City ​​of Witches 258

Chapter 258 – #58_All Darkness Comes From The East (4)

#256

1.
What on earth is going on?
Siwoo froze, momentarily stunned.

Humans stop thinking when faced with the unexpected.
Siwoo, too, had encountered something completely unforeseen, and his brain had simply shut down.

His pajama top was practically ripped open, as if he had done it himself.
Three of the five buttons were undone, rendering the pajama top useless as clothing.

“……”

He knew he should look away, but he couldn’t.
Like being captivated by a beautiful work of art, he couldn’t tear his gaze away.

His dear teacher, Eloa Tifereth’s, fair breasts were exposed, defenseless.
He had anticipated their size from the cleavage she had when wearing a sports bra and the way she naturally lifted her pajamas, but they were larger than he had imagined.

Was it the force of bare breasts?
Judging by sight, they seemed to be about a D-cup.
They were beautifully shaped, like ripe peaches cut in half and turned upside down.
At their tips, small, cherry-like nipples glistened, showing off their color, and the faint, gradient pink areolas lay like saucers supporting the fruit.

The combination of the half-undone top, as if hastily removed during lovemaking on the bed, and the peach-like breasts was incredibly alluring and captivating.

“……”
“……”

And then, belatedly, his slow-paced thoughts caught up with reality.
Breasts exposed by an accidental mishap.
How would the Duchess react to this?
Just as he was getting nervous about the awkward and embarrassing explanation time ahead, he heard a breathing sound from below his knees.

“Ko, koo… koo…”

Siwoo closed his eyes and let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Eloa had fallen asleep at the perfect time.
Her sleeping sounds were unusually loud today, but seeing that she hadn’t reacted at all despite this situation, she must have been in a deep sleep since she had completely closed her eyes a little while ago.

“Phew… that’s a relief.”

Siwoo’s quiet mutter.

“……”

Eloa felt the pounding of her heart and remained stiff as a rabbit playing dead.
Her heart was beating so fast that she worried he might hear it.

No.
Come to think of it, it wasn’t time to relax yet.
Eloa had only succeeded in pretending to sleep; her breasts were still exposed.
And in front of Siwoo, no less.

Calm down, calm down.
Nothing has changed.
Nothing has changed at all.

Wasn’t she asking for a massage in the first place to stop thinking of him as a man?
She could just wake up as if she had been briefly asleep and act nonchalantly as if nothing had happened.
Eloa endlessly repeated this in the gaps of her hurried thoughts.
But having already been terrified by the unexpected exposure and pretending to sleep, the possibility of her resolution being fulfilled seemed slim.
Once someone has run away, it’s hard to face them again.

“Hmm…”

While Eloa was anxiously trying to find the right moment to wake up, Siwoo’s hand slipped out from under her neck.

The scene that bloomed in Eloa’s mind at that moment was…
Ironically, it was the image of Siwoo fondling and playing with Periwinckle’s breasts as if they were his own.

The scene of him roughly thrusting into Periwinckle, squeezing her breasts until they were crushed, sucking and pulling at her nipples, and even slapping them with his palm as if hitting her cheek, vividly flashed in her mind for some reason.
Eloa, who had been trembling her eyelids and wondering when would be a good time to wake up, froze on the spot.

Why was this memory suddenly surfacing here?
Right.
It wasn’t because she was looking at Siwoo as a man, but because the shocking scene she had witnessed back then had remained in her mind.

Eloa diligently repeated her reasoning in a way that made sense to her.
Then, she heard Siwoo’s low voice.
The sound of him swallowing was as loud as thunder.

“Teacher, are you asleep?”

The question felt like a kind of turning point.
She could either pretend to have just woken up, open her eyes groggily, and show the ‘unaffected teacher’ as she had originally planned.
Or she could continue pretending to sleep and avoid half of the awkwardness of the moment.

Eloa had definitely intended to get up.
But again, her body wouldn’t listen.
Frankly, she didn’t have the confidence to act nonchalant after opening her eyes.
She didn’t even know how to look at him.

Usually, you don’t wake up from having your breasts fondled while sleeping.
At least to Siwoo, Eloa would appear to be completely defenseless.

What would he do?
Eloa suppressed her anxiety and waited for his decision.

Would he grab them, thinking she was completely asleep? Would he touch them?
That wouldn’t do… that shouldn’t happen… she thought, stomping her feet inside, while all sorts of unspeakable fantasies only became clearer.

-Rustle!

She heard him move.
Even with her eyes closed, the sound of someone moving nearby was surprisingly loud.
Just by the warmth that heated the surroundings, the sound, and the shadow, she could roughly tell what posture he was taking.

Siwoo’s hand reached towards Eloa’s chest.
It was ridiculous that she had been holding her breath and feeling anxious about what would happen next…

“Looks like you’re having another bad dream.”

Siwoo fumbled with the fabric of her clothes, carefully buttoning them up while making sure not to touch Eloa’s skin.
The way he kept fiddling with her clothes was strangely slow.
Eloa realized why.

