City ​​of Witches 455

Chapter 455 – #96_Travel(4)

#454

1.
It was 6 AM, an early morning with a refreshing start.

Siwoo, who had somehow fallen asleep amidst the awkward atmosphere, opened his eyes and jumped up. As he recognized the unfamiliar scenery before him, the events of the previous night flashed through his mind like a memoir.

His awkward co-sleeping with Amelia.
They hadn’t even had a proper conversation, just lying on their respective beds.

“…Huh?”

He turned his head, but Amelia, who should have been lying on the bed next to him, was gone. Only the neatly arranged bedding, just as it was when they first entered the hotel, was visible.

Siwoo was surprised.
Could it be that Amelia had left like this? That thought crossed his mind.

“Amelia?”

Siwoo got up and called her name.
Just then, the door to the bathroom, which was right next to the bedroom, opened.

It was Amelia, still wearing the white dress she had worn yesterday. He didn’t know when she had woken up, but her neatly combed blonde hair and clear eyes, reminiscent of a fairy, were as usual. Fortunately, it seemed his worry that she had gone somewhere during the night was unfounded.

“Did you sleep well?”

As he secretly breathed a sigh of relief and greeted her, Amelia nodded slightly.

“Were you taking a shower?”

There was a toilet inside the bathroom if you opened another door, but Amelia, being a witch, didn’t need to go there. But she didn’t seem like she had taken a shower either, as her hair was fluffy and dry… Could it be that she was curiously peeking around, fascinated by the modern bathroom? Considering her actions yesterday, it was quite possible.

“No, Siwoo, come here for a moment.”

Amelia gently pulled Siwoo’s sleeve and led him into the bathroom. At that moment, a slight steam and a calming lavender scent filled his nose. The bathtub was filled with warm water that had turned a slight purple hue.

Moreover, on the bathtub shelf where bath products could be placed, there was wine, glasses, and an unopened pack of cigarettes. Had she been taking a bath?

“I prepared a morning bath for you.”
“A bath?”
“Because you like taking baths in the morning, Siwoo.”

Siwoo looked at Amelia.
Her face, a little redder than before, seemed to be glancing around, her eyes expecting praise. By the way, could this be…?

Only then did Siwoo realize the connection between the series of events. Amelia, who had insisted on carrying her own luggage, Amelia, who had stubbornly tried to book the accommodation herself. Even Amelia, who woke up early to prepare the bathwater.

It was like the behavior of a servant.
Amelia’s additional strike confirmed his prediction.
Amelia, who had approached him little by little, said in a barely audible voice.

“If… if you need help with your bath, please tell me. I’ll be waiting outside.”

This was it.
Of course, it wasn’t that she had no intention of caring for him or showing love, but it was closer to an act of atonement for the past. Just as Amelia had used to order Siwoo around with a flick of her chin, Amelia was trying to repay Siwoo for what she had received in the past.

Because she was sorry, because she felt ashamed.
It seemed that Amelia was trying to make amends in her own way.
Before Siwoo could say anything, Amelia brushed past him.

“……”

He didn’t feel comfortable.
He wanted to tell her that she didn’t have to feel burdened. It wasn’t like the accident was 100 to 0. He felt like Amelia was taking on an unnecessary burden.

Anyway, she had prepared it for him.

Siwoo took off his clothes and tossed them aside, then stepped into the bathtub. The perfectly warm water, and above all, the scent of Amelia’s special bath salts, made even the unremarkable bathtub seem like a luxurious spa compared to the Geminai bathroom.

With wine and a cigarette, it would be perfect…

“Wait, cigarettes?”

Hotels were basically non-smoking indoors. If you smoked, they would deduct 200,000 won from the deposit you had made at check-in as a fine.

“Amelia!”

Siwoo urgently called for Amelia.
He heard a startled sound from the door.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“I’m just letting you know, but the hotel is non-smoking!”
“……”

A moment of silence.

“Of course, I knew that.”

Along with a rustling sound, Amelia’s answer came about two beats late.

2.
“Amelia, have you been like this all this time?”

What Siwoo found after finishing his bath was Amelia, kneeling in front of the bathroom with a demure posture. It was as if she had become a servant, waiting in front of the bathroom the entire time Siwoo was leisurely taking a bath.

“Yes.”

Amelia nodded.

“……”

To some, it might seem like a show, a self-satisfying act of atonement, but Amelia didn’t have the ability to play such mind games in human relationships. She was doing this purely out of sincerity, thinking it was for Siwoo’s sake.

He still remembered being tormented under her when she was the manager.
But he didn’t want to be bound by the past like this anymore.
If the past mistakes caused by their shortcomings were going to hinder their future relationship, he would rather pretend they never happened.

“Get up. And don’t do this again.”
“But…”

Perhaps it was because he didn’t feel comfortable.
Amelia seemed flustered by his tone, which had unknowingly become stern.

She looked anxious, as if she didn’t understand why Siwoo’s face had hardened. She showed deep concern, wondering if she had made a mistake.

Siwoo grabbed Amelia’s wrist and helped her up.
He simply hugged Amelia, who was as frightened as a child who had broken a plate. Amelia, in Siwoo’s arms, surrendered without any resistance.

“I told you, it’s really okay. I don’t hate you anymore, and I understand everything.”
“But… I want to do it. As much as you had a hard time… I want to do things for you too, Siwoo.”

Amelia replied in a frail voice that seemed like it would break at any moment.
It was frustrating.
He wasn’t angry at Amelia, but at his own indecisiveness, which had used distance as an excuse and made her feel insecure.

“It’s really okay, so don’t do it.”
“I will.”
“Don’t do it.”
“I will.”

The people involved were very serious, but the dialogue itself was very childish.
It seemed that there was no solution as long as they were both feeling guilty.

