Ep.6 - Witch Apprentice (3)
Ep.6 - Witch Apprentice (3)
The moment Eva regained her memories, she began attacking her own sister as if intent on killing her, and the situation spiraled further and further into chaos.
"Die! Just die! Hurry up and die!"
Eva was slapping Neva repeatedly,
"Eva, why...? Why are you doing this!"
Neva stared blankly at Eva as if unable to comprehend, then shot Chichi a murderous glare,
"...I didn't do anything wrong, you know? I only did exactly what I was asked to do!"
Chichi heatedly protested her own innocence!
The absolute pandemonium refused to settle down easily and only kept intensifying!
"Everyone, calm down!"
In the end, I was the only one who could cool the heated situation. The other women didn't even consider intervening, and even if they did, they had no clue how to resolve things...
"First, somebody hold her down! If we leave her like this, someone's going to get hurt!"
So I stepped in and handled the situation piece by piece. I restrained the rampaging Eva and bound her tightly, then separated Chichi and Neva far apart to prevent further fighting.
Of course, I wasn't handling it directly but rather asking Riko and Kaede for help... but that didn't really matter. The important thing was stopping the fight.
"Alright, so..."
To stop the fighting, it wasn't enough to simply soothe everyone's feelings — a practical resolution was also necessary.
"Why are you fighting...? What on earth is going on? Didn't you say she was your sister?"
And so, sitting back down around the campfire, we all directed our questions at Neva. The one who caused this mess, and simultaneously the person involved who could resolve it.
"..."
Neva hesitated for a moment, her eyes sorrowful, then soon began opening up to us. Though her gaze was fixed on Eva, who was fuming and biting down on her gag.
"...I don't know. I don't understand. We always spent our time together, we couldn't even sleep properly without each other... we were that kind of pair..."
Eva shot piercing glares at the faltering Neva and made mmph-mmph sounds as if she had something to say,
but we all decided to hear Neva's story first and left Eva be for the moment.
"After losing our parents at a young age, Eva was my... only hope. I lived for Eva, and I worked myself to the bone every single day praying for her well-being. That's all there was to it!"
The sorrow seeping through Neva's voice could not be fully concealed and spilled out. Faced with such heart-wrenching sincerity, we couldn't bring ourselves to open our mouths and simply listened. Even Riko, of all people, stopped teasing Neva and sat quietly listening to the story.
"I loved Eva. I devoted everything to that child, my last remaining family! Eva loved me too. She was always there with a smile to greet me when I came home, so why on earth..."
Why on earth!
With that phrase, Neva, demanding to know the reason Eva had changed, hurled her sharp glare at Chichi.
"...Hah. Didn't I tell you? I said it was better to just keep those memories buried. You were the one who asked me to release them, and I merely granted that request. Do you understand?"
She had a point. From Chichi's perspective, this was utterly ridiculous. No — she helped, and this is the treatment she gets? After doing exactly what was asked of her?
"How is this any different from pulling someone out of the water only to have them demand you hand over all your luggage too? No, it's worse than that! It's like pulling someone out of the water and the moment they're out, they start screaming that you're the one who pushed them in!"
I'd say that was a remarkably restrained response. Chichi was looking at me, suppressing her anger as much as possible. She was worried that if she got angry, I'd be put in a difficult position.
"Please don't suspect Chichi-noona. We need to hear Eva-ssi's side of the story too."
Knowing how she felt, I took Chichi's side. No, actually, there wasn't even a "side" to take. Even from where I stood, Neva was the one in the wrong right now.
"Delin, you don't trust me? To me...!"
Neva soon began to tear up, looking at me as if deeply hurt, but if I didn't set things straight now, it could turn into a really troublesome dispute down the line, so I had no choice.
"Riko-noona? Untie Eva-ssi. Let's hear her side too."
And to be honest, I did suspect Neva.
Judging by her unbearably heavy possessiveness and love, the probability that Eva-ssi had gone through the same things I did was high.
