Chapter 233
Chapter 233
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 233
Chapter Title: Training (3)
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Eloa closed the rooftop door behind her and hurried home at a brisk pace.
She yanked a bottle of liquor from the cabinet as frantically as an asthmatic patient groping for their medicine during an attack.
With gulp after gulp, the 52-proof firewater slid down her throat like water.
"Puha..."
Even that wasn't enough to calm her down, so she rushed to the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face over and over.
She scrubbed so vigorously that her bangs were soaked through, but she still felt dazed.
"What in the world..."
Her head spun with bewilderment.
It wasn't for any other reason.
It was because of the unfortunate incident during their final spar.
The daily twelve-hour training sessions doubled as spars and followed a tediously predictable pattern.
1) Siu attempts something.
2) Eloa blocks it.
3) She points out the problems and suggests improvements.
4) They loop back to 2) until the issues are fixed.
For rapid skill improvement, sparring was undeniably the fastest and most effective method.
It might not be as intense as real combat, but it was just as good for ingraining "how to move your body."
Moreover, Siu never stuck to one approach—he prepared multiple strategies for every session, making it highly efficient.
Yesterday, for whatever reason, he'd fixated on takedowns throughout the spar.
His effort and determination were commendable, but to Eloa, they were so clumsy that even intentionally letting him succeed would have been a struggle. And she couldn't afford to do that anyway.
Implanting the idea that such immature attacks could work risked backfiring badly down the line.
Still, he'd prepared so diligently.
She figured letting him showcase his final move in the last round wouldn't hurt.
Watching his plucky persistence despite repeated failures, she'd decided to indulge him a little.
Of course, she'd planned to follow up by explaining that attempting a submission on a spirit body reinforced with mana was a poor choice.
And so, the moment she offered her back and Siu latched on tight...
She recalled that brief instant—not really all that long, in hindsight.
By sheer coincidence, it had been a back hug position.
Due to their height difference, Siu could rest his chin right on top of Eloa's head.
The sensation from her back at that moment—a hard, firm part of his body, radiating heat even through their clothes...
"That was..."
There was no need to spell it out.
It was his manhood.
His male organ, engorged and rigid with blood, just like when he was intimate with Sharon.
And the breath tickling her ear wasn't the rough panting of exertion from sparring.
It felt more primal, more instinctive, perhaps?
Either way, it was a sound she'd never heard or felt before.
"Mind completely gone..."
Eloa absently stroked her back and shook her head.
No matter how ignorant she was about relations between men and women, she knew when men got erections.
It was a crucial lesson at Trinity Academy—one you couldn't afford to miss.
Right when they felt sexual arousal.
Of course, erections could happen spontaneously now and then, or even pop up unexpectedly when you needed to pee.
Unfortunately for Siu, Eloa lacked such nuanced knowledge.
"This won't do."
Eloa shot to her feet and stripped off her clothes.
Her muddled mind wouldn't settle like this.
She decided a bath would wash away both body and worries, so she filled the tub and brought in her liquor.
With a towel keeping her hair dry, she stewed over it in the warm water.
"...Haa..."
A sigh laced with hot liquor vapors rippled the water's surface.
These past few days with him had brought her an uncharacteristic peace.
She still woke thrashing from nightmares, and sometimes clutched her chest at memories of Rafi, collapsing in anguish...
But things were changing, little by little.
Her days, once stained only with regret and sighs, were shifting bit by bit.
Like frozen earth finally thawing under gentle spring sun, quietly sparking a green revolution without fanfare.
She cried alone less often.
She smiled more.
She cooked in the kitchen that had stood empty since Rafi left, and shared cozy meals at the table.
She no longer drowned her pain in alcohol but savored its flavors and aromas at leisure.
She knew why.
Tiphereth had been projecting Rafi onto Siu.
Days where a mere thought of her brought smiles—he let her reclaim them.
Training with him, eating together, tilting glasses back.
Eloa could forget her torment.
She felt immense gratitude for that.
They weren't formally master and disciple yet, but she saw him as a cute apprentice.
She assumed he saw her as his master in turn.
But...
"He was seeing me... as a woman?"
It was a staggering revelation she'd never imagined.
Eloa had no real contact with men to begin with.
Naturally, she'd never seriously pondered romance or had any experiences.
So before joy, disgust, or scorn, all she felt was utter bafflement at Siu viewing her that way.
If she had to compare, it was like a bizarre golden dung beetle clinging to her clothes—shakable but not quite, catchable but not really?
No.
The more she analogized, the more baffling it got.
Eloa sipped her liquor and continued her train of thought.
"But..."
