Chapter 688
Chapter 688
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 688
Chapter Title: Fall Seven, Rise Eight (2)
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After thoroughly thrashing Si-woo for about six hours, Rinne still couldn't contain her rage.
If it had been simple anger, it would have burned itself out like embers after setting everything ablaze.
But Rinne's fury was more like a napalm bomb, a volatile mix of all sorts of emotions.
Humiliation, self-loathing, and the like fueled the combustion, much like benzene and polystyrene.
At this rate, she feared she'd lose control against her reckless disciple, so she called off the sparring session.
The embarrassment she'd forgotten while focusing on satisfying Si-woo came rushing back.
No matter how she tried to ignore it, the shameful sight of herself replayed endlessly in her mind.
She didn't want to stay sober.
When she'd followed Si-woo to the tavern in Dignity Town, she'd learned how alcohol could make her forget reality, if only for a moment.
So Rinne sought out liquor.
Rinne didn't usually drink.
But this Hyangwol Pavilion was the very mansion where she'd lived with her master since her apprentice witch days, relocated here intact.
Thus, the storeroom had a dedicated box for alcohol, and Rinne was able to find an aged bottle of sake and a wide sakazuki cup like a saucer.
The sake's proof was about the same as the Moscow Mule she'd drunk before.
However, Rinne's stigma had an intentional flaw.
Her autonomous defenses didn't function properly, leaving her with drastically low resistance to alcohol.
For someone like her to down three cups of sake in quick succession, getting thoroughly drunk was inevitable.
"......"
"Wh-what's going on...?"
During the sparring, Ye-bin had finished her healing duties and only came when summoned by Rinne, so she wasn't too worried at first.
She figured it was just about tending to some invisible wounds.
But as Rinne kept going in and out of the room fetching alcohol and then guzzled it down alone, Ye-bin's crisis alarm gradually ramped up.
She knew the Sword Witch's infamous reputation, and after months of living together, nothing had happened to change that image.
"Doctor, you deceived me."
The chilling tone spreading like night fog was one Ye-bin had never heard from Rinne since they'd started living together.
Deceived? About what?
Even without knowing why this was happening, her body stiffened rigidly.
Rinne slid a dagger wrapped in paper toward Ye-bin and said,
"Commit seppuku."
"Eek!"
Though Ye-bin was an exile, she was a complete non-combat witch with no real battle experience.
Moreover, having become an apprentice witch after adulthood, her values were thoroughly modern.
Suddenly forced into seppuku, she couldn't help but feel terror enough to trigger a panic attack.
"C-could you at least tell me why I have to die?"
But she couldn't just die without knowing why.
Tears welling up, Ye-bin hurriedly asked for the reason.
"......"
A sharp gaze poured down amid the silence and her drunken haze.
Seizing the brief respite, Ye-bin desperately racked her brain.
Did Si-woo reveal the secret to his mana amplification condition? Or the escape plan?
Both were possible, but Si-woo had been sent back to his room unscathed, so there had to be another reason for summoning Ye-bin specifically.
Meanwhile, Rinne bit her innocent lips repeatedly, facing the pale Ye-bin.
She had a ton of questions to grill her with.
But the moment she tried to voice them, the bone-chilling memory of humiliation replayed.
"You definitely told me how to satisfy a man."
"Y-yes...?"
"But it was the wrong method."
Ye-bin's mind filled with question marks at Rinne's growling, as if chewing the words.
She thought she'd misheard.
In this serious, terrifying atmosphere, the topic felt oddly deflating.
Of course, that didn't make the Rinne in front of her any less scary.
"Th-that, um..."
But amid the chaotic barrage of accusations, she'd grasped a clear clue.
Ye-bin pieced together the big picture from Rinne's interrogation.
First, not long ago, Rinne had called Ye-bin in and asked how to please a man.
She knew exactly what for.
Rinne was trying to seduce Si-woo to gain mana amplification.
It had been quite a while since they'd been intimate.
The condition was ridiculously simple, but Si-woo had cleverly hidden it, as he'd admitted himself.
So what had Rinne asked?
Even with her thinking impaired by fear, she was still a witch.
Her excellent memory pulled up the consultation details:
Rinne's question: Do men like women with big breasts?
Ye-bin's advice: You don't necessarily need breasts; emphasize a slim back instead.
She'd also suggested stockings or leggings.
Question: Is it important for a woman to moan?
Answer: Men are more drawn to responsive reactions.
Finally: Does making animal noises turn them on?
Ye-bin had shared her guess from experience: It fulfills their conquest desire by showing submissive shyness.
"Ah..."
So Rinne was angry at Ye-bin for deceiving her because...
She'd tried everything, but no mana amplification happened, so she was grilling Ye-bin.
Being dragged out in the middle of the night and beaten like a dust cloth was probably just venting her embarrassment.
In a way, the sparks had flown her way.
