City of Witches - Chapter 304: Before the Picnic (1)

1.

Ever since Amelia was saved by Clara, she had been staying in her workshop.

Unlike Amelia’s first impression of her, Clara was a thorough and meticulous witch.

Although she barely talked to her, she paid attention to every and each one of Amelia’s activities.

But, she did it in such a way that made Amelia feel it wasn’t burdensome at all.

She also wasn’t being overprotective or anything like that.

Keeping a proper distance while staying by her side silently, that was all that she had done.

Through this small gesture of consideration from her, Amelia was slowly able to forget her pain.

Though, she did find it funny that just having someone staying by her side, ready to help her at any moment, was enough to make her feel better.

“Good morning, Amelia.”

Currently, Clara was in the kitchen, busily cooking something.

Well, it wasn’t really a conventional kitchen, but rather just an area that was fit to be called ‘kitchen’ the most in this workshop.

It wasn’t a separate room from the rest of the workshop, including the place where they slept, and it wasn’t a particularly nice place to look at either.

There was only a hole that functioned as a stove or oven of some sorts, though from the fire that was burning inside it, it looked more like a furnace than anything.

Anyway, it seemed like when Amelia was briefly washing her body off the fine sand that was stuck there, Clara had been stuck in the kitchen for a bit.

“Do you mind waiting for a bit? I’m cooking. It’s been a while since I last did this though, so don’t expect too much from it…”

It was obvious that she was cooking something for Amelia.

Of course, it wasn’t like Amelia wanted to eat in the first place, let alone troubling someone else to cook for her.

However, she wasn’t shameless enough to grumble over the favor that the other person kindly gave her.

“…I’ll help out.”

“Nononono! You don’t need to! Just sit there and wait patiently, okay? I’ll be done soon!”

“Still…”

“I told you, you don’t need to! See? It’s pretty much done already!”

After Clara’s repeated attempt to dissuade her from helping, Amelia had no other choice but to sit down obediently at the table.

The oven, stove, or whatever it was, used the fire that Clara produced from her own mouth,

After checking that the heat was enough, she put some oil and ingredients into her wok.

The sight of the Witch of the Dragon cooking with the flame that could melt steel as if it was butter was admittedly, quite humorous for Amelia.

Still, it wasn’t humorous enough for a smile to bloom in her face.

Of course, she felt gratitude for all the kindness Clara had given her, but she couldn’t understand the reason why the other witch was doing all this.

Though she had heard from the rumors that the Witch of the Dragons was someone who’d show her kindness to everyone, but when that kindness was directed solely at her, Amelia couldn’t help but feel incredibly awkward about it.

Because her hands were already stained with blood.

With sins that could never be forgiven for, with regrets that could never be resolved.

“I’m done!”

While the negative emotions were eating Amelia’s heart up, slowly, like poison.

Three plates, each filled with delicious-looking food, were placed in front of her.

As if she was a chef, trying to introduce her own work, Clara gave a brief description of each of the dishes.

These dishes were the traditional dishes of the region they were in.

The first dish that Clara introduced was a deep-fried egg-looking dish.

“This one over here is Falafel! You make it by grinding some chickpeas and other beans, then deep fry them! It’ll taste better with the tomato sauce!”

Next, a roasted bird with its stomach hollowed out and filled with rice.

“This one over here is Hamam! You make it by cutting a pigeon’s stomach first, place some rice inside it, then roast it until it turns golden brown! Like the other dish, you can also dip it into tomato sauce!”

Lastly, was something that looked similar to hamburger steak.

“And this one is Kofta! You can say it’s a hamburger steak made with minced lamb and plenty of spices! Of course, you can also dip this one into tomato sauce!”

After she introduced all the dishes, Clara didn’t sit down, instead she folded her hands in front of her chest and stared at Amelia with sparkly eyes.

There was a little ‘Hmph’ noise coming out of her nose, as if she was so proud of her work, waiting to be praised.

“Thank you.”

“Can you say something else? Please?”

“…You did great.”

Only after she received Amelia’s praise did Clara sit down. The edges of her lips were curled upwards as she distributed the plates, forks, and knives.

Then, she put some of the dishes onto Amelia’s plates.

“I made a lot, so go on, eat as much as you want! Tell me if you want to eat more, okay?”

Each of the dishes she made was made with sincerity and Amelia could tell it clearly, even though they barely knew each other for a few days.

She stared at the dishes that were filled with warmth.

“Why…?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you doing all this…for me…?”

This was the warmth that she had always yearned for.

But, she decided to not indulge herself in it.

Because she was afraid that her conviction would yield to it and weaken.

Afraid that this would affect her when she had to fulfill her duty to kill and commit another mistake yet again.

“I’m planning to continue my journey tomorrow.”

And so, she decided to isolate herself again.

Her words came out in a cold tone, as if declaring that she would continue on doing what she had decided to do without accepting anyone’s warmth.

Despite her receiving a lot of help from the other witch so far, she uttered her rejection clearly.

Hearing this, Clara opened her eyes wide in surprise.

Amelia thought that she would at least be upset at her.

But, it wasn’t the case at all. Clara’s reaction completely defied all of Amelia’s predictions.

A wide smile bloomed on her face.

It was a genuine smile, without the slightest trace of awkwardness or discomfort.

“Sounds good! All the more reason for you to eat a lot!”

“…”

Amelia raised her knife without saying a word.

She cut the pigeon meat, which was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, without making any sound.

As Clara had recommended her, she dipped the meat into the tomato sauce before putting it into her mouth.

“So? What do you think? Ain’t that the best dish you’ve ever tasted?”

“…It’s tasty.”

“Eat some more then! Don’t be shy!”

