༺ People Who Are Stuck in the Past (6) ༻
1.
There was no table in Eloa’s living room, so they talked in her kitchen instead.
Between them were a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.
They figured that it’d be more comfortable to talk over a drink, since the situation wasn’t exactly a normal one.
Considering how embarrassing it was, there was a possibility that they couldn’t even start talking if they were sober.
“Cough…”
“Ahem…”
Case on point, even after they downed two glasses of whiskey, they hadn’t started talking yet.
For Siwoo, considering the context of their conversation, he definitely had to explain what was going on when he was ejaculating in detail. No matter how used he was to embarrassing situations, having to explain that kind of thing with his own mouth was still difficult for him to do.
Especially considering that they weren’t even that close to begin with.
“I am…sorry…”
It was Eloa who eventually broke the silence with those words. For some reason, she was holding and releasing the hem of her dress repeatedly.
Her usually straight shoulders were now curled up, as if she was losing her spirit.
Usually, she’d stare right at Siwoo’s eyes whenever she was talking, but now, her gaze randomly fell onto the glass.
“It’s fine, I know you meant well, Duchess.”
“That’s…”
“You came because you thought someone was attacking me, right? That’s why you brought out your Formal Wear, you thought that I was in danger and wanted to help me.”
“Ah…”
As if someone had hit her in the head, Eloa was shocked the moment she heard Siwoo’s words.
When she first felt that mana wave…
She never considered the possibility of an assailant.
All she could think about was doubt towards Siwoo.
It was as if her words about trusting him were merely something that she used to keep her appearances. When an abnormal phenomenon occurred, the first thing she did was cast her suspicions on him.
Then again if it wasn’t for that, she wouldn’t just snuck into his house like a cat.
“Uh…was that not the case…?”
He provided a convenient excuse for her, but she hesitated.
And it didn’t take long for Siwoo to realize that his guess was off after he noticed her reaction.
“No.”
As she said so, Eloa hung her head down in complete shame.
“Then…”
All this time, she hadn’t made eye contact with him.
Her eyes had been darting back and forth randomly, like tea leaves in a hot black tea.
Seeing that, Siwoo came to a rough guess.
A vague speculation that emerged as a fact.
“You didn’t trust me, huh?”
“I’m sorry.”
So far, she hadn’t provided him with any explanations.
Still, after all they had been through, with her putting him under her protection and training him, he had expected her to trust him a little, but…
“Like you said, I didn’t trust you…”
“I understand where you came from. You’ve told me that part of the reason why you live here is because you wanted to keep an eye out of me, after all… But still, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth…”
Siwoo completely understood why she did all that, at least logically.
Since the target of her revenge was dead (or at least, her whereabouts were unknown) and the only remaining link to her was himself, it was reasonable for the Duchess to keep a close eye on him.
But emotionally, it was a little different.
Just half a day ago they had shared a nice meal together and she even shared her pain with him. But even after all that, she was still looking at him with prejudice…
Saying that this was shocking to him was an understatement.
“I’m sorry… I thought I’d trusted you already, but it seems like I had been fooling myself to believe so…”
“Don’t worry, I understand this isn’t easy for you. I hope that we can resolve our misunderstandings one day.”
“Still, this is completely my fault…”
Suddenly, she stretched out her hand.
Gently, she held the back of Siwoo’s free hand.
It wasn’t a firm grip, but a light touch.
“I lost it for a moment. Honestly, I also don’t understand why I hold so much prejudice towards you. Nevertheless, I’ve wronged you and I have no excuses.
Somehow, she managed to convey her restlessness clearly.
Siwoo felt like he was feeling too self-conscious to think so, but it seemed like she didn’t want him to hate her.
“It’s okay, I understand your feelings, Duchess.”
He replied in a gentle voice as he lightly covered the back of her anxious hand.
While he was shocked by the revelation, it wasn’t like he wanted to be hostile to her or anything.
In his eyes, she suffered enough already, there was no need for him to go out of his way to make her life even more miserable.
“Can we get more drinks? I still need to explain something else.”
Hearing his gentle words, Eloa, who had been in the verge of crying, seemed to relax a little,
“Also, can you please keep everything that I’ll be saying here confidential?”
“I swear in the name of Tiphereth, I will.”
What he wanted to tell her was simple.
He didn’t know the reason why, but during sexual intercourse, he could absorb the other witch’s mana, amplify it and return it.
Sharon had a condition; Because of an incomplete inheritance, her rank was lower than it should be.
To fix this, they had been having sexual intercourse every day.
It took his all to explain everything and not shrink in embarrassment.
“Really?”
Just as he had expected, Eloa stared at him in confusion.
Then, she muttered to herself, as the gears in her head started to rotate.
“I know that whenever a male ejaculates, they’d release a small amount of mana wave, but to think that yours is big enough to seep through a concealment…how did that even happen?”
His answer to that question added nothing to his previous explanation.
‘No idea. It’s weird, isn’t it?’ it was something along that line.
After all, he genuinely didn’t know what caused the phenomenon.
“I got it, I guess that could happen, huh? So you don’t know why this happened either?”
“Yes, just as I explained.”
“I see…well, I understand.”
Eloa lowered her head with an incomprehensible expression.
She took a sip of her drink before staring at him with a questioning gaze.
“Also, I want to say something…”
“Yes?”
Before they knew it, the sun had completely risen.
The morning sun seeped through the kitchen’s window, revealing Eloa’s red cheeks.
