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1.

He tutored math to a friend from middle school that was the same age as him.

But, that tutoring—he did it for some pocket money—ended extremely quickly, even quicker than he first expected.

The reason for it was because his friend just failed to understand calculus, and Siwoo himself failed to understand why his friend couldn’t understand it.

Not only that, he also had zero confidence to make his friend understand.

This was something that happened a long time ago, so it wasn’t a wonder that he had forgotten about it.

The only reason why this memory somehow came back to his mind was because he remembered that his friend’s mom treated him extremely kindly—just like what the countess was doing right now.

But, I don’t know if the countess is treating me kindly for the same reason as that auntie…

Also…

That auntie just gave me a bunch of snacks at most, she never asked me to go fishing with her in the dead of the night.

Siwoo and the countess took a Gate to the Rabbit River.

They passed through a hill where maple trees were scattered here and there;  their colorful display reminded Siwoo of a fireworks party.

The bright starlight illuminated the place, replacing the need for any artificial lights. They looked like diamonds scattered around the sky.

“Woah…”

“Careful!”

Suddenly, Countess Yesod ran down the hillside, letting out a sigh of awe, just like a child.

He was about to stop her, but when he saw her running through the rough terrain with ease, the fact that she was a high-ranking witch clicked in his mind.

In a way, I can see the resemblance between her and her daughter…

Nevertheless, he could understand why she reacted this way.

Even Siwoo, who had visited this place twice already, was still left astonished by its grandeur.

“This place is nice. It’s really pretty.”

“Right?”

Since Diana’s reaction toward this location that he had searched with difficulties was rather lukewarm, he didn’t have much hope that the countess would like it.

That was why when he saw the countess actually running around excitedly while stepping on the rocks, he felt a little proud of himself.

“I’m going to prepare everything, I’ll do my best to make it quick, so please wait for a moment.”

After saying that, he gathered rocks from the surroundings and piled them up. Then, he made fire with the twigs that he picked up while they were passing through the forest. After that was done, he put up a water pitcher.

He was only missing a portable camping chair to turn this place into a perfect salmon fishing spot.

As he was doing all that, Countess Lucy was watching him from the side with an amazed face.

“You sure are something else, Mr. Siwoo. You found out about this place yourself, and even prepared everything for the occasion in such a short notice.”

“Thank you for your compliment. I’ll finish the preparation and we should be able to start fishing after that.”

I really just imitated what my friends used to do, though…

But then again, she’s a countess, I doubt she had the chance to do something like this often, if not, at all.

After he finished preparing everything, he set up the fishing rods for both of them.

When it came to lure, if the lure was too heavy, it would sink quickly and chances were it would easily get stuck in between rocks. But, if the lure was too light, one wouldn’t be able to fish to begin with.

This was something that he learned when he went fishing with Diana earlier.

“Those are all fish?”

Countess Yesod asked as she sneakily glanced into the water from a distance.

When Siwoo glanced over, he could see countless black shadows moving ceaselessly against the dark water’s current.

Since salmon was nocturnal by nature, there were significantly more of them right now compared to back when he came here during the day.

“Yes, I believe so.”

The countess suddenly turned around and looked at him.

Her eyes glinted slyly, reminding him of Diana’s.

“I noticed something in your way of speaking, Mr. Siwoo.”

She…noticed something…? What is it…?

“Um?”

“When asked for your opinion, you never straight up say ‘Yes’ or clearly state what’s in your mind. Instead, you deliver your opinion as if you’re guessing.”

“Do I really do that…?”

“Mhm. You always do that, whether we’re in class or when you’re reporting to me about Diana.”

Hearing her words, Siwoo turned silent, not knowing how to reply.

“I’m just guessing, so forgive me if I’m wrong, but, the way you’re doing that, it’s as if you’re afraid that you are making a mistake.”

When he heard her next sentence, it finally clicked in his mind.

For the whole five years he was living as a slave, he had only been dealing with witches whose status was far above him. It wasn’t a wonder that he ended up developing such a habit.

“I think I unconsciously do that because your status—both social status and status as a witch, is higher than mine, Countess…”

“Oh my. Are you trying to say that I’d get offended if I were to see you doing something wrong?”

“No, I didn’t mean it that way…”

“Listen to me. I believe that anyone can be wrong, and it’s fine for them to be wrong.”

“U-Um…”

“Or do you believe that I’m such an arrogant and stubborn witch deep in your heart? Hmph, I see how it is.”

The countess then crossed her arms in front of her chest, pretending to be angry.

Siwoo could tell that she was pretending though. It was clear from the trembling corners of her lips, trying their best to prevent themselves from curving upwards.

He realized that she was just teasing him again with a polite joke.

Before he noticed that, he genuinely thought that she was angry at him for inexplicable reasons.

Seeing this, he was glad that it wasn’t the case at all.

“I will correct it.”

“Correcting it. It means you’re going to fix something that is wrong to make it right. In this context though, it’s different. It shows your subservience in a hierarchical relationship, you’re admitting that you have made a mistake and showing your intention for an improvement over that mistake.”

Though a problem remained, he still couldn’t figure out when she was joking and when she was being serious.

While she seemed to be comfortable enough with him by now—with how she kept teasing or joking with him—the reverse didn’t hold true.

He still wasn’t comfortable enough dealing with Countess Gemini, even though they had known each other for a long time now, so there was no way that he suddenly became comfortable dealing with Countess Yesod, whom he had only interacted with for four days.

“If you continue on speaking in that way, it will make me think that I’m a stiff and stuffy noble, you know?”

“Um, then… What should I do…?”

“Imagine someone you’re particularly close to saying the words I just said to you. What would you say to them?”

“…Um, are you sure you want to hear that?”

