My Husband Is Not the Magic Tower Master - Chapter 84

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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 84

Carlo, who had watched over me for so long, met me again in the Magic Tower’s elevator on the day of my first shift after I turned twenty.
As a colleague in the same department, maintaining the pretense of seniority and junior status, he deceived me flawlessly, as though we were strangers.
Only now did my memories align with his timeline, yet I found myself genuinely worried.
Carlo carried a deeper stretch of time and memories than I did, all of it alone—and somehow that made me ache for him.
At first, learning his past had stirred more indignation than anything else.
That I was the original patriarch of the Stein House—that ‘other’ Stein from centuries ago, and his longtime lover—the weight of it was suffocating.
By my own memories, we were colleagues who had seen each other a handful of times through arranged meetings before gradually becoming lovers, barely managing to become husband and wife.
So who was Carlo actually in love with, then?
Me? Or Stein?
Or perhaps his old lover, projected onto the face I wear now?
Pinning down this question left me feeling strangely slighted.
More than anything, there were parts of Carlo’s explanation I couldn’t make sense of, no matter how I tried.
“Besides, what you’re saying contradicts what I know to be true. If I really was Stein from centuries ago, then I must be living my third life right now….”
This much I could deny outright.
My life as ‘Stein’ wasn’t my first life—the one I remembered.
“My first life wasn’t in Delpinia. It was in another world entirely, with no connection to this place whatsoever—a world where magic didn’t even exist.”
“That memory would be my second life.”
It was difficult to accept.
My first life in my memories was actually my second?
I lived in this world, then another, and crossed back here again?
“I… I don’t understand. I still remember my second life so clearly. So why can’t I remember the first?”
“I suspect it was one of the futures you had planned.”
“No… no, that’s enough.”
Silence fell between us in that moment.
Despite saying I wouldn’t, I found myself backing away from him again, taking a step back.
Carlo, I’m sorry.
A headache was brewing again.
I’m human, and before I could think of him, my own circumstances came into sharper focus—I couldn’t help what my eyes saw and what my mind grasped.
“The truth is, what I’ve been hiding all this time… it’s because I don’t want to live as an Archmage.”
“So I kept pretending not to see. But I saw that heart of yours.”
“If I say no, I can refuse, right?”
No. I can’t. It won’t work.
Now that we’d both revealed ourselves this way, I couldn’t hide and pretend like I used to.
Carlo must have sensed it long ago; he deliberately avoided my gaze and lowered his voice.
“…You can postpone it. If time isn’t running short, it’ll be hard, but it’s possible.”
He gave a thin smile and clenched his fist tightly.
If it were my struggle, I would have insisted without a second thought—that I would hide it somehow, no matter what, refusing to let go of hope.
But I couldn’t be stubborn the way my heart wanted.
Without thinking, my gaze followed his down, and only then did it catch the magic precariously sustained within his palm.
What… what is that?
“Why does your hand look like that? It looks similar to the Demon Realm Portal that opened in the sky earlier….”
Something dark and distant was settled in Carlo’s palm, strangely enough, and the opening was shrinking and expanding repeatedly, as though it wasn’t under his control.
“Carlo.”
As I moved forward in alarm, Carlo turned away quickly, shielding his hand.
“Wait—”
“What….”
“Just wait a moment. Stay right there.”
Huh.
So that’s why he hadn’t gotten out of bed and kept pressing one hand against himself all this while.
There was a reason for it after all.
If revealing my true nature meant postponing things, it wasn’t me who would suffer.
“…It’s Carlo who was struggling.”

They say this century has three Archmage positions sitting vacant.
Watching him struggle before my eyes, I realized my mistake.
Three Attributes without a keeper.
I don’t know where the Fire Attribute’s Magic Tower Master is, I’ve hidden my own strength, and the Water Attribute—
Elline with her Earth Attribute and the Wind Attribute haven’t awakened yet.
Yet somehow, the balance between the human realm and the Demon Realm has held remarkably steady all this time without any catastrophic incident.
Someone must be filling that void alone, bearing the burden single-handedly.
‘How foolish.’
If great power demands such a price, then the cost of my irresponsibility falls on someone else’s sacrifice.
“I was wrong.”
The thought that Carlo’s life was being shortened in my stead—I couldn’t pretend not to see it anymore.
“You know Water Magic is more effective than Fire for suppressing something like this, don’t you?”
“It’s fine.”
Carlo shook his head as if to stop me from approaching.
“I can manage on my own—”
“I’m sorry, but I’m not fine with it.”
I closed the distance I’d put between us and carefully took both his hands in mine.
The moment I did, his wildly surging magical power went completely still and cold.
“See? I was right, wasn’t I?”
I interlaced my fingers with his now-quiet hands and spoke.
“But even so, this means…”
Carlo, for his part, couldn’t properly answer me—just trailed off.
To forcibly seal a portal connected to the Demon Realm would take nothing less than an Archmage’s power.
The moment the Water Magic Power I’d kept so deeply hidden began to overflow from me, his expression grew darker and darker.
If I sustained the spell too long, keeping it hidden might become impossible.
Even in a brief moment, there would be people who could sense the nature of my magical power—and then the identity of the Water Attribute Archmage would be revealed with ease.
“Rose.”
Seeing eyes that looked ready to shed tears, I shook my head with a smile.
“I’m fine with it.”
……
“And I’m sorry for being the only one who was fine for so long.”
Because of a secret I alone wanted to keep, he must have been struggling under an even heavier burden.
Even if we’d only just filled one vacancy.
To restore the balance of the defensive barriers inside the Magic Tower that had been shattered by this 3rd Stage Demon Beast intrusion, we had to descend to Level 88.
Once I used magic down on Level 88, I doubted I’d be able to live an ordinary life as I had before.
I’d probably be crossing a river from which there was no return.
“Let’s go.”
Still, between a husband and wife who had promised a lifetime together, it was better that I share the burden rather than leave him suffering alone.
I stepped into the elevator, and we talked pleasantly as it descended.
“By the way, how much of your lifespan has been cut while you’ve been protecting this place all this time?”
“That is… it hasn’t been cut at all.”
“Really? Why not?”
“The Fire Attribute Archmage’s unique ability is Immortality.”
“Immortality?”
That can’t be right. The way he was suffering earlier made it look like he’d die any moment.
I tilted my head in bewilderment.
“Then how old are you exactly?”
“Well, from what I remember, I existed before Delpinia was founded, so I suppose—”
“No. Don’t tell me.”
“A century… is about this much?”
Carlo counted on his fingers one by one, then held up his hands to show me the measurement with an innocent expression.
“I said don’t tell me…!”
“Judging by your magical power, my lady would seem to live for about this long as well.”
A hundred years of marital bliss, multiplied over and over.
‘Ah.’
Unable to speak of such a span of years, I fell silent in despair. This won’t do.
My freedom. My ordinary life. My work-life balance!

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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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