Chapter 103 – #23_The Price Of Loss (2)
#101
1.
A carriage stopped with such force it seemed it would crash into the fountain in Amelia’s front garden.
The carriage door, engraved with two birds, swung open wide.
“Odette! Get down quickly!”
“Wait, just a moment! My shoe came off!”
Who would imagine that these two girls, chirping like birds, were actually apprentice witches set to inherit the prestigious Geminai Earldom?
“Hurry! Hurry! Hurryyy!!”
“Ah! Be quiet, Sister!”
Odile, bursting out of the carriage door as if running, stamped her feet in place, urging Odette on.
Odette hopped out on one foot, a finger hooked on the back of her shoe.
“Stop rushing me! You’re always so impatient, Sister!”
“What? Have you already forgotten that you were 30 minutes late because you skipped your violin lesson?”
“Ugh, that’s because you told me to stop practicing and go to bed last night because I was being too loud!”
“Then you should have practiced on the weekend like me!”
Odette and Odile, having put their shoes on properly, ran off, bickering incessantly.
They were in such a rush that Galina, the head maid, would have scolded them severely if she had seen them.
Today, during lunch.
The words they had heard from their teacher, whom they had met after a long time.
Two days ago, Assistant Shin Siwoo had woken up.
From the moment they heard those words, the twins were consumed with the thought of rushing to Amelia’s mansion after their duties were over.
He, who had not opened his eyes during sixteen visits over a week, had regained consciousness.
How could they not rush over immediately?
He had saved the twins’ lives twice in a spectacular fashion.
Moreover, he had done so at his own expense.
They had received a debt of gratitude that they would have to repay for the rest of their lives.
“Sister, how do I look?”
“Odette, how do I look?”
Before opening the mansion door, the twins paused and turned to each other simultaneously.
Before arriving, they had been given a makeover by the servants.
Even Pecha, in high spirits, had done their makeup beautifully.
“Your bonnet is crooked.”
“Your brooch looks like it’s about to fall off.”
The sisters tidied each other’s disheveled clothes, which had been messed up from running so frantically.
Their hearts were already pounding.
The twins nodded with determined expressions and slowly walked towards Amelia’s room.
Their hearts were set on running to Siwoo immediately, but it was proper to greet her first.
The relationship between the twins and Amelia, which had seemed a bit awkward due to the love potion incident, had not changed.
Amelia had stood at the podium and lectured with the same calm expression as always.
It seemed she had no intention of questioning them about the matter.
Of course, there was a kind of retaliation… a tactical nuclear bombardment of assignments that was double the usual amount, but they accepted it as their just desserts.
-Knock knock
After the knock, the door opened by itself after a moment.
“Hello, Professor.”
“We came to see Assistant Siwoo after hearing that he had woken up.”
Inside the room, Yebin, Siwoo’s attending physician, and Amelia were talking.
Both of them looked troubled, as if they had been having a serious conversation.
“…Is something… wrong?”
Amelia put down the glass she had been sipping from and hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
She figured the twins would find out soon anyway.
Therefore, she only gave them a warning.
“Assistant Shin Siwoo is not fully recovered yet. Please be careful.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“We’ll be going now, Professor.”
As Amelia gestured for them to leave, the twins quietly closed the door and went outside in the blink of an eye.
Amelia, who had been staring at the closed door with a complicated feeling for a while, took out a cigarette.
“Haa…”
As the hazy smoke spread, Amelia frowned and breathed roughly.
Yebin, who had been bowing her head like a sinner in front of her, also drank from her glass with trembling hands.
“So, it’s impossible to heal him any further.”
“Yes… I tried two more times, but… I really, really tried my best… but…”
“It’s not your fault.”
Yebin lowered her head as if she was ashamed.
Seeing her trembling with guilt as if she had committed a mortal sin, Amelia lost the will to scold her.
What could be changed by venting her anger on Yebin here?
Yebin had made two more attempts to enter Siwoo’s unconscious palace.
The results were all failures.
From the second attempt, she couldn’t even set foot in the space.
This meant that Siwoo’s complete healing was impossible.
Only 70% of what Yebin had aimed for was her limit.
“Is there no possibility of him recovering on his own? Judging by the circumstances, it seems he has absorbed some of your self-healing magic.”
“I don’t think… it’s likely. Because he won’t feel the need…”
Right now, Siwoo’s body was perfect, simply from a magical point of view.
It was literally autism.
He had cut off communication with the outside world and was focused solely on his own world, without being distracted by idle thoughts.
Through that power, he was displaying an unbelievable level of concentration and calculation that even Yebin couldn’t understand.
Moreover, he seemed very pleased with it.
This was proven by the fact that he had repeatedly refused Yebin’s treatment.
Siwoo when he had emotions might have been different, but the current Siwoo did not feel the need for treatment.
If the treatment was completed, he would be freed from his ‘high-functioning autistic state,’ and he would become magically ‘imperfect.’
The current Siwoo recognized this state as the optimal condition that did not require further interference.
He had given up his humanity, emotions, and interaction with the outside world, but in return, he had gained demonic magical talent.
From a distant perspective, he had no intention of returning to his original life.
This was Yebin’s conclusion.
Amelia closed her eyes tightly and then stubbed out her cigarette.
“You’ve worked hard. Go to Baron Avenuga, and he will give you proper compensation. And here.”
