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1.

Siwoo came up from the dungeon while touching the lips that barely met Amelia’s.

He wanted to see how the interrogation went from up close, but considering Albireo’s position and the cold look of Countess Kohav’s, he knew that there was no way they’d just let him stay.

In any case, since the dungeon was pitch black, he didn’t realize that the sun had started to rise and dawn was already over.

“Haa...”

For some reason, he felt refreshed.

It was as if all the lingering worries that had been ailing him had been cleared away.

He remembered Albireo’s words; all they needed to do was to wait for Amelia’s hearing.

After that, they could go back to their happy daily life...

“Anyway, I wonder where’s Master right now?”

Two days had passed since the incident.

Though his master was supposed to be in the Modern World, the incident was so big that one could confidently say every witch in Gehenna knew about it.

Since that was the case, there was no way that the news didn’t reach her ears.

Of course, it wasn’t like he was upset at her for not showing up when he was in dire condition. If anything, he was worried about her since she didn’t come back despite that.

He knew that people who could give her trouble could be counted with a single hand though.

“Hmm...”

He remembered that she mentioned Branch Manager Sua’s name before going, so he figured that he should pay her a visit first.

As he was thinking about that, suddenly a shadow jumped on him from the corner of the hallway that the morning sunlight hadn’t reached yet.

“Now! Odile, Odette, attack!”

““Yes, Master!!””

“W-What?!”

-Thud, thud, thud!

It was the twins, jumping on him from both sides with movements so quick that it wouldn’t be strange if the carpet was caught on fire. From behind them was Sharon Evergreen, opening up her arms as if she was commanding them.

Odile’s feet, which soared into the sky like she was some martial arts master, lightly tapped Siwoo’s body with her thigh.

Then, she grabbed his sleeve before wrapping her legs around his arm, spinning him forward.

In an instant, he felt like his whole world was turned upside down.

A Flying Omoplata.

It was a jiu-jitsu technique that was said to be able to overcome the differences between weight-class.

Using Siwoo’s own weight to execute a spin attack that led into a joint lock despite her weight being half of Siwoo’s, Odile perfectly executed the technique.

“Oww!”

Siwoo fell forward to his knees with a loud sound.

As he was stuck in that position, like a criminal caught red-handed, Odette swiftly delivered a kick towards his butt.

“You’re too much, Mr. Assistant! Too much!”

On the contrary to his sister, Odile, who had just landed that outstanding technique perfectly for the first time, somehow forgot that she was angry and started exclaiming happily.

“Did you see that, Odette? I did it! First try!”

“Urrrgg...! T-Time out!”

A little later after Siwoo woke up and went to find Amelia, the twins woke up to find an empty bed. Of course, it went without saying that they were pissed.

Their long-awaited Harvest Festival date passed by just like that.

The surprise gift that they had chosen and prepared carefully was confiscated by their little master, while their dear Mr. Assistant that they had been taking care of disappeared on them the moment he woke up.

That last one made them especially pissed. Even Sharon, who had been away to take care of things here and there decided that he shouldn’t go unpunished, so they joined forces to do exactly that.

With her arms crossed, Sharon stood in front of Siwoo, whose face was on the ground, with a cold expression.

“Mr. Shin Siwoo, I get that the situation was urgent for you, but can’t you at least spare a word or two for those who had been worried sick about you before you went? Is it that hard, huh?”

“She’s right! You’re too much!”

“I was so scared when I woke up and saw you gone!”

At Sharon’s gesture, Odette, who had been kicking Siwoo’s butt repeatedly, and Odile, who refused to let Siwoo’s arm go even after he asked for a timeout...

Stopped what they were doing and went over to Sharon’s sides, placing both their hands on their hips.

Siwoo had no excuse.

No matter how desperate he was to see Amelia, and even though the reason he didn’t wake up the twins was because he didn’t want to disturb their sleep...

If they felt wronged by his actions, then there was really nothing that he could say.

He had no choice but to bow his head, kneel, and apologize.

“I’m sorry... The thing is...”

Neither Sharon nor the twins knew about the details of the relationship between him and Amelia yet.

Although, the twins had taken care of him after their fallout, so they probably knew a bit more than Sharon.

At the end of the day, they were still Siwoo’s lovers.

He was planning to call them for a proper talk soon anyway, so he decided that this was a good time to come clean.

But, before he could even finish the start of his story

“Enough, I get it already.”

