Chapter 610
Chapter 610
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 610
Chapter Title: Deneb's Melancholy (5)
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"So... you're saying that such tastes really do exist?"
Lucy's face burned so hot steam practically poured from her ears as she nodded heavily.
If Deneb had even the slightest interest in those shadowy preferences, the whole misunderstanding could have been cleared up with a single "We did some SM play."
The tragedy here was Deneb's astonishingly sparse knowledge of sex.
She couldn't even grasp the fundamental idea that such tastes existed.
Instead, she eyed Lucy with suspicion, as if she were spinning some absurd lie.
"Really? Not to punish Si-woo later, or to hide that you were being blackmailed?"
"That's what I've been telling you..."
Even after some explanation, Deneb's expression remained one of utter bewilderment.
It was probably the kind of face she'd make while blissfully eating surströmming, that foul-smelling abomination.
"So... people can get sexually aroused by being dominated or spanked? Really?"
"Deneb, why are you doing this to me?"
Her lifelong hidden sexual preference had been forcibly outed.
And having to explain it in detail? That humiliating play was far too cruel for Lucy.
The Count of Yesod practically whimpered with injustice, on the verge of tears.
"Ah, sorry. I just can't believe it... Could I cross-check with someone else, just to verify?"
"What did I even do wrong?!"
In the end, Deneb's doubts were settled by using "Confession of the Hour."
Confirming not a shred of falsehood in her words, Deneb bit at her nail tips, her worldview in chaos.
Lucy, sitting there dazed and mortified, eventually pulled herself together.
Embarrassment was one thing, but issues that needed addressing were another.
"Deneb."
"Yes."
"You think of me as a close friend. But this crossed a line."
Indeed.
The bedroom where they'd connected today was Lucy's private chamber.
No one would stumble into it by accident unless they deliberately snuck in.
Now it was Lucy's turn to grill Deneb.
The thought that she had nothing left to lose fanned the embers of her smoldering anger into a blaze.
"I appreciate the concern, misunderstanding or not. But you'll need to explain this rudeness properly."
"As I said, it was just coincidence..."
"No more lies. That's not a place you wander into by chance. You're not planning to expose my secrets like this and slip away unscathed, are you?"
Si-woo wasn't the blackmailer; Lucy Yesod was just a deviant beyond common sense.
That conclusion had brought Deneb some relief, but Lucy's sharp interrogation made the reality sink in.
Deneb's worries had been completely off-base.
If the blackmail had been real, she might have muddled through with "A passerby witness solved it."
But now, she had to reveal exactly why she'd been peeping.
"Well, that was..."
"You wouldn't say it's hard to answer, would you?"
Deneb's mind flashed back to Lucy's sharp tone from the past, when her temper flared.
Lately, the worries plaguing Deneb's mind had been hers alone—no one to confide in, no advice sought.
Not even from Al bireo, who was practically her other half... precisely because she was her other half.
But what about Lucy?
With her unique tastes, she might understand.
After their long friendship, she might listen without judgment.
Plus, though unintentional, Deneb now held Lucy's weakness too—unlikely to spill it outside.
"I'll keep your secret too..."
"You call that an excuse? If this gets out, the Count of Deneb and I go down together!"
Lucy shot up, slamming the table.
"S-sorry. That's not what I meant. Can you keep my secret too, Count Lucy?"
"...Fine. Let's move somewhere else. This'll take a while."
If Deneb had tried some flimsy lie or ridiculous excuse, Lucy wouldn't have let it slide.
She'd have demanded mental anguish compensation at least.
But the words she finally uttered—after downing a full bottle of premium whiskey alone—were so shocking they obliterated all that fury.
"To sum up... you've fallen for Si-woo? So you followed him?"
"Fallen for him? Absolutely not! It's just... I've become aware of him, that's all."
"Same difference..."
"That's that, and this is this!"
Deneb's long-winded euphemisms boiled down to "Lately, my son-in-law looks like a man to me."
The kind of issue that would get her reamed out by a radio host on one of those dizzying agony aunt shows.
"What on earth made you..."
