Chapter Text
Rosa hadn’t meant to let anything slip, but her older sister was always too cunning for her own good.
“If you've noticed anything, say so. Even though Kyrie-san and I were thinking hard, you just kept nodding your head, didn't you? Come on. Isn't there anything you've noticed? Come on!” Eva spat, her face twisted with irritation and a hint of a desperate need in her eyes, a hunger that Rosa knew from her own reflection.
For a moment, the words almost escaped her, the words that would give her precious insight and hint over to her sister - and then, she swallowed them back down. If the goal of Father’s game was for someone to solve the epitaph, then it was foolish to hand over any information to her competitors now that the group discussion had halted. It wouldn’t do any good to only give information to Eva, one of the people she least wanted to gain Father’s favor.
Father had always been distant, cruel, and disapproving, but it was Eva who most longed for his approval and love. If she obtained that, Rosa was sure her ego would swell beyond belief. Even if Father didn’t speak a single word to her, just solving the epitaph alone would give Eva the ability to puff her chest out and go around acting as though she was the true heir to the family.
Krauss had always been the one to hit Rosa as a child, muscles being put to use to bruise her cheeks and make her bones crack, but it had always been Eva who remembered every word that Rosa said and turned them back against her. It had been Eva whose occasional slaps, combined with sharp words, had stung far more than Krauss’ meaningless brutality.
It had been instinct to swallow her words, to be quiet in the face of her sister’s rage. However, it was a conscious decision to shake her head and reply to her sister, “Ah… I can’t think of anything, Nee-san…” in a dejected tone.
Eva tsked dismissively. “Really? Is that so…?”
“Eva-nee-san, do you want to come help us with breakfast?” Kyrie called out.
Eva put on a bright smile. “Ah, yes. If you can’t do it alone, I’d love to help~”
With that, Rosa was freed. With that… After breakfast, once everyone was resting, Rosa snuck to the library. She just needed… to find that one thing. She had thought over the epitaph over and over again. Once Eva wasn’t around to pressure her and put her down, she’d been able to think of an answer.
The only thing keeping her from rushing out into the rain was the need for secrecy. The riddle Father had made was so ridiculous, so stupid, so complex. She much preferred the wolves and sheep puzzles that Maria always wanted to solve with her - at least those operated on standard logic, and Maria had such a bright smile when she solved one. However, the gold this riddle might grant her would give her far more of those bright smiles.
She made her way to the Golden Land in secrecy, with cautious steps and constantly looking behind. There was no feeling of being watched, but there was a weight to the air still, even as she opened the door to the Golden Land.
“Ah… This is…” She stepped forward with shaking limbs, her eyes fixed on the gold gleaming in the back.
She threw her head back and laughed, a wolf howling at the moon in joy. She had won. She was the youngest, the most inferior, the useless one - and yet, here she was! She was the one who had reached this place first! She was overwhelmed with the sweetness of this turnabout, one that she had never experienced before and never would again. It was a once in a lifetime thrill, a powerful rush of happiness so grand that it was almost like a fantasy.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Rosa turned around so quickly that she felt dizzy, her eyes wide. Before her was… She covered her mouth, feeling nauseous. “Beatrice…! You…”
She had to be imagining things. This had to be a delusion, one induced by her feverish celebration. Because Beatrice was dead. She had seen it for herself, all those years ago, no matter how hard she had tried to forget…!
“You’re not real,” Rosa managed to say, the words choked and sitting strange in her throat. “You’re not here…!”
Beatrice smiled. It was nothing like the smiles of the girl she remembered, so naive and pure that she believed that magic was real and there were wolves in the forest. It was the smile of a witch, a wicked practitioner of forbidden arts. It was the sort of smile that belonged to a woman and not to a mere girl.
“My physical vessel died, yes,” the witch agreed. “However, that only set my soul free. Though Kinzo has trapped me here for many years, I was soon to leave. And yet…”
As the witch stepped forward, Rosa flinched and stepped back. The witch stilled, and so too did Rosa. “And yet?” Rosa asked, voice wavering. The fear that made her heart pound so fast was beginning to abate, but too much of it remained for her to be comfortable.
“And yet, now that you’ve solved the epitaph… That means that you, too, possess the title of Golden Witch.” Beatrice smiled. “Isn’t that wonderful, Rosa? ‘Beatrice’ will no longer take Maria away from you. From now on, you can be the one that Maria idolizes so.”
Rosa swallowed. Her head was spinning still, in more ways than one, and she didn’t know what to think or say. “I… will become a witch?”
Beatrice laughed, and this time, Rosa didn’t flinch away when the witch stepped closer. “Yes,” she promised in a whisper, placing her hands on Rosa’s shoulders. “You took me from that golden cage. Now the cage has been melted down, and the gold is yours to keep. Is that not fair?”
“A witch… I see.” Rosa inhaled, exhaled. The air tasted of dust and age, of her childhood and of her father’s study. “If that is what I must become in order to obtain the gold – I will do it.”
“Perfect,” the witch proclaimed. “Maria has already provided her blessings for you, and here I shall ratify them.”
“Maria?” Rosa questioned, but then Maria appeared alongside Beatrice, clad in a Western dress that Rosa had never seen before except perhaps in the corners of Maria’s notebooks.
Maria nodded. “Uu! Mama, I’m so happy! You found the gold, and from now on Mama will be a witch like Beato!”
