City of Witches
chapter-188

༺ Twin Rush (2) ༻

1.

“…”

“…”

If Sharon had to pick the most challenging situation in her life, she’d definitely pick her current situation.

Seated side by side on the couch, the Geminis, the Countess’ apprentice witches, were giving her quite the intense stares.

Just like the raindrops falling outside, they continued to pour all their attention to Sharon.

When speaking about the Countess, both of them had personal favorite colors; The older preferred black, while the younger preferred white.

However, that didn’t seem to be the case with their apprentices. Their resemblance to each other and their breathtaking beauty gave off an eerie sensation to Sharon, as if she was facing a pair of ghosts.

Now, she wouldn’t feel that way if they were to start a conversation with her, but the problem here was that they didn’t.

Since Deneb and Siwoo left the room together, they remained silent, fiercely staring at her while keeping their mouths shut.

“Um…would you like more fruit…?”

Mustering all her courage, she initiated a conversation with them.

Thanks to that, the twins intensified their gaze on her, giving off an unwavering presence.

‘I want to cry…’

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

“Yes please, thank you.”

“I’d like some apples, please.”

After a moment that felt like an eternity, the twins finally responded.

So, Sharon walked into the kitchen, occasionally glancing at them, who still hadn’t removed their gazes from her.

Unable to bear it any longer, she quickened her pace and entered the kitchen.

“What the hell was that…?”

Naturally, Sharon was already aware of Siwoo’s status as the guest of the Gemini Household.

Not only did he possess the Countess’ ring, but he also rescued these apprentice witches from a dire situation.

Witches in Gehenna wouldn’t normally send their apprentices to the modern world, which only made the situation even more peculiar. The fact that they were here meant that they had a really close relationship with Siwoo.

“Could it be…?”

‘Maybe those twins are among the people Siwoo has kissed?’

‘Doesn’t this feel like the scene where an ex is trying to keep the current girlfriend in check?’

Thinking back on countless romance movies she watched, she quickly came up with a plausible scenario.

‘What do I do now…?’

‘Am I going to lose him…? Just like that…?’

She peeled the apple in a neat way before going back to the living room.

“So…but…ah…”

“No, Sis…it’s not like that…”

The twins, who had been sitting still like dolls, were actually whispering to each other when she came back in.

As she approached them, they swiftly returned to their quiet state, abruptly ending their conversation.

Obviously Sharon was curious about what they were talking about, but she decided to pretend not to notice as she placed the fruit on the table.

““Thank you.””

They nodded politely.

As one of them started to eat the apples with a long fork, another one of them surprisingly initiated a conversation with her.

“Ms. Witch, may I ask for your name?”

“A-Ah, my name is Sharon Evergreen…”

Truthfully, considering the witches’ social hierarchy, there was no reason for Sharon to feel threatened by the twins as they were merely apprentices.

But, she couldn’t just disregard them. Sharon had 58 billion worth of debt while these twins were essentially the daughter of her debtor.

Moreover, she didn’t know what would happen next.

There was a chance that these twins would get angry at her, rush over to the Countess and demand to confiscate all her belongings.

With this in mind, it wasn’t strange that Sharon was cowering in fear.

“I’m Odile.”

“My name is Odette.”

“Nice to meet you.”

After what it felt like eternity, finally they started to talk with her.

She let out a sigh of relief internally.

At least she didn’t have to endure the awkward and suffocating silence, or the confusion over her not understanding what was going on.

“By the way, what is your relationship with Mr. Assistant?”

“Are you living here together with him?”

But, as soon as she heard their questions, she realized that the earlier silence was a much better situation for her.

Instead of a conversation, this felt more like a full-blown interrogation.

“W-Well, for now, I don’t have anywhere else to go, so Siwoo—”

“Siwoo?”

“Did you say Siwoo?”

“Y-Yes, M-Mr. Siwoo has been kind enough to offer me both food and shelter…a-and in return, I’ve been teaching him magic. T-That’s how our current relationship goes…”

She ended up blurting out her usual way of addressing him without thinking, but from the immediate reaction of these twins, she managed to confirm her suspicions.

The relationship between them and Siwoo was indeed far from normal.

“…So, are you Mr. Assistant’s girlfriend? Or lover?”

“N-No…?”

