City of Witches Chapter 32

Sophia left the room, leaving Siwoo slumped over.

Thinking about Siwoo collapsing beneath her made her feel a greedy desire, but she quickly dismissed it.

He was the first man Amelia had shown interest in since leaving that cramped hut.

Though she herself vehemently denied it.

She couldn't possibly do something as shameless as stealing away her precious friend's chance at romance.

"I can't do that."

After all, Siwoo had no experience with women, and Amelia had no experience with men.

It was obvious what a mess they'd be if they got together.

Especially Amelia—she'd likely stiffen up like a piece of wood in bed, and Siwoo would be flustered and clumsy.

How disappointing would that be for their first experience?

Traditionally, women tend to feel more at ease and develop affection when led a little.

With that thought, along with his reward, she decided to teach him a little about handling women in advance.

"Ugh..."

She stretched her limbs fully and pulled her robe's hood over her head.

Truthfully, Sophia bore some responsibility for Shin Siwoo's suffering.

If she hadn't encouraged Amelia in the first place, Amelia wouldn't have been rejected by Siwoo, and Siwoo wouldn't have been tormented.

Moreover, rumors about Amelia's interest in Siwoo wouldn't have spread, and with his princely looks, he might have been loved by various Witches.

Of course, he himself wasn't fond of being treated like a slave in the first place.

"Elites are naturally picky."

The night deepened.

Since Witches didn't necessarily need to sleep, she had to attend to the task Siwoo had requested.

She needed to decide the fate of those captured by the guards and ensure they remained silent about Siwoo using Magic.

"Times like these make it good not to need sleep."

Sophia leaped lightly out the window.

Wrapped in her robe, feathers sprouted from her body as she transformed into a large crow and soared into the moonlit sky.

Slaves didn't get special vacations.

Even their one day off per week required work until noon, so it was only natural.

Yet here was Siwoo, comfortably sprawled on his bed of straw, lazily stretching his limbs.

The sun visible through the skylight was already high in the sky.

This was the taste of sleeping in.

For Siwoo, who always woke before dawn or at the crack of light, it was a tear-inducing luxury.

"How long has it been since I've been this lazy?"

He realized for the first time how blissful it was to do nothing and sleep in.

It was his first vacation since becoming a slave.

Just the day before yesterday.

Amelia, who woke late in the afternoon, appointed Siwoo as her assistant and, acknowledging his hard work patrolling Border Town late into the night, granted him a day of reward vacation.

Could you believe it?

A vacation given by that Amelia.

Though he was bewildered, it seemed her nasty attitude had softened a bit, which was a relief for Siwoo.

"Huh?"

Then, he spotted someone trudging along the grassy path in the distance.

Having avoided her so much, he could now recognize her just by her gait.

It was Amelia.

"What now."

Siwoo hurriedly threw on his clothes.

"Seriously, if you're giving me a vacation, let me rest. Why bother me like this?"

Still, he couldn't possibly receive her in such a shabby state.

By the way, he really liked the underwear Amelia had gifted him recently.

Every time he changed, he felt a sense of pride.

His annoyance at Amelia's sudden visit softened a bit when he saw the underwear.

"Is this slave mentality?"

Siwoo opened the barn door and went out to meet Amelia.

There was only the vast expanse of grassland where his quarters were, so Amelia had no other reason to come.

In fact, she had never visited once in five years.

Amelia stood under the dazzling sunlight, wearing a parasol.

She waited with her usual haughty expression as Siwoo jogged over.

"What brings you here, Associate Professor?"

The sunlight filtering through her side made her blonde hair shimmer.

Despite trying not to think about it, the memory of Amelia's naked body at the inn flashed in his mind, making his cock twitch.

Men are such pitiful creatures.

Siwoo suppressed the growing bulge by repeating virtuous thoughts.

Amelia waited until he caught his breath before speaking.

"I'll be transferring you as my personal slave tomorrow. You'll start learning the duties of an assistant. Today, I came to move your quarters closer. It won't take long, so follow me."

Well, it was over a 30-minute walk from here to the research building.

