1.
Three days had passed and the promised date had come.
Yebin was staring at Amelia blankly as they were having their regular one-on-one discussion regarding Siwoo's state.
All this time she had been agonizing, trying to find an alternative way to treat him, but ultimately, she failed to do so.
Delaying Siwoo's surgery any further would prove to be difficult and she desperately needed Amelia's permission as Siwoo's guardian and lover (according to her speculation, at least).
"…His condition is mostly stable."
Before revealing the big news, Yebin recited Siwoo's recent test results.
However, Amelia's vacant pupils seemed to pierce right through her.
To be more precise, she seemed to be staring blankly into space.
"Baroness…?"
"Ah, I'm sorry, what did you just say?"
"I'll say it again."
She flawlessly repeated her words like a parrot, but she couldn't hide her confusion.
Usually, when it came to Siwoo, Amelia would attentively listen even to the slightest details.
She never asked Yebin incessantly because she didn't want the latter to feel burdened, but if the slightest opening where she could ask appeared, she'd immediately pounce on it.
Yebin felt presumptuous for thinking about this, but she found this part of Amelia cute.
Despite that, Amelia seemed to be lost in thought during today's report.
'Did something happen?'
Yebin caught herself tilting her head unintentionally in confusion.
Nevertheless, she couldn't just pry into her concerns. Besides, she didn't have the leniency due to how important the words she was about to convey were.
"Indeed. You've been working hard all this time, Smyrna. I won't forget this and I'll definitely compensate you fairly."
"Y-Yes! T-To me, it feels rewarding to save others' lives! B-But, um… T-There's something I need to talk to you about regarding Mr. Siwoo's final surgery…"
Yebin shot a quick glance at Amelia, trying to read her expression.
The latter's sky-blue eyes seemed to urge her to hurry and speak up."
"I'll listen to you properly this time."
"A-Ah, y-yes… U-Um…"
Though Amelia didn't show any impatience, Yebin found herself stumbling on her words.
Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut before continuing her explanation concisely.
"For a complete recovery, other than regenerating his brain, he needs to undergo a separate treatment."
"Yes, you already told me about it prior to this."
Amelia questioned why she brought this up again, making Yebin start to stutter.
"W-What we're trying to do is basically a form of reverse entropy, y-you see? I-It's like restoring burnt paper to its original state, but, u-um… I-In our case, we need at least an initial hint of his consciousness…"
"What kind of consciousness?"
"W-Well, I've never attempted restoration at this level of severity, b-but based on my research… A-Anyway, what I'm trying to say is!"
"Calm down. You don't need to hold back, tell me everything."
It was hard for Yebin to calm herself down because of the content of what she was about to say.
Amelia could only maintain such a serene attitude because she didn't know what was it that about to hit her.
"F-For the restoration, we need an 'indicator'…"
"And, what you're trying to say is…?"
Just like how the edges were necessary components to complete a complex and intricate puzzle, Yebin needed information about Siwoo's original state.
"W-What I'm trying to say is… The methods for collecting that indicator. There are two of them, one of them is… To awaken his consciousness in his current state and use a spell called 'Memory Regression.' Basically I'll merge with his psyche, observing his life experiences and memories and reconstructing everything based on that… H-However, this method involves peeking into his memories without leaving a single one unobserved, so there's a possibility that I'd be invading his privacy…"
"…"
Letting someone read all of his memories without his consent felt so wrong for Amelia.
"But, there's an issue with this method."
"What is it?"
"It blurs the boundary between the caster's and subject's consciousness. During the process, the subject's magic circuits will become a significant hindrance… That's why, before starting the spell, we have to remove all of his magic circuits…"
"That means…"
Siwoo would no longer be able to use magic.
Hearing this the first thought that came to Amelia's mind was…
'Won't this prevent him from using dimensional magic to escape whenever he wants?'
A ridiculously selfish thought.
"Ha…"
Realizing her own wicked thoughts, Amelia sighed and shook her head.
She felt embarrassed for thinking like that.
"No, that can't happen."
Amelia firmly rejected the idea.
Though, her rejection wasn't some incredible accomplishment as it was a basic human decency to not proceed with something like that without Siwoo's consent.
"What about the second method?"
Amelia hesitated before she asked. This time, Yebin stuttered even more.
She cautiously drew out her words after repeatedly glancing at Amelia's expression.
In truth, Yebin wasn't convinced that this was the right method.
Not to mention that this method was heavily related to ethics before anything.
"…S-Sexual intercourse…"
"…?"
"T-To stimulate one of the most instinctive physiological functions, sexual desire, sexual intercourse is needed. This will in turn activate his dormant limbic system. If it proceeds smoothly, it's likely that it'll greatly alleviate the expected aftereffect of his whole treatment, the emotional numbness…"
Yebin rambled on and on.
Just seeing Amelia's expression terrified her.
Even if this was inevitable, she was still talking about having sex with Amelia's man.
She didn't want her to think that she was some slut who'd steal someone else's paramour, so she clarified her purity and innocence first.
"H-However, I-I… Actually don't have any experience…"
"…Me neither."
"A-Ah, I-I see…"
"…"
'Huh, they hadn't engaged in a physical relationship yet?'
The situation was even more complicated than Yebin initially thought, which led her to an even deeper despair. But, Amelia regained her composure rather quickly and proceeded to take the lead in resolving the tension.
"I'll give you my full cooperation in that aspect."
Amelia had been studying about sexual relationships between men and women, how it was conducted and what mindset and emotions were necessary throughout the process.
Basically, she only knew it by the book.
