Release That Witch

"Goodbye teacher," the little girls said simultaneously.     

Irene closed her textbook and watched the kids walking out of the classroom. This school was rebuilt from a former residence belonged to a noble, which had been expropriated by the lord after this year's Months of Demons. Partition walls which had separated the house into small rooms had been torn down. New walls had been built to create several big rooms on each floor. Four to six batches of students could take classes here at the same time. According to the textbook, such batch should be called a "class". She could see most students of the daytime classes were kids, and at night classes, she would usually meet adult students.     

She had thought her application for a teaching job would have taken a long time to reach the City Hall, when Ferlin had submitted her application. Surprisingly, she had received permission on the very next day. After that, she had gone to the City Hall to register and fetch her teaching materials and a school timetable.     

Most of her students were children of the locals in Border Town. She had done lots of work to make these naughty kids attend classes well. There was one interesting chapter in her textbook guiding her to maintain classroom discipline. This chapter which was a real eye-opener suggested that the teacher should help students to develop self-discipline by dividing a class into groups and appointing group leaders and class leader. Besides the traditional methods of vocal critics and cane punishment, it also encouraged teachers to motivate students through encouragement and praises.     

Irene believed this thoughtful author of the teacher's textbook must be a senior who had been a teacher for many years.     

As soon as she walked out of the school, she saw her knight, Ferlin Eltek, waiting for her at the gate.     

Standing tall and straight, he still looked handsome in a simple leather coat. Without his shining armors, shield and sword which were bearing his family's lion emblems, he was still her Morning Light.     

After they hugged, Irene noticed that there was something wrong about Ferlin.     

"What's the matter?" she asked.     

"..." he hesitated and said, "His Highness invites us to enjoy refreshments in the palace in the afternoon."     

"We?" Irene remained speechless for a while, as she had realized what was bothering Ferlin. She patted his back and shook her head, saying, "The prince has never met me. It's impossible that he'll act like the duke... and you'll go to the palace with me, right?"     

"Yes, I'll protect you this time," Ferlin nodded and said.     

In the afternoon, Irene dressed up a little and went to the lord's castle wearing an appropriate dress.     

Not long after they were ushered into the reception hall, a gray-haired young man came to the gate. He was Lord of the Western Region, His Highness Roland Wimbledon. A lady above 30, seemed steady and capable, accompanied him. They could tell from her still attractive face that she must have been an extraordinary beauty when she had been young. They quickly rose and bowed to the prince.     

"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Eltek." Roland sat in the seat of the host. "Help yourself to these dishes prepared by the kitchen of the palace."     

"Thank you very much for inviting us. It's such a great honor for me," Ferlin replied with noble manners.     

"This lady is Scroll, the one in charge of Ministry of Education of City Hall. I believe you've already met each other."     

"Yes." Ferlin nodded to Scroll to greet. "I've not yet expressed my gratitude to you. Without your help, Irene could not become a teacher that fast."     

Finally meeting the one who had helped her in the job application, Irene smiled to Scroll with gratitude.     

After chatting together for some time, Ferlin finally asked, "May I ask, Your Highness, what's the reason for this afternoon tea?"     

"Education." Roland paused and looked at Irene. "I heard you've worked in a theater in the stronghold. Are you an actress?"     

"Uhm..." Irene was surprised hearing the prince asking about this. "I did only one drama."     

"Well here's the thing. I plan to present a play every weekend in the square of the town. I've got scripts, writers and directors. What I need now are actors and actresses. As you don't have many classes now and have a relative work experience, I want you to star in this drama. I'll pay you extra salaries. Do you agree?" the prince said explicitly.     

"..." Irene looked at the prince in disbelief. After she made sure that he was not kidding, she nodded excitedly, saying, "Your Highness, I'd like to!"     

Standing on the stage to play had been her aspiration all the time. Since she had left the Longsong Theatre, she had been thinking that she might never get the chance to play a drama again. Therefore, she had buried this wish in her heart and never shown any regret in front of Ferlin. She was so excited now to know that she would be able to return to the stage.     

"These plays are for the masses. It's not very demanding. It'll do as long as you can play the story clearly on the stage. Do you have friends in Longsong Stronghold who have a certain understanding of drama and hope to play on the stage but can't find any opportunity? If you do, you can write to them, telling them they can play in Border Town every weekend and get paid as they're in the theater of the stronghold."     

"They even can join this play? I know lots of people like that! I'll write to them as soon as I get home. They'll be happy to come to the town if they get the chance to play," Irene was overjoyed and said.     

"Good." Roland gave her three books. "Here are the stories you're going to play. They're numbered. You'll start with the first one. All of them are written by Scroll, stories close to the common people's lives. You can take them home to read. If there's anything you can't understand, you can ask Scroll."     

"Yes, Your Highness! Thank you!" Irene bowed and said.     

…     

"Is it good to lie to her like that? You're the author of those stories," Scroll said.     

"It's alright. They won't believe such vulgar stories are written by a prince." Roland stretched himself. "And without your polishing and editing, I couldn't finish them in such a short time."     

"They're not vulgar at all." Scroll shook her head. "They're moving and inspiring. I don't know why you know so much about the common people's daily life, but I can promise the play will be generally welcomed."     

[Of course, it's going to be a hit.] Roland was confident, too, as the first two scripts were actually revised from two popular stories, "Cinderella" and "The Crowing Cock in Midnight". The first one was a moving love story between a prince and a civilian girl. The latter depicted the struggle of people at the bottom and their fighting against their mean, shameless landlord. He had localized both stories by changing the fairy who helped Cinderella into a witch and the landlord in "The Crowing Cock in Midnight" into a merciless lesser noble. After these two plays attracted lots of attention, Roland was going to put the third story called "The Witch Diaries" on stage, which was the part and parcel of his whole drama plan.     

It was an original piece about three girls who became witches but had very different lives. He had not directly mentioned the church in his script, but only focused on the characters. One witch girl was abandoned by her parents, another one was used by others and the last one, very lucky, was deeply loved by her father and mother who remained the same to her even when they found that she was a witch and who even sacrificed their own lives to protect her. Fate and chance finally brought these three girls together. In the end, they defeated their enemy who wanted to kill them and then lived a good life like ordinary people.     

Roland intended to make "The Witch Diaries" a series to infuse the people with a new idea, telling them through the moving drama that witches were not devil and even some of their own female relatives might become witches.