City ​​of Witches 463

Chapter 463 – #98_향수(4)

#462

1.
Amelia stormed out with a force comparable to Elroa’s entrance.
Siwoo could only stare blankly at her retreating figure.

‘I’ll go get some tea’?
Wasn’t there a teapot of freshly brewed tea right here, still warm?
It was an obvious excuse.

It wasn’t that he thought Amelia was pathetic.
Rather, it was he who was pathetic.

He had recklessly started things without the ability to handle them, and his indecisiveness, unable to push forward, had escalated the situation to this point.

“Did I… make a mistake?”

Elroa became uneasy, sensing Siwoo’s stiff face and Amelia’s unnatural exit.
Meanwhile, Elroa was piecing together the current situation in her head.

Elroa had no connection to Amelia.
Moreover, she had heard less about her from Siwoo than she had about Sharon.

However, Siwoo wouldn’t have risked his life for no reason.
And if the person he saved was a ‘witch,’ there was only one possibility that came to mind, ironically.
No matter how much he loved his disciple, Elroa could never call his womanizing a ‘good point.’

Just by looking at Siwoo’s expression, it was obvious he wanted to chase after her immediately.
Elroa gave a bitter smile and then punched Siwoo’s head with a light fist.

“Ouch!”

It wouldn’t leave a bump, but it was quite forceful, so Siwoo was startled and clutched his head.

“I guess I should hear what happened.”
“Actually…”
“Who said now? Go after her and comfort her.”

Siwoo looked at Elroa with surprised eyes.

The reason he hadn’t immediately chased after Amelia wasn’t just because she had run out with a resolute back that seemed to say, ‘Don’t follow me!’
It was because he couldn’t leave his master, who had rushed over barefoot to worry about her inept disciple, without a proper explanation.

But Elroa didn’t pry into the details.
She didn’t scold Siwoo, nor did she try to hold him back and keep him to herself.
Instead, she simply understood.
She believed in Siwoo so deeply that no words were needed.

“The current situation in the world is quite urgent, so I must leave immediately. It’s enough that I’ve seen you’re safe.”
“Master, you came all this way…”
“If you’re really sorry, you can give me a passionate kiss… but I don’t particularly want to kiss you with that pathetic look on your face.”

Elroa hugged Siwoo tightly and stroked his head.
Siwoo had saved Elroa when she was consumed by a hollow desire for revenge and was falling apart.
Elroa was also human, so she couldn’t lie and say she had no possessiveness at all.

However, she thought she wasn’t so wicked as to steal priority from someone who needed his help.

“I’m fine, so go. I’ll hear the details later.”
“Master…”
“Don’t just stare at me like that, I won’t kiss you, so go.”

Siwoo looked at Elroa, whose face was etched with a benevolent smile, with trembling eyes.
She hadn’t said a word, but she seemed to know everything.
Unlike the Elroa of the past, the current Elroa knew what ‘love’ was.
The fact that she repeatedly said that a kiss wasn’t necessary seemed to be a way of seeing through the faint guilt that had settled in Siwoo’s heart.

If Siwoo kissed Elroa here, he wouldn’t be able to follow Amelia with a clear conscience.

“Thank you.”

Siwoo bowed deeply to Elroa, who was pushing her inept disciple forward, and then rushed out to find Amelia.
But Amelia was nowhere to be seen on the third floor with the kitchen, the second floor with the preparation room, or the first floor with the reception counter.

“Haa…”

Siwoo sighed.
He immediately guessed where Amelia, who had said she would get tea, had disappeared to.

For the past few days, Amelia had been like a stray cat, hesitant to approach.
At times, she would be close by his side like a lover, and then, when he turned around, she would be far away.
He understood how she felt.

He could only imagine the disappointment Amelia must have felt when she saw Siwoo’s lover, who had hurriedly returned because of what he had done.
And how much of that was Siwoo’s fault was something that didn’t need to be explained at length.

Siwoo headed towards the hut in the cork oak forest.
It was as if Amelia was asking him to find her there.
Because she would be waiting.

2.
In truth, he knew.
Nothing had changed.

While Siwoo and Amelia were drifting apart, he had many lovers by his side.
She had no intention of resenting Siwoo for that.

The first opportunity had been given to Amelia.
It was her own fault that she had wasted it and instead led things down the worst path, and she couldn’t blame anyone else.

She had thought it was okay for someone else to be by his side.
Because for now, he would smile at Amelia, hold her hand, stay by her side when she slept, and do wonderful things together.

She had only been indulging in the present happiness, avoiding the truth with narrowed eyes.
She had never seriously thought about the future.

And then, when Duke Tiferet suddenly barged in and hugged Siwoo, trying to kiss him.
Amelia felt a throbbing pain in her heart.

