City ​​of Witches 112

Chapter 112 – #25_Spoiled (2)

#110

1.
Loud voices cut through the peaceful garden of the Amelia mansion.
The twins, having emerged from the portal at the academy, were dashing through the garden, using their water lizard steps with a thud.

“Odette, run! Odette! Why are you so slow!”
“Sister! Wait just a little bit!”

Something similar had happened before.
The twins had rushed over upon hearing that Siwoo had woken up,
only to find Siwoo as stiff as a puppet.

Afterward, the grief-stricken twins had grabbed Count Jemernai as soon as they returned to the mansion, begging him to teach them healing magic.
Jemernai, understanding the twins’ feelings, had no choice but to open the mansion’s library to them, and the twins had immersed themselves in their studies.
How long had they spent poring over incomprehensible technical books, groaning in frustration?
Then, a piece of good news was delivered through the head maid, Galina.

It was news that Duke Keter himself had stepped in to treat Siwoo.
Upon hearing that, they had thrown aside their piles of books and papers and come to find Siwoo.
They were certain that if it was Duke Keter’s treatment, he would surely be completely healed this time.

As soon as they opened the front door, they hurried up to the second floor and went straight to Amelia’s room, knocking on the door.

“Associate Professor! Associate Professor!”
“May we come in?”

The door slid open.
Amelia, whom they faced, had a rather bright expression for the first time in a while.
In fact, she wasn’t one to show her emotions on her face, but her atmosphere was different.
If her atmosphere had been like a gloomy dark cloud floating over her head until recently, now it was like a bright sun with a rainbow.

“Can we see the assistant?”
“We heard that the assistant has recovered!”
““We want to go play with him!””

Amelia, who had hesitated for a moment at the twins’ words, said,

“You don’t need my permission anymore. Assistant Shin Siwoo is no longer a slave.”
“Huh?”
“Go ahead.”

The twins quietly left at the dismissal without further explanation.
Not a slave? What could that suddenly mean?

“What happened?”

But seeing the assistant’s face was more urgent than pondering the situation.
Besides, whatever the case, wasn’t it good news that they could play with him freely without needing permission anymore?

“I don’t know. But is that important?”
“No, isn’t it a good thing?”

The twins hopped like little rabbits out for a stroll and burst open Siwoo’s door.

“Assistant, we’re here!”
“Assistant, we’ve arrived!”

Inside the room, where the warm spring sunlight was shining today.
Siwoo, who had been diligently writing something at the table, was startled and looked at the suddenly opened door.
And the twins saw it.
A tiny little kid was sitting in his place, instead of the robust young assistant Shin Siwoo.

“Huh?”
“Huh?”

A moment of silence.
Siwoo tidied up the paper he had been scribbling on and got off the chair to greet the twins.

“Hello.”

Black eyes and black hair.
Just like Siwoo’s.
And even the fact that he was wearing an eyepatch on his left eye.
With their strangely similar appearances, the twins tilted their heads, wondering what was going on.

“Hey, do you know where Assistant Shin Siwoo is?”
“Ah, I’m Shin Siwoo…”
“……?”
“……?”

The twins stared at Siwoo’s face for a while before looking at each other.
Before the confusion could deepen, Siwoo explained.

He didn’t know the full details, but he had gone through some kind of incident and his body had become younger.
His memories were also mixed up and blurry.
But he would be able to recover soon, he said.
The twins, who had been listening calmly, nodded in unison.

“Ah, so the assistant has become a kid?”
“Yes, yes… I think so.”
“Assistant, do you remember who I am?”

Siwoo pondered for a long time before speaking to Odette.
It was like recalling a math formula he had memorized a long time ago.
If he concentrated desperately, blurry memories would come to mind.

“Are you… Odette?”
“Correct!”
“Then, what about me?”

Odile also placed a finger on her chest and asked.
Siwoo answered with a clear voice this time as well.

“You are Odile.”
“So, I’m not forgotten?”

Odile nodded, looking pleased.
Once the simple confirmation and situation assessment were over, the twins looked at Siwoo’s appearance again.
The initial bewilderment had been swept away by his explanation, and now they began to notice Siwoo’s current state in detail.

Odile and Odette walked lightly and stood in front of Siwoo.
Once they had confirmed his safety with their own eyes, a noisy little Siwoo appraisal began.

“He’s shorter than me now?”

Starting with his small height, which barely reached Odile’s chin.

“Sister, look at his skin. It’s like a baby’s skin!”

His skin was clean and without a single scar, as if he had returned to his childhood.

“Assistant, your pajamas look so good on you!”

Sky-blue polka-dot pajamas.
They fit him perfectly without any sense of awkwardness.
It was hard to believe that this person was the tall and handsome assistant Siwoo.
So, they looked him over as if they were examining a doll.
They grabbed his arms and spun him around, and poked his cheeks.

While Siwoo was dumbfounded by the twins’ boisterous welcome ceremony, Odile, who had belatedly come to her senses, cleared her throat.

“Assistant.”
“Yes, Odile.”

She had just thought of something she wanted to make him do as soon as she saw this.
Odile spoke clearly, her face flushed with excitement.

“Say ‘Odile, big sister’ for me.”
“Huh? Me too! Please say ‘Odette, big sister’!”
“Be quiet, Odette, I’m going to hear it first!”
“Let’s do rock-paper-scissors, sister! This is unfair!”
“What are you talking about? I came up with the idea first? It’s unfair of you to try to jump in now.”

Before he could even answer, the twins started a rapid-fire argument. Siwoo smiled awkwardly.
That look was so similar to assistant Siwoo that it made them think once again, ‘So this is the assistant’s childhood.’

“Odile, big sister, Odette, big sister… like this?”