Amelia handed over a silver ticket that had been tucked into a book.
It looked very simple, but in reality, it was not.
This was a ‘Gnosis Egg’ artificially created by Duke Keter.
It was a citizenship and pass for Gehenna.
“I’m really, really sorry… Baron… If only I, if only I had been a little more capable…”
Amelia shook her head.
There was no need to receive any more apologies.
Yebin had done her best, and the trouble had arisen purely from Siwoo’s strange and unpredictable talent.
“I’ll ask for your help again if there’s any progress.”
“Yes…”
Amelia composed her breaking heart and barely saw Yebin off.
She grabbed her dizzy head and slumped back down at her desk.
She had tried so hard, but it was all over.
Now, she had no choice but to rely on fate.
“Siwoo…”
It was something that other witches might have jumped for joy about.
No, even Amelia herself would have secretly rejoiced if she had obtained such a mysterious slave.
But her heart was empty.
Because that slave was Siwoo.
He was the only person she had shared her heart with, and the man Amelia thought she loved.
His clumsy appearance.
The way he became kind at unexpected moments.
The way he got angry.
She would never see them again.
Amelia expressionlessly took out a stack of documents from the top drawer.
It was the research on healing magic that she had conducted for Siwoo before inviting Yebin Smirna.
She probably wouldn’t be able to make it in time.
Even if Amelia displayed her genius and reached a level where she could heal Siwoo, he would already be dead and gone from the world.
He was a mortal, not an immortal witch.
Nevertheless, Amelia had taken out these documents because she couldn’t bear the helplessness of not being able to do anything.
Scratch, scratch.
The pen nib scratching across the paper felt weak today.
2.
“Sister, should we go in through the window?”
“I told you to just go in, why are you being so dramatic?”
“But it would be more impressive that way.”
The twins, with pounding hearts, finished their preparations with a short conversation in front of Siwoo’s door.
They would appear with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, ta-da!
They would dramatically kick open the door, jump energetically, and land at the same time.
“Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-da!”
“Assistant! Congratulations on your discharge!”
A performance where they stood back-to-back, each extending their arms wide in different directions.
They had appeared with a dynamic movement without even slightly disarranging their elegant dresses, but something was off.
“Assistant, we’re here, you know?”
“Assistant…?”
There was no way he couldn’t have heard such a loud noise.
He was still facing away from the twins, carving something into the wallpaper with his fingertips.
“Oh…”
It was a fractal figure in the shape of a tree.
A large tree was formed by adding branches of repetitive shapes to the tree that started from the roots.
The twins thought that the assistant was concentrating and quietly walked behind him.
It was a little disappointing that there was no emotional reunion, but still, this was something.
It seemed like only yesterday that he was lying on the bed, looking like he was about to die.
Now, he was up and drawing.
The twins were grateful for that alone.
-Scratch, scratch
“……….”
Without a moment’s hesitation, his magic-infused fingertips carved into the wall.
“What on earth are you drawing…”
“Shhh, Odette, be quiet.”
Odette was the first to realize the strangeness of the drawing.
It wasn’t just a geometrically beautiful model.
It was strongly felt that each line of the extended branches and each hanging leaf had a ‘meaning.’
But that was as far as they could go.
No matter how they changed the shape or tried to realize it in 3D in their minds, they couldn’t figure out what it was.
This drawing was Siwoo’s own system, which did not correspond to any form of magic formula that Odile knew.
Of course, that was assuming it was a magic formula.
Siwoo finished his mural work by drawing the last leaf with a flick of his fingertip.
“Assistant, we’re here.”
Odette, unable to hold back any longer, tugged at Siwoo’s sleeve, asserting her presence.
Finally, Siwoo turned around.
The twins, who had planned to run and cling to his neck as soon as they saw his face, hesitated.
“………”
Siwoo looked perfectly fine, except for the black eyepatch covering his left eye.
However.
The moment he turned to look at the twins with an expression that showed no feelings of joy, happiness, or even confusion or surprise.
They couldn’t help but feel a little scared.
“Why, what’s wrong? We’re here. Aren’t you happy to see us?”
“We even prepared this bouquet for you, Assistant…”
Odile was flustered by the unexpected reaction, and Odette timidly held out a bouquet of colorful baby’s breath flowers.
However, Siwoo didn’t even glance at the bouquet and only looked back and forth between the twins.
Then, he slowly reached out and stroked Odile’s cheek.
“What! Out of the blue! Assistant doesn’t like this.”
Odile pouted, thinking it was a boring joke.
She didn’t shake off his hand that was touching her cheek, though.
“What about me, Assistant?”
When Siwoo only showed interest in Odile, Odette also became restless and pulled on Siwoo’s hand.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Is this a new illusion technique?”
Siwoo moved closer to Odile and sniffed the top of her head.
Odile was frozen in place, completely bewildered, and Odette was glaring at the scene with displeasure.
“Sniff, sniff.”
“Assistant, does my hair smell good?”
This time, he moved to smell Odette instead of Odile.
Odette, who had been grinning, thinking it was an expression of affection, soon had a stiff expression.
After sniffing the twins’ scents for a while, he turned his body away.
Then, he began to focus again on the tree drawing made of fractals, which he thought was complete.
The twins tried to talk to Siwoo several times after that, but he didn’t even look at them.
MC went MGTOW