The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 29

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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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Episode 29
“Cecilia!”
Cecilia turned her head toward the person who had burst in with such fanfare.
Nox was waving his hands about languidly—evidently he’d returned to the Temple at some point.
“I heard you were trying on Ceremonial Robes, and you look like you’re struggling quite a bit.”
“What are you doing here?”
Surely he hadn’t come all this way just to watch her suffer.
At the appearance of this uninvited guest, she scrunched her face and asked the question. Nox tilted his head as if confused.
“Huh? Didn’t you ask me to come see you?”
“I did not.”
“But this kid here… oh well.”
He glanced sideways at Lily, then shrugged.
“Hmm, aren’t you happy to see me? You look hungry, so your brother brought you a snack.”
Nox grinned and rummaged through his pocket. A moment later, his open palm held a few round, brown candies.
“See? Only your brother has these.”
……
To someone on a strict diet, something sweet was a serious temptation. Yet Cecilia did not readily accept the candy, only eyeing it warily.
‘Does he think I’ll fall for that?’
The brother in the book might have been different, but this man would never be so earnest in looking after his sister.
As she continued to regard him with distrust, Nox made an exaggerated show of slumping his shoulders.
“This brother of yours is so worried you might starve that he defied the Will of God itself! And I feel pangs of conscience! But I sneaked these anyway… if you don’t want them, I’ll just take them back…”
“Give them.”
“Sorry? Speak up—didn’t catch that.”
“…Please give them to me.”
His motives were plainly suspect, yet the thing was far too tempting to refuse.
Chuckling, Nox popped one of the round candies straight into her mouth.
Cecilia rolled the candy eagerly on her tongue. But what spread through her mouth was not the sweetness of simple sugar, but a bitter, root-like taste that recalled Red Ginseng Candy.
Crunch.
She bit down and swallowed, then silently wreathed her hand in Divine Power.
At the brilliant glow of sacred force before his eyes, Nox’s face went pale and slick with cold sweat.
“Cecilia, if that thing hits me, I think I’m dead?”
“Yes.”
“…Cecilia?”
He turned from his half-deranged sister to the knight beside her.
“Miguel, could you talk the Saintess out of killing me?”
But the Holy Knight he’d relied upon stood with hands clasped behind his back, gazing only at the distant mountains.
* * *
In the end, before her punch—powerful but painfully inaccurate—could even reach its target, Nox fled with irritating ease.
Fueled by fury, Cecilia had weathered the fitting of Ceremonial Robes and even holy water without incident, and now trudged wearily back toward her room.
She opened her mouth without energy.
“I’m sorry. I showed myself at my worst today. As you know, my brother is the way he is…”
“It seemed good.”
“Pardon?”
Had the dictionary definition of ‘good’ changed?
Bewildered, Cecilia blinked. Miguel then broke into a laugh as clear and boyish as a youth’s.
“It seemed like the Saintess has been smiling much more than before.”
‘But you’re the one who looks good right now.’
Cecilia swallowed back words that threatened to spill out recklessly.
But more than that—’than before,’ he’d said.
That subtle atmosphere just now, the way he went out of his way to be kind, the over-the-top helpfulness… could Miguel have actually known the real Cecilia?
Yet…
[That is to say…]
[Vice-Commander of the Holy Knight Order—Miguel.]
When they’d exchanged names in the past, hadn’t he greeted her as though they were meeting for the very first time?
Hiding her confusion and questions beneath a calm exterior, Cecilia asked carefully.
“It seems I was rather cold before.”
“No, that’s not what I meant… It’s just that I only saw you from afar on occasion, but you always seemed lost in thought…”
Was the real Cecilia a reserved sort of person? Though judging by Nox’s behavior, that didn’t quite seem right either.
In any case, she needed to be cautious before she aroused unwarranted suspicion. Cecilia gave a small, quiet cough and smoothly changed the subject.
“By the way, I’m still not sure why my brother came here in the first place. It certainly wasn’t just to give me that Red Ginseng candy, or whatever strange thing that was.”
“I suspect they came to see their mother today.”
At this unexpected revelation, Cecilia’s footsteps faltered.
‘Nox’s mother—the Duchess?’
She hadn’t seen her at the Mansion, nor had she ever been mentioned, so Cecilia had assumed it was like a typical romance novel—the mother absent for some unspoken reason, a single-parent household.
“Is his mother at the Grand Temple right now?”
Cecilia asked without thinking, then hastily bit her lip. That was far too strange a question for ‘Cecilia’ to ask.
“No, she’s there—yes, that’s right.”
She smiled awkwardly, and Miguel simply nodded without suspicion.
“Yes, the Weberdine family tomb has been interred at the Grand Temple for generations.”
‘So it really was just a typical story after all.’
No wonder she’d never heard mention of it before.
Though surely it wasn’t that tired old trope—that the Saintess Cecilia was born and her mother passed away in childbirth.
“Would the Saintess care to pay her respects?”
