Chapter 387 – #83_Joint Secret (3)
#385
1.
Diana, using a handkerchief as a cushion on top of a stack of books, sat with her legs dangling, bringing up a rather old memory.
“You asked me before why I was so lazy, right?”
“Ah, you mean when we went fishing.”
Diana nodded slightly, hugging her knees.
Even though she seemed to have decided to speak, she hesitated as if revealing a complex.
“Do you know what the status quo bias is?”
It was the term Diana had used as a sophistry when Siwoo asked why she was so lazy.
“It’s a bias that makes you want to avoid change. A wish for tomorrow to be like today, and the day after tomorrow to be like tomorrow. I don’t like things changing. I don’t want to become a witch either. And I don’t want my mom to disappear because of it….”
Diana slightly turned her head towards the window outside the bookstore.
“…I really don’t want that.”
Her voice, as she finished her sentence after a pause, sounded slightly hoarse.
“It’s not hard to show my mom a diligent daughter. I just need to try a little harder.”
“……”
“But if that happens, Mom will disappear, right? I’ll be left alone.”
“……”
“So, I want us to be together like this forever.”
At least in the witch society, ‘succession’ is something to be proud of.
Succession is the honor of inheriting a vision that has been passed down for hundreds or even thousands of years.
Even though the achievement is blocked, they are afraid of passing on the mark to the apprentice witch.
Or, conversely, even though they are fully qualified to inherit, they avoid it for fear of losing their teacher.
It’s foolish and shameful.
It was okay even if they said she was unqualified.
She couldn’t bear to look at his face.
She was afraid of the look he would give her, as if looking at something bizarre.
A belated regret washed over her, wondering if she had brought it up for nothing.
“It’s weird, right?”
“A little.”
“…I know it’s pathetic.”
As expected.
She didn’t expect to be understood so easily.
She just suddenly wanted to tell him about this worry that she had been keeping to herself.
“No, not that part…. Miss Diana, you’re an apprentice witch of the Yesod family. I had the impression that you were quite a stereotypical witch.”
Diana turned to look at Siwoo.
There was neither the voice nor the expression of incomprehension that she had expected.
He just blinked one eye with his usual gentle face.
“This…. isn’t it weird?”
“Why? What’s wrong with a child thinking about their parents? I also wished for my parents to live long and healthy lives.”
“Why? I’m an apprentice witch.”
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t understand such a calm reaction.
Diana stared at his face, wondering if he was pretending to be indifferent as a way of being tactful.
“Are witches not people?”
Diana turned her head away at his shrug.
She had just poured out a secret she had never told anyone, but for some reason, all that remained was her flushed cheeks.
It was strange.
To reveal Diana’s secret complex to Shin Siwoo, who was practically an outsider.
And to feel so happy as soon as she saw him trying to understand and seemingly understanding.
Actually, it had been strange since the day she returned from Border Town.
Even when she was about to have a nightmare, his figure would appear and protect her.
She had started to hate her mother, whom she loved more than anyone else, for no reason.
She had done something ridiculous like a surprise kiss under the pretext of taking advantage of a weakness….
Looking back.
Diana Yesod might have been strange for quite some time.
Because of that, it wasn’t easy to bring up the next thing.
She felt a sense of resistance, as if she had to force herself to say something she didn’t want to.
But her mother was also precious.
She had to say it.
“If Siwoo-ssi can make my mom fall deeply in love with you…. Maybe my mom will stay in this world longer. And she won’t pass the mark on to me.”
“So that’s how it connects….”
Diana handed Siwoo the books she had carefully chosen.
“Here, these are the books my mom likes.”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
“Just take them.”
The books piled up in Siwoo’s arms.
“Are you saying that I should read these and find common interests to talk about? To get closer?”
“In a broad sense, yes. You might like them too, you know?”
Siwoo seemed to have a sense of what Diana was thinking.
But there were too many problems to say yes right away.
First, an apprentice witch is a reflection.
Unlike a witch’s spirit, they grow and age, albeit very slowly compared to humans.
In other words, even if Countess Yesod keeps delaying the succession, it doesn’t mean that the status quo is maintained.
Moreover, it was hard to believe that the Countess would agree with Diana’s idea.
A witch’s mania is powerful.
Even the twins, who respected and loved their teacher, showed no resistance to succession.
So, would the Countess, who has lived as an orthodox witch for over 100 years, want Diana to die without becoming a witch?
He didn’t think so.
Second, this was, in any case, taking advantage of the Countess’s feelings.
Even if he conceded that the Countess liked this relationship and it was okay to seduce her,
to start a seduction just because Diana asked him to, without any love or anything?
He wasn’t keen on it.
Combining these two points.
This matter had to be resolved through a sincere conversation between the mother and daughter.
If Siwoo got involved in the middle, they would just be going in circles without understanding each other’s feelings.
“I’m not asking you to do this for nothing.”
Diana jumped off the stack of books she had been sitting on.
“If you succeed in seducing my mom….”
Diana’s moist eyes turned to Siwoo.
This time, she didn’t avoid his gaze and looked at him directly.
