On Official Duty with My Tower Master Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 76

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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 76
The one who attended the Grand Duke of Melgote most closely was Emilyn.
As the chamberlain whose reputation was well-known among the servants of the 2nd Princess’s Residence, she showed no wavering even before the Grand Duke’s overwhelming presence and fury.
In those days when the Grand Duke had been nothing but beautiful and noble, the 2nd Princess.
When she received an imperial command to become a crown prince’s wife on the Eastern Continent and returned to the palace, unleashing a fury sharp as the sea-wind of Melgote, Emilyn stood by her without flinching.
But even Emilyn’s hands trembled now, seized by profound terror.
From the Grand Duke standing in graceful composure, murderous intent and rage seeped out slowly.
“……It’s gone.”
The storehouse the Grand Duke had concealed with magic stood open, not a single mark of destruction upon it.
A storehouse that could never be found or opened without special magical tools now lay bare, all its lock magic released.
“It’s gone, is it not? Tell me it’s not just invisible to my eyes?”
“……Yes, Your Highness. I cannot see it either.”
While Emilyn stood with her head bowed and hands clasped, the Grand Duke’s eyes fixed obsessively on the hollow storehouse, like an empty space within her own grasp.
The Crystal Whale that should have majestically filled the tunnel connected to the sea had vanished.
Boom!
The Grand Duke’s magic, unleashed as she lost control of her emotions, destroyed one section of the tunnel wall.
Had anyone been standing there, death would have been no surprise.
The force was of an entirely different magnitude from shattering cages or teacups at the 2nd Princess’s Residence, and Emilyn swallowed hard.
Though her legs trembled, she kept her feet firmly planted, refusing to flee.
The Grand Duke never kept the weak nearby—not even as chess pieces.
Barely tearing her eyes from the empty waters, the Grand Duke swept her gaze across the storehouse interior.
The unused alert barrier remained intact, and there were no signs of the lock magic being forcibly torn open.
All the magic layered inside and outside the storehouse was functioning normally.
How could the Crystal Whale, bound and constrained by all that magic, simply vanish?
“A Crystal Whale cannot free itself from restraints alone. There must have been an intruder.”
A powerful wizard renowned across the empire. The only adversary capable of standing against the Tower Master. The precious Grand Duke whom the emperor kept close within the realm, too valuable to entrust to the Eastern Continent.
The Grand Duke turned over these titles in her mind—the ones the world knew her by.
It was an attempt to dispel her fear, but her hands still trembled faintly.
The Crystal Whale and the spare crystals had vanished.
The only conduit that allowed her to exist as a wizard, and her power and very survival as the Grand Duke itself.
The Grand Duke’s breath caught in her throat, choked by surging rage.
One other person who could freely access this storehouse—the first face that came to mind was his shameless visage.
‘The Dark Mage.’
A transaction with a being strictly forbidden under Imperial Law.
How much gold and blood had she poured out to keep that dangerous alliance hidden?
If that Dark Mage had betrayed her, the Grand Duke was finished. Losing her magic would not be where it ended.
“Where is the Dark Mage?”
“He said only that he would return here at the promised time.”
“When was that time?”
“……Two minutes ago.”
As the Grand Duke gritted her teeth and clenched her fist, unstable mana rippled around her hand.
‘Is he truly the Dark Mage? Or does he have grievance with the terms of our deal?’
The Dark Mage had been promised the legalization of Dark Magic in exchange for making the Grand Duke into the Tower Master.
It was an enormous condition, but if he harbored doubt that she could defeat the Tower Master, he might renege on the deal or demand additional terms.
‘That arrogant old fool would be capable of such a thing. After I gave him shelter, let him live like a mouse hiding in the shadows, and even prepared him this storehouse…….’
It was at the moment when she was hurling curses at the Dark Mage, who was not even present.
“This is……?”
Only belatedly, heightened by her turbulent emotions, did she detect an extremely faint residue of mana.
