On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 39

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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 39
“Don’t you think there’s a reason he acted that way?”
“I know you dislike the Grand Duke of Melgote, but that person just now wasn’t the Grand Duke or anyone from the Imperial Family. He’d done nothing wrong.”
When Tris spoke in that reproachful tone, Cade let out a soft laugh.
“Done nothing wrong? A man with nothing to hide wouldn’t be carrying something like this.”
He tossed the black cloth he’d been holding into the air.
As it unfurled, a grotesque magic circle covered in chaotic bloodstains became visible against the cloth.
“It’s a Dark Magic Artifact.”
“W-what did you say? ……But I don’t feel anything?”
I flinched and stumbled backward, but the cloth emitted no unsettling sensation—not even a trace of magical power.
Cade gathered the black cloth into his palm and tossed it into the mirror connected to the Library.
“It’s already spent its purpose. Now it’s just a hollow shell.”
“Did you… attack him without realizing that?”
“Perhaps.”
The answer was vague, yet somehow it didn’t feel entirely true.
If it really was just a shell as he said, why had he injured the man’s arm at all?
“If you’d sensed a Dark Magic Artifact, of course you’d be alarmed—but you should have told me and asked me to report it directly to the Imperial Capital. That would have been the right course.”
“Report to the Imperial Capital? How am I supposed to trust them with that? It’s absurd.”
“That way, you’d catch the grave robber who excavated it and the fence who sold it. The Grand Duke’s servant would face proper legal punishment too.”
“Vivian. Please stop talking so naively.”
His constant cynicism was starting to wear on me.
“I know you don’t want to get tangled up with the Imperial Government, but can’t you just bear it for a little while?”
“You have no idea how much I’m already bearing.”
“Then what exactly are you bearing?”
I bristled, unable to forget the trembling of the magical beast cradled in the fleeing servant’s arms.
“That person who came today was just doing his job! He wasn’t even some civil servant you’re so sick of!”
“So I let him live, didn’t I?”
“But you injured him! He was bleeding heavily! And the magical beast that came with him was trembling in terror!”
I raised my voice in anger, then caught myself a moment too late, belatedly realizing how worked up I’d become. I tried to lower my tone.
“……What I mean is, this is just vigilante justice and an abuse of authority. Everything has proper procedures.”
Cade clenched his jaw as if holding something back, then exhaled a weary sigh.
“Why are you suddenly like this?”
The composure he’d shown earlier when returning to his office had evaporated—raw irritation was bleeding through despite his best efforts to contain it.
Affected by his emotions, Tris grew uneasy as well, whimpering while hovering at my side.
I soothed Tris’s feelings while turning to Cade. “Why are you suddenly acting this way? You threaten and chase off every civil servant who comes calling. Now you’re even hurting people’s arms……. Why do you have to torment people like that?”
“It’s easier to be frightening than to be pitied.”
“That’s…….”
At his self-deprecating tone, I closed my mouth firmly, abandoning whatever I’d been about to say.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask if that remark was about the Former Magic Tower Master.
“The Former Magic Tower Master brought Cade to the Tower, didn’t he? He must be someone particularly precious to him.”
From what I understood, the Former Magic Tower Master was a stern man, yet capable of compassion.
Though everyone always added that this was only in comparison to the Tower Masters of old, he apparently complied fairly well with the Imperial Government’s requests.
‘It doesn’t seem like that alone would make people dismiss the Former Magic Tower Master.’
I decided to hold back my further complaints and try to wrap up this conversation.
“People are already afraid of you. Nobody’s going to mock you. I think that’s enough.”
“Stop.”
But Cade wouldn’t even accept that, cutting me off mid-sentence.
Then he pressed his wrinkled brow hard and spoke coldly.
“Once you get my seal on the Official Document, you’re going back to the Imperial Capital.”
“I suppose so.”
“Since I’m leaving soon anyway, can’t we get along without friction until then?”
“…….”
“You’re a civil servant sent from the Imperial Capital too. You came here to work. I’ve been treating you with reasonable kindness, haven’t I? Isn’t that enough?”
He ended with a question, but there was no expectation of an answer in his eyes—only pressure for me to accept his terms.
‘Again.’
