City of Witches Chapter 327

Ever since returning from the trip, Sharon had been busy nursing a heartache all by herself.

“Sigh…”

Given her position of living off Countess Gemernai’s salary.

From now on, Sharon had resolved to exercise some self-restraint.

In other words, she had vowed to faithfully carry out what Countess Albireo had suggested—‘keeping a distance from Siwoo.’

To be honest, it wasn’t entirely free of calculation.

Having reunited with Siwoo and mingled bodies to confirm their love, a sense of trust had somehow grown.

And it was also a decision made because her conscience pricked at the thought of ignoring the contract and pushing forward recklessly beyond this point.

That’s why she had avoided any sexual advances even on the day they traveled together.

The incident happened the next morning.

Siwoo, who had appeared sluggishly and out of the blue claimed he had drunk and slept in the carriage.

The twins’ strange behavior, as if they had sensed something.

Most crucially, the footprints seen on the sandy beach on the way back and Siwoo’s reaction were the problem.

The footprints, seemingly imprinted last night, were neither Sharon’s nor the twins’.

But judging by the size, they undoubtedly belonged to a woman.

So Sharon asked.

‘You’re not lying, are you?’

To this, Siwoo replied.

‘Why would I lie? I was really alone.’

It was a lie.

Starting with the claim of being alone.

The part about his memory being hazy because he likely blacked out was probably also a lie.

After all, even Sharon herself had never blacked out from drinking too much since becoming a Spirit Body.

Still, Sharon didn’t blindly suspect Siwoo.

At that point, she still had some trust left.

Hadn’t she told him anyway?

That as long as he didn’t forget and came back to her, she didn’t mind him playing around with other women.

Yet, thinking there was no reason for him to lie, she inspected the carriage on the way back.

And ended up discovering it.

The bedroom in the corner of the carriage, neatly tidied as if cleansing magic had been used.

It was clearly in a different state than when they had come.

Meaning, Siwoo had drunk with some Witch in the carriage the previous night and, with a very, very high probability, had made enough of a mess to require the use of cleansing magic in the bedroom.

At that moment, Sharon’s heart felt heavily weighed down.

All sorts of distracting thoughts arose, and except for classes, she spent the whole day curled up on her bed.

“Come to think of it… I’ve never heard him say he loves me…”

Of course, Sharon had never said ‘I love you’ to Siwoo either.

It wasn’t that she was waiting with some complacent thought like ‘The man should confess first!’

She simply didn’t want to bind Siwoo unnecessarily or burden him.

Still, she had believed their feelings were mutual.

But that belief had cracked.

-Knock knock!

Just then, a knocking sound was heard.

Thinking it might be Siwoo, Sharon sprang up, adjusted her robe, and hurriedly went down to the first floor.

When she quickly opened the door, a completely unexpected person was standing there.

Light pink hair and deep magenta eyes.

It was Duke Eloa Tiferet, looking drunk and utterly haggard.

The annex’s reception room was decorated more luxuriously than any other space.

Because welcoming guests was considered that important.

Eloa, already heavily drunk, and Sharon, who had unexpectedly joined the drinking session, watched as Eloa continuously drank.

“Um… Your Grace, what brings you here…?”

“After I finish this last one, may I speak?”

“Of course. Please do as you please.”

The amount of alcohol that had disappeared with the words ‘this last one’ was already half a bottle.

Even though the Autonomous Defense system would prevent something like acute alcohol poisoning, she had no idea what this was all about.

Eloa laboriously set down her glass and opened her mouth.

“Miss Evergreen.”

“Please call me Sharon. I’m not that important of a person.”

“…I have something to apologize to you for.”

And the moment she heard the word ‘apologize,’ Sharon’s eyes widened.

A flash of intuition pierced through the accumulated anguish that had been looming like a dark cloud.

“I… without your knowledge… slept with Siwoo.”

As always, ominous premonitions tend to hit the mark.

