The Nerd Next Door Turned Out To Be The Magic Tower Master - Chapter 98

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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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Side Story 5
The black vestments, the hollow complexion, the dark hair falling in waves—everything remained exactly as before.
A wave of bewilderment crashed over her alongside an unexpected surge of familiarity, leaving Cecilia to stare blankly ahead.
“Archbishop, what are you doing here……?”
“Did the Duke not inform you? I am the Pope’s regent.”
“What?”
The news struck with enough force to blow away the answers she’d barely wrested from Soltis, and Cecilia found herself wanting to close her eyes and slip away into nothingness once more.
But consciousness refused to abandon her again. She forced her eyes open and, unable to contain herself any longer, let out a shout that echoed through the chamber.
“Fine, the corrupt Pope is gone. Fine, they’ve appointed a regent instead of choosing a new one. But why—why is Archbishop Kiar of all people filling that void?”
She had never truly lost her affection for the Temple itself, even now. It was the Pope who had rotted, not the priests. So she’d never wished for their complete ruin.
But Kiar as Pope? She could already picture it—him during services, urging everyone to join God at his side with that absurd notion of his.
Forgetting entirely that in the 44th cycle they hadn’t yet built the rapport they shared now, Cecilia muttered weakly.
“I should have asked Charles about the Temple’s future instead of wasting time on timelines.”
“Pardon?”
“……It’s nothing.”
When Cecilia dropped into a crude wooden chair, Kiar settled himself casually into a nearby seat and answered without apparent concern.
“It’s only a temporary appointment, so there’s no need to be so alarmed. I didn’t exactly volunteer for it myself.”
“Then why didn’t you refuse it outright, for the Temple’s sake?”
“The brothers assured me they would send me to God’s side if I made even the slightest error.”
“That’s not a threat to send you to God—that’s a promise to kill you if you mess up.”
“Quite as sharp as the rumors suggest, I see.”
“……Don’t say things like that.”
The conversation carried an uncanny sense of déjà vu. It seemed Kiar felt it too, for he paused thoughtfully before continuing.
“This is the first proper conversation I’ve had with the Saint, and yet it feels strangely familiar. If I’ve been rude, I shall deeply repent and gladly return to God’s embrace.”
“Don’t you dare make excuses for me.”
He clicked his tongue softly.
‘This man is truly hopeless,’ she thought.
Though she had no intention of involving herself with the Temple, she resolved right then to suggest accelerating the papal selection process—it seemed necessary.
Kiar abruptly turned to the matter at hand.
“In any case, as I mentioned in my letter, I would like to ask the Saint to……”
“Temporary Saint.”
“Yes. I would like to ask the temporary Saint to preside over the Charitable Relief Ceremony. I’m sure you’re aware that public sentiment toward the Temple is not favorable at present. We intend to conduct this ceremony with greater dignity than before, to restore the Temple’s image. The symbolic figure at the center will be the Saint……”
“Temporary Saint.”
“The temporary Saint, Weberdine.”
Though she had already expressed her intention to step down from the position to the Grand Temple and Weberdine’s faction, the woman remained, to all outward appearances, the Empire’s only living Saint.
She would likely remain so until a true Saint emerged.
As for Weberdine herself, she harbored no desire to abandon the role immediately. Thinking of the sacrifices the body’s original owner had endured, she felt some obligation to honor them.
“I’ll help if it’s necessary, but make it clear that I’m temporary. I have no intention of seeking the Emperor’s approval, and more importantly, there is a true Saint for this generation—someone else entirely.”
“……A true Saint? Who is this person? And how do you know of them, Saint?”
Kiar’s eyes narrowed with suspicion as he asked.
But she could neither honestly tell him it was from her previous lives, nor could she claim God had revealed it to her.
If she said the former, a healer would be summoned to examine the temporary Saint’s mind. If she said the latter, she would be elevated to true Saint status right then and there.
So instead, Cecilia said this:
“Bring me a novice priest named Sena. The former Pope likely brought her with him.”
Before long, a child appeared at Miguel’s side, as shy as she had been at their first meeting in this cycle.
Cecilia extended her hand first to the true Saint who had saved her across multiple lives.
“Hello, Sena. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Oh, hello.”
Her full, youthful cheeks flushed a rosy pink.
The child who had been hiding behind Miguel took a hesitant step forward, reaching toward the offered hand. The moment their hands clasped, Cecilia turned to Kiar and said:
“This child is the true Saint. See that she’s raised well.”
“This child?”
“Me?”
Sena and Kiar both asked at once, caught off-guard.