Now that she had the time to calmly sit down and reflect on what had happened, the image of Siwoo and Sharon, mating like a pair of animals was burned in her mind.
“I want to…apologize…for what I had done today…for…um…barging in the middle of Miss Evergreen’s…treatment…”
She let out a bitter smile in embarrassment.
“I need to apologize to you for a lot of things, huh?”
“Well, I don’t mind that, but the thing is…Sharon…is a little…no, she’s really upset…”
“Then, I’ll meet her directly and apologize.”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll tell her that you apologized…”
“Is that so?”
Eloa tilted her head, puzzled.
There was no doubt that this was the best way of doing it.
If Eloa were to apologize to Sharon directly, the latter would definitely freak out and end up hating her for real this time.
No matter how flowery her apology would be, in essence, it would still be along the lines of ‘Sorry for barging in when you’re having sex’.
In any case, since he had explained what happened, he decided to move to his next agenda; Restoring Sharon’s honor.
“Also…for the sake of her honor…the last line you heard from her, Duchess, can you…um…”
“I already forgot what it was, so don’t worry about it…”
Suddenly, Eloa lowered her head, an awkward smile was still hanging on her face.
Inwardly, Siwoo rejoiced over his decision to not bring Sharon here.
If he did, the poor girl woulda burst into tears and jump out of the window the moment she saw the Duchess’ smile.
The fact that she answered right away without him elaborating on anything was strong enough of a proof that the scene was embedded deeply in the Duchess’ mind.
“I was the one who made her say that.”
And so, he proudly declared that.
He figured that he should take some of Sharon’s shame.
Almost immediately, Eloa opened her eyes wide.
“U-Uh, a-are you trying to say that the vulgar line wasn’t a slip of her tongue…? Y-You made her say it…?”
“Yes.”
He debated whether to exaggerate the case even more or not, but in the end he decided not to.
If Sharon was here, she’d definitely shed her tears, moved by his sacrifice to prevent her from killing herself out of shame, or at least that was what he thought.
Still, admitting to something like that was more embarrassing than he imagined.
Now, Eloa must have thought of him as an unscrupulous man who made women say obscene lines as he fucked them.
But, after the first look of surprise, Eloa let out a gentle smile.
‘Why is she smiling? Is there something funny?’
Since he expected her to reproach him or at least, keep her distance from him, this reaction of hers was completely unexpected, and it only added to his embarrassment even more.
“You are not good at lying, do you know that?”
“Huh? But I’m not lying.”
“Sure, sure.”
Seeing through his lies almost immediately, Eloa grinned before standing up.
“You should go back and comfort her. Like you said, if I were the one to go to her, something even more embarrassing would definitely happen. Also, tell her that I deeply apologize and I promise I won’t tell anyone about this.”
“Y-Yes. Also, in the future, if you need to visit us, can you please refrain from going through the balcony…? Um, just ring the doorbell first…”
“I will.”
She stuck out her pinky to Siwoo.
In which, he could only stare at it blankly.
Because it was quite the childish gesture, the complete opposite of her behavior so far.
Seeing his reaction, Eloa quietly lowered her hand, as if she had come to her senses.
“Sorry, I always did this whenever I made a promise to Ravi…”
“No, it’s okay. Please uphold your promise”
With that, he intertwined his pinky with hers.
2.
After Siwoo returned, Eloa was still sitting there by herself, drinking.
In the witches’ world, it was normal for all sorts of bizarre things to happen, but his case was still on the bizarre side even after considering that.
Absorbing mana through sexual intercourse was already an absurd phenomenon to begin with, but amplifying it, returning it and using it as a basis to restore an incomplete brand? It was a phenomenon that was out of this world.
“Anyway…”
Eloa had devoted her entire life to magic.
Ever since Ravi died, she had been running around the world, trying to get her revenge.
And those were the only things she did, she never bothered to care about anything else, so it was the first time she had ever seen a man and woman copulate.
Of course, she had never done it with a man either.
One could say that her life was just like the typical life of a conservative witch.
“Ahem…”
Thinking back, it was such an embarrassing sight.
Seeing the thing that she had only ever heard of with her own eyes was quite the shock to her.
Maybe because she was a little drunk already.
Normally, she’d be able to brush this kind of thought off easily.
But that wasn’t the case today.
Instead, she kept replaying the scene that she had seen over and over.
How Sharon was lying face down and how Siwoo was pushing himself on her.
The sight of his particularly thick assets was embedded in her mind clearly.
She wasn’t aroused or anything, though.
As far as she was concerned, she had never lusted on anyone, not a man nor a woman.
What she was feeling was curiosity.
She was amazed that something so big could fit inside such a small hole.
Sharon’s expression, which looked as if she had taken the sweetest drug in the world, was also embedded in her mind.
Her first impression of Sharon was that she possessed an innocent beauty, but such a person was groaning like a beast in that situation.
Moreover, she was in such a trance that she didn’t even notice that another person entered the room, making Eloa wonder, exactly what kind of feeling did she experience back then?
This was the first time she had ever wondered about this kind of thing.
“I need to stop.”
Eloa poured some more alcohol into her mouth and shook her head.
She figured that it would be rude to both of them if she were to continue thinking about it.
‘Let’s just forget everything that happened today.’
She promised herself.
“Ahem…”
She rested her head on her chin again and fell into thoughts.
It seemed like she wouldn’t be able to erase the memory out of her head anytime soon.
Here we go, it’s none other than our dear MC
