Chapter 20

Grumbling under my breath, I accepted the paper envelope and opened it.

Inside were the official documents I had dropped in the office. Every one of them was scorched and stained with soot.

Ah, right.

Unless they were burned so badly that the text became unreadable, I really should have rescued the documents even if my hands caught fire.

But in the chaos, I had completely forgotten.

As I sorted through them one by one, I noticed several documents that hadn’t been mine.

They seemed to be the ones Aster had brought with him.

“Thank you, Lana. I’ll make sure these are—?”

I stopped abruptly while trying to organize the papers and put them back into the envelope.

“Wait. What’s this?”

A strange scrap of paper was tucked between the documents.

More than half of it had burned away, leaving only the upper portion intact.

The paper itself was different from the kind used for Imperial Palace documents.

There was no Imperial seal.

No seal from the Magical Beast Ecology Investigation Bureau either.

It wasn’t an official government document at all.

Proposal for the Establishment of a Private Crystal Whale Protection Facility (Revised)

…

Investors: Kameli Chil, Owen Parsers, …

Administrator: Ast…

Advisor: …

Many of the names had been cut off where the paper burned away.

Even so, what remained was suspicious enough.

A private Crystal Whale protection facility? I’ve never heard anything like that mentioned in the Ecology Investigation Bureau.

Administrator Ast…

Ast…er?

Aster’s surname was Chil.

That meant Kameli Chil, listed among the investors, was likely a relative.

The administrator’s name had been cut off, so there was no way to know for certain whether it was Aster.

Still, it was obvious his family was connected to the project.

But how exactly would private citizens protect Crystal Whales? Protect them from what?

The title alone sounded incredibly strange.

I shouldn’t return this to Aster just yet. I’ll keep it for now.

Even if I ask him about it, he’ll obviously never give me a straight answer.

After setting the suspicious document aside and reorganizing the others, I looked up.

Lana’s eyes were sparkling.

“I have a question, Investigator.”

“What is it?”

“Are you interested in our Tower Lord?”

“What?! No! Not at all!”

I immediately lowered my voice after nearly shouting.

Why would Lana suddenly ask something like that?

Did I really look like I still had lingering feelings—no, interest—in him?

Lana tilted her head at my emphatic denial.

“If you’re not interested, then why were you looking for the Tower Lord? You said his name earlier.”

“Th-that’s not what happened. I know someone with a similar name, so I was just saying it out loud.”

“In that situation?”

“……”

Even I knew that excuse was terrible.

Lana giggled.

Then she asked another question.

“Investigator, are you seeing anyone?”

“No. I’m not.”

“That’s great! What do you think of our Tower Lord? I think you’d make a really good match.”

“…What?”

“You’ve seen how tall and handsome he is, right? Sure, his reputation isn’t great and he’s always smiling in ways nobody can read, but he doesn’t bully people for no reason or spout nonsense like that other investigator.”

I already knew Kade was tall and handsome, but…

What exactly was happening here?

Carefully, I probed.

“Did Ka—I mean, did the Tower Lord ask you to introduce him to someone?”

“Nope.”

Lana shook her head.

“I just think you two look really good together. A perfect handsome man and beautiful woman!”

That answer sounded exactly like something a girl her age would say.

Lana might be a mage, but she was still a school-aged girl at heart.

The realization eased my embarrassment and made me laugh.

“If I hypothetically dated the Tower Lord, how long do you think it would last?”

“You two suit each other so well. You’ll live happily together for a very, very long time.”

“Lana.”

“Yes? Should I introduce you?”

“You’re incredibly bad at judging people.”

“Huh?! No way!”

Lana clutched her head dramatically.

But I already knew exactly how a relationship with Kade would end.

I’d experienced it once before.

“The Tower Lord and I would never work out. Even if we dated, we’d break up after two years at most.”

“Oh dear.”

Lana’s shoulders drooped.

“His terrible personality ruined everything. Though if you could tolerate him for two whole years, that’s actually impressive.”

“Well, it’s possible I’d be the one getting dumped.”

“That would never happen.”

Lana’s expression turned deadly serious.

“If the Tower Lord dumped you first, I’d kick him right in the shin.”

“…Thanks. At least for saying that.”