Sharon felt as if her heart had dropped to her lower abdomen.

The shock was so great she couldn’t even tell if this was a dream or not.

“What?”

So she reflexively asked back.

Eloa couldn’t even meet Sharon’s eyes and tightly gripped the hem of her clothes.

Shame and guilt from having to expose her disgrace had turned her ears bright red.

“I thought… it was right to apologize to you… so I came…”

“You’re not… joking… are you?”

Sharon, feeling a distant dizziness, almost dropped her glass.

Her already complicated head began to grow even more tangled.

She knew Duke Tiferet and Siwoo had a master-disciple relationship, even if temporary.

In witch society, the master-disciple bond is extremely, extremely sacred.

Because the relationship between an Apprentice Witch and a Witch is not only a master-disciple relationship but also implies a parent-child relationship.

That is, it’s not just a moral saying that the master is like a parent and the disciple like a child; it’s a relationship far deeper and more solid than what is generally accepted in the world.

Of course, since it’s labeled ‘temporary’ and Siwoo isn’t actually inheriting Eloa’s Brand, it can’t be considered a typical case,

but her confession of having had sexual relations with Siwoo sounded to Sharon like ‘I had intercourse with my stepson.’

It would probably sound that way to most Witches as well.

Even amidst that shocking statement, the first thing that came to Sharon’s mind.

She couldn’t deny that a tone of reproach had crept into her voice unknowingly.

“…Who suggested it first?”

“…I seduced him first.”

Strictly speaking, except for the first time, it was hard to see it as Eloa’s one-sided seduction.

But Eloa didn’t want Siwoo to be blamed by Sharon.

Since Siwoo had forgotten this memory anyway, and as his master, she felt an even greater responsibility, she intended to shoulder all the blame herself.

“…Haah…”

Non-smoker Sharon felt an intense urge to chain-smoke.

As Sharon, utterly confused about what was what, watched, Eloa haltingly revealed the whole story from beginning to end.

The reason she first entered a relationship with Siwoo and the circumstances that made it unavoidable.

The feelings that deepened afterward.

Seeing Siwoo at the beach and sharing love.

And even erasing his memory—she laid it all out.

When she came to her senses, tears were falling so heavily she could barely see.

Eloa, utterly cowed, bracing for any reaction.

“Hoo…”

A soft sensation settled on Eloa’s shoulders, which were trembling with fear and sorrow as if about to crumble under the weight of a heavy sigh, dropping only bead-like tears.With great effort, she lifted her head and opened her eyes to find Sharon, wearing a worried expression, embracing her.

Her brilliant mint-colored eyes held no trace of anger or contempt.

They were simply welling up with tears, just like Eloa’s.

At first, Sharon had been so flustered and caught off guard that countless thoughts raced through her mind.

But as she listened to Eloa’s story from beginning to end, her heart filled only with pity and sorrow.

To be unable to express her feelings of love, and to have to erase even the precious memories she had built up—

How heartbreaking was that?

It didn’t feel like someone else’s problem, and there was no reason to be angry.

“It’s okay. Don’t cry. I’m not angry at all.”

Whether from relief or from overwhelming sorrow,

Eloa’s small body trembled as if it might break.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”

Sharon dared to stroke the back of her head and held her close, letting her cry her heart out as the tears finally burst forth.

“Hic…”

After about thirty minutes, Eloa, sniffling with a reddened nose, fell asleep in Sharon’s arms.

It seemed she had been under a great deal of strain, both mentally and physically.

Somehow, Sharon felt a sense of kinship with her.

And in the meantime, the problem that had been weighing on Sharon’s heart disappeared.

Siwoo hadn’t lied to her.

It was simply that he truly couldn’t remember because she had erased his memories.

That alone made her genuinely happy.

Listening to Eloa’s words, it became clear to Sharon just how much she cherished and loved Siwoo.

