My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 66
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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 66
‘I thought I’d tumble down in humiliation, but I’m relieved he caught me.’
This is why habits are terrifying.
Perhaps it was because falling accidents had left me cradled in Carlo’s arms more than once before.
Without my realizing it, I found myself resting my face against his chest, utterly at ease.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Embarrassed, I turned my head away and cleared my throat before asking him.
“Did you make some sort of deal with the Crown Prince? How could you deceive me so completely and plan a wedding at the Royal Palace…?”
The way he explained things was confusing.
Thanks to him, I’d been thoroughly fooled all this time.
“Lucas and I are… more like distant family. So borrowing one of the royal banquet halls wasn’t particularly difficult.”
Carlo explained calmly.
He added that they were absolutely not childhood friends.
“It’s enough if you think of us as like older brother and younger brother.”
“I suspected as much. You really do come from quite an impressive household, don’t you?”
“If I come from an even more impressive family than that, does it mean you’ll marry me?”
“Why are you so fixated on marriage…? There was clearly an option to start with romance first.”
“I found it unbearable to witness you marrying Lucas, not even for a single moment.”
“I see. So that’s why.”
A reason like that, I could accept.
I nodded and carefully extracted myself from his embrace, lowering myself to the ground.
Now that I knew one crucial fact, it was time to choose.
“You’re certain that you’re not the Crown Prince’s childhood friend?”
“Lucas’s childhood friend from when he was young is someone else. He works with me in the Special Management Division — a man named Kathloi Franchet.”
“Ah. Kathloi Franchet.”
Why hadn’t that name come to mind?
‘I’ve been mistaken all along.’
Faced with this unexpected answer, I felt utterly bewildered.
‘Carlo’ and ‘Kathloi’ — similar names, yet they were unmistakably two different people.
Of all things, both were fire-attribute mages, and their names started with the same letter.
‘No wonder I got confused.’
Honestly, I’d been so focused on my own misfortune flags that I’d paid no attention to the minor characters.
As a result, my hazy memory had caused only Carlo’s sincere heart to suffer.
This part was definitely my fault.
If Lucas and Carlo weren’t childhood friends, then there was only one way to call off this marriage.
To reject his proposal.
But I didn’t much want to.
Feeling shamefaced before Carlo, I fumbled with the bouquet for a moment before finally speaking.
“Then, just promise me one thing.”
“….”
“Can you protect me?”
What I hoped to ask of him wasn’t merely the meaning of ‘protection.’
It transcended the bounds of safeguarding — it was a purpose of survival.
If I could preserve both the Annihilation of House threat to Stein and my own ordinary future, I wanted a promise from Carlo.
From the royal family that threatened me, from this world within the novel, and beyond — from every threat to my life and existence.
To guard me from closest at your side.
“It’s true that I like you, Carlo, but I need certainty about my future.”
“The Mage’s Way of Love.”
This world had reached its ending, but my life still stood at the starting line.
There were so many things I wanted to do.
After the wedding, I wanted to protect my parents in House Stein from the threat of annihilation, and if I could leave the Magic Tower, I wanted to open a new Magic Workshop and continue living my life.
But you became my variable.
Then you had to take responsibility for that.
“The pacing does seem rather rushed, but the successful ending of a romance is marriage, after all.”
I drew a deep breath and spoke.
“If you’ll promise me just this one thing, I’ll marry you, Carlo.”
Carlo fell silent, studying my face for a moment.
In a chapel where couples exchange lifelong vows, an unexpected quiet descended—and the guests began to murmur restlessly among themselves.
The emcee’s stammering voice drifted across the ceremony, but my gaze remained fixed on him.
His answer would become a truly important promise for us both.
The silence stretched on, but only briefly.
“…I have waited for so long.”
“….”
“Only for this moment we share now.”
His usually steady voice wavered, trembling softly like a sob.
“…!”
Surely not.
‘Is he crying?’
I lifted my head in surprise.
