Chapter 49
“Rumors?”
“Miss Elinor has been seeing several men besides you… What, you didn’t know?”
Cornelia wrinkled her nose as she saw Mathias’s blank expression.
“I thought you knew everything already,” she said.
“Tell me everything you know.”
“There’s been talk among the maids lately. They say Miss Elinor sneaks out of her room at night to meet men.”
“Nonsense,” Mathias said firmly.
“She’s the kind of woman who wouldn’t even trust anyone to look after her child. She’s busy all day taking care of the baby. How could she possibly be seeing men?”
“I think so too, but the problem is that such rumors are already spreading among the maids. If you had made a decision sooner, none of this would’ve been an issue,” Cornelia scolded.
Mathias frowned.
Rumors that Elinor sneaks out at night to meet men?
He knew they were baseless lies unworthy of attention, yet the thought of them left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Meanwhile, during the height of the banquet, Elinor was not in her room.
“Wow! Kyaa!”
“Haha, is the flower fascinating?”
She had come to the glass conservatory that Mathias had told her about.
The path there was easy.
Mathias had already informed the servants, so no one tried to stop her.
Moreover, the western conservatory was Cornelia’s cherished private space.
Elinor could now be alone with the child. No, now it was the three of them.
“You’re here?”
“El!”
A red circle appeared in the still air of the conservatory, and a man suddenly popped out from it.
His red hair swayed gently, and he was as tall as Mathias.
The man hugged Elinor tightly.
“I missed you. Why didn’t you contact me sooner?”
“I’ve been a bit busy,” she replied.
Because she hadn’t contacted him first, he had no way of knowing where she was.
A few days earlier, the red ribbon she had removed had been enchanted by the Tower Master to transmit her location.
Ultimately, Elinor smiled at Agares, the Tower Master, whom she had ended up meeting.
“Have you been well?”
“No, not really. The emperor has been bothering me, but what about you, El…?”
“Waaah! Uwaaah!”
The baby between Elinor and Agares started crying in discomfort.
Agares’s eyebrows arched in surprise.
“She has a baby?”
“It’s my sister’s child,” Elinor said, patting the baby’s back.
“I’m taking care of her for now due to certain circumstances. Didn’t Michel tell you?”
“Didn’t hear anything.”
Michel, Agares’s personal secretary, had helped Elinor during her first escape.
Knowing Michel’s meticulous nature, he wouldn’t have failed to relay the information.
‘He probably did tell me, and I just didn’t pay attention,’ she thought.
Agares Ysiel, the Tower Master, was the most magically gifted archmage in history.
Many rumors surrounded him, the most famous being: never get on his bad side.
‘He’s like a mad dog. Even if the Lord of Hell came back, he’d be less dangerous than the Tower Master.’
‘Mess with him once, and you’ll suffer endlessly.’
He was proud and notoriously difficult to deal with.
Despite the terrifying rumors, very few people had actually faced him.
He moved unpredictably and rarely appeared at public events.
Ironically, his personality worked in Elinor’s favor.
‘How can someone with no magic understand it so well?’
One day, Agares suddenly appeared in front of Elinor at the academy.
He had come after reading a paper she submitted.
Driven by curiosity, Agares showed interest in Elinor’s accomplishments.
This gave her a way to maintain steady contact with the Tower.
Since the Tower operated under the absolute rule of the Tower Master, gaining his favor essentially meant receiving the Tower’s protection.
‘The problem is his affection has gone so far that he wants to make me officially part of the Tower.’
Elinor would not have contacted Agares if she didn’t need help with the baby.
“Interesting. The baby looks a lot like you, El.”
Agares leaned down to examine the child.
“I like that the eyes are red.”
“It must come from the father. My father’s eyes are red too.”
“Hmm… Uruuru, peekaboo!”
Agares played peekaboo with the baby, who opened its big eyes wide.
But soon, it pursed its lips and began crying loudly.
“Huu… Waaaah!”
Agares pouted.
“She really doesn’t like me.”
“It’s okay. Shh. You’re not scary,” Elinor said, trying to calm the baby, but its cries wouldn’t stop.
What if a maid comes into the conservatory now?
Elinor glanced nervously at the entrance.
Then, Agares snapped his fingers.
“Waaah—uwah.”
The baby’s pacifier appeared in its mouth.
Startled at first, the baby soon calmed and began sucking on it naturally.
Elinor exhaled in relief.
“Thank you. I should’ve brought a pacifier from the room.”
“The baby is really troublesome,” Agares remarked, observing it as if it were a rare creature.
“But I think I know why it was crying.”
“Because it’s shy?”
“No. Could it have the child’s vitality?”
Elinor’s jaw dropped.
He figured that out just like that? Does he sense something?
“Usually, when priests see me, they have seizures. I think the baby is similar,” he explained.
Just for that reason? Is it intuition or luck?
“Agares, since we’re talking about it… I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
“Could you temporarily hide this child’s vitality?”
Agares tilted his head.
“Vitality?”
“There’s a reason it mustn’t be discovered. Is it possible?”
“It’s possible. But the baby will hate it.”
He tapped the baby’s arm.
The baby began to whimper again, and Elinor quickly intervened.
“See? Even touching it makes it recoil.”
“…Still, it has to be done.”
Since the child’s vitality was not yet known to Charlotte, if it got out, it would definitely be exploited.
“Please. You’re the only one I can ask for help.”
Agares snorted and leaned closer.
“Really, no one else?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no one else who treats you better than me anyway.”
“Exactly.”
“Alright.”
To everyone’s surprise, Agares agreed readily.
“If it’s Elinor asking, I have to do it.”
He entwined his fingers with hers.
Elinor was slightly startled by the sudden contact but stayed still.
Agares raised his lips in satisfaction.
“But in return, I’d like you to grant me a favor too.”
“Do you need my help with something?”
“Yes. And that is…”
Thunk.
At that moment, a strange sound came from neither of them.
Both turned their heads simultaneously.
Elinor’s eyes widened.
“Mathias. What are you doing here?”
Mathias had appeared from nowhere, standing nearby with a dangerously handsome smile.
The rumor that Elinor sneaks out at night to meet men.
Mathias had been debating all through the banquet whether to tell Elinor about it.
‘Better not say anything.’
It was an unpleasant rumor. Even hearing it made him feel awful; how much worse would it be for Elinor?
With so much on her mind caring for the baby, she didn’t need extra stress.
