"Stop following me!" She yelled loudly at the male who was limping behind on his injured leg.

"But I'm lonely." He answered back, causing her brows to furrow. Really? Did he think she was going to fall for the puppy face?

Oh please.

"Go back now or else." She threatened, causing the male to regard her with amusement.

"Why? Are you going to do something to me?" He made an exaggerated expression. "I'm so scared!"

She heaved an exasperated sigh. He kept forgetting she was a witch.

She waved her finger, and with an invisible force lifting him up effortlessly off the ground to a high tree branch nearby.

"Hey!" He yelled, his hands flying this way and that. "Put me down! This is really high!" He clutched to the tree branch, afraid that his was going to make contact with the ground any moment.

Despite her impatience, her lips curled slightly at the corners.

"Are you going to go back or not?"

"Fine fine! Just let me down." 

With another wave of her finger, he landed safely on the ground. She turned, and discreetly smiled to herself before proceeding on her way to town.

"That woman. Aish." He ruffled his hair in frustration as he sat on the bed of grass watching her retreating figure. It was the first time he lost his cool against a female. A witch no less.

Somehow, he was having fun. Over the past few days he had been following his rescuer around, pestering her and talking nonstop. He didn't even know why he was doing it, maybe it was because of the fact that he liked it when she regarded him with that reprimanding expression to let him know she was annoyed.

He forgot all about the kingdom and who he was. He forgot the fact that he had been out for a few days and that his father might be worried. In some strange ways, the redhead witch proved to be more interesting than he first thought.

A subsconcious smile crept up on his face as he walked back to the small house in the forest where he had been staying for the past few days. He'd just wait until she get back and annoy her again.

--------------------------------------

To say that Mr. Choi Seunghyun was an annoying mutt was sort of an overstatement. Yet that was exactly what he was. He acted as if they've known each other since they were in cribs and pestered her to the point where she felt like drinking a jar of crow's blood to release her exasperation. 

At first, he seemed like a nice enough sort of guy. But that was before he started staring at her whenever he thought she wasn't looking and poking her face when she was immersed with creating her concoction. It got so annoying that she rattled the cupboards the other day when she yelled in frustration.

She should have just alert someone else that he was injured and let them take care of him instead of bringing him in.

Yet, she couldn't deny that she wholeheartedly resented the male's presence. Living in the forest all by herself, her only company was the animals and well, they didn't really prove to be much of a company. Hyori was always in town, and sometimes even her shielded heart felt the sense of loneliness creeping in.

The male's presence livened up the small house and albeit irritating, he wasn't that bad.

"Are you okay Bom? You look like you had some rather eventful couple of days." Hyori questioned when Bom sat down in the shop.

"You could say so." She poured some tea. "Some merchant is staying at my house. He got injured in the forest so I took him in."

Hyori's face brightened at the thought of a male's presence in her bestfriend's life.

"Really? Is he handsome? Is he nice? Is he rich? Oh I bet he's super dreamy!" Hyori sighed, swooning over someone she hadn't even meet yet.

"No. He's annoying, irritating, and talks too much. He kinda gives me the creeps."

"You say that about every man you meet."

"No I don't. I don't say that about Manir from the butcher shop."

"He's different."

"How? He's a man last time I checked."

"You get what I mean!"

"Nope. You're too confusing." Bom sipped her tea nonchalantly as Hyori gave her a look. That look immediately disppeared however, and was replaced with a gossiping face.

"Have you heard? The Prince has already arrived at the castle. Rumors say that the marriage announcement is going to be announced very soon!"

"And?"

"Omo I bet he's really handsome!" Hyori cupped her own face as she fanstasize.

"Geez it's just a marriage. That's like a bind to another person for life."

"You're too young to understand. For an old lady like me I would give anything to get married." Hyori pouted, to which Bom just shook her head.

"Those things are senseless to me." She put her teacup down. "Marriages, weddings, love,...what exactly is love anyway?" She asked, more to herself as she looked out at the people passing by in the roads.

