On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 45

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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 45
“What’s wrong with this thing?”
The Coachman descended from the carriage to inspect the wheels and horse, concerned something had gone amiss.
Finding nothing wrong, he prepared to depart again, but the carriage lurched forward only to stop short.
“What’s the matter?”
Growing impatient, I asked, and the Coachman admitted in bewilderment that the carriage simply wouldn’t move any farther.
I stepped down to examine the wheels myself, but found nothing amiss.
That was when it happened.
As I walked forward to check on the horse, an invisible wall blocked my path.
“……Hm?”
I tried again, even shifted position, but met the same resistance.
“Why, why is this happening?”
I pressed my hand against the empty air, pushing hard against the transparent barrier.
“Inspector? What’s the matter?”
The Coachman turned back from tending to the horse.
Confused and bewildered, I beat my fists against the invisible wall.
“Inspector?”
The Coachman stared at me as though I’d lost my mind and took a step back. Then, without concern, he simply walked out of Melgote.
After a moment’s thought, I gestured toward the carriage.
“Try leaving Melgote without me. Can you?”
“What? Ah, yes. Let me try.”
The carriage, empty of my weight, departed Melgote without a single problem.
When I tried to climb back aboard beyond the boundary, an invisible force pushed me back.
Now I understood.
‘This can’t be real.’
The Coachman moved freely in and out of Melgote’s boundary. I could not cross it.
‘This is a barrier.’
I couldn’t take a single step outside Melgote.
As my blood boiled, I glared up at the top of the Magic Tower.
There was only one person capable of such a thing—and willing to do it. Cade.
I turned the carriage around at once and made for the Magic Tower.
‘Petty to the bitter end.’
It was utterly childish spite, through and through.
***
I burst through his office door without so much as a knock.
Cade sat at his desk reviewing documents, and he didn’t even look startled.
As I stood there seething, he gestured to Ben, who stood near the door.
“That’s all. Go. Make sure no one disturbs me for a while.”
Ben offered a brief acknowledgment and closed the door behind him.
The moment we were alone, I let loose.
“Isn’t one farewell enough for you?”
“What?”
“You trap someone inside a barrier and call that a goodbye? What do I have to do to end this—stab you with a blade?”
“Wait. Just wait.”
Cade rose from his chair, his brow creasing at my torrent of words.
“What are you talking about?”
His shameless pretense of ignorance made my irritation flare hot.
I slammed my palm against his desk. “Now you deny it? I can’t leave Melgote. Not a single step beyond the boundary. If not you, then who else could do this?”
“……Can’t leave Melgote?”
His expression shifted, becoming serious in a way that looked genuine.
As he seemed truly hearing this for the first time, my anger began to ebb.
‘Could he really not know?’
While I studied him with suspicion, Cade crossed the distance between us in just a few long strides.
“Tell me exactly. No—better yet, let me see for myself.”
Without waiting for a response, he took my hand and teleported us both to Melgote’s boundary.
The world lurched around us, and I staggered from the disorientation. He steadied me firmly.
“If it’s too bad, sit for a moment.”
“I’m fine. Let go.”
Still unsteady, I wrenched free and walked purposefully toward the barrier.
I struck the empty air with my fists, then tried shouldering through the invisible wall.
As I’d discovered before, nothing would let me pass.
“Release it. Now. I can’t stay here another day.”
“…….”
Cade’s expression hardened, becoming stony and tense.
He scanned the invisible barrier with his magical power, examining it carefully. When I held out my hand to him, he extended his to take mine.
“Are you still dizzy?”
“……I’m all right.”
Understanding what he meant, I took his hand with a curt reply.
Cade attempted to teleport us both beyond Melgote’s boundary.
But only he moved. I remained standing in the same spot.
His expression confused, he tried to teleport us again.
My body stayed exactly where it was.
I remained inside the barrier. Cade stood outside.
Only he had moved.
