On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 33

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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 33
“How could I not love something this adorable, when it follows people so willingly?”
I patted the magical beast’s head and nudged it gently toward its master.
Cade watched with a troubled expression as the creature rolled at his feet.
‘Is he embarrassed about feeling affection for a magical beast?’
Whether Cade himself understood it or not, the wizards seemed to regard him as the youngest Tower Master—dignified, formidable, and unapproachable.
If he was conscious of that reputation at all, he might find it a little mortifying.
“There’s nothing strange about loving and cherishing a magical beast. I simply have my reasons for not being able to… care for a particular one. As for you—”
I hesitated over whether I should say this, but since the magical beast I’d rescued had become Cade’s familiar spirit, I hoped they would get along well.
“You liked flowers too, remember? Most men thought of them only as gifts to give to women.”
“……”
Cade said nothing, just tapped the creature’s tail with the tip of his shoe before asking, “So I didn’t use Black Magic, then?”
“Wouldn’t you know that better than anyone, as the one involved?”
“……I suppose.”
Puzzled by his vague response, I ran my Attunement Ability over the magical beast once more.
He seemed worried that he might have used Black Magic without realizing it.
He was more than just a wizard—he was the Tower Master, the master of the Magic Tower itself, so his concern made sense. Still, wasn’t he being a bit oversensitive?
“Hmm. I don’t sense anything suspicious from the beast. Of course, now that I’ve become an Attuner, I can detect the flow of magical power to some degree, but I’ve never experienced Black Magic and don’t know much about magic in general.”
I’d only learned about familiar spirits from reading books about magical beasts—it wasn’t a field I’d deliberately studied.
“Besides, Black Magic has long since disappeared. What are you worried about?”
I asked as if it made no sense, and Cade flinched before finally looking at me.
Then he relaxed his rigid expression and shook his head.
“The previous Tower Master mentioned familiar spirits to me once, but I only learned about them from books. I must have gotten confused.”
I nodded understandingly. If I hadn’t been an Attuner, I would never have known this magical beast was a familiar spirit just from reading about it.
“I don’t need a familiar spirit anyway.”
“Can’t you release it?”
“I’ve already let go of the leash on my end, but the creature won’t leave. Even if I forced it away, if it becomes a familiar spirit every time I give it magical power, there’s no point.”
It was my first time seeing a familiar spirit in person, so I simply found it fascinating. Yet somehow, the combination of Cade and this white fox felt endearing.
If the two of them were to walk around together, people might be less frightened of the reckless Tower Master.
Though if the beast were to expand to enormous size, they’d probably be twice as afraid…
“In any case, doesn’t this mean it’s grown on you?”
“The creature is the one who’s taken a liking… never mind.”
At Cade’s weary remark, an idea came to me.
“Then let’s give it a name. It’s your familiar spirit—we can’t just keep calling it a magical beast.”
“I don’t care what it’s called. You name it.”
“But it’s your familiar—”
“It’ll prefer a name you give it.”
A familiar that doesn’t leave even when released from the leash would naturally treasure a name given by its master most of all.
But seeing how he said he didn’t need a familiar spirit, it seemed like he still found it annoying to have the creature following him around.
‘Then I’ll give it a name.’
I locked eyes with the beast and stared at it intently, then spoke the first name that came to mind.
“From now on, your name is Tris. Short for Lyatris.”
[Chirp!]
Tris cried out in a bright, pleased tone, clearly delighted with her new name.
Cade repeated the name to himself several times before murmuring, “It’s a flower name.”
Since he was the familiar of someone who loved flowers, a flower name was the first thing that came to mind.
“Don’t you like it?”
“……No. It’s fine. Tris.”
When Cade called her name, Tris bounced around the office in excitement, suddenly sweeping her tail across a box of letters and scattering them everywhere.
Cade squeezed his eyes shut with an exasperated expression, then with just a subtle movement of his fingertips, organized all the correspondence instantly.
Watching him do this, something suddenly occurred to me.
‘Could it be that among those letters is something about a marriage proposal with Her Highness the Princess…?’
I opened my mouth that had been sealed shut, stroking Tris, who had fled into my arms.
“Cade. Did you perhaps receive any special correspondence from the Imperial Palace?”
“Special correspondence? Letters arrive constantly—it’s tedious.”
Cade answered indifferently while placing the official documents into the box overflowing with letters and burned the entire thing.
“Just… something with different contents than usual. Something shocking, perhaps?”
“……?”
“Not if you say no! I was just asking. It doesn’t mean anything.”
From his reaction, it seemed he hadn’t received any such letter.
I felt oddly embarrassed for asking Cade something so ridiculous based on gossip.
Whether it was the rumor about marrying the princess or Lana’s words suggesting we had some special relationship… either way, people’s attention had a way of creating the strangest rumors about the Tower Master, especially now that such a young man held the position.
‘If baseless rumors spread about me and my connection to him, then rumors between the Tower Master and the Imperial Family would be even worse.’
The thought lightened my mood.
‘……Of course, it doesn’t matter to me who Cade marries! Not at all!’
To shake off the embarrassment, I slapped the last stack of official documents onto the table all at once.
Cade then floated all those papers into the air, and on the now-empty table, materialized a teacup.
“Drink. You’re my most frequent civil servant visitor—I’ve never once offered you tea.”
“Oh, thank you.”
I felt oddly disconcerted by his sudden hospitality.
I couldn’t tell if he was being kind or maintaining distance.
The tea, infused with flower petals, was warm and fragrant, yet all the more did the cold air between us become apparent.
‘We’re already so distant—what strange thoughts are these.’
As I held the teacup in both hands and fidgeted with it, I caught Cade’s profile reflected in the mirror.
This was the face I’d first seen him with in the Library—that concentrated profile.
Back then, I never dreamed I would come to date such a handsome man.
……Or that we would break up.
As I stared at his reflection in the mirror, he seemed to feel my gaze and glanced back at it.
Making eye contact through the mirror, I asked before he could react.
“Why were you a librarian?”
At that, Cade shifted his gaze from the mirror to me directly.
I turned to face the real Cade and asked again.
“Being a librarian isn’t exactly an impressive job for impressing women. Why pretend to be one?”
He seemed entirely caught off guard by the question. After a pause, he finally spoke.
“I wanted to find something, and I thought it might be in a book.”
“Hmm? You don’t need to be a librarian just to read books……”
As I tilted my head in response, something suddenly dawned on me.
“You needed a book from the Restricted Section, didn’t you?”
It was the right guess—Cade shrugged and burned all the remaining official documents at once.
“So you don’t have to pretend to be a librarian anymore?”
“The Tower Master’s Library has more forbidden books than the Library’s Restricted Section.”
“Oh, so there are forbidden books in that mirror’s Library……?”
I nodded in understanding, then lightning struck my mind.
“……!”
I set down the teacup and jumped to my feet. The startled Tris leaped up with me.
[Chirp-chirp!]
Cade, who was sweeping aside the ashes of the burned documents, flinched as well.
“Cade. You asked if I had anything I needed help with, remember? Is that offer still valid?”
“Didn’t that end when I agreed to stamp the official seal?”
“I’m not just asking for help. I’ll help with whatever you need in return.”
Confident in my offer, Cade raised his eyebrows slightly in skepticism and asked, “What?”
There was the perfect place right under my nose to investigate the strange phenomenon that had occurred when I synchronized with the Crystal Whale.
A place where there would be many books on magic and magical beasts.
A place where I could freely read even ancient texts in foreign languages that were classified as restricted in the Library.
“Will you let me into that Library in the mirror?”
It was the Tower Master’s personal Library.

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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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