Chapter 869
Chapter 869
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 869
Chapter Title: Little Master's Atonement
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Even as apprentice witches, Odil and Odet knew full well that the ways of the world weren't so simple.
Living life meant facing countless crossroads, and sometimes there came moments when choosing either path felt impossible.
"...Odil, Odet...."
The twins were stunned when they sought out Deneb early that morning.
It was their first time seeing their little master in such threadbare clothes, and the cramped attic room at the top of the tower felt utterly disconnected from the opulent Jemernai estate.
Even the twins, who had roamed every nook and cranny since childhood, had no idea such a place existed.
It was a truly dismal chamber, perfectly suited to its name: the "punishment room."
"I'm truly sorry...."
Deneb bowed her head, holding back tears as if she hadn't the shame to let them fall.
Behind her lowered head, her back was marked with wounds that looked excruciating at a glance.
Odil, who had planned to vent her frustrations freely upon seeing their little master, fell silent.
Odet, who had been ready to chime in and say it was fine, clamped her mouth shut as well.
"I've done something awful to you both. I swear I won't make that mistake again."
"Of course.... You have to."
"That's right.... But you shouldn't have kept it a secret from us, too...."
Still, they didn't forget their original purpose.
They had to air their grievances properly, didn't they?
"Yes, it's all my fault, my own shortcomings. I can't make any excuses, no matter what you say."
"......"
"......"
Odil and Odet exchanged glances.
The forced resolve they had steeled themselves with on the way to see their little master had vanished, leaving only bewilderment in its wake.
"For now... can we talk about this later?"
"M-Me too!"
Without even waiting for a reply, the twins slammed the door shut and fled down the spiral staircase.
"What the heck! What is this...!"
Upon reaching the first floor, Odil stomped her foot in frustration.
She had at least planned to give her a piece of her mind.
No matter that it was their little master—she'd been through so much heartache; surely a little griping was allowed?
But the little master they actually met looked far worse off than the twins did.
They'd vaguely heard from the big master that she had entered a period of asceticism, but they hadn't expected her to look this pitiful.
The carefully prepared list of complaints never even made it past their lips before they bolted.
"This makes it seem like we did something wrong!"
"Calm down, sis. Master didn't say anything...."
"It's so frustrating! She's such an idiot! What the hell is this...?"
"Sis...."
Odil wasn't truly angry, deep down.
She was just so thrown off balance, unsure how to handle the situation, that she was taking it out on the floor.
"Remember, sis?"
"Remember what!"
That's when Odet tugged at Odil's sleeve and spoke up.
"When we were little and we snuck into Master's workshop and trashed the place."
It was around the time Odil and Odet were ten years old.
The twins had always been brimming with irrepressible energy, but back then, their hyperactivity was on a level incomparable to now.
Despite their master's strict warnings never to enter her workshop, Odil and Odet had finally squeezed their way in.
The witches' workshop they stepped into for the first time.
Enchanted by its mysteries, the twins played at being grand witches, fooling around with the experimental equipment to their hearts' content.
-Boom!
The delicate instruments, which required precise control, responded to the twins' recklessness with an explosion.
By some miracle, Odil and Odet escaped with only minor burns on the backs of their hands, but the research materials weren't so lucky.
The fruits of Deneb's years of independent artifact research were swept away in an instant by the blast.
Bombshell-haired Odil and bombshell-haired Odet stared blankly at the exploded wreckage.
Young as they were, and lacking in magical knowledge though they might have been, they were clever enough apprentices to grasp the situation.
They knew this mishap was far beyond the level of something that could be shrugged off as mere childish antics.
'Odet, we're in deep trouble.'
'W-Why is it my fault! It's your fault, sis! You're the one in trouble! I told you not to do it!'
'Odet, calm down. We have to somehow fix it back to normal, right?'
'Obviously! Sis, put out that fire over there first!'
But no amount of panic would grant ten-year-old apprentice witches the ability to restore the obliterated research data and samples.
'We're dead.'
'We're really dead....'
The twins paled, imagining their little master bursting in with a terrifying scowl.
Back then, she had been five times stricter than she was now.
The workshop door flew open roughly—and the one who came rushing in panting was their little master.
'Master! We're sorry!'
'We didn't mean for this to happen!'
