The Villainess in the Childcare Story Doesn’t Hide Her Personality - Chapter 73

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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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“How fortunate that you have time this evening. Would it be acceptable if I chose the menu?”
Fabian Beiretz smiled brightly.
“Of course.”
The steak I finally got to enjoy after so long was absolutely delicious.
I’d been in severe austerity mode ever since paying Joanna her wages.
Oddly enough, throughout the entire meal, Fabian Beiretz never once brought up that supposedly lengthy matter.
It felt wrong to ask what was really going on….
The meat I was eating after such a long time was truly, truly delicious!
Only after dessert arrived did Fabian Beiretz get to the main point.
“Seeing firsthand with my own eyes how much Estella and Cedric have benefited from Vice Director Harrington’s help… I’ve grown increasingly certain. Certain that you alone are the one who can resolve this matter.”
I nearly spat out my coffee.
“What do you mean by that….”
“There is a problem among the Mage Tower apprentices.”
My body tensed instinctively.
Fabian Beiretz’s eyes shifted subtly, and the air surrounding him changed.
This was clearly no trivial matter—not something like apprentices quarreling among themselves.
“I understand that problems within the Mage Tower should be resolved within the Mage Tower itself.”
A defensive response escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Of course, some entered the Mage Tower and began apprenticeship procedures as early as their early teens, so some of them did fall under the Child Protection Bureau’s jurisdiction.
But to ask me to resolve Mage Tower problems when the institution was so uncooperative with Imperial Bureaucracy?
There were limits to what bureaucrats could and could not do.
Admittedly, I had fewer limitations than most.
But Mage Tower matters….
‘That’s definitely something I cannot handle.’
Besides, the Child Protection Bureau was extremely busy right now.
The orphanage investigation still wasn’t complete, and troublemakers like Noah Ark kept showing up to cause problems.
Which meant I needed to prepare even more thorough documentation.
I’d started the orphanage-related work myself, and I could throw myself into it to forget about Cain Inkaris, but what was happening in the Mage Tower was an entirely different dimension of problem.
‘Avoiding it is the right choice.’
Fabian Beiretz sighed, slowly rotating his teacup.
“Recently, the rate of apprentice dropouts has increased. Particularly among those aged twelve to fourteen—the attrition rate is highest in that age group.”
“At such a young age, it’s understandable they’d miss their homes.”
Living in dormitories while competing fiercely with peers and sometimes even adults—that was the reality.
Of course young apprentices would have a high dropout rate.
“Still, it’s reached a serious level. The only child who’s lasted a year is… my younger brother.”
I blinked.
Cedric was eleven years old.
He would be among the youngest apprentices in the Mage Tower.
“The instructors report it as simple aptitude mismatch, but I believe there’s a deeper problem at work. However, I cannot uncover it by myself alone, so I’m hoping to borrow your power, Vice Director Harrington.”
I straightened in my seat almost involuntarily.
This was far removed from a request made as an older brother, as a sibling concerned for his younger ones’ wellbeing.
This was an official commission from the Mage Tower Master to the Vice Director of the Child Protection Bureau.
“Could you elaborate further?”
“The children appear withdrawn.”
Fabian Beiretz’s voice dropped an octave.
“Last year, I didn’t pay much attention. I was busy myself… and besides, I was well aware of how intense the training environment at the Mage Tower is. Since I went through the same process myself, I thought it was inevitable.”
Fabian continued matter-of-factly. At first glance, one might mistake him for someone utterly devoid of compassion—but I understood.
A truly cold person wouldn’t concern themselves with the welfare of former apprentices at all.
“…Everyone tells me they’re fine whenever they see me. Even Cedric does. But….”
Fabian looked directly at me.
“Do you know how Estella smiled when she first arrived?”
Something cold settled deep within my chest.
I’d never actually witnessed that smile, but I knew what it was.
I’d read about it in a novel.
“…She must have forced herself to smile. To survive.”
“Yes.”
Fabian spoke quietly.
“The apprentices remind me of Estella back then.”
Ah.
I found myself licking lips that had gone dry.
If Fabian’s words were true….
‘…This is something I can’t ignore.’
Though both were called magical training, the abuse Estella had endured and the Mage Tower’s systematic instruction should have been fundamentally different.
Just looking at Fabian himself, he’d gone through the same training process and developed perfectly well.
“I heard that Prince Cedric is also living at the Mage Tower now. Is there something wrong with him as well?”
“From what I can see, yes.”
Fabian nodded.
“But he always vehemently denies it. He insists he simply lost sleep….”
“I’ll go.”
The words tumbled out before I could think.
“When should I come?”
* * *
Four days later, the promised day arrived.
‘To receive a formal invitation… that’s certainly something unexpected.’
I’d asked Macguffin about it, but even he said he’d never heard of an Imperial Bureaucracy official being invited to the Mage Tower.
As I approached the tower that rose far higher than any other building in the Capital, I felt myself growing smaller with each step.
“Who are you?”
True to the Mage Tower’s nature, the gatekeeper’s curt words reached me.
Instead of answering, I produced the invitation letter Fabian had given me beforehand.
He’d sent word that he had business requiring him to leave the Empire entirely, and unfortunately I would have to tour the Mage Tower alone.
Of course, I felt no regret whatsoever.
‘If anything, this worked out perfectly.’
An organization’s true nature reveals itself when its leader is absent.
Fabian himself encountered some inexplicable problem?
Then I simply couldn’t travel with Fabian.
“Please, enter.”
The gatekeeper’s tone shifted instantly to one of deference upon verifying my invitation.
He even ensured I found my way inside without difficulty.
The interior of the Mage Tower felt like an entirely different realm from the world beyond.
The ceiling soared so high its apex vanished from sight, and the walls writhed with incomprehensible symbols that ordinary people could never decipher, undulating with an unsettling life of their own.
Yes, writhing.
The way they moved and interlocked with one another—as if genuinely alive—was deeply unsettling.
‘Now I understand why they restrict entry to just anyone….’
At a glance, there were countless things that would spell disaster if touched. Allowing the wrong people inside would inevitably trigger catastrophe.
As I walked slowly through the corridor, a man in his late forties wearing a long robe approached me.
“Are you Vice Director Tessa Harrington?”
“Yes. You must be Instructor Wedge?”
“That’s correct.”
Garfield Wedge, Senior Instructor.
He was the person Fabian had asked to guide me, and he oversaw the training of all apprentices.
Wedge took the lead and began showing me around the Mage Tower’s interior.
“This is the Library, that’s the Laboratory, and over there is the Restaurant…. And the place you’d most want to see is undoubtedly the Training Ground, yes? It’s this way.”
Following a predetermined route, the tour proceeded with remarkable smoothness.
The final stop was observing a class.
On the surface, I appeared to be watching the instructor, but my attention was entirely fixed on the apprentices.
Since classes were organized by apprenticeship duration rather than age, adults and early-adolescent children studied side by side, receiving identical instruction.
Yet they all maintained the same posture.
Backs perfectly straight like soldiers, hands arranged neatly on their laps, eyes fixed rigidly forward.
‘It’s like observing an excessively pristine ledger.’
Even documents arranged that perfectly would raise suspicion, but seeing people hold such a pose….
‘Something is wrong here.’
Fabian was right.
These ‘perfect apprentices’ were anything but perfect.

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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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