## Chapter 357 – #77_Tutor (7)
#355
1.
“Kids, there’s something I want to talk about. Do you have a moment?”
As usual, after class ended, Sharon spoke to the twins.
“Yes, we have time.”
“What is it?”
Having traveled together and acknowledged Sharon as a true rival, and having received assurance from their assistant that they wouldn’t be pushed away, the twins were maintaining a reasonably peaceful relationship with Sharon.
It meant they weren’t engaging in pointless power struggles during class like before.
However, as soon as they heard Sharon’s request for a private talk, Odile and Odette’s instincts flared.
They had a gut feeling that the ‘talk’ Sharon was referring to was related to their assistant.
Therefore, they looked at Sharon with a hint of tension.
“Shall we move somewhere else?”
As expected, moving to the carriage suggested that a rather secretive conversation would take place.
They had thought things had been quiet recently.
It was just that the fight was on hold in an undecided state.
“Sister…”
“It’s okay, Odette. Nothing will happen. I’m here.”
Watching Sharon walk ahead, Odette held her sister’s hand tightly, as if anxious.
If they were to assess the progress of the assistant’s capture, Sharon was clearly in the lead.
At least, that’s what the twins thought.
She was someone they admired both physically and mentally.
Even though they had heard the words ‘I won’t push you away’ and ‘you are precious people’ from the assistant, they still felt slightly inferior to Sharon, who had already secured her position.
Therefore, as soon as she sat on the sofa in the carriage, Odile instead showed her spirit and looked straight at Sharon.
A voluptuous chest that the twins could never grasp with one hand.
The pureness emanating from her composed posture.
The greatest and most formidable enemy in the twins’ history as apprentice witches.
She stared at Sharon Evergreen.
“What’s going on all of a sudden? Even calling us out like this.”
“I told you, I wanted to talk to you.”
“……”
Unlike when the twins had called her out before, Sharon was calm.
Her expressionless, almost statue-like appearance made even Odette certain.
The Sharon now was different.
Unlike her previous soft demeanor, she was determined and had a clear advantage.
She wasn’t the Sharon who would be flustered by the twins’ every move.
If this place were considered a war negotiation table, Sharon’s unwavering demeanor alone was a threat.
“So, what’s the story?”
“Let’s stop fighting amongst ourselves.”
Both Odile and Odette fell silent.
Let’s stop fighting.
It sounded good at first glance.
But a truce is not always made on equal terms.
If Sharon had prepared a decisive move to end the war, the twins would have no choice but to sign a humiliating armistice.
“No, we won’t give up on our assistant!”
“Th-that’s right! Even if it’s you, Sharon, you can’t just interfere with our love!”
They had approached it with that mindset from the beginning.
The assistant was not just a benefactor who had saved their lives.
He was someone they wanted to be with more than anyone else.
A special person who made even the most mundane things four or five times more enjoyable when they were together.
They absolutely didn’t want to lose him.
“Sharon, you’re being cowardly! You’re always trying to steal our assistant away from us…”
“That’s right! Lying! And seducing him with that hideous chest!”
“Love isn’t always constant!”
“You might be closer to the assistant now, but that’s not forever!”
The twins poured out everything they wanted to say.
In truth, they might have just wanted to hide some kind of anxiety.
The anxiety that the ‘match’ itself might have ended without them knowing.
Sharon’s brow furrowed as she listened to the twins’ words.
“I think there’s some misunderstanding. I didn’t call you here to fight.”
“Liar!”
“You’re the one who always started it!”
Sharon slammed the table, looking at the twins who were squawking in front of her.
Odile and Odette were startled and quieted down.
In fact, Sharon had been holding back until now.
But she didn’t want to keep up the subtle animosity with the twins, and she had arranged this meeting because she wanted to get along with them in the future.
However, she wasn’t so soft that she could just let it slide after hearing the lie that they had started the fight first.
“You guys started it first!”
“No, you started it…”
“You guys were the ones who asked the Count to keep his distance from Siwoo in exchange for lessons! Do you think I’m stupid?”
That’s right.
The contract proposed by Count Albireo.
The cruel treaty that demanded they keep their distance from Siwoo was none other than the twins’ doing.
If they were to ask who attacked first, it was undoubtedly Odile and Odette.
“You said you’d compete fairly in front of us! Who was it that pretended not to know anything and used foul play!”
Eventually, the fight turned into a mudslinging match, and when Sharon, who had yelled out, looked ahead.
“…?”
“…?”
The twins were tilting their heads as if they didn’t understand.
Perfectly in the same direction and the same way.
“What are you talking about?”
“A price? Foul play?”
They looked at each other with bewildered expressions.
Their eyes seemed to be asking, ‘Did you do it?’
And then they looked back at Sharon.
Their eyes were still filled with confusion.
“Huh…?”
“Please explain.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A major misunderstanding between the twins and Sharon.
That they had tried to push Sharon out of the Siwoo capture battle by using the Count.
Sharon explained that part thoroughly.
“W-we never asked for that!”
“Our teacher did something unnecessary!”
“R-really?”
In fact, Sharon had felt puzzled by the twins’ reaction.
Of course, Odile and Odette were pranksters and tried to trick Sharon at every opportunity, but they weren’t the type to lie so brazenly.
