On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 48

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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 48
Even amid my humiliation, I could feel the eyes of the watchers and wizards fixed on me.
‘Why of all times, like this…!’
I slipped my gaze away from Cade’s stare and turned my eyes toward the man named Ben standing beside him.
“Ah, hello there, Ben.”
“What are you doing here…?”
Ben replied with a bewildered expression, and one of the watchers recognized me, his eyes widening.
“That’s the missing auction item! How did you hide inside there?”
‘Don’t call me an auction item!’
I was so embarrassed I wanted to faint right then and there.
Since reuniting with my ex, had anyone ever shown this many shameful sides of themselves?
I cradled the magical beasts in my arms and awkwardly tried to climb out of the box, when suddenly a silent pressure washed over me.
A strange, chilling sensation prickled across my skin, and when I looked up, I could tell at a glance what it was.
“…Auction item? Ah. Auction item. So I’m an auction item.”
The corners of Cade’s mouth curved upward in a crooked smile as he muttered to himself.
What I’d mistaken for an eerie pressure was his killing intent.
Despite his apparent illness, the magical beasts sensed that aura and trembled violently.
I was soothing the terrified beasts with my Attunement Ability when Cade tilted his head and looked straight at me.
“Who bought you?”
His gaze was sharp as the blade he carried, honed to a gleaming edge.
“I escaped halfway, so I… I don’t really know either…”
I let my words trail off and shook my head to convey my uncertainty.
“Hmm.”
Cade stroked his chin slowly as if deep in thought, then flicked his fingers slightly.
“Whoosh!”
In an instant, I was pulled to his side, gripping the magical beasts firmly so I wouldn’t drop them.
Ben brought a basket from somewhere and transferred the beasts into it.
The watchers, suddenly deprived of their auction item, clicked their tongues and produced scrolls.
It seemed they weren’t carrying just Defensive Scrolls.
But Cade’s magic wasn’t directed at them.
“Only I can touch a civil servant dispatched to the Magic Tower. Especially one I’ve spared intact more than once.”
“That’s nonsense—”
The watcher’s objection never finished.
The moment Cade’s fingertip slashed diagonally through the air, the top of the building I’d been trapped in was sliced clean away.
Crash. Crunch-crunch…
The severed portion of the building crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces.
As the dust settled, the devastated roof lay exposed.
“Treating someone I’ve spared as an auction item means you’re mocking me. Wouldn’t you say?”
“…”
The shocked watchers stood slack-jawed, staring blankly at the scene before them.
I could only stare blankly at the surreal vista myself.
Between my wildly streaming hair, a scene like some dark prophecy unfolded.
‘…Senior Simona. The Tower Master has gone mad and blown the roof clean off the building.’
***
I know magic is a formidable power, and I know the Tower Master is remarkable.
I’ve heard ad nauseam that Cade, the youngest Tower Master, is hailed as a prodigy wizard.
But I never imagined I’d witness him reduce an entire building to ruins in the blink of an eye.
Cade didn’t just slice the roof off—he split the outer wall in half, laying bare the illegal auction house and contraband in seconds.
Because it was near the coast, it wasn’t long before the Coast Guard came pouring in.
The bidders must have arranged escape routes beforehand in case the guards showed up.
Senior Simona, being sharp-witted, likely escaped safely.
‘This isn’t the time to worry about Senior Simona. I should be worried about myself.’
I swallowed a sigh and followed Cade into the Tower Master’s office.
My head was spinning from the successive Teleportations as the Coast Guard dragged injured auctioneers from the half-collapsed building.
I couldn’t even remember how I’d managed to pack at the inn and make it to the Magic Tower.
I couldn’t understand why Cade was in such a foul mood either.
He waited for my dizziness to pass, but even then he kept exhaling heavily, as though restraining his anger.
Even with my eyes downcast, I could vividly picture his expression, and my chest ached.
“Are you out of your mind? Of all places, why pick somewhere that sketchy? That inn screams trouble.”
He pressed the moment I seemed stable again.
Dangerous as the situation was, we weren’t the kind of people to worry about each other to the point of anger, were we?
What did it matter to him now where I’d stayed?
“I had nowhere better to stay, I—!”
I replied curtly, but then my bag was suddenly snatched away and my voice rose.
“What are you doing?”
“Civil servants keep records of every little thing—where they stay, how they move. You know that perfectly well.”
“…”
The argument was too sound for me to counter.
It seemed Cade had encountered quite a few civil servants in the past year.
He eventually found a letter from the Director.
It was a notice stating that lodging support had ended and I should rely on the Magic Tower’s hospitality instead.
I glanced at Cade’s blue eyes as he read the letter.
‘Why does embarrassing stuff keep happening around him? The Director was too much.’
How could they tell me to rely on the Magic Tower even though I could go in and out freely, when other civil servants had always fled in terror?
The Director was unfair, but apart from that, there was no way Cade would permit me to stay in the Magic Tower.
He folded the letter and handed it back to me, speaking firmly.
“Stay here at the Magic Tower as your superior says. It’ll be safer that way.”
“…?”
I’d expected him to refuse, so my response didn’t come immediately.
“Vivian. Tell me you’ll stay here.”
“I…”
Unable to agree or refuse outright, Cade narrowed his brow with an exasperated look.
“Is your pride really that important? Do you realize you almost died out there?”
“…I know! I know, but that doesn’t mean pride isn’t important! It matters to me! It really does!”
“You’re driving me mad.”
“Even someone without pride wouldn’t want to owe a debt to a man who hid his fiancée and approached her! Someone she doesn’t even want to see face-to-face! I dated that man for two years before he left me, so of course I’d feel even worse!”
“…”
Especially if I still harbored feelings for him, which made it worse.
As I vented my frustration, he made a dry swallowing motion again, as if suppressing something.
“Until you leave Melgote, you’re still my responsibility either way. Even if you’re injured outside the Magic Tower, they’ll think I did it in the Imperial Capital.”
“Then what changes? How many civil servants have you sent running with their hair on fire?”
“…You have nowhere else to go anyway. Don’t even mention going back to that kidnapping inn. You could have died there.”
My defiance crumbled at those words.
‘Could have… died.’
On my first night at the cheap inn, I was kidnapped by thugs.
I’d hidden with Senior Simona’s help, but if I’d been caught, my life might truly have been in danger.
If neither Senior Simona nor Cade had appeared in that moment…
Delayed fear crashed over me belatedly, and my shoulders trembled.
Even though it was all in the past, a chill ran through me, and I wrapped my arms around myself.
“I just mean stay somewhere safe. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”
Cade clicked his tongue and draped a blanket over my shoulders.
I was about to shrug it off, but decided against it.
I wasn’t cold, but the warmth wrapping around me slowly brought a sense of relief.
‘Somewhere safe.’
I turned his words over in my mouth.
The Magic Tower was certainly safe—as long as the Tower Master and wizards didn’t harbor ill will.
Besides, as Cade said, I had nowhere else to stay.
As a civil servant staying in an expensive inn in the capital on my own dime? That was out of the question.
Living in the same building as him would be awkward in many ways.
Resentment and disappointment still festered inside, making it uncomfortable to even look at him, and the thought of watching marriage negotiations with the Third Princess unfold before my eyes made my skin crawl.
Worst of all, if he discovered that despite hating him so much, I still hadn’t fully let him go, I might actually faint from shame.
‘It would be the worst. That can’t happen. I’d rather drown in the sea.’
Whether by fortune or misfortune, the more I dwelt on his misdeeds, the more hollow and bitter I felt—which meant I probably wouldn’t let my lingering feelings slip.
At least, not unless I was mistaken for trying to assassinate 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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