City ​​of Witches 188

Chapter 188 – #41_트윈러쉬(2)

#186

1.
“……..”
“……..”

If Sharon had to pick the most difficult moment of her life, she would choose this one without hesitation.
The apprentice witches of the Geminai family were sitting side by side on the sofa, staring at Sharon with wide eyes.
Their two pairs of eyes were pouring down on Sharon like the raindrops falling outside the window, without a single gap.

At least, the Geminai twins had personal colors: the older sister was black, and the younger sister was white.
But these twins were so identical that it was impossible to tell who was who, and they were so beautiful that it added to the eerie feeling, like seeing ghosts.

If they’re going to stare like that, I wish they would say something…
The twins had been staring silently like that ever since Deneb and Siwoo had gone out together.

“Um, should I cut some more fruit?”

Sharon spoke with difficulty.
Once again, two pairs of eyes poured down on her.

I want to cry.
Why are they looking at me like that?

“Yes, thank you.”
“I like apples.”

After a long time, they finally answered.
As she headed to the kitchen, Sharon glanced at the twins, who were still staring intently at her.
She hurried into the kitchen.

“What the heck is going on….”

Sharon already knew that Siwoo was a precious guest of the Geminai family.
She remembered hearing that he possessed the family’s ring and had casually saved an apprentice witch from a crisis.

Usually, the witches inside Gehenna don’t send apprentice witches outside, so the fact that they came to see Siwoo like this meant that the twins and Siwoo were quite close.

“Could it be?”

Could it be that the twins were among the people Siwoo had kissed?
A situation where an ex-girlfriend is giving the current (female) friend the side-eye?
Sharon, who had been trained by countless romance movies, instantly created a great scenario.

Then what should I do?
Am I supposed to just let Siwoo be taken away like this?
Sharon cut the fruit nicely and went to the living room.

“So…. but… …. …… ah..”
“No, sister…. ….. it can’t be….”

The twins, who had been sitting upright like dolls, were now whispering to each other.
When Sharon approached, they snapped back to their original state and pretended nothing had happened.
The content of their conversation was very concerning, but Sharon pretended not to notice and placed the fruit down.

“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”

The twins bowed politely.
One of the twins, who was putting an apple into her mouth with a long, thin fork, suddenly spoke.

“Witch, what is your name?”
“Ah, I’m Sharon Evergreen.”

In fact, if you only look at the distribution of the witch society, Sharon has nothing to lose to the twins, who are only apprentice witches.
However, in reality, there is a difference in their positions: Sharon is 58 billion in debt, and the twins are the daughters of the creditor.

Who knows?
These cute young ladies might get angry and run to the Geminai Count and say, ‘Please confiscate all the property of that bad woman. Teacher!’
Naturally, Sharon couldn’t help but shrink.

“I’m Odile.”
“I’m Odette.”
“It’s nice to meet you.”

Finally, the conversation had begun.
Sharon was moved.
It meant that she didn’t have to endure that awkward, stuffy, and incomprehensible silence.

“But what is your relationship with our assistant?”
“Do you live here together?”

But as soon as Sharon heard the twins’ questions, she realized that the previous silence was a much better situation.
Judging by the content of the questions, this was not a conversation but a kind of interrogation.

“Yes, for now, I have nowhere else to go, so Siwoo….”
“Siwoo?”
“Siwoo?”
“Yes, um, Siwoo is providing me with room and board, and I’m teaching him magic. That’s how we’re living together.”

Seeing that her casual use of his name was immediately challenged, Sharon confirmed that her guess was correct.
As expected, the twins and Siwoo were not in an ordinary relationship.

“….Then are you the assistant’s girlfriend? Like, a lover?”
“Ah, no.”

Strictly speaking, she had done a lot of things, but she wasn’t officially his girlfriend, so Sharon answered that way.

“See, sister, I was right.”
“Odette, is that what’s important right now?”
“Who was saying that was the most important thing until just now?”
“No? I was just saying that I might feel a little betrayed by the assistant if that was the case. In other words, Odette, you’re exaggerating my words.”
“Aren’t you just nitpicking because you seem to have lost the bet? You always do that.”

And then, suddenly, the twins started arguing. Sharon was dumbfounded.
She had expected a fierce conversation like, ‘Heh, you owe our family a debt, right? If you don’t want that debt to double, stay away from Darling!’ or, ‘Is this fox trying to seduce Siwoo by taking advantage of an opening?’

But unexpectedly, the two suddenly started bickering.

“Speaking of which, Odette, your idea was really bad! The assistant wasn’t that surprised!”
“But going into a big gift box and surprising him like you said is even more stupid!”
“Stupid? You can’t even use magic as well as I can!”
“You’re the one who can’t accept the results, you’re like a child!”
“Um, please, calm down.”

It was their usual cute bickering, but Sharon, who was experiencing their fierce debate for the first time, tried to stop them.
The twins looked at Sharon at the same time and asked.
Their eyes were not looking for a mediator of the fight, but a judge to decide the winner and loser.

“Who do you think is wrong, Evergreen?”
“No matter how I think about it, my sister is weird, right?”
“Huh, huh?”

While Sharon was flustered and didn’t know what to do, Siwoo returned.

2.
Deneb’s departure, which she had only half-expected.
Leaving behind the feeling that he was more trusted than she thought, Siwoo entered the house.

“Huh?”

He had expected a chaotic scene in the living room, but it was as quiet as if he had entered a temple.
Siwoo entered the living room.
There, he saw the twins sitting calmly and quietly, and Sharon frozen in an awkward state.
As soon as Sharon’s eyes met his, she sent a desperate signal for help.
That look was probably the kind of expression Siwoo would make when he had to be dragged around by the twins whenever they went on a rampage.

