Chapter 4: The Golden Epitaph (第4話 黄金の碑文 Dai Yon-wa Ougon no Hibun) is the fourth chapter of the Legend of the Golden Witch manga adaptation.
Summary[]
Battler, George, Jessica, Maria, and Shannon enjoy a picnic on the beach. Maria, infatuated with the mystery and the possibility of a witch on the island, recites The Witch's Epitaph from her notebook. Maria excitedly exclaims that the epitaph is the hiding place for the gold. The five analyze the epitaph in an attempt to figure out where the treasure is hidden. They consider the treasure could be hidden in Odawara if one follows the river called Hayakawa, as that is where Kinzo was originally from. After coming to the more disturbing part of the epitaph, they are confused at why and how death and resurrection would be available for such a ritual. Battler explains his suspicion in how the gold was even obtained in the first place, as Kinzo says that he is a sorcerer and has traded his soul for it via the Golden Witch Beatrice. Maria, believing in magic, yells in defense of witches and Beatrice. Realizing that he had upset Maria, Battler apologizes. Shannon shares some ghost stories of Beatrice spread by the servants: she comes out of the portrait and glittering butterflies are found in the hallways. Maria takes this as more evidence that witches exist. Playing into her interests, George asks Maria if she can protect Battler and Jessica from the witch. Maria complies and gives each of them a scorpion charm, as they can block evil. She explains that putting them on a person's wrist will calm them and putting them on a doorknob will stop evil spirits from entering.
The wind picks up as the cousins run back to the Guesthouse. Shannon breaks off to go back to work. Maria is afraid that her rose will be blown away by the typhoon, but when she points to where it is, the rose is no longer there. Maria insists that it is still there and demands that everyone search for it. When she realizes it is gone she freaks out. Rosa approaches them agrees to help search after seeing Maria upset, but asks Maria to stop saying "uu-uu." After searching, Rosa suggests that someone must have picked the rose. Maria, more upset, continues to cry out "uu-uu," prompting Rosa to slap her in response. Maria falls to the ground crying, still making the same sounds. Rosa goes to slap her once again but is stopped by Battler. In an attempt to justify herself she snaps that Maria is made fun of and doesn't have friends because she makes that sound constantly. Battler is shocked at what he is seeing and George pulls him away, saying the issue is between Rosa and Maria. Rosa returns to the mansion as Maria remains crying.
The typhoon's rain starts to fall. Seeing this, Kinzo throws his proof of headship, his ring, into the dark as the start of the ritual. He cries as he wishes to see Beatrice's smile once more, and will risk everything to revive her. The saddened Maria continues searching for her rose while it rains. Beatrice herself seems to appear next to Maria with an umbrella.
Meanwhile, the cousins now realize Maria is not inside. Kanon arrives to inform them about dinner and asks if Maria is with them. The cousins deny it since they thought she had gone with Rosa to the mansion. They go outside to search for her and run into Rosa, who's also searching and assumed Maria was with Battler. All of them, scared for Maria, run back into the rose garden to find her. They eventually find her on the ground with an umbrella, ruminating over how she still couldn't find her rose. Rosa hugs Maria and apologizes for being a bad mother.
The family gathers for dinner. Nanjo says Kinzo still doesn't want to come out of his study. The group asks Maria how she got the umbrella she was found with, and she insists she borrowed it from Beatrice. Rosa doesn't believe it and asks who really gave her the umbrella, but everyone denies that they gave her one: Rudolf, Hideyoshi, Kyrie, Eva, and Krauss were having their discussion together until Krauss and Genji left to call Kinzo, Natsuhi was resting in her room, Kumasawa and Shannon were preparing rooms, Gohda was making dinner, Nanjo was playing chess with Kinzo, and George and the cousins were watching TV in the guesthouse.
Rosa still wants someone to come forward and say they gave Maria the umbrella so she can thank them, but Maria once again verifies that it was Beatrice that did it. Battler remembers the ghost stories of how Beatrice slips out of the portrait and wanders around, and expresses disbelief that Beatrice really did appear.
Characters[]
- Maria Ushiromiya
- Shannon
- Jessica Ushiromiya
- Battler Ushiromiya
- George Ushiromiya
- Rosa Ushiromiya
- Kinzo Ushiromiya
- Kanon
- Krauss Ushiromiya
- Terumasa Nanjo
- Rudolf Ushiromiya
- Hideyoshi Ushiromiya
- Kyrie Ushiromiya
- Eva Ushiromiya
- Natsuhi Ushiromiya
- Chiyo Kumasawa
- Toshiro Gohda
Comparisons to Source Material[]
This chapter adapts the visual novel chapters Sandy Beach, and Letter and Umbrella.
Notes[]
- Maria's diary features illustrations of Bernkastel and Lambdadelta.
References[]
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