Chapter 864 – #180_A Common Drama (2)
#858
1.
Magic, akin to a comprehensive academic discipline.
For a witch, it’s not just about thinking and calculation skills.
Those born with a witch’s bloodline possess an aesthetic eye and senses far superior to most artists, refining their talents to prevent them from rusting.
Deneb was no exception.
Distinguishing between beauty and ugliness is the most basic of artistic qualities.
From the first time she saw Siwoo, she thought he had a remarkably handsome appearance.
However, a beautiful appearance isn’t necessarily a prerequisite for love.
It wasn’t as if Deneb had feelings for him from the start.
She admired him aesthetically, but as with every moment of her life, Deneb didn’t feel any romantic affection for the ‘man’ Shin Siwoo.
Her entire life had been dedicated to honing her skills to bring glory to magic and her family name.
Love between a man and a woman was worth less than office supplies scattered on a table.
So, when did Deneb start to harbor feelings for him?
When and where did this forbidden love, which should never have happened, take root?
Was it when they first verified each other from behind?
Or when she eventually felt pleasure and showed an unsightly figure?
Was it when she couldn’t forget the joy of that time and played with herself alone?
Or when she subtly hinted at it to Siwoo under the guise of additional verification late at night?
If not then, when was it?
Was it when they were caught in the fish tank together?
When the scoundrel who couldn’t control his desires and touched the twins tried to protect Deneb even at the risk of his life?
When they had bee sex to recharge their magical power?
Or when she finally crossed the ‘line’ by pulling his waist with her legs?
She couldn’t tell.
She had replayed it countless times, but for Deneb, her first love was like this rain.
She thought she hadn’t been hit much, but before she knew it, she was soaked to the bone,
a sweet trap that gradually pulled her in, from which she could never escape.
The difference was that, unlike rain, there was no magic that could completely cleanse her heart.
“At least cover yourself with this.”
“It’s okay, I’m not that cold.”
“Why are you standing in the rain like this?”
“I just wanted to try it once.”
Deneb flicked her fingers to shake off the water.
Siwoo and Deneb stood side by side in the gazebo, which was prepared so that they could enjoy tea parties with a table when admiring the garden or on a warm day.
Siwoo took off his coat and draped it over Deneb’s shoulders.
Since Siwoo was a head taller than Deneb, she was completely buried in the coat.
“…Thank you. Oh, you can keep smoking.”
“No, I just finished.”
Deneb subtly buried her nose in the wide fabric, pretending not to.
The faint smell of tobacco and his body odor mixed with the cold winter rain.
“……”
“……”
For some reason, a moment of silence passed.
Deneb and Siwoo looked at the rose vines that bloomed all year round.
What was he thinking?
It was a very short silence, but Deneb could hear her own heartbeat ringing in her ears.
It was the first time she had been alone with him since that day.
The countless fantasies and the wall of reality, more ruthless and solid than them.
The boundary was clearly felt.
In reality, he had kindly covered her with his coat, but he hadn’t looked at the rain-soaked Deneb with lustful eyes, nor had he led her to a secret place to warm up by the fireplace.
Deneb opened her mouth, which had been heavily shut.
“I heard about your paper. It’s amazing.”
“It’s nothing. I’m still far behind you, Deneb.”
“Still, congratulations. Now you’ll be a partner who won’t shame the twins…”
Deneb quickly cut herself off.
Originally, she would have said, ‘You’ll be a partner who won’t shame the twins.’
But the moment she said those words, she was afraid that the wall between Siwoo and Deneb,
a wall much higher and more solid than the wall between fantasy and reality, would materialize.
“Siwoo, you’re a full-fledged witch now.”
“No, it’s too late. I’ve been just causing trouble, and now I finally feel like I’m doing my part. Or, should I say, doing my witch part in this case?”
At his pointless joke, Deneb laughed, even though she wasn’t in the mood.
Siwoo was probably forcing out the words because the atmosphere was too gloomy.
“Anyway…”
Siwoo hesitated for a moment, clearing his throat.
Deneb stiffened her shoulders, unable to even look at his face.
“You’re really not having any problems, are you?”
Unlike Deneb’s expectations, he hesitated a little longer.
Did he want to be sure?
Or did he want to check if Deneb had changed her mind?
Indeed, this game of fire wasn’t just hot for Deneb.
So, he was waiting, leaving clues that only the two of them could understand.
Until the strange current flowing between them solidified into a certainty, not just a mirage-like illusion.
“It might sound presumptuous, but… if you have any problems, please tell me. Maybe I can help.”
“No, it’s not… presumptuous at all. Thank you for worrying about me.”
At his following words, Deneb’s heart beat a little faster.
He couldn’t possibly not know what Deneb’s recent ‘concern’ was.
He hadn’t hesitated; he was clearly trying to naturally continue the conversation.
The words that followed were as expected.
“Oh, right. The sample you asked for, Deneb… I didn’t know how to send it, so I’ve been keeping it for now.”
