The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 103

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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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Special Side Story 4. Between Understanding and Compassion (2)
Despite everything, Cecilia couldn’t quite bring herself to blame her husband, so she offered an awkward excuse instead.
“He’s gotten better than he was before we married, at least.”
‘Possibly.’
After all, he no longer suffered nervous exhaustion or retched whenever she smiled at another man.
Though Miguel still seemed unable to tolerate it.
Miguel was truly Cecilia’s lover—he had never once been her lover—yet he despised the very sight of any other man near her.
‘So he hasn’t improved at all, has he?’
Regina, catching the way Cecilia had inadvertently defended her husband, narrowed her eyes with a thin smile.
Cecilia gave an awkward cough and added, as if sighing, “Well, I suppose I’m curious too. What could someone go through to become like that?”
In the First Cycle, he had displayed obsessive affection, but he hadn’t seemed the type to act irrationally in the grip of emotion.
Of course, she knew Lien had lived through dozens of cycles, and she had even glimpsed those past lives in passing. But that didn’t mean she could fully understand him.
She loved him enough to have chosen him over the original world itself, but his love was something else entirely. Every time she faced it, it felt so vast and boundless that her own affection seemed like dust in the cosmos.
Then.
Curious?
Cecilia’s head snapped up reflexively. The voice that echoed in her mind rather than her ears felt oddly familiar.
If you find it hard to understand, I can help you.
‘Charles!’
By the time she recognized who was speaking, it was already too late. The ground beneath her feet seemed to cave in, and the world went dark.
* * *
This time, she had not fallen into the Prayer Room of the Temple, nor into the void where Solatis dwelt.
‘Isn’t this Cecilia’s room at the Marquis Residence?’
The space looked familiar, yet something was different. She wanted to examine the discrepancies carefully, but it was impossible.
“Someone’s come to see me?”
The one speaking was clearly her, and yet not her at all.
It was like being a butterfly pinned alive. Her limbs wouldn’t budge, but her consciousness remained perfectly sharp—a deeply unsettling state of affairs.
Through it all, ‘Cecilia’ moved and spoke. Entirely beyond her will.
A first-person observer stripped of agency, forced to watch from within. It was an unwelcome experience, but she soon understood something worse was coming.
“I said I didn’t want to see that man!”
Cecilia wrapped her thin shoulders around herself, trembling. Her visceral revulsion was so intense that even the observer within could feel it.
“He said it was about the incident from before, and that he would wait until you agreed to see him……”
Melanie bowed her head apologetically.
“Tell him even if I had to die by the sword today, I won’t look at that face!”
The scene cut sharply after Cecilia’s cry, as if from a nightmare.
A man with crimson eyes stood precariously before her. Blood dripped steadily from cuts across his body—evidence of a vicious fight.
Barely able to stand, he struggled desperately to make her understand the truth.
Though it had no effect whatsoever.
“The Temple is acting strange?”
A bitter laugh began, then spiraled into something jagged and manic.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard all year. Did you really think I’d believe whatever Dilan She says just because you tell me to?”
“……You don’t have to choose me anymore. If you prefer that knight—that man—then be with him. Just, please, let me stay by your side until you’re safe.”
“Is that a request?”
“……Yes.”
“Then why don’t you kneel for me?”
“……”
“What, can’t do it? The versions of Dilan She in my dreams beat me to death countless times. If you want to convince me, you should be able to manage that much.”
Lien clenched his fists, as though he had discarded pride long ago, and knelt at Cecilia’s feet.
“……Please.”
The man bowed his head in submission, his posture so abject he seemed ready to dash his skull against the floor if she demanded it.
Yet Cecilia’s feelings, watching him, did not soften one bit. Instead, revulsion and contempt swelled like a balloon.
Unable to contain herself, Cecilia grabbed the man by his collar, rough and violent. Then she ground out her words like broken glass.
“No. I hate it all. Your arrogant tone of voice, those blood-red eyes staring at me, even the blood flowing through your veins makes my skin crawl.”
“……”
“Even if you died again tomorrow, I would never have you by my side. That’s how repulsive you are to me.”
If her words had been solid, they would have become arrows with jagged points, leaving him in tatters.
“……I hate you enough that your death would mean nothing.”
His murmured voice was unbearably sad. And it was no act.
Trapped between repeated deaths in dreams and the threats of reality, Cecilia’s vigilance and rage toward Dilan She had reached their zenith, and his despair could not reach her at all.

