Chapter 1038 – #247_Apprentice Witch, Cohabitation (4)
#1032
1.
Humans defend against stress caused by external factors in various ways, which are called defense mechanisms.
There are many types of defense mechanisms.
There’s avoidance, where one consciously turns away from the source of stress; denial, where one distorts and accepts reality; and rationalization, where one brings out the sour grapes theory when the desired result isn’t achieved.
Diana’s defense mechanism was intellectualization.
It’s a tendency to separate emotions and reason from threatening situations and face them in a rational way.
For example, it’s like someone with a fear of space deliberately watching space documentaries to accumulate information about space.
‘Diana, all men are wolves.’
‘Men are terrifying beings. Do you know how bad they are?’
‘If you’re going to date, date another witch. How great is that? You have the same interests.’
Due to Countess Yesod’s mindless injection of male phobia, Diana basically avoided men.
Naturally, ‘sexual acts,’ which are a step above, were out of the question.
So, she studied her mother’s books and organized them to objectify the concepts she feared.
“Miss, if you’re done eating, shall we play a round of position board?”
“Yes, I’d like that.”
“I’ll go and prepare it.”
“No, let’s go together.”
It was the same this time.
It’s not that she dislikes her relationship with Shin Siwoo.
But it’s true that she’s scared of her first time with him.
She’s had indoctrination since a long time ago, and it’s her first time, so it can’t be helped.
If she’s this scared, there’s a way.
Full power to the intellectualization circuit.
If she learns more about Shin Siwoo, she won’t be as scared as she is now.
Therefore, Diana decided to explore Siwoo one by one.
A position board duel after a long time.
Sitting comfortably on the sofa, taking turns making moves, Diana felt it.
“…You’ve gotten much better.”
“Is that so?”
You can’t talk about her relationship with Siwoo without mentioning this position board.
It’s a Gehenna folk game that connected the two of them from the beginning to the middle of their meeting.
But he, who had Diana in the palm of his hand when they first met, had now transformed into a completely different being.
He wasn’t a show-off using all sorts of cheap tricks and unconventional tactics, but rather a grandmaster who built up from the basics step by step.
Observing Siwoo was her priority rather than the position board itself, but even though she did her best, she was no match for him.
He doesn’t use the exceptional unconventional tactics he used to, nor does he adopt flashy tactics.
Therefore, at first glance, it seemed like a close, but boring match.
The diligence of interfering with what Diana wants to do and accumulating what he wants to do.
This small gap soaked her like a drizzle, and when she came to her senses, the game was already in an irreversible disadvantage.
“I lost. I’ll lose in five more moves.”
“You’ve worked hard. You’ve gotten much better too, Diana.”
“Because I’ve been practicing.”
Diana has a considerable competitive spirit when it comes to the position board, but she only feels resentful when there’s a significant difference.
She’s not particularly angry about this.
It was because the feeling that she would barely win one game out of 100 felt like a certainty.
“Would you like to review the game together?”
Siwoo, who had won leisurely, suggested without showing any signs of boasting.
At other times, Diana would have nodded.
It’s certain that she would improve a lot if she learned from him.
But right now, there’s a priority.
“Huuu.”
Diana’s cheeks puffed up like an angry pufferfish.
“Let’s do it again. It was a mistake to be caught by such a fluke. I’ll win next time.”
She reset the position board and slammed the table, declaring.
The sight was a reincarnation of Diana from the early days of her meeting with Siwoo, unable to suppress her anger and repeating the challenge.
“You won because you gained a huge advantage while I was dozing off, right?”
“Well, yes. I was lucky.”
“Liar. You don’t think so, do you?”
“No, you said you were sleepy… If you’re tired, would you like to go rest?”
“See? You’re so relaxed because you don’t believe me at all. You think I’m lying, right?”
“Haha, no.”
Siwoo scratched his eyes in embarrassment at Diana’s appearance, who was speaking in a soft tone but quickly firing off as if she was very upset.
He just laughed it off at Diana’s unreasonable tantrum.
In fact, Diana had been very fussy when he was her tutor, but the only time he had seen him get angry was when Diana was almost harmed by thugs.
“I’m really confident that I’ll win the next game. I’m so confident that I’ll win next time, so let’s bet this time.”
“A bet?”
“The loser has to grant the winner one request. How about it?”
“Yes, if you want to…”
There was a reason why Diana was acting like a person she had never been before.
She was inspired by her mother’s novels ‘Taming of the Shrew,’ ‘The Villainous Lady’s After Story,’ and ‘Ribbons and Leather Belts.’
