"Hahahahaha! So we finally meet in person! Welcome, welcome! Hahahahaha!"
The Magic Tower greeted us with great enthusiasm.
"Thanks to you, the Magic Tower has avoided a major crisis. It's all thanks to the Noart Count Family! Hahahaha!"
Of course, the only one doing the greeting was the Tower Master.
"Well, most people in the Magic Tower aren’t exactly social... Everyone tends to hole up in their labs."
The Tower Master was a woman in her mid-forties with long, flowing red hair.
She was a strikingly beautiful and competent mage, tall and elegant in her demeanor.
With a bright smile, she laid out a spread of snacks in front of Ethan and me.
"You know how it is, right? Mages bury themselves in research and rarely step outside... Honestly, they probably don’t even realize how close we came to falling under the Temple’s control. They don’t care about the world’s affairs at all."
As she spoke, a group of mages shuffled down the corridor, all with their noses buried in books, not even sparing us a glance.
Yep. That’s exactly what mages are like.
It reminded me of Ethan. This place suited him perfectly.
I had also heard that the Tower Master wasn’t particularly sociable.
But she seemed to really like me. Her expression remained bright the whole time.
Well, it makes sense. She almost lost her position as Tower Master, and I was the one who saved her.
The current Tower Master had always been at odds with the Temple.
The development of sedatives had been part of that struggle.
However, when the price of mana stones plummeted, the Tower fell into a financial crisis, and a new political faction emerged within it—one that sought closer ties with the Temple.
True mages usually don’t care about external affairs. The fact that such a faction even exists means the Temple must have planted spies in advance.
The Temple had its influence spread everywhere.
The Imperial Family, the noble families, the Academy, the Magic Tower...
With all that power, the Noart Count Family opposing them was like a newborn puppy barking at a tiger.
If I hadn’t invested 1.37 trillion gold, the Tower would have already fallen into their hands.
But now, just when the Tower had barely survived bankruptcy, it was gaining momentum again thanks to the failure of Romstone development.
"Julian Noart truly has an incredible eye for investment. How did he foresee this... Ah, but I suppose I can't ask him anymore, can I? Since he lost his memory?"
"Yes, it flew far, far away."
I sipped my tea with an innocent expression, pretending not to know anything.
I simply attributed all of these investments to Julian before he lost his memory.
That way, I wouldn’t have to answer any bothersome °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° questions.
Still, I really need to be careful.
I let the Tower Master’s excessive flattery flow in one ear and out the other as I mulled over my thoughts.
I absolutely have to avoid dark, cramped spaces.
Until now, I had never really encountered a situation where I had to be in one.
But instinctively, I had always avoided narrow places without sunlight.
"You can put a hundred guards on me, or lock me in a room all day. Oh, but there has to be a bit of sunlight coming in."
"Wow, I love this carriage. The windows are so big. Oh, don’t close the curtains. I like the sunlight."
The moment darkness filled the carriage, the memories of the Temple had resurfaced.
A cramped room with no sunlight, the pain so intense it felt like my body was being torn apart.
Ironically, the underground prison had been bearable because I shared it with Fire. It was spacious.
But the laboratory... that had been unbearable. That was where I had been taken and experimented on repeatedly.
During those experiments, writhing in agony, one thought had dominated my mind.
If I’m in this much pain, my brother will be heartbroken...
If he regains his memory and comes looking for me at the Temple, how much will he blame himself?
If my brother remembers, no matter what, he’ll come for me.
But later, Zahid had told me that at that point in time, Julian was already dead.
My thoughts were interrupted when the Tower Master suddenly leaned in with a sly smile.
"You really didn’t have to come all this way."
She grinned, her blue eyes gleaming.
"I was already planning to send a huge batch of sedatives to Dyfenril Duchy, just as you requested."
Then, her gaze flickered mischievously.
"But since you’ve come all this way in person... would you let me touch those soft, squishy cheeks of yours just once?"
"Sure, go ahead. Oh, and actually, I did come to check on that, but I also had another reason for visiting."
The Tower Master immediately reached out and pressed my cheek, exhaling in satisfaction.
Meanwhile, I turned to Ethan and gave his back a hard slap.
Ethan had just taken a bite of his egg sandwich and choked, coughing violently.
"Cough, cough! Rosie! What was that for!?"
"This is my cousin, Ethan. I wanted to see if he has any talent for magic. Could you take a look at him?"
Ethan practically jumped out of his seat.
"N-No way! I-I mean, what magic!? What are you even saying!?"
"Why not? You like magic."
I blinked at him innocently.
"You’re always reading magic books whenever you have the chance."
"T-That’s just because it’s interesting! That doesn’t mean I have talent!"
Ethan looked flustered, his eyes darting around as he shook his head.
"I-I don’t have any talent! Let’s not bother the Tower Master with this. If we’re done with business, we should leave!"
I silently watched Ethan.
I knew exactly why he was acting .
Ethan couldn’t even perform basic mana control on his own.
That was why he believed he had no magical talent whatsoever.
But he loved magic so much that, at fifteen, he would run away, abandon his name, and enter the Magic Tower as a janitor.
Then, by sheer chance, he would catch the Tower Master’s eye and rise to the rank of Grand Mage in the blink of an eye. Until then, however, all he would do was flounder.
"How do you know whether you have talent or not?"
I looked at Ethan as I spoke.
"Since we're already here, let’s at least check."
If he started training earlier, he might become an even greater mage.
Ethan is just like me.
I glanced at him, curled up on himself, and thought:
Just like the old me—the novice who believed nothing good could ever happen to her. Who thought this pathetic little space was where she belonged.
Maybe that was why, when Julian lost his memory, I went back to the Temple.
Because I thought that was as far as my luck would take me.
Because I thought my place was scrubbing floors as a novice.
But there’s no such thing as a ‘rightful place.’ If you endure and persist, wherever you stand becomes your place.
The Tower Master watched us with an intrigued expression but didn’t interfere.
Ethan shook his head frantically, curling in on himself even more, then quickly whispered,
"I can’t even speak properly, I run slower than a turtle, I’m a dumb idiot... And if the Tower Master finds out that, despite reading magic books every day, I can’t even perform basic mana control, won’t I just look pathetic?"
"What do you mean, ‘what will you do’?"
I gave him a small smile and took his hand.
"You’ll come back to Noart Manor with me."
"You’ll sit next to me at breakfast. You’ll walk with me whenever something happens."
"You’ll read your books while I practice my writing. And after we finish studying, we’ll have dinner with Julian."
"And that’ll be it. What’s there to be so scared of?"
I had struggled for so long to learn how to read.
But it was fine. Even when I kept mixing up letters, Julian had stayed with me.
Having a place to return to makes failure less terrifying.
I wanted to be that place for Ethan.
"Even if the results are disappointing, I’ll be the normal, everyday life you can return to. Doesn’t that sound nice?"
"You trust me, right? I kept serving my brother’s meals every day, even when he turned into a bratty teenager who only knew how to yell."
"I didn’t love him because he was strong."
Ethan's breath came out in short, shaky bursts.
I turned to the Tower Master and smiled sweetly before making a polite request.
"Tower Master, please help him."
And this time, Ethan didn’t refuse.