My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 28

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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 28

Lying in bed side by side, Mother nestled her arm into the crook of mine with practiced ease.
“It’s been so long since we’ve done this. My heart’s all flutter.”
“…I didn’t have any nightmares. Just, you know.”
You’re right. Today, especially, I found myself missing them.
Of course, there were things I wanted to tell them too.
Whether or not I did, Father smoothed my tangled hair and gently patted the plush quilt he’d drawn up over my stomach.
“Tell me—is our daughter having a hard time lately?”
“Not really. I just haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Sounds like your heart’s been feeling lonely.”
“When was I ever like that? No, I wasn’t.”
Tired already by Father’s teasing tone, I shut my eyes quickly.
Beneath their gentle touches, I forgot what I’d meant to say, forgot my worries, and slipped slowly into sleep.
Precisely because we’d grown so close, their embrace felt like the safest place in the world.
From the moment I opened my eyes here at fourteen, they had been my most precious treasure in this life.
I wanted to set their minds at ease.
‘I need to tell them… I have to…’
My lips moved slowly in my sleep.
“Don’t worry.”
…
“I’ll manage…”
I’ll make it through.
Believe in me. Mother, Father.
‘…Our family.’
This time, I can protect it.
*
Once they heard Roze’s breathing settle into its regular rhythm, they quietly wiped the tears that had gathered in their eyes.
“Do you know what it’s like, Roze?”
Rostia gently stroked her hair and whispered.
“When you become a parent and raise a child, before long you begin to see things you couldn’t before.”
…
“Right now, she might think solitude suits her best, but that doesn’t mean she should choose to be alone. There are things invisible to the solitary—many things she hasn’t yet learned to feel.”
She’s still not grown.
Their eyes met, and Rostia and Jayden held the sleeping Roze tight against them, as though they’d come to the same understanding.
They understood well enough.
From some starting point in her lonely fourteenth year,
how hard Roze had tried to be loved by them.
* * *
I woke after dreaming sweetly all night.
“…Yawn.”
Perhaps it was from sleeping cradled in my parents’ arms.
It seemed as though someone had hummed a song near my ear, but I couldn’t recall the words clearly.
They must have wished me to sleep well.
Mother or Father, lying on either side of me.
I thought that perhaps they’d tossed and turned because of me, so I decided to give them a massage this evening to make up for it.
Even if it seemed meager against their kindness, tomorrow and the day after were holidays too, so it would be fine.
‘The sunlight’s lovely.’
I stretched contentedly, feeling the warmth of sunlight streaming between the curtains.
Since morning had long since passed, I was alone in my parents’ room.
Father had likely gone out early at dawn to tend the garden, and Mother was probably in the study reading a new book or the newspapers.
Checking the time as it approached noon, I left the room intending to have a late brunch.
The moment I opened the door, I found myself face to face with the head maid, who’d been waiting with cleaning supplies in hand.
Oh.
“Young miss, are you only just waking up?”
“Sorry. I slept like the dead.”
“I’m used to it, so it’s fine, but Master Carlo has been waiting downstairs since early this morning, hoping to have brunch with you.”
“Is that so? Just tell him to go ahead and eat.”
Caught off guard by this news, I found myself scratching my head, and it bothered me how my hair was springing up in all directions, kinked and unruly.
Even as I spoke in an offhand tone, I hurried to fix my clothes.
All the servants on the floors where my parents and I had our bedrooms were women, and since no one paid attention to my appearance anyway, I’d grown used to eating a late breakfast in my room during holidays or coming downstairs in my nightclothes for meals.
But today I’d made a special effort—combing my hair and putting on a properly neat dress.
The head maid Eren simply looked at me with curiosity.
“Bringing a man into the house and everything. And wearing that dress you swore you’d rip to shreds because it was uncomfortable.”
“Shh. That wasn’t me.”
That was who I was up until last week—just pretend you don’t know.
I pressed my index finger to my lips and started toward the stairs when she shook her head, laughing.
