Translator: Nox

My Nerdy Neighbor Is the Master of the Magic Tower

Chapter 14

Lien is a mage. That was no longer a suspicion, but a certainty.

Cecilia calmly retraced the recent events. The pain of her injury that vanished the moment his hand touched her; the garden filled with daisies in a single day.

The latter might have been possible if several people had worked together to plant them, but this wasn’t the season for flower merchants to visit this region.

And finally, that sense of dissonance she had felt at the Temple. When he called her name, for a fleeting moment, it felt as if time itself had slowed down.

No, it wasn’t an illusion. It had definitely slowed.

None of it could be explained unless he was a ‘mage.’

Cecilia recalled the rest of their lesson.

[What about the remaining one of the influential magic families?]

[That would be the Chetwynds, who have produced the Magic Tower Masters for generations. The Magic Tower is an institution unrelated to politics, so they can be considered neutral, though it is a bit ambiguous.]

According to his explanation, not all mages were part of the Emperor’s faction. However, it was common knowledge that most mages were not on good terms with the Temple.

They pursued knowledge and explored infinite possibilities, believing in provable science rather than a deity whose existence could not be verified.

In a way, they held a philosophy similar to hers, having come from 21st-century Korea.

So, the fact that Lien was hiding his identity as a mage from the holy family of Weberdin—and from her, the Saintess—wasn’t actually a major issue. At least, that was what she thought.

But there was another problem that she absolutely could not overlook.

“No, you’re the Magic Tower Master, aren’t you?”

The fact that he was a hidden powerhouse—no, the Magic Tower Master. That was the problem.

Magic that could actually manipulate time. And the name of the Magic Tower Master written in the newspapers.

‘Asilien Chetwynd.’

To use a portion of his name as a pseudonym… it was a trick that should only work on romance novel heroines who lose every ounce of their intuition when it comes to love.

Normally, the moment the identity is revealed should come long after the first meeting—at least fifty chapters in, if this were a novel.

But this man, who wasn’t skilled at lying, had dropped far too many clues for Cecilia to simply turn a blind eye.

At the question that pierced through to the truth, Lien clenched his fists tight. After looking as lost as a man driven to the edge of a cliff, he soon closed his eyes in devastation.

“……If I am indeed that Magic Tower Master, will you abandon me?”

Did he realize that with that answer, he had essentially confessed his identity?

“Should I take that as a yes?”

“……I am sorry.”

She had never possessed him in the first place. Cecilia stared at him with a strange gaze as he fretted over the possibility of being discarded.

“I never intended to deceive you—well, I did intend to deceive you, but I never meant to mock you, Cecilia-nim.”

Actually, when she first suspected his identity, Cecilia wasn’t all that surprised.

Since there was no way a man that handsome could be a mere supporting character, she had guessed he might be an Imperial Prince hiding his power and identity during a power struggle, a Grand Duke from somewhere hiding his status to break a curse, or a Magic Tower Master hiding a sinister motive behind a clumsy facade.

However, the fact that he was the Magic Tower Master was a bit unexpected.

As the Magic Tower Master, he was a person of such notoriety that even she, only three months into this world, had heard the rumors.

And not the good kind.

The past Magic Tower Masters, while not particularly known for performing good deeds, were figures suited to the Tower’s goal of academic pursuit.

However, the current Magic Tower Master was followed by terrifying rumors: that he was a parricide who had beheaded his own master to usurp the position, a piece of trash lost in pleasures like gambling, drugs, and women, or a monster who went around murdering innocent people.

‘That’s why I guessed Lien was more likely a hidden illegitimate child of the Imperial Family.’

She had predicted that his gloominess and low self-esteem surely stemmed from a secret birth, a tragic past, or something of that sort.

But to think the nerd next door was that Magic Tower Master.

“I am truly, truly sorry.”

Cecilia stared coldly at the man who looked as if he might burst into tears at any moment.

In any case, a villain hiding his true nature was a failing grade as a romantic partner. Aren’t villains by default characters defined by confinement and obsession?

Obsessive men are only good in books; to a 21st-century modern person, they were no different from criminals.

She had absolutely no desire to experience human rights violations like being locked in a cage or having her legs broken.

