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1.

Surprisingly, Gehenna had a building code based on regulations from the City Hall.

If the exterior or interior of the building didn’t fit Gehenna’s vibe, or if they were straight up ugly, the City Hall wouldn’t issue a building permit.

Said code was a little vague, but essentially, it was to prevent people from bringing materials from the Modern World and use their construction techniques to build a building in Gehenna.

One could see how this regulation roughly worked by seeing the Gemini and the Yesod Mansion, as well as various other buildings in Gehenna.

Although, even if that regulation was lifted somehow, Gehenna wouldn’t suddenly become like a modern city or anything.

Gehenna builders knew nothing about Modern World’s construction techniques, and procuring materials from the Modern World would require a lot of money.

Besides, most of the witches living here had their aesthetics locked to the style of the past.

But, there was one notable mansion in Gehenna that exuded the most modern-ish atmosphere, at least among the 90% of the total buildings. It was none other than Periwinkle Mansion in Lenomond Town.

The generous usage of glass walls, as well as the use of halogen lamps for its interior created a sense of openness.

It would remind one of a mansion that a Hollywood actress would live in.

The last time he visited, Siwoo was too distracted by the thing with the Witch of Desire, so he couldn’t take a closer look, but now he noticed that everything here looked completely different than the rest of Gehenna as a whole.

As for why he was back here... He had a debt to settle with Periwinkle, and he wanted to settle it as quickly as he could.

After all, she could be considered as the one who helped him the most in that incident.

If she hadn’t given him her clovers, Bianca would’ve just killed him straight away and there wouldn’t be a fight.

“Is that you, Cutie?”

As he wondered if he should go straight to her workshop or not, she had already come out to greet him personally.

Her navy blue hair was tied princess-style, her dress—looking a little tacky—sparkled brilliantly.

It was a sequin dress, and the nature of the sequins made it look sparkly, but when worn by her, those sequins looked just like real jewels instead.

She was a slender beauty, and she always liked to look fancy, so the dress perfectly suited her.

“Ms. Periwinkle...”

“I heard everything. Is it okay for you to come here right after you wake up?”

Before their conversation began, Siwoo already dropped his head down so low that it almost touched the floor.

“Thank you very much. Takasho is safe thanks to you, Ms. Periwinkle.”

This was the reason why he felt so thankful.

If it wasn’t for Periwinkle, all his effort would be for nothing.

“No need to thank me, I’ve already received a good enough gift from that guy. A lifetime VVIP treatment in Rose Glass.”

Periwinkle waved her hand, smiling at him as if she hadn’t done anything big. Then, she walked over and grabbed his arm.

“However, you haven’t held the end of your promise. I hope you won’t forget that~”

“Of course.”

“But, can I ask you something? Did you really subdue the Witch of Desire?”

Periwinkle glanced at him with a look of disbelief.

Although her clovers were extremely good at creating variables in a battle, there was still a stark difference in her rank and Bianca’s.

For comparison, if she had gone and confronted Bianca herself, she’d be utterly helpless in front of that witch.

It would be the best case scenario if she could barely save her own life.

But then there was this guy, a male witch, a first generation witch, who managed to successfully hunt such a vicious Criminal Exile.

It was only a given that she felt a little doubtful of the news’ truth.

Especially considering that the first time they met, he almost died to a mere 17-eyed Homunculus.

“Um... It’s a long story. Also, I wasn’t the one who dealt the final blow...”

“The final blow...?”

Does that mean you did most of the job except the final blow?

When she first heard the rumors, Periwinkle thought that, ‘He’s getting help from another witch for sure...’ so, this news left her dumbfounded.

“Yes... Baroness Marigold helped me when I let my guard down after thinking that I was winning...”

His face and voice expressed his complicated feelings, but Periwinkle failed to sense it.

Because she was processing the change of her perception of him.

To Periwinkle, he had always been just a slightly special man.

He was quick to learn something, but at best he could only imitate others’ magic, and he was weaker than her.

But then came this revelation of him subduing a 22nd-ranked witch by himself.

From that alone, he looked considerably more manly and cooler in her eyes.

“...Not good.”

“Hm? Did you say something?”

At the end of the day, witches were still women.

The instinct to be attracted by strong men was still ingrained within them, and she was no different.

Said instinct just never been triggered as there hadn’t been a man who was stronger than a witch.

“Anyway, what should I do to keep my promise?”

The combination of his deep voice...

And his glance towards her, gave off a strange sense of intimidation.

Though it was unlikely, if he wanted to, he could just push her into the ground and have his way with her, and she wouldn’t be able to resist even if she tried to.

She felt a hot breath caught up in her throat.

“I-I... I don’t know. W-What do you want to do?”

“You don’t know?”

Seeing Periwinkle acting oddly like that, Siwoo tilted his head in confusion.

“Well, what if we try something a little rough today?”

2.

“Phew...”

On top of the bed—where the heat of their ‘action’ still lingered...

Periwinkle, leaning back against the backrest, leisurely breathed out her cigarette’s smoke.

