City ​​of Witches 503

Chapter 503 – #107_Fishbowl(3)

#503

1.
The reason Deneb hadn’t uttered a single word during their walk.
To be precise, it wasn’t that she ‘didn’t’ but rather that she ‘couldn’t’.

Apart from issues with her social skills or interpersonal abilities, she simply couldn’t figure out what to say.

Let’s rewind a bit.
Deneb had been enjoying some time to unwind after a long day before going to bed.
Then, a sudden guest had arrived, and Deneb, annoyed at having her happy time interrupted, had greeted the visitor with displeasure.

And that guest was none other than Shin Siwoo, the thief who had shamelessly stolen her precious twins, and on top of that, a son-in-law who was going around charming every high-ranking witch he could find.
For any mother who had raised daughters, Deneb’s assessment of her son-in-law was the worst, for reasons anyone could sympathize with.

But that wasn’t all.
While that was enough to make her blood boil, there was another reason why Deneb acted like a venomous snake every time she met Siwoo.

Seeing him wandering around with that carefree, spaced-out expression reminded her of the disgraceful behavior she had shown in the past.
A disgraceful behavior that a mature woman should never have shown to anyone.

Now, quite some time had passed.
It should have been easy to forget by now, but the reason why those feelings resurfaced every time was probably because Deneb was still caught up in the remnants of her lust from that day.

Even though he couldn’t possibly know what Deneb had been doing in her bedroom, every time she stood before Siwoo, she was filled with a sense of shame as if she were naked.

This time was no different.
So, she had rushed at Siwoo, finding fault with everything and kicking him in the shins to her heart’s content.

Seeing him flustered had made her feel a little better.
But when she came to her senses, she had inexplicably suggested they go for a walk.

Yes.
That’s where the problem started.
It wasn’t that she had nothing else to say to him.
She had nagged him enough, and she felt refreshed.

But why had she suggested a walk in the first place?
And why had she specifically chosen to take a walk near the villa in Tarot Town?

She had added various excuses, like she would give him more warnings about his relationship with the twins, and that if they walked around the mansion, the twins might see them and get upset.

She vaguely knew that these were just self-justifications.
However, Deneb didn’t know what the true motive was that her self-justifications were trying to hide.

She was just feeling a sense of unease, questioning her actions and adding excuses, yet not being sure of the clear reason.

“Brandy or whiskey, which do you prefer?”
“Brandy, please.”

Anyway, they had arrived at the villa.
Deneb poured cognac into a glass and plopped down on the sofa.
She also put out some cube cheese on the table as a light snack.

It was the same sofa where she had first talked to him after catching the twins with Siwoo when they had stayed out without permission.
Thinking back, she realized that they had already been having sex back then, which made her angry again for no reason.

Siwoo, as if his throat was parched, almost immediately brought the cognac to his lips.
Deneb pounced on him.

“Siwoo, you don’t drink it like that.”
“Huh?”
“You worked at a host bar, and you don’t know this?”
“I was busy popping champagne, I never had the chance to drink cognac properly.”

Seeing Siwoo smile awkwardly, Deneb felt even more annoyed for no reason.
What was so good about smiling like that? Anyway, she didn’t like it.

But no matter how much Deneb disliked him, Shin Siwoo was the son-in-law of the Geminai family.
If he were to be ridiculed for his sloppy etiquette, it would be the same as tarnishing the Geminai name.

“Here, look. The proper way to enjoy it is in the order of sight, smell, and taste. First, cover the glass with your hand. Like this.”

A sudden lecture on how to drink.

“When your body heat warms the alcohol, you can enjoy a much richer aroma. And then, you slowly swirl it around, appreciating the color, transparency, and texture.”
“Like this?”
“That’s right.”

Siwoo followed along, even though he didn’t really understand.
The cognac, hitting the side of the tulip-shaped glass, slowly trickled down.

“Next, you enjoy the aroma. You smell the first aroma, and then you swirl the glass again, smelling the second aroma that has come into contact with the air.”
“Hmm, like this?”
“Don’t sniff it.”
“Yes, ma’am.”

Deneb’s moist, petal-like lips touched the rim of the glass.
The crimson liquid, a vibrant vermilion spirit, flowed gently between her lips.

“Finally, you taste it with your whole tongue, as if you’re kissing it.”
“Oh, it’s much better.”
“You might think it’s all pomp and circumstance, but there’s a world of difference between enjoying something with knowledge and without it. Knowing the true value and enjoying it with the proper etiquette. That’s the basis of luxury.
No matter how exquisite the liquor, if you give it to a drunkard on the street, it’s just a waste, isn’t it?”

In fact, when Siwoo had first entered the twins’ outpost, he had expected to experience an endless hell of nagging.
When she poured him the drink, he had thought it would be like the last drink given to a condemned prisoner, a wine mixed with opium.

But unexpectedly, Deneb wasn’t that worked up.
Although her expression wasn’t bright, she was surprisingly easygoing.
Perhaps the answer was that he hadn’t been in a relationship with the twins for a long time.

“……”
“……”

But once the special lecture on how to drink cognac beautifully was over, an eerie silence returned.
The mother-in-law, with her legs crossed, just kept sipping her drink, filling her glass, and refilling his, without saying a word.

If it were Albireo, she would have kept throwing blunt rebukes…
Deneb was particularly difficult to deal with, perhaps because of what had happened before.

