City of Witches Chapter 122

Amelia slumped to the floor the moment she returned to her room, as if the strength had drained from her legs.

As the feverish excitement, which had been like a desert heatwave, subsided, a wave of self-loathing washed over her.

Along with regret for what she shouldn't have done, she blamed her own weakness.

Mingling her body with him as he was now was something that should never have happened.

Siwoo was not yet fully returned.

To seduce Siwoo, who knew nothing of the circumstances, with her body and satisfy her half-hearted desires was the cowardly act Amelia so despised.

She shouldn't have even uttered words begging for forgiveness.

Much less asking if he could forgive her even after regaining his memories—it was shameless behavior.

“Hic... ugh... ugh...”

But she had been too afraid.

Afraid of the look in his eyes when he fully returned.

Afraid of the hatred he would harbor once he remembered everything.

She had thought she could endure any harsh words from him if only she could save him.

But having spent happy days with Siwoo, her heart had grown dull.

It had grown weak.

She felt she could never bear the sight of him suddenly changing.

“Master... Master... what should I do...?”

No matter how much she pleaded, no one gave her an answer.

It felt like trying to breathe inside a stifling fishbowl.

-Ting!

A small medicine bottle rolled to a stop at the feet of Amelia, who had been crying with her mouth covered, stifling her sobs for fear Siwoo might hear.

Amelia picked it up with a dazed expression.

“If only this weren't here...”

If only this mysterious potion Duke Keter had left behind weren't here, she could continue this life forever.

She could stay in this cabin, where happy memories had grown a little more, with Siwoo, who looked at her with affection.

She could whisper love to him within the lie built upon forgotten truths, research Magic together, paint, play the violin, bake pies, and take walks.

“Happily...”

Magic particles rose from Amelia's hand.

They were ultra-high-temperature particles capable of vaporizing a mere small bottle and its contents entirely.

She just needed to be a little cowardly.

She just needed to compromise a little.

It was just one last escape.

She knew it was something she shouldn't do.

It was trampling on his free will.

But wasn't Siwoo also finding happiness in this life?

In the one month she had spent with him, she had seen far more smiles than in the five years he had lived as a slave under her.

In return.

In return, she would just have to make him happier from now on.

For ten years, twenty years—no, for his entire life, until he grew old and left this world, she would return to him many times over the happiness she had stolen from him...

Just as Amelia's flames, which had slowly drawn closer, were about to scorch the tag hanging from the bottle, something entered her field of vision.

The flower crown Siwoo had made for her as a gift.

It was the flower crown Amelia had hung by the window after casting a preservation spell on it, like a dreamcatcher.

The first gift he, still just a child, had ever given to Amelia.

The moment she saw it, the Magic in her grasp scattered.

The near-maddening impulse that had been driving her also vanished as if washed away.

“I... can't...”

She couldn't do such a thing.

It was an act she must not commit.

Amelia slowly curled into herself.

Her silent weeping continued late into the night.

As he straightened the blankets, Siwoo touched his lips.

Ever since Siwoo had been unable to fulfill his role as one person, Amelia had taken care of him.

With her by his side, everything was enjoyable.

Even boring, tedious chores became special events if Amelia was just beside him.

Amelia was Siwoo's benefactor, his reliable Master, and also the first woman he had ever harbored feelings of affection for.

“I'm going crazy, seriously...”

Siwoo grabbed his head and plopped down on the bed.

That passionate kiss with her.

His lips and tongue still felt hot, as if the lingering heat remained.

The moment their tongues mingled thickly, Siwoo felt the thread of his reason snap.

Even though he thought they weren't at that stage yet, for some reason, with a strange conviction, he had groped her chest and pushed her down onto the bed.

Truthfully, he had seen Amelia's chest before, touched it before, and even had memories of sucking on it.

But that was from when he was very young, and for Siwoo, who had regained ten years' worth of memories in just one month, it felt like a hazy event from the distant past.