As a personal slave, it made sense to stick closer.

"By the way, you lived in quite a decent place."

A decent place? What were the other slaves' quarters like?

Amelia remarked while looking at the barn floating on the green hill.

Well, from the outside, it did look like a fairly proper building.

It just wasn't built for people to live in.

"Yes, well, it's fine."

Amelia tilted her head slightly at Siwoo's ambiguous response.

"Then I'll accompany you. Where should we go?"

"To move your belongings, we need to go to your quarters."

Blinking as if asking the obvious, Amelia passed Siwoo and began climbing the hill path.

"I'll lead the way."

Though his Magical Power, battle magic paper, and Magic Circle drafts were inside the house, he wasn't too worried.

They were stuffed in a box hidden in the straw, and Amelia had no reason to look there.

He'd have to come back once more at night after moving.

Lost in thought, he opened the barn door for her.

"It's a humble place, so I'm a bit embarrassed."

As the interior of the barn, previously hidden by the door, was revealed, Amelia's expressionless eyes gradually widened.

"I'll pack up as quickly as possible, so please wait."

There wasn't much to take anyway.

Siwoo went to the straw pile, carefully covering the box with straw, and retrieved clothes and underwear from a half-rotten, crumbling wardrobe.

"........"

Amelia stood frozen like a stone statue at the doorway, looking around.

She seemed utterly bewildered.

"Amelia, I'm all packed."

At Siwoo's call, Amelia snapped out of her daze.

After a moment's hesitation, she asked.

Her voice sounded somewhat subdued compared to her usual self.

"Did you really live here? Truly?"

"Yes."

"For five years?"

"Originally, it was a different quarters, but about a week in, I was moved here. I was notified that the original quarters were being rebuilt."

"........"

Despite Siwoo's concise explanation, Amelia remained silent.

She just blinked her long eyelashes quietly.

Here we go again.Conversations with Amelia often ended abruptly like this, without context.

"I hope the next lodging is a bit nicer."

Trying to lighten the awkward atmosphere with a casual joke, Amelia hung her head low.

Was living in such a place that much of a shock?

Well, even Siwoo had found it hard to accept at first.

Especially for a young lady raised delicately, it must have been quite a culture shock.

Just as he was about to dismiss it with such thoughts.

Suddenly, Amelia grabbed Siwoo's sleeve.

"Um..."

He felt the fabric of his clothes being tugged by her delicate hand.

A fragrance that seemed to sweep away all the foul smells in the vicinity wafted over from her in waves.

"Manager, there's something I want to say."

"Yes, go ahead. I'm listening."

Amelia looked up at Siwoo's face as if she had resolved herself.

And the moment she opened her mouth, he heard a sound as if something had caught in her throat, followed by a sharp intake of breath.

"Associate Professor?"

Amelia, who had been unable to speak for a while as if something had broken, let go of Siwoo's sleeve.

A sigh that couldn't quite form into a sound slipped out.

"From now on, Manager Shin Siwoo is my personal slave, so I can't let you wear such undignified clothes."

"But... these are at least clean..."

"We'll move that later. For now, follow me."

Amelia stepped out of the barn and strode ahead briskly.

Why is she acting like this all of a sudden?

Still, there's no reason to refuse if she's offering clothes.

Besides, he was running out of clothes to wear these days anyway.

Siwoo threw his bundle onto the haystack and chased after Amelia.

Amelia felt uncomfortable.

Her stomach felt uneasy.

It was as if somewhere deep inside, things were tangled up, making her feel queasy, like that time long, long ago when she ate spoiled cheese and got a stomachache.

All of this started after seeing Manager Shin Siwoo's lodging.

Amelia unconsciously squeezed her eyes shut.

After he openly refused Sophia's proposal to serve her at night.

The next day, the place Amelia stormed off to in a huff was none other than the Academy's administrative office.

Amelia gave the order in a very calm tone.

To assign Siwoo the worst possible lodging.

How dare a mere slave refuse a Witch's command.

And to insult her so openly like that.