“Is that so?”
Deneb’s heart was burning with an optimistic vermilion color.
Like the setting sun that would eventually fall into a deep abyss.
It was a vermilion color that burned brightly, knowing it would lead to ruin.
“Should I give it to you now? It’s been a bit awkward to keep it, so…”
“……”
“Where… did you put it?”
“I put it in my room for now.”
Deneb’s heart was no longer just pounding.
It felt like it would jump out of her throat with every throb.
If she hadn’t controlled it with magic, it would have been clearly conveyed to his ears.
“Siwoo, is there anyone else in your room?”
“…Huh? Ah. No one is there. Don’t worry. I’ve wrapped it up well.”
Considering the context of the conversation, ‘I put it in my room’ meant he wanted to bring Deneb into his room.
And his quick answer of ‘No one is there’ to the question of whether anyone was in the room meant that they could be alone without anyone interfering.
As Deneb thought, he was waiting for Deneb to approach him first.
She wasn’t resentful.
It wouldn’t have been an easy decision for him either.
It was just that the rare experience of her heavy heart becoming lighter than a feather in an instant was an emotion that could only be felt through love.
“Let’s go.”
If she had known it would turn out like this, should she have dressed up a little more?
Was it really okay to follow him like this?
She had drunk a lot, so she must smell like alcohol, and wouldn’t he think it was just an impulse because she wasn’t sober?
Wasn’t she doing something truly unforgivable to the twins?
Conflicting emotions that were skewed and out of place in an instant.
Her head was shouting NO, but her heart was rejoicing with YES.
“…Siwoo.”
“Yes?”
Seeing Siwoo opening an umbrella, Deneb was reminded of a faint possibility she had been excluding until now.
“I want to hear it honestly. Without any more lies.”
She brought up a question she really, really didn’t want to say out loud.
It was a longing for the last word that would end Deneb’s hesitation.
“You knew all along, didn’t you?”
She quickly continued.
“You knew that the masturbator was linked to me through Dorothy’s magic. And you used it every day? Because you…”
Deneb, who had been looking down, lifted her head and experienced a dizzying sense of falling as if the ground beneath her feet had given way.
It was because Siwoo, holding the umbrella, had an expression that one might see just before being hit by a runaway dump truck.
Siwoo hadn’t given a proper answer yet.
Deneb hadn’t even finished speaking.
But the moment she saw his expression.
Deneb realized that everything had been her misunderstanding.
It was a woman’s intuition that was extraordinarily sharp only at times like this.
“Ah.”
Her tangled thoughts began to rewind, one by one.
Now she understood.
Shin Siwoo, who hadn’t noticed despite all the hints Deneb had given him.
His dullness wasn’t due to his personality or temperament, but rather stemmed from his trust in Deneb.
He hadn’t been sending some kind of signal to Deneb through the Moonahole.
He hadn’t pretended not to know the identity of the Moonahole even after realizing it.
He simply didn’t know.
Deneb, not knowing that, had been spreading her wings of fantasy alone, solidifying her confirmation bias in the direction she wanted.
“……”
Siwoo was still holding the umbrella in the same position.
It was as if a huge, rock-like shock had jammed into the gears of his thoughts.
“Haha…”
Deneb realized she was laughing.
It was better this way.
She could just brush it off as a joke.
Hearing Deneb’s laughter, Siwoo’s stiff expression also brightened a little.
He, who had been thinking, ‘No way, there’s no way my little mother-in-law would do that,’ would take Deneb’s shocking statement as an excessive joke.
Then, they could pretend nothing had happened.
It was better this way.
With this, the forbidden love ended as a dud of unrequited love, and she could be a teacher who was a little more dignified in front of the twins.
Deneb certainly thought so sincerely.
“Siwoo, I always think.”
But the moment a glimmer of hope vanished like a bubble.
The moment she realized that everything had been a misunderstanding.
Deneb felt an impulse she couldn’t possibly stop.
“Ah… how wonderful it would be if there was an emergency lever that could stop me when I realize that my feelings are wrong.”
Siwoo’s eyes widened.
In an instant, Deneb was passionately embracing Siwoo’s waist and pressing her lips against his.
A soft, squishy tongue forced its way into her mouth, half-forcibly.
After the sorrowful kiss, Deneb felt a shock as if cold water had been poured over her head.
“Odile… Odette…”
Her cheeks, which had been kissing Siwoo passionately just a moment ago, stiffened.
Her expression was not much different from that of a mother who had been witnessed by her child committing a heinous act.
In reality, it wasn’t much different.
Even if they weren’t related by blood, a teacher and an apprentice witch were in a mother-daughter relationship.
“Little teacher… I’m so disappointed…”
Odette’s tears mixed with the raindrops.
Deneb was left alone in the rain with the twins, who had turned their backs and disappeared without her being able to stop them.
At her feet, a gift box containing a fountain pen lay scattered on the rain-soaked ground.
