City ​​of Witches 226

Chapter 226 – #51_People Trapped In The Past (2)

#224

1.
Coq au vin.
As the name suggests, “rooster in wine,” it’s a stew where chicken is simmered in wine for a long time.
It’s a dish that even Koreans who aren’t familiar with French cuisine have probably heard of.
Eloa tossed the marinated chicken into the wok where she had been sautéing vegetables with butter.

Ignoring the oil splattering on the back of her hand, she cooked the skin and fat over high heat.
When the surface of the chicken turned a nice caramel color, she transferred it to a pot and preheated it.
Finally, she poured in two whole bottles of Burgundy wine and sprinkled herbs on top, completing the preparations.

The aroma of wine gently spread, and the sound of bubbles began to rise.
It was a gift from Professor Sua, so it must be good wine.
Perhaps that’s why the fragrance wafting from the pot lid was so pleasant.

Since it’s a dish that needs to be simmered for a long time, a rooster with tough, firm meat should be used…
Unfortunately, all the chicken at the supermarket was small.
In the end, Eloa compromised with native Korean chicken, put the lid on the pot, and began preparing the second dish, bouillabaisse.

This, in a way, is the French version of a seafood stew.
It’s made with various high-quality seafood, tomatoes, chili peppers, garlic, and onions, and flavored with bay leaves and thyme.
Originally, fish bones should be simmered to make the broth, but due to lack of time, she substituted it with seafood stock.

These two dishes were Eloa’s specialties and also Lapi’s favorites.
It had been over 100 years since she last cooked them, yet her hands and body remembered the two recipes perfectly.
If a little more time had passed, and then a little more…
Would she have forgotten how to cook them then?

Eloa stood blankly in front of the simmering pot.
Suddenly, she laughed.
It was because she was reflecting on what she had said during her conversation with Siwoo.

‘The orthodox witches residing in Lenormand Town are particularly stuck in the past in their way of thinking.’

Stuck in the past.
Trapped in the past.
In other words, unchanging.
Like seawater that has sunk deep into the abyss, it just stays and stagnates.
The words she had spoken without much thought, when reconsidered, felt like they were meant for herself.

For Eloa Tiphereth, who dreamed every night of the moment she lost Lapi.
Who was tormented by a past she could never reclaim.

“Ugh!”
“Are you alright?”

It seemed like she had only been lost in thought for a moment.
The pot in front of her was bubbling and about to overflow.
Eloa quickly turned down the heat.

Originally, coq au vin should be simmered slowly over low heat to evaporate the alcohol in the wine, but she had forgotten due to various distractions.

“…I’m, I’m fine.”
“I’ll help you move it.”

Eloa simply watched Siwoo rummaging through the kitchen shelves, looking for bowls.

2.
First, the bouillabaisse was finished, and then the coq au vin was ready.
The wine, which had generously covered the chicken, had reduced to a shallow layer, soaking into every nook and cranny of the chicken.
Eloa and Siwoo sat facing each other at the table, having finished preparing the meal.

“I wanted to prepare a few more things, but it’s been a while, so I forgot a lot.”
“No, it feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve had someone cook for me.”
“It’s nothing much, but please enjoy.”

Siwoo served the dishes onto Eloa’s plate and then sat down.
The two of them began to eat side by side.

Both the bouillabaisse and the coq au vin were dishes that Siwoo had never seen before, but surprisingly, they suited his taste.
The chicken, soaked in wine and tomato sauce, melted in his mouth.
After the savory, mild flavor faded, a fragrant and slightly bitter aftertaste rose, which was another delicacy.
He guessed that this was probably how a foreigner would feel when they first ate samgyetang (Korean ginseng chicken soup).

The bouillabaisse also looked like a spicy seafood stew, but the taste was completely different.
It was like a taste of the sea.
The moment he took a spoonful of the soup, the aroma of butter and the rich flavor of various seafoods delighted his nose and tongue.

“Wow, this is my first time eating this, and it’s incredibly delicious. I’ve only ever heard of both of them.”
“There’s plenty, so take your time. Would you like a drink?”
“Yes, please.”
“It’s a dish that goes well with wine, but… I used it all up making the coq au vin. Which do you prefer, gin or whiskey?”
“Whiskey, please.”

Eloa walked to the kitchen and mixed the whiskey with water in a 1:1 ratio.
It was a suitable adjustment since the alcohol content was too high to have with a meal.
Eloa herself poured whiskey into a large on-the-rocks glass, filling it almost to the brim.
Just as he was wondering whether they should toast or just drink, Eloa raised her glass first.

-Cheers.

The two glasses lightly clinked.

“You seem to like alcohol.”
“I neither like nor dislike it. But I am grateful for the fact that I can get drunk. What about you?”
“I like it. It makes me feel good, and I don’t get hangovers.”

Was it because of the alcohol and the delicious food?
The conversation between the two began to flow smoothly, as if lubricated.
Even Instructor Tiphereth, who always spoke sternly and demanded ‘again,’ had a much more relaxed expression.
Thanks to that, Siwoo was also able to relax and enjoy the meal with a comfortable heart.

“It’s really delicious. It seems good as a side dish for alcohol too… How about opening a restaurant? I think it would do well if you sold it around here.”
“Stop it, you’re making me blush.”
“I’m serious. It’s easy on the stomach, and it’s the first time in a while that I’ve enjoyed a meal so much.”

Eloa responded politely to Siwoo’s continuous praise throughout the meal.
Still, she didn’t seem to dislike the praise, as the corners of her mouth were relaxed.

