CH 81

It was past lunch when I finished talking to Masha.

Stretching and looking out of the window, I saw that the sky was getting darker and thicker with dark clouds. It was a view full of water, as if it would rain at any moment.

I thought it was a bit chilly for some reason, but I never thought it would rain.

I glanced through the window meaninglessly, then turned around and walked out of the room.

“Dante?”

Dante, who had never shown his face while Masha and I were talking, wasn’t even seen in the hallway. I looked around and checked all the rooms in that hallway, only to find that Dante was nowhere to be found, and sighed.

I suddenly thought that this situation was unfair, regardless of whether I liked it or not. What’s unfair is that Dante can roam freely, whether inside or outside, but I can’t.

There’s nothing around here besides the Magic Tower anyway, so let’s put aside the fact that I can’t go outside. But I couldn’t even roam around the Magic Tower to my heart’s content.

It wasn’t that someone particularly limited my range of action, but the structure of this place was so complicated that I naturally only wandered around on the roads I knew. However, I wasn’t adventurous enough to forge a new path.

To me, the Magic Tower really felt like a maze that I couldn’t possibly memorize.

I imagined going around this wide Magic Tower in search of Dante right now, but quickly gave up and headed to the library.

When time passes, he will come to find me on his own, well.

Due to the wetness just before the rain, the dark interior, and the lights turned on everywhere, the library had a slightly darker color than usual. However, only the atmosphere has changed, but there are still so many books that I’m sure that I won’t be able to read them all even if I’m locked up here for the rest of my life, and the silence that I wouldn’t even notice even if there was anyone.

Dante wasn’t even in the library. I checked each and every one of the bookshelves, yet I couldn’t feel Dante’s presence anywhere.

Then it’s obvious how the day will go. I pick out any book, read it, wait for Dante, eat something when Dante comes to me, roughly kill the time and go to bed.

If I had to add something worse, what I just remembered was a summary of my daily life in the Magic Tower.

“Hmm…”

Isn’t there something strange too? At first, I thought that this life wasn’t bad, but rather good, but now that I see it, the mood isn’t the problem.

My life is just like that. A fairy tale about a princess who keeps growing her hair and lives in a tower. Of course, I’m not growing my hair, and I’m not being abused by my stepmother. Actually, I already made a mistake in that the main character of the fairy tale is a princess and I’m not.

Being locked up somewhere without even knowing the least reason, that one thing was the same.

Originally, human life inevitably required going out. First of all, it was impossible to solve without going out to maintain basic livelihood, and even when small daily necessities such as plates and towels were needed, there was little way to handle it alone in the house.

In the end, there was only one way to deal with such a problem. Having someone by my side who can solve it whenever I get into trouble with being alone at home. For example, servant, housekeeper, or butler.

Here, now, Dante was taking on those roles.

When it comes to thinking about meals, he brings them just in time, he buys clothes on his own, and if I ask for anything I need, he will do it for me. At that time, I said I wanted to talk to Masha, and he brought the communication port directly to Masha. There was definitely nothing to say that was uncomfortable.

Being locked up can be frustrating, but isn’t it nice to have someone who takes care of you like this?

“…”

To be honest, it’s not good. To be more specific, it was embarrassing. It wasn’t like he was acting like a servant, but deep down I just wanted to know why he was doing this.

If I were, well, a person of high status from birth, I might have felt comfortable with Dante’s attitude. But I’m not normal to the bone, so if someone tried to help excessively by my side, it was just burdensome. Not to the extent of throwing it out, so I’m accepting it with a subtle feeling.

I don’t know if it feels like I really hired someone to do that. Dante is just my husband. He’s not like a lower subordinate of mine, just a husband.

I don’t know about anyone else, but he’s too considerate between husband and wife… No. This isn’t even considerate. I didn’t want to live with excessive care.

From the thought of wanting to solve Dante’s anxiety to the thought that I couldn’t live like this for the rest of my life, the things that continued to bite my tail eventually made me come to the conclusion that I should persuade Dante and drag him out of the Magic Tower.

