My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 13

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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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Chapter 13

While I slept, Elline moved with a diligence beyond imagination.
Fearing the report might reach the Crown Prince’s ears through the Team Leader first, she’d gone ahead and submitted the documents directly to the Royal Palace, foregoing the usual bureaucratic channels altogether.
Must be what it means to be the heroine—her decisiveness was remarkable. Remarkably lethal to my life expectancy.
“I did well, didn’t I?”
“…”
“Rose, you always said it—there are moments that never return if we don’t seize them now.”
It seemed a tremendous tragedy that different people found romance in different places.
Elline didn’t seem to realize that sometimes, strong will and lofty aspirations don’t feed us—they drag us into danger instead.
‘The water’s already spilled.’
Elline spoke with fresh confidence.
“You’re changing me, I think. It’s all because of you, Rose.”
“That sounds a bit dangerous, actually.”
The report delivered to the king overnight was immediately classified as a Royal Palace confidential document.
It was deemed worth investigating.
The next day, behind the Security Department’s firmly locked doors, a Field Assignment was quietly confirmed.
Information from the Royal Palace was always anonymous.
My teammates, blissfully unaware of who’d proposed this insane scheme, began solemnly reviewing their assigned task schedules.
I genuinely wanted to cry.
Three territories’ worth of Security Magic still needed completion, and their unfinished details still loomed before my eyes.
I’d thought I couldn’t leave until all this was done, and now suddenly—a Field Assignment.
Worse, an Exploration mission out of nowhere.
This is what made the righteous heroine so difficult to manage.
Wasn’t the Security Department supposed to just handle security? Couldn’t we simply stay in one place and guard things properly?
Because the Security Department had unnecessarily taken on work that could’ve been left to the Exploration Department, our task list had suddenly ballooned like a balloon.
“All right then. It looks like this will be a one-night, two-day business trip. Anyone willing to volunteer?”
The Team Leader clapped his hands to draw attention. But his voice was thin. He sounded like he didn’t want to go.
I hadn’t expected otherwise. His Wind Magic was too weak against Demon Beasts from the Demon Realm.
One moment of carelessness and he’d be eaten alive.
‘A pity, though.’
I fought down the familiar impulse and only shook my head.
Still, the Team Leader was important enough that I couldn’t eliminate him with my own hands just yet.
Surprisingly, even the Team Leader—who did nothing but loaf around—had a role to play.
A desperate climber trying to curry favor with the Crown Prince, yes, but also the office version of Rose Stein: the sort who sneaked around tormenting Elline whenever bored.
It rankled to be treated the same way, but it wasn’t inaccurate.
Romance required conflict, crisis, and climax as essential elements for lasting love.
So there I was with my role, and there was this disappointing Team Leader with his.
Just then, Elline’s eyes lit up and she thrust her hand into the air.
“I’d like to go, Team Leader.”
“Hmm, well. I can’t authorize a Field Assignment for Miss Elline. Now Miss Rose would be another matter….”
I let out a nervous laugh. Why was he calling my name? Was he out of his mind?
After the attack last time, I was done with swarms of Demon Beasts.
I wasn’t going. Absolutely not.
I shook my head quickly, seized by a bad premonition.
“I’m already quite busy, I’m afraid. A business trip would be too much.”
“That so? But there’s a week of Reward Vacation involved.”
“…Still, I suppose I’ll have to go. Challenging my limits has always been my little hobby.”
Ah. A week of Reward Vacation I couldn’t refuse.
I smiled through gritted teeth as I walked straight into the Demon Beast pit myself.
Smile. Those who smile are first-rate.
As the atmosphere grew thick with the sense that I was going out on the Field Assignment in Elline’s place, she hurried to speak.
“I’ll go with Rose!”
“No good. I’m going with Sir Carlo.”
I owed him an apology, but I needed a suitable sacrifice to protect Elline.
I pointed to Carlo, who’d been standing around looking vacant, and spoke.
“Our Mana Compatibility is quite good, actually. What was that word… like Soulmates.”