Of course, it was also possible that Neva had broken down because Eva-ssi left, but well, anyway.
We'd find out now. Who was really...
"Just die! Love? What love! I was never family with a stupid idiot like you!"
...Hm.
"You're the person I hated most of all!!"
At Eva's voice, shrieking as if to tear through eardrums, I couldn't help but cover my ears slightly.
Though I could hear just fine even with them covered, so...
"Stupid, idiot, garbage, moron!!! I hate you most in the world, the absolute most!"
What worried me was Neva, who had to take that violent rejection at face value.
I didn't know what she'd done to be hated that fiercely, but watching quietly, I almost felt like Neva was the pitiful one...?
"Professor Chichi, Professoor...! Please help me. Hic... Professor..."
However, Neva, who had been taking Eva's abuse in a dazed stupor, finally reacted to Eva calling out to Chichi. The two of them immediately tangled together and began wildly attacking each other.
The reaction was so swift that it was difficult for us, who had been quietly listening, to respond in time. Of course, Kaede or Riko-noona could definitely have reacted, but they didn't move.
"Oh dear! That's because the pecking order hasn't been settled yet. Go on, fight it out and establish the hierarchy!"
"..."
Especially, unlike Kaede who was watching the fight with great interest, Riko didn't even seem particularly concerned and was quietly observing the situation while tossing her dagger above her head and catching it again.
"Ri-Riko-noona! Please separate them!"
I had to persuade her and stop the fight between Chichi and Neva, so I ran over frantically and tried asking for her help, but...
"Hey."
She didn't even react to my plea for help and immediately seized my wrist and started dragging me away...!
"N-noona! Not that way, over there...!"
I urgently slapped her firm arm, trying to free myself from her grip, but there was no way I could possibly resist her.
"Mmph! Mmmph!"
While everyone—even Helen, who was smoking her cigar, and Kaede, the leader figure—merely watched Neva and Chichi's fight with amusement,
I was dragged off somewhere with Riko's hand clamped over my mouth.
I couldn't even resist. There wasn't even time to scream. She immediately pulled me into her arms, covered my mouth, and strode forward.
'Wh-what the hell is this all of a sudden!?'
It was completely incomprehensible behavior. No, even if the others were distracted, to just drag me off like this...!
Was she even sane? She couldn't possibly run away with me, and even laying a hand on my body would obviously bring punishment from the other women...!
———————————————
"..."
She moved swiftly to a spot where the sounds of the women fighting couldn't be heard, and there she finally opened her mouth.
"Hey. You. You've still been hiding things from me, haven't you? Right?"
At that whisper drilled directly into my ear, I flinched in shock.
'Wh-what...? Could it be because of the Twins...?'
The sharp question, mingled with hot breath, brought extreme tension and unease to me, who had plenty of secrets to hide.
"Mmph...!"
Even after gulping and shaking my head desperately, Riko didn't back off. Instead, she let out a short laugh and whispered even closer.
"Hey, what's this Soul Bond thing? Let your noona in on it too."
!!!
At the words that came out of her mouth, I jumped in shock and spun around to look at her.
Soul Bond...!
How did that come out of Riko's mouth...!
"It's been floating right here in front of me for a while now? But it's weird. You've been acting like you don't know anything. It's rambling on about whether I've borne the fruit of love, received a blessing, and all that..."
Ah.
Right.
The Soul Bond requires the other party to accept it.
"But you know. The thing your noona loves is..."
She started to say it but couldn't bring herself to finish. She seemed to think it was an extremely embarrassing thing to say.
"...Fuck. Whatever, it's all written here, so from now on let's do it as much as we want. Got it? You've gotta do it with me too."
As much as we want?
Do what...?
No, wait! What's written there?
"You kept it a secret from me, but you helped that wolf bitch with this Soul Bond or whatever, didn't you? Right? You son of a bitch... how the hell am I supposed to come to my senses with this?"