Hello, I Am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion! ‒ Episode 4
I have sometimes joked that if I were ever to pen an isekai novel, I would call it Therapist in Another World: For the Love of God, Just Talk to Each Other!. The plot would follow a therapist attempting to make stupid fictional characters effectively communicate with each other, thus putting an end to all annoying plotlines where a single conversation could solve everything.
That's not really what's going on here with Harij and Rose, although I admit that it can feel close. Their issue actually goes back to before Harij ever started worrying about Rose's disastrous self-care skills, and that bit's not really even his fault; as the princess' dedicated knight, he's presumably not allowed to tell anyone that she's looking for a love potion to ease the pain of her upcoming marriage. But getting snippy about Tien this week? That's one hundred percent on Harij. While, in his defense, he did ask Rose who he was and she said she couldn't tell him (I assume witches are bound by the same privilege as doctors and pharmacists), he could have followed up with other questions. I thought I was the only one who you made tea for, for example, or Did he bring you food, too? Instead, he jumped straight into jealousy, an emotion Rose is in no way equipped to deal with in another person, especially a person she doesn't think likes her in that way.
I'm not sure Harij was fully aware until this episode, either. He does seem to spend an increasing amount of time picking out food for Rose, and his prolonged lunch periods are something he's very willing to admit. But until he saw Tien, an unknown attractive man, come out of Rose's house, heard him call her by name, and even pull down her hood, well. The shock seems to have jogged something loose in his heart and mind. Suddenly, the feelings he has for the reclusive witch don't seem so platonic.
The episode does a quite nice job of showing that. Although Harij never says that he likes Rose romantically, every twitch of his eye or tweak in his facial expression indicates that he wants to be the only man Rose is open with. The scene where we see his basket reflected in the lake surface for a brief moment looks like he dropped it into the water, a beautiful way to show how shaken he is by Tien's presence. His reasoning away his hurt when Rose asks him not to call her by name is also a good moment, one where he's visibly trying to get ahold of himself again and only partially succeeding.
If we compare the way Harij treats Rose compared to Princess Billaura, it's quite telling. Harij keeps his distance from the princess, despite her telling him that she sees him as a brother. He feels sorry for her, because she shouldn't have to marry a man with granddaughters older than she is (she's sixteen and her fiancé is sixty), but he also feels that getting the potion is all he can do. With Rose, on the other hand, he keeps trying desperately to get closer to her, even though, in her way, she's as untouchable as the princess. She's a powerful witch. She could, presumably, cause him as much harm as the royal family if she wanted to. But he's drawn to her in an entirely different, non-brotherly way. He feels badly for both young women, and maybe that informs some of his initial desire to take care of Rose. But he doesn't want Laura to see him as anything more than a brotherly knight. And he very much wants Rose to see him as something more.
Fortunately for Harij, Rose is willing to give him a bit of encouragement. Surely allowing him to take down her hood without the recriminations she threw at Tien for the same thing is worth something.
Rating:
Hello, I Am a Witch and My Crush Wants Me to Make a Love Potion! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
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