The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 6

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 6
‘Sigh.’
Cecilia stood before the dog hole, her brow furrowed in exasperation.
“Charles! Come back and I’ll give you a treat!”
……
“Charles?”
The novice servant called out from atop the wall, but the stubborn cat offered not a single meow in response.
It had heard her pleading and simply ignored it—she’d have staked her own hand on that.
‘If I leave him be, he’ll tear up the garden again.’
Charles had already distinguished himself on his very first day at the Marquis’s Manor, having destroyed a grass sculpture the gardener had labored over for an entire month.
The gardener had recovered quickly enough once she’d paid him off, but……
Lien, who seemed to regard garden maintenance as a hobby, wouldn’t be so easily appeased.
Resigned at last, Cecilia squeezed herself through the dog hole, which felt narrower than ever today.
And remarkably, she didn’t make it through.
‘Well, this is stuck.’
Whether it was because she’d eaten just before, or because the robe she’d worn today happened to be laden with lace and fabric trim, her waist and hips had jammed fast and wouldn’t budge.
Cold sweat broke across her skin at the embarrassing predicament—until suddenly a large hand grasped her around the ribs and yanked her up as if pulling a radish from the earth.
“Are you all right?”
Alarmed at the sudden height, Cecilia gripped his shoulder.
It was Lien, still faithfully wrapped in his beloved robe.
‘Damn it.’
She’d never imagined meeting him like this.
Even for someone as shameless as she was, being extracted from a dog hole was mortifying.
Cecilia’s face flushed crimson as her voice shrank to a whisper.
“It’s just—Charles went over there again……”
“Ah, it seems he’s taken a liking to my garden. I saw him playing there earlier.”
Her suggestion had worked remarkably well; he responded without stumbling over his words and even laughed naturally.
……Though the robe obscured it from view.
You could tell from the curve of his lips and the warmth in his voice.
Afraid her agitation might show, Cecilia looked away and feigned composure.
“But could you set me down now?”
“I—I apologize.”
At her pointed remark, Lien immediately corrected course and lowered her to the ground.
“I’ll go bring Charles at once!”
“Why don’t we go together?”
The moment her feet touched the earth, Cecilia began to fidget.
‘I didn’t mean to do that……’
Muttering an excuse to no one in particular, she brushed the dirt from her clothes and stood beside him.
“Is that all right?”
“What? Yes! Of course!”
Accepting his stiff escort, she made her way toward the Western Garden.
As before, Cecilia made casual conversation with him.
“We really ought to seal up that dog hole. It’s useful for slipping out without Father’s permission, but it also means anyone like Charles—or me, I suppose—can sneak in uninvited……”
“Um, Cecilia.”
Lien hesitantly cut short her words.
“It may be forward of me to ask, but is something troubling you?”
At the rather perceptive question, Cecilia turned to face him.
She’d thought she was hiding it well, but her troubled mind had apparently shown through.
Cecilia’s gaze drifted to the white flower bed they’d just reached.
She couldn’t spill her entire situation, but neither did she wish to lie to him or dance around the truth.
Without hesitation, Cecilia opened her mouth.
“Something’s come up, and I’ll likely have to go to the Capital soon. The thing is, I’ve never left my estate before, so I’m a bit anxious thinking about what I’ll need to learn.”
“To the Capital?”
Lien paused for a moment, then asked again.
“By the way, didn’t you say you came from the Capital too?”
“Yes, I did.”
He nodded readily.
Cecilia gazed at the large mansion at some distance away, the perspective so skewed it seemed near.
This manor, right beside the Marquis’s Manor, had been built long ago by one of House Waverdin’s ancestors for a dear friend, or so she’d heard.
Over the years, ownership had changed hands, and though the price remained obscenely high, its remote location made it little more than a country estate for some wealthy noble.
Anyone who could afford such an estate had to be either nobility of considerable rank or from a family of substantial wealth.
‘And Capital nobility at that.’
Quite apart from his gentle temperament, he’d certainly have both authority and connections in abundance.
As she continued spinning these mercenary speculations, a rather promising idea occurred to her.
“Forgive me, but might I impose upon you for a recommendation? I’m in need of a competent Etiquette instructor.”