“This is what’s so terrifying about a lady falling in love.”
“It’s not love. It’s more like… flirtation.”
“Where do you come up with these words? You abandon proper, beautiful language and keep mangling it like this—”
By that logic, some king from my previous life would’ve wept so much underground that he’d rise from the dead twice over.
I pretended not to hear her nagging as it faded behind me and quickened my pace.
Following the servants’ gestures, I entered the Dining Room, which offered a clear view of the Garden, and just as Eren had said, someone was waiting for me.
The food, which had lost all warmth, was proof that he had spent the entire morning here waiting for me.
“Good morning.”
“…What time is it, and you’re still saying that?”
My apology came out sounding petulant instead. And it was already lunch time now, technically.
“Well, it seemed my host hadn’t eaten yet either.”
“What…?”
To my bewilderment, Master Carlo answered calmly instead.
Whether you’d call it sincerity or foolishness, I couldn’t say.
‘Should I thank him for this?’
I genuinely didn’t know.
Facing those gradually cooling dishes, not knowing how many hours he’d been waiting, I couldn’t find the words to speak.
In the end, finding nothing to say, I fell back on habit and pressed my hand to my forehead.
Right, let me correct that first, at least.
“I’m not the host here. Strictly speaking, it’s my parents who own the Mansion.”
It’s kind and I’m grateful for the courtesy,
but anyone watching would think I’d invited him here and then stood him up.
“Please, sit down.”
“I’m sorry. Have you been waiting long?”
“You needn’t apologize, Roze. I waited because I wanted to.”
Perhaps because I’d come to understand my own heart, his words sounded perfectly right to me.
Creak.
I quickly settled myself into the chair he’d pulled out with Magic Power.
The moment the empty seat across from me was filled, the servants immediately took away the cold plates and returned moments later with heated ones.
It seemed Master Carlo had requested that the food be left as it was until I arrived.
He hadn’t wanted to make them work pointlessly again and again, apparently.
But I wondered—did it mean something just because I’d come?
“…Are you feeling all right?”
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”
“I’m fine.”
“Yes, so am I. I slept well and woke up feeling better.”
Master Carlo didn’t mention sleeping well himself, unlike me.
I caught myself wondering if perhaps he, like me, hadn’t slept much, and felt a little embarrassed by the thought.
We’d only gone for one walk last night.
Thanks to having spent nearly two days together, the air between us at the table facing each other wasn’t awkward.
What Master Carlo was feeling didn’t seem much different from what I felt.
In comfortable silence, our soup bowls and salad plates emptied one by one.
He slid a plate of sandwiches toward me and spoke quietly.
“Count and Countess Stein have instructed that once we finish eating, we should take the prepared Carriage and tour the Commercial District together.”
“Pfft.”
I nearly spat out the juice I was drinking.
I thought I’d misheard him.
“Pardon? What did you say?”
“Well…”
Carlo reached for the handkerchief in his breast pocket out of habit, then hesitated, his words faltering.
What? What is it?
I couldn’t even wipe the juice dribbling from the corner of my mouth—I was too focused on the movement of his lips.
“A date, ma’am.”
……
“Stein and his wife said this isn’t a request. It’s an order.”
“An order, you say……”
I wanted to laugh, but the urge died in my throat.
What parent in their right mind openly tells their betrothed daughter to go out and play with some unrelated man?
Carlo’s hesitation made sense.
I scrambled for words, then shook my head vigorously, waving my hands in denial.
No. Absolutely not.
‘What would people think of my family?’
I wasn’t the kind to toy with people’s hearts, and despite everything, I couldn’t damage the reputation Stein and his wife had built.
Embarrassment made my voice rise.
“My parents must have been joking. I mean, since we’re such awkward colleagues, I’m sure they meant it as a jest!”
After hearing my protest, Carlo slowly bowed his head.
“Well,”
“……?”
“I said yes.”
“Pardon?”
“Because I wanted to.”
Because it sounded fun……
He murmured and turned his head away, his ears flushed a deep crimson.

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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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