Chapter 411 – #88_Harvest Festival(4)
#410
1.
They say that famous male witch fought the Witch of Desire and came back alive.
Even among witches, who are known for their slow-moving rumors, this particular rumor spread like wildfire through every corner of Gehenna Alley in less than a day.
It was such a sensational and astonishing piece of news.
It even reached the ears of Diana, who rarely left her room and moved at a snail’s pace, so there’s no need to explain how big of an issue it was.
When Diana first heard this news, she felt a strange sense of pride.
The man who had received her first kiss was such a capable person.
Secretly, she felt smug that she had recognized his true worth faster than others.
Of course, she conveniently overlooked the fact that she hadn’t recognized him right away and had been toyed with on the location board.
She rationalized it by thinking that anyone in her position would have made the same judgment as she did.
Of course, she became slightly depressed when she remembered that she had transferred his ownership to her mother soon after.
Anyway, it had been almost four days since she had last seen him, starting from their last lesson and his request to seduce her mother.
She felt a flutter in her heart when she heard that regular classes would resume today.
Even though she knew it was meaningless, she had been primping for two hours.
“Hello, Miss Diana. It’s been a while.”
“Hello. It has been a while.”
Shio entered the room with his usual slightly dazed expression.
Looking at him, Diana felt a strange sense of mystery.
Diana’s play tutor, her knight in shining armor, and the man who would become her mother’s lover.
She vividly remembered the scene where Shin Shio had bravely defeated the homunculus and saved her.
But this time, the enemy he had fought and returned alive from was the infamous 22nd-ranked Witch of Desire.
Diana, who knew how great her mother was as a witch of the same rank and how powerful her magic was, could feel his heroic feat even more vividly.
Even though it was a rumor she had vaguely believed, seeing Shio again made her question it anew.
“Come in.”
“Yes.”
Diana scurried to the sofa and sat down.
It was the sofa where he had used healing magic when she had sprained her ankle before.
“How is your body?”
“I’m perfectly fine. It wasn’t that serious of an injury.”
“…Is that so?”
It wasn’t that serious of an injury…
There was a sense of incongruity in the way he said it so nonchalantly.
If he had achieved such a feat, he would have bragged or acted conceited, but he was completely the same as usual.
“Did you really win?”
“Pardon?”
“I heard you fought the Witch of Desire and came back victorious. I won’t tell anyone, so please tell me a little bit. How did it happen?”
In the end, Diana couldn’t suppress her rising curiosity.
Unknowingly, she leaned her upper body forward, expressing her fervent curiosity.
For Diana, talking to Shio was as exciting as interviewing a hero who had slain an evil dragon.
“It just happened somehow. I don’t know if I won…”
“If you won, you won, and if you lost, you lost. What do you mean you don’t know if you won?”
“It’s a bit long to explain.”
“It’s okay if it’s long, and it’s okay if you brag annoyingly. Please tell me.”
“I’m sorry. There are some personal circumstances involved, and there are some things I can’t tell you…”
Diana’s eyebrows straightened into a line at Shio’s lukewarm response.
Isn’t something strange?
Diana, who doesn’t like attention and hates being bothered, would be willing to talk about a fierce battle for about 15 minutes if she were to defeat a powerful enemy in the future.
His evasive attitude only made her suspicious.
For example, if the rumor was false…
He might avoid going into too much detail.
“Hmm…”
“You shouldn’t look at me with suspicious eyes.”
“Hmm… I guess rumors are not to be trusted after all.”
“I won’t fall for your provocation.”
It’s human nature to be more curious and suspicious when someone tries to hide something.
“Okay. If that’s the case, you must have your reasons.”
But Diana had already built up a certain level of trust in Shio.
She had even confided a secret she had never told anyone before and made the audacious request to seduce her mother.
“Tell me later if you feel like it.”
“I will.”
Fighting magic battles herself was scary and unpleasant, but listening to other people’s heroic tales was different.
She wanted to finish today’s lesson by listening to how he, a master of the location board, fought using magic.
While secretly feeling disappointed, Diana had something else to say today.
Soon, a grand festival that would make Gehenna buzz would be held.
It was the Harvest Festival, where people would celebrate and revel for three days, giving thanks for the year’s harvest.
The important thing was that this Harvest Festival was not just a ‘festival’ but a time to confirm the tender feelings between lovers.
There was even a rumor that couples who were united during the snowy Harvest Festival would fall in eternal love until death separated them.
She didn’t know the source, and she didn’t think it was particularly credible, but she had read about it in a novel.
Originally, men and women in love were more swayed by emotions than rational judgment.
She couldn’t miss this golden opportunity.
If her mother and he got together, her mother would have more attachment to life, and Diana’s goal was for her mother to postpone her succession as much as possible.
Even if it meant sacrificing a man who clearly caught her eye.
“By the way, you know about that, right?”
“About what?”
“It’s the Harvest Festival soon. You’re from Gehenna, so you must know.”
“Ah…”
Hearing Diana’s words, Shio felt the dryness he had been trying to ignore return to his tongue.
