City of Witches Chapter 289

“Haa… I’m really suffocating.”

Sharon, having finished her first class, let out a deep sigh as she made her way to her newly assigned quarters.

Even though autumn was nearing its end and the nights were growing quite chilly, she felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

It had truly been a draining time.

It wasn’t that teaching itself was difficult.

Drawing from her experience lecturing Siwoo, she was able to progress much more smoothly.

The Twins, fittingly for heirs of a prestigious noble family, boasted solid fundamentals, and since teaching them in an extremely orthodox manner was sufficient, the lectures themselves were straightforward.

But that was a professional matter, and the stress from interpersonal relationships was an entirely separate issue.

Throughout the class, the prickly stares hitting the back of her head felt so sharp it was as if a lump had formed there.

The Twins, responding in curt replies, showing not a single gap, and drawing a firm line between teacher and student.

That invisible pressure subtly made Sharon anxious.

In the end, her plan to have a conversation and spend some time getting to know each other failed, and she ended up rushing through the lecture and leaving.

Honestly, it was a much more restrained development compared to the K-dramas or movies Sharon had binged.

It wasn’t like a spitball flew at the back of her head, nor did Countess Albireo slap her with kimchi.

Still, she couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed.

The Twins, who used to act affectionately, calling her “Sharon unnie! Sharon unnie!” were really cute.

She felt for the first time how terrifying a love rivalry could be.

Feeling gloomy, Siwoo’s face came to mind.

“I miss Siwoo.”

I wonder if he handled the drowned Witch properly.

I heard something big happened in Seoul, I hope he’s okay.

I wonder if Siwoo misses me like I miss him.

There were so many things she was curious about.

Even though she had achieved her long-cherished wish of returning home, without Siwoo, it felt unbearably empty.

Sharon opened the door to the villa within the Countess’s estate and stepped inside.

It was a magnificent three-story building that served as both her workshop and living quarters.

The moment she stepped in, candles lit automatically, and the splendid lobby and interior decorations rivaled the main building in their extravagance.

People say housing prices in Seoul are expensive, but compared to Sharon’s quarters, they’d be a bargain.

She had heard that Siwoo would be returning to Gehenna soon.

It would be good to see his face.

You could even call it happiness.

“Haa… If only that were all…”

Unfortunately, Sharon had made a promise with Countess Albireo.

To keep her distance to give the Twins a fair chance.

The fact that she could now teach the Twins magic and repay her debt was all contingent on that premise.

“Where exactly is the line, really…?”

However, unlike the debt document Sharon had signed over a decade ago, the verbal agreement with Albireo was incredibly vague.

While she maintained an attitude of leaving it entirely to Sharon’s discretion, Sharon, feeling uneasy, sought out the Countess for a second meeting.

‘When you say to keep my distance… what kind of relationship does that mean? Do I have to treat him as a complete stranger?’

‘Well? There are too many ambiguous aspects for me to explain precisely. I don’t know the exact nature of Miss Evergreen and Mr. Siwoo’s relationship. I’ll leave that part to your discretion, Miss Evergreen.’

But the Countess did not mention any specific criteria.

She only drew a very vague, serpentine line.

If only she had provided clear contractual terms like ‘this is allowed, but sex is not,’ Sharon could have acted accordingly.

“Is holding hands okay? Talking should be fine… right?”

Sharon was already buried under a mountain of worries.

This was a measure based on passive intervention to ensure that if this matter became known to Siwoo, his resentment wouldn’t extend to the Twins, while simultaneously being a ploy to make the earnest Sharon even more flustered.

Of course, Sharon couldn’t have imagined such detailed groundwork was laid.

The Twins’ obvious wariness.

Albireo’s ambiguous contractual terms.

This alone was enough to make her head spin, but Sharon had one more worry.

It’s not really a worry others might understand; in fact, other Witches probably wouldn’t relate.

It was the fact that Sharon had awakened to the 20th Hierarchy during her previous coma.

Overcoming incomplete succession was an unparalleled blessing, as it meant shedding the label of a premature Witch and being able to carry on her Master’s legacy.

And Sharon herself was pouring her energy into Magic Research to make the vast amount of newly acquired information her own.

“Come to think of it, Siwoo helped with that too…”

If left alone, incomplete succession wouldn’t have been cured so easily.

It was likely possible because, through continuous intercourse with Siwoo, pure magic power was transmitted to every corner of her Brand, which had been in a dysfunctional state.

Hadn’t she seen it with her own eyes in Ain?

Until now, Sharon had used the pretext of recovering her Brand to flirt with Siwoo.

Now that the excuse for that awkward flirting had disappeared, it was, in its own way, a worry.

“Well, it’s probably not something to worry about anymore…”

Sharon shook her head vigorously to clear her thoughts.

After all, Sharon was in a position where she had to maintain social distancing from Siwoo.

Feeling unnecessarily gloomy, Sharon headed to the workshop set up within the villa for her Magic Research.

