City of Witches

If Amelia mentioned something that Clara brought into her wandering life, then it would be the fact that they got a basecamp now.

A tent to block the sandstorm and a bonfire to keep them warm.

Sometimes, Clara would treat her to a warm meal.

Of course, it was Clara who’d take initiative to offer the meal.

After spending all this time with her, Amelia could say that she was a considerate person who’d put others’ feelings before her own.

It was clear to see from the way she just tagged along with her without asking her any questions for the longest time.

Originally…

Amelia never tried to open her heart to anyone, not even to Sophia.

As she stared at the crackling bonfire, Clara handed her a warm chamomile tea.

“The reason why I go around hunting Criminal Exiles is…because I owed Duchess Keter a favor…”

“K-Keter?! A-Ah, s-sorry, please continue.”

Clara jolted with surprise when she heard Keter’s name.

It was common knowledge that Duchess Keter was someone that ordinary witches could never meet in their lifetime.

She was a transcendent even among the transcendent witches.

A being whose existence symbolized the word ‘absolute’, a being who’d willingly commit fratricide for the sake of keeping the balance of the world.

Such was the strongest perception of her that ran among the witches.

Not only was there not a single witch that had formed a personal relationship with her, there was also not a single witch that was able to make a deal with her.

In most cases, interaction with Keter spelled death for the other person.

“To hunt Homunculi and Criminal Exiles in exchange for her saving a single person’s life. That was my deal with the Duchess…”

“Ah…”

That was why Amelia couldn’t just run away from this, even though she was clearly not suited to do all this.

Siwoo’s life was at stake.

If she failed to hold out the end of her contract, the Duchess could take Siwoo’s life back any time she wanted.

Keter was well-known for her iron-blooded exploits throughout history and Amelia didn’t dare to bet that she would act differently this time.

“...Is that person…someone that you love…?”

Hearing the question that Clara asked in such a cautious tone, Amelia’s body froze.

She didn’t know what the correct answer to that question was.

So, she decided to tell her everything, from the very beginning.

Her inner thoughts that she had never shown to anyone slowly seeped out of her mouth.

“He was…just a slave…at first…”

A slave who refused to serve her in bed.

Back then, Amelia was still an arrogant witch.

An arrogant and a foolish witch.

Back then, the only thing that she had in her mind was to fulfill all the responsibilities of a witch as her master’s sudden parting made her unable to think about anything else.

Those were the days when she’d live her life all alone, confined by the thick wall of her self-hatred, unable to see anything beyond that wall.

“When we first met, he rejected my invitation and I took it as an insult…”

‘A mere slave dares to reject a witch’s invitation! Does he not know that I am a Baroness—?!’

Back then, such childish anger erupted in her heart.

Like a child who didn’t get the gift that she wanted, she threw her endless tantrums one-sidedly toward that man.

“So, I singled him out, made him do the pettiest chores I could imagine and made his life difficult for him. As if I had dedicated my whole life only to make his life miserable…”

At first, she only did it out of her pettiness.

Because she grew to hate him and seeing him made her irritated.

Of course back then she gaslit herself into thinking that she had a proper and noble reason to do all those things to her, but that didn’t change the fact that she had done something so horrible.

The fact that everything was just her childish tantrum.

Then days, weeks, months, years passed, just like that.

At first, she noticed the way he had been diligently completing his tasks, no matter how difficult they were, without a single complaint.

Unlike other slaves who’d grovel to beg for her forgiveness at this point, he was steadfast on not doing exactly that. Yet, it was that part of him that made her eyes unknowingly drawn to him.

After that, she kept on piling more work for him.

Because she was afraid that he’d one day notice this strange feeling of hers, this strange feeling that even she herself couldn’t identify.

Her overbearing attitude made her do nothing but make his life even more miserable than it already was.

“I kept piling up more work for him…getting him to do all those menial labors, so that I could look at him… I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but… I kept on committing that same mistake, over and over again…”

Before she realized it, her mistake piled up even more than she could handle.

She didn’t even know what kinds of feelings she harbored towards him back then.

Because she kept gaslit herself into thinking that she did all those to teach him a lesson for hurting her pride.

