City of Witches Chapter 318

Eloa gazed at Siwoo’s sleeping face with a serene expression, gulping down the remaining half bottle of whiskey.

The beautiful ruby-red liquor flowed down her throat, carrying a fiery warmth.

“…….”

With Eloa’s light Magic, a gesture of her hand, the traces of spirit threads vanished.

The bodily fluids staining the sheets, the fluids on each other’s bodies.

All gathered impurities disappeared cleanly under purifying flames.

Finally, she dressed Siwoo again.

With this, all traces were gone.

As if nothing had ever happened.

“In reality, it’s not much different.”

No matter how blissful a moment, once it passes, it inevitably becomes buried in the past.

If a warm memory belongs to two people, it remains in both their hearts.

If that can be called a memory, then tonight’s happiness will become a half-memory.

Eloa will never forget it,

while Siwoo will never be able to recall it.

Eloa briefly wondered if she could consider it a “shared memory.”

Then, realizing it was a pointless thought, she cut it off decisively.

She had resolved this from the moment she offered her body to Siwoo.

It would be utterly pathetic to feel regret or sorrow over it now.

“Siwoo….”

Sitting by the head of the sleeping Siwoo, she stroked his hair.

Eloa used a three-stroke Contract to erase Siwoo’s memory.

Her body, already demanding ample rest, had been forced to use Magnetic Magic, so it was far from normal.

Like after an electric shock, sensation vanished from her fingertips, and her heart protested with arrhythmia.

Yet, his body warmth was felt as vividly and affectionately as ever.

“It was planned, it was predetermined….”

In truth, Eloa’s not-so-skilled memory manipulation would likely be easily blocked by any decent “Autonomous Defense.”

After all, mental manipulation Magic doesn’t work on Witches with advanced mental systems.

However, despite Siwoo possessing roughly a 16–17th Hierarchy level of Magnetic Magic, he had no Autonomous Defense.

Eloa had targeted that weakness, and as you can see, succeeded easily.

She erased not only the entire heated memory of their bodies mingling while drunk tonight but also the memory of their bodies entwining in the rainwater tunnel in the past.

Additionally, anticipating that he might sense the disrupted causality and try to recover his memory, she filled the gaps with other memories.

For Siwoo, the memory itself of “having shared spirit threads with Master Eloa” was gone.

It was an unauthorized, unilateral decision, but correcting a wayward disciple is a Master’s duty.

This situation should never have been allowed to reach this point in the first place.

As a result of Eloa taking responsibility, everything returned to normal.

The incident that tempted Siwoo and left Eloa with endless lingering feelings was gone.

Namely, the first experience in the rainwater tunnel where the boundary between Master and disciple collapsed.

The first time is always the hardest; everything becomes easier from the second time onward.

Indeed, after that, Eloa began to perceive Siwoo as a man and ultimately committed an act that betrayed propriety.

“…Sniff.”

Eloa felt a stinging, prickly sensation at the tip of her nose.

The Master who couldn’t sternly scold a disciple infatuated with her.

The Master who, instead, harbored affection for her disciple and offered her body—now that too was as if it never happened.

She should be glad, really.

Eloa felt a pressing, heavy sensation behind her eyes and wiped her blurred vision with her sleeve.

Unbeknownst to her, hot tears were about to flow uncontrollably.

“Siwoo….”

She knew it was something she shouldn’t have done.

But she couldn’t endure without loving him—

the one who guided Eloa when she was lost after losing Raphi,

the one who became her reason to live,

the one who showed her a world she never knew.

“I’m sorry. For acting on my own. I always end up being a nuisance to you.”

That’s why, to bring everything to a close, she indulged in acting spoiled with him all day today.

She let him do everything he wanted and did everything she wanted to do for him.

He won’t remember, but Eloa will never forget.

“…….”

Bowing her head toward the lips of Siwoo, who was fast asleep without any response, Eloa gave a light kiss.

This is truly the last.

Straightening her disheveled collar, she stroked Siwoo’s hair one final time and quietly left the carriage.

Early morning.

The Twins, waking up refreshed, discovered something amiss.

“…….”

“…….”

The picnic basket placed on the pile of luggage in the living room.

The “Sweet Mysterious Potion” that should have been sleeping peacefully inside was about half gone.

“Odette, you didn’t drink it in your sleep, did you?”

“Sister, you didn’t drink it in your sleep, did you?”

“I didn’t wake up once all night?”

“Me neither.”

Reflexively interrogating the most likely suspect, the Odile Odette sisters.

But from each other’s reactions, they quickly concluded that couldn’t be the case.

Then another question arises.

““Then who drank it?””

The most critical matter is figuring out what variable occurred while the Twins were asleep.

The people in this luxurious mansion were the Twins, Assistant-nim, and Sister Sharon.

Naturally, the Twins, who slept soundly all night, are excluded from suspicion.

That means Sister Sharon or Assistant-nim drank about half the tea.

“G-gosh, this is serious?”

“If Sister Sharon drank it, it’ll be fine.”

Odile felt cold sweat pouring down.

If Sharon drank it, there would be no effect.

Because this Mysterious Potion’s effects are strictly limited to ‘men.’

“But what if Assistant-nim drank it?”

However, if Siwoo drank it, the story changes a bit.

At the point when the Twins woke up after a deep sleep, the only person they’d meet face-to-face would be Sharon, so the target for the “love” effect to activate was obvious.

In other words, beyond just handing Sister Sharon victory on a silver platter…

“It’s like serving her a full-course feast!”

“Odette! This is serious! Serious!”

“Sister! What do we do! What do we do!”

The Twins fell into utter chaos, as if they’d stirred a hornet’s nest.

It’s true they vowed to compete fairly from now on, but that didn’t mean providing support fire to an already dominant rival.