After hearing what the twins had to say, she became unsure about her feelings for Siwoo, but she was determined enough to do what she needed to do.
"A-Ah, n-no, I-I haven't finished speaking yet… A-About the intercourse… I-I'm the one who has to do it…"
"What…?"
"B-Because I-I need to provide healing while having an… I-Intercourse… W-With Mr. Siwoo… Y-You see, during erection and orgasm, there are fragments of information embedded in the waves of magic that both processes let out… A-And during the process of the emotional and instinctive connection as the male and female genitalia came together, I have to use the moment to trace and reconstruct his neural circuitry system into one suitable for his mental state…"
Yebin continued her explanation, which sounded like excuses more than anything, for another ten minutes. But, Amelia was half-listening to her words at that point.
To allow him to mix his flesh with another woman for the sake of saving his life.
According to Amelia's usual conventional wisdom, this wouldn't be too much of an issue.
In the first place, she had never thought of him as a potential subject for sexual attraction and she was even skeptical about linking emotional and physical love.
After all, the latter was no more than a bodily connection for reproduction purposes.
But, for some reason Yebin's proposal shocked her and roused a sense of rejection from within her even though she clearly knew it was for the purpose of saving his life.
"I'm sorry…"
Feeling guilty, Yebin bowed her head and apologized.
"There's nothing else we can do… I suppose…"
Why did she feel this way? Was this really her own emotion?
Amidst her doubt, Amelia asked another question.
"How many times do you need to do it…?"
"A-At least three times… I think…"
Amelia nodded as she felt that she lost her footing.
"Then, please proceed with that method."
"Y-Yes… I-I have to prepare something, so I'll proceed right after dinner."
"Okay."
Yebin left Amelia, who was standing stiffly, and hurried to her own room.
2.
"Haah… I said it…"
Yebin felt like her body went limp.
It came from the sense of relief she felt after mulling over how to deliver this news to Amelia for three days.
'Was she angry at me?'
Unlike her passionate demeanor during their first encounter, the Baroness only had subtle changes in her expression, so she couldn't tell her reaction clearly.
It wasn't that Yebin was afraid of the aftermath.
She already figured that Amelia wasn't a bad person.
Despite what her master had taught her about the malicious nature of the noble witches in Gehenna, Amelia had always treated Yebin well.
"But, is this really the right thing to do…?"
Yebin sprawled on her bed while fiddling with her hair.
Even if it was for treatment, she still had to have an intercourse with a man. Moreover, this man belonged to another woman.
"This feels like a K-drama…"
Memories of the weekend soap operas she had avidly watched back when she was still a student came to mind.
All sorts of absurd situations were displayed in such shows.
Step-siblings affairs, kimchi bitchslaps, female leads with incurable illness, contract wives…
She watched those kinds of shows in glee while giving out unrestrained reactions at various points.
But now that she had to face a similar situation in reality, she became utterly bewildered.
The saying 'Life is tragedy when seen close-up, but comedy in long-shot' must have a semblance of truth in it.
"Ugh…"
She kept telling herself that this was a medical procedure, an act to save a life.
But, Yebin had spent more years living as a regular human than a witch.
She masturbated more than a few times and she also had fantasies about a romantic and exciting first intercourse.
In her imagination, someday she'd meet a man she liked, then they'd flirt, go on dates and eventually become a couple after a grand confession. After around 300 days of going out, they'd share a passionate night in a fancy hotel.
Though, she hadn't imagined the fine details because she had been practically stuck in the middle of nowhere without any suitable candidates to be found for years.
Up until now, she had gathered bits and pieces of information from her surroundings and concluded that Shin Siwoo wasn't a bad person and he also had a fairly handsome face. But, they still hadn't conversed directly yet, so it was unthinkable that she had to have sex with him.
In truth, she had thought that it was unnecessary to go to such length for this treatment,
"Ugh, I'm a real piece of shit."
Yebin scolded herself.
Her master, the previous Smyrna, was said to have killed twelve citizens in total for her research.
She always repeated the same thing: Progression in medicine always involved sacrifices.
Even modern pharmaceutical companies had legally conducted experiments involving tens of times more living beings than she ever did (albeit with lower efficiency).
But in turn, they had saved tens or hundreds of times the number they sacrificed through their developed products.
In fact, her master had traversed Southern Africa, a region that was suffering from civil wars, saving thousands of lives.
Of course it wasn't an act of kindness, it was just part of her research.
Still, even if one had good intentions, ignoring someone's will and staining their dignity was a morally incorrect act.
And the result of her master's radical ideas existed within Yebin's inherited brand.
Thanks to that she carried a sense of burden.
As such, she had pledged to save and help as many people as possible.
But, here she was, trying to avoid this situation by whining about trivial things such as her first experience and such. She couldn't help but feel disappointed in herself.
"Pull yourself together."
Yebin organized her thoughts once again, even though she should have already come to terms with everything over the past few days.
"That aside, I need to get ready…"
She muttered to herself while looking around the room for no apparent reason.
Living by herself could be quite boring.
Hours of masturbating was her main pastime.
She even downloaded videos from PoXnHub using the nearby gas station's Wi-Fi and saved them as materials for the future.
As such, she didn't have fear concerning the act of sex itself.
It wasn't like she was going to die, nor was there any risk of pregnancy, not to mention that the process was supposed to be enjoyable for her.
However, she had never tried to masturbate by penetration. That was why she needed some preparation before she could actually do the deed with Siwoo.
She couldn't let the pain from the initial penetration disrupt her focus after all.
Yebin looked down at her two long and slender fingers.
"Will these work…?'
Then, she quickly opened the door to the bathroom and went inside.