My Nerdy Neighbor Is the Master of the Magic Tower
Chapter 44
Lien still looked unstable, like glass that would shatter into a thousand pieces at the slightest touch.
His hands were clasped in anxious tension, his chest rose and fell in deep, heavy breaths, and his jaw and cheeks were rigid with strain. Even his gaze, which seemed to be trying to read something from her face—or perhaps trying desperately not to read it—was fraught with emotion.
She couldn't understand why he was so agitated, nor why she felt a pang of guilt in a corner of her heart, like someone caught in the middle of an affair.
To be precise, she was trying hard not to understand.
But her attempt to look away was, as always, not thorough enough, and Lien continued to act in a way that left her no choice.
“The back of your hand is red.”
He had been staring blankly down at the back of her hand, which he held onto as if it were a lifeline, when he suddenly murmured.
Because he had rubbed it so incessantly, her delicate skin was flushed a bright crimson.
“You’re the one who did this, Lien.”
The late-arriving stinging sensation wasn't particularly important. The real problem was the cause, she said somewhat reproachfully, but he stepped forward as if he had been waiting for those very words.
“It is my responsibility, so I will treat it for you.”
“No, there’s really no need to go that far….”
Bewilderment surged over her like a tidal wave.
Lien bowed his head over the back of her hand like a puppy, pressed his soft lips firmly against it, and licked up the reddened skin.
“Lien\!”
Startled, Cecilia hurriedly looked around.
Fortunately, there were no servants passing by. Even if there were, his robe would likely hide his actions, making it look like he was merely inspecting her hand closely.
‘Still, this is a bit much….’
It was the same during the festival; she knew this was Lien’s method of treatment. But she had intended to tell him that from now on, it would be better in many ways to just use a potion.
She was about to protest.
But what escaped Cecilia’s lips was not a sentence, but a short, sharp gasp.
As if the treatment wasn't finished yet, his lips moved past the back of her hand and gradually traveled down toward her fingers.
“Cecilia-nim?”
The moment she looked down at his slightly muffled pronunciation, her mind went completely blank.
Between his lips, redder than any rose, her straight finger was being pressed upon by his soft tongue.
It was because that picture-perfect face looking up at her so innocently filled her vision.
Her heart plummeted at the sheer audacity of the sight.
Considering her fingers weren't even injured in the first place, wasn't this truly an improper act\!
Feeling as though she were committing some sort of sin, she jerked her hand away.
“M-my fingers aren't even hurt\!”
“Disinfection must be done all the way to the fingertips.”
Despite usually acting like a man made half of shyness, he answered calmly, his eyes curving into a gentle arc. It was the same smile as always, yet she couldn't fathom why it looked so erotic.
Now, heat seemed to be rising not just from where his lips had touched, but all the way to her face.
‘Is this the time to be falling for a honey trap?’
She felt like hitting herself over the head, but regaining her composure was no easy task.
Only after quite some time did Cecilia manage to cool down and try to remain calm.
The reason he was acting so strangely must be because the scene he witnessed earlier was shocking to him.
In that case, she just needed to clear up the misunderstanding.
Hiding her hand—which was tingling for a different reason—behind her back, Cecilia explained the situation in a low, soothing voice, as if comforting a child.
“Lien. Is the reason you’re acting like this because I asked Sir Miguel to be my partner?”
“…….”
“You know that as long as you are the Magic Tower Master, it’s difficult for you to enter with me, the Saintess. That’s why I simply asked Sir Miguel.”
The Magic Tower Master and the Saintess entering together. She didn't even want to imagine what a massive uproar that would cause.
Whether he saw the sincerity in Cecilia’s shudder, Lien finally began to hesitate, his shoulders drooping back to their usual posture.
“Is it only because I am the Magic Tower Master that it’s not allowed…?”
“Of course.”
“Then, if I quit being the Magic Tower Master….”
“Lien\!”
When she snapped at his nonsensical words, he shut his mouth tight like a sulking child.
Then, he soon let out a faint sigh.
As expected of an intellectual boasted of by the Academy and the Magic Tower, he seemed to have finally regained his reason and accepted it.
However, reason and emotion were separate matters, as he became excessively dejected.