Strictly speaking, while there were some things that had happened between them, they weren’t officially dating yet.

“See? I told you, Sis.”

“Odette, that’s not important right now.”

“You were the one who said that it’s the most important thing just now!”

“I didn’t! I just said that if they were in that kind of relationship, I’d feel a little betrayed by Mr. Assistant! Stop putting words into my mouth, Odette!”

“Aren’t you just picking a fight with me because you lost the bet, Sis? You always do this!”

Suddenly, they started arguing, catching Sharon off guard.

She was expecting a heated exchange like, ‘Hohoho, you owe our family a debt, so if you don’t want that debt doubled, you’d better get the hell out of our way!’ or ‘This fox is trying to take advantage of Mr. Siwoo, isn’t she?!’

But, contrary to her expectations, they just started bickering with each other.

“While we’re at it, I’ll tell you this! Your idea sucks, Odette! Mr. Assistant wasn’t even that surprised!”

“But at least it’s better than your stupid idea of jumping out of a big gift box!”

“Who did you call stupid?! You can’t even cast your spells properly!”

“And you can’t even take your loss quietly! Stop acting like a child, Sis!”

“You two, calm down, please.”

Seeing the twins engaged in an unusually intense argument for the first time, Sharon decided to step in and bring some peace into the room. And she did it, the room became quiet…for a second.

The twins stared at her.

From their gazes, it was clear that they weren’t treating her as a mediator for their fight, but as a judge to determine which one of them was the correct one.

“In your opinion Evergreen, who do you think is at fault?”

“No matter how much you think about it, Sis is the strange one here, isn’t she?”

“Yes? Sorry?”

Just as she was thrown into confusion, Siwoo finally returned to the room.

2.

Siwoo didn’t expect that Deneb would just go like that.

Feeling that she trusted him more than he expected, he entered the house.

“What’s wrong?”

He expected that the living room had turned into a mess already, but it was surprisingly quiet.

So, he walked into the living room.

When he saw the scene before him, he noticed the twins, strangely sitting calmly, and Sharon, who was frozen in place, showing an awkward expression.

The intense gaze she gave him conveyed her desperate plea for help.

A rather familiar expression to him, as he probably used to make such a face whenever he had to deal with the twins’ crazy antics.

Just by taking a glance, he understood the situation immediately.

They were silent because they thought their master was coming back, while Sharon’s expression indicated that they had been arguing just before this.

At that moment, Odette turned her head around before trotting over slowly.

“Mr. Assistant, where did Master go…?”

“She said she has some business and she has to go somewhere for a while.”

“Huh, really?!”

“Seriously?!”

Without missing a beat, they dropped their facade.

Odile leaped off the sofa while Odette remained still, but she was covering her mouth in excitement.

Seeing this, Siwoo suddenly had a revelation that maybe raising a daughter wouldn’t always be worth it.

“Oh my, oh my! When will she be back then?”

“I don’t know…maybe tomorrow—? Hey!”

His words were cut off short as Odile practically slammed her body into his embrace.

“Mr. Assistaaant! I missed you so much!”

“M-Ms. Odile…”

As he received a full blow from her knee, his face turned blue as he writhed in pain. Meanwhile Odile, who had been standing silently, joined in the exuberant embrace.

She pushed and tugged at Siwoo’s arm which was barely able to hold onto Odile.

“Sis, stop hogging him to yourself! Mr. Assistant, I also missed you!”

“S-Sure, sure…for now, can you please come down, Ms. Odile…?”

“Oops! S-Sorry, I was so upset earlier because I couldn’t properly greet you when we got here.”

“Our Little Master is very sensitive about things like this…even though we’re grown-ups!”

“Right!”

Odile jumped off Siwoo’s lap while bombarding him with a flurry of words.

Of course, as she did this, Odette provided her with support from the side.

“Have you been well during this time, Mr. Assistant?”

“Did anything interesting happen?”

“You didn’t forget about us, did you?”

“We really thought you were going to ditch us to get a girlfriend!”

After that, they shared stories about their dedication toward their magic studies to meet him, asking for this visit as a substitute for their birthday gift and how they tried to figure out ways to sneak out into this world if that plan failed.

In any case, they told him a bunch of stories.

‘Hmm…’

Facing their joyous energy after so long, Siwoo couldn’t help but feel joyful as well.

