My Nerdy Neighbor Is the Master of the Magic Tower
Chapter 12
The sparks of suspicion were easily extinguished.
Since she hadn’t seen the interior of the Prayer Room, it was possible even more fragments were scattered inside than out.
Or perhaps there had been another impact from within.
‘Knox said he’d look into the situation, so I can just ask him then.’
By the time she finally managed to shake off the lingering unease, they reached the main gate. Cecilia spotted the Weberdin family knights and the coachman waiting in front of the Temple entrance.
It was an opportunity to end this awkward accompaniment.
She quickly offered her farewell to the Holy Knight.
“You don’t have to see me off any further than this.”
“I will watch until you have departed safely.”
“There are plenty of Weberdin knights here. Thank you for escorting me today.”
At her polite refusal, Miguel reluctantly nodded his head.
“Then I shall look forward to the day we meet again, Saintess-nim.”
Instead of kissing the lady’s hand like most knights, Miguel placed a hand over his chest and gave a silent bow. It was the greeting of the Holy Knights.
As the man moved away after the concise farewell, Cecilia turned toward her knights as if she had been waiting for the moment.
“What about the task I requested?”
“We found him.”
From between the burly knights, a man hunched over as much as possible approached hesitatingly.
His frame was large enough to rival the knights, yet he held that awkward posture—and wore that familiar robe.
“Lien.”
When she called his name, the robed man flinched and lifted his head. His beautiful face, which she never tired of seeing no matter how many times she looked, was softly revealed.
[Please find and stop a man in a robe among the devotees returning home.]
She had secretly given that order to the family knights who had rushed over late after hearing news of the accident.
‘Knowing Lien’s personality, he wouldn’t have left first because he’d be worried about me. And he’d be the only person inside the holy Temple wearing a pitch-black robe.’
Seeing him caught like this, it seemed her prediction had been quite accurate.
“Cecilia-nim.”
He fumbled with the hem of his robe, looking like a child who had committed a wrongdoing.
She had wanted to ask why on earth he was at the Temple, and at that specific spot.
But his words were faster than her question.
“A-Are you hurt anywhere……!”
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
She returned the line she felt she’d said a hundred times already.
Even after hearing the answer, he couldn’t shake his anxiety. Only after scanning her hair, face, shoulders, waist, hands, legs, and finally her feet did his shoulders finally slump.
Thank goodness. Ignoring his low murmur, she spoke up.
“More importantly, what brings Lien here?”
“That is……”
She was purely curious; her tone wasn't angry. Even so, his head began to sink lower and lower.
“Lien?”
“…….”
Cecilia, waiting patiently for his answer, let out a small sigh. Her physical strength was already depleted; she couldn't afford to keep standing on the street like this.
Cecilia walked past him and climbed into the carriage. Then, she asked the man standing blankly there.
“Aren’t you getting in?”
Fortunately, that suggestion didn't seem too difficult, as Lien hurriedly scrambled into the carriage.
Once he was seated opposite her, the carriage began to rattle forward.
“Lien.”
His shoulders were still incredibly stiff. Cecilia quietly gazed into the violet eyes behind the silver-rimmed glasses, which were trembling like a rowboat before a storm.
‘Judging by his behavior, it doesn’t seem like he just came for sightseeing and ran into me by chance.’
“I didn’t expect to run into you at the Temple. I’m asking just in case, but... did you follow me?”
It was a half-joking question.
The man turned pale, furrowed his smooth brow, bit his lower lip, and clenched his pitifully trembling hands tight.
“I-It’s not like that. I had absolutely no intention of stalking you or making Cecilia-nim uncomfortable! It’s just that I heard the Grand Temple was nearby and thought it would be nice to look around……. It’s not that I didn’t know Cecilia-nim was visiting, but, what I mean is……”
At his reaction, which was more intense than expected, Cecilia gently covered the back of his hand with hers.
“I’m not scolding you.”
“……Are you not upset because I acted so dreadfully?”
His long eyelashes fluttered piteously.
Had he been verbally abused by a former lover or a first love? She had thought he was someone with low self-esteem, but this was excessive.
Cecilia rubbed her forehead roughly with the back of her hand. After choosing her words over and over, she finally blurted out a single, unadorned sentence.