When our eyes met, Carlo was smiling, not weeping—but his eyes held a sadness I had never seen before.
A gentle breeze stirred, and the sun above my head cast its light in slowly deepening curves as time moved forward.
He lifted the veil that had obscured my face entirely, then approached me carefully and pressed his lips to my forehead.
“I love you, Rose Stein.”
“…I like you, Carlo.”
It was still too new to call it love, so I looked away from his gaze.
Unbothered by my awkwardness, Carlo simply laughed softly.
“What an honor. Such moments come but thrice in a lifetime.”
His lips brushed mine lightly before parting, and as our banter ended like a jest, Carlo extended his hand tenderly.
“Then, will you be with me?”
A Ring already graced his left ring finger—a match to mine.
Now it was my turn.
Still holding the Bouquet, I slowly lowered one hand.
And by my own choice, I took the hand he offered.
“…This marriage is my first.”
“It is my first as well, of course.”
“Don’t make me laugh. How could I know if a man who’s gone to marriage meetings in disguise is having his second time at something like this…?”
The moment Carlo and I took our place before the altar, a wave of nerves crashed over me.
‘No, I really mean it. My first time.’
In my first life, I died as a lifelong bachelor, so romance and marriage were both entirely new experiences in this one.
Carlo was four years my senior.
He must have had romantic experience by now—things like dating or romantic tension with others.
A pang of unfairness at my lack of experience due to the age difference brought tears to my eyes.
Carlo seemed amused by my nervousness and merely whispered, barely suppressing a smile.
“Your first time is true.”
“You’re lying….”
“You can verify it directly later.”
“Excuse me?”
I looked up at him in alarm.
But that wasn’t what I meant at all.
Just as I was about to pull my hand away, the emcee, who had been observing the scene, hastily resumed the ceremony.
“Now, we shall exchange Rings as the symbol of your lifelong promise in marriage!”
The Ring that Carlo and I had chosen ourselves fit my finger perfectly.
Even though I’d deliberately chosen the size based on Elline’s measurements, it fit as though it had been custom-made for me—not a fraction too loose or tight.
As I looked down at the Ring he’d placed on my ring finger with his own hands, I asked him suddenly with suspicion.
“You didn’t do this too, did you?”
“How could I not know Miss Rose’s ring size?”
He’d held my hand countless times during our research sessions, gripping it as casually as eating to stave off Magic Exhaustion—there was no way he wouldn’t know my hand’s dimensions.
The Ring had been sized at 11 for Elline, yet somehow he must have quietly reduced the size behind the scenes.
I’d been deceived. Completely.
“You’re a fraud.”
“Yes. I love you too.”
“I’m not resenting being deceived.”
I sighed softly.
“If I’d known this would happen, I should have chosen the dowry furniture to match my tastes….”
I was lamenting the lost chance to go on those thrilling dates with my lover, shopping for wedding furnishings together.
Back then, I was only thinking about squeezing money out of the Crown Prince—there wasn’t a shred of excitement in it.
“That was one of my Bucket List items. But there’s nothing to be done about it now.”
Well, it’s all in the past, so I can’t reclaim that first thrill anyway.
As I muttered this flatly, Carlo’s body, which had been holding my hand, gave a slight tremor.
“That’s something I’ll find a way to make up for, no matter what….”
“The ring is beautiful. I do love expensive diamond jewelry.”
I whispered it quietly, for his ears alone, and only then did color return to his ashen face.
“…And thus do these two pledge this day to become lifelong companions to one another….”
Before long, the ceremony had run through its final proceedings, and I was still gripping Carlo’s trembling hand when the moment came.
“This is the final part of the ceremony.”
The officiant stepped down from the platform and called out, gesturing to the assembled guests for their participation.
“We ask that the bride and groom face each other and share a kiss of love!”
Whistle!
I wondered where that whistle had come from.
“A perfect match! Kiss her, kiss her!”
It was Lucas sitting cheerfully in the guest section with Elline.
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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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