Chapter 343: Pride and Prejudice (2)1.

Three days after her closed-door training started.

Diana had been busy studying magic while practicing her Witch Board skill for her revenge match.

It was the first time she had ever put in this much effort in her long life as an apprentice witch.

After all, no matter how much she enjoyed the Witch Board, at the end of the day, it was only a game.

She never felt the need to dedicate some of her time to practicing it earnestly.

Not only that, she had also realized something.

How powerful revenge was as one’s motivation, as it even managed to let her overcome her own laziness.

Countess Yesod had to wipe her tears away more than a hundred times after seeing her studying from the morning till late at night. That was how motivated Diana was.

As for what exactly she studied during that time, she was analyzing the famous witches’ notations and reading through magic books related to Dispel Pin in more depth.

Of course, she naturally tried to analyze Siwoo’s playstyle as well and ended up discovering a surprising fact.

“That shameless man deceived me...”

The male witch...

Wasn’t a beginner at all.

His method of building his groundwork in advance before using Dispel Pins to steal advantages from her...

Was a specialty of a certain witch from the 19th century.

Of course, he wasn’t copying that witch’s moves down to a T, but the way he set his formation up was identical to the witch’s.

Even the way he clumped all his mana orbs to concentrate his power was similar.

Which meant the tricky method that he had been using wasn’t his own, but something that he copied off someone else.

And yet he pretended as if he was playing for the first time.

He acted as if he was someone who didn’t know how to play.

That led her to let her guard down and got her victory stolen from right under her nose.

Of course, she didn’t intend to hold it against him.

Though he was playing sneaky and dirty, he practically won the last game with a direct fight, not with Dispel Pins, and that fact wouldn’t change.

“Just wait and see... I’ve already prepared my surefire plan...!”

However, she was confident that she’d win against him this time. She had put all her effort into studying and she had grown considerably more than before.

If she were to give an estimation, she was 1.5 times stronger than before.

As long as she could shut down his Dispel Pin, her victory was assured.

And so, she jumped off her chair and headed towards the host club with a confident gait.

2.

“S-Siwoo hyung is already tending to a guest now...”

Diana, whose heart was filled with revenge, let out an atmosphere so cold that one would think the snow had suddenly fallen, even though it was still May.

She went out of her way to come here at seven in the morning, yet Siwoo didn’t even come down to greet her.

Instead, it was the man she had seen the first time she came here who came to meet her with a flustered expression.

“I’ll order something expensive. Bring me to him.”

“H-Huh? W-Wait for a moment...!”

“There’s no time to waste. Bring me to him. Now.”

If she wasn’t in her current state, she’d probably decide to either wait or just go back tomorrow.

But not now.

Because she had been training so hard that she wouldn’t feel satisfied unless she thoroughly beat that man in a game.

Diana passed through the flustered doorkeeper and headed straight to table 1, where Siwoo always sat.

Her thumping steps were filled with emotions and when she opened the temporary blinds...

Three pairs of eyes, surprised by her sudden appearance, were staring at her.

“...Uh, hello there?”

“...”

“...”

Two people she never expected to be with Siwoo were there.

The two girls, wearing half-bonnets that were wider than their faces and dresses that looked as expensive as Diana’s.

With their curled black hair, purple eyes and cute faces that were like a doll, there was no way that Diana would mistake these two apprentice witches for anyone else.

“Huh? Why are you two...?”

After all, they were the daughters of her mother’s friend, the girls whom her mother always compared her to whenever she scolded her.

The twin witches who shared the same witch name, the apprentice witches of Countess Gemini.

“You are that lazy girl...?”

“Oh, you are the apprentice witch that never listens to your mother!”

Hearing their strange descriptions of herself, Diana’s blood pressure instantly rose up.

“What’s with those weird descriptions of me?!”

Since Countess Gemini and Countess Yesod were close, they were naturally aware of each other’s existence.

But they were acquaintances at best, not friends.

That was why Diana was surprised to find them here.

There was another thing that surprised her.

It was the fact that the twins were clinging closely to both Siwoo’s sides.

If intimacy could be judged by the distance between one person and the other, that was the kind of distance that only lovers could have.