And the only one who was having a hard time between them was her, even though it was her own fault that she lied to herself about her feelings.

“It must have been difficult…and painful…for him… Why is it only now that such thoughts come into my mind…?”

Still, whatever her excuse was, it wouldn’t erase her of her past sins.

And this was what hurt her so much.

“I…regret everything… If…I can go back in time and undone my past actions…I would…”

“...”

“Now, I don’t know how to face him… I’m scared to see what kind of face he’ll show when he looks at me…what kind of expression will appear in his eyes when he sees me… I’m…scared…”

“Amelia…”

She was afraid of seeing Siwoo again.

The moment when he vomited out all of his resentment and malice towards her was something that was still deeply etched in her memories.

She didn’t know…

What kind of image did she leave in Siwoo’s mind after she did all those to him, then begging for his forgiveness when he still hadn’t recovered his memories yet.

But, what she knew was that he definitely felt betrayed by her when he finally had recovered his memories.

After all this time, she still hadn’t read the letter that he left behind because she was afraid.

Because if what was written in that letter was exactly the same thing as what she had imagined…

She would definitely lose all her drive to move forward and Duchess Keter would end up taking his life away as the price.

“Amelia.”

Since Amelia had just been saying everything that came to her mind, her story was a complete mess to say the least.

Rather than a story, it sounded like a lament or an expression of her self-hatred.

Yet, Clara still looked at her with the eyes that suggested that she understood everything.

“Have you talked with him since then?”

“...”

Amelia shook her head weakly.

That prompted Clara to inquire further.

“Have you asked for his forgiveness?”

“...After everything is over…I will…”

She knew that this was a cowardly move.

Because she knew that if Siwoo were to find out that she had done all these things for his sake, he wouldn’t be able to get angry at her.

After all, he was the same person who went out of his way to save her life, even though she had only been making his life miserable, just out of his sense of justice.

Even though she was well aware that she had only been wronging him greatly, she still tried to rely on his kindness to get him to forgive her.

“Hmm…”

Clara saw how helpless Amelia looked as she clenched the cup of tea with both her hands.

Like this, it really made her seem like an immature child.

An immature and selfish girl who regretted bullying the boy she had a crush on.

Her ample blond hair that looked like they were made out of gold.

It was undeniable that Amelia Marigold possessed a terrifying beauty, even in Clara’s own eyes.

Should I comfort her here?

Or should I give her a push instead?*

*

No, I shouldn’t do either…

I’ll let her have more time to think.

“Thanks for telling all this to me.”

“...”

“I think everyone, including you, can make mistakes. While I can’t help you solve your mistakes, if they weigh too heavily on your mind…please talk to me, I’ll always lend my ears to you.”

“...Thank you.”

“Oh, c’mon, no need to thank me! I’m just glad that I can help you in one way or another!”

Clara’s cheerful, yet clearly half-forced laughter…

Had enough of an effect on Amelia, as she could feel her brows starting to relax.

2.

Today, too, Rose Glass was operating successfully.

The queue system that Takasho introduced helped immensely in eliminating the line of witches in front of the club.

Not only that, the club’s third floor had also been opened as a cafe, making it as if Periwinkle’s extremely favorable review of the club failed to justify how good of a place it was, since she had never talked about the third floor at all.

The club even managed to secure a new customer base.

“Haa…”

Siwoo, who had been serving ten witches without rest, retreated to the office to puff on some cigarettes.

Now that he had gotten the hang of it, he was considerably less stressed than back when he first started.

However, he couldn’t say with confidence that handling those witches who treated him as if he was some kind of a rare creature wasn’t exhausting.

That was why he used the pretext of dinner time to take an hour of rest.

Even right now he could still hear all the commotion downstairs.

“I told you we’re close friends of Assistant Shin Siwoo!”

“We’ve prepared the money, what else is the problem!?”

He could feel a high-pitched voice filled with dissatisfaction from the window.

When he stuck his head out, he could see familiar faces.

The twins, wearing their half-bonnets and modest dresses, were haggling at the club’s entrance.