“No. All I was going to say was that it would have been nice if you’d just asked to go together.”
“……May I dare to accompany you?”
Lien asked desperately, like an abandoned puppy.
‘A serious case. Truly a serious case.’
His low self-esteem was one thing, but her own sanity, crumbling at his behavior, wasn't normal either.
‘Well, it’s better than having a stuck-up, unpleasant personality.’
She had always been weak to soft and cute things anyway.
Having shaken off even the last bit of bitterness, Cecilia willingly gave her affirmation for the man who seemed to need a lot of soothing and praise.
“Of course.”
She even forced a bright smile. At that, his mouth parted slightly and his cheeks flushed crimson.
“It’s really alright, then.”
Muttering to himself, he turned his hand over—the one resting beneath hers—and tentatively held her hand. Then, he curved his eyes with satisfaction, like a well-fed puppy.
That smile was so dangerous.
‘I almost went blind again.’
The visual stimulation was excessive today. Thinking she should ask Melanie for an eye compress when she got home, she continued her questioning.
“It looked like you were coming out of a Prayer Room. Were you offering a prayer?”
“Ah, ……yes.”
“You said you came from the Capital. Do you believe in God?”
It was unexpected.
In this country, believing in God meant serving a deity rather than the Emperor. In other words, it meant being someone who opposed the Emperor’s power.
The palm that had been warmed by their shared temperature suddenly pulled away. Lien, who had also dropped his gaze to the floor, nodded silently.
“Hmm, is that so? Then next time I have to visit the Temple, we can go together.”
“Yes, yes!”
His responding voice was quite elated.
With a small chuckle, Cecilia cast her gaze out the window.
Over the passing scenery, she quietly observed the man faintly reflected in the glass.
His lips were softly relaxed, looking very happy at her suggestion. In contrast, Cecilia’s own smile had already returned to its neutral position.
‘He believes in God?’
Liar.
There was no way.
Because Lien was a mage.
*
*
*
Once, she had recommended serotonin supplements to a colleague who was going mad from never-ending repetitive experiments, telling them that all mental stress stemmed from hormones and neurotransmitters.
[Please, could the Thinking types just go away.]
She had been immediately rebuked by that colleague.
Back then, how great would it have been if she had known there was a cheaper and more effective treatment?
If she had, that colleague wouldn't have spent their meager savings at a psychiatric clinic, and she wouldn't have been blamed when the medication didn't work.
Inside the Marquis’s office, where all the Weberdin family members were gathered.
Cecilia, with Charles on her lap after he had followed her in, was truly realizing the greatness of ‘animal therapy.’
The warm temperature, the rough tongue licking her fingertips, and the soft fur.
“Unbelievable!”
Even with the Marquis huffing and puffing in front of her, his face flushed red, she was able to remain calm.
“Inside the Temple, and of all people, an accident involving Cecilia! Those Delanche bastards must have made a move!”
The Marquis slammed the newspaper he was holding onto the table.
There were moments when the Marquis’s boiling point, usually quite high, dropped exceptionally low. It was whenever he spoke of the Imperial Family and their lackeys.
‘Delanche.’
Cecilia leisurely chewed over the familiar family name.
She easily recalled her lesson with Lien.
[Currently, there are two influential magic families in the Empire.]
[Magic families?]
[Yes. If the holy family of Weberdin is the Temple’s strong support, the ducal house of Delanche can be called the Imperial Family’s right hand.]
Cecilia remembered something the Marquis had spat out during a luncheon some time ago.
[Just thinking about those Delanche bastards acting up already gives me a headache.]
At the time, the Marquis had made no effort to hide his hostility toward the Delanches.
All the information pointed to one thing: ‘Delanche’ was ‘Weberdin’s’ arch-enemy.
That was likely the basis for the Marquis suspecting Delanche as the mastermind behind the accident.
By the time the Marquis had finished his urgent business and returned to the estate to hear news of his daughter’s accident, he already seemed certain.
That this was no simple accident. That it was undoubtedly a dirty trick plotted by the Delanches.
She wasn't sure if his faith in the Temple was too deep or if his hostility toward Delanche was too great.
Actually, either way, the answer was already set.
Knox, who had been watching his father's rage with casual indifference even without a cat, refuted the Marquis’s claim.
