I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 58

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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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Who was the Beast Form that gave him the poison?
At that question, Cassian shook his head weakly.
“Urrr, grrrrr?” (I don’t know, did I eat poison?)
I found myself frowning at his response.
No wonder he’d written such strange things in his letter—saying his body ached because he wanted to see me, yet he hadn’t even known he’d been poisoned this whole time.
The fact that he didn’t realize he’d been poisoned all along left me speechless.
The Duke frowned in dismay as well, his brow furrowing.
“No, why wouldn’t you know? If that weren’t the case, why would you have fallen so ill?”
I lost my composure entirely, forgetting that I ought to mind my manners in the Duke’s presence, and spoke sharply to him.
I clapped my hand over my mouth afterward, but it was already too late—the Duke and Tower Master both turned to regard me with peculiar expressions.
The Duke studied me for a moment with what seemed like a probing gaze, then slowly turned his attention elsewhere.
‘So a little bluntness in speech is acceptable, it seems.’
I sensed intuitively that I didn’t need to be excessively formal in the Duke’s presence, and immediately folded my arms, turning my thoughts inward.
‘If I wanted to poison Cassian, how would I do it?’
Cassian wasn’t actually an easy target.
As the Duke’s only son, he was always surrounded by people.
‘An outside attack wouldn’t work…….’
I already knew the Duke’s Residence well enough to know its security was formidable. The structure made it rather difficult for external intruders to breach.
Then the answer could only be bribery.
‘The most obvious candidates would be the household staff, but…….’
I’d already seen how meticulously the Duchess and Tower Master vetted everyone in the residence.
“Ah——! By any chance, did you meet someone from outside the residence? Around that time? It would be ideal if they were close enough to have access to your food or drink.”
At my question, Cassian tilted his head, then nodded.
“Grrr…… grrr.” (Mm…… Schultz.)
‘……Ah, that’s the boy he introduced at the Gratitude Banquet!’
The memory came back to me.
He was the child Cassian had introduced as a friend.
Their relationship had seemed somewhat distant for friends, so I’d remembered him.
I’d even noticed Cassian seemed reluctant about his common birth.
“Schultz? Isn’t he one of your playmates from childhood?”
The Duke, who apparently knew Schultz well, asked in confirmation.
Cassian nodded with a slightly dejected expression.
‘He won’t want to believe his friend betrayed him.’
Betrayal like this wasn’t ordinary betrayal. It involved poisoning, after all.
The boy named Schultz looked several years older than Cassian, yet he was still a minor.
It seemed almost unthinkable that someone his age would poison anyone.
‘But I know better. If necessary, even a six-year-old can be made to administer poison in this world.’
For Cassian’s sake, I hoped there might be another outside contact and asked again.
“Are there no others? Anyone at all?”
“Grrr…….” (None…….)
Cassian shook his head firmly.
His expression was so heavy that even the silver sheen of his regained scales looked dull as lead.
I bit my lip.
The Duke, intuiting the same thing I did, gazed out the window with cold eyes, as if staring at distant mountains.
“Count Etrey’s House has finally made its move…….”
He seemed to know information we didn’t.
“……Do you suspect something, Your Grace?”
The Tower Master, who had been listening in silence, posed the question.
Instead of answering, the Duke slowly rose from his seat.
“If someone from the House of Etrey has drawn a blade against my son, then it falls to me to settle the matter.”
I witnessed the Duke’s formidable expression head-on and fell silent.
‘Well, Schultz…… you’ve really ruined your life…….’
I swallowed hard, sensing that Count Etrey’s House was about to crumble.
“Tower Master. I owe you a debt I cannot repay. I cannot ask you to become entangled in what comes next.”
“Understood, Your Grace.”
The Tower Master made no attempt to dissuade him.
After all, the Magic Tower’s work with poison was only ever to provide Detoxification to those who had been poisoned.
“I ask that you look after Cassian. And…….”
The Duke looked at me and offered a gentle smile.
“My dear child. Thank you for watching over my son. I ask just a little longer of your kindness.”
“……Yes, don’t worry yourself.”
I nodded hard, with all the conviction I could muster.
The Duke touched Cassian’s head one last time, then left the room.
* * *
“They’ve prepared the room you stayed in before, so rest there for now. Let’s talk once you’ve had some sleep.”
