City ​​of Witches 36

Chapter 36 – #09_A Sexless Cohabitation

#35

1.
There’s always an empty space left in a person’s heart.
It’s not that big of a space.
It’s more like a tiny spot that you might suddenly step on and think, ‘Ah, it was there.’

That space, usually submerged deep within the heart, pokes its head out when there’s a gap in thought.
It’s so annoying how it appears without being called.

It surfaces even while taking a bath.
It surfaces even after using the perfume of fatigue to forget loneliness and throwing oneself onto the bed.
It surfaces even when putting a sweet dessert in your mouth, though you’re not even hungry.
It surfaces while smoking, and even when tearing at your hair over an unsolvable equation.

No matter how hard you try to bury it deep and not take it out, it floats up as if saying, ‘Don’t forget me.’

Amelia Marigold also had an empty space in her heart.

In that space, there was always her kind, gallant, elegant, and refined teacher.

The one who fed her medicine with a gentle hand and stroked her forehead whenever her illness worsened,
The one who ran faster than anyone when she fell from a tree and broke her leg,
The one who stayed by her side with warm milk when she tossed and turned in nightmares,
The one who knitted a scarf in front of the fireplace and told old stories,
The one who said, ‘Amelia, you are a more special child than anyone else,’ when she wanted to give up because studying was hard and painful.

Teacher.
Teacher.
My dear teacher.

Amelia remembered.
The day of their unbelievable farewell.
You didn’t tell me anything.

‘Teacher! Why, why didn’t you tell me…! I… I… I thought that if I became a witch… I could be with you forever…’
‘There is always a farewell after a meeting. Oh, is that too cliché to leave as a last word?’

The previous witch who passed on the mark was said to disappear, and the time they could spend together was only until Amelia inherited the mark. She hadn’t told her.
She knew the reason why.

When she was young, she was a lazy, inadequate, and indolent student.
And she loved her teacher so much.

If Amelia had known all the facts, she would never have inherited the mark.
She wouldn’t have strived to inherit her teacher’s research, to be recognized, and to spend more time with her teacher.
If that had been the case, she would have lost her life at a young age due to the illness that had plagued her since birth.

That’s why her teacher hadn’t told her.
Because she didn’t want her beloved student to die either.

‘It’s cowardly… I can’t accept it! How can this be… It’s cowardly… Don’t go… Don’t go…’
‘Amelia, my beloved student, my daughter, my mirror. I am so glad that you carry on the name Marigold.’
‘I don’t need a name like that! Why… Why didn’t you listen to me…’
‘You are a warm child.’
‘I don’t want to! I don’t want to…! Take it back… Without you, I’m… nothing…!’

Even if she cried, tore at her hair, screamed, shook her head, and prayed.
The time of cruel farewell that came so suddenly did not stop.

‘Live like a witch, like a noble. And…’

Her teacher disappeared.

The day Amelia inherited the mark.
She was killed by Amelia Marigold without even leaving her last words.

Guilt, betrayal, resentment, anger, love, longing.
So many different emotions that cannot be expressed in a single word.

Amelia pressed those emotions down.
And pushed them into the empty space in her heart.
Into the space that she knew would resurface someday, even though it was meaningless.

The pain of loss, which kept sinking like swallowing a hot lump of fire, must have finally pierced a hole in the bottom of her heart.

After the simple funeral.
Amelia, who had cried until she fainted, and then cried again after waking up.
She no longer shed tears.
Had she realized that the harsh reality was something she couldn’t shake off no matter how hard she tried to deny it?

A resolution was in her eyes.
A resolution that was forced upon her,
That she didn’t want,
But couldn’t abandon.

‘If that’s what my teacher wanted…’

The witch’s greatest wish.
To achieve a higher rank and reach the achievement of the witch of creation.

‘…I will walk that path.’

They were memories that were too warm, but at the same time, too sharp.
Memories that came like a sudden flame, making her heart burn as if she had been burned, and bringing tears of longing.

Thus, that empty space was a space only for her teacher.
For a very long time,
Until a bold and impudent man appeared before her eyes.

2.
Siwoo took out a cigarette.
For reference, Amelia had given him a whole pack on the way back from Border Town.

Twenty cigarettes!
In the past, it was a tasteless cigarette that he wouldn’t even smoke if given, but only those who have options can afford to be picky.
Siwoo was in a position where he had to pick and eat even if they gave him rice mixed with cyanide.

Anyway, if he smoked one a day, or two on special days, he wouldn’t have to become a slave to nicotine for a whole fifteen days.
He was already having a hard time with his slave life, so one slave life was enough.

Siwoo lit a cigarette with the candle burning on the fireplace and sat on the windowsill.

His reflection in the glass showed him wearing a damn sexy suit.

Amelia had tried to barter it for perfume, so he didn’t know the exact price, but it looked expensive from the material to the design.

“Damn, he’s handsome.”

After getting dressed up for the first time in a while and slicking back his hair, a sense of self-admiration began to creep in.
It was incomparable to looking in the mirror after a shower.
Wouldn’t Amelia be completely smitten with him at this point?

A brief fantasy.
Siwoo, who made eye contact with himself in the glass, realized the reality.
Judging by Amelia’s reaction right after he changed his clothes, that was unlikely to happen.

Siwoo smiled bitterly and flicked off the cigarette ash.
Amelia had changed a little in the past few days.