She knew Siu was diligent, kind-hearted, and gentle.
She cherished him deeply for it, but never once as more than a disciple.
If he harbored romantic feelings... she'd be grateful, but she'd have to turn him down.
"Wait... come to think of it..."
As she pondered how to reject him without hurting him—maybe brush it off naturally like today, pretending not to notice—a certain fact flashed through her mind.
Right.
Siu was already Sharon's lover—they'd been intimate!
An advanced conundrum dropped right in front of Eloa, who barely grasped the basics of dating.
She wasn't even drunk, yet the room spun.
Eloa counted off on her fingers to sort it out.
Already involved with Sharon, and now harboring those feelings for Eloa too?
This went beyond mere awkwardness for her.
Back during her apprentice witch days, Teacher Sua's lessons had covered proper conduct between men and women.
Even accounting for Sua's teachings being a tad outdated, what they called "two-timing" was morally and ethically wrong.
If that were all, she could sternly scold him and move on...
But considering Siu's usual character, he wasn't the flighty type to poke around from woman to woman. That only deepened the confusion.
"This won't do."
She couldn't untangle her thoughts alone.
And it wasn't something she could confide in anyone.
So her conclusion: just let it lie.
Siu's shocked expression when he'd seen her fluster.
He hadn't anticipated this either.
So she could chalk it up to a spur-of-the-moment impulse.
No need to make an issue of it.
Didn't men often fall prey to such urges?
After all she'd received from him, Eloa cherished him too much to push him away over this trifle.
Eloa climbed out of the tub, dried off, and changed into pajamas.
She magically tidied her surely dust-caked hair.
Grabbing a full glass of liquor, she headed to the living room, where things she'd always glossed over now caught her eye.
He must have worried about her suffering alone.
Siu stopped by after training, or whenever the thought struck him.
Always carrying something in his hands.
His traces began dotting the house.
The barren rooms felt more lived-in.
The fridge brimmed with ingredients for cooking for him.
The liquor-stocked cabinet now held bottles of soy sauce, vinegar, olive oil.
Her bedroom sported plush cushions and a moody bedside lamp.
Even the pajamas she wore were his gift.
No way she'd resent him for a minor slip after all this thoughtful care.
"It'll work itself out."
Eloa flopped onto the bed.
She'd pretend nothing happened.
Tomorrow, train as usual, invite him over, cook for him.
Then sip fine liquor and discuss training progress.
With her mind set, her turmoil eased a bit.
"Yaaawn..."
Lying there, Eloa let out a small yawn.
The mandatory four hours of sleep per day.
Post-bath languor, liquor buzz, and hugging the fluffy cushion he'd bought...
Sleep crept in fast.
Even if she'd lightened her mental load somewhat, this time still terrified her.
The moment she had to flip open the memoir cataloging Tiphereth's sins.
Her consciousness blacked out, as if sucked into quicksand...
Then resumed.
Eloa cracked her eyes open cautiously—very cautiously.
Dreading what past it would show her today.
"......?"
Eloa blinked rapidly.
The setting was her bedroom.
Obviously, this wasn't a place steeped in memories of Rafi.
So it shouldn't appear in her dreams.
It felt like she'd only closed and opened her eyes for a second, yet dawn's blue sky now tinted the window outside.
"No dream at all..."
None.
The nightmare that tormented her without fail, the one that made her dread nightfall, hadn't come.
Eloa sat up, blankly scanning the room.
-Click!
Then the door opened.
A figure emerged from the dim shadow.
Siu.
"You? What brings you here?"
Siu always visited around lunchtime.
This was the dead of night, sun not even up.
Eloa eyed him curiously, adjusting her disheveled pajama collar in her drowsiness.
"I missed you, Master, so I came."
"Master...?"
Siu had never called her Master.
He'd stuck to "Duke."
Not because she'd ordered it, but likely out of understanding her grief over Rafi.
So this sudden title change, paired with his midnight visit, was deeply puzzling.
"Perfect timing. I've had my full sleep, so no issue. Care for a drink?"
"That sounds good."
Siu gazed straight at her face as he spoke.
His voice rich and relaxed, full of resonance.
Eloa hesitated at the unfamiliar vibe as he slowly approached her bed.
"Seeing you like this feels different. You're always in workout gear."
"Didn't you buy this? It's comfy; I wear it often. Mind stepping out for a sec? I want to change."
No matter what, she couldn't entertain a guest in sleepwear.
As she rose to tidy her appearance, Eloa's motion froze at Siu's next words.
"You're beautiful."
"Wh-what?"
"You're beautiful. More than any witch I've ever met."
Eloa's pupils began trembling wildly.