Chapter 16: Liberation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 16: Liberation
Evangeline told me to come into the bathroom, so I opened the door and stepped inside. Just moments before, she had been naked, but now she had a towel wrapped around her body.
“……Teacher?”
“Wh-what is it……?”
“What is that?”
But I barely noticed the towel covering her body, because her face was completely invisible. She looked like one of those faceless ghosts from the movies.
As if deeply embarrassed, she covered her invisible face with her hands and turned her head away.
“You can’t see my face, so…… I just bent the light a little……”
“I see.”
Even in this situation, she was more preoccupied with hiding her face. If I revealed that I had a constitution immune to curses, she might finally show her carefully hidden face, but…….
‘……Let’s not do that.’
Yesterday, when I realized I was immune to curses, Margaret had asked me not to tell Teacher.
She had asked—very politely—that if I revealed it right after coming back from an outing with her, it might look as if she had been the one to tell me the secret.
As a guest who could make things as difficult for me as she pleased, refusing her request was not a wise move. Besides, I was also curious about why Teacher was trying to hide that fact.
“Well then, I’m coming in.”
“O-okay.”
I was covered in sweat, but there was no need to shower before getting into the bath. The enchanted tub would filter out things like sweat and other secretions in an instant.
Splash— As the mass of one adult male entered the tub, an equal volume of water spilled out.
The perfectly warm bathwater enveloped my entire body, washing away all my fatigue. Not that I had much fatigue to begin with, but still…….
‘……Doesn’t magic get nullified?’
I wondered, looking at my faceless Teacher. A constitution that ignores a witch's curse. Considering that the witches' curses are magical in nature, it should have been possible for me to nullify the magic they use as well.
But I couldn’t. In the first place, I didn’t even understand what magic was.
While I was soaking in the tub, lost in thought, Teacher carefully spoke up.
“Um, Yohan?”
“……Ah, yes, Teacher.”
“It’s a little embarrassing if you stare so much……”
As she said that, she began to subtly cover the cleavage her towel couldn’t hide. She thought that my being lost in thought with my head down was me staring at her cleavage.
Since it wasn't like I hadn't looked at all, I just nodded silently and apologized.
“I’m sorry.”
“N-no! You don’t have to apologize like that……”
“It’s because you’re so beautiful, Teacher.”
“……Beautiful, you say.”
Hearing those words, Teacher suddenly fell silent, then slowly cut through the water and came closer to me.
Even though I couldn't see her face, her voluptuous body was clearly visible—just her body approaching was enough to make me tense.
When she came close and pulled my arm, my heart started pounding like it was about to burst.
“Yohan.”
“Y-yeees……”
“What if, just what if—what if I… what if I wasn’t that pretty?”
“Huh? But you are plenty pretty, Teacher.”
“……Even though you haven’t even seen me properly?”
“……You’d be pretty even if I couldn’t see you.”
“I mean—what if I’m actually not?”
It was only then that I realized why she was saying that. I’d heard from Margaret that Teacher's curse was a curse of disgust.
A terrible curse that made any living being who saw her face feel disgust—so terrible that even her own parents abandoned her.
Margaret said it was like a two-meter-tall cockroach flapping its wings right in front of you. Something that would make even the strongest-hearted person grimace…….
“Even so, I’ll still tell you that you’re beautiful, Teacher.”
Cursed as she was, she must have lived her whole life being loathed by people. Regardless of whether her face was objectively beautiful or not, people must have disparaged her appearance.
And so, she herself must have come to feel that her own appearance was disgusting. To the point where she wanted to rip the skin off her face every time she looked in a mirror.
The only reason she didn't was because she knew the source of the curse wasn't her face, but her magic itself.
And she—even with me, someone her curse doesn't work on, right here—didn't have the confidence to reveal her face. Regardless of the curse, in her mind, her face had become a disgusting object.
“Teacher.”
“Y-yes……?”
“I like you, Teacher. I respect you as an adult, and I admire you as a mage.”
“Wh-what? S-suddenly……?”
I smiled softly, seeing her flustered by my sudden confession. I couldn't see her face, but I could clearly picture the expression she must be making right now.
That flustered face was cute and all, but I wanted a smile to always be blooming on her face.
“Even if you have a secret you’re keeping from me, Teacher.”
“A s-secret? I don’t have anything like that…?”
“How could you not?”
