City of Witches Chapter 358

Countess Lucy Yesod was a different breed from Diana.

While swiftly handling a mountain of business matters from the Mortal Realm that needed attention, she never neglected her duties as a Witch and immersed herself in Magic Research.

She built appropriate friendships with other Witches, enjoyed her hobbies, and diligently roamed every corner of Gehenna whenever she had the chance.

From waking at 6 a.m. to sleeping at 2 a.m.

She was a diligent Witch who never rested for a moment.

Recently, she had even eliminated the regular sleep she used to indulge in.

It was to guide Shin Siwoo, Diana's tutor.

"I wonder if he'll be on time again today…."

The Countess rested her chin on her hand, waiting for the knock to sound.

Gehenna's first male witch.

When Lucy first heard the news about him, she felt no particular stir.

Certainly, the nuance carried by the word 'first' was captivating.

Unobserved.

Unknown.

Hiding boundless potential.

It implied all that.

However, 'the first male witch' also implied that his achievement was merely 'one generation.'

She thought it would be of no help whatsoever to the Yesod family's innate magic, accumulated over thousands of years across generations.

The Great Witches of Hierarchy 20 and above likely paid little attention to his 'magical value' for similar reasons.

That's what she once thought.

"Hmm, truly remarkable…."

The Countess gazed down at the neatly stacked pile of papers on the table, lost in thought.

It was a study log, clearly organized with everything they had studied together over the past four days.

To the question, 'Does he have value for magical research?' the Countess's answer remained unchanged.

'Clearly insufficient.'

Conducting various experiments on him would contribute nothing to the development of innate magic.

The Yesod family had already reached that plateau.

Separately, what Countess Lucy focused on was his learning ability itself.

'If it's not too rude, may I ask how long you've been studying?'

'Seriously started… probably about a month or two.'

'A month or two…?'

He said, in his own words, that he had seriously begun studying Barrier Magic about a month or two ago.

And that wasn't by secluding himself in research like most Witches, but while helping a friend and playing moderately.

At first, she half-suspected it was bravado.

No matter how exceptional his intellect and computational abilities, and no matter how excellent his answers on the test.

Everything has its limits.

Most child prodigy musicians, highly praised, are mere novelties before masters with long-accumulated experience.

During the three days of teaching him, the Countess realized.

That talent exists which even defies experience.

He devoured and solved the problems she presented at a frightening pace.

When he lost his way and wandered, the slightest hint would immediately set his direction, and he would charge through with terrifying momentum.

He was navigating the labyrinth of Barrier Magic—notoriously difficult and complex—twisting and turning, sometimes even breaking through walls.

As a result, he perfectly understood the 'add-ons' for controlling the Red Branch.

Along with the Field Theories he deemed necessary for it.

He had colored them with his own hue and internalized them.

Watching him like that, curiosity suddenly arose.

"Mr. Siwoo… what kind of Barrier Magic would you show?"

When innate magic and innate magic fuse, transformation is inevitable.

The result would likely be quite different from the existing Yesod family's Barrier Magic.

And perhaps along the journey to reach that point, he might gift her with magical inspiration.

This was the reason the Countess secretly looked forward to their private tutoring sessions.

"Besides that…."

"Excuse me. May I come in?"

"Yes, please come in."

The Countess quickly checked her attire in the mirror placed on the table and let Siwoo in.

Simultaneously, the door opened, and Siwoo entered in an outfit that pleased her heart.

On the first day, he had clearly been nervous, but perhaps feeling more familiar now, his expression had become quite bright lately.

Seeing Siwoo's expression, a faint smile formed on the Countess's face.

This was the second reason she looked forward to the tutoring hours.

Because having a handsome man by her side was never a boring affair.

How long had it been since she felt this ticklish sensation…?

Looking at him, a long-forgotten emotion resurfaced.

"I was waiting. How was Diana today?"

"Starting tomorrow, I plan to take her outdoors a bit more seriously. Hopefully, it goes well."

"Already? That's quite fast progress."

"I'm not sure if this can be called progress…."

As Siwoo sat down with a wry smile, the Countess continued the lesson.

Today was the day to finish the theoretical review and begin the practical session.

"The theoretical foundation is almost complete. What Mr. Siwoo aims to do isn't building a pyramid from the very bottom, brick by brick, but creating an 'add-on' using only the necessary blocks."

About an hour into the lesson.

Siwoo showed difficulty for the first time.

"I still can't quite grasp the feel…."

Indeed, theory and practice were different.

Even Siwoo, who solved everything with ease, hesitated to this extent.

"No need to be impatient. It's only the fourth day. You're already doing very well, Mr. Siwoo."

Barrier fields are particularly conceptual and vague magic.

The image of the barrier field concretized in the mind and the Magic Formula created computationally in reality.

The persistent dissonance between these two was the biggest problem.

It felt like having to accurately paint a still life of an object beneath rippling water?

"When starting to learn Barrier Magic, connecting theory and practice is the hardest part."

The Countess stared intently at Siwoo's face.

Having walked this path herself, Lucy understood his struggle.

And she also knew the fastest way to break through it.

"Instead of that… hmm…."

The problem was whether she should do this or not….

Long ago, after her beloved lover departed first, the Countess immersed herself in magic and business.

Rather than suffering over the inevitable parting, she focused on living the rest of her life happily.

What would be solved by just sitting down and crying?

One simply holds onto the precious memories and lives on.

However, while creating a memorial space for him in a corner of her heart, she never let any other man get close.