But hearing this much didn't reveal the cause.
Of course, Shin Si-woo was a peerless beauty with an incredible body.
As the world's one-and-only witch, her rarity was immense.
But who was Deneb?
A witch of unyielding integrity, who'd never spared men a glance her whole life.
Even Lucy, queen of depraved erotic tales, would hesitate with "That's a bit much..."
She wasn't the type to eye such decadent entanglements.
"...May I ask what happened?"
"Ahh, it's so regrettable. Life was happier when I knew nothing..."
Tears like beads rolled from Deneb's eyes.
She cautiously unburdened the secret torment she'd suffered alone to Lucy.
"At first, it was just for verification."
"Verification of what?"
"Well..."
Deneb's recollections that followed gradually dropped Lucy's jaw.
She'd put off her first time.
To check if it'd affect the apprentice witch beforehand, or so she claimed.
Up to then, no romantic feelings at all, apparently.
The trigger was the aquarium kidnapping incident Lucy knew well.
To replenish her magic, Deneb slept with Si-woo.
Of course, no thrusting required for magic copying—just insertion followed by immediate ejaculation.
"But... I got tired. He was so reliable, and I kept wanting to lean on him. Somehow... I ended up demanding more on my own..."
Then, brakes failed, plunging into sloppy, frenzied sex.
Afterward, Deneb escaped alone—thanks to Si-woo's sacrificial non-sacrifice.
Lucy stared blankly as Deneb poured out how she'd agonized daily when Si-woo went missing.
A somber mood, like confession.
But some things couldn't be hidden by tearful voices or writhing guilt.
A girl burning with first love's fever.
The fresh infatuation Lucy once saw in her mirror upon discovering love long ago.
The world's strongest magic—and its cruelest curse.
"I can't face the twins. With so little life left, it's pathetic to be chained to some man... but I can't let go..."
Having bared all her worries and sins, Deneb's voice was thick with emotion.
First times are clumsy, hard to handle.
Frightening because they're first, uncontrollable because they're first—love.
And the object of that affection was her son-in-law.
Like gunning for the autobahn right after getting your license—unstable, dangerous.
How could anyone easily point fingers just because it was taboo?
Besides, Deneb was Lucy's friend first.
Arms bend inward, after all.
Forgetting the humiliation from Deneb's misunderstanding, Lucy stroked the back of her hand.
"Sorry. I must've gotten too drunk. So pathetic, right?"
"Pathetic? Hearts don't always follow reason."
"I disgust myself. But... I can't stop. I don't know how."
At Lucy's comfort, Deneb collapsed into her arms like a bursting dam, sobbing and lamenting for a good while.
"...Sniff."
Deneb dabbed her puffy eyes with a handkerchief, wiping away tears.
Her breathing was ragged, but she looked refreshed somehow.
Having squeezed out her pent-up worries like pus—natural, really.
"What should I do?"
Lucy's pupils vibrated wildly at Deneb's eventual question.
She'd thought just listening would suffice, but was she asking for solutions now?
Love advice has levels too.
Even Lucy struggled with this ultra-high-difficulty forbidden romance.
What answer could anyone give here?
"Maybe... give up?"
"I... don't know either."
"I get it. How pathetic and stupid I must look to you, Count."
Seeing Deneb radiating self-loathing, Lucy blurted out words reflexively—no real plan.
"How about being honest first?"
"Honest?"
"Yes, confess to Si-woo like you did to me..."
Sound advice in normal circumstances.
But this wasn't unrequited love.
If honest talk linked Si-woo and Deneb, it'd shatter the family anyway.
"I couldn't..."
"Then talk to your sister at least..."
"If she knew, she'd kill me. I could never tell her."
Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
No wonder wise Deneb had suffered so.
Tsking inwardly, Lucy suddenly recalled something.
Not a cure for lovesickness, but a symptomatic remedy—a certain potion.
"Deneb."
"Yes."
"Hear me out without misunderstanding?"
But should she even suggest it?
Might it complicate things further?
Pushing aside her concerns, Lucy voiced the idea that had just come to her.