If before, she was just a beautiful beast that brought disaster, lately, she’s been… something else.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it after we went to Border Town together that the real change began?
Was she tired of tormenting me until now?
Was she quite grateful that I took the falling debris from the eaves for her?
Has she really started to look after me as one of her own?
Surely, she didn’t realize that I protected her to the end at the inn.

“Ugh, shit.”

Siwoo felt a chill run down his spine and shuddered involuntarily.
The last assumption was unlikely.
No matter how he thought about it, if Amelia had found out that he sucked her breast, there was no way they could be this peaceful.
It seemed Sophia had kept her mouth shut properly.

Anyway, she bought me underwear, gave me dessert, gave me cigarettes, and even gave me this wonderful suit.
It feels a bit strange.

He had felt a similar feeling before.
It was like when his senior, who had tormented him for two years, was about to be discharged and started being nice to him, saying he was sorry for being immature.

It was awkward to just be thankful, but it wasn’t like Siwoo was the type to hold a grudge, thinking, ‘Did you think I’d forgive you if you act like this now?’
He wasn’t harsh to others in the first place.

Therefore, it was very difficult to adjust his distance with Amelia and his psychological stance towards her.
He was happy to receive things, but also felt awkward, and when he tried to treat her comfortably, the things he had suffered came to mind. It was that kind of situation.

“Ah, whatever.”

He was leaving anyway.
And who knows? Maybe the hard times would be glorified over time.
Among the shitty days in Gehenna, the memories of bickering with Amelia might become the only ones worth remembering.

It’s all going to pass anyway, and it’s already in the past.
Rather than needlessly creating conflict with Amelia, it’s better to just play along, take care of my needs, and get out of here quickly.
Perhaps it’s thanks to Amelia’s tantrums being less severe than before, but I was able to refresh my mindset relatively easily.

“Ugh, if only her personality was even half as good as her looks.”

I would have been wagging my tail, calling her “Master, Master” like Takasho.

Come to think of it, a person’s appearance is really important.
If Amelia were even a little less pretty than she is now, Siwoo would have absolutely hated her.
But what can you do?
The DNA in my body says that a beautiful woman is always a mitigating circumstance.

Siwoo put the cigarette, filter still attached, in the ashtray (which looked incredibly fancy and expensive) and closed the window.
Just then, the door burst open.

Ah, right, this is the start of this kind of life.
The no-privacy zone has been activated.
From now on, I’ll probably have to masturbate in the bathroom.

Siwoo lightly adjusted his clothes and went out to the living room.
The only good thing is that the living room and bedroom in the accommodation are separated, so I can at least detect Amelia’s intrusion.

“Associate Professor…”

“What is it?” couldn’t be said.
Because Amelia suddenly cut in.

“Amelia.”
“Yes?”
“My name is Amelia Marigold.”
“Yes, I’m Shin Siwoo.”

“I know, but what do you want me to do?”

As I stared blankly at her, Amelia’s eyebrows briefly rose.

That was about 25% of the bewildered look she gave me when I did something utterly ridiculous.
What did I do wrong this time?

“Shin Siwoo.”
“Yes…?”

When Amelia called my name, it was always one of two things.
Shin Siwoo, the caretaker, or just the caretaker.
Unless she was truly angry, it was mostly the latter.
So, what was the prelude to her calling out my full name?
The PTSD I’d accumulated over five years began to twist my body, asserting its presence.
I unconsciously hunched my shoulders.
Did she get mad because I smoked in the room?

“That’s right, it was Shin Siwoo. Not the caretaker.”

Amelia nodded as if she had realized something on her own, then stared intently at my face.
It was almost uncomfortable.

“Y-yes, that’s right. I’m not the academy’s caretaker anymore, but your exclusive assistant professor’s.”

I was so flustered that I bit my tongue.
The left-right balance of Amelia’s fine, delicate eyebrows was disrupted.
That was 50% frustration.

“Call me by my name. Siwoo.”
“Y-your esteemed name, Assistant Professor?”
“Yes. I told you, my name isn’t Assistant Professor.”

I didn’t know what kind of thunderbolt this was.
But what could I do? Now that I was her exclusive slave, I had to do whatever she said.

“Understood. Amelia-nim.”
“Siwoo.”

Amelia looked very pleased.
At first glance, she seemed expressionless, but if you looked closely, her nostrils were slightly flared, which was ridiculously cute.
A sudden question arose, but I wondered if Amelia’s nose hairs were also blonde?

“Good job.”

Siwoo, who had been flustered by Amelia’s sudden attack, finally noticed the plate in her hand.
It was that… cherry cake that I had enjoyed so much before.
Actually, I forgot the exact name. It was just that complicated.
She placed the plate on the table with the same triumphant air.

“Eat.”
“Yes? Thank you. Aren’t you going to have some, Amelia-nim?”

There was only one piece of cake and one fork, so I asked. Amelia shook her head.

“I don’t need any. After you eat, go wash the plate in the kitchen on the first floor.”
“Yes, I will enjoy it, thank you.”

Amelia, who had appeared so suddenly, disappeared just as quickly.
Did she come all the way here just to give me cake?
Well, I hadn’t had a meal today, and I was craving something sweet, so Siwoo munched on the cake.

“Hmm…”

The feeling that I’ve become some kind of pet is just my imagination, right?