Carefully, I reached my hand toward her face. The moment my palm touched her cheek, I felt her flinch. I could feel her warmth.
“Even if your true identity is the Witch of Disgust, and even if you only took me in because I have a unique constitution that's immune to witches' curses—my feelings won’t change.”
“……Who told you?”
“Margaret.”
“Ah, that bitch?”
I grabbed the shoulders of my teacher, who was about to stand up, and made her sit back down. Where did she think she was going? Getting angry at Margaret for spilling the secret was something for later. Something for after tonight.
Holding her face once more, I pictured her unseen face in my memory and slowly opened my mouth.
“Teacher, I want to see your face.”
“……No. You’ll be disappointed.”
“I won’t be disappointed.”
“You’ll definitely say it’s disgusting, hideous……”
“Even though the curse doesn’t work on me?”
“……S-still, no.”
Learned fear. Even though she’d found someone she would never be loathed by, someone with a curse-nullifying constitution, hundreds of years of memories engraved in her subconscious were holding her down. Making her make the wrong choice.
In that case, I’ll make it so she can’t choose. Just like the curse, the miracle that breaks it isn't something given by her choice. It is simply bestowed, one-sidedly—with no regard for her own will.
‘I want to see your face…….’
I want to see it.
I want to see her face.
I wish the magic that playfully hides her face would just disappear.
Shatter-!
“……Huh?”
“A-anyway, no. You know you can’t……”
“……Teacher?”
“Wh-what? I think I’d like to get out now……”
“Your face……”
Hearing that, she began to touch her face. That alone was enough for her to realize her magic had disappeared. Especially for the touch of a witch sensitive to magic power.
Realizing the magic that had hidden her face was gone, Evangeline plunged her face into the bathwater, hiding it once more.
“Teacher.”
Blub blub-.
“Earlier, I said I’d tell you that you’re beautiful after seeing your face, right?”
……Blub blub blub-.
“I’m going to have to take that back.”
Even the bubbles that had been rising slowly disappeared completely, and she stopped moving entirely. To the point where I wondered if she’d died from holding her breath.
Over the head of my motionless Teacher, I carefully opened my mouth.
“Just saying you’re beautiful won’t be enough. You’re the most beautiful in the world, the most beautiful in the universe.”
—Bwubwubwubwub-!
Teacher, who had lifted about half her face out of the tub along with a rush of bubbles, looked at me and her eyes darted around. Even though her mouth was still in the water, it was as if I could hear her words.
“……Really?”
“Of course. Would I lie?”
“Really really, truly truly?”
“Really really, truly truly.”
Now having pulled her face completely out of the water, she looked at me, revealing the face she had never intended to show.
Droplets of water clinging to her hair dripped down, adorning her beauty. Looking at her, I could understand why she had awakened the magic of love.
Even Mother Nature herself couldn’t help but love her.
“……Yohan.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Why—aren’t you saying it?”
“—Saying what?”
“……You said you’d tell me I’m beautiful.”
“Aha.”
Ahem. Having received a request, I cleared my throat with a cough for my Teacher's sake. Once I felt ready, I brought out the words I’d wanted to say so many times before.
“I fell in love at first sight, my lady.”
“──!?”
“Would you give me the chance to gaze upon your beauty from your side?”
Hearing my words, Teacher carefully blushed and nodded.
“……Okay.”
Having received her permission, I dared to move closer to her face.
Even observing it from inches away, I couldn’t find a single flawed speck.
“You’re beautiful.”
“……Hngh-.”
“You’re pretty.”
“O-one more time……”
“You’re cute, Teacher.”
“Heu-eung…!”
Having heard the words she’d wanted to hear over and over, Teacher suddenly grabbed her forehead and collapsed. I quickly caught her and realized she had fainted from dizziness.
……So even witches get dizzy if they stay in the bath too long.
I slung the fainted Teacher over my shoulder and headed out.
When Margaret woke up in the morning and came out to the living room, she witnessed a bizarre scene. Evangeline, not even wearing her face-covering hood, had her face held close to Yohan's and was humming a tune.
“One more time.”
“You’re beautiful, Teacher.”
“Hehe, one more time!”
“You’re prettier than any jewel.”
“Hehehe, more, more, more!”
“I like looking at you more than looking at the night sky.”
“Heeheehee……”
Watching Yohan and Evangeline acting so disgustingly lovey-dovey in the morning, Margaret frowned.