“Already? Just from this?”

Sharon, who had been listening with a serious expression, suddenly cut him off mid-sentence.

The surprising thing was that her ‘enough’ didn’t carry a bad connotation behind it. It was as if she was saying that she understood where he was coming from.

He hadn’t even said half of what he wanted to say yet.

Sharon wasn’t good at hiding her feelings.

Whenever there was something that displeased her, or he had done something that she disliked, she’d puff her cheek and complain to him outright.

But right now, she was making the expression of a mature girlfriend who had forgiven her boyfriend’s slip-ups.

“Get up. The floor is cold, isn’t it?”

She grabbed his wrist, pulled him up, dusted him off, and straightened his clothes up.

Facing the implication that she really understood what was going on in his mind before he could even explain it made Siwoo even more embarrassed.

Especially since despite him being together with Sharon for a really long time, he had never told her about his matter with Amelia.

“Sorry.”

“I’m just glad that you kept your promise and returned safely. Now, it’s you guys’ turn.”

Sharon stepped aside lightly, revealing Odile and Odette, who were pouting at him.

“Mr. Assistant, promise us. From now on, you won’t throw yourself into danger like this again.”

Odile and Odette’s anger wasn’t only due to jealousy.

It hadn’t even been long since his fight with Bianca, and now he was doing something reckless again.

This was the biggest reason why they were so upset at him.

“You won’t promise us?”

“...”

Unfortunately, the promise that Odile was asking for wasn’t something that Siwoo could easily make.

Because he knew, if something similar were to happen again, he’d do the same thing again.

He didn’t want to make a promise that he could break anytime just to get away from this situation.

“I will do my best.”

Hearing Siwoo’s answers, the twins just furrowed their eyebrows before letting out a long sigh.

“I knew it.”

“What can I say? As expected of Mr. Assistant...”

The twins knew what kind of person their Mr. Assistant was.

If he was someone who’d listen to others’ words easily, this whole thing wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Besides, they knew that as people who had been saved by that recklessness twice, they had no right to push the matter any further than this.

“Then, at least ask for our permission before you’re going to do something like this again.”

“That’s right! That’s the least you could do, you know?”

Odile patted his shoulder gently, as if she was a manager trying to encourage her subordinate.

“Thank you for your understanding...”

“But, in exchange...”

At that moment, Odette scurried over to Siwoo, grabbed his ear and whispered something to him.

It was a request rather than a command; a request to play a ‘game’ in place of their lost opportunity to spend the Harvest Festival together.

But, now that the twins had been freed from their little master’s clutches, they naturally had no intention of holding back here.

Odette’s bold proposal was filled with a bunch of shameless words, making Siwoo’s ear redden as he heard it.

“...Got it?”

“A-Ah... Y-Y-Yes...”

Sharon, who saw Siwoo’s dumbfounded face, immediately felt that something was wrong.

“Wait! What are you talking about?!”

“Sharon unnie, you’ve done a lot of things during the Harvest Festival already! Let us have our fun!”

“Right! This is only fair!”

“This is the kind of thing that you two should discuss with me in advance!”

“Yeah, but you went on a date with him already, no?”

Although they were on the same side when it came to protecting the man they loved, essentially, Sharon and the twins were still competitors.

Even their date schedule was a result of a fierce battle of wits.

That was how they could share the man they loved.

“I did...! I did, but...!”

In this situation, it was hard for Sharon to say that her date with Siwoo during the Harvest Festival was quite satisfactory.

Of course, they did the deed briefly in that locker room, but that was the equivalent of eating instant ramen.

She didn’t have the enjoyment of wrestling all night long in bed with him—she hadn’t tasted the full course meal yet.

“You did it, so what are you complaining about?”

“Seriously, Sharon unnie! Why are you always complaining when you keep getting the good things!”

The argument between Sharon, who felt wronged by this situation, and the twins, who couldn’t understand Sharon’s grievances, continued until Deneb, who was passing by, noticed Siwoo who was standing like a statue in the hallway and scolded him.

2.

Amelia’s hearing was held on the evening of the final day of Countess Kohav’s interrogation.

With all the information gathered from the Investigation Committee, and Countess Kohav’s interrogation result, Duchess Erelim deemed that she had received enough data to proceed with the hearing.

Of course, in truth, this was all just a formality, the duchess wasn’t actually the one who decided the verdict, she was just tasked to read it.

