My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 52

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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 52

At the same time, what a mercy it was that her daughter, who had lived in such a barren world, had found at least one place to breathe.
“I’ll just add a touch of magic and be right back.”
“Good. You’re staying at the estate tonight, then?”
“Yes. I’m too tired to make it to the Magic Tower. I’ll return to His Highness shortly.”
“Tell him it was a delightful evening.”
Rose nodded lightly.
Soon after, as her figure receded steadily from the estate, both Rostia and Jayden exhaled deeply.
Our beloved daughter, Stein’s greatest treasure.
Could Rose really have noticed nothing at all?
“Even for someone as oblivious as our girl, this is something else. It seems she has no interest whatsoever in anyone outside our circle.”
“A person of Royal blood has confined themselves within the frame of deliberate indifference. There is no reason they would catch her eye.”
Whenever negative sentiment takes root, the way one perceives the world becomes distorted.
Courage pushes the self forward one step, but stubbornness easily locks oneself within delusion.
In such moments, everyone needs an objective perspective and judgment.
‘Yet…’
Rose remains trapped within a vast prejudice.
Rostia gazed at her daughter growing ever more distant and sighed with regret.
Why does our child not see what her husband recognized at a glance?
“It’s Carlo, for heaven’s sake.”
Rostia had recognized him immediately.
Even if Carlo’s appearance now bore the blond hair and blue eyes of the Royal Family.
It was a fact anyone could see at a glance with the slightest attention.
The habit of his lips trembling when he grew tense.
The ingrained bodily habit of rolling up his sleeves whenever things felt awkward.
Beyond that, the constitution that left him unable to digest dairy well, and the old-fashioned way he held his cutlery.
But the most certain of all was Carlo’s blind devotion to Rose.
Wherever his gaze fell, there was always their only daughter, Rose.
In mere seconds of witnessing such a sight, Rostia and Jayden had become certain.
They would gladly keep the secret of the ‘Crown Prince’ to whom Rose had promised marriage.
Before Rose returned to the estate.
Rostia climbed to the Study and picked up a single old document.
An ancient, tattered Ancient Document bearing witness to the promise between the Royal Family and Stein.
Rip―.
It was time at last to void this suffocating promise.
Rostia brushed off her hands and descended, drawing in the fresh air outside deeply alongside Jayden.
“The wedding will proceed as planned, yes?”
“Of course, madam.”
Count Stein and his wife smiled with utmost cunning.
* * *
After faithfully assisting Lucas with his Teleportation Magic Design, I bid him farewell.
“I don’t think we’ll need any more dates after this.”
At the same time, I apologized with embarrassment.
“I’m sorry for changing my mind about our agreement.”
Sincerely, and with utmost courtesy.
‘I’m garbage.’
I wish I could realize things before attempting them, but unfortunately there are humans who rush headlong into trouble and only regret it afterward.
That was me.
‘Now that I’ve actually done it… it was something I shouldn’t have.’
Even when I was matching Bridal Dowries with Lucas in the Capital and, at Elline’s suggestion, went to the Boat Recreation Area, it was honestly fine.
I was meant to become a stranger to him anyway, and this was merely a parting meeting I’d resolved to have for the sole purpose of putting distance between myself and Carlo.
But the problem was discovered right after that, at the Steinheim Estate.
“…May I ask your reason?”
“It’s nothing much. It’s simply my heart.”
“….”
“My heart’s been unable to focus properly on Your Highness all day. That’s what troubles me.”
Since arriving at Steinheim Estate, only one person had occupied my thoughts.
It was I who felt wounded seeing my parents welcome Lucas so warmly.
And slowly, I came to understand.
What I’d really been trying to hide all along.
‘…I want to run away.’
I wanted to go to Carlo right then, take his hand, and ask him to leave with me.
But the wedding was four days away.
He was the childhood friend role—a supporting male lead in “A Sorcerer’s Way of Love.”
My political marriage to Lucas would proceed as planned unless something went seriously wrong.
So even if I deliberately drew a line with Carlo, we were destined to drift apart anyway.
Only after I’d beaten my own drum, played my own instrument, and made a complete mess of my innermost feelings did I understand.
I couldn’t fathom Lucas proceeding with the wedding to me without protest, all while his heart belonged to someone he loved.
‘Carlo must be the same.’
I was in no position to condemn him.
Between Elline and now, I’d created two more pitiful victims.
Yes, let me admit it.
‘I’m truly despicable.’
There was no hypocrisy more flimsy than this.
Even knowing how this world would end, no matter what justification I invoke, I was ultimately….
“Does Your Highness dislike me?”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I took your friend’s man away from her.”
“…And yet you’ve been apologizing for it ever since, haven’t you.”
……
I lifted the head I’d been about to bow.
The moment our eyes met, Lucas held my gaze while the flow of his Mana stilled momentarily.
In his unwavering, expressionless eyes, I could see my own confused face reflected back.
I never expected to hear such an answer from anyone but him.
Unable to choose my words in that fleeting instant, I stood before him blinking mutely.
‘How did he know?’
But more than that, I was curious about Lucas’s intention.
If he’d seen guilt in me at all, he could have broached this absurd marriage at any point along the way.
Not necessarily by my hand.
Thinking of Elline, Lucas should have shown some sign—hostility toward me, or declared his position on the marriage, or made some move at least.
But I detected none of it from him.
This meant either his obedience to the Royal Family’s will, or—unlikely as it seemed—some genuine fondness he held for me.
I’d prefer it wasn’t the latter.
I settled my turbulent feelings and asked Lucas a question.
“Are you choosing the union of houses over love, Your Highness?”
“If it’s necessary, yes.”
“That’s an unexpected answer. It would take considerable time to mend a relationship grown distant.”
“It doesn’t matter. It’s my problem in the end.”
He drew a polite boundary. Even this surprised me.
‘As if it were nothing to do with me at all.’
I lowered my widened eyes calmly and repeated the thought to myself. The feeling was strange.
‘I’d taken him for a complete wastrel.’
So he possessed such maturity.
Or perhaps it was my fault for confining him within my narrow perspective and making hasty judgments.
Lucas’s love was his own matter to resolve, since he alone held agency over it.
Whether he continued to cling stubbornly or Elline grew ever more pitiful.
And the same applied to me.
“My own problem….”
For me alone to solve—the matter of my own heart.
In that brief moment, my mind became clear.
What had I been justifying to myself all this time?
The affection I’d felt for Carlo?
The friendship I’d built with Elline?
‘No.’
None of it.
It was my most primal desire—to preserve a life that should have been snuffed out.
Running away was not the answer.
Carlo and Elline would become the path I chose only after the world reached its end.
“Hearing Your Highness speak, I now realize how wrong my actions have been all this time.”
“…The date was enjoyable. I mean that sincerely.”
“Yes. I had fun too. More than I should have.”
I bowed slightly to Lucas in a gesture of both apology and gratitude.

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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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