Chapter 18

“Vivian!”

Senior Investigator Simona’s startled voice scattered like sea spray.

I heard nothing.

I saw nothing.

At this moment, in this place, there were only the magical beast and me.

Keeping my gaze fixed on its eyes, I slowly raised my hand.

“Shhh. It’s okay.”

Golden waves spread from deep within my chest, gently wrapping around its turbulent emotions.

Quickly.

Yet softly.

The magical beast lowered the foreleg it had been wildly thrashing through the air and gradually calmed down.

Then it bowed its head and gently pressed its forehead against my hand.

No matter how many times I experience this, I never get used to it.

I could feel its racing heartbeat slowly returning to normal, as though I were embracing the creature itself.

“You were very frightened, weren’t you? It’s all right now.”

While carefully examining its emotions, I loosened the rope still hanging around its neck.

The moment the constricting pressure disappeared, the beast seemed noticeably relieved and rubbed its head against my arm.

“She calmed it down that quickly…!”

Someone let out an astonished gasp, and suddenly my narrowed world expanded again.

People were staring at me in shock.

Even Administrative Officer Yukel, who usually did nothing but sigh whenever she looked at me.

I hurried over to help the fallen researcher to his feet.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-You saved my life. Thank you so much.”

“I was only doing my job. By the way, could I take a look at that black cloth?”

The cloth the researcher handed me carried the salty scent of the sea.

When I rubbed it between my fingers, grains of salt came away.

It seemed they had used this same cloth when calming magical beasts rescued near the coastline.

“It would be better not to cover them with this.”

“Excuse me?”

“It seems to trigger a reaction because of the scent of the ocean.”

“That’s strange. Even magical beasts with much stronger senses of smell were fine with it.”

“This magical beast…”

I glanced sympathetically at the scar-covered creature.

“I think it was tied up on a crystal whale whaling ship before it ended up on the smuggling vessel.”

“What?!”

The researchers exchanged shocked looks.

Crystal whales were the largest and most intelligent of all magical beasts.

Special crystals grew along their backs.

Those crystals could store mana and were used to create magical tools, making them incredibly valuable.

Because of that, illegal whaling vessels constantly hunted them.

And those whalers were the primary reason my workload never seemed to end.

“They always tie particularly sensitive magical beasts to the ships. Their ability to detect danger lets them sense sea monsters long before they approach.”

These deer-type magical beasts had likely been tied to the deck for exactly that purpose.

It’s large, but far too thin. It looks dehydrated too.

More importantly, scars marked not only its neck but also its legs and waist, evidence of being restrained for a long time.

White salt residue clung to the edges of its thick hooves.

“Magical beasts that can detect danger usually use their antlers or antennae to do it. But since one of its antlers was broken, they probably sold it off to the smugglers.”

The sanctuary would treat its injuries, but they couldn’t regrow a broken antler.

I wasn’t sure whether it would survive after being released back into the wild.

Just then, staff from the sanctuary arrived and began transferring the magical beasts into cages.

If not for the department itself, this would actually be rewarding work.

Watching the beast calmly enter the cage filled me with satisfaction.

Too strong for me to communicate with, huh?

After today’s performance, I felt I had at least made up for some of the embarrassing moments I’d accumulated recently.

A little pride crept into my chest.

See that?

Clearing my throat, I glanced at Aster.

He immediately turned his head away to avoid my eyes.

You saw it too, didn’t you? People call me a nepotism hire, but it’s not because I lack ability.

Feeling triumphant, I turned toward Kade as well—

Then froze.

He was walking toward me with a frightening expression.

Even during our relationship, even at the Magic Tower, I had never seen him look this coldly furious.

“Vivian Soling. Have you lost your mind?”

“Wh-What?”

I blinked in confusion.

Kade clenched his teeth as though forcing himself to stay calm.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed? Is your life really worth that little to you? Were you determined to provoke that beast into a frenzy?”

The sheer intensity of his anger made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

The pride I’d felt only moments ago was instantly thrown into the depths of the sea.

“If this is about the nosebleed, it already stopped, and I took off the jacket that had blood on it—”

“Who said anything about a nosebleed?”