If he were to pick the best connection he made during his five years of slavery in Gehenna, he’d definitely pick these mischievous and lively twins without any hesitation.

It hadn’t even been a year yet since they parted, but the twins had already missed him so much that there were joyful tears in their eyes as they snuggled up against him.

“I-I really thought I wouldn’t be able to see you for five years…”

“But at least you got to go on a date with him before he left! I didn’t even get that!”

“Are you still holding that against me?”

“Because you always brushed it off like it was nothing! How can I just let it go?!”

“Now, now, calm down. Why do you two always pick a fight with each other whenever you get the chance, hm?”

“Odette’s the one who starts it!”

“No, you’re the one who does!”

“What did I just say…?”

The twins suddenly got even more immersed in their argument, just like what they did back in Gehenna.

Like usual, Siwoo tried to play as the mediator while smiling wryly.

Normally, the twins would’ve asked him to pass his judgment on who was in the right or wrong, but when Siwoo suddenly burst out laughing, they also joined in with laughter.

After all, this smile, this laugh, was the thing that they missed so much that they dared to cross over to this world.

“It feels like a dream…I’ve always wanted to check out the modern world, and now Mr. Assistant is here with us…”

“Oh, right, Mr. Assistant, this world is seriously amazing! I did a bit of studying before we came here, and there are so many cool things here!”

“Yeah! It’s the first time we got in a car, but honestly our carriage is better.”

“The elevator is the coolest thing for me! Can I ride it later? Where do I need to pay for it?”

Their excited chatter filled the room.

Well, obviously they found the modern world fascinating, since they spent their whole lives in Gehenna.

Siwoo was also like that when he first saw magic in Gehenna.

Their non-stop chattering made Siwoo feel nostalgic. They truly hadn’t changed even a little.

“I’m glad that you were having fun.”

“You also missed us, right, Mr. Assistant?”

“Sis! Why are you asking such an obvious question?”

“Right, right. Anyway, how have you been, Mr. Assistant?”

The twins each warped one of Siwoo’s arms around them, hugging him tightly.

They gently pressed their soft cheeks against his chest and held onto his collar, as if afraid that he might disappear somewhere if they were to let go of him.

This was their usual way of expressing their affection.

After holding onto Siwoo for a while, they let out a big yawn.

When Siwoo glanced at the clock, he found out that it was already four in the morning.

Unlike his perfect-spirit body, the twins’ spirit bodies were still incomplete, so they needed their sleep.

Since they had been bouncing around energetically for a good while, it wasn’t a surprising thing that they got tired at this hour.

Though Siwoo would welcome the idea of them chatting for a little longer, Deneb entrusted him to care for them, so it wasn’t like he could just indulge like that.

Especially when Deneb was one of the people responsible for him to be able to maintain this comfortable life.

“It’s getting late already. Shall we call it a night?”

“Already…?”

“Look at your eyes, they’re all red. You seem sleepy too.”

“My eyes are red because I’m still feeling emotional from meeting you again, Mr. Assistant! Also, I only yawned because Sis yawned first.”

“Huh? You were the one who yawned first! I’m still wide awake!”

In no time, they started bickering again, but now Siwoo knew how to handle them.

Well, it was more like they knew how to listen to him though…

“By the way, I found a dessert shop that you two would love. If we wake up late tomorrow, we’ll definitely miss it out. So, why don’t you two go to bed quickly so we can go there early?”

“Sounds good! Can we share a bed though?”

“No can do. Lady Deneb said it would be a big problem if you guys fool around. I’ll take the couch tonight.”

Of course, Deneb never actually said that, but this would make convincing them easier.

The twins didn’t give up so easily though. They had just reunited with their beloved Assistant for less than thirty minutes, after all.

“Mr. Assistant, we’re not asking for anything weird. Just sharing a bed. Please!”

“Yeah, we’ll just be next to you, holding your hands…”

“Sorry, no matter how hard you ask me, I can do that. At least for tonight. What if Lady Deneb checks on us and sees? You don’t want us to get into trouble, do you?”

Seeing Siwoo standing firm on his decision, the twins’ eyes became teary again, but they finally nodded their heads, albeit reluctantly.

Siwoo’s words made sense to them, after all.

And so, they ended up sleeping in his room while he slept on the couch, putting an end to the bedtime negotiations.