Actions done with both body and heart acting like a spoiled child, and actions done with a grown body and mind possessing firm resolve, differ in both meaning and outcome.

What on earth was Amelia thinking about all this?

“This feels so damn sleazy.”

Siwoo tugged at his hair.

Yes, he was aware that Amelia held some degree of fondness for him.

He had no way of confirming whether it was the kind of affection a guardian shows a ward or the kind of love between a man and a woman, but at least today, Amelia had actively accepted the kiss.

She hadn't even resisted his hands roaming over her body.

Then why had she rejected him at the last moment?

Siwoo couldn't understand it.

'I also wish for what Siwoo wants.'

'But... I don't have the qualification... I don't have the right to do this.'

After saying that, Amelia had simply left the room.

“Wishes for what I want...”

Had she said that knowing clearly what it was?

“But doesn't have the qualification...”

What qualification did she mean?

He couldn't understand it at all.

He didn't really know what was what, but he tried to recall a vaguely similar situation.

There was one among Siwoo's friends.

He was in an ambiguous relationship with a girl from school, Miss A, the so-called 'some' stage.

So when Miss A asked him out first, he reportedly sent her a photo of his erect cock, got reported by the horrified Miss A, and was expelled.

“That crazy bastard.”

Siwoo recalled the absurd anecdote and chuckled dryly.

He remembered thinking, 'It's a good thing you're a host,' when he first heard that story.

Anyway, wasn't this a similar case?

Of course, it wasn't as extreme as Takasho, but he was left with regret, wondering if he hadn't impulsively rushed things in roughly that same vein...

As he was thinking this, Siwoo suddenly felt a sense of dissonance.

“Takasho?”

Who was that?

A memory flashed by like a panorama.

Two men talking with smiling faces inside a shabby room.

The other person's face was obscured as if veiled, impossible to see clearly.

Simultaneously, a headache surged.

“Ah, not this again.”

Shortly after taking the medicine Amelia gave him, his memories would become tangled.Like watching dozens of TVs turned on simultaneously, all sorts of images and voices began to riot inside his head.

After a brief moment of nausea from that, Siwoo felt an excruciating pain in his left eye.

"Ghk!"

It was an extreme agony, as if being stabbed deeply with an awl, so intense he couldn't even scream.

For a while, Siwoo lay on the bed, motionless, tasting the hellish pain.

The severe pain, which had lasted for about ten minutes, vanished in an instant.

As if the phantom pain had never existed at all.

However, Siwoo's entire body was drenched in sweat from the ordeal.

"What, what is this...?"

Siwoo urgently tried to find Amelia.

After all, what improves his condition is the potion Amelia gives him.

He needed to report this abnormal state to her.

As Siwoo tried to get up and walk unsteadily, he felt something strange.

His left eye was pitch black.

That was to be expected.

According to Amelia, he had lost his left eye in a fight.

He had filled the empty eye socket with a prosthetic eye and covered it with an eye patch.

But this darkness was different.

It wasn't that he couldn't perceive anything because the eyeball didn't exist; it felt more like something was covering it.

Siwoo untied the strap around the back of his head and removed the eye patch.

Simultaneously, light poured in as if to burn his eyeball.

It was an overload on his optic nerve, which hadn't been used for a long time, like someone confined in a dark place suddenly seeing light.

"Kgh...!"

But that too was brief; his eye quickly adapted to the light.

What on earth is going on?

Siwoo covered one eye and staggered over to the dressing table.

"What's this, why is it like this?"

The eyeball, which was merely a prosthetic, was rolling around as if it had always been a part of him.

Objects were clearly identifiable with his left eye, and he could see his own reflection in the mirror.

His vision had completely recovered.

However, compared to his right eye, there was a distinct difference.

Only the color of his left pupil was shining with a brilliant golden light.

Moreover, complex formulas appeared and disappeared repeatedly on the surrounding white of the eye, as if a tattoo had been engraved there.

