On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 58

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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 58
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath.
The firm body pressed against mine and the rhythmic thudding of his heartbeat registered with perfect clarity.
My own heart, by contrast, hammered as though it might burst through my ribs, and every muscle in my body was wound so tight I felt I might shatter at the slightest touch.
Cade could have broken this spell in an instant, but he was useless to me now.
“Tris. Will you help me?”
[Chirp?]
Tris’s ears perked up at my call. The beast had finally composed itself, no longer trembling or whimpering.
Tris was all I had to rely on now.
I pleaded with the creature desperately.
“You have Cade’s magical power, so couldn’t you dispel this spell? Tris. Will you try?”
[Chirp!]
Whether Tris understood or not, the beast’s tail wagged and it bounded onto the bed.
“Yes, Tris. You can do this. I believe in you.”
The creature padded across my back, circled once, curled into a ball, and lay down.
“That’s not what I meant—!”
Within moments, soft, contented breathing came from above and below.
It was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
“Tris? Cade? …Good heavens.”
The blasted wizard and his beast showed no sign of waking.
I’d only meant to pull Cade free from the nightmare and slip away quietly—I had no idea how it had come to this.
Every time Cade shifted in his sleep, still holding me fast, heat flooded my face and I shuddered.
‘He definitely opened his eyes for a moment. Why did he go back to sleep? What’s so comfortable about this for him?!’
It was absolutely maddening.
I swallowed a sigh, half-hoping I’d simply lose consciousness from exhaustion.
***
The next morning, Cade’s eyes widened in disbelief the moment he woke.
‘…Is this a dream too?’
The nightmare had melted into a dream of Vivian—a pleasant enough sleep that he’d actually rested well.
But when he opened his eyes, Vivian was still there, nestled peacefully against him.
And Tris lay curled up asleep on her back.
‘Surely this is a dream?’
The scene was so dreamlike that he simply stared about in bewilderment—until he noticed a faint pink powder.
Rana’s Box sat open on the nightstand, and both his chest and Vivian’s clothes bore streaks of the pink dust.
‘I left it there because it seemed like it would activate several more times…’
Now he understood what must have happened, though he still couldn’t quite piece together how it had all come to pass.
Yet his lips curved upward involuntarily.
Not a dream—Vivian, actually cradled in his arms.
A deep, long-forgotten satisfaction began to settle in his chest.
‘I suppose doing a good deed yesterday earned me a reward.’
Cade gazed down at the crown of Vivian’s dark head, then reached up.
His hand moved instinctively toward her glossy hair, but he caught himself just in time.
Instead, he snapped his fingers to dispel the spell.
“Ugh!”
The moment the snap sounded, Vivian jolted up in a panic.
But she immediately collapsed back down.
“Ungh…”
“…Vivian?”
When Cade called to her cautiously, she made a groaning sound after a moment’s delay.
“My whole body’s aching, and I can’t feel my arms and legs.”
She’d spent the night rigid with tension, her muscles locked tight.
He stifled a laugh behind his hand, then murmured with barely suppressed amusement.
“I knew you had a bold streak, but I didn’t think you’d be quite so reckless.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
Vivian sat up abruptly and practically tumbled from the bed.
She pulled her disheveled hair into rough order and rubbed her reddened face.
“T-Tris dragged me here. I didn’t come of my own will. Anyway, I didn’t do anything wrong!”
Vivian babbled defensively, her panic evident in every disjointed word.
Then she rubbed her darkened eyes and smothered a yawn behind her hand.
“You didn’t sleep?”
“How could I? You had me pinned so I couldn’t move—”
The moment Vivian shot him a glare and pressed her lips together, Cade raised himself on one elbow.
“You usually sleep so well, though.”
“Have you lost your mind?! Don’t say strange things like that!”
Vivian, startled out of her wits, hurled a pillow at him.
Cade tilted his head just enough to dodge it, but Vivian was desperate to escape this room.
