Chapter 449
Chapter 449
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 449
Chapter Title: Reunion (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.
Sophia Aveinu, Amelia's close friend and the head professor, bowed so deeply upon running into Si-woo that her forehead nearly touched her toes, apologizing profusely.
She thanked him repeatedly for stopping Amelia, promising firm compensation later for any harm caused by her own failings, her head bobbing again and again.
To be fair, Si-woo's actions had played a part in setting off Amelia's rampage, so he had nothing to say in rebuttal.
At the very least, Professor Sophia clearly felt responsible.
"I don't want to interrupt your reunion. Go on. And... I get it. You're truly sorry."
"Yes. I'll see you again."
Si-woo nodded in farewell and strode out from around the corner.
"......"
"......"
Amelia sat demurely in her chair.
Her posture was so graceful that the shackles around her ankles drew no attention whatsoever.
She looked exactly the same as the image etched in his memory—no different at all.
Si-woo glanced at Amelia.
Amelia glanced at Si-woo.
A heavy silence hung between them.
The time that had frozen between the two began to flow once more.
Just as a valley thawing in spring might still have thin ice for a while, awkwardness and unfamiliarity lingered.
Still, wouldn't they grow close again, like that ice eventually melting away with time?
It felt that way... and yet not.
Honestly, he wasn't even sure what he was thinking when he'd come here.
For Amelia, who had endured nothing but pain from their constant skirting around each other, he didn't know what comfort to offer—or if he even had the right to offer any.
But things couldn't stay like this.
To clear up the misunderstandings or make peace, they had to face each other and talk.
"How's your... "
"How's your... "
Was Amelia thinking the same?
Her slender shoulders trembling, she spoke the exact same words at the exact same time as Si-woo.
"You, uh, go first. Yeah."
"You go first... "
Regrettably, their follow-ups matched too.
"......"
"......"
The situation felt intensely familiar.
When he'd been assigned as Amelia's personal assistant and she'd suddenly turned kind, they'd often ended up in these awkward moments.
Amelia abruptly thrust her arm forward, like a doll with poorly oiled ball joints.
With trembling fingers, she grasped Si-woo's left hand—cautiously, carefully, like a believer shaking the pope's hand.
Biting her lip hard, she asked in a low voice,
"Si-woo, is your arm okay?"
Her voice was incredibly cold.
Businesslike, reminiscent of her tone before they'd shared that cabin.
Amelia's eyes widened in surprise at her own voice, as if she hadn't meant it that way.
She hadn't intended to sound like this.
She'd forced her throat down tight, afraid her pathetic, quivering voice would slip out.
"Yes, it's fine. And you, Lady Amelia?"
"Good. No need to worry."
Amelia gently released his hand.
Her action felt somehow distancing.
The polar opposite of a passionate reunion embrace.
If it were the old days, he might have misread her intent and grown even more awkward.
But Amelia wasn't keeping distance because she disliked or avoided Si-woo.
In a situation where old grudges might not even be resolved, after injuring his arm, she was simply holding herself back from unbridled joy at their reunion.
For the first time, it felt like he could properly see these subtle gestures of hers that had always been invisible before.
"Lady Amelia."
Si-woo pulled up a chair and sat before her.
At the same moment, Amelia jerked her head down, staring diagonally at the floor.
Her slightly quickened breaths reached him too.
"I'm sorry."
"No, I'm more...!"
Amelia snapped her head up at Si-woo's apology, crying out.
Droplets of dew gathered in her eyes, peeking through her luxuriant golden hair.
It was too late.
Once again, she hadn't spoken first.
Foolishly, she'd waited for him to start, despite vowing to muster her courage.
"...I'm more... sorry. For hurting you... I'm sorry... "
Her pent-up emotions burst forth like an explosion as Amelia spoke.
"Si-woo... for tormenting you, I'm sorry... I didn't know anything... I had no idea I'd make you suffer like that... And when I tried to be nice... that wasn't it either. Your arm—I never wanted to hurt your arm... "
Words she'd carefully selected over countless moments.
Apologies for what she'd done wrong, things she'd wanted to say, clarifications for misunderstandings, new regrets that had arisen.
They poured out like a broken dam, all jumbled and scattered.
Her agitated breaths made the content come in fits and starts.
Honestly, much of it whirled past too fast to fully grasp.
But he knew.
Amelia simply lacked the eloquence to wrap her feelings neatly.
After so many solitary years, she was just clumsy at conveying her true heart to others.
From her pained expression, her meeting gaze, the tears in her eyes, the way she yearned to embrace him but could only clutch at his clothes.
Her feelings came through crystal clear.
"Lady Amelia, I know. All of it."
He spoke as gently as possible, like soothing a wary herbivore, so she wouldn't scare herself off prematurely.