His voice turned even colder.

“Can you imagine what would have happened if there’d been bloodshed here?”

His words spread through the air like thin ice forming over water, sharp as icicles piercing my ears.

Without realizing it, I clenched the hem of my uniform tightly and glanced around.

The unwanted outsider.

The supposed nepotism hire.

The thorn in everyone’s side.

That was my position here.

The clerks were whispering among themselves, some sneering, others glaring with annoyance.

Every movement of their lips seemed to form the same word.

Parachute hire.

My ears burned.

“I knew the risks before I moved. I didn’t jump in recklessly.”

“If someone had been killed or injured here, the Grand Duke would have found a way to dump all the blame on me.”

Kade’s voice rose.

“They’d say people are dying because of a lunatic Tower Lord.”

His anger only grew stronger.

The hand gripping my uniform trembled.

I understood why he was upset.

But still…

Stop it.

Not here. Not in front of these people.

You could have called me to the Magic Tower. You could have come to the inn. Anywhere but here.

“Rescuing magical beasts? Fine. Great.”

His eyes flashed.

“But if the alternative is someone dying, I’d rather kill the rampaging magical beast.”

Several unfamiliar magic circles flickered around his raised hand.

It seemed he had genuinely been prepared to kill the beast I had stepped in front of.

At that moment, I wished he would simply use that magic to teleport me somewhere nobody knew.

I understand, so please stop.

Set my hair on fire instead.

Heat spread through my neck and scalp as if I had come down with a fever.

My pride was being crushed beneath his anger and everyone else’s ridicule, wrinkled beyond repair like the fabric clutched in my hand.

When I remained silent with my lips tightly pressed together, Kade let out a furious sigh and turned away.

Again.

That back.

The broad back I could never stop watching, even when I knew he wouldn’t return.

It felt like I was drowning.

Senior Investigator Simona suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Tower Lord! What about tomorrow? You said the Magic Tower needed an empath.”

Kade answered without hesitation.

Pointing directly at Aster.

“You.”

“My name is Aster.”

“You’re coming.”

“Just me?”

“Yes.”

Before Aster could even finish looking smugly in my direction, Kade vanished in a flash of teleportation.

I didn’t even have the energy to resent Aster’s expression.

My heart pounded against my ears so loudly it felt as though I had become the magical beast.

I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.

Instead, I turned and ran into the observation station.

The only place I could hide during working hours was an empty conference room.

I slid down the wall and hugged my knees.

Kade’s furious face.

The sound of people laughing at me.

Both replayed endlessly in my mind.

Now that he knows, does he think I’m ridiculous? Resentful?

Is that why he humiliated me even more?

Questions with no answers weighed heavily on me until tears stung my eyes.

At that moment, the conference room door opened.

I quickly wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand.

“Vivian. So this is where you were.”

Senior Investigator Simona approached, waving my forgotten jacket.

Then she sat down beside me.

“Thank you. I completely forgot about it.”

“Don’t pay too much attention to what that delinquent said. You were only doing your job. What’s all this nonsense about killing magical beasts?”

“Yeah.”

My answer lacked energy.

Simona nudged my shoulder and lowered her voice.

“I thought you were just some spoiled bureaucrat from the Imperial Palace.”

She grinned.

“But you’re actually pretty impressive. Looks like you’re more than an empath in name only.”

Then she started chuckling.

I managed a small laugh in return.

But it didn’t make me feel any better.

I hugged my jacket tightly to my chest.

The badge was attached to the jacket, but it felt as though the pin had been driven directly into my heart.

What’s wrong with me?

It’s embarrassing, sure, but why does it hurt this much?

We’re not lovers anymore.

We’re just people who work together.

Yet the more I repeated those words to myself, the more miserable I felt.

Maybe it was because of the way he disappeared.

He hadn’t walked away.

He hadn’t gradually grown distant.

He had simply vanished.

Someone who could disappear from my life in the blink of an eye, no matter how long I stared.

That was what it meant to be nothing to each other.

That Night

Knock. Knock.

Unable to sleep, I sat on my bed reading a book.

The unexpected sound of knocking at my door made me jump.