It was the nobles of the Tree of Sephiroth that acted as the jurors and judges; each of them had personally evaluated the case.

The verdict that the duchess would read was merely something that they had agreed upon beforehand.

Inside the conference room, which was bustling with witches.

This case probably broke the record of the largest number of witches attending a hearing in Gehenna’s history.

Of course, Siwoo was also among the audience, sitting anxiously.

Countess Albireo had told him that Amelia would be okay, but they’d only give out their final judgment today, and she had been attending the meeting with the other nobles, so Siwoo hadn’t heard anything about the verdict.

Like the other witches here, he’d only know of the result when they officially announced it.

Hence why he was sitting there anxiously while staring at Amelia’s side profile, so much so that he even failed to notice the numerous witches blatantly staring at him.

“Do you, Baroness Marigold, admit to your sin of performing large-scale magic without permission in Tarot Town on December 24th 632 Gehenna year?”

“Yes.”

Amelia was standing in the middle of the room, facing Duchess Erelim, who stood on the highest seat, looking down on her as she asked for her final statement.

The duchess had black hair and eerily cold silver eyes. Her tone was neither high or low, but its majesty could be felt clearly.

“Do you admit to endangering the citizens of Gehenna, and furthermore, endangering the existence of Gehenna itself?”

“Yes, I do.”

This was something that Amelia herself had already admitted during the interrogation; they had also confirmed and calculated all the damage that she had caused during the incident.

So, all Amelia could do was to nod obediently.

“Very well. Then, I, Blanche Erelim, will announce the verdict that thirty one witches—including myself—has decided upon.

Duchess Erelim took the verdict in her hand and started to read it.

“Amelia Marigold, you have neglected your duty as a noble, and let yourself fall prey to the Witch of Whispers’s treachery, in which she used you to disrupt order in Gehenna.

“In addition, you were unable to control your own magic, which had caused danger to the lives of countless citizens of Gehenna and the Great Barrier itself. On the day of the incident, you have received several warnings to stop, in which you ignored and escalated the situation despite the warning.

“For your crime, our verdict is for your title as Baroness Marigold to be confiscated and for you to be sentenced to 58 years of imprisonment to reflect on your sins. Moreover, you will be sentenced to an exile without statute of limitations.”

Hearing that, Siwoo opened his eyes wide, feeling his heart sink. But then, Duchess Erelim continued after taking a deep breath.

“However, the committee had also considered the following before delivering our final judgment.

“Throughout her career, Baroness Marigold had eliminated numerous Criminal Exiles and Homunculi alike; the incident was also due to an accident, not out of malice, and the damage had been calculated to be minor at best. Furthermore, in total, fifty petitions of exemption from punishment had been received by the committee, in which Countess Gemini, Countess Yesod, and Baroness Avenega were among the names signing it. Baroness Marigold herself has also shown her deep remorse regarding this incident.

“Finally, there’s also the fact that the Marigolds had contributed greatly to the development of Gehenna in the past, which serves as the greatest mitigating factor.

“Therefore, the execution of Baroness Marigold’s sentence of imprisonment and exilement is hereby suspended for a period of ten years, on the condition that following clauses are met:

“One, Baroness Marigold has to relinquish her title back to Gehenna.

“Two, Baroness Marigold has to compensate 182 witches who had suffered losses from this incident by paying them 1,000 gold pounds each.

“Three, Baroness Marigold has to pay 30,000 gold pounds of fine to the City Hall.

“Four, the moment all the above clauses are fulfilled, Baroness Marigold’s sentence of imprisonment and exilement is permanently suspended.”

The moment Siwoo heard those conditions, he quickly did some calculations in his head.

In total, the amount of gold that Amelia had to pay was 212,000 gold pounds.

If he were to roughly estimate that 1 gold pound equaled 800,000 won, it meant...

“169,6 billion won...?”

In 10 years?

No, can someone even pay that much?

Compared to Siwoo and the other witches, whose mouths were gaping wide at the incredible amount, Amelia, the one who received that sentence, was calm.

As if it was someone else’s business, not hers.

“The above verdict was reached through a discussion within the Tree of Sephiroth, the highest decision-making as well as the highest body of Gehenna. Baroness Marigold will not receive any appeal to her sentence, nor will she be allowed to ask for one. That’s all.”

Though short, the hearing was intense.

The hearing that only lasted five minutes, resulted in the largest fine in the history of Gehenna.