The Tower Master and I, having stayed up all night, were both utterly exhausted.
The Duke left, the Tower Master left, and I rose from the bed where I’d laid Cassian down.
I couldn’t very well have him wandering about the residence in Beast Form, so I’d decided to keep him in Philiane’s Room — the place least likely to see visitors.
“Whimper?”(Where are you going?)
“What? I’m going to sleep. I’m absolutely filthy right now and exhausted.”
I looked down at Cassian through half-lidded eyes.
“Whiiine…….”(Stay with me…….)
Cassian pressed his small head gently against the back of my hand, whimpering softly.
‘Is he lonely because he’s hurt?’
The thought made him seem a little pitiful.
I’d been sure that the moment he woke up, I’d throttle him — but seeing him like this, so small and endearing, whining away, my resolve melted.
‘……What am I doing?’
I simply couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I carefully reached out and began stroking the small head gently.
Cassian’s expression remained querulous, but his tail wagged softly.
‘So even a Behemoth’s tail wagging means he’s content, does it?’
I shrugged and reached out to rub the Duke’s small head — something I could never ordinarily touch — with both hands.
“I really do need to sleep now. The two of us sleeping together like this is really…… improper, don’t you think?”
“Whimper?”(Really?)
Cassian’s eyes gleamed as he looked up at me.
By all propriety, it shouldn’t happen…….
“I’m really so tired…….”
I surrendered to the inviting softness of the bed and Cassian’s bright, earnest assault, half-pushing myself onto the mattress.
‘……I’m done for.’
How had I not realized that the moment I started up the bed, it was already over?
I dragged myself up like melting marshmallow, clumsy legs following, until I lay fully on the bed.
My body felt heavy as lead.
“Absolutely no kissing. That’s non-negotiable.”
If we lay down together like this and he kissed me, this would truly, genuinely be marriage.
The moment I warned him, Cassian forgot all about his injuries and sprang up with a yelp.
“Gr, grrrowl! Growl, yelp!”(How, how shameless!)
“And if you then claim our lips accidentally touched, so we’re now married, I really will hit you…….”
I let out a wide yawn, then flopped about clumsily until I’d found a pillow to kick into place.
“Grrrumble…….”
Cassian grumbled something in protest, but I was too exhausted to hear any of it.
A moment later, a small warmth burrowed into my embrace.
“……Good thing you’re alive…….”
I murmured whatever came to mind, then slipped down into sleep.
* * *
I had no idea how long I’d slept.
When I opened my eyes, darkness had already fallen outside the window.
‘……What? My whole day is gone.’
The warmth in my arms told me the small Beast Form was sleeping soundly, breathing in even rhythm.
It seemed Cassian hadn’t woken once while I slept either.
‘I wonder if I could ask him to stay in Beast Form during winter.’
It would be perfect for holding like a hot water bottle and sleeping through…….
I indulged the drowsy fantasy of winter hibernation, then carefully lifted myself so as not to wake Cassian.
‘The water bottle’s empty.’
My throat was dry, and when I felt for the bottle by my pillow, it was gone.
As I slipped quietly outside with the Water Bottle, I noticed light seeping from beneath a door at the far end of the hallway.
‘The Tower Master?’
I peeked in and found the Tower Master sitting at a desk.
“You’re not sleeping?”
“Did I wake you?”
The Tower Master answered without turning around.
An array of reagent bottles, large and small, lined the workbench.
“You’ve been working through the night already—you can’t stay up again. You need to sleep.”
“Ah…… there’s something that just won’t come together. When something nags at me, sleep won’t come.”
The Tower Master gently shook one of the reagent bottles, dismissing the nagging with ease.
“These components are definitely mixed in, but…… I can’t quite identify what the base ingredient is.”
‘So there are poisons even the Tower Master doesn’t recognize.’
I found that fact so strange that I drifted toward the workbench like a man enchanted.
Each separated reagent bottle gave off its own distinct scent.
Until now, I had only smelled the poison in its final form—all the ingredients thoroughly mixed together. This was the first time I had encountered the individual essences separated this way.
‘……Hm?’
I wrinkled my nose slightly, then caught the scent rising from the small vial in the Tower Master’s hand and froze completely.
‘This… what is this?’
A strange, acrid scent—faintly sweet yet cloying at once.
It was definitely a smell I had encountered before.

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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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