My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 49

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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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Episode 49

“Elline, do you know where Carlo is? I can’t seem to find him.”
“Really, that’s touching. Is that all you have to say to your closest friend the moment you wake up?”
“Yeah. Good morning.”
The sun hung high in the sky—hardly morning by any measure—but since I’d just woken up, morning it was.
I gave Elline a half-hearted nod as she grumbled on, as she always did.
After sleeping half the day away, what little time remained before my appointment had already begun to slip away into afternoon, and my head was already spinning from the rush.
She had no idea what frame of mind had brought me to this place.
“Satisfied?”
“You’re impossible!”
“Then you get to the point.”
The pleasantries were over; I cut straight to what I needed to know.
I asked between sharp, hurried breaths from my rush.
“So where is he?”
“How should I know? He stepped out a while ago.”
Elline shrugged as if genuinely bewildered by the question.
The way she spoke made it sound as though the person who’d been here just moments before had vanished without warning, seized by some urgent matter.
And of all the rotten timing—right the moment I’d arrived.
“It’s strange, actually. I could’ve sworn he was still working at the desk across from me just a few moments ago….”
Elline tilted her head with that familiar habit of hers and muttered thoughtfully.
“You don’t think he ran off, do you?”
She laughed good-naturedly, as if joking.
“Because he found it awkward to face you?”
She seemed to be alluding to rumors that had begun circulating recently.
Something touching and pitiful about a junior mage being worn down by an unscrupulous senior, or something to that effect.
“That’s not true.”
“Of course not! I was just trying to lighten the mood.”
Sorry, but I couldn’t find it funny at all.
‘…If anything, it made me sadder.’
I couldn’t laugh the way Elline did.
I couldn’t help wondering if perhaps we’d missed each other for exactly that reason.
Still, Carlo’s absence or brief outings were something everyone in the Security Department who worked with him experienced frequently.
Especially in the afternoon, the Administrative Department would summon him to the Tower’s 99th floor on the Crown Prince’s orders as routinely as clockwork.
If it wasn’t that, then other departments would come running to him with cooperation requests whenever they needed someone proficient in Fire Magic.
In any case, the most crucial fact was that I was now going to have to leave without meeting Carlo.
“…So it’s all for nothing.”
I’d been hoping for something like a miracle—perfect timing, for once.
But we were both busy professionals with no time for such luxuries.
Right. There’s no romance in a workplace.
Only late nights and camaraderie to show for it.
‘When we do meet, what was I planning to say?’
Probably just a greeting, I think.
Before entering the palace as a member of the royal family, one last chance to see his face and burn it into memory.
And then, if the marriage goes through without incident….
‘Maybe I could suggest meeting again sometime.’
Not a confession—just some vague opening, some room for possibility.
Like the remote chance that we might somehow find our way to each other in some distant future.
A tacit understanding between the two of us that our ending wouldn’t be a clean break—that kind of potential, at least.
“…It doesn’t matter.”
There’s no point in clinging to hopeless dreams.
Half my youth had already been sacrificed to this wretched world, and its conclusion was bearing down on me with every passing second—what was wrong with me?
The dream I’d had this morning must have been too sweet.
‘It almost sounded like he was speaking to me.’
The voice of Carlo that I’d caught in my sleep had been impossibly tender, sadder than I’d ever imagined it could be.
“…I’ll wait.”
Was it really just a dream?
And yet, for some reason, I’d felt sorry all at once, my heart wavering gently at the thought.
I stared at my reflection in the window with hollow eyes.
‘What a mess I look.’
My bangs hung in disarray, nothing like the neat two-piece outfit I’d put on.
In my rush to get here, I’d undone a button or two on my blouse in frustration.
Even my eyes had gone cloudy and unfocused, as if lost.
“Looking so pretty today, our bride? Should I braid your hair like last time?”
“…It’s late. I’m just going as is.”
“Eh? Aren’t you waiting for Carlo? Didn’t you have something to say to him when he comes?”
“I don’t know. I’ve forgotten all about it.”
It seemed fate’s mischief had run its course.
If anything, I felt grateful that after seeing Carlo off this morning, we hadn’t crossed paths again.
To be honest, I’d been thrilled then. The truth is, you occupied my thoughts.
If I spoke plainly, I might have tangled myself up with him all over again.
‘He’s the male lead’s only childhood friend, after all.’
I’d count my ancestors as having helped me at this point.
As long as I didn’t act on impulse, nothing would happen here.
I’d spent more than ten minutes in conversation with Elline at the Research Lab, but Carlo never came back.
In the meantime, I tidied my hair and buttoned up my blouse again, one by one, all the way to my collar.
Elline braided my hair as gently as before, then unpinned the delicate little hairpin she’d been wearing and decorated my hair with it.
“I said I’m just going, though.”
“Shush. Stay still for a moment. You know what this is, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
As I was forced to sit still and let her work on my hair, a familiar ornament caught my eye.
I frowned openly.
“…It’s been a while.”
“It’s the Water Attribute Hairpin that Rose gave me as a gift when I got my position at nineteen.”
It must have been late summer, the cusp of early autumn.
Back then, I hadn’t yet Awakened as a Water Attribute mage.
So, oblivious to everything, I’d given it to her on impulse simply because the blue light suited Elline so well.
Not knowing what sort of enchantment it contained.
“When it touches water, it has a spell to help love come true, remember?”
“…And?”
“What about a boat ride as your date?”
Elline held up a mirror before me, her smile more radiant than anyone else’s in the world.
“It’s perfect weather to fall in love.”
At the same time, it was a day that could plunge someone into despair.
* * *
Splash!
So instead of love and despair, I pushed Lucas, the root of all evil, into the water.
“Goodness, are you all right?”
“….”
“I haven’t been feeling well lately. I tried to turn the boat, but I capsized it instead.”
Of course, I ended up in the water too, exactly like him.
It was all because Lucas had asked me a question I couldn’t possibly answer.
Looking back, the mood had been fine enough right up until we met on time and had a meal together.
We enjoyed brunch without even knowing what it tasted like, and getting on the boat at Elline’s recommendation seemed like a good idea…
“After we’re married, is there anything else you’d like from me?”
“Yes.”
“What would that be?”
“Division of assets.”
Lucas, who’d been rowing at leisure, suddenly lost his grip on the oars.
Both hands released them at once, and the oars fell into the water.
Startled, Lucas immediately reached out to grab them, but another boat was approaching from the other side.
The couple enjoying their leisurely boat ride realized the collision too late, and their faces went pale as they screamed.
“Aah! What do we do?”
“Oh no, watch out!”
At the moment the two boats collided completely, I blinked once.
Bang.
Their boat managed to pass safely in another direction, but by sheer bad luck, it struck our boat hard as it went by.
Splash!
“….”
“…Ah, it’s cold.”
As the boat, tilted by the impact, capsized into the lake below, he and I found ourselves plunged into the water.
Two sacrifices were more than enough.
Fortunately, the water was quite shallow.
Of course, I did consider for a moment whether to save this boat as well.
‘Why bother.’
I could have avoided the accident, but magic felt like too much trouble, so I simply didn’t.

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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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