Even without her saying it explicitly, Sharon could sense the resolve with which she had erased her memories and the sincerity with which she had come to apologize to Sharon.

What did the master-disciple relationship matter?

Love knows no borders or races.

Not a shred of blame toward Eloa crossed her mind.

It was a strange feeling.

She had expected to feel a bit of jealousy or possessiveness.

The moment she heard that Eloa had slept with Siwoo, her heart had ached sharply.

But now, the fact that they loved the same person—

The fact that there was someone besides herself who loved Siwoo this much—felt like having a dependable ally.

“Sleep well, Your Grace.”

Sharon quietly smoothed Eloa’s hair and left the room.

Rain falls over the desert.

The sight of raindrops seeping into the scorching earth, where no trace of life could be found, and causing small wildflowers to sprout was surreal, and therefore beautiful.

Amelia gazed blankly down at the lifeless body of the public enemy collapsed helplessly before her.

A Witch who had been exiled for using up to 120 humans as experimental subjects and, even after that, had kidnapped travelers to extract their hearts, becoming a public enemy.

“Um… Amelia.”

Seeing Amelia standing in the falling rain, Clara cautiously approached.

Amelia had set out on a journey to hunt public enemies once more, and Clara had quietly accompanied her.

Because Clara was certain that if left alone, Amelia would surely break down.

Though she hadn’t explicitly asked for permission, Amelia hadn’t driven Clara away even as she followed at a distance, so Clara considered it a tacit agreement.

And then, Amelia’s battle with the public enemy upon arriving at the location recorded in the Death Ledger.

Once Amelia engaged in combat, she unleashed Magic in all directions, so Clara could only approach after the fight was over.

“Can I ask you something?”

When Amelia’s sky-blue eyes, which had been staring blankly, turned to Clara,

Clara flinched and shuddered.

It was as if the aftermath of battle lingered, or as if her emotions had been stripped away.

It was a look she had never seen before.

Transparent to the point of unfathomable depth, and therefore cold.

Clara, without realizing it, suppressed the feeling of being intimidated and boldly met Amelia’s gaze.

Because she could easily guess that this look was merely the last desperate struggle of a vulnerable person cornered.

“…Why do you kill public enemies?”

The moment Clara’s question reached her, ripples stirred in Amelia’s eyes.

As if she had become a different person, a vulnerable and clumsy inner self surfaced.

Clara mustered a bit more courage and carefully continued.

“If it’s so hard for you, you don’t have to force yourself to step forward.”

“…….”

“I’ve killed many public enemies too… but if you’re not prepared, can’t you just stop?”

Taking another’s life inevitably comes with stress.

And in Clara’s eyes, Amelia was completely unprepared for it.

The sight of Amelia overwhelming the public enemy with her sheer power difference seemed more like strangling herself.

“Because I must.”

To accompany her, but not to get too close.

Clara had shown her own form of consideration for Amelia, who was struggling, but now she couldn’t help but intervene.

It was a small comfort.

“You don’t need to feel guilty for killing public enemies… They’re the ones who have thrown the world into chaos and caused many sacrifices. If it’s really hard for you, you can just think of it that way…”

Amelia stared at Clara for a long time before shifting her gaze.

“I always think about it.”

About the fleeting final moments of someone whose flesh crumbled and turned into flowers, eventually scattered and vanished in the wind.

She holds it in her heart.

“This Witch too… perhaps she, like me, didn’t know what was truly precious. Perhaps she was mistaken.”

Somewhat out of the blue,

it was the first time Amelia had opened up about her inner thoughts.

“Did I rob her of the chance to correct her mistakes… is what I wonder.”

Amelia looked back at Clara.

“Will you listen to my story?”

“Yes, I’ll listen as much as you want.”

Clara replied happily.

A Word from the Author (Author’s Note)

Tonkotsu Ramen

Add chashu and tamago

I want to eat it with plenty of bean sprouts and a cold beer.