Chapter 134
Chapter 134
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 134
Chapter Title: Cleaning Up (4)
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"I want you to return to the present world."
Siwoo found himself alone with Albireo.
The moment Deneb stepped out, she broached the subject in a resolute tone.
"To be more precise, please disregard the option Deneb suggested about staying on as a retainer with the Count Gemernai family."
Was it just his imagination, or did the goodwill she had shown him feel a little cooled?
With the newly absorbed information still not fully sorted in his mind, Siwoo gazed at her face.
"Why is that?"
In a mere thirty minutes or so, his face already looked utterly exhausted.
Albireo opened her mouth.
At that instant, his left eye caught the ripple of mana stirring around them.
"What did you do with Odile out there tonight?"
A surge of intense focus.
The concentration radiating from his left eye took in every phenomenon around him like slow motion.
The surrounding mana undulated in response the moment she parted her lips.
Her voice manifested as a magic formula, shaped by her breath, intonation, pronunciation, and pitch variations.
The air from her lungs, vibrating her vocal cords, fused with the ambient mana to form minuscule black feathers.
Dozens of those feathers hurtled toward Siwoo.
His left eye gleamed.
Reflexively, Siwoo raised his hand and swatted them away.
His hand, cloaked in mana so faint it was nearly invisible, disrupted the feathers and shattered them completely.
He had consciously chosen to dispel it because he had instinctively sensed the nature of Albireo's magic.
At this timing, if it was Self-Generating Magic, there could only be one purpose.
Likely the Confession's Verse.
He wanted to avoid spilling everything that had happened with the twins.
"No?"
It was the first time Siwoo had heard such bewilderment from Albireo.
Her eyes widened round as she watched the Confession's Verse unravel.
She could scarcely believe her eyes.
The Confession's Verse that Albireo wielded was on a level incomparable to the twins' version.
It was that subtle, that seamless, and that difficult to counter.
Simply plugging one's ears to block the sound wouldn't defend against it.
Yet Siwoo had detected it instantly and dismantled its structure cleanly, without a hitch.
"How did you do that?"
"Uh, I just... reflexively..."
"I asked how you did it."
To dispel Self-Generating Magic on the spot, no less.
As someone who walked the path of magic, how could she not be burning with curiosity about how that was possible?
"I just brushed away the visible magic formula."
"...You never cease to amaze me, Siwoo. You could see my Self-Generating Magic?"
"Yes. Ever since my body recovered... the flows of mana have been naturally visible to me."
Albireo fell into thought for a moment.
Mana flows are visible?
Did simply observing mana flows allow one to dispel Self-Generating Magic?
Impossible.
He was misunderstanding the nature of his mystical left eye.
He'd realize it soon enough.
Albireo felt a twitch of scholarly impulse surging like an addiction to magic research.
For a witch, intellectual curiosity was as natural and compelling as a human's hunger, lust, or need for sleep.
But she suppressed the urge.
This wasn't the place for magical experimentation.
"Sorry for using magic out of the blue. I just had the feeling you were hiding something and not being fully honest."
"........."
Even so, to unleash something as horrific as the Confession's Verse right off the bat.
Siwoo, who had endured it once from Odile and once from Odette, had no desire to experience it again.
"You've had physical relations with our twins, haven't you, Siwoo?"
As expected, the intuition of a witch who had lived over a century—and a mother at that—wasn't something Siwoo could easily fool.
The fact that she had resorted to magic immediately meant she had already gathered ample circumstantial evidence.
Judging there was no need to lie and risk offending her when her suspicions were already sky-high, Siwoo nodded promptly.
"Yes. But I can explain everything."
In the end, he'd been found out.
But what did it matter either way? That was his first thought.
The brutal truth he'd just learned had plunged him into deep despair.
Honestly, even if he dropped dead right here, he doubted it'd stir much emotion.
The dream of five years, the goal he'd clung to and prayed for, had shattered in an instant.
Albireo watched Siwoo speak so impassively, then gently closed her eyes.
Wasn't this a fact she'd already intuited?
After Siwoo collapsed, the twins had visited him faithfully every week, gazing at him with eyes full of affection.
She hadn't believed it was mere gratitude toward the man who saved their lives.
She had anticipated some deeper connection she wasn't privy to.
"Hoo..."
Even so, hearing the confirmation ignited a flare of anger she quickly quelled, cooling her head.
When Albireo opened her eyes again, any trace of fury had been cleanly washed from her gaze.
"I already know you're a decent, righteous person, Siwoo. There's no way someone like you would recklessly approach an apprentice witch. Were the twins' curiosity what sparked the relationship first?"
"Yes."
Siwoo was slightly startled by how pinpoint her assessment was.
"I'm not overprotecting them to the point of condemning natural feelings between a man and a woman. Odile and Odette are at that age where love awakens. If I may venture a judgment, you're someone worthy of that affection."
"I'm grateful for your understanding."
"However."
Albireo conveyed her stance in a stern voice.
"I have no intention of disrespecting the emotion called love itself. Nor can I deny that you're a benefactor to our family. But before being Countess Albireo Gemernai, I'm their mother and mentor. I can't shake the feeling that keeping you by the twins' side is too dangerous and premature."
Even if she forcibly separated them, as long as he remained within Gehenna, the twins would find a way to meet him.
A busy count couldn't possibly stick to their side every moment.
For now, it seemed she was preventing any corruption through near-sexual acts or other methods (she dreaded imagining the details), but one slip could ruin everything irreparably.
