I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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My mind went completely blank, and when my mouth fell open, Cassian turned to me with an aggrieved expression.
“Why are you pretending not to know?! We’re engaged!”
I had absolutely no memory of when this had happened.
The Duchess of Behemoth stared at Cassian for a long moment with wide eyes before finally speaking.
“……Son, engaged? What on earth are you talking about? This is the first I’ve heard of it.”
“But you’re the one who said so, Mother!”
Cassian raised his voice, sounding genuinely wronged.
“You said that if I carelessly hold a girl’s hand, I must take responsibility for it to the end! And I’ve been holding her hand every single day!”
The Duchess’s expression froze in an odd way.
“……So that means you’re engaged?”
“Yes! Taking responsibility means marriage, doesn’t it? So Epiphany is my fiancée!”
Then it finally made sense.
Why Cassian had been clinging to me so persistently all this time.
He genuinely believed that holding hands meant you had to marry.
‘……Good heavens, how can someone take something so literally?’
The Duchess of Behemoth pressed her hand to her forehead.
She looked like she might collapse any moment, so I carefully extended my hand to steady her.
“You don’t look well. Let me help you to that chair so you can sit down.”
“Oh…… You must be Miss Epiphany, then? Thank you very much.”
She thanked me sincerely and leaned on my arm as she made her way to the chair and sat.
Only then did the Duchess of Behemoth rest her aching head against the back of the chair and begin to gently correct her son.
“……Cassian, listen carefully. What I said then meant you should be careful about your conduct. It didn’t mean that holding someone’s hand once obligates you to marry them.”
“……What?”
“Holding hands and being engaged have nothing to do with each other. Do you understand?”
Cassian’s face went deathly pale.
“Then…… does that mean Epiphany and I are……?”
“Not engaged, of course. Obviously. We haven’t even exchanged marriage contracts between the houses.”
Thump.
Cassian staggered backward, visibly shocked.
It made sense—his entire worldview had just collapsed.
Meanwhile, I had to bite the inside of my cheeks hard to keep from laughing.
‘Even if I haven’t learned much, I at least know that doesn’t make sense!’
Tsk, tsk—how could someone be so naive?
‘If you wanted to get married that way, you’d at least need to lie in bed together and kiss!’
Hands could be held during missions or training, so by that logic he’d end up marrying everyone he met.
Compared to that, the method I’d picked up somewhere seemed far more rigorous, and certainly more fitting for marriage.
‘Is it a little sad though?’
When I thought about how much Cassian had agonized over this misunderstanding all by himself, insisting he had to take responsibility for me, I felt a twinge of pity.
He’d been mysteriously lenient toward me all this time.
‘Now that I’m not his fiancée, I wonder if he’ll go back to being cold to me?’
Even now, Cassian remained frosty toward the swordsman he’d met several times before.
If he suddenly turned his back on me after all this kindness and went back to being cold, it would sting.
“So all this time I’ve been…….”
Cassian remained trapped in shock for a long while, his face cycling between pale and crimson. Embarrassment was clearly catching up with him.
“So now I’m…….”
Cassian muttered listlessly.
“Well, don’t be too discouraged. You’ll meet a beautiful, wonderful new fiancée soon enough,” I offered awkwardly.
At my words, Cassian’s face turned even redder as he practically shrieked, “Sh-shut up!” and turned away.
Seeming to gather himself after hearing me, he suddenly looked back at me, his expression confused as he struggled for words.
“……But still.”
“Yes?”
“My heart is already…… tainted. Meeting a new fiancée with a heart like this would be disrespectful to her.”
Cassian answered solemnly, pressing his hand firmly to his chest.
“Cassian, what are you saying?”
“Mother. I once thought of Epiphany as my fiancée. That means I’ve already lost my Purity of Heart.”
Cassian replied with dignified sincerity to the Duchess’s question.
So because of a single misunderstanding, he was prepared to practice celibacy for the sake of this so-called Purity of Heart?
“Either way, I must remain by Epiphany’s side. I don’t think I can bear to be apart from her.”
Cassian said this with clenched fists.
‘……What is wrong with her, really?’
I wanted to ask if she’d lost her mind…….
But seeing her so earnest, I couldn’t bring myself to simply tell her to go home.
‘Is the Duchess angry and about to unleash her fury on me?’
Of course, Cassian’s misunderstanding was his own fault, but I’d seen plenty of examples in the Back Alley of how unreasonably nobles could treat commoners.
If anything unfair happened here, I was prepared to run to the Magic Tower’s master and appeal my case.
‘The master wouldn’t simply ignore me……, I think.’
To call such an employer trustworthy was an absurd combination, yet somehow……
I’d developed this unreasonable belief that the master was someone I could rely on.
But contrary to my worries, the Duchess smiled gently.
“……Yes. You’ve been taking such good care of our son.”
“……No, no. It’s simply part of my duties…….”
Was she the type to wield a blade behind a smiling face?