Suspicious, the Grand Duke extended her hand and moved it slowly through the air as if cutting through it.
The refined grain of mana, so precisely honed that an ordinary wizard would struggle even to detect it, was something to marvel at.
It bore no trace of Dark Magic—neither destructive nor damp, but rather perfect restraint.
There could be only one being in the empire capable of this.
The pinnacle of wizards, one who wielded authority unfettered by station.
“The Tower Master?”
The moment those three syllables left her lips, the Grand Duke’s face went pale.
That figure, who had been scheming from the shadows to unearth her weakness, had surely found this storehouse at last.
‘If he discovered this place, then he must have found the Dark Magic laboratory hidden here as well? Which means…….’
The Grand Duke’s shoulders shook.
Within the anxiety that her secrets had fallen into his grasp lay a burning sense of humiliation.
That he would dare regard her—who had been a sacrifice to Dark Magic—as a false wizard and mock her; the very thought set her blood boiling.
The urge to burn the Magic Tower welled up inside her, but she had to suppress it now.
A rash move would cost her all her cards. Her opponent already held her weakness in his hand.
Whether he would come to the 2nd Princess’s Residence with that information, or march directly into the Imperial Palace to have her removed from power.
She did not know how the Tower Master would move, but she had to prepare.
‘Until I reclaim the Crystal Whale, I must lie low.’
Some foolish merchants had made a fuss about launching a private whaling operation; it had not been long since they were caught, and it was difficult to simply release the whaling ship.
To make matters worse, she felt the mana filling the crystal draining away.
Venting her frustration on the wall had apparently squeezed out what little mana remained.
She had to attend a gathering of regional nobility tomorrow, and if she suddenly ceased using the small magics she normally wielded without thought, suspicion would inevitably arise.
After that, she was obliged to participate in a charitable event under the banner of the Grand Duke. It was an occasion where she had to demonstrate quite an elaborate spell to encourage donations.
At this rate, she would struggle even to cast a simple spell, yet she could not now suddenly cancel the gathering or her attendance.
“When exactly will the Dark Mage arrive?”
The moment the Grand Duke spoke, as if threatening him, the Dark Mage materialized from empty air.
“My, my. My apologies for the tardiness. When one grows old, even one’s body refuses to listen, what can you do.”
The Dark Mage, greeting the Grand Duke first with idle pleasantries, noticed something amiss about the atmosphere and lifted his head.
He glanced around the storehouse, quickly grasped the situation, and laughed.
“No blood from the Crystal Whale, no pristine crystals—but you won’t be withdrawing now, will you?”
“There is no time for this.”
She needed enough mana immediately to prevent the Tower Master from breaking into the 2nd Princess’s Residence.
The Grand Duke fixed the Dark Mage with a sharp gaze, then removed her Robe.
Emilyn deftly accepted the Robe and gently pulled back the buttons on the Grand Duke’s back.
Embedded flat into the Grand Duke’s back was a crystal extracted from the Crystal Whale.
The sight of the crystal artificially grafted through Dark Magic was grotesque, but that was not what startled Emilyn.
“Your Highness. The crystal has become corrupted.”
The crystal bore murky stains of dark mana, fouled by excessive magical use.
When contamination reached this point, the crystal had to be replaced with a new one.
Otherwise, even after replenishing the mana, each use of magic would cause the increasingly cracked crystal to fail to purify the dark mana and make it difficult to control the power.
“And there are no spare crystals left, are there?”
At the Grand Duke’s gesture to begin, the Dark Mage’s expression turned gleeful as he drew the life force from the magical beasts as sacrifices, channeling mana into an empty crystal.
The magical beasts, already drained of all vitality and limp, could not even cry out as their heads drooped.
Whatever dreams they had been having, death seemed to come peacefully.
By contrast, the Grand Duke’s face twisted in agony.
Dark, mana-laden power swirled within the crystal embedded in her back.
Soon the crystal turned completely black, and the Grand Duke, gasping in torment, spat up dark blood.

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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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