Release that Witch

Cheng Yan’s identity was that of the 4th Prince of the Kingdom of Graycastle, Roland, and he had been sent here to govern this region. The residents of this border town had caught and seized the witch, immediately turning her over to the local guards to question. Questioning? No, She was immediately sent to be sentenced with no opportunity to defend herself. The execution of suspected witches was usually overseen by the local lords or bishops, but since he’d assumed control of this territory, issuing such orders had become his obligation.

Cheng Yan’s memory answered his questions one by one, it was unnecessary to filter and read through them, it was as if they had always been his own experiences. He was momentarily confused, there was absolutely no way a dream could have so many details.Then, Cheng Yan thought, was it possible that this wasn’t a dream? I’ve really traveled through time, to the dark ages of medieval Europe, and have become Roland? I’ve gone from a pitiful mechanical engineer with his nose down in his papers to a grand 4th Prince overnight?

This piece of territory that looked so barren and backward was in the Kingdom of Graycastle, a name that he had never seen in his history books.

Well, then how do I want to handle this? Cheng Yan thought to himself.

Cheng Yan decided he would try and examine how an unscientific thing like being transported through time and space had happened later, his immediate concern was with how to stop the farce taking place in front of him. Assigning the blame for the disasters and misfortune that befell them onto these “witches” was the act of ignorant barbarians. He really couldn’t bring himself to do anything as stupid as hanging another person just to satisfy the watching masses.

He grabbed the formal written orders held by Barov and tossed them to the ground and slowly said, “I’m feeling tired, we will give our judgement another day. Court dismissed, now disperse people!”

Cheng Yan knew he couldn’t risk being reckless, so he rummaged carefully through his memories and reflected the former prince’s behavior. He had to continue on with the former prince’s dandyism and roguish behavior. That’s right, the fourth prince himself was messed up, had a nasty character, and did whatever he wanted with no thoughts to the consequences of his actions. Anyways, Cheng Yan mused, could they really expect an uncontrollable twenty-something year old to have good behavior?

The members of the nobility who sat with him maintained their equanimity at his unexpected statement, but a tall man wearing a suit of armor stood up and argued, “Your Highness, this isn’t a joke! All known witches should be put to death immediately upon being identified, or other witches might be tempted to try and save her! Do you want to force the church to get involved when they hear that we have allowed a witch to live? We have no choice in this matter!”

Carter, this dashing man, was actually his Knight Commander. Cheng Yan frowned and said, “Why? Are you scared?” His voice was full of blatant mockery and wasn’t a complete act. A man with an arm thicker than the waist of the so called “witch” actually feared a prison raid from women. Were witches really the devil’s messengers? “Wouldn’t it be better to catch more witches than to settle for only one?”

Seeing him no longer utter a word, Cheng Yan waved his hand to call his personal guards and left. Carter hesitated a moment before going down and catching up with the troops walking by the 4th prince’s side. The other nobles got up and paid their respects to the prince, but Cheng Yan could see undisguised contempt from the eyes of those in the crowd.

Back in the keep, the castle was located to the south of the border town, he dismissed the anxious Minister Barov outside the door to his chambers, allowing him to finally breathe a sigh of relief now that he was alone.

As a person who’d spent ninety percent of his time dealing with people through a computer, facing everyone like he just had already surpassed his comfort zone. Cheng Yan found the location of his bedroom from his new memories, took a seat on his bed, and got a moment of real rest as he tried to suppress his violently beating heart. At the moment, the most important matter was to clarify the situation. Why was the prince, who couldn’t stay in Wimbledon City, the capital of the kingdom, sent to this barren land?

The unexpected answer he came up with left him stupefied.

Roland Wimbledon was actually sent here to fight for the right to succeed the king.