Rosa swallowed her protests. Maria was happy, and she rushed up to Rosa to hug her tightly. Rosa patted her daughter’s head as golden butterflies swirled around her. Rather than mere dust and age, the air now tasted of something electric, something beyond the human keen. Such was the taste of magic, a sense reserved for witches. She felt her mind and soul open, power flowing into her as she held Maria tight.
She was the Golden Witch, ROSA. She was the one who held dominion over Rokkenjima, now set above her cruel and inferior siblings. And she would never be harmed by them again. She laughed, holding her daughter in her arms as her eyes reflected the brilliance of the golden future before her.
Beatrice had died. She had watched the girl die before her, long ago. And yet, here Beatrice was, alive and well. That painful memory, which she had tried for so long to forget, had finally been erased. Rosa’s laughter rang out in the empty room. She reached out to touch the gold, hand running over one golden bar. Upon it was a faded one-winged eagle, the mark of the Ushiromiya family.
“From now on… I won’t have to suffer,” Rosa murmured.
“Yes,” the witch inside her heart whispered. “From now on, we won’t have to suffer.”
Rosa put a hand over her heart. Tears welled up in her eyes. No more long nights of fruitless work at her failing company. No more coming home to cry to Maria. No more lonely days. With this amount of money, she would be able to have any man she liked to fill the void in her heart. She could have a father for Maria that wouldn’t abandon them both. And there would be no more debt hanging over her head, the ever-present self-inflicted guillotine she had put herself under in the name of a love that had left her to die.
“Are you satisfied, ROSA?” Beatrice asked.
Rosa nodded. “Yes.”
“However, in order to keep this gold to yourself… to truly become the Golden Witch…”
Rosa flinched, and then nodded once more. “I understand. In order to become the witch that I desire, the people who would take this magic away from me…” She clenched her fists tight, a cold smile tugging her lips upwards. “Need to be eliminated.”
The two witches laughed together. They had both lived for too long in cages and been used for too long by men to be gentle or kind. Good women were quiet and obedient, but they had both long tired of that. They had grown fangs and claws sharp enough to cut through the golden bars of their prisons, and to never be hurt again.
ROSA embraced Rosa from behind, clad not in Rosa’s own garb but in an outfit fitting for a witch. “Yes,” she whispered into Rosa’s ear. “Let’s make sure no one will take this magic away.”
Rosa did not flee the witch’s embrace, nor did she deny the witch’s words. The witch was herself, after all, and she would not reject her. She understood how ugly, selfish, and cruel her heart was… and did not care. She had been through too much to deny herself the right to hate. Was that not why she had harmed Maria so often…?
“Maria is a bad girl,” the witch spat cruelly. “But it’s alright. I’ll fix her. We’ll fix her, and make her better. The golden magic can do anything, after all!”
Beatrice glanced away from both of them. “...If anything is unclear, call for me. My Stakes of Purgatory are now at your command,” she said quietly, and then disappeared.
Rosa, the witch, left the Golden Land with a smile, humming a cheerful tune under her breath. She slipped back into the guesthouse with no one aware that she’d left, playing along with their foolish need to keep guard.
If someone else had been aware of the secret of the gold, Rosa would have needed to tell her siblings right away to avoid her own share being stolen. However, the gold was currently all hers. Normally she was a good girl who played by the rules, but at the moment, she didn’t want or need to be good. She would have to consider her next moves carefully.
The adults were all taking turns guarding the lobby. Rosa was often overlooked by her siblings, so she was able to act normal without any issue. Eva was still staring intently at a notebook, likely still considering the epitaph. Rosa had to resist the urge to smirk. She had done something even her oh-so-smug older sister hadn’t been able to do.
As they sat together chatting idly, they heard the sound of stomping. The cousins ended up coming downstairs, with Maria sobbing and throwing a tantrum. However, the moment Maria laid eyes on Rosa, her demeanor changed entirely.
“Uuu… the bad witch…” Maria muttered, pointing at her. “Uu, the bad witch! I want Mama, where’s Mama…!”
Rosa narrowed her eyes at her, but ROSA did not care for the prattling of her foolish child. She stood from her seat, marching over to Maria and placing firm hands on her shoulders. “Calm down,” she commanded. “Or maybe I’ll cast a spell on you, if you want to act like this!”
Maria shook her head, sniffling. “Uu… I want Mama…”
Rosa was horrified. She wanted Maria to be a good girl in public, to behave and act normal. But she also loved Maria. “Mama is here,” she said, tone softening. “It’s alright. What’s the matter?”
“Something about her rose in the garden…” George offered.
Maria shook her head again. “Uu, don’t want to. Don’t want Beatrice to see the bad witch.”
Rosa sighed. “I see. Have you calmed down now, Maria?”
Maria started crying again, but this time far more quietly. Rosa took her daughter’s hand, trying to ignore everyone’s gazes. “I’ll take her to our room,” she announced, and ran away from those judging eyes.
“You need to behave in public,” ROSA scolded. “Don’t you want to be good for Mama?” Rosa added.
The witch and the human were tangled together, just as her love and her hatred were. They were inextricable from the other, so entwined that one could not be without the other. ROSA’s hand slapping Maria’s cheek was the same to Rosa as soothing Maria with kind words. Maria didn’t wail, but sobbed quietly.
With the golden magic, Rosa and Maria could be happy together. Couldn’t they?
Only time would tell - but an empire built on a child’s bruised cheek and siblings’ buried bodies would not be eternal.