One glass, two glasses.
The small mother-in-law was downing her drinks at an alarming pace.

She had almost finished a whole bottle by herself.
Considering that cognac usually has an alcohol content of about 40%, it was a frightening speed and capacity.

Siwoo, who had been keeping quiet, thinking that if he stayed still, he would be halfway gone, couldn’t help but try to stop her.

“Countess, are you alright? Or is something wrong?”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem to be going too fast.”
“No? I always drink this much.”

Unlike the strange silence, her answer was natural.
As if they had been having a comfortable conversation all along.

However, her face was flushed as if she had been sitting too close to the fireplace, and her always clear and articulate pronunciation was strangely slurred.

“That day…”

Deneb paused.
After a moment of hesitation, she spoke again.
In the calmest voice she could muster.

“How was it after that day?”
“How was… what?”

It was a perplexing question for Siwoo.
He could intuitively grasp what ‘that day’ meant, but he never expected her to bring up that topic, which had been a forbidden subject until now.

“Just, how was it?”

Deneb, having blurted it out, was inwardly surprised by the strange sense of relief she felt.
Why had she brought up this topic?
What kind of answer did she want to hear?

She didn’t know.
Maybe she had drunk too much too quickly, as Siwoo had said.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure what you’re asking.”

Siwoo’s answer, given with a more cautious attitude, was perfectly natural.
There was no way he could understand the intent of a question that even Deneb herself didn’t know.

And so, Deneb felt frustrated again.
She didn’t know what she wanted, but Siwoo’s vague answer was frustrating, and her own attitude of looking at him with displeasure was frustrating.

“Okay, I’ll change the question.”

Deneb took another gulp of cognac, sighed, and said.
She tried her best to sound calm, but her voice was tinged with shyness, like lipstick on a glass.

“How was that day?”

Siwoo was speechless.
Why on earth was she asking this?

He closed his eyes for a moment and assessed the situation.

The fact that they had deliberately gone for a walk alone late at night, that they were sharing drinks in a secluded villa, that she had brought up this topic first.
He quickly came to a reasonable conclusion.

This was the same as the test that Count Albireo had given him, with the context of ‘I’ll take your place until the twins grow up…’.
She had set a booby trap, and if Siwoo showed any signs of wavering, she would immediately say, ‘I knew it! You’re banished!’

There was no other way to explain the current situation.
She was acting just like Count Albireo and the twins.

He made up his mind.
There was no need for petty lies, hesitant attitudes, or wishy-washy behavior.

He would honestly reveal his true feelings while maintaining a steadfast demeanor like a great tree.
This was Siwoo’s answer to pass the test.
Siwoo looked at Deneb with unwavering eyes and said.

“Are you referring to the verification test from before?”

Deneb paused, then nodded slightly.

“It was good.”
“……”

Deneb’s eyes widened, and her mouth moved in various shapes, like ‘a, e, i, o, u’.
And the hand holding the glass trembled.
She was clearly debating whether or not to throw it.
Siwoo quickly continued before the glass could fly.

“Countess Deneb, you are beautiful. Although there were unavoidable circumstances, it would be a lie to say that the time I spent with you was not good. But…”

Beautiful?
It would be a lie if the time wasn’t good?

The moment Deneb heard Siwoo’s words, she felt as if her heart was being squeezed and released by a rope.

The frustrating feeling was suddenly resolved.
The heat from the alcohol that had been overwhelming her head felt much cooler.
For some reason, she felt a slight surge of confidence.

In the instant that those fragments of emotion flashed through her heart, Deneb’s lips were chattering uncontrollably, beyond her will.

“Siwoo. Actually… there’s a problem with the last verification.”
“Don’t hold it in your… what?”

Siwoo’s face, which had been speaking fluently, hardened instantly.
And he looked at Deneb with a more serious gaze.

“A problem?”
“In the last verification, there was clearly nothing wrong. Yes, that’s right. I verified it myself, after all.”
“I know that.”
“But there can always be variables in an experiment. It’s too dangerous to just move on with just one test when it comes to the actions between you and the twins.”
“……”
“Wouldn’t it be troublesome if we didn’t verify it thoroughly with double or triple checks?”

Deneb finally realized why she had called Siwoo to this place.
She had been feeling a kind of unease.

The verification conducted under Albireo’s observation had been successful, but it was absurd for a meticulous witch like herself to be satisfied with just one result.

The reason why she had been feeling uncomfortable seeing him, and why she had dragged him to the villa in Tarot Town, was because her unconscious mind, hesitant due to shame and embarrassment, had instinctively sensed the need for a repeat verification!
That was definitely it!

A clear answer that even Deneb hadn’t known was now flowing out like a clogged pipe had been cleared.
Deneb, speaking with a slightly excited tone, was about to conclude by saying, ‘Then we should do it here today!’ when her throat suddenly tightened.

It was because a round sphere had suddenly appeared between the table where the two were drinking.
A small, blue marble about the size of a thumbnail.
Its shape and color were reminiscent of a blue hole, also known as the eye of the sea.

“Siwoo?”
“Countess?”

The two looked at each other at the same time with eyes that said, ‘What kind of magic is this?’
In the moment their questioning gazes crossed, it was Siwoo who reacted faster.

He immediately covered his entire body with armor and instinctively tried to push the sphere out.
Or rather, he tried to push it away.

But just before Siwoo’s hand touched the sphere.
A dark torrent of magical power swallowed Siwoo and Deneb.