Expecting a roar that could rival an opera singer's, Odil and Odet squeezed their eyes shut.
But what came instead was an embrace full of worry and concern.
'Kids, are you okay? You're not hurt anywhere?'
Witch and apprentice shared a bond akin to mother and daughter, but up until then, the twins had found both masters intimidating.
'What am I to do with you.... Come here. Does it hurt a lot? What if it scarred? Why would you do something so dangerous?'
Yet seeing their little master fuss only over the burns on their hands, ignoring the devastated workshop entirely, the twins burst into tears.
'Waaah!'
'We're sorry...!'
'It's okay, you little troublemakers.... As long as you're safe, that's all that matters.'
From that day on, the twins realized that the master they once saw only as frightening was truly family.
"...Why bring that up all of a sudden?"
"When we messed up, Master forgave us."
"So?"
"What if things had gone differently, sis? What if Little Master and the assistant were lovers first, and we only found out later that we liked him too? Would Master have gotten mad?"
It was a question that needed no thought.
"Of course she would've."
"Would she have forgiven us?"
"...No, she wouldn't have not forgiven us, right?"
"I think if she'd seen us struggling like Master is now, she would've done more than just forgive us."
Odil knew that too.
That's why her heart felt so heavy.
"Little Master doesn't even have enough time to be as happy as she deserves."
"...Odet!"
"Don't get mad—it's the truth."
"......"
It was a rare sight: Odet winning an argument with Odil.
Odil let out a deep sigh.
"Fine, so what do you want to do about it?"
"Probably the same thing you want, sis."
2.
Even as night deepened, Deneb writhed in ever-deepening guilt.
Her older sister had offered to help resolve the issue, but she'd refused.
No matter how remarkable her sister was, could she forgive this profound sin—this betrayal of natural order, succumbing to desire?
The twins' early morning visit had been more than enough to deepen Deneb's shame.
Wasn't her act of kneeling in penance at the tower base just another loathsome display?
Wouldn't it look like performative contrition?
Hadn't she chosen this method of atonement purely for self-satisfaction, subconsciously wanting to show the twins that she was reflecting?
-Crack! Crack!
Deneb chose flogging to drive away such stray thoughts.
When searing pain bloomed over her inflamed wounds, she could at least briefly avert her eyes from the guilt filling her heart.
-Knock knock
Then came the knock at the door.
Deneb rose to her knees and opened the rickety wooden door.
Fluttering to her feet was a note that had been folded twice and wedged into the crack.
"This is...."
Pocketing the note, Deneb headed for Tarot Town.
The senders were Odil and Odet.
It said they wanted to talk seriously and asked her to come to their villa in Tarot Town.
The summons was somewhat cryptic, but she had no energy left to puzzle over the reason.
She only wondered if she truly deserved to go.
But if it could offer even a sliver of comfort, Deneb was prepared to kneel before the twins.
Clad in the bare minimum of clothing, she approached the door of the twins' outpost—their villa in Tarot Town—like a condemned prisoner entering the courtroom.
Candles flickered atop ornate holders, casting a warm glow.
The cozy air from the fireplace welcomed her.
But contrary to expectations, there were no signs of life.
If they were in the lounge, she'd hear something—so probably upstairs in the bedroom?
Deneb paused just as she was about to step forward.
Red rose petals were scattered intermittently across the floor.
At first, she dismissed them as fallen from a nearby vase, but as she passed the entryway, their numbers increased, leading inward.
"This is...?"
Like the trail in Hansel and Gretel, the petals guided Deneb all the way to the first-floor bathroom.
Unable to hide her confusion, she quietly turned the bathroom door handle.
Steam billowed out in thick clouds.
A portable tub perfectly sized for two people brimmed with steaming hot water, gently sloshing.
Within, rose petals—the very ones that had served as signposts—floated in lavish profusion, creating a romantic atmosphere.
It was spacious enough for two to bathe comfortably.
"Girls?"
What on earth was going on?
Had she gotten the location wrong?
She double-checked the note, but there was no mistake.
-Clunk!
A sound from the entryway—the door.
Turning around, Deneb jolted in surprise.
"Huh...?"
She had assumed it was the twins arriving a bit late.
But the one who entered through the door was Deneb's son-in-law, wearing a sullen expression.
"Lady Deneb?"
It was Siu.