is said that it is a family dominated by women, which is completely different from ordinary nobles.

It is said that the patriarch of that family has been held by a young girl for generations and has inherited the same name.

And, as a token of family lineage, a talking doll.

Listening to this, Ting Na looked at the witch with some cold sweat.

These are all settings added by Liliana to conceal her immortality, but of course they don't know.

When they looked at Liliana with puzzled and curious eyes, the witch at the top of the conference table also looked at them with calm eyes. When she leaned on the back of the leather chair and spoke with the attitude of a superior .

"...The current head of the Forster family, Liliana A. Forster, my great-grandmother once met your great-grandfather, Jester. At that time, your father was just born, and this place was still a Elegant little building made of wood."

All the voices of discussion disappeared.

"Yes, that was the best time for Mosula winery. We just won a brass trophy from the winemakers' union tasting."

"Alice still remembers that it was the best result the winery got in the tasting meeting of the Olympian Winemakers' Union."

The little puppet placed on the table by Liliana also nodded, but what she said made the people in the meeting room show awkward expressions.

As the winery with the longest history, it has never won a championship in the kingdom's tasting... No, let alone the championship, the best result is only the third place once. This kind of thing even many workers employed by the winery Do not know at all.

Every time this season comes, when this topic is brought up, people always take it for granted, "There must have been several championships and gold cups over the years."

Of course, people who know the truth will not say it on purpose, after all, there is nothing to be proud of.

Thinking of this mysterious girl coming here at such a time, her embarrassing expression turned into a wry smile, and the conference room fell into silence again.

However, the girl was more silent than them, waiting for their initiative to bring it up, she had nothing to say, but her silent majesty overwhelmed everyone.

In the end, it was still Jester who spoke first.

The middle-aged man handed the put together ring to Tina who was standing beside him, watching the girl take the ring from the blond girl who returned to her and put it on her finger.

He knows exactly what that means. The heraldry that was split in two was reunited, and the true master of the family finally returned, but the residents of the village that had been given favors faced her with empty wine cellars, wineries on the verge of bankruptcy and unpaid debts. bill.

"Master Liliana, what is the reason for coming back at this time?"

As the manager of the winery, he could only bite the bullet and speak at this time.

"...Yes, I didn't intend to come back here, but when I passed by Lin Lun and went to negotiate with other nobles because of some matters, I was hinted at the embarrassment of the First family. After all, they are famous Even the nobles and merchants in the capital know about the winery."

The girl standing by the wall of the conference room spoke the first sentence since everyone gathered in this conference room.

"...but you don't know anything about it."

It wasn't particularly loud, but it didn't deliberately lower the volume either. Everyone heard the cold hum, and everyone looked at the red-haired Mary.

"Mary."

Excluding Jester who spoke to her with a slightly harsher tone.

"Master Liliana, please forgive Mary's offense. Regarding the current situation, I really have no face to face the ancestors of the family."

Nor does it include the witch who stares coldly at the bill being placed in front of her.

"...The town not far away, this castle, the extremely high sales three years ago, the sharp drop two years ago...what happened?"

The categorical questioning made the temperature in the room drop even more.

Although Tina noticed the dissatisfaction on the girl's face covered with bangs and shadows, Jester and Liliana completely ignored her voice and continued talking.

"As you know, Lady Liliana, the castle and the town outside the city were only established three years ago."

Starting with this sentence, after a long sigh, Jester stood up and slowly talked about what happened in these years.

"That's how it all started."

Firstland has no settlements worthy of the name of town, nor castles that are almost the hallmark of aristocratic domain, which is as famous in Holly Valley as the luscious Firstrose.

One reason why there are no towns is that the most fertile territory on the west bank of the Holly River is almost all vineyards. In order to take care of such a large area of ​​orchards, it is more efficient to separate small villages than clustered towns. Zhuang is not far from Shetis, and that has not changed since then.

In addition, it is due to the special status of the owner of this territory.

