Chapter 411
Chapter 411
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 411
Chapter Title: Harvest Festival (4)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That famous male witch went up against the Witch of Desire and came back alive.
Even among the witches renowned for how slowly rumors spread, this one had blanketed every corner of Gehenna's alleys within a single day.
It was just that shocking and sensational a piece of news.
Even Diana, who rarely stepped out of her room and moved at a snail's pace, had heard it loud and clear—no further explanation needed for how massive an issue it was.
When she first heard the news, Diana felt her shoulders puff up with pride for no real reason.
The man who had taken her first kiss turned out to be that capable.
Deep down, her ego swelled at the thought that she'd recognized his true worth sooner than anyone else.
Of course, she lightly glossed over the fact that she'd failed to see it at first and got played by the Location Board.
Anyone in her shoes would have made the same call, she rationalized.
Of course, it wasn't long before the memory surfaced of how she'd handed over his "ownership" to her mother, leaving her a touch melancholic.
In any case, it had been nearly four days since their last encounter—after that final lesson and the request to seduce her mother.
With classes resuming normally today, her heart fluttered in anticipation.
She knew it meant nothing, but she'd started dolling herself up two hours early.
"Hello, Miss Diana. Long time no see."
"Hi. Long time no see."
Si-woo entered the room with his usual slightly dazed expression.
Seeing him, Diana inexplicably felt an air of mystique about him.
Her play pretend tutor, her black knight, the man who would become her mother's lover.
She vividly remembered how he'd dramatically defeated the homunculus and saved her.
But this time, the opponent he'd faced and returned from alive was the infamous public enemy, the 22nd Hierarchy Witch of Desire.
Diana, who knew full well how formidable her mother was at the same hierarchy and how powerful her magic could be, felt his feat all the more real.
Even though it was just a vague rumor she'd half-believed, seeing Si-woo again made her question it anew.
"Come in."
"Sure."
Diana trotted over to the sofa and plopped her rear down.
It was the same sofa where he'd used healing magic on her sprained ankle before.
"How's your body holding up?"
"Fit as a fiddle. It wasn't even that serious an injury."
"...Really?"
"It wasn't even that serious..."
His casual tone sent a ripple of unease through her.
After pulling off an achievement like that, you'd expect some bragging or swagger—yet he was exactly the same as always.
"Did you really win?"
"Pardon?"
"You fought the Witch of Desire and came back victorious, right? I won't tell a soul, so spill a little. What happened?"
In the end, Diana couldn't contain her burning curiosity.
Unaware of it herself, she leaned forward with rapt fascination.
To her, chatting with Si-woo felt as thrilling as interviewing a hero who'd slain an evil dragon.
"It just kinda happened that way. Whether I won... I'm not really sure."
"You either won or you lost. What's this 'not sure if I won' nonsense?"
"Explaining it would get complicated."
"I don't mind if it's long, and you can brag obnoxiously if you want. Just tell me."
"Sorry. There are some personal reasons mixed in, and parts I can't talk about..."
His lukewarm response straightened Diana's brows into a flat line.
Wasn't something off here?
Diana hated attention and found most things bothersome, but if she ever took down a major public enemy someday, she'd happily spill the details of that brutal fight for a good fifteen minutes.
His evasive attitude only fueled suspicion.
For instance, if the rumor was fake...
That would explain avoiding specifics.
"Hmmm..."
"Don't look at me like you're suspicious."
"Hmmm... Rumors really are unreliable, huh."
"Provoke me all you want; I'm not biting."
The more you try to hide something, the more curious and doubtful people get—that's human nature.
"Fine. If that's how it is, you must have your reasons."
But Diana had already built a degree of trust with Si-woo.
Enough to confide secrets she'd never told anyone and make that outrageous request to seduce her mother.
"Tell me whenever you feel like it later."
"I will."
She didn't like engaging in actual magic battles—scary and unappealing—but hearing war stories was different.
She'd hoped to wrap up today's lesson listening to how a top-tier Location Board master wielded his magic in combat.
Hiding her inner disappointment, Diana had other things to discuss today as well.
A massive festival was soon to turn Gehenna upside down.
The Harvest Festival: three days of revelry and drinking to give thanks for the year's bounty.
The key point was that it went beyond a mere "festival"—it was a time for lovers to reaffirm their tender bonds.
There was even a superstition that couples formed during the snowy Harvest Festival would be bound in eternal love until death parted them.
She didn't know the origin and didn't find it particularly credible, but she'd read it in novels.
Lovers in the throes of passion are swayed more by emotion than reason.
She couldn't miss this golden opportunity.
If he and her mother got together, Mom might cling a bit longer to life—and Diana's goal was to delay the succession as much as possible.
Even if it meant sacrificing an intriguingly attractive man.
