Chapter 772 – #Sidestory01_Twins And The Contest (5)
#Special5
1.
Late at night.
Amelia couldn’t hide her fatigue.
She was engrossed in perfumery work to pay off the massive debt she had recently incurred.
At first glance, the word perfumery might evoke images of elegant and refined artistry, but handling the entire process was not much different from manual labor.
She had to pile up tens of thousands of flowers, moss, tree bark, and spices in warehouse units to extract essential oils.
Still, she had no complaints.
She even felt a sense of accomplishment.
After all, wasn’t she able to be with Siwoo?
Thinking about the moment of separation that had been postponed indefinitely, this kind of labor was nothing.
Despite the fatigue, Amelia was happy every day.
“Haaam….”
Amelia yawned softly, washed herself lightly, and headed to bed.
“Hmm…. Siwoo….”
Last night, she had fallen asleep in his broad arms, but unfortunately, Siwoo wasn’t by her side today.
As much as she wanted to hold onto him forever, she couldn’t keep him by her side all the time.
As Amelia hugged the soft bedding that still had a faint trace of his scent and closed her eyes, Odile and Odette were in a secluded alleyway of the Malcuth Gallery, in front of Amelia’s perfume shop, steeling themselves.
“Sister, should we just go back…?”
“Odette, what are you saying after coming all this way?”
Odette glanced at the music box she was holding tightly in her hands, her eyes filled with unease.
Odile, who usually took charge of most incidents with boldness and no fear, was also stiff with tension today.
That was because what the two were about to do was something that involved a danger that was incomparable to the pranks they had done before.
“But, Sister…. I don’t think we need to go this far.”
“Have you already forgotten Count Yesod’s valuable teachings?”
This morning, Count Yesod’s scathing critique was enough to sting the twins’ hearts.
Count Yesod’s passionate lecture, where he clenched his fists and spoke vehemently, replayed in their minds.
‘Miss Odile, Miss Odette. Did you really feel the tension that made your hands sweat when you wrote this scene? Did you feel the precarious virtue of voyeurism and the solemnity of betrayal?’
‘Do you think the motivation for Jin Siwoo to steal panties, the attachment he has to the panties that touched the secret place of the handsome blond baron, and the intense motivation to achieve his sinister purpose while risking all sorts of dangers are depicted here?’
‘Can a piece of writing that cannot move the author’s own heart truly move the hearts of others?’
The moment they heard those words, the twins realized what they lacked.
Just as a great actor immerses themselves in their role, a writer must immerse themselves in the protagonist.
However, Odile and Odette had never actually experienced such perverse and voyeuristic acts.
To recreate the precarious sense of betrayal in their work, they had no choice but to have such an experience.
Thus, the goal that was decided upon was none other than former Associate Professor Amelia Marigold.
More precisely, it was to steal her panties, just like the protagonist in the novel had done.
Just thinking about what would happen if they were caught already made them feel one step closer to the protagonist.
Odile raised her finger and spoke solemnly.
“Odette, don’t forget? To become a great creator, one must go mad at least once.”
“Yes, I understand, Sister….”
“Take a deep breath, take a deep breath.”
“Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.”
If Sharon, their collaborator, had heard them, she would have grabbed their skirts and stopped them, saying, ‘Kids, that’s not it!’…
Unfortunately, there was no mediator present to stop the twins’ rampage.
Wasn’t it because the twins had anticipated this that they had excluded Sharon in the first place?
“Music box activated. Song of Tranquility, omnidirectional concealment field, activation confirmed.”
“Confirmed…!”
And so, the twins cautiously opened the door of the perfumery shop under the cover of night.
Fortunately, the door was not locked.
While it was true that the Renomond Town, the second wealthiest district in Gehenna, was safe, who would dare to rob a shop where a 23rd-level witch resided?
-Creak!
-Jingle jingle!
Amelia’s perfume shop, which was leading the latest trends in Gehenna.
Odile and Odette had also visited the perfume shop before, having spent their allowance to buy things there.
The sound of the floor and the doorbell, which they hadn’t paid attention to back then, now sounded like thunder.
Both of them swallowed their breaths.
According to their prior investigation, the perfume shop had four floors.
The first floor was a reception room and counter for customers, as well as a perfumery.
The second and third floors were warehouses.
They had to reach the fourth floor to find the Associate Professor’s private space.
“Sister…. I can’t breathe well….”