That's how she completed a thesis that turned the academic world upside down.

She also raised Diana, who was just a baby then, into an outstanding Apprentice Witch, as if to prove a point.I think I've done enough to uphold my sense of duty.

The life I've lived running forward without looking back is nearing its end.

What surfaces is a very small loneliness.

The Countess, who already knows what it means to be loved, has been erasing that desire by writing sensual novels alone.

And she's been doing that for over a decade.

Then, just a little bit.

Would it really matter to be a bit greedy?

If it's just to fill a tiny bit of selfish desire.

"Mr. Shin Siwoo."

Countess Lucy Yesod said:

Materializing a barrier field is inherently quite difficult.

"Then what should I do?"

"There's a good method. It's sharing a mental landscape."

"Ah."

I had experienced it before.

When I first took lessons on the elemental system from Sharon, we interlocked fingers and I saw the landscape she was seeing.

Needless to say, my skill in handling Elemental Magic improved by leaps and bounds after that.

"Then, shall we stand up?"

"Huh? Do we need to stand?"

"Yes, please stay still."

If we just need to hold hands, why bother standing up?

Though puzzled, the Countess obediently stood up and began undoing the buttons of Siwoo's shirt one by one.

The front of his shirt came undone in an instant, just like when he first met her.

A chilly breeze seeped in through the wide-open shirt.

"Countess?"

"It's alright, I'm not trying to do anything bad."

I glanced at the Countess's face, a bit flustered, but there was no change.

Her expression was extremely businesslike.

This is part of magic study.

Well, there's no guarantee that sharing a mental landscape always has to be done the same way.

"Could you step over here for a moment?"

After undoing all the buttons, the Countess positioned Siwoo beside the sofa.

Then, like a graceful swan, she walked forward with light steps and turned behind him.

Siwoo had to suppress a gasp.

From the moment he entered the room, he had only faced her, so he hadn't noticed: the dress Countess Yesod was wearing was an open-back dress that revealed her back completely.

It wasn't the kind of clothing that just barely hints at exposure.

It was a daring exposure where if the shoulder straps loosened even a little, her tailbone would be visible.

Her neatly tied-up hair, the slender nape of her neck exposed because of it, her radiant back and waist boasting perfect proportions and balance.

The feminine curve of her hips accentuated by the tightly clinging skirt.

Despite such exposure, her back view didn't look vulgar at all, likely due to the mature beauty she naturally exuded.

If anything, it was beautiful, like viewing a work of art.

"For sharing a mental landscape, physical closeness is important."

Undoing the front of his shirt here and showing a back exposed like a snowy field...

What it meant was obvious.

She was telling him to hug her from behind.

"Are you embarrassed? It's for magic, isn't it?"

The Countess asked, glancing over her shoulder at the hesitating Siwoo.

Setting aside the suddenness, it was quite burdensome.

Late at night like this, just the two of them, skin-to-skin contact, a back hug.

Aren't these somewhat suggestive words linked together like sausages?

"...If contact is necessary, wouldn't just holding hands suffice?"

So he asked.

Because it seemed like embracing her recklessly might lead to troublesome situations.

He wasn't entirely without the thought: 'Is she trying to seduce me like other witches?'

"...In our family, we do it this way."

"I see..."

Just as the last of his doubts was fading with her answer that sounded so matter-of-fact,

while he was still agonizing over whether to do this or not, the Countess drove the final nail.

"Are you planning to embarrass me? It was a rare gesture of goodwill."

"Of course not."

Get a grip.

This isn't a Host Bar.

Countess Yesod isn't some unreasonable witch who, obsessed with Siwoo's peculiarity, demands to sleep with him.

She is among the highest echelons of witches.

One of the seven Countesses.

To begin with, suspecting that such a Countess was using the pretext of showing a mental landscape to induce physical contact was an overinflated sense of self-importance.

It seems all the harassment I've endured has led me to even have such delusions.

"Then, excuse me."

"My, you should rather say thank you."

He stiffly spread his arms and hugged the Countess.

Since she was wearing heels, their height difference was about half a head.

To avoid inhaling the scent of her hair, he breathed only through his mouth and gently embraced her.

"Ah..."

In the cool air, through the open shirt, the Countess's body he hugged was surprisingly warm.

Skin softer than mink.

A slightly elevated body temperature and a distinct heartbeat felt clearly against his chest.

Somehow, the Countess gently pulled forward Siwoo's arm, which had stiffened in this erotic situation.

"We need to be a bit closer."

"Eek!"

Siwoo's body, which had only been ambiguously pressed against her chest, now made full contact with the Countess's back.

Against his forearm, he distinctly felt the maternal symbol, clearly braless.

An additional problem arose here: unlike a man's body, a woman's body has flexible curves both front and back.

As Siwoo's abdomen and the Countess's lower back made contact, his 'serpent' parked itself between the curves of her buttocks.

"......"

If Siwoo's 'item,' which boasts considerable presence even normally, made contact to the point of feeling her soft, pliant buttocks, then conversely, the Countess would surely notice.

"My..."

He definitely heard it.

The Countess's gasp, as if startled.

"I-I'm sorry."

Just as he quickly tried to pull his waist back and escape from her,

Lucy's hand, which had been holding Siwoo, gripped his wrist even more firmly.

"It's alright. Focus from now on."

In the end, after some compromise, Siwoo ended up in an awkward posture, only slightly pulling his hips back, and received the shared mental landscape from the Countess.