Also, one of the twins was putting a piece of fruit into the man’s mouth.

“I thought I’d need to introduce you to each other, but it seems like I don’t need to...?”

“Well, we know each other, but we aren’t that close.”

“Hmm...”

She didn’t know if it was because the mood was right or if it was because of some other reason, but she could feel the flow of the game better.

Now, she could clearly see what needed to be thrown away and what needed to be taken to gain even the slightest advantage against Siwoo.

At one point, Siwoo was about to set up his Dispel Pin, but she managed to disrupt that, all while preventing other variables from interfering with her plans.

Overall, the game was pretty tight.

Siwoo’s strategy was a do-or-die strategy that would get him to lose all his gas in the mid-game.

Despite that, the game was still tight even though they were entering the late game.

If one were to look at the odds, it would be 5.5 to 4.5 in her favor.

Even though she had been pressuring him repeatedly, for some reason, he always found a way to hang on and prolong the game.

However, no matter how much one tried to cover the whole board, the game area was limited to the board.

Even if he were to keep dodging her assault like a slippery snake, eventually he’d run out of space to run into.

That was what Diana was trying to aim for. She analyzed the board while keeping her guard up against his Dispel Pin.

-Tak!

As Diana was calculating her moves...

She could hear the twins’ voices, as they started to comment on the game out of boredom.

Well, actually, they were just whispering among themselves instead of commenting, but she could still hear it nonetheless.

“Ah, that’s not it...”

“Why did she even do that?”

Of course, she tried to ignore them.

They’re just saying that because they don’t know how to play.

It isn’t even worth responding to.

“You’ll just give yourself up with that move...”

“Why does she keep making strange moves...?”

“Anyway, Mr. Assistant is really good!”

“As expected of Mr. Assistant!”

Ignore, ignore...

Giving myself up? There’s no way I’d make such a blunder.

He doesn’t have enough lenience to set up a trap for me anyway.

The game is clearly in my favor, they can’t even see that and they still said those words? Ha!

Though she tried to ignore them, in the end, she couldn’t take it anymore and opened her mouth.

“Can’t you two shut up?”

“What? Do you think you’re in a position to demand something from us after we conceded our precious time to you? Besides, we’re just talking among ourselves.”

“Just admit that you’re bad at the game.”

“Haa, seriously... Just stop talking...!”

They weren’t wrong, but their words still pissed Diana off.

Whatever, it doesn’t matter.

We’ll see if my moves are right or wrong soon anyway!

Though she resolved herself like that, the twins still managed to inflict mental damage on her with their words.

That was probably the reason why she made such a huge blunder not long after.

“Ah...”

She realized her mistake a moment too late.

Of course, Siwoo capitalized on her mistake, making even better moves than what Diana had expected.

Her current position considerably worsened, as if she had just lost one of her legs in a tug-of-war.

“Ugh...!”

Diana tried to make up for her blunder, but...

Siwoo’s attacks were too relentless for her to handle and eventually, he managed to completely crush all of her formations.

That one blunder was enough to turn the game around.

“As expected of Mr. Assistant, there’s no way she could beat you!”

“You’re amazing, Mr. Assistant!”

Diana hung her head down, her shoulders were shaking.

Meanwhile, Siwoo tried his best to stop the twins from getting rowdy.

Because he didn’t want them to pour more oil into a burning house.

“Ms. Odile, Ms. Odette, please stop it... Also, Ms. Diana, that was a close match, if only you didn’t make that blunder—”

“I know!”

After saying that, Diana glared at the twins while gritting her teeth.

“You guys said that you’re good at Witch Board, right? Fine, play with me next.”

It was clear that Siwoo was the target of her anger before she sat down, but now, she had directed everything at the twins.

“Huh? You want to go against us?”

“We’re really good at the game, you know? Do you think you can beat us?”

Odile accepted the sudden challenge with a snort.

Meanwhile, Odette crossed her arms and threw Diana’s provocation right back at her.

“Of course I can beat you! Why don’t we make a bet? Whoever lost the game will have to leave this place!”

With that, Diana threw her glove to throw the twins out, so that she could finally have a proper showdown with Siwoo in peace.