City ​​of Witches 297

Chapter 297 – #65_Return(5)

#295

1.
“Ugh….”

Because Elroa had overslept, quite some time was spent before they could visit the Jemernai mansion.

Siwoo knew the twins were well-off, but this was his first visit, and he was amazed by the overwhelming grandeur.
If there had been Hollywood stars or world-class athletes in the Victorian era, they would have lived in a mansion like this, he thought.
Following the butler who came to greet them, it took more than 10 minutes by carriage just to cross the garden from the main gate to the main building.

“It’s beyond my imagination.”

However, the reason Siwoo and Elroa were so out of it wasn’t just because they were overwhelmed by the size of the mansion.
The mansion itself was certainly amazing, but what happened this morning was more directly related.

As soon as they finished their late breakfast and went down to the first floor, they were shocked.
There were ten times as many witches as they had seen yesterday, all eating on the first floor.

‘Oh! There he is!’
‘Is that him? The guy who has the mark despite being a man?’
‘It’s really, really him?’

As soon as they identified Siwoo and Elroa, all of them dropped their forks and knives and rushed towards them.
They looked like crazed fans waiting in front of a broadcasting station, so Siwoo and Elroa had to scramble to get out of there.

But that didn’t mean all the commotion had died down.
Whether the rumor that Siwoo was in Border Town had spread overnight, witches kept swarming them all the way to the portal.
At this point, the music box was meaningless.

Come with me, I’ll give you a gift.
I want to have a good time.

There were subtle flirtations like that, of course.

Help me with my magic research.
There were also many spine-chilling proposals to let them study him just once.

‘Enough already!’

Elroa’s outburst scattered them like spiderlings, but they quickly swarmed back like a cloud. The chase only ended when they arrived at the Jemernai mansion.

“I can’t even go outside…”
“I agree…. You should hide a bit.”

Elroa leaned back against the carriage seat and nodded.
She looked utterly exhausted.

Then.

-Clip-clop! Clip-clop!

The sound of horses’ hooves began to be heard in the distance.
And then, voices like birds chirping followed.

“Jo Siwooo-niiim!”
“Jo-nimiiiim!!!”

There was no need to wonder whose voices they were.
The twins quickly approached and circled the stopped carriage like natives who had captured their prey.

“Looks like they came to greet us.”
“You go first. I’ll convey the greetings for you.”
“Is that alright?”
“Of course.”

Siwoo said goodbye to Elroa and got out of the carriage.

The twins, perched on side saddles, which allowed them to ride sideways with their legs together, were looking at Siwoo with eyes full of joy.
For the record, Odile was riding a black horse, and Odette was on a white horse.
Both of them had such shiny coats that they seemed to be using better shampoo than Siwoo.

““Jo-nim!!!””
“Whoa! You’ll get hurt.”

Upon discovering Siwoo, Odile and Odette jumped off their saddles without hesitation and hugged Siwoo.
They were so happy to see their master after a long time that they were about to lick Siwoo’s face.

“Jo-nim! I missed you! I heard you almost got into big trouble in the mortal world?”
“If you were in danger, you should have come to our mansion right away! I’ve been practicing my shooting a lot since that day!”
“That’s right! From now on, be sure to consult with us before anything happens!”
“You didn’t even tell us when you were coming! That’s so mean!”

The twins took turns hugging Siwoo’s arms and showering his cheeks with kisses, giving him a surround-sound welcome that left him completely disoriented.

“C-can you please get off me instead of hanging on my neck?”
“What’s with that reaction! You don’t seem very happy to see us!”
“Surely, there isn’t someone you wanted to see more than us, is there?”

To be honest, Siwoo was very happy to see the twins, but he was planning to meet Sharon first.
It wasn’t a matter of favorability or friendliness.

Sharon had been deeply wounded by a homunculus while trying to protect Siwoo, who was helpless.
The last time Siwoo had seen her, she was unconscious, so it was only natural that he was worried about her current health.

At that moment, Odile noticed something over Siwoo’s shoulder.
She saw Sharon approaching from afar.
Siwoo, with his back to Sharon, had not yet noticed her.

Just as he was about to ask the twins for their understanding and go meet Sharon.