Shouldn’t they have had this conversation while drinking wine yesterday?
He belatedly realized that they needed to sort out their positions.

“Okay, let’s sort this out cleanly here.”
“Sort out…?”
“First, let me tell you what I think. It’s actually uncomfortable for me when you act like this. It’s not like I’ve only done good things, so why would I receive an apology like this?”
“I was more wrong. I tormented Siwoo who was just minding his own business, and I tried to deceive him by getting his forgiveness when he didn’t know anything…”

Deceive?
That wasn’t it.

“It wasn’t deception. I know now that you were just trying to be good to me, Amelia.”

Rather, he had come to realize that Amelia valued Siwoo more than anyone else, and that she had been good to young Siwoo in order to make up for her past mistakes.
He had realized long ago that her actions, which had seemed selfish, were actually selfless acts of kindness.

“Rather, I should be more sorry about that. If I had calmed down and talked to you back then, you wouldn’t have had to suffer alone.”
“That’s not true…!”

Amelia quickly pulled away from Siwoo’s embrace after hearing those words.
Siwoo might have said harsh words and left Amelia.

But he had clearly left a note.
A note expressing his apology for saying such harsh things, and his willingness to talk once he had calmed down.
The reason he didn’t know until the Whisper Witch manipulated it and changed the contents was purely because his weak self was too scared to check.

“Siwoo left a note… It was foolish of me not to read it and suffer alone…”
“That’s not true! Moreover, it wasn’t suffering in vain!”

Siwoo had never imagined that Amelia hadn’t read the note until that point.
It was because he didn’t know what kind of past and wounds she was carrying.

But if she had really wanted to talk, there was plenty of time to do so before returning to the present world.

Just because he found it difficult to look at her face, because he felt awkward, he had only conveyed a passive desire to talk, and as a result, Amelia had to go to the present world in a state of confusion and anxiety.
She had even gone through a life-threatening battle to fulfill her contract with Keter, without Siwoo’s knowledge.

He didn’t know how long it had been.
Since they had last clashed like this, raising their voices at each other.

“Besides, even so, it’s really burdensome when you go this far!”
“Why is it burdensome! I’ve been saying since earlier that I was more wrong!”

The two of them spoke almost non-stop, revealing their inner thoughts that had been like a lump.
Even the usually quiet Amelia spoke quickly, shouting in sharp voices and high tones, almost like a fight between lovers.

Although the content was a fight about who was more at fault, Siwoo was serious, and so was Amelia.

While they were exchanging words, raising their voices until they were out of breath, it was Amelia who got tired first.

Because one undeniable truth was holding her back like a shackle.

“Still, still, still… the fact that I tormented Siwoo doesn’t disappear…”
“……”
“Just because I didn’t know, just because I was immature, doesn’t mean the wrong disappears… It doesn’t mean that Siwoo’s suffering didn’t happen…”

Tears fell from Amelia’s cheeks as she lowered her head.
Even in the happiest moments, the past was tightening its grip on Amelia.

Every time she thought of herself looking at him indifferently, insulting him, tormenting him with absurd chores, every time she thought of Siwoo suffering and feeling resentful because of it.
It was painful.

She was afraid that the more she loved him, the more painful it would become.

“I want to repay Siwoo. I want to fix it, even if it means becoming Siwoo’s slave…”
“Amelia…”

I see.
Siwoo finally realized that the distance he had felt yesterday wasn’t just because of his own feelings.

They had hugged each other and cried, but they hadn’t actually had this kind of conversation.
Therefore, he had only thought that Amelia was also confused about how she should act towards Siwoo.

But she still hadn’t forgiven herself.
She didn’t think she deserved to be happy, and she had drawn a line for herself.

“I hate myself… so, so much…”

Amelia was sobbing.
She was wiping away the tears that she couldn’t control with her sleeve, trying to hold back the sobs that were about to burst out.
Siwoo reached out to Amelia and wiped away her tears.
Amelia didn’t avoid his hand and waited silently before speaking in a voice that was soaked with tears.

“…I don’t know, everything… I don’t know anything.”
“If there’s something you don’t know, ask me. I’ll answer if I can.”

Amelia, who had barely managed to swallow her sobs, moved her lips.
A very careful, heartbreaking question.

“Is it… okay for me to love Siwoo?”

This was the fundamental reason why Amelia had no choice but to turn her back and run away.

In fact, Siwoo didn’t think he could answer this question with confidence… but.

Still, he seemed to know what he could do to reassure Amelia.
And he also knew a way to give her a definite answer to her question.

Hadn’t he done it before?

Siwoo pressed his lips against Amelia’s.
He wrapped his arms around her waist to prevent her from escaping as she tried to pull back.
He opened her thin lips and mixed his tongue with hers in a deep kiss.

It wasn’t a light and innocent kiss.
It was a deep kiss that entangled their tongues, as if to hammer in his desire for her.
When he finished the kiss, which was as cool as a scene from a youth drama.

“……”

Amelia was frozen with her face flushed red.
Her lips, trembling intermittently, proved that she was incredibly surprised.
He had kissed her on a whim because he felt sorry for her, but now he felt embarrassed because she was so shy and showed such a reaction.

“Is that enough?”
“……”

Amelia’s eyes, which had become unfocused and glazed over due to being overstimulated, were not properly focused.
Amelia grabbed Siwoo’s collar.
Her hands and voice were trembling.

“Once… I’m not sure if that’s enough.”

And then, she clung to Siwoo’s neck and kissed him instead.

It had only been five days since they had met again.
But wasn’t this the first time they had truly faced each other in a meaningful way?
Siwoo thought so as he felt Amelia’s soft and warm tongue.