"By the way, you know about that, right?"
"About what?"
"The Harvest Festival's coming up. You said you're from Gehenna slavery stock, so you should know."
"Ah..."
Hearing Diana's words, Si-woo felt the sticky aftertaste he'd been trying to ignore coat his tongue again.
The Harvest Festival was basically Christmas.
Much like how modern life separated religion from daily affairs over time, Gehenna's festival had evolved into something more like a commemorative holiday.
"Lebana Grand Bathhouse has tons of romantic spots. I'll tell you the good ones, so have a nice time with Mom."
Diana spoke nonchalantly, but her cheeks flushed faintly.
Fair enough—a few days ago, she'd thrown a fit like she'd walked in on twins forcing roadside kisses and a strip show.
And after getting caught in that steamy play with the Yesod Count, she'd made her request.
Seduce Mom to delay the succession.
Now that she knew what went on between them, it wasn't easy to bring up casually.
"I've got some fine wine ready, and Mom's cleared her schedule to hang out with me. You're a guy, so handle the gift yourself."
Truth be told, Si-woo hadn't given a clear answer to Diana's earlier request.
He understood her reluctance to part with her mother.
But he also felt pangs of conscience, like he was betraying his lovers.
He'd been waffling between the two.
And after wandering the Memory Palace this time, another worry piled on.
Standing by Si-woo's side weren't just Sharon and the twins—there was also Eloa, embracing her pain alone from afar, gazing only at him.
And Si-woo realized.
Just as with Eloa, if he hemmed and hawed, saying the choice was too hard right now, it might hurt someone unintentionally.
Even though Periwinkle had said something like, "If you're sorry, just love her more—isn't that enough?"...
But hadn't his fling with the count started with her seduction at first, and later his own physical explorations?
Was it right to cling to even a casual relationship like that?
Such doubts had arisen.
"......"
So Si-woo had decided to end things with the Yesod Count.
At least until he got the okay from his other four lovers, or until he found a firm answer for himself.
"......?"
Diana's expression shifted endlessly as she eagerly explained her suggested date spots to the silent Si-woo.
From puzzled, to suspicious, to a flicker of shock.
Diana might be slow in body, but her instincts were sharp and keen.
"...Hold on. Don't tell me...!"
"Miss Diana, let me apologize first."
Diana's rippling expression froze solid like ice.
Her drowsy eyes widened fiercely.
Lips bitten inward, molars clenched tight.
"What for?"
"I need more time to think about your proposal from before."
"...Why?"
Scary.
If they dueled with magic, Diana couldn't touch a hair on Si-woo's head—but winning a fight wasn't the point.
Her aura alone was terrifying.
"Truth is, I haven't mentioned this, but I have lovers. From the start, the relationship was... um... too heavy for... um..."
For the count's honor, no need to say she'd seduced him first.
But confessing to the divorcee's daughter—who'd hoped for a new dad—"I actually have a family I need to protect, remarriage is off the table, take care"—felt just like that.
He could see what Sharon meant about his stomach twisting.
But dragging his feet here would just leave false hope for both Diana and the count.
"I'm sorry. I can't seduce the Yesod Count. It's all my fault."
"......"
Diana fell silent for a moment, while Si-woo hung his head like a criminal.
"My mom..."
Her voice growled low like a beast.
The vibrato laced with shock, betrayal, and absurdity conveyed her rage.
"...you eat and dump?"
Words can mean worlds apart depending on phrasing.
And the same events look utterly different based on perspective and mindset.
Diana's word choice reflected how she saw Si-woo's actions.
He'd fallen for her seduction too, so no clear excuse anyway.
"You gonna eat my mom and dump her?"
Diana spat the words bluntly, dropping basic honorifics.
Si-woo felt a chill down his spine at her zero-to-hundred acceleration, like a sports car, and tried to speak up...
"You...! Filthy beast!"
But met with a full swing from the wine glass in her grip.
A clear ting rang out as the glass ricocheted off Si-woo's temple.
"You scum! Who do you think you are, treating my mom like that!"
"Di, Diana...! Just hear me out...!"
"Get out! Get out! Vanish right now!"
Just as the Yesod Count loved Diana deeply, so too did Diana cherish her mother.
But his attitude, dismissing her mother's intimacy as something casual from some "artificial being."
The hollow feeling of that hard-won hope slipping away.
It lit the fuse on Diana's fury like a spark to tinder.
In this utterly wrong moment for talk, Diana started hurling anything she could grab at Si-woo—clock, vase, wine bottle, pillow, fountain pen.
If she were just a bit stronger, she'd have uprooted the table too.
"Never show your face in front of me again! Get lost!!!"
Enduring Diana's blizzard of a shouting fit, Si-woo was finally chased out with a fountain pen lodged in his shoulder blade.