If I admitted that Kade had already dumped me a year ago, Lana looked ready to march over and attack the Tower Lord immediately.

Still, it was getting late.

I needed to send her home.

Then again, maybe a young mage is safer at night than an adult who communicates with magical beasts…

I wasn’t entirely sure.

Either way, she should leave soon.

Before she went, there was one thing I wanted to ask.

“Lana, could you keep what happened with Aster—that awful man—a secret from the Tower Lord?”

“Oh… a secret?”

Instead of answering, Lana’s eyes darted around suspiciously.

A bad feeling settled in my stomach.

“Lana?”

“Ahaha. Well…”

She gave me an adorable wink and mimed firing finger guns.

“I already sent a Cuckoo Spell.”

I had no idea what a Cuckoo Spell actually was.

But the name alone was enough.

So she already told Kade.

Would there ever come a day when Kade stopped seeing me at my most pathetic moments?

“Sorry. I was born a tattletale. I just couldn’t help reporting it right away.”

The sleep that had already been avoiding me vanished completely.

*

The Cuckoo Spell fluttering around the Magic Tower office finally exhausted its mana and disappeared.

Kade slowly curled up the corners of his lips.

The report it had delivered was so absurd that a lazy, disbelieving laugh escaped him.

The dagger spinning idly at his fingertips suddenly shot forward.

Thunk.

It buried itself in Aster’s portrait on the desk.

Moments later, several mana-infused pens followed.

Each one pierced Aster’s face with alarming precision.

There’s a limit to how much nonsense a person should be allowed to say.

Lana had sent the Cuckoo Spell while running her errand.

Kade had wondered what was so important.

Instead, he received a recording of the nonsense Aster had been spouting to Vivian.

Accompanied by a question:

“Can I punish him a little, as long as I don’t get caught?”

Kade wouldn’t have cared if she got caught.

If anything, he regretted not going personally.

So that’s why he kept putting Vivian down in front of me and humiliating her.

Marriage?

A bride he wouldn’t be ashamed of?

A dry laugh slipped from his lips.

Apparently, Aster believed that if Vivian suffered enough humiliation and bullying to quit her job, she’d eventually marry him because she needed the money.

He understands Vivian far less than he thinks.

No… perhaps not completely.

The fact that he knows she’d never marry someone like him under normal circumstances means he isn’t entirely stupid.

Kade had disliked Aster from the moment the man first arrived at the Magic Tower.

It had been obvious.

Aster was desperate to outshine Vivian and make himself look important.

That was one reason Kade had personally visited the observation station today.

He wanted to observe the man himself.

According to the information Ben had quickly gathered…

Kade glanced down at the report again and scoffed.

His empathic ability does seem fairly impressive.

But he’s even more suspicious than he looks.

Even if the documents Aster had left behind seemed questionable, Ben’s investigation had been rushed.

It was too early to draw conclusions.

In truth, the suspicious documents didn’t matter much.

What bothered Kade was Aster’s attitude toward Vivian.

No matter how ruined her family had become, Vivian was still an Imperial noblewoman.

And yet she had come all the way here only to suffer indignities like this.

The Empire’s nobles possessed less influence because Imperial authority was strong.

Even so, noble daughters weren’t supposed to be humiliated in roadside inns without a single servant by their side.

Maybe we never should have met again like this.

Ever since stabbing her with those parting words and ending their relationship, every interaction seemed to leave Vivian hurt.

Today wasn’t the first time.

Yesterday at the Magic Tower had been the same.

“You came at a bad time.”

“So now you’re blaming the date?”

“Being seen with me outside the Magic Tower won’t do you any good. We shouldn’t have met again in the first place.”

If they had reunited somewhere else, perhaps things would have been different.

But as Kade had told her, the timing truly was terrible.

From the moment he became Tower Lord, the Grand Duke of Melgot had been pressuring the Magic Tower, trying to limit its influence.

Even yesterday, while I was talking to Vivian, a spy tried to breach the barrier.

If people discovered his connection to Vivian now, both of them would be placed in a difficult position.

Vivian could be taken hostage.

Or become the target of suspicion.

And I…

They had broken up.

But once, they had been closer than anyone else.

There was no way Kade could simply allow Vivian to be placed in danger.

Should I just scare her badly enough that she runs back to the Imperial Palace?