On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 31

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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 31
“Come in, come in!”
Simona gestured eagerly, and the hesitant group finally filed inside and took their seats.
Though they wore casual clothes rather than uniforms, the mix of people made it feel like Simona had invited her office colleagues out for an outing and they’d all somehow shown up for work.
Everyone exchanged awkward glances and fidgeted with their hands, which made me wonder if I really should have excused myself first.
“Um, Simona, I really think I should….”
“Ahem! Well, what a pleasant surprise to see you here, Investigator Solling.”
“…!”
I jolted at the formal greeting from Yukel—the first time he’d addressed me so politely.
“Ah, yes. I’m pleased to see you too, Administrator.”
“Me too, actually.”
“And me…!”
“….”
“….”
When the other clerks’ greetings suddenly trailed off, an awkward silence settled over the room.
Unable to bear it, the clerks and I began sipping tea and munching cookies, only adding to the discomfort—and now I felt like I was suffocating in the strained air.
Only Simona seemed to be enjoying herself, giggling quietly to herself.
‘Should I just leave now? I’m getting a stomachache. I came to visit the sick and I’m about to become the patient.’
After serious deliberation, I was just about to say I really should go—
—when Yukel set down his teacup with sudden resolve.
“I, Investigator Solling.”
“Yes?”
“That is….”
“…?”
“That is…!”
Simona jabbed the stammering administrator in the ribs, urging him on like he was a wooden doll.
“Yukel. Come on, spit it out.”
“Ah, right.”
The administrator’s face flushed as he fidgeted, then he shut his eyes tight and bowed his head.
“I’m sorry for how I’ve treated you.”
“…What?”
The other clerks, unsure what to do, one by one offered their own apologies.
“We’re truly sorry.”
“We misunderstood you. We didn’t even know the facts.”
It was an apology I never expected.
As I hesitated over how to respond, Yukel spoke again.
“Aster has been complaining to me all year about promotion issues and nepotism, and I suppose I ended up over-identifying with him. I never imagined he was actually scheming all along….”
“…I didn’t know either.”
He’d fooled everyone in that building with that model-student face of his, so deceiving a distant cousin he saw only occasionally would have been far easier.
‘If I hadn’t taken this job, maybe Aster would have become a Crystal Whale investigator eventually.’
So perhaps not everything he said was a lie.
But regardless, I was genuinely grateful that such a high-handed schemer was not becoming a Crystal Whale investigator.
“To be honest, his work was good enough that we found the whole thing strange. But even so, we thought—regardless of whether he worked well or poorly, we blocked our cousin’s promotion. So we….”
“Our apology probably doesn’t earn us forgiveness all at once, but still—we’re sorry.”
Yukel and the other clerks seemed genuinely apologetic.
When I thought about how they treated Aster, they didn’t seem like bad people at heart.
‘To be fair, if I had an unqualified appointee right in front of me blocking my family member’s promotion, I wouldn’t be warm to them either.’
I had no trouble accepting their apology.
After all, it wasn’t really these people who had weighed on my heart in Melgote.
“Thank you. I appreciate the apology.”
At my words, the tension in the reception room dissolved instantly.
They all seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and I felt the knot of tension I’d been carrying loosen as well.
I’d only been working at the observation post for a short time, but it felt like I’d been there for months.
‘There was really something here for every occasion.’
Just recounting it all would take forever.
Once I received my seal, I’d be leaving the office, but the thought that I could come to work with a clear heart from tomorrow on filled me with relief.
Though I hadn’t stayed long, it was fortunate that I could leave with the misunderstanding cleared.
In the meantime, Simona leaned over and whispered to me in a deliberately audible voice.
“Don’t be fooled by his sincere apology. Yukel’s personality is genuinely terrible—work with him long enough and he’ll definitely try to take you down again.”
“Simona!”
Yukel tapped her shoulder reproachfully, and she giggled as she continued.
“Yukel said he wanted to apologize to you—and I thought the others did too—so I set this up.”
That’s what I’d suspected.
Simona had a habit of appearing out of nowhere whenever Yukel unleashed harsh criticism on me, breaking the tension like thin ice cracking beneath our feet.
‘He probably started being friendly thinking I had powerful connections, with some prestigious nepotistic backing.’
Still, without Simona, coming to the observation post would have been far harder.
Now, starting with Simona’s joke, the mood in the room brightened.
We talked about everyday things unrelated to office work, and though it still felt strange making eye contact, it was genuinely pleasant.
“Um, but….”
Then Maren, a clerk who sat next to me in the office, spoke up to Simona, her eyes bright with curiosity.
“Is it true what they’re saying—that one of the imperial princesses is going to marry the Tower Master?”
Clink!
My hand went slack and I set my teacup down too hard.
Startled by the sharp sound, I picked it back up and set it down carefully.
“Vivian? Are you alright?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry. My hand slipped.”
I smiled and waved my hand at the concerned looks, assuring them I was fine.
“I had no idea there were rumors like that.”
Simona responded as if it were nothing.
“How would I know about the affairs of people so far above my station? Until something’s officially announced, rumors are just rumors.”
“But you do know several of the imperial princesses, Research Director. You even spent time in the Imperial Palace as a lady-in-waiting when you were younger.”
“That was ages ago. And you think I’d report palace affairs to a young countess who was just a lady-in-waiting? Come on.”
“I suppose not….”
“But there must be something to it for such rumors to be spreading in the first place, right?”
“Exactly. The Tower Master even attended that banquet held by the Third Princess recently.”
“Vivian and I were both there that night!”
Simona laughed brightly and began recounting the events of that day.
Everyone else was absorbed in her story, eyes gleaming with interest, but I couldn’t focus.
My heart, startled by the fallen teacup, wouldn’t settle down.
‘Marriage? Cade? To the Imperial Family…?’
It was an absurd rumor.
‘It couldn’t possibly be true.’
Cade was someone who hated anything to do with the Imperial Government.
The thought of him marrying into the Imperial Family was ridiculous.
It was pure gossip, nothing more.
Just idle chatter that made no sense whatsoever….
Yet inexplicably, it bothered me so much that my throat went dry.
***
The next day.
For the first time, I went to work at the observation post with a clear heart.
I even had lunch with my office mates—something I rarely did since becoming a civil servant.
As I was leaving work, I sent a letter to the Imperial Capital requesting new official documents, in good spirits—but….
The walk to the Magic Tower was anything but peaceful.
‘It’s just a rumor, so why does it keep nagging at me? Even if it were true, what do I care if Cade gets married or not? What does it have to do with me?’
Ever since I’d heard that absurd gossip at the Hart Countess’s estate yesterday, the thought kept filling my mind whenever I had a spare moment.
‘Get it together. You can’t afford to be this scattered at the Magic Tower.’
I tapped my cheeks with both hands to clear my head and stepped into the Tower.
When I first came to the Magic Tower, I’d feared I’d earn the distinction of being the first civil servant to die at the Tower Master’s hand, but I was still alive and well.
‘…If I hadn’t known Cade, I could have actually died that day, couldn’t I?’
With that thought, the Magic Tower’s lobby, which I’d grown somewhat used to, felt desolate.
I’d achieved an accomplishment, though not the one I’d expected.
“Investigator! How are you?”
It was the achievement: “Most Frequent Visitor to the Magic Tower Without Injury.”
By now, the other wizards in the lobby just looked at me with a “here we go again” expression.
“Hello. I came to meet the Tower Master—but….”
Today, for some reason, the wizards in the lobby were glancing at me in a way that felt off.

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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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