Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Sophia the Stepmom (1)
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With the intervention of a witch—and a baroness at that, Avenuga—the situation wrapped up swiftly.
Even in the dead of night, the sea routes out of the harbor were sealed off in less than ten minutes.
The guards who rushed over hauled away every last member of the Na-ga-ho crew involved in the incident.
As they were being dragged off, Larissa tried to say something, but the chaos drowned it out.
A major incident had come and gone.
But Siwoo's night was far from over.
He had to explain the whole story to Sophia.
Of course, even if it was unavoidable, the fact that he'd sucked on Amelia's nipple was something he desperately wanted to gloss over.
Even if Sophia understood and let it slide, it was too embarrassing for Siwoo himself.
And if Amelia ever found out? The fallout would be terrifying.
"Hmm... I see."
The room was a mess from the earlier commotion, so they'd moved to a new cabin.
Sitting side by side on the bed where Amelia lay sleeping, Sophia nodded slowly as she listened to Siwoo's report.
"The Caretaker's really something else. In a situation like that, anyone else would've thought of running first."
"No, that's not—"
"It's a compliment. Feel free to be happy about it."
Was this something to be happy about? After a moment's hesitation, Siwoo asked the question burning in his mind.
"A bit late to the punch, but... don't you need to interrogate them yourself to find out who's behind this?"
The mastermind who'd orchestrated it all was an exiled witch.
In fact, everyone from Larissa to the Na-ga-ho crew was fair game for capture.
"Amelia drank some liquor and passed out, right? The only exile versed enough in alchemy to knock her out like that is obvious. The 'Witch of Aquarius.' Nothing for you to worry about."
True enough. There was no way Siwoo could interfere with a witch in the mortal world anyway.
He couldn't even leave Gehenna himself.
"And don't worry too much about Amelia. She'll have a bit of a headache in the morning, but that's it. If it had been a poison bad enough to really harm her body, her autonomous defense would've handled it."
"Got it."
That was a relief in its own way.
No matter how much he disliked Amelia, he would've felt uneasy if her condition had been truly dire.
"Anyway, we should finish our earlier talk, right? I cherish Amelia like a little sister and love her dearly. I'd like to reward you properly for putting your life on the line and protecting her so brilliantly."
Sophia reached out and gently stroked Siwoo's head.
He hadn't meant to look, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught the maternal symbol—easily the size of half a melon—swaying with the motion.
"What do you want?"
Her voice was sweet.
Even though she was just speaking softly, it carried an sensuality that seemed to seduce with full force, leaving Siwoo a little flustered.
"...Could you let me leave here?"
"Hmm, bold request, but sorry—that's a tough one."
He'd asked just in case, but she turned it down.
For someone like Sophia or Amelia, sending Siwoo out into the world should've been a piece of cake.
"It's natural you'd ask that, but I'd prefer you stick around with Amelia a bit longer."
If she'd cited some city ordinance, fine—but this vague explanation left him puzzled.
"Then... could you pretend tonight never happened?"
Sophia's reaction was amusing.
Her mouth and eyes rounded in surprise, more shocked than when Siwoo had begged her not to kill Larissa.
"Caretaker, you saved a witch's life. Citizenship is basically a given."
"I'd be grateful if you could just let it all go without asking questions."
Witches were experts in magic.
Sophia hadn't pried yet, but if she dug even a little deeper, she'd uncover that the lamp's mana reserves weren't enough to power a skyboard.
Then where had this slave gotten the mana from?
Who knew how far it could unravel from there?
Best to bury it now.
Once he became Amelia's assistant and accessed better magical resources, he could accelerate the magic circle's completion anyway.
Assuming Sophia accepted the deal.
"Fine. You want the whole kidnapping incident wiped clean? Including the fact that you used magic?"
"Yes."
"Feels like there's a reason, but that includes not prying into it?"
"Please."
It was a pretty unreasonable request, but Sophia nodded readily.
Apparently, he'd scored bigger points with her than expected.
"Then I'll have to come up with some excuse for hauling off the crew too. Got it—consider it done."
"Thank you so much."
Siwoo let out a sigh of relief.
What a rollercoaster of a day.
With the crisis resolved, he felt like he could collapse and sleep right then.
If he hadn't witnessed Sophia turning Fedor into chum, the tension would've broken him already.
But when is this woman leaving?
"?"
Catching his gaze, Sophia tilted her head innocently, showing no sign of getting up from the bed.
"Do you still have more to say?"
"No."
He swallowed the urge to ask why she was staring so intently.
He kept forgetting, surrounded by these twin-like gentle witches, but slaves weren't supposed to make demands of their mistresses.
"You're handsome, good personality—perfect."
Sophia's tongue flicked across her lips.
Come to think of it, she'd been calling Takasho to her home every holiday lately.
A vague idea of where this was going crept in.
"Mind if I ask a favor too?"
"Just give the order."