The first meal she ever had after leaving Gehenna was unexpectedly warm and sweet,

2.

“Hmm, hmm~”

On her way to the study room, Sharon was humming something.

The steamy evening she spent with Siwoo lifted her mood to high heavens.

She stopped worrying about how to approach him and the question ‘What if he were to choose someone else besides me?’ had disappeared from her head.

Now wearing an armor of confidence, Sharon felt like she was invincible.

To the point that she became able to brave through the lecture time, which was like a wartime for her.

“Let’s see~”

Of course this didn’t mean she had triumphed over the twins completely yet.

If the twins were to run out to Countess Albireo and say something like ‘Master! Sharon unnie broke her contract and had an intercourse with Mr. Assistant!’ who knew what kind of punishment she had to take.

That was why she had to at least maintain a certain level of caution at all times.

I’m not smiling too much, aren’t I?

Sharon looked at the reflection of her face on one of the windows to see if she looked a tad bit too happy or not.

She noticed that she was practically smiling from ear to ear, so she reined her smile in before tidying her witch attire up.

Just wear the same face as usual, wear the same face as usual.

Need to hide my excitement when facing those two.

Then again, they did all these treacherous tricks first, so I’m justified to play dirty here!

With those thoughts in mind, Sharon opened the door to the study room and entered.

-Creak!

“Have you two finished your assignments?”

“…”

“…”

What greeted her in that familiar, small study room was a cold silence.

It felt as if the moment she entered the room, the temperature dropped by a whopping five degrees.

One didn’t need to be a genius to be able to tell how abnormal this was.

Hm, wait, from those two’s perspective…

When Siwoo came back, they immediately rushed to meet him before I did and just kissed him shamelessly in front of me, no?

That means, right now, they might be thinking that they had successfully landed their preemptive attack.

So, wouldn’t it be strange if I were to show off my grin in front of them?

A realization dawned upon her.

Which meant, I should’ve acted as if I was upset in front of them!

She lowered the highly raised corners of her mouth even further.

-Gulp!

Then, she gulped, rather loudly, to the point that she herself could hear it.

“Hello, Sharon unnie.”

“Hello.”

“A-Ah, y-yeah, hello…”

However, unlike Sharon, who grew wary of them, the twins greeted her politely as usual.

Though, unlike usual, there was a gentle smile on their faces.

Fortunately for her, it didn’t seem like they noticed her smile just now.

“Submit your assignments. I’m gonna need to take a long time to grade this one, so let’s start the lecture right away.”

“Yes, Sharon unnie.”

“Yes, Sharon unnie.”

“Huh?”

I’m not hearing things, am I?

They’re acting way differently than I expected…

Though she noticed that something was off with the twins, Sharon decided to just dismiss it for now, took their assignments that they submitted, then continued with her class.

With that, hell descended upon the twins.

For them, Sharon’s class was like an extreme torture where they couldn’t even put their pens down the moment it started for the next five hours.

They were driven to the point of nearly dying as Sharon kept on writing and erasing things from the blackboard. Only when the dusk arrived were they released from this torture.

-Tak, tak!

After the class was finished, when Sharon was tidying up her things, the twins relaxed their bodies in their chairs.

“Phew…”

“Ugh…”

“Alright, that’s it for today’s class. Since there’s no class tomorrow, I’m gonna give you more assignments than usual, okay?”

“Wait, Sharon unnie!”

After the ruthless lecture, following the merciless statement that Sharon had just dropped.

Odile quickly intervened.

“What’s wrong?”

“You see, we’re planning to go to the beach with Mr. Assistant tomorrow! It’s a two day and one night trip!”

“We want to ask you if you’d come with us!”

“The beach?”

Sharon looked at them with a suspicious gaze.

This is the kind of moment where they should just take him away without telling me anything, but for them to go out of their way to invite me?

In the first place, even if they told Sharon about their trip, she wouldn’t be able to do anything about it since she had to follow her contract, but it was a different story now that they actually invited her.

Is this that ‘Sending salt to your enemy’ kind of thing?

“Yes! We have a villa near the Blue Narrow Sea!”

“We just thought that it would be nice if we were to go and play together there! So, can you please, not give us the assignments?”

“We promise we’ll review everything we have learned properly!”

The gears turned in Sharon’s head. If she were to still give them their assignments, they’d have to spend their whole time working on it, even if they ended up going with Siwoo anyway.

But in exchange, Sharon wouldn’t be able to go to the beach with Siwoo.

On the contrary, if she didn’t give them the assignments, they’d be able to have fun.

While she could take up on their offer and go to the beach with them.

In short, the former option would result in a loss for both of them while the latter would benefit them both.

It didn’t seem like they were scheming anything for this, so Sharon thought that it was unlikely for her to lose out in the exchange.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course! This is the first time we’re going to the beach with Mr. Assistant!”

“Please come with us! Let’s have fun together!”

The Blue Narrow Sea was a rather narrow sea that was located between the edges of the Border Town and Tarot Town.

It was famous for its sandy beach and its pretty emerald blue sea.

The place was regarded as one of the best resorts in Gehenna where one could swim around in the sea all year around.

Sharon thought about playing in such a place with Siwoo.

Not to mention that they would be staying in one of the Gemini’s villas, which definitely would have better facilities than any other resort’s facilities.

Just by imagining it already threw Sharon to cloud nine.

Facing the twins’ nervous expressions, she nodded her head eagerly.

“Sounds good! I’ll come with you guys!”

“Yay!”

Hearing her answer, the twins’ hearts were filled with so much joy that they even somersaulted in the air.

Just like that, both parties agreed that the best course of action they could take for now was to sleep with their enemies.

***

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