Chapter 618
Chapter 618
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 618
Chapter Title: Deneb's Deviation (5)
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Love between the children of enemy houses.
A chaebol heir swimming in vast wealth falling for an ordinary poor girl.
A princess in love with a clown.
Such impossible romances are tired clichés overflowing across East and West, through all ages.
But Albireo had never once felt a shred of empathy for them.
She didn't even deem them plausible tales.
Love transcending rationality was nothing more than a contrived genre trope.
She firmly believed anyone capable of the slightest rational judgment wouldn't cling to forbidden love.
That was why she trusted her little sister.
Deneb was just as sharp as Albireo.
Even if she made a mistake in a moment of impulse, Albireo believed she'd correct it.
If it was a relationship where right and wrong didn't need discerning, she'd simply let go without fuss.
And now.
"I'm sorry. I don't think I can give him up."
That trust and expectation shattered on the floor.
Albireo's tone was as cold as jagged ice shards.
"I see."
Deneb's face was resolute.
She had already steeled herself.
Albireo knew better than anyone how stubborn she could be.
That was why she hadn't been able to stop her from going off with Si-woo for that 'verification' behind closed doors.
Looking back, that had been the start of the problem.
Even if it meant offering her own body in sacrifice, Albireo should have prevented it at all costs.
"You're really disappointing me."
"It's not like that, sis. Hear me out."
Deneb wasn't stubbornly defending herself as she usually did when her views clashed with others.
That meant she knew she was guilty.
Yet she calmly declared she'd continue an act too shameful to speak aloud.
Albireo couldn't fathom her little sister's thinking.
"Fine, go ahead."
Albireo crossed her arms, waiting to see what nonsense excuse she'd dredge up.
Deneb poured out her words as if she'd been waiting.
"They say using Si-woo makes it possible to inherit the stigma without losing your life. The Yesod Count cooperated to obtain that sample."
"I know that already."
"You heard just now?"
"No, I've known for a while."
Albireo had heard about the research from the Yesod Count far earlier than Deneb.
The twins had learned about it from Si-woo beforehand too, so Deneb had been the only one in the dark.
"So?"
"So... This is groundbreaking research! It means we can be with the twins forever! Of course we have to help. And maybe even us..."
When Albireo had first heard about the research from the Yesod Count.
Deneb brimmed with joy.
Passing on the stigma was terrifying.
Not because of death.
Every witch prepared for and accepted her death from the moment she became one.
What terrified Deneb was leaving Odil and Odet—rabbit-like innocents—alone in the world.
Every witch with an apprentice must feel the same.
But completing the research meant she could stay with the twins forever.
Or, with a touch of selfishness, live long years alongside Si-woo.
"Deneb, please snap out of it."
"Why? Did I say something wrong?"
"We've fulfilled our duty as Gemernai witches. Like our master said, my final obligation is to pass a complete stigma to Odil, yours to Odet, and then depart."
Albireo had inspected the Yesod Count's research first, using her authority as mother-in-law.
In one word, it was transference via stigma replication.
Repeatedly transfer the master's magic to the apprentice.
In the final stage, swap the apprentice's vessel with the master's magic.
In essence, the master ends up with the original 'vessel' the apprentice possessed, while the apprentice inherits the master's innate magic, minus the vessel.
After thoroughly reviewing all the data, Albireo reached a swift conclusion.
This was research only a doting fool like the Yesod Count would need.
And one no true witch would desire.
"Even if the research succeeds perfectly, the twins will only inherit the 21st Hierarchy, one rank below what they should have. Then what's the point of our lives?"
A witch's existence was ultimately for advancing magic.
Passing stigmas down generations was the most efficient path to higher hierarchies.
But if a loophole left them standing still?
That would tarnish the glory of every past Gemernai who burned their lives for magic and passed on their names.
"We could stay by the twins' side! Doesn't that worry you at all?"
"What would we even do there?"
"That's not what I—"
"Odil and Odet can't remain child witches forever.
One day, we must help them leave our nest and soar on their own strength. We're their masters, but also their mothers."