Thus, sending him back to the present world as per his original wish—separating him from the twins—seemed the best course.
"Once Odile and Odette formally inherit their Stigmas, I won't have the need or means to interfere like this. It won't be long. Just five more years or so—could you understand this unworthy mother's heart?"
Siwoo had no major objections.
Even if the twins had started it initially, he'd had every chance to refuse afterward.
In the end, hadn't he given in to desire?
He even thought Albireo's reaction was remarkably restrained and planned to humbly accept her judgment.
"You must feel this is arbitrary on my part, Siwoo. Dragged here against your will, and now told to leave on a whim. I'm sorry."
"No, I can fully understand. Besides, if I hadn't been captured and brought to Gehenna, I'd be dead by now anyway."
A brief silence fell.
"Before that, I hope my request doesn't greatly oppose your own wishes. You still want to return to the present world?"
"Yes. I have things I need to do. Things I want to do."
"Is that a relief, then?"
"It is."
Siwoo hesitated a moment before nodding.
The risks she mentioned were preventable if he stayed vigilant.
Albireo spoke with a hint of inner remorse.
"Finally, preparing a place for you to live upon departure and handling the procedures at Gehenna City Hall will take about a week. I'd appreciate it if you could wrap up your affairs here within that time."
"Understood."
"You can stay at this villa until then. I'll do my best to visit again as soon as possible."
"Yes."
Albireo headed upstairs, gathered the soundly sleeping twins under her arms, and returned to the mansion. Left alone in the house, Siwoo pulled out some liquor and sipped it by himself until the sun climbed high overhead.
2.
Life's impermanence hits hard.
The first woman he ever thought he truly liked turned out to be someone he despised with every fiber of his being. And returning to the present world—something he'd jerked off to and prayed for over five agonizing years—might just mark the start of new ordeals.
"Ugh... Did I sell out my country in a past life or what?"
Built in such a shadowy alley, the living room stayed dim even in broad daylight.
Siwoo sprawled on the sofa, whining drunkenly.
Beside him lay a mountain of empty bottles.
He'd gone down to the basement storage intending to grab some beer Odile had bought, only to discover a horde of expensive-looking liquors and haul them all up to sample each one.
Every single one was disgustingly bitter and potent.
Yet they went down so smoothly. Was it the emptiness gnawing at his heart?
Siwoo staggered to his feet.
Staying cooped up here drowning in booze would only breed mold in his soul.
Deciding he needed to see someone, anyone, he portaled straight to the academy.
He had plenty of gold usable only here, and even if he left for the present world tomorrow, they'd promised ample support—no need to pinch pennies.
Weaving through Trinity Academy's corridors after so long, he headed to the eastern school building and spotted a familiar face.
Takasho, sweeping lazily like some NPC.
"Whoa...! Ooooh...! Ooooooh!!!"
"Shut up, you moron."
The moment Takasho spotted Siwoo, he flung the broom aside and charged with a guttural yell, tackling him in a bear hug.
His freakish strength nearly made Siwoo hurl.
"You bastard! You're alive. Looking all fine and dandy!"
"Hey, hey, get off me, you're gross."
Takasho fussed over him for a good while longer, eyes misty with emotion.
They couldn't make a scene in the hallway, so they moved to a nearby bench and sat side by side.
"You up and vanished outta nowhere, man. What the hell?"
"I heard you visited a lot. Thanks."
"Dude, of course I'd come when my buddy's on death's door. But I held back so you wouldn't fake-sleep to avoid me. What's with the eyepatch? Kakashi cosplay?"
"Got my reasons."
"That witch who treated you was smoking hot, by the way. You two keep in touch?"
"Nah, no idea who she was. Haven't even thanked her properly."
Takasho, who had greeted him so enthusiastically at first, seemed to pick up on Siwoo's subtle mood.
His body was fully healed— he should be bouncing with joy, but he looked downright gloomy.
And he reeked of booze to boot.
"Something up?"
"Yeah. That's why I'm like this."
Siwoo spilled it all in a rush, like vomit.
What happened with Amelia. The tangled emotions it stirred.
What awaited him upon returning to the present world.
He rambled on for nearly an hour.
The funny part? Not a single tear welled up, not even a hint of moisture.
"Whew... Man, I got nothing to say. Must be rough, buddy."
Takasho patted his back.
"So even in this mess, you gotta go back? I didn't wanna say it 'cause it'd sound selfish, like I'm holding you here out of my own greed. Can't we just stick together here?"
"Gotta see my parents' faces at least. Wonder how worried they've been."
Takasho, who had tried to dissuade him, fell silent.
"So what're you gonna do? About, uh, Professor Amelia?"
"Gotta forget and move on. She ran around everywhere trying to save me, so maybe I should at least say thanks? Ah, fuck, I don't know."
"A simple thank-you seems fine? By your account, you won't see her again after this."
"Not even sure about that. Honestly, I..."
I want to meet her and talk.
Ask why she did it. What the hell she was thinking.
The image of Amelia slumped over, sobbing, wouldn't wash from his mind.
And yet, he didn't want to see her face.
Memories of her cold expression— the polar opposite of her former warmth— resurfaced.
The betrayal that all those smiles had been a lie chilled him to the core.
It wasn't just the five years that stung.
Everything about Gehenna only deepened his confusion and pain.
Siwoo bowed his head and exhaled a thick plume of cigarette smoke from the one Takasho had given him.
No tears came, as expected.