#011
1.
It had been two weeks since Odette acquired the book from the maids.
When asked about the book’s contents, the maids would only blush, refusing to reveal anything.
Tilting her head, Odette first showed the book to her sister. After flipping through a few pages, Odile quickly closed it.
“Why, why, sister? What’s in it? Is it a forbidden book? A book of demons?”
“Odette, this isn’t something you read casually in a public place. Nor is it something to skim through during tea time.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“It contains information about the bodies and relationships of men and women.”
Odette swallowed hard at Odile’s serious expression.
“Then, could it be?”
“I only saw a few pages… but it’s probably a guide for ‘that act’.”
“What was drawn in it? I’m curious too! Tell me!”
“A male organ. And a naked woman.”
“No way…”
Just as Odette was about to speak, as if she had guessed something.
“Sex…?”
Odile quickly covered her younger sister’s mouth.
“You mustn’t say such vulgar words! Don’t you remember getting scolded by our teacher? Besides, I haven’t confirmed it for sure.”
She whispered, hugging Odette as if afraid someone might overhear.
“Let’s hide the book before we get caught. And we’ll find out for ourselves.”
With the book in their arms, Odette and Odile sneaked back to their quarters.
Is this how smugglers in ‘Border Town’ feel?
It was so thrilling and fun that it reminded them of the night they first snuck into Tarot Town.
The twins sat facing each other with the book on the desk.
Odette, unable to watch Odile lost in thought any longer, cautiously reached out.
“Sister. I, I want to see it a little too.”
“No way!”
“Ouch! You didn’t have to hit me! You saw it already!”
Odile, who had slapped Odette’s hand to prevent her from opening the book, calmed the excited Odette.
They couldn’t let such a good opportunity go to waste.
“Odette, do you remember?”
“Remember what?”
Her foolish younger sister, holding her hand and tearing up, looked wronged.
“Remember when we secretly stole cookies from our teacher’s cupboard?”
“That time you secretly stole the whole thing and got me caught too!”
“No, no, not that!”
Odile barely managed to calm Odette, who was shouting.
She hadn’t brought it up to get scolded.
“When we stole the cookies, did we eat them right there?”
“No?”
“Then when did we eat them?”
“At night.”
“Do you remember why we ate them at night?”
“You said it tasted better with warm milk… oh?”
It was a teaching method as excellent as Professor Amelia’s lectures.
Through repeated questions, she had guided Odette to come up with the answer herself.
That’s right.
Now that they had such a fun toy, not consuming it in its best state would be a great loss.
“So then…”
“Yes, this book not only talks about sex… but also describes the male body in detail.”
“If this book is a cookie, what’s the milk?”
“A man, of course.”
Odette’s face, which had briefly brightened at the mention of a man, darkened again.
“But how? Men run away as soon as they see us?”
“Silly Odette, I have a plan.”
“What is it! Tell me too!”
“Okay, listen.”
Odile pressed down on the book and pulled Odette’s ear closer.
This was the whole story of how Siwoo ended up experiencing everything that would follow.
2.
Siwoo had unexpectedly become a teaching aid for sex education.
Odile, who was stuck close to him, said.
“Okay, Odette. Open the book.”
Odette swallowed hard.
She had been suppressing her desire to open and read the book for two whole weeks.
All for this very moment.
“This book is written for the pure daughters of Gehenna, for their happy first night.”
Odette read the first page of the book aloud in a clear voice.
“Table of contents…”
“We don’t need to read the table of contents. Go straight to chapter 1.”
“Okay, sister. The first step to sharing love.”
The book was exactly what they had expected.
Gehenna was not much different from the lifestyle of the Renaissance era.
There was no way sex education would exist in a place without schools for its citizens.
In other words, this guide was a textbook to help men and women who were about to spend their first night together to have sex safely without making mistakes.
And Siwoo was being used as a sex education teaching aid in the process.
Fortunately, the book itself was quite thin.
With illustrations scattered throughout and large font sizes, it was unlikely to contain anything profound.
“The love between a man and a woman is not just about giving flowers, watching plays together, and taking walks. For a man and woman who have promised their future on a dark night, there is another hurdle to overcome…”
“Wait, Odette, it’s too long. Isn’t there a main point?”
