Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: The Price of Loss (2)
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A carriage came to a screeching halt in front of the fountain in the garden before Amelia's residence, as if it were about to slam right into it.
The carriage door, engraved with a pair of birds, swung wide open.
"Odette! Hurry up and get down!"
"W-wait a minute! My shoe came off!"
Who could ever imagine that these two girls, chirping away like birds, were apprentice witches in line to succeed the prestigious Gemernai countess family?
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurreee!"
"Ah! Be quiet, sis!"
Odile burst out of the carriage door like she was kicking it down and stomped her feet impatiently, urging Odette on.
Odette hopped out, one finger hooked into the heel of her shoe like a kid in a tantrum.
"I told you not to rush me? You're always so impatient, sis!"
"What? You already forgot how you blew your violin lesson and made us thirty minutes late?"
"Ughhh, that's because you were making so much noise last night and told me to quit practicing and go to bed!"
"Then you should've practiced over the weekend like me!"
Odette finally got her shoe on straight, and the twins slipped them on properly.
Bickering nonstop, they hurried off in quick little steps.
It was the kind of rush that would have earned them a good scolding from Head Maid Galina if she'd seen it.
Lunchtime today.
Word from their teacher, whom they hadn't seen in ages.
Assistant Siwoo had woken up two days ago.
Ever since hearing that, the twins' heads had been filled with nothing but racing to Amelia's mansion after classes.
He who'd lain there for sixteen weekly visits without opening his eyes, finally conscious again.
How could they not rush straight over?
He'd saved their lives twice, magnificently.
And at the cost of sacrificing himself.
A debt of gratitude they'd spend their lives repaying.
"How do I look, sis?"
"How do I look, Odette?"
Before opening the mansion doors, the twins hesitated and turned to each other in unison.
They'd gotten all dolled up with flowers by the servants on the way.
Even Petsha had excitedly done their makeup, all pretty and perfect.
"Your bonnet's crooked."
"Yours too—your brooch looks like it's about to fall off."
The sisters good-naturedly fixed each other's disheveled outfits from their mad dash.
Their hearts were already pounding.
The twins nodded solemnly and slowly headed toward Amelia's room.
They wanted to sprint straight to Siwoo, of course—but paying respects to her first was the proper order.
Relations between the twins and Amelia hadn't soured over the love potion fiasco, awkward as it had gotten.
Amelia had stood at the podium as cool and composed as ever, lecturing away.
It was her way of saying she wouldn't pry into it.
Sure, there'd been some payback—assignment nukes dropped like tactical warheads, far more than usual—but they figured they deserved it and swallowed it down sweetly.
Knock knock.
The door opened on its own shortly after the knock.
"Hello, Professor."
"We heard Assistant Siwoo woke up and came to see him."
Inside the room, Siwoo's primary physician Yebin was talking with Amelia.
Whatever serious discussion they'd been having, both women's faces were grim.
"...Is something wrong?"
Amelia set down her teacup, pondered for a moment, then spoke.
She figured the twins would learn soon enough anyway.
So she just laid out the warnings.
"Assistant Shin Siwoo isn't fully recovered yet. Please be careful."
"Yes, Professor."
"We'll go now, Professor."
Amelia gestured for them to go, and the twins slipped out quietly, closing the door behind them in a flash.
Amelia stared at the closed door for a long while, her feelings a tangled mess, then pulled out a cigarette.
"Hoo...."
Thick smoke billowed out as Amelia furrowed her brow and breathed raggedly.
Yebin, head bowed like a criminal before her, shakily downed her drink with trembling hands.
"So it's impossible to heal any further."
"Yes... I tried twice more... really, really gave it everything... but..."
"It's not your fault."
Yebin dropped her head lower, utterly ashamed.
Seeing her shake with guilt like she'd committed a mortal sin drained away any desire to scold her further.
What good would venting at Yebin do here?
Yebin had made two more attempts to enter Siwoo's unconscious palace afterward.
Both failed.
The second time, she couldn't even set foot in the space.
At this point, full recovery for Siwoo was impossible.
Just 70% of what Yebin had aimed for was her limit.
"No chance he'll recover on his own? From the circumstances, it looks like he absorbed some of your self-generating magic."
"Probably... not. He doesn't feel the need for it..."
Siwoo's body was, from a purely magical perspective, perfect right now.
Autistic in the literal sense.
Cutting off all external communication, immersed solely in his own world, free of stray thoughts.
Through that power, he displayed absurd focus and computation beyond even Yebin's comprehension—miracles, really.
And he seemed utterly content with it.
Proven by how he'd repeatedly refused her treatments.
The Siwoo with emotions might have been different, but this Siwoo felt no need for healing.
Finishing treatment would pull him from this 'high-functioning autism'—leaving him magically 'incomplete' in his eyes.
To him now, this state was the optimal condition, needing no further interference.
Trading away humanity, emotions, and external bonds for demonic magical talent.
From that lofty vantage, he had no intent to return to his old daily life.
That was Yebin's conclusion.
