On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 57

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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 57
“……!”
I held my breath, frozen in place, but Cade showed no sign of pulling away.
When I cried out in helpless confusion—”Cade!”—he finally snapped his fingers.
“I was waiting for the powder to settle completely.”
With that single gesture, the clothes that had been clinging to me like a lie fell away at once.
I smoothed the shoulder of my uniform where it had cleanly separated and quickly backed away from him.
It felt strange—I could still sense his heartbeat through the palm pressed against my shoulder.
“So, Rana plays pranks like this?”
“Sometimes. I’ll handle this one.”
Cade, who had been feeling around his chest, picked up the closed pink box—the same one I’d seen the first time.
“Every now and then, without fail, she causes trouble.”
“Tell the box it’s cute, but it can’t do things like this.”
“Scold her? No one got hurt, and it was just a joke.”
Rana had made a habit of probing me every so often, asking if I’d like to meet the Tower Master.
Today’s prank might have been part of that plan.
“Regardless, I’m not a wizard. Pulling this on a normal person is just a mean trick.”
“Hmm. It’s well-made, so I’m not sure whether to scold her or praise her.”
Cade didn’t seem to have any real intention of disciplining Rana.
I decided not to push him further—it would only look like I was pestering him to punish a child.
Besides, I had no place inserting myself into a Tower Master’s discipline of a young wizard.
“Then rest.”
He left only a faint farewell before vanishing suddenly, like pink smoke.
The room, with only wind blowing through the open window, suddenly felt hollow.
***
Sleep wouldn’t come that night.
For no reason, I felt an odd tingling sensation and found myself touching my shoulder.
I pulled an extra pillow close and buried my face in it.
‘I never expected Cade to help so actively. Deploying wizards and everything.’
At first, he’d seemed entirely indifferent to the state of the harbor, but perhaps I’d misjudged.
I’d thought that once the monster beasts were culled, he’d wash his hands of the whole affair—so his earnest help was genuinely surprising.
Could it be that he cares about what happens within Melgote after all?
‘Hm. And when did he become such a good, virtuous person.’
I was grateful that he’d unhesitatingly helped rebuild the harbor, yet something felt twisted inside.
It was like knowing alone the true face of a demon masquerading as an angel.
I only realized how childish that thought was after I’d been grumbling about it to myself for quite some time.
‘……If I keep this up, I’ll be awake all night with my eyes open.’
Just as I was trying to shake off thoughts of Cade and drift to sleep, I felt movement at the door.
I was startled for a moment, but then realized it was Tris, which alarmed me further.
I’d never actually seen Tris enter my room in the middle of the night before.
It seemed she had been prowling restlessly for a while.
“Come here, Tris.”
[Squeak?]
Tris seemed puzzled that I was awake when she climbed onto the bed.
I reached out and stroked her soft fur as she bounded up.
“Tris. You worked hard today too. You were really dependable and wonderful.”
[Chirp.]
Tris held her tail up proudly and wagged it, then burrowed into the blankets.
Now she settled beside me with practiced ease.
‘How can such an adorable familiar belong to Cade. It doesn’t suit him at all.’
My consciousness began to drift away as I shared Tris’s warm body heat.
I thought I’d barely fallen into a light sleep, but how long had I actually been resting?
[Whimper… Low growl……]
I woke to the sound of her whining.
“……Tris?”
[Whine……]
I’m not sure when she’d started, but Tris was curled in on herself, trembling.
I panicked immediately and checked the Magical Beast’s condition.
“Tris. Are you hurt somewhere? Did you overexert yourself today?”
Moving logs with her large form must have been exhausting.
She didn’t seem ill or injured, yet she was clearly suffering.
I soothed her with my Attunement Ability, trying to ease her distress.
“What’s wrong? Hmm? Did you have a bad dream?”
Then, unexpectedly, a sense of déjà vu struck me about Tris’s state.
‘A dream? Could it be….’
Though Tris slept at my side every night and followed me around whenever she could during the day, she was still Cade’s familiar.
Tris’s body and mind could only be affected by Cade’s condition.
‘Something’s happened to Cade.’
I thought I understood what it might be, so I got out of bed and threw a thin cardigan over my nightclothes.
“Tris. Can you take me to your master? Can you do that?”
[Squeak……]
Tris trembled in my arms but wagged her tail softly.
‘I’m just repaying him for his effort in the harbor reconstruction. The Empire won’t compensate him, after all.’
I repeated those words to myself as I stepped into the quiet corridor.
Fortunately, I didn’t encounter anyone on the way to his study.
The study door responded to Cade’s mana that Tris carried and opened of its own accord.
The darkened study had a hushed, desolate atmosphere.
For the first time, I noticed there was a door connecting to a bedroom inside.
As I carefully opened it and entered, I heard groaning sounds just as I’d expected.
“Cade?”
“Ugh… Hm……”
As predicted, he was tormented by nightmares.
When we’d been together, Cade had often suffered terribly from nightmares.
‘On nights like this, even waking him doesn’t work well.’
I set Tris down on a large cushion and sat on the edge of the bed.
“…….”
Now that I was here, I couldn’t bring myself to move.
As I hesitated, both Cade and Tris grew increasingly distressed.
“Stop…… Please…….”
[Growl…… Whimper……]
“Okay. I understand. I can do this. I can manage. It’s not like I haven’t done it once or twice.”
I murmured those words—I couldn’t tell who I was saying them to—as I steeled my resolve.
Then, slowly, I leaned toward him.
With each moment his face drew closer, my heart raced faster.
I only wanted to help, yet it felt as if I were doing something wrong to a sleeping man.
‘What am I doing.’
I shut my eyes tight and brought my lips close to his ear.
Whistle—
Whistle. Whiiis—
I patted his chest and whistled—the faintest, most delicate whistle.
So that he would know, trapped in nightmare, that I was here.
It was our secret cipher, a code between us alone to soothe him when he floundered in nightmares.
Fortunately, the code still worked.
As the whistle reached him in his dream, Cade gradually grew calm.
Confirming that Tris too had eased, I lifted my body away from him.
Without thinking, I reached my hand up to my cold-sweat-dampened forehead before stopping short.
‘This isn’t right. Get a hold of yourself.’
I didn’t understand why such habits still clung to my body.
Just as I deliberately turned my eyes away from Cade, I noticed a familiar object.
The pink box sat on the nightstand beside the bed.
It was the box he’d said he would dispose of.
‘…… Why is that sparkling again?’
Before I could even finish harboring that ominous doubt, the box burst open with a pop.
“Oh!”
I startled at the cascading pink smoke and immediately looked toward the window.
I reached my arm toward the window beside the bed.
In that instant, the restless Cade suddenly pulled my waist toward him.
I toppled forward and found myself buried in his arms.
“……!”
My heart lurched, and I tried to pull away immediately, but I couldn’t.
Just as it had been in my room when the smoke caught me, the clothes we wore clung to each other with a sticky sound.
“…… Cade. Cade?”
Growing desperate, I gently tapped his shoulders to wake him.
“Viv… ian?”
Cade’s drowsy voice came from near my head.
“I-I can explain all of this. This isn’t as weird as it looks, what happened is—”
My stammering excuse didn’t find its end.
His arms encircled my shoulders and waist, holding me so tightly I couldn’t move an inch.
My body, which had been struggling to free itself from him, was now pressed flush against him—I couldn’t even push him away.
“W-wait a moment. Cade……!”
I called out desperately, but Cade only fell back asleep, his breathing steady and deep.
On nights when he suffered from nightmares, he was nearly impossible to wake.
‘Oh, I’m going crazy! Rana!’

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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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