This part is what Alice told Tina through a spiritual connection. According to the law of the Kingdom of Olympion, only nobles can build castles, and Liliana escorted the blood of the Lionheart King Charlemagne hundreds of years ago to build here. After establishing the kingdom, he did not live long in this gifted land, let alone leave blood.

At that time, they just randomly found a village with better winemaking skills and more popularity, and announced to them that she was the lord here, but the family was not here, so they gave them the land and the right to use the surname First, Let them manage it.

I am afraid of witches who are not from the noble circle of the country, and the people who manage this territory are indeed not nobles. Therefore, Forster, which has no towns, has always been an interesting scenery in Holly Valley.

Until 3 years ago, the members of the Furst family suddenly announced that they should own the castle and the town below the city like real nobles.

We should have towns on our own territory, we should have our own castles—they insisted that they quickly established their own on the territory under the ambiguous silence and acknowledgment of other nobles. Towns and castles.

"It was a lot of money, but it was worth it for all of us at the time."

Jester, who said such words, raised his chin slightly and sighed uncontrollably, making it difficult to tell whether he was proud of the prosperity at that time, or sighed at the mistake of decision.

"The new city brought new immigrants and business opportunities, and the brand-new castle was full of praise from the visiting guests. We sold more wine that year than any previous year. At the end of the year, we calculated the income and expenditure. In just two more years, we will recover all of our costs.”

Just two more years.

But in that year, the Kingdom of Olympion signed a new trade agreement with its neighbors.

The power of this agreement includes the substantial reduction of tariffs on some commodities, and some industries that have been self-operated in the inner circle of the kingdom have been affected to varying degrees by the influx of products from neighboring countries.

Winery is also one of the affected industries.

Especially Holly Valley.

The trade agreement has also relaxed the threshold for businessmen from other kingdoms to come to Olympian to establish industries. They covet the still green valley and sweet winter grapes in this harsh winter. More than ten wineries, large and small, poured into the valley every year. , They brought new fermented rice, new packaging, new tastes and recipes, competing for orchards and markets on both sides of the Holly River.

Compared with the various wineries that have been in the kingdom and rely on word-of-mouth and reputation accumulated over time to divide the market, these outsiders are better at spreading the publicity. In just half a year, it is fashionable to drink wine from the outside kingdom in Holly Valley. Trendy, young guys are proud to give girls a bottle of fancy wine that looks like a large perfume bottle, girls also like to order a glass of wine with orchids or soaked white peach slices in bars and dating restaurants. Exotic wine.

In the fierce competition, some wineries were crushed, some barely survived, some were merged, and only a few became strong.

Chateau Marsoula belongs to the second category. Relying on its reputation and quality over the years, part of the market has been taken away, but it has not been completely defeated. Although the decline in sales has forced production to shrink, the people in the chateau firmly believe that This is only temporary, they are actively responding to challenges and trying to develop new categories.

So far, although the finances are a bit tight, every year they can withdraw a sum of gold coins that is almost equivalent to the annual tax of the territory from the account of the lord who rarely shows up in the Magicians Association for the operation of the winery and the territory. Managed funds, so it's fairly stable.

Until the fall of this year.

In the Holly River Valley, the disaster of the golden magic tree broke out.

"Golden Demon Tree...?"

After the words she hadn't heard before were subconsciously uttered, Tingna quickly covered her mouth with her hand, looking at the gathered eyes in embarrassment.

Before I knew it, it was like listening to Liliana telling a story...

"...The golden magic tree is a special kind of plant monster."

The witch did not ignore Tina's slight interruption, she signaled with her eyes for Jester, who had told a long story about the past, to rest for a while, leaning on the chair, and gently raised his hand.

The iridescent magic light built a magic circle, projecting a lifelike image on the long table.

It was a tall and sturdy giant tree with countless rhizomes, and a large number of wicker-like aerial roots hanging from the thick branches. It looked like an ordinary banyan tree commonly seen in the south of the mainland.

It's just that its bark is light golden yellow, and its broad leaves are completely different from the banyan tree, with jagged edges and cast-like lines on it, within the deep green, there is a little bit of golden glow.

