City of Witches Chapter 103: The Price of a Loss (2)

༺ The Price of a Loss (2) ༻

1.

A carriage abruptly ca to a halt just before crashing into the fountain located in Alia’s mansion’s garden.

Its door, engraved with the crest of two birds, was swung open.

“Odette! Quickly, get off!”

“Wait a mont! My shoe just ca off!”

No one would have imagined that those two girls, who were chattering away like a pair of birds, were the apprentices that’ll one day inherit Countess Gemini’s noble title.

“Hurry! Quickly!”

“Ah, slow down, Sis!”

Odile rushed out of the carriage and tapped her foot impatiently, urging Odette to hurry up.

The latter jumped out, with one finger tucked behind her shoe while bouncing on her toes.

“Stop rushing ! Don’t you realize your impatience always causes problems?”

“What? Have you forgotten that you made us half an hour late for the violin lesson?”

“E-Ehh, b-but that’s because you told to stop practicing and go to sleep last night!”

“That’s why you should have practiced on the weekend like I did!”

The two of them hurriedly walked while chattering non-stop.

If Head Maid Galina had seen them rushing like this, she would have been furious.

During today’s lunchti.

They heard news from their masters, whom they hadn’t seen for a while.

Assistant Siwoo had woken up two days ago.

From the mont they heard those words up until this mont, all they could do was to go to Alia’s mansion to visit him.

The man they had been visiting for sixteen weeks had woken up, of course they’d be in such a hurry.

Not to ntion that he had saved their lives twice, sacrificing himself in the process.

The debt they owed him wasn’t sothing they could pay in their lifeti.

“How do I look, Sis?”

“How do I look, Odette?”

Before opening the mansion’s doors, the hesitant twins turned to each other and spoke simultaneously.

Prior to their arrival, their maids had adorned them with flowers.

Even Pecha looked excited when she did their makeup.

“Your bonnet is crooked.”

“Your brooch is about to fall off.”

The twins, in their friendly haste, tidied up their disheveled clothes, the result of them frantically running

Their hearts were pounding quicker than usual.

With resolute expression, they nodded toward each other and walked slowly towards Alia’s room.

They had a burning desire to rush to Siwoo’s side, but they couldn’t just not greet Alia first.

Though their relationship with Alia had beco slightly awkward due to the love potion incident, ultimately, there was no change in their relationship.

Alia still stood up at the podium, giving them her lessons with the sa expression as she usually wore.

They understood that she had no desire to pursue that matter any further.

As for Alia herself, she didn’t want to enact revenge toward them or anything like that. She had just received harsh words from Siwoo and she had been treating it like her as her punishnt. She didn’t have the leniency to think about anything else.

-Knock, knock.

When they knocked on the door, it opened by itself after a mont.

“Hello, Ms. Professor.”

“We heard that Assistant Siwoo woke up, so we ca to see him.”

Inside, Siwoo’s doctor, Yebin, and Alia were having a conversation.

Based on their sour look, it seed like they were discussing sothing serious.

“…What happened? …Is sothing wrong?”

Alia put down the glass she was sipping, pondered for a while before opening her mouth.

Since the twins would find out eventually, she didn’t answer them, instead she asked them a request.

“He hasn’t fully recovered yet, please be careful.”

“Yes, Ms. Professor.”

“We’ll go see him now, Ms. Professor.”

When Alia gestured for them to go, they quietly closed the door and dashed away in an instant.

She gazed at the closed door with mixed feelings before taking out a cigarette.

“Haa…”

Alia furrowed her brow as she let out a deep breath, unleashing the hazy smoke from her mouth.

Yebin, who had been bowing her head like a sinner in front of her, drank from her glass with trembling hands.

“So, it’s impossible to progress beyond this point?”

“Yes… In fact, I tried treating him again, twice… I really did my best, but…”

“It’s not your fault.”

Yebin lowered her head in sha.

Seeing how the way she trembled, as if she had committed a grave sin, Alia couldn’t bring herself to reprimand her.

Besides, even if she vented her frustration at Yebin, it wouldn’t change the current situation at all.

After the previous attempt, Yebin made two more attempts to enter Siwoo’s Palace of Subconscious.

Both attempts ended in failure.

On the second attempt, she couldn’t even set foot on the palace anymore.

This ant, there was no way that Siwoo would be able to completely recover.

Yebin only managed to reach 70% of her goal.

“Is there any possibility of him recovering by himself? He absorbed so of your Self-Essence Magic, didn’t he?”

“I don’t think that possibility exists… I assu he probably doesn’t feel the need to do it…”

From a purely magical standpoint, Siwoo had made a perfect recovery.

His current situation was similar to autism.

He cut off his communication with the outside world, engrossing himself in his own world, free from any distracting thoughts.

With his own power, he exhibited an astonishing level of concentration and calculations that even Yebin couldn’t comprehend.

Moreover, he seed to be satisfied with his current state.

This was the reason why he kept on refusing to accept Yebin’s treatnt.

While the previous Siwoo would think differently, the current Siwoo was the one in charge now.

If the treatnt were to be completed, he wouldn’t be in this state anymore and regressed into an ‘imperfect’ being by magical standpoint.

The current Siwoo wouldn’t want that since he thought that his current state was the ideal state.

He gave up his emotion, humanity and any kind of interaction with the outside world for a monstrous talent in magic, completely giving up on living a normal life.

This was the conclusion that Yebin managed to reach.

Alia closed her eyes before extinguishing her cigarette.

“You’ve worked hard. If you visit Baroness Avenega, she’ll give you the appropriate compensation. Also, here.”

Alia handed Yebin a silvery ticket that had been inserted into a book.

Its form looked simple but it wasn’t a simple object.