Odette, like Odile, seemed disappointed by the surprisingly boring and predictable content.
But before she could even turn three pages, she gasped and widened her eyes.
“Why? Why?”
“I, I can’t read this, sister.”
“Let me see.”
Odile snatched the book from Odette as if she couldn’t even handle that.
She cleared her throat and began to read aloud.
“A man’s genitals are made of special muscles that enlarge when he feels sexual arousal. This is called an erection, and an erection is necessary for a man and woman to truly unite.”
“But what exactly is sexual arousal? How do you do it?”
Odile furrows her brow as if she’s received a very difficult question.
“Yeah, what is it?”
Odette and Odile put their foreheads together and wrack their brains for a long time, but there’s no way they’ll find an answer. So, Odile comes to a conclusion.
“Let’s ask our assistant.”
“I was just thinking that!”
As soon as Siwoo hears the twins’ conclusion, he wants to scream. He can’t imagine what sins he committed in his past life to deserve this humiliation, on top of public masturbation and public handjobs.
“Please, let’s just stop here. Okay? You saw enough of this at the academy.”
“Do you think you’re in a position to talk back to me, assistant?”
“That’s not it, but…”
“I’m a kind-hearted witch, so I don’t want to oppress you with terrible threats. But we’ve grown quite fond of each other after seeing each other for two years.”
Odile pretends to wipe away tears, acting so pathetic. At the academy, she was a bit of a prankster, but she still had the air of a proper noble lady. But outside, she’s nothing more than a mischievous tyrant.
“Tell us already.”
He’s never had a daughter, let alone been married, so it’s not an exact comparison, but if one day his daughter asked him with an innocent face, “Daddy, how are babies made?” he thinks his feelings would be somewhat similar.
“Well, that is, sexual, ahem, arousal is…”
Just as Siwoo manages to open his mouth, Odette suddenly shouts.
“Ah, sister! The rest is written here!”
“Really?”
Odile sticks to the book like a hamster that’s found cheese. It seems she trusts a credible book more than what comes out of a person’s mouth. Siwoo, who had finally mustered the courage to speak only to be strangely ignored, scrunches up his face.
“First, this is what a man’s genitals look like before arousal.”
“Shall we compare?”
At Odile’s gesture, Siwoo’s pants are instantly pulled down to his ankles. He can feel the twins’ gazes intensely focused on his dick. Odette starts comparing the book to Siwoo’s limp member right next to it.
“It looks really similar to the picture, doesn’t it?”
“It looks so sad and droopy.”
Odile and Odette giggle as they look at each other.
“So, it says here that it gets bigger when you apply this sexual arousal thing? Professor Amelia used to rub it with her hands.”
“Let’s try rubbing it ourselves this time!”
The twins quickly agree and take off their gloves, starting to fondle Siwoo’s dick. They’ve seen it during their lessons, but they’ve never touched it. Siwoo flinches at the unfamiliar touch on his sensitive lower region.
“It’s kind of squishy.”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t like Amelia’s masterful handjob.
Their technique was just like kids playing with clay, kneading and poking.
Well, what could twins who don’t even know what sexual arousal is know about proper handling?
And so, his dick remained completely still.
Still limp, it just moved around as if annoyed by the twins’ touch.
Shiwoo breathed a sigh of relief.
“Why isn’t it getting bigger?”
“I can answer that question. Men also have their condition, and sometimes when they’re not feeling well, they’re just like this, without any energy. So, today’s sex ed is…”
Odile and Odette, who had seemed to be listening to Shiwoo for a moment, immediately lost interest and went back to flipping through the book as soon as they sensed his tone was suggesting they stop.
“Oh! Sister! Look here!”
“Where? On the first night, a man can fall into a state of extreme excitement and tension. In that case, it’s possible for the male organ not to become erect. In that case, it’s necessary to first relieve each other’s tension with a hot kiss.”
“Kiss?”
The twins tilted their heads in the same direction at the same time.
“What does that have to do with this? A kiss is done with the mouth, and the penis is down there.”
“Let’s try it first.”
Again, with perfect synchronicity, the twins looked at Shiwoo at the same time.
Shiwoo chose to close his eyes instead.
If he ended up having sex in this muddled state, he would surely die.
It was important not to get his dick hard no matter what.
