On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 50

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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 50
The unfamiliar ceiling swam into focus the moment my eyes opened, and my mind sputtered trying to catch up.
I’d moved between so many places in such a short span that it took me a moment to place where I was.
[Beep.]
“Tris? Sleep well?”
Tris, curled tight against my ribs, stretched luxuriously.
Still drowsy, I ran my fingers through her soft fur, and it felt like heaven itself.
Lying still, I turned my head and caught sight of a hazy sky through the window.
The room they’d given me faced away from the sea.
Though the quarters sat adjacent to the water, the window opened only onto sky and the sprawling vista of Melgote.
It was the first time since arriving in Melgote that I’d looked out at the view without unease.
‘……Did someone deliberately choose a room where I couldn’t see the sea?’
I didn’t know if Cade had picked this room himself, but it felt as though someone who knew I disliked looking at the ocean had taken care to spare me the sight.
‘That’s probably just wishful thinking.’
The Tower Master wasn’t so idle that he’d personally examine every spare room for visiting guests.
It had to be coincidence, nothing more.
I was in the middle of coaxing Tris up when I caught sight of what lay beyond the bed and froze.
“What—what is all this?!”
Magical Beasts filled the room below the bed, packed shoulder to shoulder.
They crowded just inside the doorway, which I hadn’t even realized was open, huddled together in a tangle of limbs and warmth.
“Where did you all come from……?”
The Magical Beasts were in a state of profound contentment.
It seemed the drowsy, peaceful warmth I felt wasn’t mine alone.
‘Well. We had that huge incident last night, and I woke up in the same building as Cade. It’s not like things can be all good right now.’
I studied the Magical Beasts scattered across the floor with care.
Mixed among the ones I’d seen coming and going from the Magic Tower were the creatures I’d helped rescue yesterday.
Those beasts had been weakened enough that we’d planned to isolate them safely today before sending them to the sanctuary.
I had no idea how they’d managed to find their way here.
‘They look better than they did yesterday, though. That’s a relief.’
I reached down from the bed and a rabbit-like Magical Beast perked its ears, pressing its head against my palm.
How could such a creature trust a hand so much larger and stranger than itself?
Innocent faith and affection always caught something in my chest.
As I stroked the soft ears and head, a thought occurred to me.
The Magical Beasts seemed to feel a deeper sense of ease and familiarity toward me than before.
It wasn’t uncommon for one or two beasts with good temperaments to approach an Attuner first, but for so many to fall asleep peacefully beside me was rare. Unheard of, really.
Most Magical Beasts, after all, had spent their lives in the wild and instinctively understood that sleep was when they were most vulnerable.
Yet these creatures felt such positive emotion toward me that it kindled a strange warmth in my own chest.
‘I didn’t even use my Attunement Ability, and yet they like me this much. That’s strange.’
What struck me as odd was that not a single beast besides Tris had climbed onto the bed.
The floor was so crowded they’d have been packed tight, uncomfortable enough that one or two should have taken to the mattress.
But the moment that thought crossed my mind, the rabbit-like beast nuzzling my hand caught hold of the blanket and began creeping up onto the bed.
I shifted to give it easy access.
Suddenly Tris bounded into that space, dropping into a crouch as she bared her teeth in warning.
[Grrr.]
[Whimper…….]
The rabbit-beast’s spirit broke at once, and it abandoned its attempt to climb onto the mattress.
Tris held her head and tail high, self-satisfied, and planted herself squarely on my lap.
“……?”
I stared at this display, then laughed despite myself.
Now I understood why the other beasts hadn’t crawled onto the bed all night.
“So this spot next to me is yours? You’re supposed to be Cade’s familiar.”
[Beep?]
Tris tilted her head as if she had no idea what I was talking about.
This clever creature clearly knew exactly how adorable she was.
I had no choice but to pull her close and nuzzle into her fur.
‘Now that I think about it, has any creature ever shown me this kind of attachment before? Not like this.’
Thinking back, the moment when Magical Beasts had begun to follow me around and show such affection was after that strange incident that happened while I was attuning with the Crystal Whale.
Nothing remarkable had happened since then.
The beasts in the box I’d hidden in yesterday should have been even more irritable because of their injuries, whimpering and anxious.
Yet they wanted to be near me, and worse—worse!—one was a familiar that seemed to love me more than its own master.
‘This isn’t normal.’
Troubled, as I surveyed the beasts around me, another anomaly surfaced in my mind.
‘Could my being trapped in Melgote be connected to that, somehow?’
Cade had said my Attunement Ability had caused a collision with Melgote’s Barrier.
When I first heard that, I’d assumed the problem lay with the Barrier, not my ability.
If something had the power to confine, it seemed more fitting for a Barrier than for Attunement.
But thinking it through more carefully, I couldn’t rule out that there was something wrong with my Attunement Ability itself—something that caused all of this.
‘Could I be having a bad effect on the Magical Beasts?’
I lifted Tris up to examine her more closely.
[Beep?]
The sweet creature hung obediently in my hands, ears perked.
‘Tris is a Magical Beast I rescued from a whaling ship, so that explains her. But what about the others?’
The fog of worry suddenly cleared as I remembered a fact I’d overlooked, and I set Tris down limply.
‘Teleportation to the sanctuary in Ginstown worked fine. So why was I trapped here?’
Cradling my head as the confusion deepened, I let out a low groan, and the awakened Magical Beasts whimpered in response.
Tris licked my arm gently in comfort.
“No, it’s all right. You all just eat, sleep, and lounge around in this warm room. That’s all you need to do.”
After a long stretch under the covers, I finally rose and extended my limbs properly.
Fortunately or unfortunately, I was in the Magic Tower.
It was the perfect place to uncover why I’d been trapped in Melgote.
‘It’s inconvenient to see his face right after waking, but there’s no help for it.’
I rose and navigated carefully around the stretching Magical Beasts, heading for the bathroom.
***
After sending word to Simona with an inquiry about how she’d fared the night and a freshly laundered coat, I made my way to the Tower Master’s office.
Cade stared at me with an expression of frank surprise.
“……Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I didn’t think you’d seek me out. Not on your first day in the tower.”
“Don’t tell me you think I came looking for you because I wanted to see you first thing this morning?”
I’d been about to press further, but caught myself—reminding myself that I was the one in need here.
“I need something.”
“You were told you could ask Ben or Rana. Are you uncomfortable?”
“They can’t help with this. I need to go into the Mirror Library.”
“…….”
Cade’s gaze cooled as he regarded me in silence, then let out a small laugh.
“You’d already given me permission to use the library before. You’re not taking that back now, are you? Besides, I’m not even going to the Observatory anymore, so I have time to spare. I might be able to find something in the library’s books about why I was trapped in Melgote. And…….”
Unable to fathom what his laugh meant, I found myself rambling through justifications.
When the words ran out, he shrugged.
“I wasn’t planning to take it back.”
“Then why did you laugh like that?”
“I’d think you’d find my face repulsive. It seemed very like you.”
“……?”
His quiet laugh was so gentle that I flinched. Why did he have to laugh in a way that unsettled me?
Cade rose from his seat and stood before the mirror.
Thinking he meant to let me through at once, I stepped forward hastily and reached out my hand.
“Ah…….”
He froze for a moment, then gave a soft chuckle and placed Tris in my arms.
“Go in with Tris. She’s infused with plenty of my Magical Power, so you won’t have any trouble coming and going.”

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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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