City of Witches

1.

Sharon called out to the twins.

“Yes, we do.”

“What do you want to talk about?”

After traveling together and coming to recognize Sharon as their true rival, and, of course, with Siwoo’s reassurance that they wouldn’t be pushed aside, the twins managed to maintain a relatively peaceful relationship with Sharon.

In other words, they no longer engaged in pointless fights during class as they used to.

But, the moment they heard her request for a private meeting, their instincts kicked in.

They had a hunch that this ‘talk’ would have something to do with Siwoo.

That was why they stared at Sharon, looking all tense.

“Why don’t we move somewhere first?”

And it was just as they expected. She suggested moving to the carriage, meaning that the thing they were going to talk about was something very secretive.

Lately, they indeed had been thinking that things had been a little too quiet.

Considering that their fight had only been postponed, not resolved, it felt like calm before the storm if anything.

“Sis…”

“It’s okay, Odette. Nothing bad will happen. I’m here.”

Odette tightly grasped her sister’s hand, feeling uneasy as she watched Sharon walking ahead of them.

When it came to the competition for Siwoo’s affection, Sharon was clearly in the lead.

At least, that’s what the twins thought.

They actually saw her as someone to look up to, both physically and mentally.

Even though Siwoo had told them, ‘I won’t push you two away,’ and ‘You two are precious to me,’ they still felt that they were overshadowed by Sharon, who had already secured her place in his heart.

That was why, as soon as they settled into the carriage, Odile straightened up and met Sharon’s gaze head-on, trying to assert herself.

She was facing her full, ample chest that she couldn’t grasp with just one hand.

The innocence that emanated from her sitting upright in a poised manner.

This person was their greatest adversary in their history as apprentice witches.

Sharon Evergreen. They shot their gazes at her.

“What’s going on? Why did you call us out like this?”

“Just as I told you, I want to talk to you.”

“…”

Unlike last time when the twins had called her, Sharon was completely calm.

She wore an expressionless face, giving off a cold vibe like a statue that made Odette think…

That the current Sharon unnie was different.

Unlike her previous soft attitude, it seemed like she had made up her mind and fully intended on firmly grasping the upper hand against them.

She was no longer the person who’d panic if the twins blew on her.

If they were to consider this meeting as a battlefield for a truce negotiation, Sharon’s unwavering appearance was already a threat in itself.

“So, what do you want to talk about?”

“Let’s stop fighting among ourselves.”

After hearing that, neither Odile nor Odette answered.

Let’s stop fighting.

At first glance, it sounded like a good proposal.

But truces weren’t always made on fair terms.

If Sharon had prepared a decisive move to end everything, the twins would have no choice but to accept this truce even if they had to bear some kind of humiliation.

“No way! We’re not giving up on Mr. Assistant!”

“T-That’s right! Even if it’s you, Sharon unnie, you can’t just get in the way of our love!”

The twins came here with that mindset from the very start.

After all, for them, Siwoo wasn’t just their lives’ savior.

He was someone they wanted to be with more than anyone.

Even the most boring tasks became five times more fun whenever they did them with him.

They absolutely refused to lose him.

“Sharon unnie, you coward! You’re always trying to take Mr. Assistant away from us!”

“Yeah! You’re a liar too! You use those huge boobs to seduce him!”

“People’s love won’t stay the same forever, you know?!”

“Sure, maybe you’re closer to Mr. Assistant right now, but that’s not gonna last forever!”

The twins rattled off everything they wanted to say.

But that was probably because they were just trying to hide their insecurity.

The fear that the whole ‘game’ might have been decided already without them knowing.

As she listened to their words, Sharon furrowed her brows.

“You two are misunderstanding something. I didn’t call you here to fight.”

“Liar!”

“You kept picking fights with us every day!”

When the twins strongly asserted themselves, Sharon slammed her hand on the table.

Odile and Odette immediately fell silent, surprised.

In truth, Sharon had been holding back a lot until now.

But she didn’t want to keep up this subtle hostility with the twins, that was why she called them here, to patch things up with them.

However, after hearing their accusation of her starting the fight first, she decided that she wouldn’t let it slide so easily.

“You two were the ones who started it!”

“No! Unnie was—”

“Who was it that asked the countess to make me stay away from Siwoo in exchange for me becoming your tutor if it wasn’t you two?! Do you think I’m stupid, huh?!”

Indeed.

Sharon was talking about the contract proposed by Countess Albireo.

She suspected that the harsh terms that forced her to keep her distance from Siwoo came from the twins.

That was why, if there was an aggressor among them, it would be those two.

“You two talked about competing fairly, but then you pretended like you didn’t know anything and played dirty behind my back!”

As their argument turned into a mud-slinging fight, Sharon started to shout. When she looked up after saying her piece…

“…?”

“…?”

She noticed the twins tilting their heads, looking totally confused.

They did it in perfect sync, their expressions matched each other.

“What are you talking about?”

“A deal? Playing dirty?”

They looked at each other, confused.

They exchanged looks as if silently asking each other, ’Was it you?’.

Then, they turned back to Sharon.

With eyes still filled with questions.

“Huh…?”

“Please explain.”

“We don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

And so, they finally found out that a major misunderstanding occurred between them.

Sharon carefully explained…

That all this time, she thought that they had asked the countess to push her out of the competition for Siwoo’s affection.

“W-We’ve never made such requests!”

“Master probably did something unnecessary again!”

“R-Really…?”

Seeing their reaction she became doubtful over her own suspicion.

While yes, the twins were a mischievous pair and they’d always try to play tricks on her, they weren’t the kind of people who’d just blatantly lie.

