Chapter 797
Chapter 797
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 797
Chapter Title: Lovers' Grand Assembly (2)
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1.
Up until the first time he came to Ye-bin for treatment, Si-woo had remained optimistic.
It was nothing more than a slight loss of sensation—no pain, no abnormalities at all.
And as a martial arts master, Si-woo never made even minor slip-ups just because he couldn't feel anything.
From the core of his body to the very tips of his limbs, he could move them exactly as he wished, even without seeing or feeling them.
That, after all, was the first step in channeling mana for powerful spirit body reinforcement.
He had already crossed countless perilous battlefields using hands that had lost all sensation.
Even Count Cohab, who had fitted him with the prosthetic arms, hadn't found anything wrong. How serious could it really be?
"This is strange..."
So Si-woo hadn't expected even Ye-bin—the healing specialist witch he trusted—to show such a troubled expression.
Back in Hexennacht, she had said that with proper diagnostic tools, she could pinpoint the cause.
"Another one?"
"No issues in the neural network, spirit tuning, or mana circuits. All the readings show everything functioning normally."
This was already the fifth re-examination.
They had probed from every angle using various diagnostic devices.
Count Cohab's prosthetics were flawlessly connected to Si-woo.
Ye-bin didn't seem to have any more tricks up her sleeve.
"There are anomalies, but no anomalies..."
And yet, the only results were contradictory.
"...Let's try a full spirit projection scan as a last resort."
"What's that?"
"Think of it like an MRI. It'll take about three days for the results to come back, so we'll review them again then."
Si-woo couldn't argue when the expert herself had no immediate answers.
For now, he was committed to joining the others in the modern world.
He got her promise to contact him as soon as the results were read and headed back to the mansion.
With the door inspection finished, it was time to go.
2.
"The Assistant isn't coming."
"Sharon sis, the Assistant isn't coming."
"Sigh, how many times do I have to tell you? The door's under inspection, so it's taking time."
"Green-hair, go fetch him already."
"I said it's under inspection..."
"This is the Queen's command! Figure it out somehow!"
"I said no!"
The twins, sprawled limply on the bed, had been whining all day.
Sharon was used to it by now, but with Lurye joining in, she finally snapped and raised her voice.
Previously, she'd distracted them with a trip to see Seoul, but with Si-woo's absence dragging on, that trick wasn't working anymore.
Even a rare outing to the department store turned into endless nagging: "Where's the Assistant?" "I miss the Assistant." "Bring him quick." "Call him already." Sharon was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
And the most unfair part?
The twins and Lurye only whined at Sharon.
They didn't dare utter a peep at Amelia, who sat leisurely at the kitchen table, sipping coffee while reading her book.
This must be what they mean by "she eats it up."
Well, Amelia did have this intimidating air that made it hard to approach her.
"......"
Meanwhile, Amelia glanced furtively at Sharon and the three troublemakers before returning to her book.
She envied them.
Those four, getting along so casually without any walls between them.
She'd picked it up at the bookstore and studied it in her spare time since, but habits and skills ingrained over a lifetime weren't going to change just from reading a few lines in a book.
"When will I ever get that close to them?" Clutching her quiet disappointment, she turned back to her book, its cover masked by another book's jacket.
That's when Sharon approached.
"Lady Amelia, what book are you reading?"
Sharon just wanted to redirect even a bit of the trio's aggression toward Amelia.
But Amelia was delighted that Sharon had spoken to her first.
It was her secret weapon, one she'd planned to read alone...
How to Become a Beloved Lover.
Sharing just this one book couldn't hurt, right?
"This one. I bought it at that big bookstore the other day."
Amelia peeled off the jacket, revealing the garish cover of a book long past its prime.
"Wow... You actually found a book like this..."
Sharon, seasoned in modern life, recognized it instantly.
It was a trashy self-published screed from at least ten years ago, churned out by some con artist claiming to be a romance guru that no one acknowledged.
Amelia must have found it in the bookstore's dusty back corner.
Books shoved that far back always had a reason.
"Right? I was going to keep it to myself at first... but once I'm done, I'll let you borrow it, Miss Sharon."
But Sharon couldn't bring herself to tell Amelia—who was presenting it shyly like a treasured map—"When you throw it out, please recycle it as paper."
"Um... sure. Thanks."
"You're welcome."
As Sharon drew near Amelia, the twins crept closer too.
Their last attempt had failed, but the twins were always trying to cozy up to Amelia.