Subduing a high-handed and cheeky woman on the bed stimulates a primal sense of conquest.
There’s even an expression called ‘low in the day, high at night.’
Not only that, but she even put up a bet.
Since the first night was already booked, a cheeky Diana, and a bet where the loser had to do whatever the winner said.
If she had set the table this far, she should naturally make progress.
If he doesn’t pounce, Diana’s hypothesis will be proven.
He may be rich in experience, but he has less knowledge about sex than Diana, who has studied with high-quality references.
Still, Diana doesn’t play a rigged game.
She did her best in the game, but the result of the match didn’t change.
She just suffered a smooth defeat, unable to pinpoint exactly when she lost.
“Kuh…”
“Hmm, I won again this time?”
She said that the win or loss didn’t matter, but after losing three games in a row, Diana became secretly frustrated.
His acceptance of the result as if it was natural stimulated her competitive spirit anew.
“…Okay, a promise is a promise. What do you want?”
This was a sign that she was practically throwing herself at him.
A sign thrown by a woman as beautiful as Diana, no less.
But his reaction was lackluster.
“Let’s take a walk.”
“A walk?”
“Yes, it’s nice and cool at night. You should go outside sometimes on days like this… Oh, I’m sorry. It seems like my tutor habits are still lingering.”
Diana blinked her large crimson eyes.
If he had noticed this sign, he should have said, ‘Hmm, then shall I touch your chest?’ or ‘Hehe, a promise is a promise, right?’ and started teasing Diana.
Is this guy really an idiot?
Or maybe the sleeping together, the beach sex, the bet…
Is he ignoring everything because it doesn’t suit his taste?
Even so, Diana didn’t think he could be that clueless, so she decided to check and confirm one last time during the walk.
“H-Help me! I’m stuck!”
This time, Diana’s plan was to create a cliché from ‘The Witch Stuck in the Wall’ and ‘Love in Captivity.’
It was a defenseless state where Diana’s waist was stuck in a loose iron fence in the garden, with only her butt sticking out.
“Oh, how did you get stuck there?”
“I was trying to pick a flower. I really can’t move.”
Of course, she could get out if she wanted to, but what’s important is how the current situation appears to him.
Defenseless Diana can’t resist whatever he does.
Because she’s stuck in the iron fence!
If he were to freely touch her butt, lift her dress, and pull down her panties, she wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Don’t be too surprised.”
“Huh?”
-Squeak!
But he nonchalantly widened the iron fence with his bare hands.
Thanks to the iron fence, which was in the shape of 11, turning into a rhombus, Diana slipped out.
-Squeak!
After Diana came out, Siwoo restored the iron fence to its original state as if nothing had happened.
He didn’t seem to use any magic, but such brute force.
She was a little taken aback.
“Let’s go back to sleep now. It looks like it’s going to rain soon.”
Diana was dazed, but after returning from the walk and going back to their respective rooms, she made a complete judgment.
Until he declared, ‘Let’s stop now,’ she thought it was to force some kind of preference, but the continuous proof left no room for doubt.
“He’s really an idiot.”
How can a man be so clueless?
If he’s older and has a lot of experience, shouldn’t he be leading the way?
Diana sighed deeply.
She thought that his lovers must have had a hard time.
At least, based on what she had observed so far, Shin Siwoo was the type of person who would only notice if you wrote him a letter saying, ‘I would like to have sex with you tonight from around 11 PM to 1 AM.’
“In this case, there’s no other way.”
Going back without doing anything after coming this far would worry her mother.
It seemed like Diana had to be a little more proactive.
Diana, standing in front of the vanity, carefully brushed her hair with a fine-toothed comb.
The pajamas she was wearing now had a sensual design that subtly revealed her skin.
Actually, she wore them because they were breathable and felt good against her skin, but from a man’s point of view, they would probably feel quite alluring.
If she wanted to lead Shin Siwoo, who was like a machine that couldn’t do anything without a command, she, who was smart, had to move.
If he can’t eat even when the table is set, shouldn’t she feed him?
It was also raining, and there was thunder and lightning.
It was the perfect timing.
Diana picked up a pillow and walked down the hallway, knocking on Siwoo’s door.
“Yes, come in.”
He was rummaging through his work at the table, which had completely turned into an office in just a few days.
Diana calmly threw the line she had prepared.
Posing is also important.
A shy figure with her chin buried, hugging the pillow tightly as if she was scared and embarrassed by this request.
“I’m scared to sleep alone.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s sleep together.”
She was a little embarrassed and shy, but it was also a line she was confident in.