As Cecilia tried to shake off these uncomfortable speculations, Miguel kindly offered the suggestion.
If she were truly ‘Cecilia’, she would have nodded readily. Instead, she shook her head.
This wasn’t even her real mother, and she had no idea what the woman looked like. The thought of mourning a stranger held no appeal—besides, there was something dishonest about wearing her daughter’s skin and performing such rituals.
With a bitter smile, she turned her gaze away from the woman reflected in the car window—a face that had grown all too familiar by now.
* * *
They say humans are creatures of habit. In just one week, Cecilia had already adapted to the earnest lifestyle of rising early and sleeping early.
The fact that she remained relatively unscathed despite spending all morning being tortured by fitting sessions with a man obsessed with Ceremonial Robes was proof enough of this.
Her spirit, however, was exhausted. The moment she had free time, she fled to her room and collapsed onto the sofa like a sack of flour.
There she lay in the middle of the day, sprawled like an unemployed vagrant—and Sena, who orbited her like a satellite, hesitantly broached the subject.
“Um, Saintess? Are you… very tired?”
“Yeah, I guess an earnest life just doesn’t suit me.”
“Earnest?”
“Waking up early and being chained to work all day.”
“But why?”
“Hm?”
“The priests said that leading an earnest life makes both body and mind healthier… Doesn’t it?”
‘Here it comes—a child’s cruel question, asked with the innocence of someone who’s never known a fifty-two-hour work week.’
Cecilia’s eyes went dead for a moment before she gave a vague affirmation.
“Ha, yes. Earnestness is good.”
She simply happened to be born an unserious person.
Cecilia buried this inconvenient truth. Sena accepted her hollow response as something positive, her face brightening as she clapped her hands together triumphantly.
“Oh, and it’s already mealtime! I’ll go fetch it at once!”
Any appetite had vanished along with her motivation, but Sena didn’t wait for a response—she bolted from the room with a clatter.
Left alone, Cecilia once again melted back into the sofa and draped herself across it.
She’d barely rested her head with firm determination to do absolutely nothing, when something cool and hard bumped against her jaw.
That ‘something’ was the pendant of a necklace hidden beneath her clothes.
Cecilia’s fingers traced the mineral, unable to resist gravity’s pull.
[If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d be grateful if you’d wear it even at the Temple…]
[So… you’re asking me to think of Lien now and then when I see this necklace?]
[I… well, if you wouldn’t mind… even a little…]
The shy voice that had faltered softly, the violet eyes that wavered like a small boat before rough waves, the two rosy cheeks stained by twilight—remembering them all at once was beyond her control.
“…I miss him.”
Cecilia murmured without thinking, then quickly rubbed her lips with the back of her hand.
‘What is this?’
So she simply needed to see that appearance—the kind of face that healed you just by looking at it, like a cat did for her. Nothing more than that. Really.
Just as she felt heat rising to her face and began to straighten her slouched body—
Crash!
At the sharp shattering sound, she whipped her head around. Lily stood frozen, holding an empty silver tray—she’d apparently dropped a glass while bringing water.
“I’m so sorry!”
“Lily, be careful—you could cut yourself. Just stay right there.”
She gave the flustered girl a brief warning, then hastily began gathering the broken pieces. As she’d picked up most of the larger shards, a trembling voice emerged from above her head.
“Um, Saintess… d-do you perhaps… treasure that necklace?”
Had Lily heard her muttering just now? Heat flooded the back of Cecilia’s neck. She left her embarrassment unaddressed and simply nodded.
“Yeah, it’s precious to me.”
Among all the ornate jewelry filling her dresser drawers, the reason she’d specifically brought this necklace to this world was that it was the first gift ‘I’—not ‘Cecilia’—had ever received here.
The answer tumbled out with barely any resistance, surprising even herself.
“…Is it? Because it’s expensive?”
“I received it as a gift, so I’m not entirely sure of its price. But it does look expensive.”
Cecilia leaned toward the child and spoke in a playful whisper, as though sharing a secret.
“The truth is, the person who gave it to me is someone very special.”
It wasn’t really a lie. She’d decided it on her own terms, but Lien was meant to be her male lead—the person fate had chosen for her. And wasn’t he graced with that rare quality, a presence that seemed to purify both body and spirit simply by existing? If she had to assign “special” to anyone, it could only be him.
“…I see.”
The child’s murmured voice came out muffled, as though weighted down.
Sensing the unusual tone, Cecilia tilted her head slightly. The veil hid her expression, but the edge of the girl’s ear that peeked out seemed to flush crimson.
“Um, would it be all right if I stepped away for a moment? Something just came to mind that I need to do…”
The child hesitated, her small feet shuffling backward as she asked in evident urgency.
‘Ah, so she’s not interested after all.’
“Of course that’s fine. Take your time.”
The moment Cecilia gave her blessing, a touch of embarrassment coloring her own voice, Lily bolted from the room.
Alone again, Cecilia let herself sink into the sofa. At last, the quiet had returned. Yet somehow her heart felt more exhausted than before.

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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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