I bit my lip hard against his icy gaze and barbed words.
Ever since we’d reunited, Cade seemed to draw closer for a moment, only to erect an even higher wall and pull away again.
Standing before that wall, every word I spoke felt meaningless.
Even though we spoke the Imperial Common Language identically, it felt like we were conversing in entirely different tongues.
“I want to borrow some books from the Library.”
The words tumbled out impulsively, and Cade’s eyes sharpened as he turned to look at me. He let out a mocking laugh and strode toward me deliberately.
“Why. Are you tired of coming here now?”
As he advanced, I backpedaled until my back struck the wall with a soft thud. Just when I realized I had nowhere left to retreat, the toe of his shoe touched the tip of my nose.
His gaze bearing down on me was too close, and his eyes were such a sharp, cold blue that I had no choice but to look away.
“I-I just thought… there’s no need to come every day, is there? And it doesn’t seem like you’d want someone who isn’t even a Wizard frequenting the Library…….”
“Who decides that?”
His mood darkened with displeasure, and Tris’s tail stood straight up in alarm.
Cade pointed slowly toward the mirror leading to the Library.
“Nothing in there leaves the Tower. If you want the books from the Library, whether you like it or not, you’ll have to come here every day until you leave Melgote.”
“Now you’re trying to frighten and torment me too?”
Before I could finish speaking, his hand gripped my chin and tilted my face upward.
“What—”
“If I’d meant to torment you, I would have…….”
His words trailed off. He clenched his teeth, released my chin, and slowly stepped back, brushing his beige hair over his shoulder.
His displeasure seemed deliberately suppressed, yet the atmosphere around him remained sharp as the short dagger he carried.
“My farewell to you back then was too brief. This time, I think I need more time to say goodbye.”
“……!”
He’d never before openly mentioned the day he’d parted from me, and shock surged through me with sudden force.
Flushed with shame and longing, I hurried out of the room, covering my burning face.
‘How could he say something like that……!’
My face was so hot that the cold night breeze of Melgote felt wonderfully refreshing against my skin.
***
‘……Wretched man. No luck, no manners, despicable wretch.’
I handed the documents to Maren at the desk next to mine, mentally cursing the reckless Tower Master.
‘Why did he grab my chin? He didn’t need to come that close.’
Since fleeing the Tower that night, two days had passed without me going to see Cade.
I couldn’t very well come running back with my tail wagging like a bound familiar after hearing words like that.
‘I may be waiting for the Tower Master’s seal, but I haven’t lost my dignity.’
Even as I silently grumbled to myself, I apparently couldn’t hide my displeasure entirely, because Maren hesitantly asked about it.
“Vivian, your expression has been troubled lately. Is everything all right?”
“Oh. Yes, Maren. I’m fine.”
I answered reflexively, but embarrassment caught up with me a moment later.
“Have I really been like that? It’s nothing serious—just poor sleep. Since I’ve been staying longer at the inn than expected…….”
I rambled on with whatever came to mind, and Maren nodded seriously.
“That would make sense. No matter how nice the guest room is, it can’t match the comfort of your own home…….”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
I made a deliberate effort to relax my expression and smile.
Just then, a call came through from the observatory control room asking me to visit immediately.
I hurried down to the control room near the observatory entrance, where a postal worker was waiting for me.
“Vivian Solling, Inspector?”
“Yes. That’s me.”
He verified my civil servant identification card, handed me a thick envelope, and had me sign a receipt for direct delivery before finally departing.
This wasn’t a letter to be stored in the control room and transferred later—it was correspondence I needed to receive directly from the postal worker.
‘An official document!’
I instinctively realized that the letter in my hands was the long-awaited new Official Document.
I glanced around the empty corridor, then quietly pulled the letter open.
It was from the Director. Summarized, it said that due to careful deliberation, the Official Document had taken longer to prepare.
‘What will an Official Document prepared after such careful consideration say?’
Excited and curious, I unfolded the document itself. To my surprise, it wasn’t from the Director at all, but from the Ministry of Interior. And its contents…….
「……In order to promote peaceful relations between the Imperial Government and the Magic Tower, we shall proceed with the marriage between the noble Third Princess and the Tower Master.」

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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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