Chapter 413 – #88_Harvest Festival (6)
#412
1.
The Jemernai mansion, freshly renovated, awaited the Harvest Festival.
In the moonless, dark-curtained annex, two small shadows darted between the sparsely placed candlesticks.
The most active and lively twins in the Jemernai mansion.
Not even the heavy drowsiness of midnight could stop them.
The two, taking advantage of the night, were wearing pajamas they had bought as souvenirs from the aquarium in the mortal realm.
Odile was in a blue shark pajama with a long tail and fins.
Odette was in a fluffy pink rabbit pajama with large, fluttering fur ears.
“Odette…! Wait, just a minute.”
“Sister…! Stop dawdling!”
“My tail keeps dragging!”
Whether it was running, magic, or swimming.
Odette was clearly slower than her older sister Odile, but today she had scolded her sister several times.
This was because, due to the long tail of the shark pajamas, Odile had to run while holding it in her arms to keep it from dragging on the ground.
The tail, which she usually used as a cushion between her legs while sleeping, was now holding her back.
While Odile was repositioning her tail, Odette stuck to the corner where the hallway turned, peeking beyond like an agent on a secret mission.
“Whew…. I don’t think anyone’s there.”
“Let’s hurry. I’ve fixed my tail.”
The twins ran off again with tiny steps.
At this late hour when even the owls were asleep, they were filming an unexpected smuggling scene because of the small box Odette was holding.
The Harvest Festival wasn’t just about drinking and dancing.
It was also a commemorative day for couples to spend time together and confirm their love.
Therefore, the twins had prepared a gift for their assistant.
If it were a simple gift, the twins wouldn’t need to move so quietly.
But this gift was a very dangerous item.
If their teacher or anyone else found out, it wouldn’t end with just a scolding.
Therefore, the purchase process required secret schemes and tremendous effort.
First, they had to steal the ledger from Maid Galina and take the import order form, and then they had to find out the detailed name of the item through a separate investigation.
In addition, they had to bring it from Border Town to the mansion step by step with the help of Pecha, Lena, Masha, and Vera, so that no one would realize that Odile and Odette were the ones who ordered it.
However, Vera, who was in charge of the final delivery, was suddenly called away, and it became Odile and Odette’s job to move the box left alone in the mailbox to their room.
Galina might check the mailbox early in the morning, so speed was essential.
“Shhh…!”
Odette, who was ahead, stretched her arm back and stuck her body to the wall.
Odile also buried her face in her tail, holding her breath.
-Tap tap tap
The side profile of Maid Galina, patrolling the mansion with a lantern in her hand.
Her round glasses glinted in the light.
Galina was always strict, but at this moment she was scarier than the Grim Reaper.
-Tap tap tap
The footsteps faded away, leaving the twins, who were trembling with their eyes tightly closed.
Only after the maid’s footsteps were out of earshot did they breathe a sigh of relief.
“Whew….”
“…We almost got caught. Sister, let’s not do this again next time.”
Just as they were about to relax and chat.
-Tap tap tap tap
“Odile, Miss Odette?”
““Eeeek!””
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps closed in, along with Galina’s thick voice.
Odile and Odette were genuinely terrified and started running away.
“I knew it was you young ladies! It’s time for bed! What do you think you’re doing!”
Galina, like an aggroed wandering mob, chased after them, swinging her lamp.
The shadows, shaking wildly in the lamplight, were reminiscent of monsters from old tales.
The twins felt their hair stand on end as they experienced a sudden 4D horror game, and they began to run helter-skelter.
“Odette! We got caught because you talked too much!”
“No! It’s because you sighed!”
“Didn’t you see we got caught as soon as you finished talking?”
“I talked because you sighed like the danger was over!”
Galina was someone who, like their teacher, absolutely could not find out the identity of the gift!
Moreover, even if they escaped using magic here, they would be punished for running away.
That punishment would extend from the twins to the maids, and if that happened, everything would be over.
It would be the end.
Realizing this, the twins realized that they had reached the end of the mansion.
Due to their excessive panic, they had run into a dead end.
“What do we do, Sister?”
“We have to hide this!”
At the sound of Galina’s footsteps closing in, Odile opened a door in a hurry.
At the very least, they had to hide the gift in a wardrobe, under a sofa, or under a bed.
When they burst through the door, they saw.
“Huh? What are you doing here?”
Sharon, looking surprised, was staring at them with wide eyes.
“Sharon, Sister!”
“Please hide us!”
The twins, running headlong, threw themselves onto the sofa where Sharon was sitting, hiding as if using the backrest as cover.
“Odile, Miss Odette!”
Then, Galina, with a stern expression, arrived almost immediately.
It had all happened in an instant.
However, seeing the twins, who were trembling with their hoods pulled up, and the furious Maid Galina, the picture was already clear.
