Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Silence
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1.
The season of autumn leaves had passed, and winter had arrived.
It seemed this winter would bring heavy snowfall overall.
Amelia's residence was as serene as ever.
The garden was already buried in snow up to her thighs, and through the half-snow-covered glass windows, she could still see snowflakes drifting lazily down.
It looked like the snow would fall steadily through the night.
"Hoo..."
A sigh escaped her lips.
Even indoors, her breath formed a visible cloud.
Amelia stared blankly at the misty exhale before adjusting the shawl draped over her shoulders.
-Knock knock
She knocked out of habit, but as always, there was no response.
Amelia twisted the cold doorknob, pushed the door open, and stepped inside.
Siwoo's room was covered floor to ceiling in densely inscribed magic circles.
They were life-sustaining arrays, actively running.
High-grade mana essences—several bottles a day—were consumed just to keep them going.
On the shelves sat stacks of cigarettes she'd brought as gifts for him.
In the center of the room, on the bed, lay Siwoo, pale-faced and bundled under the covers.
Ninety moon cycles had risen and set, and he remained unchanged.
Ea's ribbon, which had burrowed into his eye socket, had ravaged his frontal lobe.
Fortunate among misfortunes, his brainstem was intact, sparing him instant death—but the irrecoverable damage was undeniable.
He had fallen into a deep sleep.
A comatose state unresponsive to any external stimulus, sustained only by shallow breaths.
This was the achievement of Amelia's emergency treatment.
The moment she'd taken custody of him, she'd used particles to 'halt' every process in his body.
Yet perfectly stopping a human body's biological clock was nearly impossible.
The magic covering his body and the formations etched in the room delayed death as much as possible, but even now, Siwoo was dying—slowly, bit by bit.
A living corpse.
A pain like a heated awl stabbing her heart tore through Amelia.
Today alone, she'd visited over a hundred times just to see his face.
Each time, endless regrets stained her heart like inkblots.
That night.
She recalled the tragic autumn evening.
What if she hadn't claimed him exclusively?
What if she'd accepted Countess Gemernai's offer to hand him over?
What if she'd apologized properly from the start?
What if she hadn't fled from Siwoo as he scolded and yelled at her, but faced him head-on?
What if she hadn't run to her master's house?
What if she'd pulled herself together sooner and returned to the mansion?
What if she'd raced back faster, squeezing out every ounce of strength to reunite with him?
What if, the moment she saw the barrier, she'd geared up for battle and protected Siwoo?
Innumerable 'what ifs' flooded her mind.
Tragedies that wouldn't have happened if she'd acted on even one.
She knew the past couldn't be changed, yet she clung to it desperately.
Amelia pulled a chair to the bedside and sat beside him.
"How are you feeling?"
It was little more than talking to herself.
He lacked consciousness, and the magic fixing his time flowed differently from hers.
Even if her voice miraculously reached his ears, it would arrive as garbled noise, like a stretched tape.
"I was just okay today. Nothing out of the ordinary."
Amelia had shuttled restlessly between the library and salons.
All to research ways to repair his body or track down a witch who could heal him.
Since awakening that night, she'd reached the 23rd rank, but recovery magic was a field utterly divorced from her prior studies.
Not an exaggeration to say she'd regressed to the 10th rank there.
Still, Amelia was determined to revive him, even if it took centuries.
Words she hadn't yet said remained.
"I had a dream again today. You woke up and poured out your resentment at me."
This is all your fault.
Nothing like this would have happened without you.
His final image overlapped, berating her fiercely.
In that dream, Amelia didn't back away.
She approached, tears streaming, begging forgiveness, apologizing, embracing him.
"It was sad, but... it was good. I got to hear your voice again."
Amelia gently brushed aside the hair falling over his forehead.
"Just rest a little longer."
She pressed a quiet kiss to his cheek and returned to her research.
She'd visited sporadically all day, chatting away—there was so much more she wanted to say.
But her chest tightened; she couldn't utter another word.
She felt like she'd collapse into sobs, casting everything aside.
She knew.
In truth, she could only be a sinner before Siwoo.
Tracing the root of it all led inexorably to her karma.
All her actions were mere self-soothing indulgence.
Transparent tears traced down Amelia's cheeks.
She dabbed away the umpteenth tears of the day with her handkerchief.
In the pristine garden, snowflakes piled silently.
2.
After class, Odile and Odette stopped by Amelia's residence.
A new routine.
Once a week: Siwoo's bedside vigil.
After class, they'd return together, and Amelia would head straight to the research wing.
