Chapter 205 – #45_Those Who Almost Lost (4)
#203
1.
Duchess Eloa Tiferet.
A hundred years ago, she lost her apprentice witch to the Witch of Aquarius.
She created a location point.
I had heard quite a few stories about her from Sharon, but this was the first time I was having a proper conversation with her.
What we shared at the mall today was too one-sided to be called a conversation.
Perhaps that’s why I was able to observe her a little more closely.
Pink hair, a color I had never seen even in Gehenna, where all sorts of hair colors exist.
Walking around Sinchon and Hongdae, you occasionally see people with pink hair after a full bleaching, but I could say with certainty.
No one could pull off that hair as well as Tiferet.
Her tightly closed lips and solemn, neatly arranged eyebrows.
And because of her unique serious atmosphere, I had thought she was quite an adult, but she was smaller than I thought.
A little bigger than the twins and slightly smaller than Amelia?
Especially because of her eyes and hair color, she tended to look a bit younger.
I know it’s an assessment that doesn’t fit the situation at all, but she’s still beautiful.
I should call it surreal beauty.
I was waiting to see what kind of question would come out of those tightly closed, petal-like lips, but she didn’t say anything for a long time.
“Ah, am I supposed to ask first?”
“That’s right. My explanation was insufficient.”
Siwoo opened his mouth without hesitation.
Pretty is pretty.
But I wanted to ask about this, even if I was a little angry.
“I understand that you misunderstood, but isn’t it too much to attack me out of the blue? Besides, it wasn’t just me who got caught up in it. I can understand the circumstances for me, but attacking the witch next to me… why did you do that?”
When the bewilderment I felt when I first faced her subsided and I had time to think calmly, a complaint suddenly popped out.
Siwoo was using a ribbon and was completely covered in armor at the time, so it was an unavoidable misunderstanding.
But what did Sharon do to deserve such a rough time?
“….Whether it’s a misunderstanding or not, we can find out from now on. And there’s still a suspicion that you are Ea Sadalmelik herself, or someone related to her. As for that witch, I thought she might be a hindrance or collaborator disguised as a third party, so I stopped her.”
“So, you’re saying that you were planning to harm Sharon… no, that green-haired witch from earlier, if necessary?”
A duchess who had lost a loved one and wandered the present world for revenge could be blinded by rage.
Siwoo could understand that much.
After all, I was only in pain for a short time, my body was all healed, and I wasn’t particularly traumatized.
But I saw Sharon looking sad.
I had no intention of forgiving that so easily.
“One question at a time.”
“Ask me anything.”
“………”
Tiferet quietly fell silent at Siwoo’s words, which were tinged with reproach, and then continued.
Siwoo also cooled his head, which had been heated by excitement, and crossed his arms.
It didn’t seem like it would be good to let emotions get ahead of me any further.
“What is your relationship with Ea Sadalmelik?”
“She’s a bitch. That bad woman came in and gouged out my eye. I also injured my head at that time and was on the verge of death.”
It was an immediate answer.
In fact, Siwoo’s feelings for Ea were extremely bad.
The fact that she had killed several witches and apprentice witches was enough to make me feel a physiological disgust, and she was the one who had gleefully dug out my eye with her thumb.
Just thinking about her face brings back the pain I felt at that time.
As soon as Siwoo’s words, which were as sharp as a knife, ended, one of the three glowing letters flickered and went out.
Tiferet stared at the letter with trembling eyes.
It was because they had exchanged one question and answer, and it proved that there was no lie in that exchange.
It was confusing.
Back to Siwoo’s question.
“It’s the same question as before. Were you planning to hurt Sharon there too?”
“….I’m not that reckless. I was planning to scare her enough to make her tell the truth, but…”
“So you’re going to torment her like that? Do you know how much that friend cried when she came home?”
“……..”
“Anyway, I don’t have anything else to ask. Ask the rest.”
Eloa was being pushed as if she was being pressured.
Her confident demeanor from before was gone, and she looked very intimidated.
“…Then, why are you using Sadalmelik’s and my apprentice witch’s self-nature magic?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
“I really don’t know. When I woke up again after collapsing for a few months, the mark was naturally engraved on me. Above all, I found out for the first time today that I had that duchess’s apprentice witch’s self-nature magic. Before that, I couldn’t even figure out what kind of magic was in my mark.”
“……..”
Siwoo said everything, even things he didn’t have to ask.
No matter how much I disliked the duchess’s attitude or behavior, she was a formidable opponent to leave a grudge against.
I wanted to clear up all possible misunderstandings while I was at it.
The duchess turned her head and looked at the letters of the contract floating around her.
This time, one of the shining letters disappeared.
It meant that his words were true.
This contract creates a space where lies cannot be told.
Also, the restraint is enormous.
It is a powerful device that completely blocks clever tricks that twist words, such as ‘I didn’t lie’.
In other words, he is only hostile to Ea and does not know why he is using two self-nature magics.
The problem is that it is not a perfect explanation.