“Don’t worry, the music box is doing its job well.”
The twins were right.
The music box was a masterpiece from the Geminai family, famous for producing luxury magical tools.
It was an artifact that could semi-permanently regenerate self-magnetic magic.
No matter how great a witch she was, she wouldn’t be able to notice their presence while asleep.
Hadn’t they tested it before when they snuck into the assistant’s lodgings?
“…Shall we go?”
“Ughhhhh….”
The twins looked at the stairs leading to the upper floor side by side.
Illegal entry complete.
They had no excuse if they were caught in their current state, but if they were caught while heading to the upper floor, they would have even less room for excuses.
“I… I don’t think I can do it, Sister.”
Compared to Odette, who wanted to go back even now, Odile’s desire was surpassing her fear.
Odile put her hands on her hips.
She looked disapprovingly at her indecisive younger sister, then took off her shoes and started climbing the stairs first.
“Then you stay here. I’ll go alone.”
“S-Sister!”
-Creak! Creak! Creak!
The wooden stairs moved noisily with each step.
Odette, who was watching her sister’s retreating backside, also closed her eyes tightly and followed behind.
Geminai was two as one.
Even if what lay ahead was hell, they had to face it together.
“Hoo…. Hoo….”
“Haa…. Haa….”
It was just a slightly narrow and steep staircase.
However, the twins, who were trained in horseback riding and hunting, were sweating so much that their backs were soaked just from climbing two flights of stairs.
This was because their breathing had become rapid, as if they were lacking oxygen due to the tension.
Finally, the last floor.
A firmly closed wooden door greeted the twins.
If they opened this door, they would find Associate Professor Amelia and the closet containing her underwear.
“……”
“……”
Whether it was because they realized they couldn’t run away after coming this far, or because they had sorted out their feelings while climbing the stairs, Odette’s eyes were filled with determination.
Although it wouldn’t matter much if they talked since the concealment field’s radius was minimized, the twins exchanged glances and nodded at the same time.
Even for the twins, who had thick nerve fibers, this sense of urgency was simply unbearable.
The two of them pressed their ears against the wooden door, completely focused.
There was a presence.
But there was no ambient noise.
It seemed she was indeed asleep.
Just like the protagonist Jin Siwoo in the novel, they closed their eyes and prayed.
Please let them open this door and safely obtain the panties.
Please don’t let them end their lives here, caught by the Associate Professor.
They filled the courage they lacked with imaginary desires and twisted the doorknob.
-Creeeeak….
The wooden door opened with an eerie sound.
Odile, instead of Odette, who was trembling while holding the doorknob, peeked her head through the crack in the door.
“……”
The living space on the fourth floor was like a studio apartment, with everything in the room visible at a glance.
There was a bed by the window in front, and Amelia’s round back of the head could be seen as she lay facing away.
Odile signaled the clear sign that they had agreed upon beforehand.
Odette also hesitantly entered the room.
Was it fitting for the moniker of the Witch of Perfume?
Leaving aside the pleasant scent coming from the shop, even the room was filled with a mesmerizing fragrance.
If that fragrance hadn’t provided a kind of therapy, both Odile and Odette might have run away on the spot.
“……”
Odile and Odette, who had been frozen stiff like hamsters suddenly caught in the dark, didn’t move.
Five minutes passed.
The sound of breathing could still be heard.
Only then could they be sure.
She was asleep.
They didn’t know if she was so sound asleep that someone could carry her away, but she was definitely asleep.
Around that time, the twins were sharing their overwhelming joy.
They finally felt like they understood a little.
How the urgency that had only been expressed as a string of letters should have been expressed.
Why Count Yesod had been so scathing in his criticism.
At this moment, Odile and Odette became characters in their own story.
The extreme awakening that allowed them to feel even the Associate Professor’s small movements on the bed.
The precarious scheme of risking danger to pursue their goal.
The two of them headed towards the closet, walking stealthily like cats in the night.
At that moment, there was one thing the twins had overlooked.
Amelia had hardly ever slept since becoming a witch.
Recently, she had developed the habit of closing her eyes as her teacher had told her, but she was still clumsy at sleeping.
No matter how excellent the music box’s concealment function was, just the change in the flow of air when the door opened was enough for her to wake up in her sleep and sense the intrusion of an outsider.
‘…It must be Siwoo.’
Amelia kept her eyes tightly closed and pretended to be asleep, preparing to greet Siwoo’s surprise.
