City ​​of Witches 609

Chapter 609 – #123_Deneb’S Melancholy (4)

#609

1.
The exchange between Yesod and Count Gemena has quite a long history.

Since the time when Gehenna was first created, they have been part of the Seven Counts, establishing a periodic exchange and symbiotic relationship.

Of course, the relationship between the reckless Albireo-Deneb duo and Lucy, the epitome of an arrogant witch, wasn’t always smooth.

When they were still young witches, they often clashed for various reasons.

For example, Gemena would snatch a business that Lucy had her eye on, or conversely, Yesod would intercept a prey that Gemena was coveting.

However, the youthful vigor of youth is not meant to last a lifetime.

Having inherited their witch names around the same time, and after more than 100 years of bickering and fighting, the grudges and affections they had accumulated transformed into something called friendship.

That’s how well Lucy Yesod knew Deneb Gemena.

She tended to show a more human side than her older sister.
She was stricter with apprentice witches than her sister.
While Albireo had a knack for business expansion and aggressive investment, Deneb was the type to solidify the internal structure and fill in the gaps.

Also, she wasn’t one to joke around much.

So, how should this situation be interpreted?

[If you are being threatened, please naturally tuck your left sideburn behind your ear.]

Lucy blinked several times.
The elegant handwriting was scrawled with special ink handled by Gemena’s magic tool shop.

The content cannot be identified by the naked eye, but only by cameras or surveillance magic, thus preventing unauthorized duplication and leakage to the outside.
Therefore, it was only used when writing important contracts or oaths.

In other words, Deneb was aware of the possibility of surveillance.
Is there a surveillance or wiretapping device here right now?

Lucy deployed a barrier to check the surrounding magic, but there were no anomalies.
There was no reason for there to be any in the first place.
This was the main building of the Yesod mansion and Lucy Yesod’s workshop.

Moreover, the content was even more meaningful.
If you are being threatened?
Is there even anyone in Gehenna who is bold enough to threaten a Count?

“You’re quite witty. Hmm, is it April Fool’s Day today?”

However, seeing Deneb, with a serious expression, casually putting the note aside, made it even more confusing.

It was incomprehensible as a joke from Deneb.
The suffocating tension and solemnity, reminiscent of a scene from a spy movie, were simply bewildering.

“Haa…”

Deneb, who had been closely observing Lucy Yesod’s reaction, was convinced.

She was definitely hiding something.
The expression of bewilderment she had when she first saw the note.

Now, she was trying to dismiss it as a joke, but the bewilderment still hadn’t faded.
It meant that she had been poked in a very sensitive spot.

She might want to deny the fact that she was being threatened.
The fact that Count Yesod was forced to do something terrible under duress would be enough to become a scandalous rumor.

Even to Deneb, with whom she maintained a friendly relationship, she might not want to reveal it.
Of course, Deneb was planning to use even that part in the negotiation.

Deneb immediately presented the next note she had prepared.

[If there is surveillance magic or a seal around, please nod your head.]

“Count Deneb? What are you trying to do? Surveillance magic or a seal? This is my workshop.”
“Then there isn’t any other magic cast, is there? Would it be okay if I checked?”
“If that’s what you want, then sure…”

Lucy, unable to hide her discomfort at Deneb’s sudden actions, ended up going along with it.

“Sing.”

A simple check revealed no suspicious magic in the vicinity.
Therefore, Deneb put the remaining note she had prepared back into her pocket, just in case.

It was a much more lax measure than she had expected.
That meant that she might be holding onto a much more sensitive issue than Deneb had assumed.

“You can be honest with me. I already know everything.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I know you might not trust me. But since Siwoo is a guest of our family, I’m here to set the wrongly tangled relationship back in place.”

A signpost appeared, indicating the direction of the conversation that had been in a fog.

The reason for asking about the threat and surveillance was unknown.
However, there were also plenty of interpretable signposts.

First, the circumstances of Shin Siwoo being the son-in-law of the Gemena family.
The current unusual atmosphere of Deneb.
The subsequent remarks, ‘Siwoo is a guest of our family,’ ‘wrongly tangled relationship,’ and ‘to set it back in place.’
By combining the decipherable signposts, she deduced the cause of Deneb’s actions.

Albireo already knew about Siwoo and Lucy’s research.
Even though she knew that Lucy had taken a liking to him and seduced him before the research, she had taken no action.

So, why would she suddenly try to block the research with Shin Siwoo at this point?
Before she could jump to all sorts of speculations, Lucy decided to ask honestly.

“Count Deneb, could you explain it a little more simply? I don’t understand at all.”

Her tone still wasn’t very polite.

She wouldn’t budge an inch when it came to matters related to Diana.
If the Gemena family tried to interfere with the research by claiming Shin Siwoo’s preemptive rights, she was prepared to fight.

“Are you being threatened by Siwoo?”

Lucy, who had been building up her fighting spirit, tilted her head at the nonsensical statement.

“Huh?”
“I know you’re being threatened by Siwoo.”
“…Huh?”

Her mind couldn’t keep up.

“Threatened? Siwoo is threatening me?”
“There’s no need to be so evasive. I’m here to help Count Lucy and take full responsibility for the matter. Please rest assured.”