Besides, there was no evidence behind her suspicion. She just jumped into a conclusion that since it was the countess who proposed that contract, the twins must have had some hands on it.

Suddenly, she felt ashamed.

Because she got all worked up, treating the twins as mortal enemies on her own.

“U-Um… I-I’m sorry… I-I really thought it was you two who did it…”

“Looks like our master did something unnecessary. Hmph, we could’ve won Mr. Assistant over on our own, you know?”

“Exactly! Besides, a win like that wouldn’t mean anything for us!”

“We’ll have a word with Master after this!”

“Yeah, yeah!”

After leaping up in a fit of anger, the twins sat back down.

“It seems there has been a misunderstanding up until now.”

“We always intended to compete fairly with you, Sharon unnie.”

“No, I misunderstood on my own…”

The tension between them started to dissolve.

Now that Sharon realized the twins weren’t behind the sneaky schemes she assumed, there was no reason to stay mad at them.

Meanwhile, the twins realized that Sharon’s actions were just self-defense after she felt attacked, so they didn’t feel as angry at her as before.

“A-Ahem.”

“S-So that’s how it was, huh?”

“Y-Yeah… I-It was just a misunderstanding, huh…?”

All three of them fidgeted awkwardly.

2.

It had been three days since Siwoo became Diana’s tutor.

If he were to be asked if he had done anything special during those three days, his answer would be a meager one; he hadn’t done much.

“Hmm…”

All they had been doing was just playing Witch Board.

Diana would come out of her room to play four to five games a day with him.

Of course, Siwoo had to give it his all in every one of those matches.

Because she had already noticed him going easy on her once in the game that he threw before. If he were to do it again, Diana would definitely explode.

“I lost again this time.”

“I was just lucky.”

Although Diana, who quietly placed her pieces, was a little different than before.

She used to grit her teeth, as if she had been slapped by him, after losing a game. But ever since her loss back in the first day, she had been rather accepting of her losses.

The problem here was, Siwoo couldn’t tell if this was a good situation or not.

He was tasked by the countess to somehow get Diana to engage in some kind of activities outside.

Since it was still early in their tutoring period, the countess was still letting them off with just playing games in her room, but if things didn’t change, he could just lose his job right there and then.

And that was the last thing he wanted at the moment.

Because the countess’ lectures and support helped him push his growth in ways that he could never achieve on his own.

That was why…

In the beginning, Siwoo had planned that if Diana got all worked up after losing and demanded a rematch, he’d use the opportunity as bait to lure her outside.

But so far, her reactions have been lukewarm. There was simply no opportunity to set up said bait.

“…”

Like right now, she only stared silently at the Witch Board.

Normally, she’d just say something like, ‘One more game,’ or, ‘I want to take a break now, thank you for your hard work,’ and went back to her room.

It was the first time that she had ever been so quiet like this.

“…You.”

“Yes, Miss?”

“Um…”

Normally, even though she complained a lot, she wouldn’t hesitate to make her demands.

But now, her eyes—which were similar to her mother’s—were glancing nervously at Siwoo as she fidgeted with her gloves.

“U-Um… I-It’s nothing much, b-but… C-Can I ask you something…?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Siwoo gave her permission, but Diana kept avoiding his gaze for some reason. Only after a while did she point at the Witch Board slyly.

“C-Can you tell me why you placed this piece here…? T-The move you made on the 172nd turn…”

It was a short question, but she spoke so softly and hesitantly that nearly thirty seconds passed.

Her usually pale cheeks were now visibly warm and flushed.

It was clear that she did this with so much difficulty.

Her image of Siwoo hadn’t changed much.

To her, he was just a male witch. While his magic might not be that impressive, his skills at the game were exceptional.

They had played a total of twenty rounds so far, but she had never beaten him even once.

She tried her best to study and practice on her own, but he kept beating her without fail.

To the point that she had grown curious about his secret.

Though, the problem here was that, asking for feedback from an opponent she had been subtly ignoring was quite embarrassing for her.

That was why it took her three days to agonize over this. But in the end, she decided that she’d speak up today.

“I-I was just curious…”

After that, she clammed up again.

What she was asking about was one move that had completely turned the game around.

It was also the move that made Diana realize she was going to lose.

As a dedicated gamer, asking her rival for the key to his strategy was obviously embarrassing to Diana.

She couldn’t think of it as anything but a shameless request.

“C-C’mon, tell me! A-Aren’t you my tutor? Aren’t you supposed to teach me something…?”

Diana shut her eyes tight and steeled herself for the embarrassment.

After a while, she received no response from him, so she cautiously opened her eyes, only to see Siwoo smiling faintly.

Diana, in turn, opened her eyes wide, challenging him to a stare-off.

If she looked away now, she felt like she would completely lose out to him.

“I can tell you.”

“Then do it quickly…”

“But that won’t benefit me at all, no? Why don’t we make a deal?”

“A deal?”

“Yes. As you already know, I’m here to learn magic from the countess in exchange for spending time with you, like playing games together and such…”

“Yeah…”

“That’s why, let’s do this. After every game, I’m gonna reveal my strategy. But for the next day, we’ll do some outdoor activities together for a little while. How does that sound?”

For Diana, it was a proposal that nearly took her breath away.

Outdoor activities.

She could tell that this was the reason why her mother hired this guy.

The thought of actually going outside already exhausted her just by thinking about it.

But, it didn’t take long for her to decide.

At this point, she had come to respect him to some degree.

At least when it came to Witch Board, he was someone she could learn a lot from.

“Two hours a day. I won’t compromise on that.”

“Very well.”

And so, a small agreement was made between Siwoo and Diana.