"No, it's not this kind of thing. It's not this that made Holly Valley and us into this miserable state."

The blond-haired girl was still wondering what "Between Disaster and Gospel" was. Mary sneered and looked at Liliana with disdain.

"You don't know anything at all..."

"...The golden magic tree was originally a unique species of Faruilan. It has a powerful ecological reshaping function. The golden magic tree that starts to grow will gather elements, and its roots will go hundreds or thousands of meters underground to absorb nutrients and water. , in about ten years, a desert can be turned into a magic forest full of elements and full of magic plants. This plant is a plant in the Huxin Botanical Garden of Guanghui College. , planted by the goblin princess herself."

Not paying attention to her interruption, Liliana just continued to explain to Tingna, and then looked at the fiery red pupils holding dissatisfaction.

Those eyes were very different from her father's. Looking at each other, Mary couldn't help being stunned, and subconsciously moved away, but immediately she seemed to realize something, and turned her head to look at her stubbornly again, as if she could see the restless atmosphere between the two eyes.

"...This gesture is to complete the reshaping of the ecology and become the golden demon tree at the core of the forest. Before that, the seeds of the demon tree will lie dormant under the earth for decades, spreading the roots and veins to every One place, then."

--despair.

With the sound of fingers tapping on the wooden table, the image changed, and the huge trees disappeared, followed by dozens of golden vines bursting out of the table with huge flower buds.

The vines that emerge from the table are like golden snakes with leaves. The opening and closing buds at the top have four calyxes. When the buds unfold, four pairs of golden venomous thorns appear in front of people. Reminiscent of the snake's head, the poisonous thorns are sharp fangs.

Out of a natural aversion to long, soft and wriggling things, Tingna shrank her neck and took a step back subconsciously.

"No...that's right, it's this kind of monster..."

"That's the thing! By the Holy Fire, they ruin everything!"

"Damn parasites, this is a devil's beard! Poor Jon was bitten off half of his leg by this monster!"

Shouts echoed in the meeting room.

"...they will start the first step of changing the ecology. That's the gesture, right?"

Taking people's panic into her eyes, the witch asked them indifferently.

Even Mary's face showed a deep sense of panic and resentment.

"A highly poisonous acid like a snake, it will attack all creatures that approach without distinction, and the foul-smelling mud keeps gushing out from those flower buds. I can smell it at any time. Throughout the autumn, the entire Holly Valley It smells like this!"

Even though the magic image actually didn't have the slightest breath, everyone seemed to smell the overflowing stench.

"That smell comes from the nutrient-rich mud they produced from underground mercury. The first step for the golden magic tree to reshape its ecology is to cover every place it can spread with this mud, and then multiply the number of demon trees. Tentacles—these vine-like plants maintain water and soil, and then slowly turn muddy swamps into lush grasslands and woods."

Even if it is a barren desert or a rotting land full of poisonous swamps, the golden magic tree can tenaciously open up oases one by one, and finally turn the entire desert into a forest. The power to reshape the ecology is so great that it is found Not a bit of a goblin feels dangerous, and confines the monster to the deepest forests of Faryland.

Of course, in a certain era, some extreme goblins scattered the seeds of the golden magic tree all over the mainland in order to complete a dark green and quiet world, that is another story.

"But, isn't this a good thing? Let the land become fertile."

"If this kind of thing happened in an already fertile area, it would be a complete disaster. Because the southeast of the mainland is close to Faruiland, racism is relatively weak, and goblins walk more frequently. Such a situation rarely occurs, but in the west and north, due to the Holy The Church Church and the Church of the Eternal Sacred Flame are not very friendly to races other than humans, so after more than ten years, you can always hear where the golden magic tree popped up again..."

"Of course, there are ways to coordinate and combine the golden magic tree with the local ecology, but that is a long process, and the general way of dealing with it is still to hunt it down... But it seems that it is not so smooth here."

After Alice and Liliana finished speaking, the witch turned her head and scanned every angry face.