It was as if she was finally seeing reality clearly.

Siwoo had understood Amelia and had forgiven her without blaming her for anything.
Because he was a kind person.

But Siwoo’s kindness wasn’t just directed at Amelia.
It was equally distributed to the twins, to the witch Sharon, and to Duke Tiferet.

After belatedly realizing that fact, she couldn’t help but think about it.
So, to Shin Siwoo, how many ‘number’ was Amelia Merigold?

“I don’t want to admit it…”

They had met with so much difficulty.
They had barely started to get close.

But by his side was a woman who seemed much more affectionate and precious than Amelia, a woman who hadn’t hurt Siwoo in the past.

She knew it was a petty complaint for someone who was already indebted to him.
She knew it was just a childish tantrum.

Jealousy, now?
After saying she was so sorry, how could she be so shameless as to be jealous?

Therefore, the resentment and bitterness towards Siwoo that had surfaced were immediately transformed into self-blame, piercing her heart sharply.

So she ran away.
She ran away again.
Even though she had decided to face it.
But Amelia was more afraid of this feeling than of the nameless homunculus or the public enemy she only knew by name.

“Pathetic.”

Pathetic.
Pathetic.
Everything was pathetic.

Her complacency, pretending to face things head-on while pushing away thoughts she didn’t want to think about.
Her behavior of being intoxicated by their cozy life together, forgetting what he had gone through because of her, and begging for kisses.
And finally, when the truth came to light, she had thrown away the courage she had mustered and ran back to the hut again.

Amelia used magic to fly away and took refuge in the hut in the cork oak forest.

But even this place couldn’t be a sanctuary.
The worries that had persistently followed Amelia’s footsteps and entered with her didn’t let go of Amelia, who was lying listlessly, wrapped in a blanket.

What was Siwoo doing right now?

Was he catching up with his lover after a long time?
Or was he perhaps talking about Amelia, the person who had caused the situation?

Siwoo wouldn’t badmouth her behind her back.
But Amelia’s narrow-minded mistakes couldn’t be hidden no matter how they were packaged.
It was up to Duke Tiferet how she would accept it, but if Amelia were her, she would never look kindly upon the witch who had hurt Siwoo.

“……”

As she rolled around wrapped in a blanket and then lay face down on the bed, she felt a sharp pain piercing her lower chest.
Even without looking, Amelia knew what it was.

The last letter from her master, which Amelia never took off her body no matter what.

Looking at the letter, her pathetic appearance came to mind again.
Her appearance, which hadn’t changed at all despite her determination to change, was showing evidence even within her clothes.

Of course, Amelia hadn’t read it for a long time after the funeral, not just because she didn’t want to relive the sadness.

Amelia loved and respected her master deeply, but at the same time, she resented the choice that had been made unilaterally without a word of consultation.
It was a very small act of rebellion and resentment that Amelia showed amidst a mixture of love and hate that she had even mistaken for being dulled.

Nevertheless, Amelia bit her lip at the sudden surge of stubbornness in her chest.
Because another Amelia was mocking her, saying, ‘Are you still too scared to open it?’

After hesitating for a while, Amelia closed her eyes tightly.
She didn’t even need to use a paper knife.
The seal stamped on the wax was easily torn off with just a little force.

Amelia unfolded the letter with trembling hands.
A three-page letter.
It was just three pieces of paper, but she didn’t know why it felt so heavy.

And what made Amelia open her tightly closed eyes wide was…
The scent of perfume that was so familiar.

First, the scent of Bulgarian rose and ylang-ylang spread lightly and refreshingly.
Just as she was captivated by the first scent of a bright bouquet, the rounded, condensed scent of jasmine.
Just as the white flower, which filled the entire room with its fragrance with just one fingernail-sized bloom, was scattered like elegant grains over the rose.

The powdery musk scent, shyly peeking out and enveloping everything like the wrapping paper of a bouquet.
And the scent of her master, which was created by mixing animal fragrances and was subtly mixed in.

Of the five senses, the sense most strongly linked to memory is the sense of smell.
The letter was filled with the perfume that her master always used, as well as her master’s scent, which could no longer be found.
It gently embraced Amelia, as if she were falling asleep in her master’s arms.

“Master…”

She shouldn’t cry yet.
She shouldn’t cry yet.
Even as she repeated this, her tears wouldn’t stop.
The memories and happy times she had spent with her master in this hut flashed by like a panorama, gently stroking her scarred heart.

As she sobbed, she looked down at the letter, where familiar handwriting was neatly and densely written.
It was pressed down firmly.

And then, she heard the voice she had so longed to hear again.

“To my beloved daughter, Amelia.”