"I lived with them for a while," Wanda said bluntly. "My condition wasn’t great back then, and they more or less took Pietro and me in. But the one who kept teaching and looking after me was my teacher. Most of the Witches... didn’t really like us."

"Why?" Stark asked. He couldn’t imagine anyone being unfriendly to Wanda. On the one hand, the Scarlet Witch was simply too powerful; unless your brain was broken, you wouldn’t dare talk trash to her. On the other hand, Wanda’s personality was excellent—whether as family, friend, or coworker, she was flawless. What kind of freak would fail to get along with her?

You have to realize, Wanda can even get along fine with Arrogant and co‑parent with her; that alone shows just how good her social skills are.

"My powers weren’t very stable back then," Wanda said, frowning. "Before I studied with my teacher, I’d sometimes lose control. They felt threatened, so it’s normal they didn’t like me much. But regardless, when I was living there, I was using their resources. They weren’t well‑off at the time either."

"Later I did help them sort out some trouble, and I sent them quite a few things. You could say I repaid the favor, it’s just..."

"It’s just they think it’s still not enough," Greed said. "They think all of that is what you’re supposed to do, same as this time."

Wanda pressed her lips together and stayed silent; clearly, Greed had hit the mark. Steve straightened the story out and said, "So back then it was your teacher who saved you and taught you. It’s just that you were living together with the Witches at the time, and they shared some of their things with you."

"Later you parted ways. The Witches think they saved you back then, so you should repay their kindness. But you feel your teacher’s grace was much greater, and you’ve helped the Witches a lot over the years, which should count as paying them back. Now they’ve come to you again, asking you to do something that’s basically impossible, and still act like it’s only right."

Wanda nodded hard like she’d just seen a savior, then said, "I don’t want to help them, and the reason I didn’t want to say it was because I didn’t want you to think I’m some ungrateful little creep..."

She let out a very troubled sigh. "I don’t want them to come back at all. I don’t want them showing up in my life at all. Am I really being too heartless?"

"Tell us about what happened back then first," Greed said. "How did you meet your teacher, and how did you end up living among the Witches with him?"

"Simply put, people did what they always do and blamed all the bad things on Mutants. They falsely accused me of killing a coworker who worked with me at a convenience store, but I didn’t."

"The police suddenly came to arrest me. I didn’t want to cause trouble for my boss, so I went to the station with them, but they wanted to beat a confession out of me. I fought back with my Mutant Ability, and then my powers lost control."

"I ran all the way into the Forest and passed out, and by that time the military was already there. I almost died, but luckily my teacher showed up in time. She got me out of the encirclement, healed my injuries, and suppressed my Mutant Ability."

"When I woke up, I told her everything, and she asked if I wanted to go with her. So Pietro and I left with her. We went to Salem together and settled there."

"During that period, I was trying to get a grip on a not‑so‑calm Chaotic Power, but I still caused a bit of a stir. The Witches saw me as a dangerous element, while my teacher kept guiding me. I spent a few months and finally managed to get my Chaos Magic under control. It was around then that I started using the Scarlet Witch title in the field."

"I hunted in the Forest and also worked in the city. The supplies I brought back, besides what my teacher and I used, were all handed over to the leader. It wasn’t a stable situation—sometimes there was no income, and we had to use Salem’s supplies. They weren’t wealthy either, but the leader and the others didn’t say much."

"Your teacher must have done a lot," Arrogant said. "Not just for you—same for the Witches. Her contribution was so great that even those who didn’t like you couldn’t speak up to drive you out. All of that is just equivalent exchange."

Wanda seemed a little puzzled. She looked into Arrogant’s gray eyes without shying away like so many people did. Because Arrogant was neither arrogant nor greedy; it’s often those with simple hearts and fewer desires who can better see the gentle side of Shiller.

"Exactly," Steve chimed in. "Your teacher must be very capable, helping them solve a lot of problems and providing plenty of supplies. That’s why they didn’t interfere when she brought you back. The Witches needed her more; they couldn’t afford to lose her, or even to upset her."

"So the only person you need to repay is your teacher," Natasha said. "She’s the one who saved you, and she’s the one who gave you shelter."

"That’s true, but... my teacher would never care whether I’ve repaid her or not, and she’d never decide I’m some ungrateful creep just because I haven’t. The Witches would. I don’t want to give them ammunition to slander me, and I don’t want them wrecking my reputation."

Wanda finally voiced what was really bothering her. As they say, a gentleman is open and at ease, a petty man is forever anxious. Hanix asks for no repayment and would never badmouth her own student, but the Witches are another story. If Wanda doesn’t help them, they’ll definitely go around saying Wanda is ungrateful and cold‑hearted.

What’s giving Wanda a headache isn’t the question of repaying favors or not; she just doesn’t want to be talked about behind her back. Wanda is someone who pursues a happy, worldly, settled life, so of course she cares about her reputation and doesn’t want any blemish on the name of herself or her family.

"Then just bring them over," Strange suddenly said. "I’m not saying I’ll compromise with them for the sake of your reputation. I’m saying once they’re inside Massachusetts, they won’t have any chance to say anything about you."

"No, wait." Steve hurried to stop him, because he realized Wanda seemed a bit tempted.

Steve instantly realized that, while Wanda looks human—she’s even the most normal one among them—she, like Shiller, is just immersively role‑playing an ordinary person. She’s nothing like that gentle, friendly human skin she’s wearing.

Wanda has absolutely considered the possibility of wiping out this whole group of Witches in one go. It’s very possible that she’s only held back because the kids didn’t run far, and she was embarrassed to say it out loud; for all Steve knew, she could turn around and erase them with a single sentence. Steve was sure she’d solved many problems in her life that way. And while he trusted Wanda’s character enough to believe those people were never innocent, this time was different.

The Hampton affair might not even stay buried; if another batch of people vanished, it would be real trouble. Steve kept signaling frantically at Greed. Greed cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, I don’t think we need to go that extreme. Maybe there’s a way to have the best of both worlds?"