Similarly, Siwoo also did that as he flicked up his cigarette’s ash into the ashtray that they had placed between them.

Periwinkle’s body—which wasn’t completely covered by the blanket—was filled with colorful handprints.

This was the result of Siwoo putting in his strength to hold her down, as she had tried to escape from him during their ‘action’ a few times.

If he were to slightly lower the blanket, her chest, covered in teeth marks, would be exposed to the world.

But, even though he had ejaculated three times into her back hole, Periwinkle still felt that there was something strange with him.

“Is something bothering you?”

He enjoyed her body thoroughly, that was for sure.

After all, even when she tried to run away, he still held her body down, and no matter how hard she tried to resist, he still pounded her back hole as if there was no tomorrow.

But, she felt something different from the last time she did it with him.

She was confident in her body, that was for sure, so she thought that she’d be able to give him a hot and passionate night, and he’d also drown in the pleasure, just like her, but...

His words and actions were more detached than usual, as if he was treating this matter as a business and nothing less.

It wasn’t hard to notice that.

Because in the first place, he was bad at hiding his feelings.

“You can tell this Big Sister what’s troubling you. Maybe I can help.”

“...”

“It feels like your mind is wandering somewhere else. Are you feeling guilty about something?”

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have felt this way. I should’ve done my best to forget about it and focus...”

In truth, there were a lot of things that bothered him.

If there was nothing, or if the things that bothered him were only trivial things, he’d act more proactively during their action.

But there were just too many things that were in his mind.

In total, there were three.

First, Amelia.

He wasn’t able to thank her properly after she saved him from Bianca.

Maybe because she saw his cold eyes, she just stood there without saying anything to him.

In any case, he wanted to know why she was in the Modern World.

He wanted to know if she had read the letter he left her, and what was in her mind when she was looking at him.

There were more, but those were the most important ones.

Second, Duchess Keter’s intentions.

He just couldn’t figure out what her goal was.

Why did she, someone who had been secluding herself for decades, suddenly bestowed a ‘bowl’ on him?

Why did she heal him?

Why did she go out of her way to make it so that he felt less psychological aversion in having relationships with multiple women?

He didn’t know anything.

His third concern was related to the second one.

Now that his relationship with his Master, Sharon, and the twins were pretty much official, he couldn’t just have sex with random witches like he used to.

He didn’t know what Duchess Keter’s intentions were, but now that he knew that everything was related to her somehow, he couldn’t act the same way as he did.

Hence why he only did the deed with Periwinkle to repay her, no more, no less, and he was also planning to end his relationship with Countess Yesod soon.

“You see...”

Among those, only the third one was directly related to Periwinkle, so he only told her about that.

Periwinkle let out a chuckle as she took out a new cigarette.

“Ah, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun of you. I just thought that it was a cute concern.”

“I was being serious, though...”

“You’re pretty naive, you know? Hehe. I was a little surprised to hear that you didn’t even like me that much, but I guess that’s why you haven’t kissed me even once while we were having sex.”

Periwinkle pinched his cheek, as if she was finding him cute.

Why did she react this way?

If it was anyone else, she would’ve thought something along the lines of, ‘Is he lying because he doesn’t want to sleep with me?’.

The reason was because she knew what kind of person Siwoo was.

He was being sincere, this wasn’t just an excuse.

“You know, polygamy was still legal a few decades ago. In fact, there are still plenty of countries that legally allow it.”

“It’s not just about whether it’s legal or not...”

Then, Periwinkle calmly expressed her thoughts.

“You’re handsome and talented. I can totally see more women flocking to you in the future. As a capable hero, it isn’t a strange thing to have a few concubines with you, you know?”

“...Can you not put it that way? It’s embarrassing... Also, I’m not a hero...”

“How could a man who had hunted a 22nd-rank Criminal Exile not be a hero? You need to be more confident in yourself.”

Even after she said all that, Siwoo’s expression was still stiff.

So, she continued.

“Have you ever wondered why humans limit themselves to only a single person to love? This is my personal opinion, but I think it’s because of ‘time’. Human’s life is too short to fall in love with one person completely, and human’s youth—the time when love blooms the prettiest—is even shorter.”

“That’s...”

“As long as your heart is ready, and you’re confident enough, there’s no need to feel guilty about love.”

It felt like she was giving advice to her cute little brother rather than trying to convince him to have a sex with her again.

“If you have time to feel guilty towards me, then you should spend it to fall for me.”

“...”

“Go and sort out your mind properly. You still haven’t paid everything that you owed me yet. In a way, you could say that both of us are dissatisfied with each other right now, so go, find the answer that you think is correct. If you’ve found it, and you think that paying your debt to me in this way is incorrect, we can arrange another way.”

“Ms. Periwinkle... You really feel like a dependable big sister...”

“Of course I am~ I’m a few years older than you, you know?”

She then leaned over to him, and gave him a kiss on his cheek.

“Right, this is a little late, but...”

Then, with a beautiful smile, she...

“Welcome back.”