City of Witches Chapter 363

Fishing was enjoyable.

Under the sparkling night sky.

Even more so, sharing the same time together as one, dangling the fishing rod over the water that shimmered slightly less than the sky above.

Though there were no peculiar events, and I couldn’t see him squirming with lewd jokes.

It was incredibly enjoyable.

What word would best describe this experience?

A secret rendezvous?

No, that feels too thick with implication.

A date.

Yes, that’s just right—a fresh, heart-fluttering word.

The delicate gesture of draping a jacket over my chilly shoulders.

The way he only averted his gaze when I tested the waters with a subtle temptation.

Even the way he discreetly turned his head and breathed only through his mouth, perhaps because he felt embarrassed about inhaling my body scent.

It was something I had forgotten for so long that I missed it and was glad for it.

Though the day was this chilly, even after returning to my private study, I still feel a lingering warmth.

My heart remains buoyant, as if I’ve returned from a very pleasant trip.

“Maybe… I can afford to be a little spoiled.”

The years I spent pretending not to know what I already knew were long.

For Diana, for the honor of the Countess, I merely unraveled things alone in the secret study.

I don’t regret it, nor do I particularly feel sorry or wistful about it.

“I’m not sure.”

The Countess gave a bitter smile and sat down in the secret study.

Relationships between people can change rapidly and incessantly.

Like how, just days after hiring a ‘male witch’ as a tutor—who until now meant nothing—I’ve started to take an interest in him.

The turning point in the relationship.

The one holding the key is Lucy Yesod.

I was certain that depending on how she acted, this relationship would flip.

“Anyway… she’s so passive.”

If she had suddenly hugged me from behind or subtly tried to kiss me while we were fishing together today, I might have turned a blind eye and allowed it.

But she only did exactly what she was told to do.

Though, I did find that clumsy side of her endearing.

“Should I have given a little more leeway?”

But there’s no need for regret.

Though I feel a bit impatient, this is also good.

While gulping down hot black tea is enjoyable, black tea that has cooled just enough to wet the tip of the tongue also has its own charm.

Especially if it’s black tea I’m drinking for the first time in decades.

On the table was Volume 3 of The Devilish Deliveryman.

Lately, it had been a companion-like book soothing Countess Lucy’s loneliness.

But today, I want to immerse myself in this sentimental afterglow rather than any blatant emotions.

The Countess took out a new book.

A completely empty book with nothing written in it yet.

This book will likely become a secretive one, never to be shown to anyone.

Recalling the pounding of his heartbeat, she writes about today’s events as if keeping a diary.

That alone feels a bit lacking.

Words that merely transcribe reality cannot be called a novel.

The Countess added a bit of seasoning and a different plot development.

A Witch who goes night fishing with her Apprentice Witch’s tutor.

The tutor who holds the fishing rod together from behind.

Eventually, the tutor, unable to resist the pretty Witch’s temptation, suddenly attempts a kiss.

The Witch, who initially feigns aloofness and pushes him away but ultimately accepts his tongue.

“Hmm…”

Along with the feather fluttering incessantly, the Countess continued writing at a rapid pace.

Fiction based on:

What if he had done this?

What if he had reacted like that?

It was different from relying on very old memories and imagination.

Even though I’m just writing as if this really happened, my heart pounds thump-thump-thump.

“Haa…”

The Countess’s white hand, freed from its glove, slips between the folds of her dress.

With her body flinching and curling forward, the Countess spread the wings of her imagination.

It was already quite late.

Diana hurried down the corridor toward the secret room.

Though it was a deviation after a long time, her heart still pounded.

To liken that feeling…

It was like the feeling when, as a child, pretending to sleep, she headed toward the hidden candy jar behind her mother’s back.

Feeling like she was doing something bad, feeling a tiny bit of guilt, but anticipation taking the lead.

So, it was a subtle tension where other issues became secondary.

-Creak!

She quietly opens the door and closes it.

On the desk, the cover of The Devilish Deliveryman caught Diana’s eye like a red cloak.

“Phew…”

Since Mother has an incredibly good memory, not even the slightest carelessness is allowed.

Not only could creases from turning pages wrong give it away, but even the subtle difference in the angle at which the book was placed could expose this secret peeking.

After briefly pressing against the wall to sense the surroundings, she stealthily opened the book.

Carefully turning the pages, her eyes scanned the previous plot, and the moment she opened to the latest chapter—

“Huh…?”

It was blank.

During the time Diana had set the novel aside, Mother hadn’t written a single day.

With the heart of a raccoon whose cotton candy had been washed away in water, Diana blankly stared at the empty page.

“Sigh…”

To have dragged her body, tired from the intense hiking and diving, all the way here only to end up utterly empty-handed.

Who would have thought the long wait would end like this?

Diana leaned back in her chair in dismay.

What caught her eye then was the table drawer, slightly ajar unlike usual.

When she had thoroughly searched the secret room before, this drawer was completely empty, but today, a single book was visible.

“…….”

Her heart sank inwardly.

Until now, it was taken for granted that she entered the secret room secretly without knowing.

But now, it truly hit her that Mother had been coming and going from this place all along.