The sensual aura that momentarily emanated from her was indeed worthy of being called like mother, like daughter.
“Then, I’ll really…. do it from behind… Ouch!”
“You shouldn’t say such things carelessly.”
But what returned to Diana’s exposed round forehead was Siwoo’s flick.
He had given it quite a bit of force, causing Diana’s head to snap back.
“You…! You hit me?!”
Diana jumped up like a cat that had been caught by the tail.
For Diana, who had never been hit by a hand in her life, a flick was an unbelievable punishment.
“Shall we go back for now?”
“What about my proposal?”
“I think it would be better to calm down and have a conversation. You seem a bit agitated right now.”
“That, that’s…! I said it with difficulty!”
“I know, I know.”
Anyway.
A daughter offering her body as a reward for seducing her mother….
It was like something out of a trashy adult novel.
But he wasn’t just embarrassed.
Siwoo had already noticed that Diana had a tendency to go on a rampage when she was worried alone.
He figured that after some time, she would think about it carefully and realize that it wasn’t a good idea.
Siwoo, leading Diana, who was rubbing her forehead, bought the books and returned to the mansion.
2.
The passionate rendezvous with Shin Siwoo, which had revitalized her from last night until this morning.
It made the Countess’s lips softer than usual.
But the moment she stepped into Border Town through the portal, the Countess’s expression changed.
The second reason was that she had to show the dignified appearance of a noble, and the first reason was that she didn’t have the mental space to indulge in leisurely sentiments right now.
As soon as she inhaled the misty air of Border Town, the pent-up anger began to bubble up.
She descended the winding cliff path and headed towards Cloud Mushroom Village, which was overgrown with acorn trees.
‘Jack the Knife’s Rebellion,’ where a normal human had mutated into a homunculus.
That former death row inmate, who didn’t know his place, had attacked Diana, and his custody was transferred to the Countess through the Border Town guard.
And the Countess had handed it over to another witch.
On one side of the village, which had literally turned into a witch’s forest, was a witch’s workshop that had escaped the tragedy of the accident.
The Countess opened the door without a moment’s hesitation.
“Countess Yesod. You’ve arrived.”
“I was in a hurry.”
Greeting the Countess was Shuriya Sitala, an 18th-level witch who was well-versed in necromancy and mental magic.
She wanted to interrogate the guy named Jack herself, but the more important the task, the more it should be left to an expert.
Shuriya had already solved several crimes within Gehenna, so she was even more trustworthy.
“This way, please.”
They passed through the messy workshop and descended the stairs leading to the basement.
It might be rude to Shuriya, but it looked very gloomy and eerie.
When they opened the iron door, a white man was sitting in a restraint chair.
His limbs were limp, as if all his muscles had shriveled up.
He had a gag in his mouth to prevent self-harm, and his eyes were bulging out as if they were about to pop out.
It was clear that he was not normal.
Even though the Countess had entered, he showed no reaction and was staring blankly at the sky like a vegetable.
“I’m telling you this so you don’t misunderstand, but I didn’t torture him.”
“I see. Though I wouldn’t have minded if you had.”
The Countess circled around the chair, examining his appearance.
“As soon as the interrogation started, his brain began to break down. It didn’t even take 15 seconds from the cerebral cortex to the limbic system, and after that, his muscles and joints immediately melted.”
“Hmm….”
It’s not entirely unheard of for a human to become a homunculus.
There were countless homunculi in the world, and there were still homunculi sleeping in the gaps of dimensions without waking up.
Among them, there were, of course, homunculi that took over human bodies.
However, the human body cannot withstand the amount of activity of a homunculus.
Their fate is until the homunculus draws out the potential of the body.
If the homunculus realizes that the host’s body has reached its limit and leaves, they are lucky to become a cripple, but usually, they lose their lives.
Therefore, it was not strange that Jack had become like this.
“He couldn’t even say a word…. It’s strange. What about the possibility of a prohibition?”
“To check in more detail, we would have to split his head open, but at least we can’t find anything right now. However, the circumstantial evidence is clear.”
“What’s the probability?”
“Over 90%.”
But even before the interrogation began, Jack was conscious.
He was trembling at what was about to happen.
The fact that his condition deteriorated rapidly as soon as the interrogation began, and that it only took 15 seconds, was extremely unnatural.
In other words, there was a high possibility that a deliberate witch’s intervention was involved in this attack.
“Can we gather more clues?”
“We are currently reviewing the smugglers’ manifests and looking at witnesses before and after the incident.”
The motionless Duke Keter.
The suspicious movements of public figures, causing a stir in the present world.
Two invasions of Gehenna in the last year.
In fact, this incident itself might be something that could be easily overlooked, but Yesod felt uneasy in the series of events.
It was her intuition as a businesswoman.
“How should we deal with this?”
Shuriya asked, pointing at Jack, who had become no different from a vegetable.
“Is there any need to ask?”
“Then, as you commanded, I will use him for evidence collection without leaving a single piece of flesh.”
“Oh my? Someone might misunderstand if they heard that.”
The Countess turned and walked out without looking back.
She had no mercy left for the criminal who had almost killed Diana.