“I know. I am a man who falls short of being able to stand side-by-side with Cecilia-nim…. Therefore, I respect your decision.”
“Lien.”
“I apologize for throwing a tantrum for no reason. Actually, I came to see Cecilia-nim for the same reason.”
“Pardon? What do you mean….”
“I was going to tell you that it might be difficult for me to accompany you to this banquet.”
“W-wait a minute. If you couldn't go anyway, then why were you so angry earlier?”
Dumbfounded, Cecilia glared at him sharply.
Avoiding her piercing gaze, he made an excuse in a voice that had become significantly smaller.
“Thinking that knight would be stuck to Cecilia-nim’s side like a leech, I just… without realizing it….”
The reason was even more absurd.
“Furthermore, did he not kiss your hand without permission?”
“That was just a greeting filled with respect and affection\!”
“What if it wasn’t simply respect and affection?”
“Don’t start imagining things.”
“……Yes.”
She felt like giving him a smack on the head, but the way his face looked so pitifully pretty was driving her crazy.
Ultimately, she couldn't bring herself to raise her clenched fist and instead swept her hair back roughly.
“Fine, then the talk about the banquet ends here. Don’t say anything else later. ……And don’t act like you did just now, either.”
“……I will try.”
Cecilia quietly observed the man as he readily acquiesced.
The dark colors that had covered and shaken him were now clearly diluted.
In an instant, Lien had returned to the man who would tremblingly hand her a single wild flower, who would often hide under his robe out of shyness, and who would smile with joy just from their eyes meeting.
Relieved in secret, she asked a belated question.
“By the way, can you not come to the Banquet Hall at all?”
Even while she didn't fully trust him, it was funny, but she had been inwardly curious to see him in formal attire. In a Banquet Hall where all sorts of nobles gathered, wouldn't he take off that dreary robe and dress up?
But Lien shook his head immediately, leaving no room for doubt.
“It seems difficult for me to attend. Perhaps because I’ve been away from my post for too long, I have a lot of work.”
“……Well, then it can’t be helped.”
“I will find someone else to help Cecilia-nim at the banquet, so you don’t have to worry.”
He comforted her, taking Cecilia’s disappointment simply as worry.
‘I thought I’d be able to see him from afar, even if I couldn't acknowledge him.’
Had she subconsciously come to rely on him as a real substitute chaperone? Or had she wanted to find a clue, whether it be innocence or guilt, through seeing him before the Imperial Family?
Whichever it was, it wasn't pleasant, and just as she swallowed a bitter smile—
“Um, Cecilia-nim.”
As if he had something more to say, Lien called her, opening and closing his mouth several times. Only after hesitating for a long while did he finally continue.
“There is something I must tell you before the banquet.”
“What is it?”
“Well… I am the head of the Magic Tower.”
“Yes, I know.”
For something he took so long to say, it was old news.
The suspicious Magic Tower Master who moved in next door one day. That was Lien.
“And while I am Lien, I am not Lien.”
“Pardon?”
It was an even more out-of-the-blue statement.
‘Is he talking about a pseudonym?’
But hadn't it already been revealed that Lien was ‘Asilien’?
When she looked at him in bewilderment, Lien’s face gradually turned pale.
“I am, I am… well….”
“Well?”
He was so agitated that his whole body, including his hands, shook like an aspen leaf, and his breathing grew labored.
“……No, it’s nothing.”
In the end, Lien couldn't bring himself to utter the sentence lingering in his mouth and swallowed his words.
In that moment, a groundless sense of dread washed over her. That the words he had ultimately hidden were one of his many secrets, and that it was something she absolutely had to know.
Just as Cecilia, her brow furrowing involuntarily, opened her mouth—
“Milady\! Are you here?”
Melanie’s voice could be heard from not too far away.
“The dressmaker has arrived with the dress, and they say you need to try it on\!”
Melanie called out anxiously as she searched for her, but Cecilia deliberately gave no answer.
It was one thing for someone to interrupt at a crucial moment and cut off a conversation once or twice.
Her conversation with him was more urgent than some dress.
However, when she turned her head back, Lien had already vanished without a trace.