Siwoo's confusion didn't end there.

"Whoa!"

Startled by the faint halos of light visible around him, Siwoo turned around.

Something was floating in front of his eyes.

He saw lines of various colors.

Pale, hazy lines were floating around the room and everywhere, like air currents.

At first, he thought it was a hallucination caused by his optic nerve being startled by the light after so long.

But soon, Siwoo instinctively realized.

This is the flow of magic power.

Whenever he flicked his fingertip, the flow of magic power would scatter like threads floating on water, then return to its original state.

"Wow... this is amazing..."

It was a sight that didn't make much sense with the magical knowledge Siwoo possessed.

Normally, the flow of magic power floating in the air is extremely, extremely minute.

Moreover, the moment one tries to observe it, it scatters, making it impossible to visually observe such neat strands of magic power.

Because the moment you use magic to observe it, that magic power would disrupt the flow.

And when Siwoo inadvertently turned his gaze to look at the desk, his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

Because the moment he looked at the Magic Formula he had scribbled down while trying to recall his memories, several letters and formulas popped out as if he were watching a 3D movie.

Siwoo opened his eyes wide and stared at the sight.

In Ain, Magic Circles are constructed in three dimensions or higher.

Magic Formulas are merely a means to transcribe them onto two-dimensional paper.

Yet, just by looking at that Magic Formula, the essence of magic began to appear as if he were in Ain.

Like hearing an orchestra vividly in your head just by reading a musical score.

It was an extremely bizarre and bewildering experience.

Siwoo raised his hand and covered his left eye.

Then the three-dimensional model disappeared.

When he lowered his hand again, the three-dimensional model reappeared.

"This is amazing."

For Siwoo, who had recently become so engrossed in magical exploration that he had neglected mathematics, it was an incredibly thrilling experience.

Before informing Amelia about this strange phenomenon, he wanted to test something.

To be honest, it was also a bit embarrassing to show his face right after such an awkward incident just a few minutes ago.

What Siwoo took out was the Magic Formula he had transcribed exactly as it existed only in his mind.

Despite not being able to interpret it at all, Siwoo's memory had retained all 200 pages of complex formulas.

That must mean it was an important memory.

And the moment he flipped through that stack of papers, Siwoo felt as if lightning had struck his head.

With the feeling of his body tilting and falling backward, he sank into endless darkness, sinking deeper and deeper.

When he came to his senses, Siwoo was in a dark space.

This place, where only endless darkness spread like the universe, was 'Ain.'

The world of concepts and thought that only a Witch who has honed her innate magic can possess.

He had been invited into that space he had only heard about in words.

In the center of the dark Ain stood a large structure.

It looked like a round circle, or like black shadows clumped together, or like a large loom... and the other one was unrecognizable.

Even though he was clearly looking at it with his eyes, he couldn't perceive it, causing cognitive dissonance.

It felt like looking at a higher-dimensional existence, not something of the same dimension.

"........."

In front of it was Shin Siwoo.

Shin Siwoo, who looked slightly older than his current self.

It seemed like he would look like that when he got a bit older, in his late twenties.

He was sitting expressionlessly on a throne made of shadows, staring intently at the structure.

"Did they say something like that exists?"

He had heard about Ain, but the idea that there was someone else in that space (even if it was his own appearance) was completely new to him.

Shin Siwoo's head turned.

Their eyes met.

Simultaneously, black iron chains wrapped around Siwoo's entire body.

Without even a chance to gasp, Siwoo was ejected from Ain.

It was truly unconscious.

As the dumbfounded Siwoo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

Once again, memories about magic filled his mind.

Like opening a dam that had been holding them back, countless pieces of knowledge began to bore into his brain.

For a while, Siwoo stood there dazedly, accepting it all.Something was changing.

A Word from the Author (Afterword)

The weather is really nice.

I’ll go for a walk and be back~