A moment later, the more vehement response erupted from the child herself.
“That can’t be right! A Saint has to be a Saint! Someone like me could never be……!”
“Sena, are you doubting me? Being rejected so openly is truly heartbreaking.”
“No! That’s not what I meant……”
“Then you’ll work hard at it, won’t you?”
“Yes? Yes!”
The child tilted their head uncertainly, confusion clouding their eyes, but Cecilia found herself perfectly content watching events unfold exactly as she’d planned.
Cecilia smiled faintly and reached out to stroke the child’s hair with a gentle touch before rising from her seat.
She’d accomplished her purpose well enough. Now it was time to return to the one who was undoubtedly pacing restlessly, waiting for her.
“If you need anything, write to me. Until Sena becomes a proper Saint, I’ll help however I can, even if it’s only in an interim capacity.”
“Before you leave, there’s one thing I’d like to ask you.”
Kiar glanced up at the temporary Saint as she rose to depart, his question coming suddenly.
“Why are you so unwilling to become a Saint?”
‘Though you yourself barely care a whit about the Pope.’
She considered pointing that out, but decided instead to speak what was truly in her heart.
“Because Saints have to stay unmarried for their entire lives, don’t they?”
Well, secret romance might be possible, but that alone wouldn’t be enough.
“I have someone who would grieve if I did.”
She couldn’t say for certain whether he was entirely sane, but of one thing she had no doubt whatsoever—the affection Lien bore for her was genuine.
So even if she couldn’t return it in equal measure, she’d decided to remain at his side.
Perhaps, in time, Lien would find his way to something like ordinary love.
Yet her optimism would shatter into fragments mere days later, as she stood before a collapsed Lien.
* * *
As both the Saint and Cecilia had feared, Dilan She was no longer normal. More precisely, he could not be normal.
The memories of the 44th cycle were different from before. Memories and emotions from two separate regressions came flooding in like a tide. Overwhelmed past the point of containment, his mind had broken in an instant.
Already fragile, his sanity crumbled entirely. All that remained was a madman incapable of even feigning normalcy.
He became pathologically obsessed with eavesdropping on Cecilia, watching her, protecting her from every conceivable danger.
Then, like a miracle, he finally met her—the one he’d been waiting for across dozens of lifetimes. He wept with joy at finding her, yet terror seized him in the same moment.
In the previous 43rd cycle, she’d accepted even his broken self. But would she accept him now, shattered far beyond what he’d been before?
At first, he thought caution would suffice—that he could hide what he’d become. He tried desperately to swallow the anxiety that had hardened into his very nature.
But the more he had her, the happier he became, the more his fear grew.
So despite knowing he should stop, he inhabited the body of Weberdine’s attendant to watch over her, followed her to meals, and kept every trace of her hidden away in his secret chamber.
In truth, what he truly desired was far worse than these restrained acts.
He wanted to erase everything she looked at. He wanted to lock her away in his chamber. He wanted her to see only him for the rest of her life, to love only him.
Yet he dared not act on these desires. If she—who had finally accepted him—were to reject him, to abandon him, he could not continue living.
All he could do was cling to her uselessly, deceive her, perform his dark deeds and tremble in anxiety when discovered.
On a day when he managed to endure, barely ignoring his sordid desires while intoxicated by her sweet skin and gentle touch—
he finally enraged her.
[You stole the letter that came to me.]
His heart plummeted in that instant.
Even as he hid the letter, he knew it was wrong. He simply couldn’t bear to send her to the Temple, the place where she’d been lost before.
Yet he couldn’t force her either, so all he could do was follow her quietly in secret.
Inside the Grand Temple.
Lien, disguised as an ordinary worshipper, watched the carriage that had just arrived with Cecilia.
“Master of the Tower, there’s an urgent matter regarding the Magic Tower—”
“Be quiet. I can’t hear Cecilia’s voice.”
Hiltan, his subordinate who’d arrived unexpectedly with urgent news, trailed after him, but Lien’s attention was wholly fixed on Cecilia.
Even knowing there were no remaining dangers inside that Temple, his stomach twisted.
When Cecilia stepped down from the carriage and took the Vice Captain of the Holy Knights’ hand, his breathing shattered.
Before he could steady his trembling body against the hyperventilation, the eavesdropping device in his ear carried the intimate conversation between the two. When he heard Cecilia’s laughter—clearly meant for the Holy Knight—nausea surged up violently.
He retched beneath a tree, bringing up only thin bile—he hadn’t eaten. Hiltan watched his superior with the expression one might reserve for a madman, and couldn’t restrain himself from adding a remark.

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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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