My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 74

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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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74

Carlo watched calmly as the man sprawled his hands to either side, flinging magic about with reckless abandon across the chamber.
With the first gesture, every roof sheltering the Main Palace came crashing down in a thunderous collapse.
With the second, a thick, oppressive heat radiated outward from the Main Palace in all directions.
Judging by the force of it, the wave of devastation would surely reach the edges of the Crown Princess Consort’s Palace where Rose was sheltered.
A sigh escaped him.
Carlo exhaled heavily.
It would take him a moment to apply Restoration Magic to Rose’s location, but the damage was not yet at a level that would claim lives.
Vast power, paired with clumsy control.
This was unmistakably….
‘Black Magic.’
The force of a forbidden realm.
The sorcery of the fallen.
The moment a human dared to touch such power, their entire body would rot from within, their life span cut short to less than half a year.
They would spend what remained of their days writhing in unspeakable agony before death finally claimed them.
“Why…?” he murmured.
Carlo’s tongue turned bitter with sorrow.
He had no doubt that the current king, Rekio, would meet the same wretched end as Delphed, the first sovereign of this realm.
In that instant, it was as though the world itself had struck him blind from behind.
‘For centuries I have not hated you once.’
His small kindness had inevitably turned to betrayal.
The sins of Delphed, their ancestor, had been quietly buried by Carlo alone as generations passed and ignorant children were born into the royal line.
With each successive generation, he had reasoned that those who knew nothing of the crime bore no guilt.
Yet Rekio was a descendant who seemed to embody only the most sordid traits of the founding king.
Carlo could have forgiven the sins of the past, but what galled him was this foul-natured wretch destabilizing the kingdom, repeating the same mistakes—
“Now I understand,” he muttered coldly.
Carlo’s voice was ice itself.
“It was my own failure, not striking you down when we first met.”
His trembling hand closed into a fist.
Delphed’s bloodline had raised a banner of defiance before him.
With that realization, Carlo felt the embers of hatred he had long tried to forget—now so distant he thought them ash—suddenly rekindled into flame.
If Rekio had touched Black Magic, then it was only a matter of time before he learned of the royal house’s Inherent Ability.
‘If that happens, the shackles that once bound Stein to the Demon Realm will….’
The terrible past would repeat itself.
Originally, the four Attributes of the Inherent Ability were meant to remain sealed away forever, until the next Grand Mage appeared.
Unless, that is, someone forcibly tore open those hidden powers through forbidden magic like Black Magic.
But Rekio’s obsession had long since twisted, and his arrogance had finally crossed the line.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he forcibly extracted the Inherent Ability of the first Grand Mage sealed within the palace walls.
Rekio too, though but a lesser mage, shared the same Attribute as Delphed, the first king and Grand Mage of Wind.
Should that come to pass, Delpinia might once again be swept by a storm of blood.
‘That, above all, must be stopped.’
Carlo reached toward the barrier with swift purpose to assess Rekio’s condition.
In the next breath, a single gesture reduced the barrier to ash, burning away in an instant like powder scattering on the wind.
A sharp sound—the king instinctively recoiled.
Carlo moved closer, his face now inches from the trembling man, and spoke in a low voice.
“If what happened in the old days occurs again, I will kill you without hesitation.”
Silence.
“But judging by your condition, you’ll stop breathing on your own long before then.”
A small mercy: the fruit of forbidden magic meant the king had precious little time left.
Now that they stood face to face, Carlo finally understood why the king had remained hidden behind the barrier, showing only his back for so long.
Beneath the hem of his robe, white hair hung loose, and his skin hung slack and creased—a testament that his time in this world was nearly at its end.
‘A month at most.’
It was almost ironic to be grateful that as a lesser mage, he had been clumsy with his Magical Power.
Carlo clicked his tongue sharply and swept past him without expression.
“I-impudence! How insolent!”
Belatedly, I heard the sound of him hastily covering his face with his sleeve.
Soon after, his voice rang out in a hoarse, metallic screech—a cry he’d failed to mask with magic.
“How dare you!! My royal person—!!”
Bang.
Standing before the Palace Gate he’d just slammed shut, Carlo furrowed his brow in silence.
‘The king’s age this year is forty.’
He had given his life and gained the vast magical power of the royal family.
A master of Black Magic.
* * *
I suspect my illness came from this.
“…No, he wouldn’t have given it to me for no reason at all.”
On the day I returned from my date with Carlo, I’d spent the entire evening—and many days since—wrestling with questions I couldn’t put to rest.
It was my problem, after all.
I held the Gift Box close to my chest, its ribbon hopelessly tangled, and gazed down at it intently.
Before long, I found myself murmuring softly to myself.
“…Shuella….”
Retracing time, about two weeks back.
While wandering near the Main Palace, a royal attendant had happened to bring me this object.
Shuella.
A long-cherished heirloom of the first Stein Countess and a treasured family relic of the great founding Grand Mage clan.
At the same time, it was the one and only symbolic tiara of the Kingdom of Delpinia in this world.
‘From what I’ve heard, the founding king of Delpinia fell in love at first sight and asked the first patriarch of Stein to marry him—more than once.’
I imagined it was likely a precious ornament created when he conveyed his feelings to Stein.
‘I’m not sure why it became an heirloom, though.’
The design, lavishly studded with rare and expensive gemstones, looked unmistakably like the symbol of supreme power.
Of course, Stein refused the king, and the two never developed a romantic bond.
What was surprising, as confirmed even in common histories, was that Stein never married—not the king, nor anyone else.
The countess title, granted in recognition of her service as a founding contributor, was recorded as having been transferred to the eldest daughter of her younger sister.
That eldest daughter was none other than my mother’s great-grandmother.
After entrusting her one cherished niece—whom she’d raised like her own child—with the title, Stein’s whereabouts soon became unknown.
After some time had passed, people began to say she had died, and she was treated like a hero vanished into the depths of history.
Most Grand Mages throughout history had met unfortunate ends.
Those who attained the pinnacle of magic during the ancient age of magical prosperity had faced one of two fates.
Either they destroyed themselves through endless ambition, or they quietly hid somewhere and lived unknown to anyone before slipping away.
But there was no helping it.
Abilities too extraordinary and powerful were a fatal weakness for humans.
Rarity breeds distinction, it draws lines between rank and station, and it inevitably brings misfortune to those who lack that specialness.
That’s why I had wanted to live just average—ordinary.
“…Sigh.”
But I would probably never live an ordinary life.
‘I’m skipping love and going straight to marriage with the man I like, living a newlywed life at the very top of the Magic Tower, and besides, my husband is….’
What’s the use of explaining. Only my poor lips ached from this wretched life drifting further and further from average.

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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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