Siwoo spoke almost without a pause, perhaps to stop the twins’ pointless squabble.

“……..”
“……..”

The twins, who had been so loud about who would hear the ‘big sister’ first, closed their mouths tightly.
They stared intently at Siwoo’s face and fell silent at the same time.
Siwoo, wondering if he had done something wrong, said it again, switching the order.

“Odette, big sister, Odile, big sister. I was worried you might fight…”
“……..”
“……..”

Even after the correction, the twins were just staring at Siwoo with their mouths half-open.
Although Odile and Odette were apprentice witches, they were also girls who liked cute and sweet things.
Cute Siwoo and sweet Siwoo’s unintentional aegyo were enough to melt the twins’ hearts, which had been divided.

“Kyaa! Little assistant, you’re so cute. Look at these soft cheeks.”
“Cute, cute! Assistant, you’re so cute!”

Odile stuck to Siwoo, pinching his soft cheeks and rubbing her own cheek against his.
Odette also made a fuss, hugging Siwoo, letting him go, and then patting his head.
After petting Siwoo for a while and chanting “cute” about 200 times each, Odile and Odette hugged Siwoo tightly.
The twins, who had been enthusiastically adoring Siwoo, had their lips melting as they clung to him.

“Holding him makes me feel at peace…”
“Sister, let’s take our assistant home and raise him…”
“It would be nice to hug him between us when we sleep, right?”
“Yeah…”

They smiled warmly, as if they had already brought Siwoo to their mansion.
Meanwhile, Siwoo, who had been sandwiched between the twins, was flustered and blushing.

“Assistant, so you haven’t recovered your memories much? How much do you remember?”
“Don’t you remember playing with us?”
“Yes, I only know your names and that you are apprentice witches… But could you let go of my neck?”
“Ah, sorry, sorry.”

The twins finally let him go after seeing Siwoo looking uncomfortable.

“Assistant, you saved our lives twice.”
“When you were an adult, you were a really cool person. But I think I like you like this too…”

Siwoo, feeling shy for no reason at the twins’ giggling, avoided their gaze.
The twins pulled on Siwoo’s sleeve and urged him.

“Anyway! The important thing isn’t that.”
“That’s right, Assistant! Would you like to go out and play with us?”
“Play…?”
“Yeah! Don’t hesitate. Let’s buy you clothes and go to the public bath together.”
“Sister, that’s a great idea! Assistant, assistant! Do you know how beautiful the public bath is? I really want to go with you. We go at least once a week.”
“But…”

In fact, Siwoo was seeing the twins for the first time.
All the memories he had built up were sealed away.
However, he felt a strange sense of familiarity, and because they were so kind to him, he didn’t feel the same rejection he had felt when he first saw Amelia.

“Yes, I’ll go.”
“Yay!”
“Good thinking, Assistant! Oh my, you’re so cute.”

Odile patted his head a lot just for giving one answer.
Siwoo also felt a little uplifted thanks to the twins, who were jumping around, shouting “cute, cute” no matter what he did.
No one dislikes being praised at a young age.

“Before that, I’ll go get permission from Amelia.”
“Huh? You’re not a slave anymore…”
“Be quiet, Odette, he should.”
“Okay.”

Since the only clothes that fit Siwoo were the pajamas that Duke Keter had dressed him in and returned, he went out in his pajamas.

“Sister, why does he have to get permission?”
“Well, there’s such a thing as manners.”

He walked down the hallway, listening to the twins’ chatter through the closing door.

-Knock knock

The door slid open at the knock.
Amelia was sitting at the table, working on her research that had been piling up.
In fact, she had gained a lot by breaking through the 22nd rank barrier once again.
Now that Siwoo’s condition had returned to some normalcy, she was organizing it.

“What is it?”

Amelia tilted her head, looking at Siwoo, who had come in alone, even though he was supposed to be playing with the twins.

“Amelia, may I go out and play with the apprentice witches?”

Compared to yesterday, Siwoo’s attitude toward Amelia felt much more relaxed.
She had taken care of him with such devotion, as if she were his mother, so he had a good impression of her.

Besides…
He remembered touching Amelia’s chest yesterday.
He didn’t know what he was thinking at the time, but now that he thought about it, it was a very embarrassing thing to do.
The sensation kept coming back to him, so he couldn’t look her in the face.
She, on the other hand, was as calm as if she didn’t care at all.

“Go ahead.”
“Thank you.”

As he bowed politely, Amelia added,

“And Siwoo, you don’t need my permission anymore. You are no longer my slave or anything.”
“But you are the one who takes care of me. I thought I should tell you out of courtesy.”

Amelia, taken aback by the unexpected answer, nodded readily.

“In that case, please just tell me where you are going from now on. There could be problems.”
“Yes. Then…”
“One last thing, Siwoo.”
“Yes?”

Amelia called out to Siwoo.
Something had flashed through her mind.
It was his past self, who had been in a physical relationship with the twins, even if it wasn’t full-fledged intercourse.
She hesitated for a long time about whether to say it or not, and then finally said it in a very roundabout way.

“…Don’t do anything too bad with the apprentice witches.”

Siwoo tilted his head.
He didn’t seem to understand at all, but she didn’t think anything would happen.

“Yes, I understand. I’ll be back, Amelia.”

Siwoo bowed again and left the room.

Amelia got up from her seat and stood by the window.
Looking down at the garden, she soon saw Siwoo being led by the twins, one on each hand, running toward the academy.

Looking at him, she somehow felt like she had become the previous Marygold.
Everything Amelia was doing for him was what she had received from her teacher.

She didn’t think she would be forgiven for this.
But why did she keep wanting to do something for him?
Amelia, lost in thought, watched the three people disappear into the distance.