My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 3

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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 3

A nobleman’s daughter had taken a position as a slave to the Magic Tower.
On her first day as a mage, she’d sworn grandly that she’d walk only flower-strewn paths—but in reality, those paths were rutted, unpaved roads.
“This is bad. I should have promised to walk only well-paved asphalt streets.”
I laughed weakly as I watched the magical circuit flicker and break apart before my eyes.
With the five-hundred-and-sixty-fourth failed experiment, tonight’s overtime was now confirmed. All that was left was to find a corner, shed some pathetic tears, and be done with it.
‘Fine. I’ll just die.’
The report I’d labored over for days at the Magic Tower’s master’s command simply dissolved into dust and vanished into thin air.
It was enough to drive one mad. Water mages, fire mages, wind mages, earth mages—practitioners of every attribute had been assigned, and yet the Boundary Magic we’d designed and implemented for a week now kept failing every single time it activated.
Of course it did. The problem lay elsewhere.
“At this rate, all the residents of the Boundary Region will be devoured by monsters. Right?”
“…I’m sorry, Team Leader.”
“You’re all driving me to an early grave. When I’m reborn, I’m terrified I’ll come back as a monster!”
Don’t worry. If you do, I’ll shoot you dead.
I quietly swept the scattered failure reports across the table and muttered under my breath.
That Team Leader, who only showed his face and then vanished, only to reappear when results were due—he was the reason I was dying too.
There was no way to complete a report with four different attributes all tangled together.
‘Wind Magic is sloppy, so that’s why we keep getting these strange garbage outputs with empty air in them!’
This was the result of combining only my Water Magic, Elline’s Earth Magic, and Lord Carlo’s Fire Magic—three attributes.
In Composite Magic, the balance of attributes determines the spell’s durability.
And that Team Leader was lounging about somewhere.
“That bastard, because he’s a Wind mage, he keeps flitting about like cursed wind, treating Teleport like it’s his personal hobby….”
Please let me be reborn as a moth in my next life.
The ‘Sticky Energy Drink’ can provided exclusively to Magic Tower employees slipped from my hand for the nth time.
Once again, I’d missed my scheduled time to leave and found myself sitting by the vending machine, glaring at the clock’s hand pointing to six with savage intensity.
I’d stepped into the Break Room hoping to catch a few minutes of sleep, but hearing a man and woman arguing loudly just outside the door, I’d given up immediately.
The voices likely belonged to Elline and the male lead—the crown prince, Lucas.
‘Our engagement ceremony is tomorrow or the day after.’
The wedding date had already been set. I didn’t even know what the male lead looked like, yet our families had been conducting the proceedings flawlessly between themselves.
This morning, I’d received another letter from the Royal Court.
‘I’d tucked it away in a corner like last time.’
Judging by the famous salon logo stamped on it, it was probably a notice about a Wedding Dress or accessories.
Lucas, it seemed, had no interest in this marriage either—he was having other people deliver the necessary items on his behalf.
The crown prince was too busy quarreling with Cinderella, his beloved, over their separation.
The cold war would probably continue right through the wedding day.
News of Lucas and my marriage had spread as public knowledge quite some time ago, so Elline was always anxious and suffering through it.
‘Even if the world changes, bad men remain everyone’s type.’
I prefer good men. Kind, considerate ones.
In any case, the crown prince was outside my preferences.
I’d been about to tilt the last sip of energy drink from the can into my mouth while leaning against the hallway wall.
A large hand came into view, taking the drink can from me.
In its place, a Strawberry Juice that looked freshly purchased appeared in my hand.
I stared blankly at the man sitting down beside me.
“…What’s this?”
“You seemed to be working alone.”
“We all worked together on it. How could I be the only one suffering?”
A kindness that always felt awkward yet had somehow become familiar.
I fidgeted with the drink in my hand and shrugged.
‘That’s right. I have been suffering.’
With an already grueling schedule, it was a fact that the experimental time had doubled, even tripled, because someone kept demanding tight revisions.
Lord Carlo was kind, but truly a meticulous person.
Having already heard the rumors, I’d steeled myself on my first day here when he’d suddenly transferred to the Security Division.
A fellow mage, but on an entirely different level of experience.
Truth be told, he was in a position almost like my direct superior, which made our relationship difficult.
“Still… I need to finish quickly and get some sleep.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Encouragement money, you might say.”
As he spoke, looking oddly pleased with himself, he adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses slightly upward.
Was this encouragement or pressure, exactly?
I shook my head weakly.
‘This is tough.’
If I push any harder, I’ll be heading straight to the grave.
Even looking at the dark circles under my eyes that had deepened to my jawline in just a week felt like him asking me to do more work.
“I’ll drink it gratefully. Thank you, really….”
What a relentless workaholic he was.
But since it seemed I didn’t have much time left before I quit, I might as well work my heart out until then.
With renewed determination, I downed the Strawberry Juice in one gulp.
Perhaps my appearance struck him as pitiful, for the smile on his face gradually faded.
“Ah.”
As I stood up with the empty container, Carlo seemed to be trying to say something a beat too late.
But just then, Elline’s voice reached me from far off, calling urgently as she ran toward us.
“Roze! It’s an emergency, an emergency!”
“Wait. I’m coming.”
Everything’s an emergency with her.
I barely had time to frown before turning back and giving him a subtle nod.
“I’ll see you later, then.”
“Yes. Go ahead.”
Leaving him with what seemed like a bitter smile, I started walking away slowly.
Something felt off.
‘Why did he look disappointed?’
It’s always hard to deal with colleagues you’re not close to.
* * *
“So you’re saying you need to go out into the field?”
“Apparently one of the security magic lines in the Boundary Region has gotten tangled up badly. If we don’t fix it soon, the spell will break and the residents could be in danger….”
Of all things, the troubled spell involved the Water attribute.
As a Water Magic user, my job was to design the magic, while Elline, an Earth Magic mage, would maintain its flow and regulate the mana output.
If water formed the base of the magical design, Earth Magic provided the framework—like the bones of a dam.
But it seemed Elline had missed the major Magic Power Fluctuation that occurred today.
‘This is serious.’
I murmured matter-of-factly.
Fortunately the Emergency Barrier was functioning properly, but if things continued as they were, once the stored mana ran dry, the defensive wall would collapse.
Elline had been sweating profusely ever since hearing the urgent news relayed to the Security Division.
“I’m sorry, Roze. It’s all my fault. I should have been more focused on maintaining it.”
Water Magic design, above all, was precious.
Because no Grand Mage of the Water attribute had appeared in over a century, someone like me was as valuable as a rare treasure across the entire Mage Continent.
It might sound like bragging, but it was equally possible that I, overwhelmed with excessive work, had put less effort into the initial design.
In other words, this incident wasn’t entirely Elline’s fault.
‘Has she been struggling with heartache lately?’
In a sense, I was the one behind that problem too.
If it weren’t for my wedding with Lucas, Elline’s face would have shone with radiance like sunlight instead of worry.
As I patted the shoulders of tearful Elline, I found myself being self-deprecating.
She volunteered for the field work, insisting her mistake was grave, but the Boundary Region, teeming with monsters, was like a time bomb.
There was no way Lucas, the Crown Prince overseeing the upper echelon, would approve it.
They would deny Elline’s request and pick another candidate from within the team.
It would be a waste of time. If it were me, I’d use that time to depart as fast as possible and save the residents.
I slowly withdrew my hand from patting her shoulder.
“I’ll go.”

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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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