On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 28

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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 28
The unexpected words left my mind blank. I had no choice but to let Rana go.
“I didn’t know that. I’m sorry. It was sudden.”
The wizards whispered with curious expressions, but I had no leisure to mind their gazes.
“Rana. Is there perhaps a wizard here who could teleport me to that place?”
“Hmm. Among the people here at the Magic Tower right now, it would only be the Assistant Master and the Tower Master…”
“Where is Ben?”
“Does anyone know where the Assistant Master is?”
When Rana asked the wizards in the lobby, someone answered.
“He went up to his office earlier, then disappeared again saying he’d left something at the Creature Protection Facility. He still hasn’t come back.”
“Ah…”
I barely managed to stay on my feet, nearly collapsing.
“The Tower Master then…”
“The Tower Master won’t appear until tomorrow.”
Ben had said the same, but I couldn’t give up. More precisely, I couldn’t afford to.
“Rana. Where is the West Wing Library? The place where the Tower Master is supposed to be?”
“Eh? How did you know he’s in the West Wing? That place is entered only through a mirror in the office—no one can get in.”
“No one?”
“Right. The Tower Master has to take you there himself, he said.”
“The office…”
I understood what Rana said, but it didn’t make me give up.
“All right. Thank you.”
“Oh, wait, Investigator!”
I rushed up the stairs to the office, leaving the flustered wizards behind.
My throat and chest ached with how hard I was breathing.
Fortunately the door wasn’t locked, and the moment I burst in, I searched for the mirror first.
“Cade. Cade! Let me in, please!”
I pressed my hands urgently all over the mirror’s surface.
But the cold mirror offered me not a crack.
Tapping the mirror didn’t help either.
“…”
I stood breathing heavily for a moment, then simply sank to the ground.
Fifteen minutes left.
‘What if that body is—if I’m right this time, what then?’
My hands trembled with mounting impatience I couldn’t contain.
Beep! Beep!
A white fox creature leapt onto my lap.
“You…?”
It was the creature I’d rescued from the whaling ship, the one Ben had taken to the protection facility.
It seemed Ben had left it to guard the office, though I couldn’t imagine why such a thing was necessary.
‘A wizard of considerable skill. That’s the first person who came to mind when I heard that.’
But wasn’t he supposed not to appear until tomorrow?
He’d even warned me I wouldn’t see him again unless it was work-related. Coming up to the office like this on impulse might have been selfish.
Should I not have done it?
Should I have told him to come see me often, even if not for work—to not shut himself away somewhere?
‘If only I’d known…’
Suddenly all my choices regarding Cade felt immature and reckless.
In this moment, he was desperately needed—not for work, but for me.
Seven minutes left.
There was nothing else I could do.
Beep!
“Are you worried? Smart creature. It’s all right. There’s nothing to be done.”
I was giving up everything, stroking the creature’s fur, when suddenly—
A lamp on the desk caught my eye.
“…!”
A spark ignited in my mind.
“Wait.”
I set down the creature and stood before the mirror, holding the lamp and my coat.
‘It’s absurd, but what if it works?’
I held the lamp before the mirror, covering and uncovering its light with my coat.
Three short flashes. Two long ones.
Flash. Flash.
Like a lighthouse beacon calling across the sea.
“Cade. Please.”
I whispered to him, though I didn’t know where he was.
“Please help me.”
Minutes passed like that.
The mirror still reflected only my ridiculous image.
“…”
I stilled my emotions and looked down at myself coldly.
I had to accept that there was no way this would summon him.
Deep down, I’d always known.
I lowered the coat and lamp and hung my head.
‘Is that body my father?’
Unless my father’s body suddenly appeared somewhere, I would wonder about this forever.
When I turned off the lamp, the wavering light faded.
At that same instant, a figure’s foot appeared in the mirror.
“Vivian?”
I lifted my head in disbelief.
Cade stood before me. His face was equally startled.
“…!”