Shuddering at the mere thought, Cecilia asked icily.

“Are you perhaps a villain?”

“……Pardon?”

“Do you have plans to rebel if given the chance, or kill your subordinates if you’re in a bad mood, or think that the world is beneath your feet and it’s fine if it’s destroyed……? Do you?”

“Pardon?! Is there…… is there such an outrageous person?”

‘That would be you.’

When she stared at him with that meaning in her eyes, Lien’s face turned pale. In his desperation, he shook both his head and his hands vigorously.

“I-I know my reputation is not good, and it is true that my personality wasn’t very pleasant when I was young, but I am not like that now! Please believe me!”

But he was hiding more than necessary for her to simply nod in agreement. He lied frequently.

Unable to let down her guard or suspicion, Cecilia continued her interrogation-like questioning.

“What would you do if the person you liked said they liked someone else?”

“……Is there someone you like?”

Wait, was that a confession just now?

She was momentarily flustered, but his eyes remained as innocent as ever.

‘Is this a trick to lower my guard?’

But she wouldn’t be fooled anymore. Unmoved by his stunningly handsome face, Cecilia replied firmly.

“I’m saying let’s speak hypothetically.”

“I…… I think I would beg them just to let me stay by their side.”

’Not confinement?’

The unexpected answer left her speechless.

‘This is really the infamous Magic Tower Master?’

Cecilia barely managed to pull her crumbling defenses back together and snapped once more.

“And if they refuse even that?”

“Then…….”

Suddenly, the man bit his lip hard.

‘It’s confinement after all!’

“……I think I would cry.”

As if the mere thought was distressing, his violet eyes, resembling wisteria blossoms, grew moist.

‘Hmm, pass.’

Cecilia stared intently at the man waiting breathlessly for his sentence.

Truth and lies are often difficult to distinguish. Nevertheless, Cecilia decided to believe in the actions and emotions he had shown so far, as well as his answers now.

It wasn’t because his words had penetrated her heart with a depth unlike usual, nor because those anxious eyes were as beautiful as purple magnolias. It was certainly not because that tearful face and pathetic answer perfectly suited her tastes.

……It definitely wasn’t that.

Cecilia deliberately softened her gaze and asked with a sigh.

“I’ll believe that you’re a different person from the rumors, Lien. But I’d like you to explain why you tried to deceive me.”

It was a matter directly linked to trust. No matter how obvious the lies were, if he constantly had them on his lips, a day would come when she would be truly and deeply disappointed.

She urged him for an answer with her silence. After exhaling a heavy breath like someone being strangled, he finally parted his lips.

“Because Cecilia-nim is a Weberdin and the Saintess, I thought you would hate me if I told you I was a magic user.”

“Was that also why you tried to pretend to be a gardener?”

“……Yes.”

He nervously clasped his hands together. Cecilia gazed down at the back of his hands, where his veins were bulging. He was gripping them so tightly that the skin where they overlapped was rapidly turning pale.

It occurred to her that the real ‘Cecilia Weberdin’ might have actually reacted that way.

It was highly likely she would have suspected, felt animosity toward, and eventually distanced herself from a mage from the Capital—especially the Magic Tower Master.

Just like the head of the Weberdin family, who openly displayed his hatred.

“You must have hidden your identity from my father as well.”

That realization struck her in an instant.

If Marquis Weberdin had known Lien was the Magic Tower Master—no, even if he had only known he was a mage—he would never have allowed him to become Cecilia’s tutor.

“Then your claim of being a professor was…….”

“I have never lied about my career! It’s just that, well, I didn’t major in history as I wrote on the resume…… I majored in theoretical magic.”

Right. If he had the skill to reach the position of Magic Tower Master at such a young age, the title of Academy professor likely wasn’t a lie either.

But the problem wasn’t his titles or his career.

It was why a man of such a grand position was hiding his identity here. That was the issue.

“Why is the Magic Tower Master, who even served as an Academy professor, here at Weberdin? And of all places, right next door to the Weberdin mansion?”

His hunched shoulders jolted. The man, who had been desperately making excuses, could not easily answer this time and fell silent.

But the confession was not yet over. The one who had sinned lowered his head deeply once more and spoke the belated truth.

“That is…….”