The twins, clutching bouquets, went to the room where Siwoo lay.
For the record, Countess Gemernai covered half the cost of maintaining the magic circles.
"Hello, Assistant!"
"Good day, Assistant."
Odile strode in boldly, Odette following.
Of course, no reply.
Apparently, miracles didn't happen so easily.
"Today it's blue hydrangeas. Their meaning is haughtiness, coolness, pride. But we just thought they were pretty."
"Right? Who cares about flower language?"
Odette removed the wilted flowers from the vase on the table and replaced them with fresh ones.
The twins dragged chairs over, sitting snugly on either side of Siwoo.
They gazed long at his face, as if in deep slumber.
That night.
Siwoo had saved Odile and Odette, staking his life.
Even as the twins despaired and knelt to surrender, he'd led the charge, facing the witch to the end.
His defiant back, taunting the fearsome witch until the last moment, remained unforgettable.
When they'd returned with their master...
Siwoo's state was horrific.
Body riddled with agonizing wounds, teetering on death's door.
He'd known it would end that way—and still evacuated only the twins.
Despite the option to flee himself, he'd never compromised.
"Thanks to you, Assistant, we could study hard again today."
Odette wiped away needless tears and gripped Siwoo's hand tightly.
It felt rough.
His compound fractures—bones barely knit—had healed, but crooked scars lingered.
"I'll tell you about this week's happenings. Must be boring lying here all day."
After a week holed up in Amelia's residence, alternating wails, the twins had gradually accepted reality.
Powerlessness from doing nothing, saved unilaterally.
That helplessness became their new drive.
They couldn't just wallow in grief.
Now, they studied magic harder than ever.
So that when—if—he awoke, or if disaster struck again, they could protect him.
The twins chattered, spilling the week's events to Siwoo.
"Something this week you'd be proud of, Assistant."
"Yeah! Professor praised us today."
"First time our corrections were under ten."
Starting with their fervent magic studies lately.
"Something upsetting happened too. Wednesday, Pecha caught a squirrel..."
"And Odette opened the cage to feed it—it escaped!"
"Eek! Sister's fault too. You made such a fuss over how cute it was, scaring it off."
"Oh? It was fine on my hand. Wasn't it your nasty temper that spooked it?"
Bickering sparked from daily anecdotes.
But with no listener, their spat fizzled quickly.
Without Siwoo's wry smile and awkward mediation, gloom settled fast.
To shake it off, Odile spoke first.
"How about we tell our Assistant something more enticing?"
"Enticing?"
"You know."
Odile leaned in close, propping her elbow by Siwoo's pillow.
She climbed onto the wide bed, gently placing her hand on his chest like handling soap bubbles, and whispered.
"Assistant... You said you'd slap my face if we met again, right?"
Sweet, coquettish tone laced with tears—it wasn't imagination.
"I'll let you slap wherever you want, not just my face. We've been practicing something lately, actually."
Seeing Odile's bold approach, Odette mirrored her, pressing close to Siwoo.
Hearts pounded.
Odette glanced at the door.
Not for any other reason—if Amelia caught them this intimate with Siwoo, next class meant homework hell.
"Y-Yeah! What we've been practicing is..."
Like Odile, Odette clung to Siwoo's ear.
"...creating a thin barrier so mana doesn't seep into the baby pouch."
A magic to deploy plasma-confining wavelengths like a tokamak, blocking mana from the male organ.
High risk if failed, utterly useless otherwise—no one had made it.
But the twins researched diligently.
To gift him something he'd like upon awakening.
"When you wake, just wait a bit... We can even put it in the baby-making hole."
"Yeah, yeah. Books say virginity's for someone truly special, but you're our lifesaver... We'll make the sacrifice."
"I'll give you my first too, Assistant!"
The twins held their breath, watching for his reaction.
"If Countess Gemernai knew, she'd chop me to bits, right? No way, even so. Too dangerous."
That was the response they should've heard.
But Siwoo—metabolism suppressed, heart beating once every three minutes—didn't leak even a sigh.
Would those eyes ever open again?
Or would only an eternally unkept promise remain?
The shared anxiety went unspoken between the twins.
"Anyway, get up soon, okay? Bought you cool shades too."
"We'll come again, Assistant. Be better by then?"
Odile and Odette climbed down, gathered their things, and left the room.
They pretended to close the door—then flung it open wide.
No movie-like scene where Siwoo lay eyes open upon turning back.
"...Let's go."
"...Yeah, Sister."
Exchanging quiet words, Odile and Odette held back tears.
They'd promised not to cry before their Assistant anymore.