It shouldn’t take this long to button just one button.
Siwoo was deliberately averting his gaze while fixing Eloa’s disheveled clothes, trying not to look at her half-naked body.
Out of consideration for Eloa, who was unconscious.

‘Siwoo…’

Eloa couldn’t help but be moved.
She was ashamed of herself for arbitrarily assuming he might have lewd thoughts while she was asleep.
Wasn’t she a worse teacher than her student?

Siwoo, having carefully fastened the last button, finally let out a deep sigh.

Then, arms gently wrapped around Eloa’s legs and back.
Siwoo had lifted Eloa, who was lying perpendicular to the bed, into a princess carry and laid her down straight.

It was all over now.
She felt a sense of relief that she could finally relax and fall asleep, mixed with a strange sense of defeat that she had broken her own resolution in less than an hour.
A thick hand gently stroked Eloa’s tangled hair.
Eloa, who had been tense at first, wondering what was going on, soon calmed down by the emotion contained in that hand.

“……”

It was a comforting touch.
Like the one Eloa had given to Lapi when she was struggling, it was a touch filled with warm affection and care.
Siwoo, unaware that Eloa was awake, must have thought that her stiff and tense expression was due to a nightmare.

It was a touch that felt too familiar for the first time.
When had he started doing this?
Siwoo sat by the bed for a long time, stroking Eloa’s hair.

The hair slowly flowing through his fingertips.
The coolness she felt whenever his fingers touched her scalp.
Above all, the strong sense of tenderness and the bond between the two.

Whether teacher and student were conscious of each other as man and woman, or how he looked at Eloa.
At this moment, it didn’t feel that important.

Eloa’s body went limp.
The tension and embarrassment from before melted away like snowflakes in the spring sun, and sleep came softly.
Soon, Eloa was completely asleep.

“Koo…”

That night, Eloa didn’t have a nightmare.
Instead, she dreamed of riding a horse with Lapi in the Mendel Hills, where unknown grasses spread wide.
It was a peaceful sleep she hadn’t had in a long time.

2.
Siwoo opened his eyes.
He seemed to have slept a little longer than usual today.
Normally, the sun would just be rising, but seeing the sunlight streaming in through the window, it must be later.

“Huh?”

He squinted and looked up, seeing a pink figure flickering above him.
And he belatedly felt a hand gently stroking his head.

“Are you awake?”
“Is something the matter?”

Siwoo was momentarily bewildered.
The person who had been continuously stroking his head was Eloa.
Wearing an apron over her pajamas, she was sitting on the bed where Siwoo was lying, endlessly stroking his hair.

“Nothing is the matter. I just wanted to do it.”

Usually, when Eloa looked at Siwoo, she would wear a gentle smile as if she was happy just to look at him.
But the expression she had now was much more tender and benevolent.
It was an expression that made him think, ‘If Eloa’s apprentice witch were alive, she would probably look at her with this face.’

“Your sleeping face was just like a baby’s.”

Siwoo, feeling embarrassed by Eloa’s words, got up and brushed his disheveled hair back as he asked,

“How long have you been watching me?”
“It hasn’t been long. You were sleeping so soundly today that I felt bad waking you. It’s good that you’re awake now. Come out, I’ve prepared breakfast.”

Eloa got off the bed and headed to the kitchen.
As he slowly followed, he saw a pot bubbling on the induction stove.
It was the smell of chicken noodle soup, one of her specialties.
It was a dish she had been eating almost every morning recently because it was not irritating and made her feel comfortable.
Next to it was bacon with a subtle smoky aroma, and toast was being toasted golden brown in the toaster.

“Wait a moment. It will be ready soon.”
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“You always ask, even though I always say it’s okay.”

Eloa bustled around the kitchen, preparing a breakfast full of care.
Siwoo set the table and the milk as usual.

“Thank you for the meal.”
“There’s plenty, so eat as much as you like.”

As you can see, it was definitely not the portion for just two people.
Whether Eloa had a big hand or not, when she cooked, she made enough for a whole family to eat at once.

As a spirit, she didn’t necessarily need to eat.
Was it always her desire to feed Siwoo until he was full?
Of course, there was no reason to refuse Eloa’s breakfast, which was perfect in both appearance and taste.
As usual, he waited for Eloa to take the first bite, but…

“…Why are you doing that?”

Eloa wasn’t eating; she was just looking at Siwoo.

“Siwoo.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you.”

His head tilted slightly at the sudden expression of gratitude, but he could roughly guess what she was thanking him for.

Since meeting Siwoo, Eloa had gained some peace.
The feeling of a drawn bowstring, about to snap, that he had felt when they first met was gone.
For her, who had suffered the pain of loss, Siwoo was filling the void like a kind of pet.
Perhaps her gratitude was for that? He vaguely guessed.

“Thank you so much.”

Eloa clasped her hands and prayed that this happy peace would continue.
A prayer that would probably not be answered.
In vain.