A fragrant and fresh scent, along with the Jemernai family’s unique fragrance, tickled his nose.
Soft lips covered his mouth as if they were a lid.

A sticky and soft sensation, as if they had applied a lot of lip gloss or lip balm.
Before he could even feel any astonishment, a tiny, adorable tongue slipped into his mouth between the small lips.

“Oop?”
“Huum…uum….”
“O-Onni! Me too! I want to do it too!”

Odile had kissed Siwoo while clinging to him as soon as she spotted Sharon in the distance.
If she didn’t do it right now, Sharon would surely steal the reunion kiss that they hadn’t had in a long time.
And she also wanted to show that she was the one that Jo-nim really liked!

Siwoo belatedly realized that this was the middle of the Jemernai mansion, in the garden with no screen, and hurriedly pulled Odile away.
He wondered if the Count might be looking down at them from the mansion windows over there.
Siwoo felt a chill run down his spine.

“Odile-nim, you shouldn’t do this outside.”

Despite Siwoo’s reasonable claim, Odile brushed her hair behind her ear and declared with her hands on her hips.
Her cheeks were flushed with a fresh blush, like a ripe peach.

“I’m not going to care about what others think from now on! And what’s the big deal? All our exclusive maids know anyway!”
“Me too! I want to do it too!”

Even in the midst of all this, Odette was jumping around and begging Siwoo for a kiss.
He thought that if he didn’t do it, it would never end, so he gave Odette a light kiss as well.

“Heh…hehe…. It feels… nerve-wracking since it’s been a while….”

Odette immediately melted into a flustered expression.
If Odile’s kiss was like a battle kiss, Odette’s was closer to a princess’s kiss after falling in love for the first time, making even Siwoo feel awkward and forget the situation.

“You’ve done it all, what are you talking about.”
“Onni, you lack romance!”
“No, I don’t? My heart rate also shot up to 300 beats per minute!”
“Alright, alright, that’s enough.”

Siwoo stopped the twins, who were about to start bickering over something trivial again.
Odile and Odette were about to go into battle mode, but they looked at Siwoo and hugged him tightly one last time.
In fact, they missed Jo-nim so much, who always stopped them like this whenever they bickered.

“I missed you, Jo-nim….”
“Me too, Jo-nim….”
“I missed you both too, Odile-nim and Odette-nim.”

Siwoo, feeling good from the warm welcome, took the twins’ reins and headed towards the main building.

“…….”

Odile, who was skillfully perched on her horse and being escorted by Siwoo, glanced back.
The figure of Sharon Onni, who she had glimpsed, was no longer visible.
It might be cowardly, but….

“The world of competition is cold.”
“Pardon?”

Odile muttered to herself, and Siwoo didn’t hear her properly.
Odile naturally urged Siwoo on.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go quickly, Jo-nim. I’ve prepared a picnic to go with you.”

2.
Sharon slammed the door shut.

After her class ended and she received word that Siwoo had arrived, she immediately rushed out to meet him.
She had completely forgotten Albireo’s request to ‘keep a distance from Siwoo.’
When she rushed out, she saw the twins, who had arrived earlier than Sharon, riding horses and being with Siwoo.

And Odile’s sudden kiss, followed by Odette’s kiss, made Sharon think of many things at the same time as she was shocked.

One.
That Siwoo and the twins were that close.

Two.
The contract with Albireo, which she had forgotten in her joy that Siwoo had returned first.
That vague request, the exact line of which she still didn’t know.

“Haa….”

Sharon sighed.
When she was bickering with the twins without Siwoo, she actually thought it was nothing.

She thought that even if she gave them a deadline, Siwoo wouldn’t be taken away.
So, she decided that based on this, she would stand next to him as an equal, without relying on him anymore.
But when she saw the twins kissing Siwoo, that conviction crumbled.

As her conviction disappeared and the issue of the contract with Albireo came to mind, her feet felt as heavy as if they were shackled.
She couldn’t bring herself to run to greet Siwoo.

“Why… didn’t he tell me?”

Siwoo had clearly said that he was just close to the twins like an older brother to younger sisters.
But was kissing with tongues after meeting like that, not just a simple peck, the relationship of close older brother and younger sisters?