“Ah, Miss Evergreen Witch. I apologize for disturbing you so late at night.”
“It’s alright, Maid Galina.”
“Could you please send the young ladies back? I’ve told them so many times that they need to be in bed at night…!”
Just as the twins were making a face as if the sky was falling, sensing the end of this commotion.
Sharon looked troubled at Galina.
“What should I do? Actually, I was the one who called Odile and Odette here.”
“Yes?”
“I wanted to talk to them for a bit. It seems I’ve caused trouble for you, Galina.”
Sharon bowed her head apologetically and gently placed her hands on the twins’ heads.
“I’ll send them back to bed as soon as possible. And I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again. I’m sorry.”
“……”
Galina listened to Sharon’s words with her arms crossed, then closed her eyes and nodded heavily.
“I understand, Miss Evergreen Witch. But please take measures to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”
“Yes, I will.”
It was clear that she was pretending to be fooled, but Galina couldn’t push it any further after seeing Sharon, who was taking a low stance.
After all, Sharon was a teacher of the Jemernai family, and before that, she was a great witch.
Since she was apologizing to cover up the twins’ mistake, Galina needed to respect her as well.
“Then, I’ll take my leave.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“It’s nothing, it’s the duty of a servant. Odile and Odette, don’t play too late.”
“Okay.”
“Yes….”
After Galina closed the door and left.
The twins, who had been wearing their hats, glanced at Sharon.
The twins’ faces, having overcome a great crisis, were full of relief, as if they had met a rescue team during a shipwreck.
“Thank you! Sharon, Sister!”
“Thank you! Sharon, Sister!”
“Haa, so what happened?”
Sharon put her hands on her hips and asked the unruly tomboys.
2.
“It seems we need a special move too.”
“Suddenly, Duke Tifereth is too strong of an opponent.”
The twins, with cocoa with marshmallows floating in front of them, explained what had happened.
In fact, the reason for preparing such a cumbersome tactic was not only for the Harvest Festival.
It was to check the newly joined competitor, Duke Eloa Tifereth, and to gain a strategic advantage.
The Duke’s wealth was insignificant.
However, she was one of only three dukes in Gehenna and a great witch of the 23rd rank, respected by many witches.
Moreover, she had a firm connection as their assistant’s teacher, and although not as much as Sharon, she also had a powerful asymmetrical force that the twins did not have.
If they stood idly by, they would be helplessly beaten, just like with Sharon.
“So, this is that special move?”
Sharon tapped the box on the table and asked.
“Haa~ We were originally going to keep it a secret.”
“We’ll reveal it especially since Sharon, Sister, helped us.”
“You know it’s cheating to copy it, right?”
The wrapping paper was peeled off.
Without even hearing the twins’ explanation, Sharon immediately recognized the identity of the item.
Between the paper boxes, she could see wooden blocks neatly arranged through the translucent vinyl.
Jenga.
A very simple board game where you stack wooden blocks and take turns removing them, and the one who makes it fall first loses.
“Oh… um, nice! Siwoo will like it.”
Sharon hid her true feelings.
She thought it would be something amazing since they called it a special move, but it was just Jenga.
It might seem special in Gehenna, where it’s hard to find items from the mortal realm, but in the mortal realm, it’s something you play a few rounds of and then stop even if you go to a board game cafe.
They probably went through a lot of trouble to get it….
Siwoo would give a good reaction.
She didn’t want to disappoint the twins by telling them the truth.
“That’s right! But it’s different from regular Jenga.”
“Hehehe, would you like to see?”
“Different?”
“Please turn around for a moment.”
“You’ll be surprised too, Sister.”
Did it have an automatic stacking function?
Or was it a high-end toy with some magical effects?
Sharon was puzzled but waited for the twins to make a fuss.
“Tada!”
“It’s ready!”
Looking at the blocks neatly stacked, Sharon tilted her head again.
No matter how she looked at it, it was completely ordinary.
“Would you like to try it?”
“Sure, it’s not a difficult thing.”
Sharon rolled up her sleeves and tapped the bottom center wooden block with her fingertips.
The block came out smoothly without difficulty.
Just as she was thinking that there was nothing special about it, she noticed the twins grinning.
“Did you do it?”
“Oh, you have to look at the back of the block!”
“The back?”
When she flipped the block in her hand, she noticed a feature that was different from regular Jenga.
There was something like a transparent tape with writing on it stuck to it.
“What did you get?”
“Wh, what is this!”
The writing was….
[Match the other person’s nipple position over their clothes]
It was a very simple but clear penalty clause.
“You just have to do the item on the block you pick!”
Sharon’s mouth dropped open.
The Jenga that the twins had prepared was not just a common item.
It was an adult board game made for couples’ hot nights.
=====
Odile in pajamas