Albireo's convictions were unshakable.
In her eyes, Odil and Odet still lacked in many ways.
But she and Deneb had been the same once.
They shed their clumsiness and matured only after their master departed, thrusting them into trials and a harsh world.
"Or do you want to cling to them forever as stumbling blocks?"
Albireo laid out the cold reality to Deneb, who still tried to argue.
"You saw it yourself. Even if the transference succeeds flawlessly, all we'd have left is an empty vessel. We couldn't handle a single homunculus, let alone be witches. We'd barely comprehend basic treatises."
For a witch, magic was life's purpose itself.
Stripping it away was no different from stealing their life.
"We'd limp along as hollow shells, burdened with massive handicaps. Could you bear that future?"
"I could."
Deneb's reply came without hesitation.
It wasn't bluster to avoid losing an argument.
Her wandering violet eyes now stared straight ahead, proof of her resolve.
Albireo loved her apprentices with a master's support for their independence.
Deneb loved them with a mother's desire for endless care and affection.
Both loved the twins deeply, just in different ways.
"...We'll talk about this later. You still have plenty to explain."
Albireo ended the standoff first.
Today's core issue wasn't a difference in child-rearing philosophy.
It had veered off-topic entirely.
The real root was her sister the mother-in-law spinning grand lies to bed Si-woo, then piling on excuses to continue the affair.
"No matter what, it's absolutely not happening. You can't give him up? Are you insane? Fighting the twins for his bed? I'd die before seeing that!"
Albireo declared it sharply, like a knife cut, then unleashed the heavy facts she'd held back.
"It starts with seducing your son-in-law just to feel good. Do you think you're some stray cat?"
"That's not it!"
"What do you mean not it! Scheming with the Yesod Count to drag him to bed felt good, huh? Satisfied?"
"I said that's not it!"
Deneb pouted like she was wronged, eyes glistening with tears.
"You wouldn't understand. What do you even know about love?"
"God, you're driving me crazy."
Where was the Deneb who ranted that man-woman love was romanticized breeding instinct?
Where was the dignity of the great witch achieving her pinnacle and bowing out gracefully?
She spouted lines worthy of Odil or Odet in their rebellious teens, with utter seriousness.
"I don't want Si-woo's body. I just want to be held in his warm embrace again."
"And you plan to keep crawling into it?"
"...When you find someone you love, sis, you'll understand."
Albireo sighed.
Now she fully grasped Deneb's state.
"And even if inheritance isn't the issue like you say, this could actually be for the twins' sake."
She was like a racehorse with blinders on, eyes beside her head covered.
Innocent as a princess oblivious to her clothes catching fire from a hot prank.
Utterly blind.
"You worried about the twins getting involved with Si-woo too. If I ease his desires until inheritance, it'll keep them safer."
Where to even begin dismantling such earnest nonsense?
He already had plenty of lovers.
If easing desire was the goal, mother-in-law Deneb had no need to step up.
"So, you'll volunteer to satisfy your son-in-law's urges for the twins' sake?"
"Yes."
"You already verified it."
"Verification can't cover every variable."
Even as Albireo sighed in disbelief, Deneb's eyes gleamed with hope, as if thinking Finally getting it?
She saw no point in continuing the talk.
"Why not look for another man? I'll find you a handsome one."
"It has to be Si-woo."
"Haa..."
Albireo let out a deep sigh without hiding it.
"Enough. Go rest."
"Sis..."
"I said go rest."
The conversation ended there.
Albireo turned her back on the stunned Deneb and returned to the mansion.
She'd planned to sternly scold her sister at first.
But if she wouldn't listen, it was pointless.
"Haa, migraine..."
Albireo clutched her throbbing head, pressing her temples.
Why did her later years bring so much trouble? To think she'd witness her sister getting intimate with that son-in-law in her lifetime.
If word got out, the Gemernai name would plummet.
And this was her precious, beloved little sister.
If she strayed down the wrong path, her big sister had a duty to stop her.
"I can't just let this slide."
For Deneb, who couldn't face reality, Albireo resolved to take drastic measures.