“Are the two of you close?”
“We will be. Starting today.”
Ha.
Carlo let out a hollow laugh.
The moment our eyes met, he crossed his arms as if inviting me to continue.
I found myself oddly flustered.
“Or… we won’t be?”
“You’ve got it backwards. We’re not becoming close—we already are.”
I hesitated at his words.
“Um…”
‘Already are’ felt like a stretch.
We’d had plenty of chances lately to build camaraderie and fellowship, so there was nothing strange about him saying it that way. Yet somehow, the words left me feeling oddly self-conscious.
Truth be told, I’d meant the Mana Compatibility part sincerely and the Soulmate bit as a joke—I hadn’t expected him to take it like that.
‘…That was unexpected.’
As I narrowed my eyes slightly, I heard a soft laugh from beside me.
“…?”
I watched Carlo turn his head away, a faint smile on his face.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he continued speaking to the Team Leader.
“But wouldn’t it be wise to wait and see? The situation isn’t so dire that we need to mount a Demon Realm Exploration without proper preparation.”
“Still, if we reduce the severity beforehand, wouldn’t that keep people safer? We might find peace sooner than expected…”
“If peace were that easy to find, it would have arrived long ago.”
As Elline interjected quietly, his tone turned cutting.
“An Exploration is not something you undertake lightly once the idea is raised. And if the destination is the Demon Realm, the danger only multiplies. What I’m saying is that someone may have to stake their life on it.”
His words gave the mission a suddenly heavy weight.
“To explore the Demon Realm is little different from invading their territory. The Exploration team will inevitably be treated no differently than Demon Beasts that spill into the Human Realm.”
Everything he said was true, yet his manner seemed unusually sharp.
I’d never heard Carlo speak at such length before.
I stopped listening to the rebuttal from another team member and lifted my gaze to stare at Carlo directly.
With shadows darkening one side of his face, he looked troubled.
Did he know something?
Or was he trying to prevent something?
‘Elline?’
More precisely—the danger she’d be in?
My eyes narrowed.
As the atmosphere grew heavy and everyone fell silent, I noticed Elline—her lips sealed by Carlo’s words, her feet fidgeting restlessly.
Unlike last time, her ears had flushed slightly pink.
An image flashed before me: Carlo, his hand clasped in Elline’s, asking me to accompany her on a Field Assignment.
The situation now felt strangely similar to then.
“Why did you do that just now?”
“Do what?”
“Nothing, just… you were awfully harsh on Elline’s spirit.”
“That’s—”
“Is it because it’s a one-night-two-day trip? Are you trying to stop her from going because it’s too dangerous?”
Just as I wanted to protect Elline, he seemed intent on preventing her perilous Exploration.
According to my amateur analysis, after all, he was a candidate for the secondary male lead.
“…That is, in fact, a problem.”
“Yes?”
After the briefing ended, Carlo handed me a drink in the corridor before suddenly growing serious again.
“I hadn’t considered the overnight stay. I was focused only on the Exploration itself.”
“I see. But you’re still giving me that drink you were about to hand me, right?”
My throat had gone dry at just the right moment.
As I reached for the juice, Carlo stopped dead in his tracks.
“…I should have just left.”
“Hey, Carlo?”
His words made no sense whatsoever.
While I flailed at empty air and tilted my head in confusion, his expression grew progressively colder.
I hesitated again and pressed him.
“Um… did something happen at lunch earlier? Your complexion and mood seem seriously off.”
Why had this person become so icily distant today?
The atmosphere had been erratic, and now the temperature had dropped to near freezing.
“It’s nothing serious.”
He returned to the laboratory and, as if by habit, set the Strawberry Juice on the corner of the desk not far from the door.
“What happened was simply….”
“….”
“I had a chance to use a ballot I’d been saving with someone I cared for. But I let that chance slip away right before my eyes.”
After saying so, his gaze lingered for a long moment on the side of the laboratory where the desk with the juice sat.
That was where I worked.

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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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