Of course, their motive was impure: "So we can bicker with her like we do with Sharon sis."
Still, it was a golden chance to strike up a conversation.
"Professor! We're interested in that book too!"
"What's it about?"
"Oh, this is..."
Odil and Odet peeked at the chapter Amelia had open, craning their necks from both sides.
"Age differences in romance between men and women?"
"Let me see too."
As the twins moved in, even Lurye—who usually feared Amelia—edged closer.
The chapter covered ideal age gaps between couples and preferences based on them.
Sharon might have seen through the book's credibility, but the twins and Lurye lacked the knowledge.
The three dove right in with keen interest.
"Heh heh heh."
"Ha ha ha."
Suddenly, the twins—heads huddled together, flipping pages—burst into smug laughter.
"This was a done deal from the start."
"No need to read more."
"What do you mean by that?"
Lurye asked what they meant, and the twins puffed up their noses to the heavens, strutting proudly.
"How old is Sharon sis?"
"Me? Thirty-two."
"What about you, Lurye?"
"My age... probably around thirty. Why would a witch bother counting such things?"
"Uha ha ha!"
The twins roared with laughter.
They pointed to a line on the page they'd just turned and recited dramatically.
"Men overwhelmingly prefer younger women!"
"In a survey of 1,000 single men and women, 60% of men said they prefer younger partners!"
""Still don't get it?""
Finally grasping it dimly, the other lovers got the final nail driven in by the twins.
"We're the only ones younger than the Assistant! In our flower-like prime at twenty-one!"
"In other words, we've secured the superior position...!"
Sharon's face went stark white.
Amelia turned not just white, but ashen.
She'd never counted precisely, but Amelia had lived nearly 170 years.
Compared to Si-woo in his late twenties, that made her over a century older.
Obvious, sure—but this book didn't even mention century-plus gaps.
Did that mean her age difference with Si-woo didn't even register?
"That stuff doesn't matter!"
In a rare panic, Amelia bellowed at the unacceptable reality.
"This book is about human romance!"
Witch society didn't fuss much over age to begin with.
They lived eternally in their prime—why would age matter?
She had never once approached it from an older/younger perspective.
"Professor, you get it."
"But what can we do? Reality is reality."
Amelia shot back, bristling.
"What reality? And witches don't count age like that!"
The smug twins forgot even their fear.
Arms crossed, they faced Amelia with leisurely, cheeky attitudes.
"Hmm?"
"So how should we count it?"
"What does a mere age matter? Queens claim men decades younger as a matter of course."
Unlike the surprisingly indifferent Lurye, Sharon jumped in to back Amelia.
"Obviously... for witches, age freezes after succession!"
"Right! We don't even age!"
Sharon hadn't fretted much over her age gap with Si-woo either.
But having this unthought-of difference shoved in her face realistically? It grated.
By that logic, wasn't she already in her thirties?
"Tsk tsk tsk."
"The death throes of older lovers refusing reality are just pathetic."
The twins shook their heads pityingly.
How many penalties had they endured just for being apprentice witches?
They couldn't do what other lovers did, had to sneak around their mentors' watchful eyes for secret meetings.
No way they'd let slide an "advantage unique to apprentice witches."
"Si-woo's got a thing for older women!"
"Yeah, you're the only ones younger!"
"How immature. Getting worked up over such trivial nonsense."
Then came the sound of the door lock.
-Beep beep beep beep
The group—yapping like rival dogs—froze in unison.
"It's the Assistant! Sis! Let's show him the book too!"
"Assistant, why're you so late!"
The twins, fastest of all, bolted to the door and flung it open.
They froze, breaths caught.
"......"
Standing there was a witch radiating a razor-sharp aura, looking even icier than Professor Amelia.
"Eek...!"
"Lurye! Attack! It's an attack!"
Her menace was so intense they even forgot Si-woo was supposed to bring back those two fugitives from Gehenna.
The twins fled from the scary witch and counter-charged back inside.
"Your Majesty~ I'm here~"
"Dorothy!"
Then a smooth-talking witch entered, playfully pressing down on the scary one's head with her palm.
This time, Lurye lit up and dashed out.
"Rinne, loosen up that face. Smile~ Smile~ You're scaring the babies."
"Remove your hand. Before I cut it off."
"We're back."
"You're late. My apologies for the delay."
Behind Rinne and Dorothy's warm exchange, Eloa and Si-woo stepped in.
And so, for the first time, all the lovers gathered under one roof.