City ​​of Witches 344

Chapter 344 – #75_Pride And Prejudice(3)

#342

1.
And so, somewhat out of the blue, a match between Diana and the twins began.
Despite the suddenness of the match, Diana was not flustered.
She had more years of experience learning magic as an apprentice witch, and she was confident in her position board skills.

“Your courage to challenge us is admirable.”
“I can already picture you running away in tears.”

Ignoring the twins’ taunts with a bitter smile, Diana made her first move.
There was no need to pay attention to such psychological attacks.
She just wanted to quickly get rid of the twins and proceed with the game in peace.

-Tap!

Odile’s move, taking the center of the battlefield without any difficulty.
Diana didn’t yet know the twins’ skills.
She was planning to engage in a skirmish by sticking close to them, but she was taken aback by an unexpected event.

-Tap!

Following Odile, Odette made her move without waiting for Diana.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Diana asked, her eyebrows twitching, and received a nonchalant reply.

“What do you mean? We’re playing a game?”
“That’s a rule violation. How can you make two moves at once?”
“We’re the Gemini, two as one. Of course, we play together.”
“……”

The twins’ expressions were utterly shameless.
There was no sign that they had cheated or used a trick, just a nonchalant reaction as if to say, ‘Why are you even asking?’

“No, the position board is a game where you take turns making one move at a time.”
“Huh? Are you perhaps not confident?”

“It’s not about confidence, it’s a foul!”

“The position board is a game that evaluates magical thinking, isn’t it? If Diana-ssi and we were to fight with magic in the future, we would fight together as a team. Would you say ‘That’s a foul!’ then too?”

It goes without saying, but it was a sophistry.
Of course, it was true that the position board was a game that abstractly strategized magical combat.

However, the rule that allows even witches of different ranks, even apprentice witches, to enjoy the game fairly is that ‘each player takes turns making one move.’
It was the core rule that ran through the game.
To deny that outright.
If they were to fight as the twins said, no witch in the world would be able to defeat the Gemini family.

“Well, if you’re really scared, you can run away.”
“That’s right, I saw you playing the game strangely earlier.”
“Even if you suddenly remember something urgent and have to go back.”
“We’ll understand.”

Diana sighed deeply.
She hadn’t even started the game yet, and she already felt exhausted.
If it hadn’t been for that nerve-wracking provocation, and if there hadn’t been a reason to fight the male witch afterward.
She would have gone home, washed her feet, and gone to sleep.

“Then, I guess I can make two moves as well? When I become a witch and fight, the amount of calculation I do will be the same as the two of you combined. And we happen to be of the same rank.”
“That’s fine, I guess.”

And so, the position board game suddenly had a modified rule applied.
The game speed was doubled, and there was much more to think about.
Diana focused intently on the twins’ moves, her brow furrowed.

The magic power source arrangements of the daughters of the count family, who had learned magic by the book, were almost identical.
Whether their boast of confidence was not entirely false, the small-scale skirmish that took place in the center was quite solid.

However, unlike Diana’s style of steadily accumulating advantages like stacking blocks, the twins’ style was like a wild horse running amok.
They used the battlefield widely, spread out their angles, and their play bounced around like a rugby ball. With the addition of the ‘two moves at once’ rule, it was truly chaotic.

Moreover….

“Hmm, here… like this?”
“No, sister, look at this. (whisper whisper whisper) Wouldn’t this be better?”
“Odette, but if you do that, (whisper whisper whisper) will happen?”
“No, I’m telling you! Trust me!”
“Odette! You’re wrong!”

The psychological attacks that came from time to time.
The opponent in the match was clearly Diana, but somehow, they were busy fighting each other.
Diana, who was already in a bad mood, was being caught up in their interference to an extent that she couldn’t ignore.

“Could you please be a little quieter? You’re supposed to be two as one, so why do you have so much to talk about?”

Diana, who had been trying to maintain a noble demeanor despite such underhanded tactics, couldn’t help but say something.
The twins, who had been whispering to each other while holding their ears, stared intently at Diana.
There was something eerie about their expressions, and Diana flinched slightly.
A smile was carved onto the lips of the expressionless twins.

“Aha~ Are you bothered by our strategy review meeting?”
“It could be. It seems like the game isn’t going your way either.”
“Knowing the strength of your opponent is important.”
“You weren’t just a fool after all.”

“Haa….”

She shouldn’t have said anything.
She shouldn’t have given those fools an excuse to pick a fight.

“Okay, I won’t say anything, so let’s just play the game.”

2.
30 minutes passed.

“Ah, really, sister. I told you to put it somewhere else….”
“You were the one who lost in the rune-eating fight a little while ago because you were being stubborn!”
“Hmph.”

Diana was smiling faintly, her expression a little relieved.
She had just crushed the noses of the twins, who had been chattering noisily since earlier.
Even considering the rapidly changed rules, they were not a difficult opponent.

