City of Witches Chapter 93

The promised three days had passed.

Yebin met with Amelia privately, her eyes weary and hollow.

She had agonized day and night, searching for alternative routes, but concluded there was no other way.

Delaying Siwoo's surgery any further seemed difficult, and she needed permission from Amelia—his guardian and presumed lover—before proceeding with the procedure.

"....So, most of his conditions are very favorable."

Before broaching the critical matter, Yebin rattled off Siwoo's recent examination results.

But Amelia's vacant eyes seemed to pierce through Yebin.

To be precise, she was staring blankly, unfocused.

"Baroness...?"

"Ah, sorry. What did you say?"

"Oh, I'll repeat it."

Parroting her earlier words exactly, Yebin felt puzzled.

Amelia had always listened attentively to even the smallest details concerning Siwoo.

Though she didn't usually corner Yebin with questions, perhaps to avoid burdening her, if she sensed an opportunity to ask something, she would scurry over even from afar.

It was so endearing that Yebin found it almost adorable, though she felt guilty for thinking so.

For such an Amelia to be distracted during a progress report before Siwoo's final surgery...

Had something bad happened?

Yebin tilted her head unconsciously.

But it wasn't something she could pry into, and above all, the weight of what she had to convey next prevented her stray thoughts from lingering.

"I see, you've really worked hard, Smirna. I won't forget your efforts and will repay you."

"Yes, yes, no need! I also found it rewarding and good since it's about saving a life. But regarding Siwoo's final procedure going forward, there's something I need to tell you..."

Yebin glanced furtively at Amelia.

Her perplexing sky-blue eyes seemed to urge Yebin to speak quickly.

"I'm listening properly this time."

"Ah, yes... well..."

Amelia wasn't rushing her at all, but Yebin felt increasingly awkward about what she had to say.

She closed her eyes tightly and continued her explanation step by step.

"For a perfect recovery, besides regenerating the brain, a separate treatment is needed."

"Yes, you explained that before."

In response to Amelia's reply, which seemed to ask why she was bringing it up again, Yebin stumbled on.

"What we... are trying to do... is a kind of reversing entropy, right? Like restoring burned paper to its original state... Um, but for that, a kind of consciousness is needed..."

"What kind of consciousness?"

"I-I've never attempted such detailed restoration before... but according to my research, it's..."

"Don't be nervous, you can speak comfortably."

How could she not be nervous and speak comfortably?

Amelia must be able to respond so gently because she didn't know anything yet.

"A 'guideline' for the restoration is needed."

"And so?"

Just as a complex and intricate puzzle needs a frame, information about Siwoo's original state is required.

"So... what I want to tell you is about the methodology for collecting that guideline.

It's divided into two ways. One is... waking his consciousness in this state and using a Magic called 'Memory Regression.'

You merge with the subject's psyche, observe what kind of life they've lived, what memories they've held, and rebuild piece by piece based on the results.

O-of course! Since it involves peering into memories without leaving any, there's a possibility of privacy invasion."

".........."

Reading all his memories without even obtaining permission.

It felt unsettling.

"But there's a problem with this method."

"What is it?"

"This involves breaking the boundary between the caster's and subject's consciousness. In this process, the subject's magical circuit becomes a huge obstacle... So, before Memory Regression, all magical circuits must be removed."

"That is..."

Did that mean Siwoo would no longer be able to use Magic?

The first thing that came to Amelia's mind upon hearing that was

a very selfish and petty thought: 'Wouldn't that mean he can't use dimensional Magic to escape on his own whim?'

"Pfft...."

Suddenly realizing her own ugliness, Amelia was taken aback and shook her head.

She felt ashamed.

Towards Siwoo, and towards herself.

"No."

Amelia firmly refused.

Even if his achievements weren't at an enormous level, it wasn't something to proceed with without asking his opinion.

"What's the second method?"

When Amelia shook off her hesitation and asked, Yebin hesitated much more than before.

Glancing repeatedly at Amelia's expression, she carefully brought it up.

Because even Yebin wasn't sure if this method was truly right.

Setting everything else aside, ethically speaking.

"Sexual intercourse."

"........?"

"The reason for sexual intercourse is, first, to stimulate sexual desire, one of the most instinctive physiological functions, to activate the dormant limbic system. If this process proceeds naturally, it will likely greatly alleviate the expected emotional loss phenomenon as a post-recovery side effect."

Yebin rattled off her explanation.

She was afraid to look at Amelia's expression.

Even if it was unavoidable, it was a matter of having to have sex with her man.

Not wanting to be misunderstood as a frivolous woman making excuses to steal another's man, Yebin first clarified her purity and innocence.

"But... actually, I, um, have no experience..."

".....Neither do I."

"Ah... I see..."

".........."

They still hadn't had a physical relationship?

While Yebin felt the situation becoming more complicated than expected, it was Amelia who broke the stifling awkwardness first.

"I'll cooperate with that part."

Amelia had learned from literature how physical relationships between men and women occur, and what resolve and mindset are needed in the process.

Though she was in an ambiguous state about how to treat Siwoo after hearing from the Twins, she had that much resolve.

"Ah, no... no, I didn't finish explaining... That sexual intercourse... I have to do it."