"..."

The red-haired girl's expression darkened, and she even let go of her tightly clenched hands.

"Yes."

She takes her father's place.

"It's not just that, it's not so smooth."

Recalling the golden autumn that was like a nightmare.

When the golden magic tree broke out overnight in the Holly Valley, most of the vineyards had not yet harvested.

Although the entire river valley reacted quickly and organized adventurers and city guards to destroy the flower buds and vines that emerged from the ground, when the crisis was resolved, the harvest of the entire basin was still greatly affected—— For the rest of Holly Valley, the crisis is over.

But for First Territory, it was just the beginning of the disaster.

When the adventurers and city guards prepared by the kingdom finished their cleanup and left, the people of the winery looked at the orchards that had been affected by the battle and were in disarray, and prepared to grit their teeth to survive this difficult time.

However, on the second day, when the fruit growers got up early and came to the vineyards, they were ready to start harvesting unaffected grapes.

Right in front of them, golden vines and flower buds broke through the ground.

Soldiers and adventurers who were rectified in the town came after hearing the news, and spent two days sweeping up those vines again. After another week, when everyone thought it was over, the vines of the Golden Demon Tree Like a lingering evil spirit, once again snaking out of the mud-soaked ground.

Not only the land of the orchard, but also the foundations of the castle of the Vineman, soaking the wine cellar in the foul-smelling mud, and even causing casualties.

Those were the worst days.

The organized crusade team has been disbanded, and this time, the winery can only pay for it to sweep up these vines.

However, I don't know when it started, there were rumors in the valley that the First Territory was cursed, and the golden magic tree would emerge endlessly.

Many adventurers and mercenaries are unwilling to accept their entrustment. The Mage Association is very interested in this matter, but their way of handling it will destroy the soil of the entire orchard. As a result, they have to charge a high price and spend a lot of money More gold coins, hired a group of desperadoes to clean up the vines in the orchard.

Even so, those vines have not completely disappeared from the land of Masura Winery.

"Then, it's what you see."

until now.

The rumors intensified, and people talked about it, saying that even the golden magic tree there was cursed, and even the disaster of the golden magic tree started from the underground of First.

If it weren't for the Association of Magicians, the Church of the Holy Church, and the Church of the Eternal Flame to refute the conspiracy theory, the outraged fruit farmers would have already fought.

Throughout the autumn, the winery harvested only a quarter of the previous year's grapes, and the wine cellar was damaged, which lost a lot of stored aging wine and devalued the entire wine storage.

Some orders could not be completed, and the target of the transaction demanded compensation, but the winery could no longer provide more funds, and even the fruit farmers on the territory sold the best grapes they snatched to other wineries. And in winter they don't even have the money to hire fruit growers to harvest winter grapes.

And more merchants demanding liquidated damages will also come with the upcoming Holly Valley wine tasting.

But before that, the winery will go bankrupt first.

Mary leaned against the wall and said nothing more.

Even the young girls were wondering if they had offended the holy flame at some point, since they were going to encounter such disasters one after another.

She once imitated the ascetic in the story and knelt naked in front of the statue of the sacred fire until the cold made her faint. When she opened her eyes, the worse tomorrow was still not far away.

Apart from the unfavorable fleeting time, there are no other words to describe this tragic reality.

"……I see."

But after listening to all this, the witch in front of the conference table just nodded calmly, and then put the bills in front of her and arranged them in a row.

"...All in all, the current problem is due to the continuous accidents of wineries with less abundant funds after the establishment of the town castle, resulting in a serious shortage of funds...Well, it is not a very difficult problem to solve."

"Is there a way? Really?"

"We're all overwhelmed."

"Since there is a way, let's talk about it."

As soon as she opened her mouth, the conference room erupted into a commotion.

Most of the winemakers who are still in the winery are skilled winemakers, but they are not educated in etiquette like the real nobles. When Liliana said that there is a way, these people immediately exploded.

This made Liliana frowned slightly, and looked at Jester who was holding the wine glass.