“All the older brothers and younger sisters in the world would be having affairs…!”

Sharon clenched her fist and expressed her resentment and sadness towards Siwoo.
But the resentment soon turned into self-blame.
Objectively, she knew that her conditions were far inferior to the twins.

Money?
Just looking at the villa she received as accommodation, she knew it would take her years to buy it.
No, it might take her more than a year just to buy one of the chandeliers in the lobby.

Hierarchy?
Unless Sharon advanced two ranks within a few years, she would fall behind.

Numbers?
Compared to Sharon, who was all alone, the twins were always a buy-one-get-one-free deal.

Social status?
The Evergreen family was renowned in the orthodox elemental academic world, but the Jemernai family was a Count family that held sway even in Gehenna.

Charm?
She had shown off her figure in front of the twins today, but the twins were not ugly either.
Rather, they had a cute charm that Sharon couldn’t imitate.

Even if she considered the last one a draw, Sharon was completely defeated.
She sighed at her own patheticness for teasing the twins for having bigger chests.

‘If the twins inherit the mark in the future, and if they maintain a close relationship until then, wouldn’t that be a great help to him?’
Just like Albireo’s line.
If she grabbed any witch on the street and asked them to vote on ‘Who is more helpful to this man?’, they would all choose the twins.

This won’t do.
She couldn’t possibly endure this sober.
Sharon took a bottle of liquor from the workshop cabinet and started drinking straight from the bottle.

“I can’t… let you go like this… I prayed desperately all night… but… if I can’t love you anymore….”

Sharon sang the song she had sung with Siwoo at the karaoke while sipping her liquor.
Then, the door burst open and she heard someone coming in.

“Sharon! I’m back!”

Sharon, startled by Siwoo’s sudden voice, tried to hide like a fox that had heard a gunshot.
Siwoo, oblivious to why she was doing that, immediately burst into the workshop, making Sharon’s efforts to hide instinctively futile.

“…….”

Siwoo, having left the grumbling twins waiting, had come straight to see Sharon.
What he saw was Sharon, who had half-opened the closet door and was about to go inside.
It was different from the reunion he had expected.

“What are you doing there?”
“…I, I was looking for something in the closet.”
“…What are you looking for? Do you have to go inside to find it?”
“W-well, what was it? Haa, it’s hot… it’s so hot.”

Sharon fanned her flushed face and slipped out of the closet.
Only then did she see Sharon’s appearance, which she hadn’t seen in a long time.

It was true that she could be this happy.

Her long, flowing hair, which seemed to be a perfect blend of light green and dark green.
Her mint-colored eyes, which were moist despite her cold, aloof appearance.

The image of Sharon being pierced by a harpoon while trying to save him was still haunting Siwoo in his dreams.
Seeing her safe and sound in person, he felt so emotional that he was about to burst into tears.

“S-Siwoo… oop…!”

Siwoo strode over and hugged Sharon tightly, kissing her in one go.
It was like a 3-second kiss at the entrance!
Sharon, who had been stiff and trembling strangely, lost her strength like a captured bird and leaned her weight against Siwoo’s broad chest.

“Huum…um…oop…!”

At first, it seemed like she was resisting.
But that sign disappeared completely within 3 seconds of the kiss starting.

Sharon continued to kiss him, hugging Siwoo’s waist with a gesture that seemed to say she wanted to give him everything.
When their excitement and breathing became too rapid, making it difficult to breathe properly, Sharon and Siwoo barely separated.
They had only kissed and separated, but Sharon’s face was already a mess with tears.

“Hic…hic… Siwoo-ya… I missed you… I missed you….”
“I missed you too. Are you not hurt anywhere? Is your body okay?”
“U-u….Hwaaaang… I, I’m okay now…. My, my rank is also… recovered… Hwaaaaaang….”
“Oh my, look at your face getting all messed up.”
“D-don’t… tease… meee…. Haaaaaang….”

Sharon, who was crying so hard that he was worried about when she would breathe, buried herself in Siwoo’s chest.
The resentment she had felt towards Siwoo, the vague anxiety that she might be separated from him.
Even the trivial question of who was really suitable to be by his side.
None of that mattered as much as it did now.