But Ye-bin felt no resentment toward Si-woo, only shock.
Shock that the terrifying Rinne had acted that way in front of him.
She couldn't even imagine what would drive her to such lengths.
"I... I told you properly..."
"Don't deceive me. He laughed at me. Even after I did everything you told me."
Right now, she needed to survive the immediate crisis.
To calm Rinne's anger, she had to play the role of serious counselor.
"If it's not rude, could I ask how you did it?"
"......"
"Maybe I can help. Figure out what went wrong."
Ye-bin soothed her pounding heart and spoke in a gentle voice.
Rinne's eyebrow twitched at Ye-bin's counterattack.
Unlike her hopes, alcohol wasn't some miracle mental cure-all.
What came wasn't the blessing of oblivion, but the curse of vivid recollection.
In the end, Rinne chose to get the right example from Ye-bin over exposing her own failings in detail.
"Moan."
"Pardon?"
"Make a moan seductive enough to tempt a man."
The only moans Rinne had heard were Dorothy's.
If she could reference Ye-bin's, she might figure out what was wrong.
"H-here?"
Ye-bin hesitated, and Rinne's gaze shifted to the paper-wrapped dagger.
"I-I'll do it! I'll do it..."
A drinking game penalty turning into life-threatening sexual harassment...
Ye-bin squeezed her eyes shut.
"Haa... Haaang... Aang..."
Without any sexual stimulation, forced to fake lewd moans in front of a same-sex evaluator with icy intensity?
It was undoubtedly the worst way to prove her innocence.
It was mortifying and embarrassing.
Every time her own moan hit her ears, goosebumps erupted from the cringe.
"Aang, hu-aang... Aang... Aaang... Is this good enough?"
"More."
"Yes... Aang... Aaang..."
The silver lining was that Rinne's anger deflated the moment Ye-bin started moaning.
In the quiet room, Ye-bin's awkward moans flowed.
Rinne listened intently, as if appreciating classical music.
But no matter how contrived the setup, Ye-bin had experience and a clear grasp of sexual pleasure.
Her moans carried far more natural allure and subtle sexiness than Rinne's.
"Stop."
"Aang, yes..."
Rinne reached her verdict.
And grew confused.
"Am I doing it right?"
"Pardon? Yes, as you can see, desperately..."
"It's not much different from mine."
"Is it...?"
In other words, she couldn't spot a big difference between Ye-bin's moans and her own.
From the start, Dorothy's moans hadn't sounded that different from Rinne's to her ears.
Unclear phonemes hard to notate, nasal tones mixed in subtly, slightly ragged breaths—she was sure she'd mimicked it perfectly.
Was it breast size? No, that couldn't be.
Rinne and Si-woo had always done it doggy-style.
A position where her small breasts wouldn't jiggle, allowing her to hide her weakness while emphasizing her backside.
For both Dorothy and Rinne, breast size shouldn't matter in that pose, right?
So those two weren't the issue.
"Moo like a cow."
"Pardon...?"
"Mix it with moans, like the Cow Witch did."
Even after blushing through moans, an even bolder demand came.
Ye-bin grudgingly let out a timid moo.
"...Mmm, moooo..."
"Louder."
"Moooooo!"
Her face burning like fire, Ye-bin covered it with her palms, but Rinne's impression was much the same.
Not much different.
Though her eyes were briefly drawn to Ye-bin's breasts peeking between her elbows.
"......"
The drunkenness surged rapidly, and a sudden realization flashed in her dizzy mind.
Cows have big udders.
Dorothy has big breasts.
Ye-bin has big breasts.
Rinne has small breasts.
Rinne hadn't considered any correlation between cow moos and breast size.
She'd only thought it would satisfy his conquest urge by imitating an animal.
Come to think of it, his bewilderment—and even mockery—had started right when she'd begun mooing like a cow.
"I see."
Only now did she understand why Si-woo had gone from bewildered to sneering at her.
A flat-chested Rinne trying to imitate Dorothy's cow act must have looked like a titmouse following a stork and splitting its crotch.
Forget his insolence about her "scrawny figure"—the fact that he'd thought that while watching her efforts made her seethe at her disciple's audacity.
But she'd gained a clear answer, so there was profit.
If Rinne's mistake and misconception were at fault, blindly blaming Ye-bin was pointless.
It even opened the possibility that she'd given accurate info.
And above all...
"Hm..."
Rinne was completely wasted.
The tipsy haze pierced her skull in just over ten minutes.
Gifting her dizziness with steam practically rising and utter lethargy.
Merciless drowsiness assaulted her.
"Enough. Get out."
"What about the seppuku...?"
"Get out."
Forcing her heavy-as-lead eyelids open, she shooed Ye-bin away.
She still had two more challenge attempts planned inside.
If those two efforts also ended in failure, then...
"Kuuu..."
Drifting in and out of half-sleep, Rinne collapsed to her knees and departed for dreamland just like that.