How to End a One-Sided Love, Episode 14
(14/110)
The Magic Tower was a dream workplace that anyone with magical ability longed for.
I had never been there even once, but at least in my imagination, it looked like a paradise flowing with milk and honey.
“Dad, the Magic Tower!”
I shouted as I burst open the door to the office.
“Hmm?”
“They said someone from the Magic Tower is coming!”
My heart was pounding with excitement.
To think I might get to see a mage from the Magic Tower in person—was there anything more incredible than this?
“Oh dear, I forgot to tell you.”
Dad adjusted his glasses with a slightly embarrassed expression.
“We can’t just leave the situation as it is. So, under the name of Viscount Blair, I submitted a request to the Magic Tower for a subjugation mission.”
I covered my mouth and muttered,
“Wow… Dad, you’re so cool.”
“Haha, right? Your dad’s cool, isn’t he?”
Dad laughed, puffing out his chest proudly.
“I figured you’d like it. So, starting next year, make sure you study diligently in your heir training classes, alright?”
“Ah, yes.”
I fiddled with my hands and subtly avoided Dad’s eyes.
In truth, Dad didn’t know that I wanted to enter the Magic Tower. He probably assumed I would inherit the family.
As someone who valued both his family and me dearly, it was only natural that he would want to pass the title down to the daughter he had raised so carefully.
“So that’s why the house was so clean.”
I changed the subject with an awkward smile.
“They’re really coming.”
I picked up the documents related to the Magic Tower sitting on the desk and let out a small chuckle.
“Dad, what do I do? My heart is just….”
Pounding wildly.
Holding my cheeks in both hands, I smiled with excitement.
People had suffered damage from the appearance of monsters, so I shouldn’t be too happy—but still, this was a huge event. Honestly, how often would a mage from the Magic Tower come to a remote territory like ours? And not just one, but three of them.
When school starts again, I’ll have to brag to my friends.
As I reread the documents over and over, a hum slipped out of me naturally.
“Miss, your smile is about to split your face in half.”
Lita, who was drawing back the curtains, giggled as she turned around.
“Well, you know how long I’ve been dreaming of this.”
I spread out the magic books I had collected over time on the bed and looked quite satisfied.
Lita, who had gathered the laundry with a pleased expression, asked one last question.
“Miss, there’s no more laundry, right?”
“Yeah, thanks for your hard work.”
Only after Lita left did I slowly shift my gaze.
There, a red hardcover book stood out with a strong presence.
With slightly trembling hands, I picked it up.
I opened it to a page my hands already knew by heart. It was the passage revealing my ending.
“Didn’t your senior say it before? That feelings of affection can’t be helped. I feel the same. I just liked my senior too much. Am I not even allowed to have these feelings?”
Senior Noah looked down at me with cold eyes and said,
“I don’t care. What matters is that Flora suffered because of you.”
In the book, I initially tried to argue, but gradually broke down in response to my senior’s cold attitude. Seeing myself crying, clinging desperately, and eventually shedding tears felt strangely unsettling.
But if the senior were to treat me like that… would I really be able to hold myself together and not cry like that?
“Hmm…”
If I hadn’t known the future written in this book, maybe I would have acted like that. The thought made me uneasy.
It’s okay. I’ll be able to forget it.
I had liked him for nearly two years, so it was only natural that it would be hard to let go suddenly. I had thought that if I confessed, my senior would completely reject me—but that wasn’t the case.
If I keep seeing Senior Flora and Senior Noah together, I’ll gradually come to accept it.
“It’ll be… okay.”
I muttered bitterly and closed the book.
I couldn’t fall asleep until the sky turned completely dark. In the end, I gave up on sleeping and sat blankly on the bed.
That was when it happened.
In the distance outside the window, several small fire-like lights flickered.
“…What is that?”
I threw on an outer garment over my nightclothes and walked down the hallway, leaving the mansion.
“Miss, where are you going! Miss!”
I could hear voices calling from the mansion, but I didn’t stop my steps.
The place where the lights were visible was the boundary of the Grania Forest. The family’s knights were gathered in large numbers, holding torches.
I wrapped my outer garment tighter and quietly blended into the crowd.
“Excuse me, what’s going on?”
“Miss? You shouldn’t be here right now. Please….”
As Sir Zeon turned around in panic, the identity of what the knights had been surrounding was revealed.
“Th-that!”
A monster.
So that’s a monster? Wow, it’s disgusting. Is there really a need for it to look this repulsive?
Furrowing my brows, I stared at the blackish creature. Then, whether it had eyes or something like that, its attention suddenly turned toward me, and a tentacle lashed out in my direction.
I hurriedly cast a defensive magic circle in midair.
“Ugh.”
Since I had cast it in a hurry, it was somewhat unstable. Still, it was fortunate that I had practiced and memorized it beforehand.
“Miss!”
“I’m fine, so everyone, fall back.”
I frowned, struggling to maintain the magic circle.
Unlike the illustrations in textbooks, the creature looked different. Its uneven surface was dark, giving the feeling of peering into the abyss.
While I was distracted by its unfamiliar appearance—
Crash—the magic circle shattered.
“…!”
This was the first time my spell had been forcibly broken, so I was a bit flustered. Shaking out my numbing hand, I stood there without noticing the monster approaching, when a knight thrust his sword at it.
“Haah!”
It was a brave move, but it was not enough against the monster.
To help him, I hastily cast whatever attack spell came to mind. My hand was still slightly numb, but it was manageable.
“…!”
A dent formed in the monster’s body where the magic struck, and then it let out a strange sound before dissipating into the air.
Was it over?
I stood there somewhat dazed, rubbing my still-tingling hand.
“Kate!”
From a distance, Dad ran over in a hurry and grabbed my shoulders.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
“Ah, Dad.”
I winced, feeling a dull ache in my shoulders.
“There was no other way. That thing couldn’t be handled with swords, and I’m the only mage here….”
“Even so… sigh, Kate.”
Dad, still in his nightclothes, rubbed his forehead and sighed.
“You’re not getting any younger. Don’t scare me like this, alright?”
“Okay, okay. Everything turned out fine in the end, didn’t it?”
I smiled awkwardly and brushed my hair back.
But was that really the end? My mana wasn’t that extraordinary, so it didn’t seem likely that it would end so easily.
I glanced nervously toward the dark thicket and bit my lip.
“Um, Lord.”
“What is it!”
Dad startled and quickly pulled me behind his back.
The knight who had attacked the monster gasped for breath and stammered,
“P-please look at this.”
The blade of the sword he had used against the monster had been blackened and corroded.
A chill ran down my spine at the thought of what would have happened if it had touched me.
Dad must have realized it too, because the hand gripping my shoulder was trembling.
Sir Zeon, his face shadowed darkly, let out a sigh and pressed his forehead.
“The Magic Tower… hurry up and get here….”
My expression darkened as well.
I felt the same.