As the manual stated, if his thing didn’t get bigger, sex would be impossible.
“I’ll try first.”
“Odile, a kiss is a very sacred act done between people who love each other.”
Shiwoo’s common-sense words were not going to work.
“Really? Then let’s love each other from now on.”
Odile plopped down onto Siwoo’s stomach.
She untied the ribbon around her chin, took off her bonnet, and slowly brought her face closer.
A sharp nose, big eyes wide open even as she leaned in for a kiss.
As her plump lips drew near, Odile’s sweet breath tickled the tip of his nose.
Even when looking at her face from this angle, I couldn’t find a single flaw.
The day I turned twenty, I received a strange letter.
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It was a thick, cream-colored envelope, sealed with a wax stamp that looked like a family crest. The address was written in elegant calligraphy, and my name was clearly printed on it. I had no idea who it was from.
I carefully opened the envelope, and inside was a single sheet of paper. The paper was thick and had a faint floral scent. The letter was written in neat, cursive handwriting.
*To the one who will become the master of the ‘Garden of Thorns,’*
*Congratulations on your twentieth birthday.*
*We have been waiting for you for a long time.*
*The time has come for you to take your place.*
*Please come to the ‘Garden of Thorns’ on the night of the next full moon.*
*We will be waiting for you.*
*From the guardians of the ‘Garden of Thorns’*
I stared at the letter, my mind blank. The ‘Garden of Thorns’? What was that? And who were these guardians? I had never heard of such a place.
I looked at the envelope again. There was no return address. It was as if the letter had appeared out of thin air.
I was a bit scared, but also strangely excited. It felt like I was being invited to a secret world. I decided to go to this ‘Garden of Thorns’ on the night of the next full moon. I had to find out what this was all about.
The next full moon was in two weeks. I spent the next two weeks trying to find out more about the ‘Garden of Thorns’. I searched the internet, libraries, and even asked my grandmother, who knew a lot of old stories. But no one had ever heard of it. It was as if the ‘Garden of Thorns’ was a place that existed only in the letter.
The night of the full moon finally arrived. I was nervous, but I was also determined. I followed the directions in the letter, which led me to an old, abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town. The mansion was surrounded by a tall, thorny fence. It was a creepy place, but I had a feeling that this was the ‘Garden of Thorns’.
I pushed open the creaky gate and stepped inside. The garden was overgrown with thorny bushes and strange, dark flowers. The air was heavy with a sweet, intoxicating scent. I felt like I had stepped into another world.
As I walked deeper into the garden, I saw a group of people standing in the middle of a clearing. They were all dressed in long, black robes, and their faces were hidden by hoods. They looked like they were waiting for me.
I walked towards them, my heart pounding in my chest. As I got closer, one of them stepped forward. He was tall and thin, and his voice was deep and resonant.
“Welcome, master,” he said. “We have been waiting for you.”
I looked at him, confused. “Master? What do you mean?”
He smiled, a strange, unsettling smile. “You are the master of the ‘Garden of Thorns’. You have been chosen to protect this place.”
I was shocked. I had no idea what he was talking about. I was just a normal college student. How could I be the master of this strange place?
“I don’t understand,” I said. “I’m not a master of anything.”
The man laughed. “You will understand soon enough. The ‘Garden of Thorns’ has chosen you. And you cannot refuse its call.”
He gestured to the other figures, and they all bowed their heads. I felt a shiver run down my spine. I had a feeling that my life was about to change forever.
Odile and Siwoo’s lips met.
Softer than a marshmallow, more dewy than a petal kissed by rain.
Two gem-like eyes, sparkling with curiosity, blink at a distance where you could count each eyelash.
Regrettably, the lips that had clung for three seconds quickly parted.
“They say you have to use your tongue when you kiss, Unnie.”
“Tongue? That’s gross.”
“But it says here that the person receiving the tongue should gently suck it in and swirl it around like melting a candy.”
“Okay.”
With that quick feedback, Odile boldly kisses again.
This time, her pointed tongue forced its way into Siwoo’s tightly closed lips.
Odile’s wide, round eyes sparkle right in front of her.
The awkward tongue movements roughly stimulated the top and bottom of her tongue, as well as her lips, and every corner of her oral mucosa.
Odile’s saliva tasted like the refreshing orange they had for dessert.