“Of course.”

Siwoo thought for a moment.

“Um… I’d ask them, ‘Are you drunk?’.”

He found that response a little rude.

But, to his surprise, the countess seemed to like it.

Lucy laughed until her pure white face turned bright red. After a while, she raised her head again to face him.

“That was much better than I expected. Your tongue’s quite sharp, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry if you found my words just now rude…”

“Don’t be. I like that better than you being all stiff with me.”

She then laughed again for a considerable amount of time before finally stopping.

When she was done, Siwoo asked the question that he had been wondering about.

“Hm? You want to know why am I treating you so well?”

“Yes.”

The one thing that Siwoo knew about Countess Yesod was that she was a conservative witch, so she had no reason to treat him this well.

Furthermore, she was a high-ranking witch, and those witches tended to look down on him.

With those in mind, he just couldn’t understand why she was so friendly to him after acting as his tutor for just a few days.

When she first heard this question, the countess thought about various ways to tease him from this angle.

But she soon changed her mind.

“The salmon that Diana caught today… It was actually you who caught it, no?”

“Huh?”

“Are you wondering how I knew that? Well, whenever Diana is actually trying to get praised by me, she’d always beg me for snacks.”

“I-I see…”

Tonight at dinner, Diana was strangely quiet.

That was how the countess noticed the truth.

With that in mind, she could take Siwoo’s intention in the wrong way, such as he was just doing it to prolong their contract and so on.

Well, this is awkward…

“Please forgive me. But, I really have no intention to deceive you, Countess.”

“I know. If you really do, my baby wouldn’t just stay still like that. She’s a sharp one, you know?”

After she threw a compliment to Diana smoothly like that, she unexpectedly threw another compliment, except this time, it was for him.

“Still, I’ve never seen Diana obediently listen to anyone other than me. You’re indeed something else, Mr. Siwoo.”

“…I don’t think she listens to me that well either though…?”

It seemed like after the countess gave him permission to be more at ease around her, his mouth loosened up considerably.

He spouted out his true feelings before he realized it.

“The fact that you managed to bring her out here means that she listens to you well.”

“I see…”

It was only after he remembered how stubborn Diana could be did Siwoo agree with the countess’ words.

After their conversation was over, it was finally time for fishing.

Siwoo briefly explained how to fish to the countess and demonstrated it right after.

He didn’t add any special tricks from the last time.

Even the fishing rods and the lures were the same ones he and Diana used earlier today.

“That’s all.”

“It really does sound fun.”

The countess took off her shoes without hesitation and walked into the shallow river without caring about her dress getting wet.

She followed Siwoo’s instruction closely, casting her line into the water, not too far, not too close.

However, even though there were a bunch of salmon passing by, she still couldn’t hook even a single one, just like Diana.

Even after she repeatedly pulled and cast her line ten times.

“This is harder than I thought, Mr. Siwoo.”

“Ah, please wait for a moment. Let’s exchange our rods.”

When Siwoo was about to go down, the countess tugged his collar.

“No, I believe that even if we exchange our rods, the result will end up the same.”

With shining eyes, rivaling that of the starlight, she asked…

“Instead, why don’t you teach me more?”

What was it that the countess was asking Siwoo to teach her?

“I know that this is a little presumptuous of me to ask this, but… Do we really need to go this far?”

“Of course. It isn’t like it’s the first time I’ve given you my back, is it, Mr. Siwoo?”

“That’s not… Never mind…”

Currently, they were standing together in a rather comical pose.

The countess stood in front of Siwoo, holding the rod in her hands firmly.

Meanwhile Siwoo stood behind her, holding the rod together with her as if hugging her.

And…

“Is there a problem?”

Actually, calling it holding the rod together wasn’t quite right. It was more like he was holding the countess’ hands instead.

This was the part that made Siwoo feel uncomfortable the most out of all of them.

Though, he managed to get used to it pretty quickly.

Given the circumstances, there was a chance that she was trying to flirt with him, but there were two reasons why he doubted it was the case at all.

One, she was a noble witch, a countess. Considering that she was also known as an extremely conservative witch even among the conservative witches, it was hard for him to imagine her genuinely trying to flirt with someone she didn’t even know for a week.

Two, the most important reason out of the two.

The first time they met, she tried to test his self-control, just like what Albireo did.

Everything that happened…

From her unbuttoning his shirt before running her finger on his chest, her offering her bareback while sharing her vision with him, her wearing a low-cut dress to show off her assets, all her effort to make him ogle her, everything could be part of her test.

Getting fired from his position as Diana’s tutor just because he couldn’t keep his lust in check would be an extremely undesirable outcome for him.

But, if she’s really out here to test me, when I did…that…to her buttocks… Wouldn’t that be enough to make me fail her test…?

Also, I’ve only known her for a short time, but she doesn’t seem to be the kind of person who’d give me test after test for no reason at all.

Even Countess Albireo said that her personality is admirable, and she isn’t that kind of petty person…

I don’t know… I can’t figure her out at all…

“Come on~”

The countess—who knows if she was pretending not to know or if she actually didn’t know what was going on in his mind—urged him on with an innocent-sounding voice.

Siwoo let out a sigh and hugged her from behind again.

This time, he carefully placed his hand on top of hers, paying attention to the position of his waist so that no unfortunate incident would occur again.

Her hands were so small compared to the usual majesty she exuded.

They were warm and soft, just like the previous time he touched her skin.

“So this pose really does work. I thought because I’m quite tall we’d end up in a rather uncomfortable position but it isn’t the case at all~”

They cast their line with a swoosh.

With one hand on the reel and the other on the rod, they leisurely let the hook drift away.

That night, they managed to catch more than ten salmon.