Chapter 930 – #202_Mia (4)
#924
1.
It was true that the addition of the 23rd-ranked Lydia opened up various possibilities.
However, there was no immediate action that could be taken.
They needed to calm their magic circuits, which had overheated from the battle, and give their exhausted minds and bodies a rest.
Even if they had formed a temporary alliance, it was unlikely that a friendly conversation would suddenly begin. Instead, a rather awkward period of rest unfolded amidst a strange tension.
Even Lydia, who had been quite talkative, seemed unwilling to break the silence, sipping her champagne and looking out at the night view…
Eloa stared intently at Lydia, as if wary of her.
“……”
This space was filled with an uncomfortable silence, like a joint security zone.
Linne was fidgeting, twisting her thighs.
Rationally, she knew.
She needed to thoroughly probe Lydia’s true intentions, and even if that was impossible, she should at least keep a close watch on her.
This was not the time to be swept away by such carnal desires.
However, the flames of lust that he had ignited showed no signs of dying down.
Linne herself was more bewildered than anyone else because she had never experienced such a situation before.
It was as if her heart would throb whenever she glanced at her husband and their eyes met.
The skin that his thick arms, hands, and lips had caressed just moments ago felt hot, as if it had been burned by fire.
And it was obvious that her husband felt the same way.
His eyes were blazing, and his pupils were dilated.
He was looking at Linne like a hungry beast eyeing a delicious prey.
She was getting impatient.
However, she couldn’t just grab his wrist and drag him into the bedroom because of that protruding obstacle, Lydia.
Immediately after Lydia entered, Linne added one more layer to her existing stealth magic to conceal the remaining amount of magic power.
She judged that there was no need to expose their power.
So, if they just closed the door properly and prepared roughly, even if a magic amplification occurred and the charging was completed, Lydia would hardly notice anything strange.
However, having unprotected sex next to Lydia, who she had fought to the death with before, was not an easy decision.
As a result, Linne frequently glared at Lydia with a very displeased look.
“Why are you watching me so closely? Just do what you were doing.”
“What?”
Lydia, unable to withstand the stinging gaze, chuckled and spoke.
Her golden eyes looked at the disheveled bed through the crack in the bedroom door.
It was a hint that she had noticed it from the moment she came in.
“You still want to do that even in this situation. Or is it that your survival instincts are being stimulated? Anyway, I have no intention of interfering.”
“…Shut up.”
“Cursing every time you have nothing to say is not a good habit, Linne.”
Needless to say, Linne’s expression turned grim at Lydia’s mocking tone, as if she knew everything.
In fact, she wanted to do it right away, but if she actually went in, Lydia would probably laugh, saying, ‘Were you really waiting for my permission?’
It would have been better to just close her eyes and go in.
Just as Linne was at a loss, fidgeting,
“Or… should we go in together?”
“No, thank you.”
Siwoo cut off Lydia’s words, which had once again turned her inside out with a subtle probing tone.
Siwoo was also hesitating for similar reasons as Linne, but he could no longer bear it.
Moreover, magic charging was something that had to be done no matter what.
And Siwoo, having caught her scent, became quite the unstoppable man.
Siwoo grabbed Linne’s wrist and stood up abruptly.
“Linne, please come with me.”
“My, my husband?”
Siwoo, who had pushed the bewildered Linne into the bedroom first, said to Lydia before closing the door.
“We’re going to have a lot of sex now. Don’t go peeking.”
“Can’t I join? We have unfinished business.”
-Bang
The door closed without a reply.
‘My, my husband….’
‘Let’s get undressed quickly and finish what we were doing. Come here.’
‘Haa… Even so, this is….’
The bedroom became quiet, as if noise-canceling was activated, probably due to a soundproofing barrier.
Lydia looked at the bedroom door with a slightly dumbfounded expression, then turned to Eloa.
“Your disciple is quite the wild horse, isn’t she? How do you feel about your disciple hooking up with the enemy that the Duke hated so much?”
“Is there a reason you’re trying to provoke me? If not, please stop.”
Eloa cut off the sarcasm with a blunt but imposing tone.
Regardless, Lydia was quite surprised.
She knew that Linne had betrayed Hexennacht because she was deeply infatuated with Shin Siwoo.
She also knew that he was the adopted son-in-law of the Geminai family, and she even predicted that several witches around him had intimate relationships with him.
So, wasn’t that why she used Dorothy as a hostage in the negotiations?
For Lydia, obtaining that much information was a piece of cake.
But she never imagined that Linne would so boldly sleep with him in front of Eloa, who was supposed to be her ‘teacher.’
Perhaps the seemingly rigid Eloa was more liberal in that regard.
However, the confusion soon subsided.
Eloa, notorious among the enemies.
Even for Lydia, the opportunity to have a conversation with her alone was not easy to come by.
“You seem quite carefree for someone in a crisis.”
Eloa was the first to speak.
In fact, it was just a conversation on the surface, but it was essentially an interrogation.
It was also a way to create a smokescreen to prevent Lydia from getting too close to Siwoo’s secrets.