This was a ‘Gnosis Egg’ created by Duchess Keter.

It served as a proof of citizenship and a travel pass for Gehenna.

“I’m truly sorry, Baroness… If only I had been a little more capable…”

Alia shook her head.

There was no need for her to apologize.

She truly had done her best and they were only stuck in the current situation because of Siwoo’s strange and unpredictable talent.

“If there’s any change in his condition, I’ll seek your help once more.”

“I understand…”

Alia managed to muster her crumbling resolve as she barely managed to see Yebin off.

She grabbed her dizzy head and sat back down at her seat.

Despite all the effort she put in, everything had co to an end.

Now, she really had no choice but to leave everything up to fate.

“Siwoo…”

If it had been any other witch, they might have been jumping in joy.

In fact, if this was a normal circumstance, Alia would have been rejoicing to find out that she had obtained such a curious slave.

However, her heart felt empty.

Because the slave was none other than Siwoo.

The only man she had ever opened her heart to, the man that she loved.

From his innocent deanor.

Unexpected act of kindness.

Even his monts of anger.

It hit her that she would never see any of them ever again.

She pulled out a stack of docunts from the top of the drawer.

It was her research on recovery magic before she invited Yebin to treat Siwoo.

Even if she were to start it again, she wouldn’t be able to complete it in ti.

Maybe, by the ti she managed to prove her monstrous talent and reached the level where she could heal him, he would have long passed away.

Unlike an immortal witch like herself, he was a re mortal.

But, she took out these docunts anyway because she couldn’t bear the feeling of helplessness of being unable to do anything.

-Scribble.

The pen scraping across the paper lacked its usual vigor today.

2.

“Should we enter through the window, Sis?”

“We just need to enter normally. Why do you keep coming up with those mischievous ideas?”

“Because it’d be more fun that way!”

The twins finished their brief conversation in front of Siwoo’s room. Their hearts were pounding with excitent.

With an elegant bouquet of flowers in hand, they planned to make a grand entrance.

They skillfully kicked the door with a confident swing, before jumping and landing gracefully inside.

“Ta-da!”

“Congratulations on your recovery, Mr. Assistant!”

They stood side by side, leaning their backs against each other, spreading their arms in different directions. Despite their movents, their pretty dresses remained unruffled.

As they stood there, they noticed sothing odd.

“We are here, Mr. Assistant…”

“Mr. Assistant…?”

Since their voices were loud, there was no way that he didn’t hear them.

But, for so reason, he didn’t turn to face them. Instead, he used his fingertips to draw sothing on the wallpaper.

“Ah…”

It was a fractal pattern resembling a tree.

Starting from its roots, branches were added to form a large tree.

Thinking that he was focusing deeply, the twins quietly approached him.

They felt disappointed that no emotional reunion happened, they felt glad nevertheless..

It felt like it was just the day before yesterday that they saw his near-dying appearance.

And now, he seed to be perfectly healthy.

-Scribble!

“…”

Without any hesitation, his mana-infused fingertips carved through the wall.

“What are you drawing…?”

“Shh, just watch quietly, Odette.”

Odette was the first to notice sothing strange about the drawing.

It wasn’t simply a geotrically beautiful pattern.

Every extending branch and hanging leaves were imbued with a certain aning.

But, with the twins’ knowledge, that was as far as they could comprehend.

When they tried to visualize or alter the drawing in their heads, they realized that they could understand nothing.

This drawing seed to be sothing that only Siwoo knew, as it didn’t align with any forms of magic formulas that the twins were aware of.

Well, assuming if the drawing was a magic formula to begin with.

With a flick of his finger, Siwoo finished his drawing by carving the final leaf.

“We are here, Mr. Assistant.”

Unable to contain herself any longer, Odette tugged at one of his sleeves to announce her presence.

In response to that, Siwoo turned around.

When they saw his face, the twins, who had intended to rush at him and cling to his neck, halted in their tracks.

“…”

Except for the black eyepatch covering his left eye, he seed to be perfectly fine.

But, there was no expression of joy, happiness, confusion or even surprise on his face.

His face was devoid of any emotion.

They couldn’t help but feel an unsettling premonition.

“W-Why are you like this…? Aren’t you happy to see us?”

“We even prepared this bouquet for you, Mr. Assistant…”

Odile was taken aback by the unexpected response, while Odile thrusted the bouquet of Baby’s Breath /cdn/shop/products/IMG_2025_e4c38008-8f25-4385-b260-8e2f101521b1_400x.jpg of various colors toward him.

However, Siwoo paid no attention to it and simply alternated his gaze between the twins.

Finally, he extended his hand and slowly caressed Odile’s cheek.

“What are you doing all of a sudden?! You know I don’t like this kind of thing, right?!”

Odile let out a complaint and pouted, but she didn’t push his hand away.

“What about , Mr. Assistant?”

Noticing that Siwoo only displayed his interest in her sister, Odette playfully tugged at Siwoo’s hand, trying to draw his attention.

“Sniff.”

“Is this… A new way of greeting soone?”

Siwoo leaned closer to Odile and sniffed her forehead.

This situation made her freeze in surprise, anwhile Odette was looking at Siwoo with a displeased expression.

“Sniff.”

“What do you think? My hair slls good, right, Mr. Assistant?”

This ti, he moved over to sll Odette.

After thinking that it was an expression of affection for a while, Odette’s cheerful expression quickly hardened and beca rigid within a short ti.

Siwoo swiftly turned his body around after sniffing the twins’ scent for a while.

Then, he imrsed himself in the fractal tree drawing the twins thought that he had finished earlier.

The twins attempted to initiate a conversation with him several tis afterwards, but he never spared them even a glance.

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