"Be quiet, everyone, don't make noise!"

The man holding the wine glass full of boiled water quickly calmed everyone down, but the expression on his face was not much calmer than these people.

After telling people to shut up, Jester also eagerly asked the mysterious lord.

"Master Liliana, do you have a solution?"

"...The problem facing the winery is that there is no money. The rumors will disappear with time. The monsters in the orchard can be hired by adventurers to remove them. The unharvested grapes can hire more fruit growers and buy new wooden barrels. , the wine cellar can also be refilled, Miss Tina."

Ting Na, who was beside Liliana, felt that Miss Witch sighed slightly. Before she could listen carefully, the Witch called her, took out another ring from the space storage ring, and handed it over.

The ancient silver ring seemed to be made of the same material as the ring with the emblems of vines and goblets. After Tingna subconsciously took it, she groaned belatedly.

"Eh? Miss Liliana, this is..."

What does it mean to give yourself a ring with the seven wings of Magnus at this time...?

After looking over in such a puzzled manner, Miss Witch continued to speak.

"...Did you see the Mage Tower of the Mage Association when passing through the town outside the city?"

"I saw that right..."

"...Go there and use this ring to withdraw 1,000 gold coins from my deposit. This money is enough for the winery to survive the most difficult days and solve all the current problems and these bills."

"Ah, um, I see, go to withdraw the money, 1000..."

As she spoke, the corners of the girl's mouth twitched.

"1000 pieces?"

nod.

"gold?"

Tina was dumbfounded.

Thanks to the experience during this period of time, she maintained her calm expression. She looked at the witch who nodded silently, making the conversation between the two sound like an ordinary number confirmation.

Of course, in reality, Ting Na didn't know how to react.

"...Alice should go too, although the law and order here seems to be pretty good. Come back as soon as possible, and then, let's go back to Lin Lun."

Liliana didn't seem to care much about this, she exchanged a look with the little doll, the little doll nodded, and floated onto the girl's shoulder.

"Well, Alice understands, then Miss Tina, let's go."

"Huh? Uh, uh."

Feeling the cat-like weight on her shoulders, the girl calmed down quickly, put the ring into her space storage ring, bowed slightly to Liliana and other people in the meeting room, and then moved towards Leave outside the door of the meeting room.

She didn't know Liliana's plan, since she didn't know, then just do what she said.

After all, Liliana still needs the identity of the Furst family to deal with Ai's matriarchal family. Miss Witch will not make things worse...

"Wait for me!"

Just one or two steps away from the door of the conference room, the red-haired girl quickly stopped Ting Na.

Perhaps the amount of 1,000 gold coins really has the power to silence and dizzy people. Standing between Tina and the door of the conference room, Mary tightly clutched the headscarf she hadn't put on since she untied it.

Anyone could see that Mary's anger almost merged with her long flame-like hair, shaking violently because of the girl's approach.

Like something important being dismissed with contempt, placed on an unpleasant scale, like that.

Very, very angry.

"Are you going to leave us a sum of money, and then disappear without a trace like before? Now it's not about money at all!"

Over Tina's shoulders, those fiery red eyes seemed to flash with angry thunder.

"If money is needed, we can use part of the orchard as collateral, or even the castle as collateral for a loan. If money can solve these problems, we have already figured out a solution!"

"...Then what's the problem?"

"Of course it's a matter of reputation!"

One step, two steps.

"That, that..."

Ting Na retreated subconsciously in exchange for the girl's constant approaching.

The girl's roar resounded throughout the conference room. Compared with Tingna's bewildered voice and Liliana's calm tone, they seemed to be suppressed by her.

"You say the rumors will fade with time, but people in the Holly Valley will never forget that the reputation of Mosula Winery has fallen to the bottom, and even the town we built is about to become a brandy winery town. If you can't get it back in the next tasting session, Masura Winery will be completely finished!"

Mary slammed the table, her eyes looked around, she looked at everyone, loudly, like an orator waving her hands.