As expected of an apprentice witch from a prestigious family, she showed solid fundamentals and stable play, but….
That was it.
The twins’ play was extremely emotional.
They would fall for minor provocations and suffer losses, and if they thought they had a slight advantage, they would get cocky and rush in, only to fall on their own.

Even with such a difference, how could they possibly beat Diana when they were bickering with each other, arguing about whether to put it here or there?
Diana demanded their withdrawal in a triumphant voice.

“Then, the losers should quietly leave. You haven’t forgotten our promise, have you?”
“Ugh, your tone is so annoying.”
“Show-off.”

She didn’t care at all about the losers’ provocations.
Their complaining grumbling was like a refreshing breeze in her heart.
Siwoo gently soothed the pouting twins.

“Starting tomorrow, my work at the host bar will be over, so I’ll have more free time. Let’s play a lot then.”
“Okay, assistant. Don’t forget our dinner appointment tonight. I’ll play the piano for you.”
“I’ll listen to the assistant and wait.”

The twins kissed Siwoo on both cheeks as if it were natural.
At the same time, Diana’s eyes widened.
Her mouth, which had been smiling faintly with the joy of victory, also formed an O shape.

“Wha, wha, wha, what…. What did you just do?”

Did she see it wrong?

“What? We just gave him a goodbye kiss.”
“Y, y, y, you mean…. You kissed him?”
“You were watching, so what are you talking about?”

Of course, a light kiss on the cheek was a sign of affection.
Diana had always received a kiss from the Count before going to bed, and she knew that close witches would lightly kiss each other on both cheeks when they met after a long time.

But the other party was a man.
And Odile and Odette were apprentice witches from a count family.
Even if they were witches, how could they kiss a man on the cheek, a man whose touch could cause unknown consequences?
The sound of Diana’s common sense shattering was heard.

“Th, th, th, that’s…. vulgar…. A, a, a, a noble’s manners….”

Diana suddenly started buffering like a broken radio.
The twins tilted their heads at her intense reaction, and then a sly smile appeared on their faces.
It was like an old man’s smile.

They had figured out why Diana was reacting like that.
Odile and Odette had had similar experiences, so it was nothing new.

“Aha~ You were pretending to be an adult, but you don’t know anything?”
“It’s possible, sister. They say a frog in a well thinks the sky is square!”
“You don’t happen to not know how babies are made, do you?”

Diana also came to her senses at the twins’ continued provocations.

“Who do you think you’re fooling…! Witches can’t make babies!”
“No, not that.”
“Do you really not know…?”

Diana was dumbfounded by the twins’ absurd expressions.
The apprentice witches of the Gemini family seemed completely unaware of how dangerous their actions had been.

Even if she didn’t like them, she didn’t want to see an apprentice witch ruin her life.
If they were doing something that could cause them trouble due to their ignorance, she had to correct their common sense.

“Listen carefully.”

Diana said, looking at the twins with a serious gaze.

“Apprentice witches shouldn’t touch men carelessly.”
“We know that.”
“You know?”
“How can you do that if you know! If you kiss on the cheek and accidentally bump your lips together…. You could lose your vessel.”

Question marks appeared above the twins’ heads.

“What is she talking about?”
“What’s wrong with kissing on the lips?”
“…If you kiss on the lips, you could have a baby…. And, and, and, the vessel is ruined because of the obscene acts you do with men…. Are you stupid?”

Diana glared at the twins as if to say, ‘Do I really have to say these shameful words?’
The twins finally realized.
The twins had also been greenhouse flowers who were ignorant about the relationship between men and women.
After all, the relationship between men and women was taboo for apprentice witches.
But that Diana Yesode over there was a greenhouse flower in an incubator, not just ignorant, but lacking even basic knowledge.

“Hey, look at this.”
“Kyaaak!!! What are you doing!”

Odile grabbed Siwoo’s cheek and kissed him on the lips as if to show off.
Diana jumped up from her seat and screamed.
It wasn’t because it was an obscene scene.
If someone jumped in front of a car, the same reaction would be natural.

Diana, who couldn’t bear to watch and closed her eyes tightly, trembling, opened one eye.
She could see Odile shrugging her shoulders.

“It’s nothing, right?”
“Sister, that’s unfair! How can you kiss him alone like that!”

Odette also kissed Siwoo on the cheek in succession.
Diana, who had turned pale and was about to have trouble breathing.

“Huh?”

But as time passed, nothing happened.
If the vessel was damaged, there should naturally be some kind of magic power reaction, but the surroundings were quiet.

“And who said that kissing on the lips damages the vessel?”
“If it’s that much, you have to have sex. Sex.”

Diana jumped up from her seat.
The huge shock, as if she had realized that the earth was flat, was secondary. The obscene acts that had unfolded before her eyes were accompanied by a great nausea.

“Y, y, you’re all perverts…! How can you do that in front of others…!”

Diana staggered to her feet and ran out of the host bar as if fleeing.
Odile and Odette, who were watching her retreating figure, could only wear blank expressions.