Chapter 1: 1. Dorothy
"Magic mirror, oh magic mirror, who is the belle whose beauty surpasses all flowers, whose black hair is deeper than the night sky, and whose demeanor is more graceful than a scholar?"
In the dim room, a girl with her black hair tied into a thick braid resting on her chest was sitting at the vanity, asking the makeup mirror before her in the dim candlelight.
The mirror reflected the girl's face, with long bangs covering her forehead, giving her an overall brooding air. The overly old-fashioned, large-framed black glasses obscured most of her face, and in the darkness of the room, it was hard to make out her features. However, from her exposed full red lips and smooth, delicate chin, she seemed to be a beauty.
The next moment, the girl in the mirror parted her red lips slightly.
"That's right, it's me, Dorothy."
However, the room's door suddenly swung open, and bright sunlight streamed in, piercing the darkness and causing the girl by the mirror to squint and temporarily close her eyes against the light.
"Sister, why are you starting this again."
A blonde beauty with a countenance brighter than sunlight stood at the doorway, hands on her hips, looking somewhat helplessly at the black-haired girl at the vanity before striding in. She pulled open the tightly shut curtains and opened the window.
Even more light mercilessly flooded the room, illuminating everything and completely destroying the dark atmosphere Dorothy had worked so hard to create.
"No, Alice, my power, my power is fading, damn it, you really are a wicked stepsister. You and your evil mother came to this household to seize the inheritance that should rightfully be mine."
The bright sunlight finally revealed Dorothy's face, showcasing her complexion that was so pale it was nearly white. She shielded her eyes from the glaring light while staring fiercely at the blonde beauty who had approached her.
This was her nominal sister, Alice, brought along when her stepmother married into the family, and it was because of this detestable mother and daughter that Dorothy's previously peaceful and joyful life had been callously disrupted.
Thinking about this, Dorothy couldn't help but shiver with anger, not feeling a shred of warmth despite the dazzling sunshine outside.
Well, patience, what goes around comes around, never underestimate a destitute young lady...
"Enough, sister. Dad is just a poor mage, and you two are the ones who married into this family. You don't have a penny of inheritance. Here, this is the pocket money mom just gave for this month; she told me to bring it to you."
Alice, the blonde beauty, mercilessly interrupted her sister's incantation, looking helplessly at her sister who was again playing the drama queen. She then pulled a thick stack of envelopes from her flat chest as if from a steel plate and waved them in front of Dorothy.
"Just tell me if you want it or not."
"I do."
Dorothy stood up without a shred of dignity and quickly snatched the envelope from her sister's hand, but frowned upon handling it.
"Why is there so much?"
Although their stepmother was indeed wealthy, she was strict with household education. The pocket money given to her and her sister was never little but also never too much; enough for daily expenses but certainly not enough for a lavish lifestyle.
But this time, the thickness of the envelope was more than tenfold the usual, which filled Dorothy with joy.
Could it be that Mother had finally come to her senses and realized that daughters need to be raised in luxury, deciding to increase my allowance?
"Don't get ahead of yourself, sister. This is just money for buying supplies for the new term. After all, starting tomorrow, you'll be a member of the Witch Academy, right? Pack up quickly; mom asked me to take you to the market later for a big shopping trip."
Alice, all too familiar with her older sister's quirks, immediately knew she was indulging in wishful thinking when she saw that drooling expression and mercilessly shattered her sister's fantasies.
"Ah, so that's it, alright, just wait for me a second," Dorothy said, her face collapsing in disappointment as her beautiful illusion was pierced.
Yet, something about her sister's words made her feel slightly dazed.
"A witch, huh? Yeah, starting from tomorrow, I'll be a witch too. Time flies. It's already been sixteen years."
Dorothy murmured to herself.
She harbored a secret in her heart; the fact that she was not from this world but was a transmigrator from another world.
In her previous life, she clichédly died while trying to save a little girl from being run over by a dump truck. As she laid dying, she heard the Voice of God. The deities asked her if she had any last wishes.
As a lifelong bachelor, her ultimate cry was naturally for a young and pretty girlfriend with a compatible personality, who would be utterly devoted and never betray him.
That generous deity eventually fulfilled his wish, albeit in a somewhat peculiar way.
However, Dorothy didn't hold any resentments against that deity with the twisted sense of humor. After all...
Heck yeah, I am truly beautiful now. I in the mirror am my ideal type. That settles it; from now on, I am my own girlfriend.
That was more or less her current line of thinking, somewhat akin to the joy of playing a female character in a video game.
Only, this world she was reborn into was vastly different from her former life; it wasn't the blue world of technological supremacy but rather a more fantastical magical world. Many legends from her previous life became reality in this place, such as the witches that her sister Alice had just mentioned.
In her previous life, the term witch wasn't exactly something positive, implying countless young girls persecuted by a fanatical and ignorant religious movement.
In this new world, however, it truly represented a race, a race of innately powerful spellcasters, the elites within the already elite mage system.
With long lifespans, powerful magic power, and eternal beauty—qualities that other races coveted but couldn't obtain—witches possessed it all upon awakening. They freely cast spells, effortlessly commanded powerful familiars in battle, and could engage in fistfights with veteran warriors based solely on their physical prowess, like a race with cheats enabled.
Such powerful beings could never be persecuted as easily as in her previous life. In fact, in the ancient past of this world, long before the witches rose to power, the Church had initiated a witch-hunt movement. However, the hunt didn't last long before the enraged witches ascended to heaven, plucked the feathers from the powerful archangel known as the Lord of Glory whom the Church worshipped, and turned them into pillows.
Witches, that was the ruling race of this world.
This world was a magical world where magic civilization thrived like never before under the rule of witches.
And Dorothy was about to become a new member of this powerful race.
"This is a new life to look forward to indeed."
Dorothy lifted her head and looked at the girl in the mirror whose beauty was almost indescribable in words, a slight smile appearing at the corners of her mouth.