She wasn’t genuinely seeking a talented tutor.
Rather, she was scheming to build a relationship with his mentor—the one who’d taught him—so as to solidify her backup plan all the more.
‘I hadn’t even been in the mood for such machinations.’
But what could she do? Opportunities that tumbled into one’s lap were meant to be seized.
Yet her request seemed to trouble him deeply, and he did not answer at once.
She was just about to retract her words, fearing she’d asked too much.
But then, as if he’d gathered his resolve after a moment’s hesitation, he offered his recommendation with genuine warmth.
“Would it be acceptable if… if I became your instructor?”
He was offering himself—Lien.
* * *
An awkward silence hung over the room.
More precisely, the interview chamber for selecting her Etiquette instructor.
Cecilia was using every ounce of her strength to avoid slack-jawed stupor, gaping, or uttering some bizarre exclamation.
The cause was singular.
‘What is happening to his face.’
The Lien who’d clung to his Robe as though his life depended on it stood before her now in immaculate formal dress.
Though the thick Silver-Framed Glasses remained, of course.
Still….
‘I’ve lived well.’
Perhaps the ordeal and hardship of her transmigration had been crafted for precisely this moment.
Yet the other person in that same space, watching the same subject, held entirely different thoughts.
The Marquis, lacking even the aesthetic sensibility most ordinary people possessed, looked up from his resume with studied detachment.
“You’re rather young, though…. To have even held a professorship at the Academy—your credentials are certainly impressive.”
‘What?’
No matter how she looked at it, he appeared to be roughly her own age, yet a professor at the Academy? Such a thing would be impossible without prodigious talent.
Still, he didn’t strike her as the sort to falsify credentials.
On that day when Lien had volunteered to teach her.
Cecilia had given the matter no further thought—her head had already begun moving in assent.
It was irrelevant that he’d kept his true identity hidden, or that he didn’t appear particularly skilled in Etiquette.
She’d simply seized the opportunity that had presented itself.
Thus, the moment she returned home, she’d impressed upon the Marquis the necessity of such an instructor, and shortly thereafter Lien had applied to the position notice her father had posted.
‘I’d been prepared to force the matter if Father objected.’
But he’d turned out to possess genuine qualifications as well.
“I was fortunate,” Lien answered with humility, and the Marquis’s eyes narrowed further.
The Marquis’s gaze grew sharper still as Lien spoke.
“Yet I cannot help but wonder—why would someone of your accomplishments come all this way to the frontier, so far from the Capital?”
“For a simple reason, sir. I thought that should I ever need rest, I should like to spend it in House Waverdin.”
“Indeed? And what is your reason?”
“My mother was fond of traveling in her youth, and she spoke so highly of your Territory—how it has been blessed by divine grace, making it a most peaceful and beautiful place—that her praise never ceased.”
“Well…… House Waverdin does have its share of beautiful places.”
“Yes. It has proven every bit as lovely as my mother described, and I find myself most content here.”
She’d been maintaining the most neutral expression possible, careful not to reveal their prior acquaintance.
But as the exchange continued, her pupils dilated sharply, and her mouth fell open slightly.
‘…… Who on earth is that!’
The shy gardener who’d fumbled his words and flushed easily had vanished entirely—this person speaking with such fluid eloquence couldn’t possibly be that same Lien.
No, clearly this was someone who bore a striking resemblance to Lien, or perhaps his hidden twin.
Unlike her shock, the Marquis seemed to have relaxed his guard, his sharp gaze softening as Lien offered measured praise.
He cleared his throat and continued in a voice considerably gentler than before.
“So you mean to say you’ll teach my daughter Etiquette while resting in House Waverdin?”
“Yes. In my assessment, Lady Waverdin already possesses a grace and refinement that far exceeds that of the Capital nobility, but if you would entrust her to me, I may yet provide some modest assistance.”
He praised the daughter to flatter the father’s pride, and yet managed to assert his own necessity with humble modesty.
In twenty-first-century Korea, such a display would have sent parents shouting “Hired!” while signing over their children and wallets alike.
And a parent’s heart beats the same across all eras and all worlds.
The effect was undeniable.
“Then let us draw up a contract at once.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————