“Yes. So please, just disappear now. Or better yet, die for me.”
‘Stop it!’
She wanted to shout, but no voice would come.
His eyes, already red-rimmed, burned a deeper shade of crimson. Here was Lien, suffering, and she couldn’t soothe him.
Worse—she had to be the one inflicting the wound. The thought was truly unbearable.
Just as she longed for this terrible ordeal to end, Lien struggled to his feet.
The wound was severe enough that blood pooled thickly beneath him, yet Cecilia didn’t spare it a glance.
“……Even if you hate me, I’ll save you.”
He would.
The man murmuring those words would gladly change his eye color for a woman who did not love him. He would alter his nature, his manner of speaking, even his clothes.
And still he would never be accepted, forever condemned to repeat this meaningless life.
Though the person he sought did not truly exist in this world.
Cecilia’s expression darkened, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Enough. You can stop showing me now.’
Have you understood?
‘No. But this is enough.’
Only when she heard that small, resigned voice did she finally escape the nightmare.
* * *
When she opened her eyes again, she lay in the familiar Prayer Room. Through her blurred vision, Cecilia focused slowly on the Solatis Statue above her.
‘You said you were curious what experiences could change a person so completely. But you didn’t say you wanted to experience it yourself.’
“Charles, is this truly the best way?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I was just thinking aloud.”
A man who had endured this hell dozens of times, waiting for her alone. Was this her wordless plea—don’t abandon him, but care for him well?
More precisely, her plea that he care for Lien so that Regression would never repeat.
‘I told you—I have no intention of abandoning him.’
Cecilia bit back a silent retort and rose slowly to her feet.
“I should return now. There’s someone waiting for my homecoming as if their neck will snap.”
“You’re just as severe as he is, you know.”
The observation wasn’t wrong. She had already chosen Lien over everything else.
So even when she was occasionally angry, as today, there was only one place to return to.
“The conversation was pleasant.”
“Next time, come to the Monastery. Your parasite friend is welcome too.”
Cecilia accepted the teasing farewell with a smile and left the Prayer Room at once.
Lien was likely waiting without even a drop of water to drink, so she had to hurry.
Yet her pace did not quicken. There he stood at sunset, silhouetted against a world dyed crimson.
He had chased her all the way to the Temple, but couldn’t bring himself to enter and meet her—just stood there, hesitant and uncertain. The sight was somehow both endearing and pitiful.
Yes, understanding or not, what could she do? His love would likely remain a mystery to her until death.
But one thing was certain: his love, and hers, were so vivid and absolute that doubt could never touch them.
“Lien!”
“Cecilia…….”
“How did you know I was here?”
“I didn’t follow you in secret, but I did use Tracking, and I wanted to apologize quickly, so…….”
“Never mind. Just come here and hold me.”
She opened both arms and urged him forward. Lien rushed to her like a devoted hound and embraced her.
“I missed you. Truly…….”
They’d only been apart for half a day, yet he acted as though they hadn’t seen each other in a month.
Perhaps because of what she’d just experienced, Cecilia found herself missing him just as desperately. She held him close in return.
“I’ll remove the room tomorrow.”
“No. Leave it as it is.”
“What?”
“Just don’t add to those collections anymore. And stop bothering Hiltein too.”
Lien drew back slightly from her embrace and studied her expression carefully. He easily read something far removed from resignation, and nodded earnestly.
Beneath the sunset, her smile flushed rosy—nothing like the crimson fever that had burned in his eyes.
Only then did Cecilia allow herself to relax, and she gripped his hand firmly.
“Let’s go home.”
The way back wouldn’t be long. But during that time, she meant to share her warmth and her heart with him.
If it still wasn’t enough, then someday a moment would come when nothing was lacking.
For now, she would simply walk beside him like this, in step.

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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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