The end of a five-hour consecutive lecture without a break.

Sharon assigned homework to the Twins and left the classroom first.

“Puhahaaa…”

“Huaaaa…”

The bodies of the Twins, who had been sitting upright like dolls, melted limply about a minute later.

Around the time Sharon had completely left.

Odil, sitting precariously on the edge of her chair in a posture terrible for her spine, spoke with a sigh.

“She’s tougher than Professor Marigold…”

“Unnie, do you think this amount of homework is reasonable? This is Apprentice Witch rights abuse!”

Due to Amelia’s sudden departure, the progress in Elemental Magic had fallen far behind other subjects, but the rushed pace from the very first day left no room to breathe.

Because she pinpointed key points and explained in detail, there weren’t many parts they didn’t understand.

But even that harmful-looking Associate Professor Marigold scheduled proper breaks.

Who would have thought that Sharon would continue with such Apprentice Witch-hating lectures?

“Associate Professor Amelia gave us some breaks too…”

“See, I told you, unnie? This is definitely a new form of psychological attack! It’s a plan for Sharon unnie to monopolize the Assistant while we’re struggling with assignments and classes!”"Hmm... Is that so?"

Odette, having sensed the enemy's ambush, became a mind reader to grasp Sharon's intentions.

Sharon Evergreen, who had become the twins' primary adversary based on discussions from the day before yesterday at the 'Shin Siwoo Assistant Special Protection Task Force (Director Odile Gemernai).'

But as always, although the twins were of one mind in general, their opinions diverged on the specifics.

'Odette! No matter how much Sharon unnie tries to take Assistant-nim away, there's no need to be so hostile! They say keep your friends close and your enemies closer!'

The argument that there was no need for overly aggressive vigilance, given how diligently she had cared for Assistant-nim in the Mortal Realm.

This was the logic of Odile, the dove faction.

'Unnie! With such a soft mindset, we won't be able to protect anything! As long as Sharon unnie is a potential threat, if we don't always stay vigilant and counter her, poof! Assistant-nim will be snatched away!'

On the other hand, denouncing such indecisive attitudes and insisting on a strong response was the logic of Odette, the hawk faction.

The twins had argued back and forth late into the night, discussing their future course of action, but based on Sharon's terrible misdeeds today, a guideline seemed to have been somewhat established.

"See? I was right."

Odette, her eyes wide open, passionately expounded, as things seemed to be proceeding as she had said.

Her heated tone and clenched fist reminded one of a free debater.

"I told you so! People with big breasts are all foxes, right? Vera told me they all pretend otherwise, but their jealousy and possessiveness are strong!"

Normally, Odette would have gloated, insisting her opinion was correct.

And normally, Odile, feeling antagonistic towards Odette, would have stubbornly argued back no matter what, but this time was different.

Odile, realizing her ideology was mistaken, spoke gloomily.

"This time, I'll admit you were right, Odette. It seems very plausible. Sorry, I guess I was mistakenly thinking the world was a beautiful place."

Odette's delicate hand rested on Odile's shoulder.

That hand held no mockery or sarcasm.

It was a reliable hand, comforting a rival, having moved beyond political opposition to find a shared ideology to strive for together.

"Unnie, don't be so disheartened. Just as I can be wrong sometimes, you can also make mistaken judgments sometimes."

"Odette..."

Odile looked at her younger sister, who had somehow matured so reliably, with moved eyes.

The twins shared a sudden, warm embrace.

"Besides... we weren't just on the receiving end in class today."

"Right, you gave her a good hit."

" 'You'? It was 'us'."

Today was the first class.

Sharon probably couldn't have imagined it in her dreams, but the twins had laid a trap.

Of course, this was a plan actively pushed by Odette, who was the hawk faction.

But Odette did not claim the credit for herself.

She willingly shared the merit with Odile, who had been her opponent.

Odile held back tears that threatened to well up.

When had Odette, the copycat who always trailed behind her, grown up like this?

"Heh, right. She was completely clueless, wasn't she?"

So, what was this trap?

"Baron Marigold didn't notice for years, so how could Sharon unnie possibly catch on?"

"Right, right."

It was Odile and Odette's swap.

Sharon called each twin by name and had them stand at the blackboard, but the twins did not obediently follow that instruction.

When she called Odette, Odile went up.

When she called Odile, Odette stepped forward, successfully deceiving Sharon and playing a trick on her.

Just thinking about this thrilling tactic, which was exciting no matter how many times they succeeded, brought a smile to their lips.

"Hehehe... Sharon unnie isn't all that."

"Let's keep doing it this way from now on, unnie."

"Of course, Odette."

Of course, from Sharon's perspective, she wouldn't even know the twins had played a trick on her, and even the twins themselves couldn't really explain what use there was in playing a trick that no one noticed, but...

With the twin sisters' warm handshake, the first engagement came to a close.

Author's Note (Afterword)

Long time no see, thank you for the support!

• Thank you 'WashingtheCat' for 100 coins!

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