“L-let’s just say this never happened. Forget about it.”
She yanked her slipping cardigan back up and turned to leave.
“If you walk out of here dressed like that at this hour, everyone will get the wrong idea.”
“…!”
Cade’s words stopped her in her tracks.
Like a rusted gear grinding back into place, Vivian pivoted around, grabbed her head in both hands, and sank down beside the bed.
“I’m insane. I shouldn’t have come. Never again.”
Cade, watching from the bed as she buried her face and merely raised one hand from beneath the covers, nearly burst out laughing.
Barely managing to stifle it, he caught her slender white hand and teleported her to her own room in the blink of an eye.
In that brief moment, Tris let out a plaintive chirp.
Now Vivian finally understood why she’d ended up in his bedroom.
‘I thought even the whistling was part of the dream.’
It seemed the familiar sensed and shared in his master’s suffering during nightmares.
She’d resolved never to experience that tender, soothing touch that drew him free from the darkness again.
Yet in the dead of night, the creature had sought her out because its master was in pain.
‘Maybe I should try being good.’
Cade’s lips kept curling upward today, unbidden.
“That’s enough. Go back. Hurry.”
The moment they entered her room, Vivian burrowed into her blankets like a wounded animal.
Cade could almost see her hugging her knees beneath the covers, squirming, and he let out a soft laugh.
“Vivian.”
As he leaned forward on the bed, it creaked beneath his weight.
The contentment that had swelled in him threatened to transform into a deeper hunger for closeness, but Cade firmly suppressed the urge.
Fortunately, patience was the one thing he’d worked hardest to cultivate since their parting.
Instead, he gently grasped the small hand that peeked out from under the covers and lowered his forehead to rest lightly against it, as if in a kiss.
“Thank you.”
“…!”
Vivian snatched her hand back under the blankets as though burned.
“D-don’t do strange things! Just leave!”
“Rest today. Don’t do anything. You must be exhausted.”
Cade closed his hand gently, as if to preserve the warmth that lingered in his palm.
Silence settled over the room.
Vivian peeked out from under the covers, cast a cautious glance around, then flopped back with a deep sigh.
Her entire body ached with muscle soreness and fatigue, yet lying still was impossible.
‘Don’t think about anything. Clear your mind. We agreed to forget this happened. Nothing occurred.’
No matter how many times she tried to convince herself, Vivian finally threw off the blankets with her feet and groaned aloud.
“Ugh! I must be out of my mind…!”
She rubbed the tingling back of her hand furiously against the blankets, then shoved it deep beneath her pillow to hide it.
‘Why would he do something so embarrassing? That’s the sort of thing couples do!’
For a simple thank-you, it had been far too much.
Cade must have realized why she’d been in his room.
She was the one who’d helped him, yet somehow she felt as if she owed him a debt.
It was as though he’d graciously overlooked some grave offense on her part—a strange, unsettling feeling.
She worried he might think she still harbored feelings and had come to make advances, and the thought made her dizzy.
A year had passed since their separation. He must have endured nightmares countless times since then.
He’d managed to survive those nights without her help.
Perhaps he would have developed his own way of weathering the nightmares even without her intervention.
She’d done something completely unnecessary.
The root cause was probably that her resolve had wavered slightly yesterday when Cade had helped with the reconstruction of the Docks.
‘I hope no one saw.’
She desperately hoped no one had witnessed her visit to the Tower Master at that ungodly hour.
If they had, it might be better for rumors to spread that the civil servant from the Imperial Government had attempted to assassinate him.
Hugging her blankets, Vivian suddenly remembered the hard slope of Cade’s broad shoulders and kicked the covers away again.
‘Why am I like this? What am I thinking? I must be crazy. Maybe I should just start the rumors myself.’
She considered running through the office corridors with a Paper Knife in hand, happy to let vicious gossip circulate instead.

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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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