"We are the oldest and oldest winery in Masula Winery, Holly Valley, and even the entire Olympian Kingdom. We cannot lose our glory. Once we lose it at this time, we will be completely finished!"

"...Then, do you still have good quality wine to compete in the tasting?"

"...!"

But that's just as if.

With just one word, Liliana stopped the girl from approaching. Where did the courage come from for you to say such a thing, and while showing such an expression, you signaled Tina to leave her alone.

"Eh, ah, then, I'll take my leave first..."

So, seizing the moment when Mary was speechless, Tinna, who had lifted Alice from her shoulders, went around her, pushed open the dark wooden door, and walked out of the conference room.

When they turned around and closed the door, the girl with the flaming hair seemed to want to say something loudly. As soon as Tingna closed the door, all the voices in the meeting room disappeared.

"call……"

Walking along the promenade with mosaic glass windows, to the stairs connecting the first floor and the second floor, the girl let out a long sigh of relief, and put Alice back on her shoulders.

"Is Miss Tina nervous?"

"It's not very nervous, it's just...how should I put it? Miss Liliana, are you so angry that the people of the First Family have encountered this kind of thing and disrupted the scheduled trip..."

If I had to say it, Tina felt that today's Miss Witch was more indifferent and mean than anyone she had ever seen in the past—or was she extremely calm?

In short, the girl is not used to it.

"No, Lily is not angry at all."

"...but you can't see it at all."

"That kind of attitude is just because it is the fastest way to solve the problem. The more the situation is not optimistic, the calm or even cold attitude plus practical measures will be surprisingly convincing. Lily doesn't I am too willing to waste too much time here, so use this attitude to quickly gain the initiative and resolve the situation."

"Well……"

Thinking about it carefully, Miss Witch also said that after she brought the money, they would leave here and return to Lin Lun.

but……

"...It's not a question of money at all...? What does Miss Alice think?"

Leaving from the castle, walking out of the open gate, the guard room on the side is empty.

Looking at the small town in the direction of the road in front of the castle, Tina thought of the sound of the red-haired girl roaring like an angry lion.

"Well, business and economics are not what Alice is good at. However, from the current point of view, the winery's problem is indeed a serious lack of funds accumulated by a series of incidents, which has caused daily production to almost stop. This can be achieved through the injection of funds. It's solved." Putting his hands together in front of his chest, the little puppet tilted its head and thought for a moment.

"But the loss of brand reputation can only be caused by people's forgetting and their subsequent management. Lily can't help with this. This is just a part of Lily's property. Lily won't and won't It may take too much time on this, but in the future, personnel from the Ains Foundation may come and formally take over here."

"……what is that?"

"It's a fund organization established by Lily, headquartered in Glory City. Although it's not well-known, this organization has been in charge of managing Lily's properties in various parts of the mainland. Ms. Tingna should meet them in the future."

"Yeah……"

Seeing the girls approaching, the coachman who brought them here from Shetis suddenly showed a smile and took off his hat to salute Tina.

"My dear, kind lady, where are you going?"

"So Ms. Tingna should act quickly. Lily made the carriage wait because she anticipated such a plan."

"Even Miss Liliana expected such a thing, it feels a little scary, but..."

Telling the coachman where she was going, she climbed into the carriage and looked at the vineyards on both sides of the road. Tingna murmured softly as she said to herself.

"Is this really the solution..."

"Yes, how about..."

Alice smiled noncommittally, and when the coachman looked over in horror, she pretended to be an ordinary doll who couldn't speak.

"Were you the guest talking just now?"

"Um, yes, what's wrong?"

"Maybe it's just my illusion, I just heard the voice of a little girl..."

The coachman watched suspiciously as the girl got into the carriage, looked around, but saw no other figures.

He had no choice but to rub his arm with goose bumps, and attributed it to his auditory hallucinations—he was a little uncertain, everyone said that this winery was cursed, maybe he should go to church to pray after this trip .

As he thought about it, he couldn't help shivering, and swung the whip.

The whip made a crisp sound in the air, and the carriage drove quickly towards the small town not far away.