And Dante didn’t seem to want to let me go unless the uneasiness he had was resolved.

problem here.

How can I get Dante to tell me what’s on his mind?

“Hmm.”

As I took out the book I had chosen subconsciously after thinking about it—the title [The Art of Interrogation] caught my eye—I let out a small exclamation.

I asked Masha about many things, but in the end, I only heard a lot of things that needed to be confirmed and verified by Dante. It was natural that Masha wasn’t a professional gatherer of information, but it still lacks strength.

Whatever it was, I was going to keep my promise to take Dante to the capital.

Then, in the end, there is only one way to rob the person, but looking at Dante’s attitude these days…

[Dante, before Lily goes, she has one last favor for me.]

[You don’t have to worry about that. No, ignore it.]

[Are you telling me to ignore it knowing what it is? And I’m not done talking yet, though?]

I’m not sure if he’ll give me a proper answer.

There were large illustrations drawn on the books that I casually opened everywhere. Above all else, a picture of a glass bottle containing something like a potion caught my eye.

The contents of the text written next to the illustration were as follows.

…If you need to get a confession as soon as possible, and if the other person is mentally weak, this drug will be useful enough. It’s classified as a confessional, but it is safe to say that it’s the source of virtually all magic potions,…

“…?”

What is this. I narrowed my eyes and read the contents of the book. Contrary to what I expected, the recipe for potion production was lined up.

Speaking of interrogation techniques, don’t they usually describe things like speech techniques? I thought I might have read the title wrong, so I sneaked back to the book cover, confirmed that it wasn’t the case, and came back again.

I wonder if it wanted to express that the result is the same whether I ask him or use magic to force him to confess. Well, this place itself was the Magic Tower. A magic potion recipe is more suitable for the name Magic Tower than a self-improvement book.

When I gave up quickly and put the book back in its original place.

From far away, there was a sound of the door opening, click.

The bookshelf I was standing near was close to the entrance, so I could see who opened the door just by looking through the cracks.

Obviously, the person who opened the door and came in was Dante. Dante, who was walking quickly through the library, stood there and looked around. Like someone looking for something.

Probably because my figure was hidden by the bookshelf, he couldn’t see me from the other side.

Is he looking for me?

Yeah, I know he is. But why…

“…”

“Ei?”

ㅡis he looking for me with such an uneasy face?

At first, he gave off a faint hint of disappointment, as if he thought he’d find me as soon as he opened the library door. But by the time he turned his head to look around and called my name, a series of nervousness spread across his face.

At first glance, it seemed like he was afraid of something, but rather it was me who missed the timing to go out.

Now that this has happened, shall I wait and see what happens? As soon as I found Dante, I forced the foot I was meant to move to the ground.

I lowered my posture as I was looking at Dante through the cracks in the book, and carefully landed on the floor.

The carpeted floor was so cozy that I felt as if I could sit here as much as I wanted. I held my breath for a moment and watched Dante’s actions through the bookshelf.

The actions of him running around this vast library almost running around, then shaking his head nervously.

Dante looked like someone who was sure I was in the library, which made me realize that he had already been to all the places I could go.

Seeing him anxious that I was gone for a while was just strange. There’s nowhere to go anyway, the fact that I’ll be inside the Magic Tower won’t change.

To say that it’s just an aftereffect of our breakup for 10 years, and I keep thinking that something isn’t clear…

At that moment, a twinkle of light came out from below.

I reflexively lowered my head to check, and saw something glowing faintly in the darkness. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the light was coming from the ring Dante put on while I was sleeping, which I wore as I didn’t feel the need to take it off.

It was as if I could see Dante’s back standing still, unlike before, through a fleeting glance.

Dante, who suddenly stopped while looking for me, and a ring that shimmered as if sending a signal.

A brief realization passed through my mind. At the same time, a thick shadow fell over the seat where I was sitting.

“Could this be location tracking…”

However, before I could finish my words, Dante eagerly pulled me into his arms first.