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Chapter 10: Powerless and Penniless
By the next day, Lia can already stand by her own and help around the house. Thus, wasting no time, she started by cleaning the wooden cabin, which she soon learned that the house is too spacious for just one person. The cabin is bigger than how it looks outside.
It made her wonder, does the witch do not feel lonely there? The cabin is big enough to house five-members of a family.
But all those thoughts she just shrugged away as she continues to wipe the floor, until they are all free of dust. She soon turned on the wooden cabinet after, the wooden shelves of thick books, and even the living area did not escape her scrutinizing gaze. The only part of the house that Lia did not dare invade was the upper floors, the second-floor and the attic, afraid that she might find something she shouldn't, or afraid to invade a space she's clearly not welcome at.
The witch isn't home by then. He left to collect wild berries on the other side of the forest, and he took her brother with him. Though it is against Lia, she knows more than argue with the witch and endanger both her and her brother's life, because after all—she only does not possess any power against the beautiful creature, she's also very much aware that they are practically leeching off the remaining good will of the person in question.
To put it simply, Lia has no power nor money free themselves from the unknown man whose garden she used to steal from.
And besides, Jeongguk agreed to accompany the witch without any force inflicted to the boy, nor was he jinx to do so. Young Jeongguk willingly left with the meticulous man. which worry Lia. Her brother is openly showing adoration for the man, something a young boy should not.
Jeongguk barely understands their current situation, and the boy surely won't understand that the man he willingly helped around—isn't human.
But Lia do not possess the courage to break the reality to her brother.
After a while of cleaning the house, Lia finished the chores by noon, and the two are still out of her sight, no signs of them arriving home soon.
Not wanting to root herself in the bedroom, nor sit herself on the couches, Lia head for the kitchen to prefer themselves a meal, in case her brother and the witch arrived, hungry.
The supplies in the witch's kitchen are enough to sustain each of them. Lia's eyes almost bulge out of her sockets as she fumbled around the wooden cabinets on the kitchen, looking through a year worth of supplies, something the kitchen in their now-burnt-house never experienced. She'd only experienced having to look for food day after day, almost begging their neighbors for a small scrap of bread or leftovers to feed her sick brother.
Lia sighed, shaking her head. There is no room for pity now, especially that she must be cautious of the meal she'll prepare or she and her brother would be the next meal for the witch.
"Though I hate this place, I still need to be of use" she muttered while peeling the vegetables she suspects to be free of any spells. Or at least, she hopes to be free of any spells, because after all, Lia still hasn't forgotten how she put their lives in the palm of the cunning creature.
She'll make them a soup, because seeing the cloudy mist outside, it seems that it will rain.
She wasn't wrong though, because by the time the rain poured after almost an hour of cooking, she heard Jeongguk's voice calling out for her.
"I'm in the kitchen!" She answered to the boy. Soon after, she heard hurried footsteps, and there emerged his brother, a basket of wild fruits in his small arms.
Lia quickly took a towel to dry the boy who was completely soaked due to the rain. He must've played longer outdoor than he should.
"I told you not to play under the rain, Gguk! You might get sick!" She lectured as she dried the beaming boy.
"Sister, I am well and healthy now! I wouldn't get sick!" But the younger reasoned.
Lia sighed, "How sure are you?" She muttered.
"It would've been a shame if that little monster gets sick after having my herbs through his system" a voice interrupted.
The witch crouch down to take the basket of fruits from Jeongguk and proceeded to the wooden table without sparing Lia a glance. Though his eyes wandered to the cooking soup on the wooden stove.
"We'll tend the garden next, brat" the man sneered at her brother, who grinned widely.
"Yes!" The boy beamed.
"Can't that wait until the rain stops? It's pouring outside. One of you might get sick" Lia said.
The witch's eyes turned to her. His silky menacing glance did not fail to scare the girl, but she still managed to stood her ground.
"My brother might get sick—"
"I have plenty of herbs to keep him healthy" the man countered.
Lia can feel a ting of annoyance but she kept her composed posture and remained calm.
She couldn't tell the witch that they'd rather not take any more herbs from him. But decided to kept those thoughts to herself, not wanting to anger the man in front of them—the very same man whom their lives now depend on.
"But still," she pushed.
There was a long stretch of silence after her words. It was just her and the witch staring blankly on one another, neither would back down, each are bravely standing their ground.
However, at the end, Lia found herself yet again powerless against the cunning man.