Without thinking, I threw my arms around him and cried out.
“Cade! The mortuary!”
“What?”
“We need to go to the mortuary in Ginstown. Please.”
“That’s outside Melgote.”
“Cade. Please.”
“…”
Cade spotted the white fox creature and hurled some magic at it, sending it away.
Then, before I could even ask what he was doing, he cast teleportation.
***
Ginstown Mortuary.
The clerk checked the time and nodded.
“It’s time. Move it.”
The workers lifted a corpse onto a stretcher. It was time to set it ablaze at the crematorium.
“Wait!”
A woman’s cry came with the sound of rushing footsteps.
The clerk waved his hand at the workers to stop for a moment.
“Whew. That was close.”
“Sorry I’m late.”
Vivian hurried over to the stretcher.
The clerk’s gaze shifted behind her.
Cade followed slowly at Vivian’s heels, surveying the mortuary with quiet interest.
It was the first time Vivian had brought someone to the mortuary.
“Please, take a look.”
“Where did this body come from?”
“We found it in an alley behind an inn near the Jupiter Shipyard.”
Vivian swallowed hard and drew back the cloth.
Fortunately, this body was fresh and unmarred.
Salt-and-pepper black hair, neat eyebrows. Lines across the forehead and around the eyes.
‘Seven years have passed. Father must have aged too.’
Vivian examined the corpse’s face and hands carefully, taking that into account.
“Is it him? Will you take him?”
“…No. No, it isn’t.”
“Then this one goes to the crematorium.”
The workers carrying the stretcher moved swiftly away.
Vivian watched the shrouded body with her eyes.
That wasn’t her father. Which meant her father was still alive.
He was alive until she found him. She’d decided to think that way since he went missing.
She was reaching for a money pouch when her eyes met Cade’s.
He tilted his head slightly, but Vivian quickly turned hers away to another clerk.
“There’s something I’d like to discuss.”
Something she’d forgotten came back to her.
Sensing that Vivian wanted to speak privately, the clerk guided her to his office.
“Of course. Anytime.”
Cade stared at the office door as it closed.
His hand absently touched the side where Vivian had hugged him. He seemed unaware of his own gesture.
He’d planned to stay buried in the West Wing until tomorrow, but light kept seeping in from near the entrance.
The light signal was somehow familiar, and he couldn’t ignore it.
‘I didn’t know she’d call like that. How desperate was she?’
It was the same signal he’d used from the window when he snuck to Vivian’s mansion late at night.
This was the first time Vivian had sent that signal to him.
In the dark of the West Wing, it seemed like a lighthouse beam cutting through fog to light a path.
‘She’s looking for her father’s body. Despite saying she believed he was alive, that others could say what they want…’
As he stood there idly, another clerk emerged from the office.
“Hello there, oh—?”
Cade, about to ignore the greeting, looked up at the clerk’s unusual reaction.
The man was staring at him with a dawning expression of recognition.
At this strange behavior, Cade’s lips twitched slightly upward.
“Can I help you?”
“That’s… ah! So you were alive?”
The clerk laughed with an open expression, which only puzzled Cade further.
“You know me?”
“Know you? Don’t know your name, but the young lady—Miss Solling—was looking for another body. And it turned out to be you, wasn’t it?”
“…What?”
“Pale beige hair, blue eyes, a mole under the eye, a long face, tall with broad shoulders—that’s you! She was looking for a body of someone who died of illness, but it looks like you’re in excellent health.”
“…”
“Well, that explains it. She just said she’d stop looking for this body, and turns out she found the living version instead. Lucky!”
After the clerk left looking satisfied, Cade remained motionless.
A moment later, Vivian emerged from the office.
“I’ll ask for your help again next time.”
“Of course. We’re grateful.”
The clerk pocketed the money and smiled contentedly.
Cade felt embarrassed as his eyes met Vivian’s approaching gaze.
His breath caught. He felt like he’d teleported straight into the abyss by mistake.

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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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