Siwoo bowed his head.
He considered dropping to his knees but held back—probably not necessary.
"Take good care of Amelia. She grumbles on the surface, but she's a sweet girl."
"Pardon?"
But what Sophia said next was the last thing he'd expected.
He'd braced for something like attending her at night.
"How could a mere slave like me possibly—"
"Not because you hate her bossy, mean personality?"
"No, ma'am."
"Must've been frustrating for you. That's why I'm even more grateful. For not hating Amelia."
Her sudden words of understanding made Siwoo duck his head.
No need to show his hand here.
Couldn't rule out an interrogation trap.
"She's lonely, melancholic, and awkward. All because she lacks experience. Not because she dislikes you."
"Who... are you talking about?"
"Amelia."
No way.
He hadn't said it aloud, but the atmosphere conveyed it.
Sophia covered her mouth and chuckled softly.
"Look at today—she had one drink at the inn and just keeled over. She tries to act strict, but she's clumsy and doesn't know how to deal with people."
Sophia's defense of Amelia cut off abruptly, just as it seemed ready to continue.
"But I've said too much already—wouldn't want to spoil the fun for later."
"Sorry, I don't quite follow. Still, I'll serve Amelia with all my dedication."
With his model answer delivered, Siwoo turned to leave.
"Caretaker Shin Siwoo."
As his hand touched the doorknob, hoping for even a short nap, Sophia called him back.
"Today's choice was wise."
"I only did what was right."
"No, not that—the part after."
In the dim room, Sophia's amber eyes glimmered like the last flicker of candlelight, carrying an eerie edge.
It starkly reminded him she wasn't human.
"If you'd handed Amelia over and fled to the mortal world, you'd be dead."
A chill ran down his spine at the icy tone from her usually relaxed voice.
"The 'Witch of Aquarius' is infamous for grinding humans into experimental fodder. She'd probably have bottled the crew on the spot while taking Amelia."
Ironically, Siwoo had ended up saving the Na-ga-ho crew.
"Even if not, would I have forgiven you for selling Amelia out?"
Sophia flashed a grin at Siwoo, who'd unknowingly triggered two death flags and frozen stiff.
"Anyway, go rest now. I've kept you too long."
Siwoo bid farewell and entered the adjacent cabin in a daze.
With the Na-ga-ho crew arrested—the ones who'd been set to bunk there—the rooms were all empty, so he picked one at random.
Around 4 a.m., maybe?
The question was when Amelia would wake, but either way, he wasn't getting much sleep.
Yet even with his head on the pillow and eyes shut, sleep wouldn't come.
His heart was still racing from the near-death ordeal, but what truly occupied his mind was something trivial.
Why hadn't Amelia's autonomous defense activated on him?
As evidenced by the fact it only formed at Rank 15 or higher, autonomous defense was an extremely advanced spell.
It neutralized most poisons on contact and left not even a hem unruffled if you stepped on a landmine.
That wasn't all.
Its standout feature was the flexibility of its triggers.
Unlike physical impacts, it could detect intangible 'malice' and activate—or hold off if it deemed there was none.
Siwoo hated and resented Amelia.
She was pretty, sure, but irritating, rigid, suffocating.
That qualified as malice, didn't it?
So why didn't it trigger?
The questions didn't stop there.
Looking back, he'd stripped the sleeping Amelia's clothes off.
Driven by lust, no less.
He'd even suckled her breast.
Yet autonomous defense hadn't activated then either.
"Why?"
That was what confused him most.
The spell's flexibility wasn't solely based on others' emotions.
The bearer's mental state adjusted its conditions too.
Even without malice, if the bearer didn't want it, the defense would engage.
There's a reason for the saying: "Don't touch a sleeping witch."
"Which means..."
Amelia hadn't felt much displeasure or rejection from Siwoo suckling her breast?
No way.
He couldn't make sense of it.
As Siwoo tossed and turned, the door creaked open.
He bolted upright in alarm.
After a day dancing with death, his nerves were frayed.
It was Sophia, holding a mana lamp.
"Chief Professor? What brings you here?"
He scrambled out of bed.
Sophia entered with a gentle smile.
"I realized I hadn't rewarded you enough."
"No need—the cover-up alone is more than enough."
"That's that, but this is a personal gift from me."
Sophia's long, slender fingers—black as a raven's—undid the tie of her robe.
She parted the fabric just enough to reveal.
Bathed in the soft glow of the mana lamp was the epitome of maternal allure unique to women.
Her breasts.
"You've done this and that with Amelia—must be torture for a man just to sleep it off, right?"
Siwoo's jaw dropped as he stared speechless, then it hit him.
Wait.
This and that with Amelia?
"I'll make it easy for you."
Sophia knew.
About how the skyboard's mana-hungry activation couldn't have run on the lamp's reserves alone.
"Just suck once, nice and easy, then sleep."
Sophia licked her lips out of habit.