“Haaam… What are you doing so early in the morning?”

Just then, Sharon appeared, shuffling in her pajamas with her hair all tangled.

The flustered Twins’ gazes focused on Sharon.

“Wh-what is it?”

“…….”

“…….”Odil and Odette intently scanning Sharon's condition, and Sharon flustered.

Clues.

Disheveled pajamas and hair, squeaking slippers being dragged, a drawn-out yawn.

At least as far as the visible parts were concerned, there were no traces of passionate love.

Like kiss marks on the nape of the neck or handprints on the wrists.

But this much wasn't enough to determine.

"Good morning."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I slept well. Huh? Where are you going?"

The twins running right past Sharon on both sides and dashing away.

"Excuse us!"

"We'll just take a quick look!"

-Slam!

They immediately opened the door to the room Sharon had been staying in and went inside to inspect the bed.

"Bed, nothing unusual."

"Assistant's scent, nothing unusual."

Odil scurrying over to examine the bed, and Odette practically burying her nose in it and sniffing like a detection dog.

"Y-you, what are you two doing!"

At the twins' peculiar behavior, Sharon's face turned red as she jumped up.

Even if she had provided them lodging, entering someone else's room without permission and rummaging through it like this was improper.

Quite upset, Sharon strode over to the twins and gave them each a knuckle rap on the head.

"Kyaa!"

"It hurts…."

"Ugh! Why are you all so out of it first thing in the morning!"

While humbly accepting the knuckle rap punishment, Odil and Odette also let out a sigh of relief.

If the Assistant had drunk the tea, there's no way the room would be this clean.

Still, they asked to confirm.

"Sharon unni, by any chance, did you drink the tea in this bottle last night?"

"It's black tea, right?"

"Huh? No?"

The twins' faces, which had been oddly relieved, suddenly stiffened again.

Then that means the Assistant must have drunk it.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

"Ah, it's nothing."

Just then, hearing the ding-dong sound of the bell at the entrance, the twins hurriedly ran out.

Sharon, who had let out a deep sigh at the sky-high energy from the morning, also moved her steps to see Siwoo's face.

"Where is this now."

When he opened his eyes, it was the twins' carriage.

Wondering what was going on, he looked around, but there was no one else.

It seemed he had guzzled alcohol alone and crawled his way here.

"Drinking a whole bottle by myself, no wonder I blacked out."

Siwoo made a disgusted face seeing the whiskey bottle completely empty.

It seemed thanks to the superiority of his Spirit Body that only his memory flew away and the hangover ended at this level.

Anyway, after roughly tidying up and returning to the villa, the twins welcomed him.

Odette, her eyes wide, came asking.

"Assistant! Assistant! Did you drink this?"

Seeing the pretty black tea in the pretty bottle, he readily admitted.

Didn't he drink it last night while cleaning because his throat was dry?

"Yes, I drank it last night while cleaning."

"……."

At the twins' sudden silence, he felt an inexplicable unease.

"Was it perhaps meant to be shared by everyone? I'm sorry for drinking it without asking."

"Ah, no…. That was a failed batch we were going to throw away."

"That's right! But by any chance… were you with anyone last night?"

With anyone?

The twins' reaction, suddenly asking such a thing, was somewhat strange, and Siwoo pondered as he tried to recall his memories.

He remembered drinking alone and then crawling into the carriage….

After that, nothing came to mind, as if his memory had been cleanly severed.

"With Sharon…."

The twins' expressions as if the sky were falling.

"With Odil-nim and Odette-nim. Why? Did something happen?"

At the following words, the twins let out a phew of a sigh.

"It's nothing!"

"It's nothing."

Anyway, after settling down the twins who had been boisterous since morning and finishing breakfast, the four of them gradually finished preparing to return.

The twins going ahead first, and Sharon helping Siwoo who was moving the luggage.

"Odil-nim and Odette-nim…. Aren't they a bit strange?"

"Is that so? Did something happen last night?"

"There was nothing, that's why I'm saying they're strange. I just slept soundly, you know?"

While Siwoo tilted his head in confusion, Sharon felt a sense of incongruity.

Siwoo saying he slept in the carriage out of nowhere was suspicious, and the twins making a fuss and asking who he was with were also suspicious.

A woman's intuition was telling her that something unusual happened last night.

Actually, who Siwoo was with wasn't important.

Hadn't she already resolved?

As long as he came back, she decided not to care who Siwoo met.

But….

"Really, you just drank alone in the carriage and only slept?"

"That's what I said."

Sharon's eyes were directed toward the sandy beach.

Besides the two pairs of footprints left by the twins who went ahead, there were also large footprints that seemed to have been left by Siwoo last night.

"You're not lying, are you?"

"Why would I lie. I was really alone."

"…Okay."

And beside them, some seemed swept away by waves, some seemed erased by the wind, but they were definitely there.

Footprints of 'someone else,' not the twins' nor Siwoo's, remained.

As if they had walked side by side with Siwoo toward the carriage.

Suddenly.

She felt a bit stuffy in her chest.

Because Siwoo had lied.

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)

I'm dizzy because of my nieces.

I think even when I was young, I would leave if given money, but why do these kids keep clinging to me….

I'm really exhausted.

Below this is the sponsorship appreciation notice.

As my mental state is somewhat unstable at the moment, I apologize for posting an insufficiently sincere thank-you message.

In the future, I will become an author who properly appreciates readers' precious sincerity.

However, please understand that I may have difficulty answering questions directly related to the work.

• Thank you Solmire-nim for 100 coins!

I also think it was good that I came back!

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Thank you! I will work hard to continue the serialization! But it seems it will be tough until my nieces go back.

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The re-serialization is in progress but…

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