Although she didn't show it on the spot, Amelia spent the whole night unable to calculate a single Magic Formula, her face flushed.

Until then, she hadn't entertained even a sliver of doubt about whether this was a fitting punishment.

Because it was the first time she had ever been soaked in such an intense, almost naked sense of shame.

As someone who knew how much suffering an uncomfortable sleeping place could cause, Amelia carried out the best revenge she could think of on the spot.

The reason she was reminded of this long-forgotten incident was simple.

Because she needed to inform him that his lodging, now that Siwoo was her personal slave, had to be moved closer to the research building.

Twelve months a year.

Lawn transformed by Magic to never wither.

His lodging was situated in a prime location where long grass rippled in the refreshing breeze.

It received ample sunlight, and above all, the view of the Academy from the hillside was splendid.

When she saw his lodging from afar, Amelia doubted her own memory.

She was certain she had ordered him to be assigned the worst lodging, yet here was this massive wooden building in such a favorable location.

It wasn't that she was particularly resentful about it now, but she did harbor a slight suspicion about the Academy's handling of affairs.

As she walked under her parasol, a Gate opened in the distance and Siwoo came running out.

"What brings you here, Associate Professor?"

After conveying her business to him as he ran out breathlessly, Amelia deliberately moved her steps to check his lodging.

Truth be told, part of the reason she went all the way to this distant place was to see where he had been living and to check how her revenge had played out.

It was a rather sudden feeling.

"It's a shabby place, so I'm a bit embarrassed."

When the door opened under his awkward escort, Amelia couldn't believe her eyes.

The floor was damp mud, and there was a strange smell.

The ceiling was rotten and broken in several places, revealing the sky, and wooden crates and straws rolled around, pretending to be furniture.

She had clearly ordered him to be assigned a bad lodging.

But the 'worst lodging' Amelia had envisioned when giving the order was something like a regular house in Taro Town.

All of the Academy's facilities were splendid and beautiful, so she hadn't expected such a gap even at the lowest level.

And for that reason, the lodging where Siwoo lived was, by any measure, not a place fit for human habitation.

Suddenly feeling a prickling sensation in her chest, Amelia frowned.

A feeling as if her heart was throbbing.

This feeling was strange.

"Do you really live here? Truly?"

"Yes."

"For five years?"

"Originally, it was a different lodging, but about a week later, it was moved here. They said they were rebuilding that building."

"........"

She checked just in case, but the karmic retribution was plain to see.

Her discomfort grew.

Not even knowing why she should feel this way, Siwoo spoke to Amelia in a joking tone.

"I hope the next lodging is a bit nicer."

Siwoo, throwing out a joke as if it were nothing, seemed about to leave the lodging first.

Unable to bear it, Amelia grabbed and pulled his sleeve.

It seemed she had to say this.

She had that premonition.

"Um..."

Amelia is a noble, and he is a mere slave.

Yet, regarding this matter, she wanted to say she was sorry.

From his perspective, it must be absurd.

She didn't know if saying it wasn't intentional would make him understand.

"Manager, there's something I want to say."

"Yes, go ahead. I'm listening."

She barely managed to open her mouth.

But the moment she tried to convey words of apology to him, her breath caught in her throat.

What should she say?

Where should she start?

What tone, what manner of speech, what expression, what gesture, what breath should she use?

It wasn't like she was performing some complex Magic.

Even though all she needed to do was offer a single word of apology, her mind went blank as if completely blocked.

"Associate Professor?"

Feeling his puzzled gaze, Amelia blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

It felt more like she was forcing out words rather than having thought them through."From now on, caretaker Shin Siwoo is my personal slave, so I can't have him wearing such undignified clothes."

"B-but it's the cleanest one I have..."

"We'll move that later. For now, follow me."

This wasn't what I intended.

Amelia bit her lip hard and stepped out of the stable first.

Since things have turned out this way, I'll just buy him a set of clothes.

Just enough to wash away the vague sense of guilt that has begun to sprout, as much as I messed up last time.

Let's do just that much for him.

Amelia decided that way.

Author's Note (Author's Afterword)

Hueeeeng