“Crisis? The biggest crisis in my life was during the Great Depression. My stock holdings dropped by 70%, and six of my company’s subsidiaries went bankrupt. If the war hadn’t broken out right after, the current Solidus Trading Company wouldn’t exist. Compared to that, this crisis is straightforward and simple, isn’t it? Would you like a drink, Duke?”
“I’ll take a glass.”
“To the unchanging glory of witches, even as time passes.”
They didn’t have a separate toast.
The two prominent figures from each side sat facing each other and wet their lips with champagne.
The Duke of Gehenna, a witch who created the Witch Point and mediated peace between humans and witches.
An enemy and a member of Qliphoth, a witch who created the Solidus Trading Company and pursued only her own glory and power.
They were witches, but they were polar opposites who had lived completely different lives.
“What do you think, Duke?”
“What do you mean?”
“This city. I suddenly became curious about how this city looks to you.”
Eloa’s lips were tightly closed.
She knew what Lydia was asking.
“This isn’t an illusion or a model, it’s real. If that’s the case, it means that humans will one day acquire that level of technology now that the veil of mystery has been lifted.”
She had seen a world where humans, having advanced and advanced, would finally surpass witches and reign as rulers.
She had seen the twisted danger of humans within that world.
“Are you still holding onto that romantic idea that humans are weak and must be protected?”
“……”
Lydia’s question summarized Eloa’s confusion, which had been mixed up in a jumble, into a single sentence.
And Eloa had not yet found an answer.
“What do you think?”
Therefore, she asked.
It was an action she would not normally take.
However, she was genuinely curious about what Lydia, who stood in opposition to Eloa and had lived a completely different life, would think.
“It’s shocking, but it’s well within the expected range.”
“…You expected this kind of situation?”
“No, I’m not a prophet. I mean that I can understand it after seeing the results. Humans have always been hungry, greedy, and curious.”
There was no sign of rejection or anger in Lydia as she said that.
She was just looking out the window with an interested gaze.
“How is it? They really do resemble witches, don’t they?”
Lydia refilled her empty champagne glass.
“It’s natural for the strong to rule the weak. It’s always been that way, and it still is. Eventually, humans will conquer witches, who have become relatively weak, while asserting their own definition of justice. There’s nothing strange about this flow itself.”
“……”
“But at least now, witches are stronger than humans. Even so, we haven’t ruled over humans.
The ultimate goal of witches is to reach the pinnacle of magic, and above all, Duke Keter has always punished anyone who tried to do such a thing. And that old man has now retired.”
“……”
“So, I have this thought. If it’s the ‘rule’ of humans that the strong rule the weak, why shouldn’t we show them the justice they believe in?
We should domesticate humans as they are. Keep the useful ones alive, and throw the useless ones into the lab.
We should turn this world into a breeding ground that provides witches with luxury, abundance, and apprentice witches.”
“You dare to spout such nonsense in front of me.”
Eloa’s eyes flashed.
It was a sharp rebuttal towards Lydia, as if she felt repulsion at the truth she had learned in the museum.
Lydia did not avert her eyes.
“Duke, that’s not a sense of justice, it’s inertia. You’ve lived that way for 100 years, so even when you’re lost, you’re just trying to keep going in the direction you were going.”
Lydia was an enemy and also the head of an organization.
Her ability to judge situations, which came from her long experience, and her decisiveness were among the most astute among witches.
She quickly guessed that Eloa was lost.
She also thought that if she shook Eloa, she might find some openings.
“I will not ask you further about what plans you have made.”
However, if she were someone who could be so easily swayed, the many enemies would not tremble at the sight of her pink hair.
Her voice, devoid of hesitation, rang out coldly.
Eloa stared at Lydia as if to say that the moment she tried to turn her audacious imagination into reality, she would meet these two eyes.
There, a belief that had taken root like a tall tree was firmly in place.
“If you have the confidence, go ahead and try.”
“…Ha.”
Lydia tried to smile calmly, even as she felt a chill run down her spine.
Her small, cute impression was gone, and she felt a crushing sense of pressure.
“Sorry if I offended you. It was a joke.”
She didn’t want to provoke her unnecessarily.
Just as the atmosphere became strange.
-Bang!
The bedroom door opened.
It meant that the sex was over.
Lydia’s indifferent gaze was drawn to the bedroom.
There was Siwoo, with a brazen expression as if to say, ‘Is there something wrong?’
And….
“……”
Linne, with a dazed and flushed face, was clinging tightly to Siwoo’s sleeve, her thighs pressed together.
Lydia, who had been engrossed in a serious conversation, blinked at Linne.
It was a bizarre phenomenon that even seeing Linne, who was revered as the Sword Demon, clinging to a man like a shy newlywed, was hard to believe.
“Teacher, would it be okay if I talked to you for a moment?”
“Alright, let’s talk inside.”
Eloa nodded and stood up from her seat.
As if to replace him, Linne sat on the sofa with staggering steps.
Above Linne’s head, which was trying to maintain a blank expression, heart-shaped bubbles seemed to be rising.
But why did Duke Tiferet go into the room?
Even if they had something to talk about alone….
Weren’t they just having sex in there?
“No way.”
Lydia scoffed at her own delusion.
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