“Um… There are a lot of people in the queue, so…”

The sudden appearance of the twins, which were actual nobles of Gehenna, made Liam break in cold sweat.

One needed to take note that this was his first year in Gehenna.

Although the twins were merely apprentice witches, there was no way he’d be able to handle the aggressive pair easily, especially considering their background.

“Hey, Ms. Odile, Ms. Odette, it’s been a while. Liam, it’s fine, let them in.”

““Mr. Assistant!!””

Without waiting for Liam’s permission, after seeing that Siwoo was on the second floor, the twins immediately jumped in.

They entered the room from the window.

When he opened his arms, they let themselves fall into his embrace, with each of the sisters taking each of his sides.

“What are you two doing here?”

“We haven’t seen you for a while, so we came!”

“We missed you, Mr. Assistant! That was when we heard that you were working here!”

“You two missed me that much?”

“Of course! You could at least tell us!”

Feeling happy after seeing him, the twins rubbed their cheeks against his to their heart’s content.

It hadn’t even been three days, but the way they acted made it seem like they had been separated for three years.

As always, their cuteness hadn’t diminished at all.

“Sorry, I’ve been so busy lately.”

“If you feel sorry, then pat our bottoms as a greeting, Mr. Assistant! We won’t just let anyone do that to us, you know? But since it’s you, Mr. Assistant… We grant you special permission!”

“Sis is right! Also, just for you, Mr. Assistant, we’ll even let you touch what is inside, you know?”

“Sure, sure, but we can’t do that part here, okay?”

He proceeded to rub the twins’ butts, as they had been sticking them out while they were nestling in his embrace.

Even though he was exhausted, both physically and mentally, the soft feelings in his hand healed his exhaustion a little.

After that strange greeting the twins started asking him the questions that had been in their minds, their eyes were filled with curiosity.

“Anyway, Mr. Assistant, what’s going on? Why are you getting a job? I heard your job involves serving other witches and pouring them alcohol?”

“Did our master take your card away? If so, you could just ask for our help…”

“Oh no, I’m just helping out a friend.”

So, Siwoo told the twins the whole story.

There was nothing for him to add to the story, nor was there anything that he needed to hide from them, so he just straight up told them what happened.

About how his friend opened up a new business, but it didn’t go so well, so he decided to lend him a hand.

Also, the job wasn’t anything big, he only had to talk with the witches while pouring them drinks.

“Phew, I thought you’d have to become one of those males in those erotic novels, Mr. Assistant…”

“Thankfully you didn’t, Mr. Assistant…”

The twins then let out a sigh of relief.

“Anyway, this was what happened! So, we came here to buy Mr. Assistant’s time, so that you don’t need to serve those evil witches!”

“We even broke our piggy bank for this!”

“Um… That is…a little difficult…”

While he was grateful for them, the matter wasn’t that simple.

No witches were allowed to pick out Siwoo as their host because in essence, the reason why he was here was because he was a promotional tool.

And it was also to prevent anyone from monopolizing his service, this included the twins.

“Huh?!”

“Why?!”

The twins’ cheeks, which had been puffing in anticipation, deflated with dissatisfaction after hearing his words.

Even though they went as far as breaking their piggy bank for him, Siwoo still couldn’t just let them monopolize him like that.

“Why don’t we do this instead? After work, if I have free time, we can just hang out.”

“Today?”

“At night?”

“Yes. I was thinking of stopping by the mansion anyway. Why don’t we have some drinks while I am at it?”

“Sure! We’re in!”

“We’ll prepare some good drinks for you!”

Siwoo’s suggestion made them cheer in excitement.

While he would love to keep them company and rest up some more, his time was almost up.

So, he bid them goodbye while patting their heads.

“Alright, it’s time for me to go. See you two later.”

“Mr. Assistant, can we watch you while you are working?”

“Can we? I’m curious, I wanna see what you’re doing!”

They want to see me work?

Well, it isn’t like there’s something I can’t let them see anyway.

The queue list is long, but as long as I give Takasho a heads-up, I should be able to fit those two in there.

Siwoo then nodded his head.

“Sure, I’ll make it so that you two can get a table near mine.”