Amelia closed her eyes briefly, then stubbed out her cigarette.
"You've done enough. When you report to Baron Avenuga, he'll give you fitting compensation. And here."
Amelia handed over a silver ticket tucked into her book.
It looked simple, but it wasn't.
An artificial 'Gnostic Egg' crafted by Duke Keter himself.
Gehenna citizenship and pass.
"I'm truly, truly sorry... Baron... If only I'd been a bit more capable..."
Amelia shook her head.
No need for more apologies.
Yebin had given her all, and the trouble stemmed purely from Siwoo's bizarre, unpredictable talent.
"If there's any progress, I'll call on you again."
"Yes...."
Amelia steadied her breaking heart and barely managed to see Yebin off.
She clutched her dizzying head and slumped back at her desk.
Despite all that effort, it was over.
Now, truly, nothing left but to leave it to the heavens.
"Siwoo...."
Any other witch might have jumped for joy.
Even Amelia herself might have secretly thrilled at acquiring such a mysterious slave.
But her chest felt emptier than empty.
Because that slave was Siwoo.
The one and only man she'd exchanged hearts with—the one she thought she loved.
His dopey expressions.
His unexpected tenderness at odd moments.
Even his angry faces.
She'd never see them again.
Amelia expressionlessly pulled a stack of documents from the top drawer.
Research on healing magic she'd conducted for Siwoo before summoning Yebin Smirna.
She probably wouldn't finish in time.
Even if Amelia somehow unlocked genius-level skill to heal him, he'd likely be long dead by then.
A mortal, unlike an immortal witch.
Still, she pulled out the papers because the helplessness was too much to bear.
Scratch scratch.
The pen nib scraped across the paper, weaker than usual today.
2.
"Should we climb in through the window, sis?"
"I said let's just go in—why the dramatics?"
"But it'd be way more impressive!"
The twins steeled their pounding hearts with a quick chat outside Siwoo's door.
Appear with fabulous bouquets in a flash! Bang open the door dramatically, energetic jump, perfect twin landing.
"Ta-da! Ta-da! Ta-da!"
"Assistant! Congrats on your discharge!"
Back-to-back, arms flung wide in opposite directions for the performance.
Their fine dresses unflustered amid the dynamic pose, but something felt off.
"Assistant, we're here!"
"Assistant...?"
No way he hadn't heard that racket.
Yet he remained turned away, scraping at the wall with his fingertips, drawing something.
"Oh...."
It was a tree-shaped fractal pattern.
A tree starting from the roots, branches repeating in fractal forms to form one grand tree.
The twins thought he must be deep in concentration and quietly approached from behind.
No touching reunion was a bit disappointing, but hey, this was something.
It felt like just yesterday he lay on his deathbed, barely clinging to life.
Now up and drawing—this alone had them grateful.
Scrape scrape.
"........."
Mana-infused fingertips gouged the wall without a hint of hesitation.
"What on earth are you drawing..."
"Shh, Odette—let him be."
Odette noticed the oddity first.
It wasn't just a geometrically beautiful model.
Every branch line, every hanging leaf—it all carried 'meaning,' intensely so.
But that was as far as she got.
No matter how she rotated it mentally or visualized it in 3D, she couldn't grasp what it was.
This drawing matched no magic circle Odile knew— it was Siwoo's unique system.
Assuming it was a magic circle, that is.
Siwoo finished with a final flick to the last leaf, ending the mural.
"Assistant, we're here."
Odette couldn't hold back anymore and tugged at his sleeve insistently to announce herself.
Siwoo finally turned around.
The twins, who'd planned to tackle him and cling to his neck, froze at the sight of his face.
"........."
Siwoo looked surprisingly fine, aside from the black eyepatch over his left eye.
However.
No delight, no joy, no surprise, no bewilderment.
His expression held zero emotion as he looked at the twins.
It couldn't help but feel a little scary.
"W-why? We're here. Aren't you happy?"
"We even brought bouquets for you..."
Odile fumbled, caught off guard, while Odette thrust forward the bouquet wrapped in colorful mistflowers.
But Siwoo ignored the flowers entirely, just staring at them alternately.
Then slowly, he reached out and caressed Odile's cheek.
"What! Suddenly! I don't like this, Assistant."
Thinking it some lame joke, Odile pouted.
Though she didn't slap his hand away.
"What about me, Assistant?"
Feeling left out as he focused on Odile, Odette tugged at his hand playfully.
Sniff sniff.
"A-a new greeting?"
Siwoo leaned close to Odile and sniffed at her crown.
Odile froze in confusion, while Odette shot the scene a displeased look.
Sniff sniff.
"My hair smells nice, right, Assistant?"
This time he moved to Odette, sniffing her instead.
Thinking it a sign of affection, Odette grinned— but her face soon stiffened.
After sniffing the twins' scents for a while, he suddenly spun away.
Back to immersing himself in the fractal tree he'd thought complete.
The twins tried talking to him several more times after that, but he didn't even glance their way.