He knew it.
They must have been fighting loudly and then suddenly became quiet as if their teacher had returned.
Odette, who had slowly turned her head, ran to him.

“Assistant, where is the teacher?”
“He said he had some business and went somewhere for a while.”
“Wow!”
“Really?”

At the same time, the twins threw off their masks of docile apprentice witches.
Odile almost did a somersault as she jumped off the sofa and hugged Siwoo with all her might, while Odette covered her mouth and cheered in place.
He never thought he would indirectly experience the saying that raising daughters is useless.

“Assistaaaant! I missed you! I missed you so much!”
“O…Odile.”

In the process, Siwoo’s face turned pale as he was hit in the solar plexus by her knee, while Odette, who had been standing still, also joined the fierce welcoming ceremony.
She was pushing and pulling Siwoo’s arm, which was barely holding Odile.

“Sister! You’re being unfair again! Assistant! I missed you too!”
“Yes…yes, please, Odile, please get down.”
“Ah! Okay, sorry. I was upset that I couldn’t greet you properly earlier because the teacher was here.”
“Our little teacher is very sensitive about things like this… we’re not kids!”
“That’s right!”

Odile jumped out of Siwoo’s arms and started talking a mile a minute.
Of course, Odette was supporting her from the side.

“Assistant, how have you been?”
“Has anything happened?”
“You haven’t forgotten about us, have you?”
“We were so surprised that you might have abandoned us and made a girlfriend!”

They also talked about how they had studied magic hard to come see Siwoo, how they had specially come this time instead of a birthday present, and how they had been thinking about how to sneak out to the mortal world.
Anyway, they unloaded all sorts of stories.

Hmm.
It felt good to experience the twins’ high tension after a long time.
If he had to pick the best relationship he had during his five years of slavery, it would undoubtedly be these energetic twins.
It hadn’t even been a year yet, but they were so happy to see him that tears welled up in Odile and Odette’s eyes.

“It’s so touching… I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you for five years…”
“But you at least got to go on a date with the assistant at the end! I… I didn’t even get to do that.”
“Are you still hung up on that?”
“You’re making it sound so easy! How can I just let this go?”
“Okay, okay, calm down. You two are so close, why do you fight every chance you get?”
“Odette picks a fight every day!”
“You’re the one who picks a fight every day!”
“Oh, no, you shouldn’t do that.”

The twins suddenly started bickering, just like they did in Gehenna.
Siwoo smiled wryly at their unchanging 모습 and tried to stop them.
The twins, who would have looked for a judge in the past, smiled at Siwoo’s smile.
They had come to see him because they wanted to see that smile again.

“It’s like a dream… I’ve always wanted to go to the mortal world… and you’re here with me.”
“Ah! That’s right! Assistant! The mortal world is full of really, really amazing things! I studied a little about the mortal world to meet you, but there are still so many amazing things!”
“Yeah! I rode in a car for the first time today, and it was amazing, but our carriage is better to ride in.”
“I was most amazed by the elevator! Can I ride it again later? Where do I pay the fare?”

The sound of their chatter filled the air.
Well, if Odile and Odette had spent their entire lives in Gehenna, the mortal world would be amazing.
Just like Siwoo was amazed when he first saw magic after being captured in Gehenna.
He felt a sense of familiarity in the way they kept talking without giving him a chance to reply.

“I’m glad you seem to be having fun.”
“Assistant, you missed us too, right?”
“Oh, sister… why are you asking such an obvious question?”
“Odette is right. I was always wondering how you were doing.”

Odile and Odette each hugged one of Siwoo’s arms and snuggled into him.
They rubbed their soft cheeks against his chest and tugged at his collar as if Siwoo would disappear if they took their eyes off him for a moment.
This was how the twins usually expressed their affection, through physical contact.

After clinging to Siwoo for a while, the twins yawned loudly at the same time.
Looking at the clock, it was already 4 a.m.
Unlike perfect spirits, the reflections of apprentice witches require sleep.
It was not surprising that the twins, who had been so excited, were feeling tired.

Siwoo also wanted to keep chatting and playing, but he was going to be diligent as Deneb had entrusted him with their care.
He was also the one who maintained Siwoo’s prosperous life, after all.

“First, it’s late, so should we go to sleep?”
“Already?”
“You look sleepy, your eyes are red.”
“This is because I’m happy to see you, Assistant. I yawned because my sister did.”
“No? I did it because Odette did. I’m not sleepy at all!”

As expected, the twins were being stubborn, but Siwoo knew how to handle them quite well.
Actually, it wasn’t that he knew how to handle them, but that the twins listened to Siwoo too well…

“I know a dessert shop that you two would like. If you wake up late tomorrow, you won’t be able to go there as much. How about we sleep well first and wake up early tomorrow and go together?”
“Okay! But how about we sleep in the same bed?”
“That’s going to be difficult. Deneb said that it would be a big problem if I did anything wrong. I’m going to sleep on the sofa.”

Of course, he had never said that, but it would be easier to convince the twins if he said it like this.
However, the twins, who had been urged to sleep less than 30 minutes after meeting the assistant they had missed, didn’t seem to be willing to give in easily.

“Assistant, we’re not asking you to do anything weird. We’re just sleeping in the same bed, right?”
“That’s right, we’ll just hold your hand next to you.”
“Even so, I don’t think that’s going to work. Please, just for today. What if Deneb comes to check if I’m doing a good job?”

When Siwoo refused to this extent, the twins looked upset but nodded.
They thought his words made enough sense.
And so, the twins went to sleep in Siwoo’s bed, and Siwoo went to sleep on the sofa.