Chapter 385
Chapter 385
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 385
Chapter Title: Shared Secret
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Instead of breakfast, Siu wrapped up a light repast with the Countess.
He'd come to realize that spending thick, intense time with the freshly stripped Countess held far more nourishment than freshly baked scones slathered in unsalted butter alongside milk tea whipped up with two spoonfuls of honey.
Anyway, after that stormy morning meal.
He'd received the Countess's permission to resume his duties as Diana's tutor.
He'd half-expected Count Yesod—who doted on Diana like the apple of his eye—to worry about every possible contingency and try to isolate him after witnessing his bed-bound rampages yesterday and today.
Surprisingly, nothing of the sort happened.
It seemed he'd earned a fair bit of trust.
"Should I call this a stroke of luck...?"
In the end, he hadn't been able to bring himself to tell the Count, 'Your daughter caught us in the act. She even made eye contact with me.'
There had been moments when the opportunity seemed ripe, but the words just wouldn't come out.
Better to hash it out with Diana directly and bury it as a secret between them.
Wasn't there a proverb for this, even if it wasn't actually German?
"What isn't spoken of might as well not exist..."
After showering with the Countess and slipping into a crisp butler's uniform, Siu knocked on Diana's door.
"Diana, it's Siu."
He had no idea exactly how much she'd seen, but with his excitement at a fever pitch yesterday, he'd gone and had some seriously steamy sex.
For someone as innocent as Diana—who used to jump at the mere sight of a kiss when it came to matters of romance—it had to have been quite the shock...
He felt a quiet worry creeping in.
Still, there was that time he'd saved her before.
And compared to their rocky first meeting, their relationship had softened considerably through all their various play sessions, so with the right explanation, she'd understand just fine, right?
Such optimism warmed one corner of his heart.
Not long after the knock.
A rustle came from behind the door.
"C-Come... in."
2.
Diana probably hadn't slept a wink after that.
The deep shadows under her eyes were proof enough.
Then again, what child in the world could stretch out and snooze after catching their mother in such a scene?
She put on an indifferent front for Count Yesod, but Siu could feel how much she truly loved her mother—every bit as fiercely as the Count did.
And now here he was, facing down the very eyewitness to her disheveled state...
No telling what conversation might unfold.
Maybe sitting down at the negotiation table so casually had been a mistake?
After settling onto the sofa across from each other, a frigid silence hung in the air.
"......"
"......"
Diana had seemed utterly clueless about sexual matters, as befitted an apprentice witch.
Where the twins embodied ignorance laced with curiosity, Diana was ignorance laced with repulsion.
He'd braced himself for her face to flush beet red as she spat accusations—Why are you touching my mom? Are you some kind of animal?—maybe even a slap across the cheek.
But reality diverged a bit from his expectations.
Today's Diana looked utterly shrunken, like she'd deflated.
Her knees were drawn up tight, shoulders slumped low, head bowed as if in some grueling confession.
Completely cowed, she fidgeted restlessly with her fingers, unable to meet Siu's eyes properly.
"Um... c-can I speak first?"
Just those few words, and her shoulders shuddered violently, as if a bug had crawled up her skirt.
She nodded jerkily, like a rusty doll.
"Uh... um, yesterday—no, this morning. You saw, didn't you?"
"Hik!"
What a perfectly cartoonish reaction.
No sooner had Siu finished speaking than Diana started hiccuping furiously—hik, hik, hik.
She clamped her hands over her mouth, held her breath, but the hiccups showed no sign of stopping.
Siu rose from his seat, poured her a glass of water, and waited patiently for her to calm down.
"Dear, dear, have some of this while you talk."
"Hik! Y-Yes... hik!"
But was she really this startled?
They'd locked eyes for a good ten seconds or so, hadn't they? Did she seriously think he hadn't noticed?
"S-S-Sorry... P-Please don't... tell Mom... I was wrong..."
Watching Diana speak in that pitiful, quavering whisper, Siu suddenly got the picture.
She was pinning the entire blame for the incident squarely on herself.
In other words, she thought he'd come here to scold or punish her.
But why?
Siu tilted his head curiously, listening closely as she poured out her words.
And it wasn't long before he pinpointed the reason for her such extreme deference.
Diana might look shrewd at a glance.
But that was just her signature low-energy vibe and air of detachment creating an illusion.
She was, in truth, a clumsy apprentice witch through and through—quick to blurt out her innermost thoughts the moment anything embarrassing cropped up.
"I-I didn't do it on purpose at all..."
Aha. So she did it on purpose.
"I-I didn't keep watching either, just... glanced by while passing..."
So she kept watching.
"N-No suspicious stuff either..."
So she did suspicious stuff.
Siu hadn't even said a word, yet Diana was spilling her confessions in a steady stream all on her own.
It felt oddly familiar.
A total manga scenario.
The kind where someone's caught red-handed pilfering something, and you dangle it over them to bully them.
If he whipped out something crude like, Heh heh, you know what you gotta do if you want me to keep my mouth shut, right? it would be perfect.
And if Diana shot back, I can't do that!
Then he could reply, Shall I tell your mother, then? Perfection.