It would have been understandable if he had explained how he got the magic, but ‘I don’t remember’?
If he is innocent, he is innocent, and if he is suspicious, he is suspicious… It is an ambiguous answer that varies depending on which perspective you look at it from.
“Lastly… do you still suspect me?”
Siwoo swallowed hard and asked.
Siwoo also felt as he answered that how Duchess Tiferet accepted this answer depended on her mindset.
She had a confused expression on her face and then answered.
“I don’t know… I really don’t know.”
Eloa had encountered many groups of people so far.
Evil that is rotten from the root.
Goodness that is born to care for others.
Neutrality that compromises appropriately depending on the situation, etc.
She could see the innate temperament of a person as if she were reading their palm with just a few words of conversation.
And according to various situational judgments, Siwoo was an extremely good man.
He was angry for his friend who was almost hurt rather than for himself.
Everyone around him said that he was definitely not a bad person.
If his confession is added to that, the weight shifts towards him being a good victim who was caught up in the incident rather than having some kind of scheme.
“Ask your last question.”
“Siwoo? Why is it taking so long?”
While I was wondering what to say, the rooftop door opened and someone came in.
It was the witch I had met on the rooftop of the mall today, the one who had cried and handed over a card asking me to save Siwoo.
“Wh-what! Did you, did you come again?”
As soon as she found Eloa, her face hardened.
She hurriedly raised her wand and hid Siwoo behind her.
Even though she knew that she was no match for her after their clash, she showed hostility as if she was trying to protect him.
“Siwoo! Run away quickly! I’ll take care of this!”
“………”
“………”
Sharon was mistaken that Eloa had come again to kill Siwoo.
But when the two of them stood there blankly without any reaction, she turned her head back and forth, looking at Siwoo and Eloa alternately.
And she quietly dispelled her wand.
“Wh-what is it? Isn’t this it?”
“Uh… um, I don’t think so.”
Eloa looked at Siwoo with a determined look in her eyes.
The letters of the contract that had been floating around her were sucked into her sword and disappeared.
There was nothing more to ask.
“I’m sorry.”
Before I could say “Huh!”, Eloa knelt down in front of the two of them.
It is said that a person’s usual conduct and actions can be known through the opinions of those around them, not the person themselves.
If it was just his words, there were still many suspicious aspects and many parts that were not convincing.
However, if not one person but four people were desperately defending him, a conclusion could be drawn.
This man has nothing to do with Ea.
Even if he does have a relationship, it is not a relationship of accomplice or partnership, but only a thorough victim.
“I would like to deeply apologize for oppressing you without knowing the details. Also, I don’t know how to ask for forgiveness for trying to drag the other person next to you into this.”
But Eloa didn’t stop there and bowed her forehead to the floor.
Her shimmering hair scattered in a fan shape on the floor.
“I have no excuse…. I have nothing to say…. Can you allow me to make reasonable compensation?”
“Y-you don’t have to go this far…”
“I, I’m okay now too…”
Siwoo and Sharon were flustered and didn’t know what to do.
Siwoo didn’t have such bad feelings towards Eloa in the first place.
He was very hurt and was angry that Sharon was involved, but Eloa’s actions so far had been more human than any other witch.
And that was the same for Sharon.
Anyone can be in pain after losing a loved one.
However, her righteous actions of risking her life and capturing the homunculus and the public enemy, spending her entire fortune for someone she didn’t even know, so that such a thing would not happen again, were worthy of praise.
Even if there was a misunderstanding, the duchess herself knelt down and asked for forgiveness.
It was impossible to resent her any further.
“Please get up. The misunderstanding has been resolved and I’ve received your apology, so it’s really okay now.”
“I’m really sorry. Please let me stay like this.”
Siwoo bent down to lift Eloa up, but she didn’t move from the floor.
I don’t know why she’s so strong.
When Siwoo gestured to Sharon, Sharon also rushed over and joined in.
“Duchess Tiferet, please raise your head. It’s true that what happened today was really, really infuriating, but I forgive you too.”
Only after Sharon lifted her up did Eloa raise her head.
Siwoo and Sharon were both surprised.
It was because of the tears that welled up in Eloa’s eyes, which had seemed so solemn and strong.
Her voice hadn’t trembled at all, so I hadn’t noticed at all.
“It’s my fault, it’s all because I’m lacking and foolish… No matter how much I apologize for taking a loved one hostage and colluding, it’s not enough.”
“L-loved one…”
Sharon was flustered.
She pondered for a moment and then knelt down in front of Eloa.
And then she reached out and hugged her.
Eloa’s body was trembling.
I wasn’t sure if this was okay…
As someone who knew her sad past, I wanted to give her even this insignificant comfort.
“It’s okay, don’t cry. Anyone can make mistakes.”
“I’m sorry… I’m really sorry… I did something I shouldn’t have done…”
“Oh, come on, it’s okay…”
Before I knew it, Sharon was also tearing up and gently stroking Eloa’s head.
The impromptu hearing ended with a scene like a reunion of separated families.