“So modest, too. Let me see—clever, well-mannered…….”
I tensed, but as the Duchess was listing my praises, her lips turned violet, and she pressed her hand to her chest before bowing her head forward.
“Duchess?!”
“Mother!”
As we rushed to catch her, I saw her eyes half-closing as if she were losing consciousness.
It seemed a physiological reaction—tears suddenly began streaming down her face, and I carefully wiped them away with the handkerchief I was carrying.
‘Poison……the poison is affecting her!’
I quickly grabbed her hand and hurriedly used my Detoxification Ability.
As I forced the poison out of her body in an emergency purge, the Duchess immediately regained consciousness.
“Oh dear, there I go again……. When I push myself too hard, I often collapse like this from exhaustion.”
The Duchess whispered with her hand pressed to her forehead.
Cassian appeared distracted, his eyes reddened as he checked on his mother’s condition.
I decided I needed to inform the master about what had happened, so I belatedly activated the Communication Device.
“Master, the Duchess of Behemoth has come. It seems her condition isn’t very good.”
―Come down.
With that brief reply, the master soon descended to the Lobby.
He bent one knee slightly to examine the Duchess’s complexion, then narrowed his brow sharply.
The master exhaled lightly, as if something was bothering him.
‘……Does the master sense something too?’
Truth be told, I’d been troubled by something since a moment ago.
That poison I’d driven out of the Duchess’s body.
It felt strangely familiar, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. Since I hadn’t completely expelled it, I was left with an uneasy feeling.
‘I’ve extinguished the immediate crisis, but…….’
I couldn’t tell her now that she was in a poisoned state, for fear she might collapse again.
While my mind churned with confusion, the master gave no outward sign, simply offering a respectful greeting with his usual composed expression.
“I am Claude Serpens, madam. I regret that we should receive such an esteemed guest in these circumstances.”
But in a situation like this, his composure only seemed stranger…….
‘……Does he have some plan in mind?’
Unable to read his intentions, I decided to remain silent for now.
“My, to meet the reclusive master himself……. I’m afraid it is I who have caused the trouble.”
The Duchess laughed weakly.
“My health has always been frail, and I often collapse like this when I overexert myself. Thanks to Epiphany’s attentive care just now, I’ve recovered quickly.”
The Duchess seemed to regard both her collapse and recovery as merely the gentle ministrations of a kind child.
‘Come to think of it, I didn’t use my ability in the Lobby. I was reckless.’
Fortunately, I’d been in a panic and there hadn’t been a soul nearby.
I’d nearly revealed my secret ability to everyone.
Soon the Duchess, having caught her breath, smiled gently toward me.
“Epiphany. Thank you so much. For someone so young, you kept your head and tended to an elder. You’re truly wise.”
“……No, no.”
Beautiful and graceful as she was, and fragrant beside, the Duchess squeezed my hand while praising me, and I felt my cheeks burn as I shook my head vigorously.
“I can certainly see why our son is so fond of you.”
“I’m a commoner, madam.”
To be associated with Cassian made no sense.
In the Back Alley, I’d sometimes seen older girls who got tangled up with noble young men and had their lives ruined.
Startled, I shook my head urgently, but the Duchess opened her eyes gently.
“Beast-Humans often rely more on their senses when it comes to marriage. That’s why I’m not a Beast-Human myself.”
……What on earth did she mean by that?
I tilted my head, but the Master of the Magic Tower cut straight to the point.
“Epiphany is my test subject. It’s fine that you’ve come unannounced, but I cannot permit you to take my child away.”
“Oh my…….”
The Duchess of Behemoth’s eyes went wide for a moment, then she brought her hand to her lips and laughed softly. Then she leaned toward me slightly and whispered near my ear.
“You’re quite popular, Miss Epiphany.”
……What did she mean by that?
“Have you come to take the young Duke?”
“Ah, that was my intent at first, but that boy seems to have his own designs as well.”
The Duchess of Behemoth then gathered herself and rose from her seat.
‘Should I really let her leave like this?’
I hesitated for a moment, then said nothing.
From my observation of the Duchess, the poison coursing through her didn’t appear to be the sort that would kill Cassian immediately. So to avoid bungling the matter, I had no choice but to trust the Master of the Magic Tower’s judgment—he was, after all, the poison expert between us.
In the end, the Duchess of Behemoth left, her visit concluded in all that commotion.
I watched as she placed her hand on Cassian’s shoulder and smiled, saying something I couldn’t quite understand.
* * *
That night.
Alone in his office, the Master of the Magic Tower was turning over the trace of poison he’d sensed from the Duchess that afternoon.
‘……So she’s definitely been exposed to a Derivative Poison.’
Meeting with her himself had only confirmed it.
If the Duchess continued to behave as normal, whoever was behind this would let their guard down, buying him more time.
‘If I move carelessly, the culprit will go to ground.’
Still, he couldn’t leave Cassian at the Duchess’s side.
He might be poisoned again. The Duchess was the vector of infection.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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