“Today’s meal wasn’t my best. I had to substitute a lot of things. If you come again, I will serve you a more excellent meal.”
“Wow, I’m already looking forward to it. Oh, I’ll refill your glass.”
“Thank you.”

Siwoo quickly got up from his seat and poured about half a glass of alcohol into Eloa’s glass, which had already been emptied three times.
She was drinking really fast.
Even if she was a spirit, she should get drunk if she drank alcohol, but seeing her still composed, she must be a great drinker.
In many ways, the Duchess was full of surprises.

“I wanted to share a drink like this with Lapi too…”

A slip of the tongue, like a soliloquy, taking advantage of her relaxed state.
Seeing Siwoo flinch at her words, Eloa quickly shook her head as if she had realized her mistake.

“It’s nothing. Just idle talk.”
“……….”

Siwoo couldn’t say anything.
The time of those who have lost someone precious stops at that moment.
They endlessly recall memories, regret, cry, and suffer.
Some shake it off and move forward.
But some wander, searching for the end of a sorrow that will never end.

“I’m sorry, it was supposed to be a pleasant occasion, but I’ve ruined the mood. I was being thoughtless.”

Even Duchess Tiphereth, who seemed so strong, was just a person after all.
A person who couldn’t forget the sorrow of losing her disciple, who couldn’t overcome the emptiness of not achieving revenge, and who was suffering.

“…Would you like me to listen to your story?”

Siwoo asked cautiously.
Whether it was because she was drunk, or because she was immersed in the nostalgia that the alcohol had evoked.
Her eyes were wavering as if a mirage was behind them.

“It’s a futile thing…”

In fact, the relationship between Eloa and Siwoo was quite strange.
Siwoo was the one who possessed Lapi’s vessel, and at the same time, he was formally being taught by Eloa.
While teaching him, she couldn’t deny that she had unconsciously been overlapping him with Lapi’s image.
Was that why?

She had a strong urge to share the memories of her happy days, which she had been avoiding and not even mentioning, with him.

Perhaps…
Maybe the aroma of the food that had been placed on the table after a long time, the meal shared with someone, had temporarily turned back her clock.

While Siwoo was hesitating whether he should apologize for his rash remark, seeing Eloa unable to speak.
She opened her mouth first.

“Lapi was… a bright and cheerful child.”

Her voice was faint, as if she was recalling a distant past.

“She was more talkative than a small bird. She chattered so incessantly that she said all the words I would say in a lifetime in just one year… But she was a child with the kindest heart, more precious than any jewel in the world.”

Eloa moistened her dry lips with alcohol.

“I loved that child. She was too good for me, a deficient person, to take as my apprentice.
No one in Gehenna could hate Lapi. Not even the beasts. Even the notoriously difficult-to-tame warhorse would lick Lapi’s palm when she stood in front of it.”
“………”
“And that’s not all. She was a genius in martial arts and magic. Unlike me, a fool who only imitates a genius.”

Memories welled up in Eloa’s blurred eyes.
A faint smile appeared on her lips.
The smile that had appeared as if she was happy just by thinking about it…

Sank along with the following recollection.

“But, as you know… I lost her. I lost the excessive blessing that heaven had given me due to my complacency.”
“…That’s…”
“If I had been a little more careful, a little more cautious, a little more… if I had known the harshness of the world… I wouldn’t have had to let her go so meaninglessly…”

Eloa didn’t shed tears.
She didn’t even make a sobbing sound.
She cried without shedding tears, without trembling her voice.

“Do you know what’s the most terrible thing? I don’t even have the right to mourn that child. It’s a cruel thing.”

Siwoo realized for the first time how a broken and devastated human being showed their sorrow.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked…”

He couldn’t bring himself to say more.
Duchess Tiphereth, whom Siwoo knew, was a strong person.
He had only ever seen her unwavering and firm.
He had never imagined that she would be so dangerously festering inside, even if she was burning with revenge.

He was filled with a guilty feeling that his attempt to have a frank conversation had instead scraped off the scab that had settled on her heart.
Eloa looked at her empty glass, then picked up the bottle of whiskey, which was still more than half full, and drank straight from it.

“Maybe you should slow down a bit…”
“It’s not that I hate or resent you for possessing Lapi’s vessel. Don’t worry.”
“That’s not what I was worried about. I know that you are a good person, Duchess.”
“…..Is that so.”

It was just a re-experience of the soliloquy she had repeated thousands, hundreds of thousands of times.
It didn’t take long for her to regain her composure.
Eloa straightened her disheveled body and wiped the whiskey that had dripped slightly below her chin.

“I had a little too much to drink. I’ve shown you a disgraceful side, I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m just sorry that I brought it up and made you suffer…”

Eloa reached out her hand without a word.
Her hand, warm from the alcohol, lifted Siwoo’s eye patch.
The mark engraved on his golden eyes clearly contained Lapi’s vessel.

“You possess Lapi’s vessel.”

For a witch, a mark is something more than life itself.

“I never even thought I would be able to see it again like this…”

After 100 years, Eloa was finally facing the memento of her beloved apprentice witch.
As if it would break if she touched it even a little too hard,
Eloa’s eyelids slowly closed as she stroked Siwoo’s cheek.
The sleepiness that had come while they were drinking, combined with the alcohol, made it impossible for her to resist any longer.

Siwoo sighed as he looked at Eloa, who had collapsed on the table.
His heart was heavy.

“Lapi… Lapi…”

Even in her sleep, she was suffering.