"Pardon...?"“Um, I... need to heal Mr. Siwoo by... having intercourse with him. Because the wave of magical power generated at the moment of erection and ejaculation contains fragments of various information.

It’s a process of tracing and constructing the neural circuit system that matches his original mental state, through the connection where the Brand of emotion and instinct meets the male organ during the moment of contact...”

Yebin’s explanation, which sounded like nothing but excuses, continued for a full ten minutes, but Amelia’s brain was already half-tuning her out.

To save him, she had to let him mix flesh with another woman?

According to the common sense Amelia had held until now, it shouldn’t have been something to fuss over.

She had never considered him an object of physical relations; in fact, she had always questioned the reason for forcibly linking spiritual love and physical love.

Wasn’t it merely an act of physical union for reproduction?

Moreover, if it wasn’t for some other reason but to save a life, why was this shock hitting her so hard?

“I’m sorry...”

Yebin bowed her head apologetically, feeling unnecessarily guilty.

“There’s... no other way...”

Wondering why she felt this way, and whether this feeling was truly her own emotion, Amelia asked one more question amidst her doubts.

“How long will it take?”

“At least... about three times, I think.”

Feeling the floor beneath her feet go soft, Amelia nodded.

“Please... proceed.”

“Yes, well... I also have preparations to make, so I’ll go in right after evening.”

“Alright.”

Leaving Amelia standing there blankly, Yebin hurried off to her room with strangely quick steps.

“Haa... I said it...”

All the strength drained from her body.

After struggling for three days over how to convey it, finally getting it out brought relief, but also a profound sense of exhaustion.

Was she angry?

Except for the passionate moment when they first met, Baron Marigold had always shown minimal changes in expression, making it even harder to gauge her reaction.

It wasn’t that she feared retaliation.

She already knew Amelia wasn’t that kind of bad person.

Contrary to her Master’s words that Gehenna’s nobles had nasty dispositions, Yebin had been treated as an honored guest during her stay here.

“But is this right...”

Yebin sprawled on her bed, twisting a strand of hair.

Even if it was for a healing act, having to have intercourse with a man...

And with a man who clearly already had someone!

“This is like a trashy drama...”

She recalled the weekend soap operas she’d diligently followed during her exam-prep days.

All sorts of trashy plots had appeared.

Half-siblings, kimchi slaps, terminally ill heroines, surrogate mothers...

Back then, she’d watched with gasps of “Oh my!” and found it thrilling, but now that she was facing such a situation herself, it was unbearably awkward.

Is this why they say tragedy from up close is comedy from afar?

“Ughhh...”

This is clearly part of medical practice, a life-saving act.

She tried to justify it multiple times, but Yebin had lived longer as an ordinary human than as a Witch.

Naturally, she also had the sweet-and-bittersweet fantasies about her first experience that girls her age held.

Someday meeting a guy she liked, flirting, dating, getting into a relationship, being confessed to, and then, after about 300 days, a hot night at a fancy hotel.

Being holed up in a distant foreign land without a suitable partner meant she’d never thought about it concretely, but it was roughly that kind of vague plan.

From what she’d gathered from her surroundings, Shin Siwoo didn’t seem like a bad guy either, and he was quite handsome, but hadn’t they never actually had a conversation?

Honestly, she occasionally wondered if she really had to go this far.

“Ugh, I’m trash. Me.”

Yebin resolved to change her mindset.

Her Master, the previous generation’s Smirna, was said to have killed 12 citizens for research.

She always said:

Sacrifice has always existed for the advancement of medicine.

The giant pharmaceutical companies existing today legally conduct biological experiments (with even extremely poor efficiency) on a scale dozens of times larger.

If you save dozens, hundreds of times more people with the results developed this way, then it’s justified.

And indeed, the previous generation Smirna traveled around war-ravaged parts of Southern Africa and saved over a thousand lives.

Of course, she knew that was just rationalization, and her Master’s life-saving acts were also part of research.

No matter how good the intention, disregarding another’s will and instrumentalizing their dignity is wrong.

And the results of the biological experiments based on her Master’s radical ideology undeniably existed within the Brand Yebin had inherited, and Yebin carried a sense of debt because of it.

The vow to save and help many people.

But seeing herself now, trying to avoid it by fussing over her first experience or whatnot, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Get a grip.”

Yebin shook off the thoughts cluttering her mind again, which she thought she had sorted out quite well over the past three days.

“That aside, I need to prepare...”

Yebin muttered to herself, looking around unnecessarily.

Living alone is quite boring.

Masturbation, which could occupy her for hours on end, was Yebin’s main pastime for relieving boredom.

Being an X-hub subscriber, she even downloaded videos using the nearby gas station Wi-Fi as side dishes.

Therefore, she didn’t particularly have any fear or sense of crisis about intercourse itself.

It’s not like she’s dying, there’s no pregnancy worry, and it’ll feel good, so what’s the big deal.

But since she had never tried masturbation via insertion, some preliminary work was needed before fully joining with Siwoo.

The unnecessary pain from the first rupture might interfere with her concentration...

Yebin looked at her two long, slender fingers.

“Will these do...?”

Yebin quietly opened the bathroom door and went in.

Author’s Note (Afterword)

The genre of this novel is

Tteok (Rice Cake) / Taji (??) / Magic / Battle material.