Sharon had simply assumed that it was due to the twins’ instigation when she saw the price of the contract that Count Albireo had put on the table.
Suddenly, she felt a little embarrassed.
Wasn’t she the one who had been getting worked up, treating the twins like mortal enemies?
“I-I’m sorry…. I thought for sure it was you guys…”
“Our teacher did something unnecessary. We can capture our assistant with our skills.”
“That’s right! There’s no value in a victory gained that way!”
“We’ll definitely question our teacher!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
The twins, who had gotten up in a huff, sat back down.
“It seems like there was a misunderstanding.”
“We were always planning to compete fairly with you, Sharon.”
“I think I had a misunderstanding too…”
The knot was untying.
For Sharon, now that it was revealed that the twins’ despicable and brazen backstabbing was just her assumption, there was no need to get angry anymore.
For the twins, now that they realized that Sharon’s provocations and actions were self-defense from being attacked first, they weren’t as angry as before.
“Ahem.”
“So that’s what it was.”
“Yeah… I guess it was a misunderstanding.”
All three of them were in an awkward state.
2.
It had been three days since Diana became a tutor.
If someone were to ask if she had done anything special during that time, she would be at a loss for words because she hadn’t done much.
“Hmm….”
The repeated cycle of the position board game.
Diana would come out of her bedroom for a short while each day and have a match with Siwoo, about four or five games.
Of course, she played with all her might.
Since the time she had been caught playing a ‘give-in’ game, she knew that if she were to go easy on him, Diana would definitely get furious.
“I lost. Again.”
“I was lucky.”
Diana’s appearance as she quietly threw the stones was a little different from before.
Diana, who used to bare her teeth as if she had been slapped on the cheek after losing just one game, had humbly accepted her defeat since the first day.
The problem was that she couldn’t tell if this was a good situation or not.
Siwoo’s mission from the Count was to somehow induce Diana to engage in external activities.
It might be that they would turn a blind eye to her sitting in her room playing board games since it was the early days of tutoring, but if the contract were to go wrong, he might be fired from being a tutor at any time.
He wanted to avoid that at all costs.
Count Yesod’s lectures and assistance were guaranteeing him growth that was incomparable to when he was struggling on his own.
Anyway.
If Diana were to demand a rematch in a fit of anger, he was planning to use that as bait to go hunting or something…
But since she had become so detached, there was no reason to drag her out.
“……”
Diana stared blankly at the position board.
Normally, she would say ‘Let’s do it again’ or ‘I’ll rest now. Good work’ and go back to her room.
It was the first time such a long silence had fallen.
“…You.”
“Yes, young lady.”
“That…”
Diana, who always grumbled but confidently stated her demands.
She, with eyes that looked just like her mother’s, fiddled with her gloves and glanced at Siwoo.
“Th-that… ahem… it’s nothing much. Just one… um, can I ask you something?”
“Yes, please do.”
Even after Siwoo gave his permission, Diana avoided his gaze for a long time, then shyly reached out and pointed at the position board.
“C-can you tell me why you put it here? The move you made on the 172nd turn…”
It was just a short question, but she spoke so slowly and quietly that almost 30 seconds passed.
Her pale cheeks, so white that they seemed almost translucent, were also flushed.
This was something that Diana had decided on with great difficulty.
Basically, Siwoo’s image in Diana’s mind hadn’t changed much.
He was a male witch, and his magic might not be that great, but he was someone who was incredibly good at games.
They had played a total of 20 rounds until today, and Diana had never been able to beat Siwoo even once.
She had tried studying and practicing on her own, but the results were always a complete defeat.
At this point, she wanted to ask what his secret was.
However, it was quite embarrassing to ask for feedback from someone she had been subtly ignoring until now.
Therefore, Diana had been agonizing for three days and had barely opened her mouth today.
“I-I’m just curious…”
And then she closed her mouth again.
This one move was a move that had greatly changed the course of the game.
It was also a move that made Diana feel that she was going to lose.
Asking a rival for the core secret of their play was enough to make Diana, a true gamer, feel embarrassed.
It was even a brazen request.
“Tell me. You’re my tutor, aren’t you? You have to teach me something.”
Diana closed her eyes tightly and decided to put on a brave face.
When she opened her eyes slightly because there was no reaction, she saw Siwoo smiling faintly.
Diana glared at him instead and started an eye fight.
If she were to look away here, it felt like her inner thoughts would be exposed.
“I can tell you.”
“Then hurry…”
“But I’m in a position where I can’t just do that. How about we make a deal?”
“A deal?”
“Yes, as you know, I agreed with the Count to play with you in exchange for learning magic, didn’t I?”
“You did.”
“If I tell you my move after playing a game one day, then the next day, you’ll do some kind of external activity, even if it’s just for a little while. How about that?”
For Diana, it was a proposal that made her feel breathless.
External activity.
In fact, that was probably the reason her mother hired this man.
But just thinking about going outside and walking around was already exhausting.
However, her hesitation didn’t last long.
Diana had come to acknowledge Siwoo to some extent.
At least when it came to the position board, he was someone she could learn a lot from.
“Two hours a day. I won’t budge more than that.”
“Very well.”
And so, a small contract was made between Siwoo and Diana.