The Harvest Festival was practically Christmas.
Just as the present world, where religion and life have become separated over time, the Harvest Festival in Gehenna was like an anniversary that went beyond the meaning of a festival.
“There are many romantic places in the Levana Grand Bathhouse. I’ll tell you some good spots, so have a good time with my mother.”
Diana spoke as if she was calm, but her face was slightly flushed.
After all, just a few days ago, she had been furious at the sight of the twins’ public kiss, as if she had seen a strip show.
After being caught having a hot affair with Count Yesod, she had been asked to seduce her mother to postpone her succession.
She knew what they did when they met, so these were not words she could say with a nonchalant expression.
“I’ve prepared some great wine, and my mother has cleared her schedule to play with me. You’re a man, so you should prepare a gift on your own.”
In fact, Shio had not given a clear answer to Diana’s request before.
He understood Diana’s feelings of not wanting to be separated from her mother.
Conversely, he also felt a pang of conscience as if he was betraying the women he loved.
He had been wavering between the two for a while.
And after walking through the Palace of Memories this time, another concern was added.
Shio had not only Sharon and the twins by his side, but also Eloa, who was holding her pain alone and watching him from afar.
And Shio felt it.
Just as Eloa had done, if he postponed his answer ambiguously because he was having a hard time making a decision, there might be someone who would suffer unintentionally.
Although Periwinkle had said, “If you’re sorry, shouldn’t you just love them more?”…
In the first place, wasn’t his relationship with the countess based on her seduction in the beginning and Shio’s exploration of her body later?
Was it right to not let go of even a light relationship?
This question had arisen.
“……”
So, Shio wanted to end his relationship with Countess Yesod.
At least until he received permission from the other four lovers, or until Shio himself could find his own answer.
“……?”
Diana’s expression, who was trying hard to explain her own date course, changed every moment as she looked at Shio, who was silent.
First, strangeness, then suspicion, and then a slight shock.
Diana’s movements were clumsy, but her intuition was sharp and extraordinary.
“…Wait a minute. You don’t mean…!”
“Miss Diana, I would like to apologize first.”
Diana’s expression, which had been rippling like waves, froze like ice.
Her languid eyes became fierce as she glared.
Her lips were bitten inward, and her teeth were clenched.
“What is it?”
“I think I need some time to think about the proposal from before.”
“…Why?”
It was scary.
If the two were to fight with magic, Diana wouldn’t be able to touch a single hair on Shio’s head, but being able to win in a fight wasn’t everything.
Her atmosphere itself was very scary.
“Actually, I haven’t told you, but I have a lover. From the beginning of the relationship, it was… well… not a serious relationship…”
For the sake of the countess’s honor, there was no need to bring up the fact that she had seduced him first.
However, it felt like he was confessing to the daughter of a divorcee who was expecting a new father, “I actually have a family to protect, and remarriage is impossible. Take care.”
He could directly confirm what Sharon had said about feeling like his stomach was twisting.
But if he hesitated here, he would only leave false hopes for Diana and Countess Yesod.
“I’m sorry. I can’t seduce Countess Yesod. It’s all my fault.”
“……”
After a moment of silence between Diana and Shio, who had his head bowed like a sinner.
“My mother…”
A low, dragging voice like a beast’s growl.
From the vibrato in her voice, which was filled with bewilderment, betrayal, and absurdity, one could guess Diana’s anger.
“…Are you going to use her and throw her away?”
Originally, the same words could have different meanings depending on how they were said.
Also, even in the same situation, the same event could look completely different depending on the perspective and thoughts of the person receiving it.
Diana’s choice of words represented how she viewed Shio’s actions.
Either way, Shio was the one who had fallen for her seduction, so there was no clear excuse.
“You’re going to use my mother and throw her away?”
Diana spoke clearly, omitting basic honorifics.
Feeling a chill run down his spine at Diana’s sudden outburst like a sports car accelerating from zero to 1 second, he tried to say something, but…
“You…! You beast!”
What came back was Diana’s full swing with a wine glass in her hand.
With a clear *ting* sound, the glass bounced off the side of Shio’s head.
“You bad guy! Who do you think you are! To treat my mother like that!”
“M-Miss Diana…! Please, let me explain…!”
“Get out! Get out! Disappear right now!”
Just as Countess Yesod loved Diana, Diana also deeply loved her mother.
But his attitude, as if he was just describing her mother’s affair as a mere fling.
The emptiness of the hope she had barely found disappearing.
It was like a spark that ignited the fuse of Diana’s anger.
In a situation where it seemed impossible to have a conversation, Diana began throwing anything she could grab at Shio.
Clocks, flower vases, liquor bottles, pillows, and even fountain pens.
If she had been a little stronger, she would have pulled up the table and thrown it.
“Don’t you ever! Show your face! In front of me again! Get lost!!!”
Shio, who had been enduring Diana’s shouting that was beyond a frost and more like a blizzard, was eventually chased out with a fountain pen stuck in the back of his shoulder.