"It's just the feeling you get when you see the one you are destined to be with." Hyori answered, smiling.

"Destined huh?" Bom mused, her eyes seemingly faraway.

--------------------------------------

"Where is the Prince?" King Calvin III questioned Riego as the latter was scurrying across the castle garden. "I haven't seen him around."

"He's been out..." Riego tried to find the words. "Exploring and hunting for the last...couple of days Your Majesty."

"Couple of days? Why hasn't he returned yet?"

"You know him. He can get pretty caught up Your Highness." 

The King only nodded in contemplation as he slowly walked away. Riego heaved a breath he had been holding. He was pretty worried himself and was fretting over the fact that the Prince has been out for a few days.

Thinking he just escaped, he turned around only to find himself face to face with Princess Jiyeon.

"My Lady." Riego bowed.

Jiyeon was going to walk pass the man without saying, but subsconciously she found herself asking.

"Where is Prince Seunghyun?"

Riego gulped. Why would the Princess ask something like this?

"He has been out exploring for the past few days My Lady."

"The past few days? What kind of exploring is that?" Jiyeon's cold demeanor intimidated Riego. "What if he got lost somewhere?"

Wait, why did she care anyway?

"I'm sure he's fine My Lady. He has an adventurous personality." Riego answered, looking looking at the cold Princess.

Adventurous? Jiyeon thought. 

"Where did he go?"

"I think it was the forest My Lady."

The Sanctuary forest huh? It was a pretty big forest. Who knows what could have happened?

Then again, why was she thinking about this?

"You're dismissed." Jiyeon said before she walked away in contemplation. Here she was trying to get the man's eye and he was out prancing somewhere in the forest. What could he possibly do out there for days anyway? Look at rabbits?

The more she thought about it, the more agitated she got. Until finally she decided to do something.

"What is it Jiyeon?" Her father the King inquired when he saw her walking towards him upon the throne.

"I think Prince Seunghyun might be missing, Father."

"And what caused you to say that?"

"I talked to his servant and he said that Seunghyun has been out for a few days exploring the Sanctuary forest. It's a big forest; he might have got lost or something."

"So you're worried about him?" Her father suddenly asked, causing her to blink.

"No." Was she?

The King just regarded his daughter with a chuckle before saying.

"All right if you miss him that much I'll send out some guards to him back. We need him back to discuss about the engagement announcement anyway. No wonder I haven't seen him around."

Jiyeon just nodded before she turned to walk away. The thought of marrying the man somehow placed a strange feeling in her stomach.

-------------------------------

He waited and waited sitting on the wooden chair. Why was the woman taking so long? The house was quiet without her presence, only the sounds of the forest outside could be heard reasonating in the wooden walls.

Why was he waiting for her anyway? Why was he even ancticipating her to come back? Why did he feel lonely when she wasn't here? Why did he feel like he had know her for a long time?

The questions ran through his mind combined with the slow ticking of time nearly drove him to madness. He told himself to find something to do before he went crazy.

Standing up, he went into the kitchen where her huge cauldron was located. There was a strange, unpleasant smell radiating from within the cauldron. The cabinets were full of bizarre looking jars with even more bizarre contents. Passing by the shelves, he stumbled into the stand where an ancient, large book was propped up.

Curious, he started flipping the pages. Inside were a number of spells and incantations for varying purposes. From turning someone into a frog to creating a giant golemn to making rain and creating a vortex. 

One particular spell caught his eye though: The Spell of Bewitchment.

Or, in other words, how to bewitch someone.

Or, in other words, how to make them fall in love with you.

He was about to read more when he heard footsteps coming from outside. Thinking she returned, he quickly limped out to open the door and was prepared to annoy her again.

But it wasn't her. Instead he only saw men dressed in uniforms stood rigidly outside looking at him. Their attire told him they were guards from the castle.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

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OH NO HE'S BEING TAKEN AWAY! *le gasps

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