The day he'd regained his memories, Si-woo hadn't truly listened to her.
Blinded by sudden betrayal and rage, he'd wrapped all her kindness in loathsomeness and rejected her desperate belated explanations.
Amelia wasn't the only one who'd run.
Si-woo, right there with her, had let emotions sweep him away and turned his back.
If they'd both been mature enough for an honest talk back then, none of these tangled misunderstandings would have happened.
If he'd just listened for a moment longer, there'd have been no crossed paths.
What if, no matter how angry or resentful, he'd said this then?
"I'll wait here until you've said everything you want to say."
He gently stroked the back of her hand, where tears had pooled.
"I won't leave you alone, shut you out, or run off on my own."
He stood.
Amelia flinched, searching his intentions.
Cautiously, he extended his arms and enveloped her.
Her round head nestled into his palm, fitting perfectly into his embrace.
Back when she'd been his master, Amelia had always seemed bigger than Si-woo.
She was petite on sight, of course, but her stiff, imperious demeanor had psychologically cowed him.
But now, Amelia felt so small.
This tiny, fragile thing, suffering all alone.
"Let's talk it all out, one by one."
2.
Amelia burrowed deeper into Si-woo's arms.
Even though they couldn't get any closer, her trembling fingertips clutched his collar, rubbing her cheek against his chest until tears soaked his shirt.
Si-woo held her shoulders tight, waiting patiently until she'd cried herself out.
Amelia still couldn't express her inner thoughts fluently.
Her cheeks and nose tip flushed red from sobbing, she repeated herself or skipped topics erratically, turning everything to mush.
Si-woo forgave her as she lambasted her own clumsiness and ignorance of his heart that had led to her mistakes.
He confessed honestly too—about the emotions he'd felt when their relationship had soured so badly, and his own immaturity.
She wasn't the only one who'd fled.
He'd just wanted to turn away from what he hated, nothing more.
About glimpsing her memories.
About learning what wounds she carried and what life she'd lived.
About how the note's contents she'd seen differed from the truth.
About why he hadn't sought her first: he'd thought she'd read it and given up on him.
About how, when he'd finally resolved to go to her, they couldn't meet.
He told her now.
How much time passed?
Amelia's body, rigid even in his arms, finally relaxed like sugar dissolving in coffee.
"......"
A comfortable silence settled in.
Having freely exchanged what needed saying, all that remained was the soft, woolen warmth of each other.
Amelia looked up at Si-woo and asked,
"Si-woo."
"Yes."
"......"
Like someone facing the ideal from her dreams, or gazing at a mirage that might scatter at a touch.
Amelia's delicate fingertips brushed his cheek.
Worn out, biting her lip repeatedly, she asked,
"Don't you... hate me?"
"No."
"After tormenting you so much, making your life hell... assigning you pointless chores... even knowing you'd lost your memories, I still begged for forgiveness... "
This question had come up several times during their talk.
Amelia's anxiety demanded endless reassurance.
"Even though I didn't read the note you left me... even though I hurt your arm... you don't hate me?"
Si-woo smoothed back her bangs, sticky with tears.
In this position.
Close enough to count her lashes, her pink lips glowing prominently.
He sensed the perfect way to quell her anxiety.
"......"
"......"
Their breaths halted in unison, gazes entwining.
Amelia's sky-blue eyes fluttered shut beneath trembling lids.
But closing her eyes couldn't hide all her agitation.
She stiffened again like a wooden block, tugging his collar, lashes quivering nonstop.
The pounding of her heart transmitted through their touching skin.
Like meteors whose paths coincidentally overlapped, they both wanted the same thing.
A kiss.
An exchange of breaths.
The ultimate way to express and confirm affection and trust.
They closed their eyes softly, like whispers, drawing near like snowflakes piling in a quiet night.
The moment their soft lips met.
-Creak!
Amelia and Si-woo sprang apart like startled crows.
The underground prison door was opening, footsteps and voices echoing down the stairs.
Amelia sat bolt upright, face beet red; Si-woo, equally embarrassed, sat stiffly, coughing awkwardly over and over.
"Si-woo, you're awake? How's your body feeling?"
"Thanks to you, I'm great. Yeah, uh, thanks."
The late-night visitors to the underground prison were Count Kohav and Albireo.
The reason went without saying: to resume the interrogation.
Witches didn't need much sleep anyway, and everyone wanted this incident resolved swiftly and smoothly, so the sessions had run nearly nonstop for the past day and a half.
"Haa..."
Albireo glanced between Amelia and Si-woo, sighing knowingly.
"We will now commence the final interrogation of Baroness Merigold. Outsiders, please step out."
Count Kohav tilted his head at the odd atmosphere between Amelia and Si-woo but soon issued his cold directive.