Where did she hear such nonsense that she was spouting such absurd things so seriously?
It felt like dealing with people who genuinely believed the Earth was flat.

“It seems like another baseless rumor is going around. Anyway, those idle people. Isn’t gossiping about other people’s stories something that even Count Deneb dislikes?”

Lucy figured that Deneb must have heard some nonsense at the salon.
It was amazing that a witch like Deneb could take such a rumor so seriously.
Just as she was about to end this meaningless topic with a chuckle,

“I saw it with my own eyes.”

Lucy’s mind went blank.

“What?”
“I saw him having relations with you.”

What did she see?
Lucy’s ears rang with a ‘beep’ sound.
At the same time as the muffled tinnitus, Deneb’s ‘I saw it, I saw it, I saw it’ echoed like a round.

“No, no, no… Why would you watch that? How could you watch that?”
“I’m really sorry. It wasn’t intentional.”

Of course, this was a serious issue.
An undeniable invasion of privacy.
Even if Count Gemena was close to Count Yesod, the act of peeking into her bedroom was an unforgivable wrong.

However, before she could get angry, an overwhelming sense of shame washed over her.

The acts she had shared with him in bed today flashed by like a panorama.

So, Deneb had seen all of that?
The scene of her being spanked, the scene of her clinging to him like a slave, the scene of her panting while pretending to dislike it.

Only then did the loose connections of clues firmly connect.
Count Yesod, who had dropped the knife she was using to cut the meat, and Deneb, who was looking at her with a serious gaze.

“So, there’s no need to hide it. Of course, I have no intention of revealing it to the outside. I just want to help Count Lucy.”
“……”

In her entire life, Lucy Yesod had never experienced such a bewildering moment.
Even when Siwoo had discovered the novel she was writing as a hobby, she hadn’t felt this much like the ground was collapsing beneath her.

“I understand that you want to handle this sensitive issue as quickly and quietly as possible.”
“……”
“Could you tell me exactly what happened?”

Lucy didn’t answer, her head bowed low.
Deneb was convinced that all of her hypotheses were correct, and that she had pushed forward with the negotiation at the right time, as she had intended.

With this, Siwoo would be able to avoid the worst possible option.
Now, all that was left was to present a punishment and compensation plan that Count Yesod could accept and mediate.

Looking at the top of Lucy’s head, who remained silent, she carefully opened her mouth.

With this much of a clue, Lucy would know what Deneb wanted.
There was no need to beat around the bush, so she got straight to the point.

“This unfortunate incident will absolutely not be revealed to the outside. However, could you consider that Shin Siwoo is our family’s son-in-law?”
“……”
“I’m not saying we should just gloss over it. I’ll give you sufficient compensation. However, I want him to be punished through due process.”

Now, she had said everything she needed to say.

“Count Deneb…”

After a long silence, Count Lucy, her ears flushed red, opened her mouth.
Well, as a woman, to have been subjected to such a thing and then to hear about it from someone else…
Shame must be eating away at her heart.

“…I don’t want him to be punished.”

It seemed that a very serious matter had been taken as a weakness.
Or perhaps she was biding her time, planning to take matters into her own hands later.

“Of course, I trust Deneb. And I’m grateful for your concern. But I don’t want him to be punished.”

Lucy slowly raised her head.
Her eyes, red like a well-boiled octopus, were filled with tears.

“Lucy…”
“From the start, punishment… it’s absurd…”

What was absurd now?
At this point, even Deneb was getting anxious.
If she couldn’t become a mediator, her room for intervention would decrease.

“Why is that?”
“Haa… How did this happen…”

Lucy, who had only been sighing and lamenting, moved her lips.

“Because… I wanted it to happen.”

Revealing the truth here was no different from revealing Lucy’s secret preferences.
However, with Deneb so firmly mistaken, she couldn’t say, ‘That’s right! He threatened me and assaulted me!’
She didn’t want Siwoo to be caught in the crossfire because of a misunderstanding.

“Lucy, I know you want to hide it.”
“No, really.”
“You know that this isn’t an issue that can just be covered up.”
“I’m telling you, really?”
“Lucy…”

Therefore, she had revealed the truth, braving her shame, but of course, Deneb didn’t believe her at all.
She even looked at her with pitiful eyes.

“I’m telling you, really!”

A moment of silence.

“Everything I saw was at Count Lucy’s request?”
“Y-yes, that’s what I’m saying…”
“Count Lucy, I’m not a fool. If you’re claiming that all the scenes I saw were consensual… I can’t believe that.”

Kneeling down and crawling like a dog, taking out his manhood without using her hands like a slave, getting spanked on the buttocks, all of that was done with consent?

It was no different from sexual torture.
How could such an absurd preference exist in the world?

“Please be honest with me.”
“I was being honest! I was telling you without any lies, even though it’s embarrassing!”
“Then, is Count Lucy’s preference so unusual that she would request such acts? I can’t believe it.”
“Aaaargh!”

The embarrassing, mortifying, and frustrating conversation was finally wrapped up after about 30 minutes of back-and-forth questioning.