Diana carefully took out the single book from the drawer.

Whether it was untitled or not, there were no gilded decorations on the cover yet.

-Flip!

Opening the book, she found about 30 pages of a novel written inside.

Strangely, it skipped directly to Chapter 3, with no Chapters 1 or 2.

The margins where Chapters 1 and 2 should have been written were left blank.

“When did she write this?”

The title of Chapter 3 was ‘Under the Orion Constellation.’

Disappointed but deciding to read this much at least, Diana started from the beginning.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

Her heart rate instantly soared to around 200.

Because the location described at the start of the book was none other than the exact place she had gone fishing with Siwoo earlier that day.

“Wh-what, what, what, what is this…?”

Muttering to herself with excellent vibrato vocalization, Diana read on without even blinking.Her lips and eyelashes trembled so violently from the sheer shock.

First, the overall situation was as follows.

The Witch, who had put her Apprentice Witch to sleep, and the tutor went out for a secret rendezvous alone.

Somehow, even though it already seemed clear who the female and male leads were, Diana's reading continued without pause.

In the romantic atmosphere, the man and woman, clinging tightly together as if becoming one, went fishing together.

Throughout the process, the Witch endlessly threw flirtatious glances at the man.

As if craving affection and acting coy.

Under the repeated seductive touches, the tutor, who had persistently refused until now, finally moved.

The tutor's hand, which had been resting over the Witch's hand, subtly began to explore her body, penetrating into secret places that should never have been permitted.

No longer able to restrain their hidden desires, the two cast aside the fishing rod, kissed, and danced their way toward a nearby grassy field.

They removed their clothes, kissed until breathless, and pressed their naked bodies together.

Against the backdrop of the sound of river water breaking against rocks and the chirping of crickets, they dreamily yet passionately explored each other.

The spirit thread concluded with a hot ejaculation.

Diana closed the book with trembling hands.

She didn't know what expression she was making, but she was certain a spasm had occurred at the corner of her mouth.

"……"

The Apprentice Witch's tutor.

The perfectly described night of Rabbit River.

The process of explaining salmon fishing and the man's personality.

Even if you sat a complete idiot here, they would be able to tell what this novel was using as its motif.

"No…."

Was this really a 'novel'?

Even accounting for added imagination, the tutor's appearance aligned far too perfectly with Diana's image.

Moreover, the sporadically described crimson eyes and ash-silver hair were undeniably her mother herself.

Up to this point, one could dismiss it as mere conjecture.

But the detailed points described in the text contained details that would be difficult to fabricate without having seen them firsthand.

In the perverted deliveryman or other sensual novels her mother had written, the witches did feel somewhat like projections of herself, but they were distinctly created characters with personalities completely different from her mother's.

But this was different.

Her mother's usual writing style involved minimal dialogue and a focus on psychological description.

But this text had an abundance of dialogue, as if transcribing a conversation log.

Furthermore, in the back-and-forth exchanges—the speech patterns, verbal habits, even the hard-to-understand jokes—her mother's voice came through vividly.

Subsequently, Diana reached a reasonable conclusion.

This book was absolutely not a novel.

After class, Siwoo received private tutoring from her mother.

Afterwards, her mother was the one who first suggested night fishing to Siwoo, and they went out for a secret rendezvous together.

Not stopping there, after seducing him, they spread their clothes on the grass and shared wild, unrestrained love.

And that.

Happened.

Tonight.

It was around 2 AM now.

Shin Siwoo's private tutoring started around 9 PM, so the timing roughly matched up.

After sharing that love, her mother returned to this secret study and recorded it.

The writing in this book wasn't some novel; it was an autobiographical essay, a straightforward record of today's events.

"Ah…."

Who would have thought their relationship was like this?

Only then did all the puzzling pieces that hadn't made sense fall into place.

The reason her mother, who always told her to avoid men, suddenly assigned a male tutor to Diana.

Because he was a man she liked and wanted to keep close.

The reason they conducted the lessons every night in the private study.

Because she wanted to be alone with him.

The feeling of accepting fictional intercourse between characters in a novel versus actual intercourse was different.

The thought of two people she knew, going at it like beasts, pounding and being pounded, made her feel nauseous.

Betrayal. Disappointment.

Amidst that, the urge to understand her mother.

Filthiness.

Dangerous curiosity.

And….

The man's body—Shin Siwoo's body—rising to mind far more vividly than when it was merely fiction.

All of that swirled in her head like mush, causing Diana to stagger out of the secret room.

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Witch City - Baby Days

A Word from the Author (Author's Note)

Witch City has reached 10 million views!

Comparing it now to a screenshot I took back then, my heart swells with grandeur.

I will not forget that all of this was possible not because I am great, but because of your love and support.

I still don't quite know what it means to write something fun.

I still have many shortcomings and am full of things to learn, so I am always worrying and pondering.

I am still an insufficient author overflowing with things to learn, but I would be happy if you knew that I strive tirelessly to write more enjoyable stories.

If I tried to express all this happiness, it would likely become as long-winded as a drunken ramble, so I'll stop here.

Thank you for visiting Witch City again today.

I would be even happier if I could see you again tomorrow.