Siu scratched at the corner of his eye and let out a sigh.
The situation fit a little too neatly, sparking such thoughts—but of course, he harbored no wicked designs.
Trying to bully an apprentice witch of the mighty Yesod Count family over something so flimsy would invite terrifying consequences.
Besides, he had no intention of blackmailing her even if he had better leverage.
He hadn't come to scold her in the first place—just to forge a simple pact of silence.
As he carefully chose his words to soothe her.
"I-I'm an apprentice witch... I can't do it..."
"Huh?"
"Even so... h-holding hands... no... up to a k-kiss... I'll do that much. So please, keep it secret..."
"Pardon?"
Diana dropped her bombshell.
This girl's train of thought was seriously off the rails.
"Miss?"
"N-N-No way, you want more...?!"
Apprentice witches couldn't engage in penetrative sex.
The impure mana released when a male organ erects and ejaculates would taint the vessel in their womb, rendering them unable to bear children.
But.
Diana remembered.
The other hole in a woman's body besides the reproductive one.
The shocking anal insertion scene from her mother's doujin deliveryman tale.
And Siu's command to her mom: Keep your asshole spread open.
If it was that hole, sex should be possible without harming her vessel.
Diana's face flushed crimson, on the verge of bursting.
She hugged herself tight, frantically covering every inch of exposed skin.
"B-B-Backdoor...?! S-Such depraved acts... no way...!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You're blackmailing me...! I'm weaker than you, more fragile... but still this pretty and cute...! With my weakness in your hands, your intentions are obvious...!"
The loudest voice he'd ever heard from Diana.
She rapped it out breathlessly, her face cycling from ghostly pale to fiery red in an instant.
Her entire premise hinged on him planning to exploit her weakness for sexual favors.
Judging from her earlier I didn't do anything weird slip, she had some guilty secret gnawing at her, fueling these wild delusions?
Even accounting for that, she'd rocketed ahead like a hardcore ero-novel junkie.
"Miss?"
She was in full-blown overdrive.
So worked up, steam could puff from her ears and it'd make perfect sense.
Hence her spinning out full-on webtoon plots.
"A k-kiss is... the most I can allow... since you saved me once before... but anything more is absolutely off-limits!"
He was tempted to tease her—this side of her was so rare—but better hold back.
It could veer into sexual harassment territory, and besides, Diana had nearly met a grim fate in Border Town before.
Maybe old trauma was flashing back.
"Diana, there's a misunderstanding. I have zero intentions like that."
"Liar...!"
"It's the truth."
"No more lies!"
"You really can't trust me, huh?"
At Siu's wry smile, Diana's high-soprano rap cut off as her upper body snapped back.
Her wide eyes suggested she'd finally chewed over the implications of her own words.
"N-No! That's not what I... It doesn't make sense! You have dirt on me... and you'd pass up even a k-k-kiss from Diana Yesod?!"
"...Is it really that big a weakness...? If anything, I was planning to ask you to keep quiet about the Countess spotting me."
"Of course! If Mom finds out I was watching that whole time... Ack! I shouldn't have said that!"
Trouble in spades.
She looked every bit the prim young lady, but her antics screamed late-stage puberty.
Throw in her ramblings like a girl who overdid the drinks without realizing her limit.
"......"
"Diana. Let me say it once more: that's not why I'm here."
"...Uh."
Siu lowered his voice and explained calmly.
"Looks like our interests align. It'd just cause needless hassle if it reached Count Yesod's ears. Right?"
Nod, nod.
Diana nodded, markedly more composed now.
"Then we just keep it secret. Contract terms: we guard each other's secrets. I never saw you, and you never saw that. Sound good?"
"B-But..."
She fidgeted as if some dissatisfaction lingered, then nodded vigorously.
What a high-maintenance miss.
Siu chuckled and extended his hand.
"When the deal's sealed, we shake like this, up and down nice and easy?"
Diana gulped and eyed Siu's hand.
His palm dwarfed hers—big, thick, callused.
With careful hesitation, she reached out and grasped it.
"G-G-Good."
"Glad we wrapped it up quick."
Their secret pact sealed successfully, but Diana seemed mortified by the fool she'd made of herself in her excitement.
In a timid whisper, she asked him to leave, and Siu obliged, stepping out of her room without protest.
With things settled so neatly, maybe he should hit the books solo?
As he whistled lightly, pleased at the easy resolution.
The door flew open with a bang.
"Mr. Siu!"
"Yes?"
"No good. I need leverage on you too."
Face blazing red, Diana strode up, seized Siu's neck, and yanked him toward her.
He could've flung her off easily.
His only concern in that instant: could fragile little Diana handle the sudden force?
Something plush pressed against his lips.
Lips as plump and soft-textured as her mother's, yet equally pillowy.
But only for a moment.
Less than three seconds, and Diana's lips pulled away.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
She'd charged in and planted the kiss herself, yet now she thrashed about like she'd chugged hot sauce in one go.
Her face burned scarlet, fingertips quivering.
"I-If! Mom ever finds out our secret! I'll spill everything too! Got it?!"
With that bold declaration, Diana bolted for the door.
"Kyaa!"
She twisted her ankle.