As if struck, he stood motionless on the far side of the boundary, then suddenly swung his hand in a wide arc.
A torrent of magical energy erupted from his fingertips, tearing through the air before dissipating.
Yet the barrier held firm.
“It won’t work.”
Cade’s face fell into despair as he sank to the ground.
“Why now of all times…….”
“……?”
I took a startled step backward.
‘It wasn’t Cade. It really wasn’t.’
That expression made it clear—I was trapped in Melgote, but not by him.
Then who had done this?
A despair on an entirely different scale descended onto my shoulders.
If even the Tower Master didn’t understand what was happening…….
I was hopelessly trapped in Melgote.
‘Why……?’
I stared at Cade blankly, and he walked back through the boundary toward me.
His despair had vanished as if it never was. He moved with calm composure now.
“Come on. I’ll take you to the inn for now. I’ll find a way out of this.”
Cade brought me to the inn and left immediately after.
But the next day, nothing had changed.
At first light, Cade came to the inn.
“It seems to be a conflict between your Attunement Ability and the barrier itself. I don’t know the exact cause yet.”
“……!”
The answer wasn’t what I’d hoped for. “So you don’t know how long I’ll be trapped here either?”
“Not at the moment. I’ll keep looking for solutions. ……If word of this spreads among the Mages, it could cause real problems.”
“Good heavens.”
I sighed and sank onto the bed. Cade hesitated before speaking.
“I’m telling you this so there’s no misunderstanding. I didn’t bind you to Melgote. This wasn’t me.”
“……I believe you.”
I never thought I’d find myself trusting his word again like this.
But faced with such a bewildering crisis, I needed to believe that the Tower Master was trying to solve it—needed that anchor to keep my mind from unraveling.
***
Several days later.
Regardless of my mental state, circumstances grew dire.
A response to my letter explaining that I couldn’t leave Melgote arrived, but there was no help to be found in it, even if I squinted.
I read through the Bureau Chief’s letter again, line by line, until my head felt numb.
‘Bureau Chief…….’
He suggested I should be grateful, since he couldn’t support my lodging anymore—why not stay at the Magic Tower and subtly push the Tower Master for his seal?
‘Bureau Chief……!’
Of course, he didn’t know what I was to Cade, so he’d thought nothing of sending such a letter.
He wanted me to stay at the Magic Tower with Cade while his sickly fiancée waited at home.
He wanted me to play the role of another woman. A shameful, despicable man.
‘I can’t do that. I’ll find somewhere else.’
Safe, well-maintained inns in the city center charged dearly for their rooms.
Without the government’s support, I couldn’t afford to stay for more than a few days.
I considered taking on additional assignment work at the Observatory and sleeping in the duty quarters, but they were already packed with researchers and apprentices from the Academy.
Simona’s mansion lay just beyond Melgote’s perilous boundary—I couldn’t ask for help there.
‘I can’t impose on the Duke’s Mansion either.’
That place carried an unsettling, ominous presence that crawled over my skin like insects. The very thought made me recoil, my spine tingling with unease.
A single night there would either give me nightmares or leave me possessed by some malevolent spirit.
So that left me with only one choice.
‘Frightening as it is, I’ll have to find a cheap inn outside the city center.’
Thus I arrived at a shabby lodging on the outskirts, its atmosphere cold and rundown.
“…….”
Every movement I made drew the eyes of people watching for outsiders. Their gazes followed me.
“I need a room. I’ll stay for two nights, at least.”
Their constant attention to my coat pockets and bag made my heart race with anxiety.
I hurried into the room and locked the door behind me.
‘The Tower Master said they’d investigate. I’ll be able to return to the Imperial Capital soon. I shouldn’t worry too much.’
I lay on the bed, trying to soothe my anxious mind with such vague reassurances.
But I couldn’t fall into deep sleep. I tossed and turned for a long while before my eyes snapped open.
‘It’s far too loud!’

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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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