* * *
“What are you doing?”
“You can’t leave looking like that.”
He set me down in front of a mirror-like reflective wall.
Being carried like a ragdoll wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he was right.
If I walked out like this, rumors would explode instantly.
‘The Tower Master went into the Fourth Prince’s room and couldn’t even dress properly before running out.’
My appearance was a disaster.
My collar was completely out of place, my belt was twisted, and half the decorative pieces had fallen off, rolling around on the bed.
Ateol went over, picked them up one by one, and started fixing my outfit.
His hands were as quick and skilled as when he had undressed me.
By the time I had even put on the missing earring, I looked exactly the same as when I first entered the room.
“I’ll escort you.”
“…No need.”
Ateol only smiled at my refusal, saying nothing else.
Realistically, rejecting his offer wasn’t an option.
If I refused, it would mean I entered his room with him, but left alone.
That would look even stranger.
A sudden question popped into my head.
“What about you?”
“…Pardon?”
“You… didn’t do anything.”
“Hm. Well, I can take care of it myself. I have good material to work with.”
Ateol’s gaze slowly trailed over me, his eyes dark and heavy.
Then he licked his lips.
Was he implying he’d take care of it by himself after I left?
The thought made me feel oddly complicated.
Especially since… well, he had finished using his hands on me.
“Unless… you’d like to help?”
“…….”
That was way too embarrassing.
When I stayed silent, he simply sat me down in a chair and disappeared.
A while later, he returned, looking exactly the same as before—but knowing what he had gone off to do made my face burn red.
Ateol, however, remained completely unfazed.
“Shall we?”
He extended a perfectly clean hand.
A carriage was waiting outside the palace.
As it rolled slowly down the grand road within the imperial grounds, Ateol simply stared at me the entire time.
Feeling the weight of his gaze, I was about to say something when he finally spoke first.
“Tower Master.”
“What?”
“Did my service in bed fail to satisfy you?”
“…….”
My jaw dropped.
How could this man say something like that with a straight face?!
“You expect me to answer that right now?”
“Hmm… I’ve never been told I was lacking before. Next time, perhaps I should…”
“…….”
“Make sure you completely lose yourself in pleasure.”
“You are disgustingly smooth.”
I shot back, and Ateol shrugged as if he was genuinely regretful.
After returning to the tower, I resumed my search for any new capture targets—this time, being more cautious to avoid unnecessary favorability loss.
The results?
Nothing.
Either there were no available targets in the tower, or I had yet to unlock their route.
‘So the target hasn’t appeared yet?’
That question didn’t linger for long.
Because a few days later, at a banquet in the imperial palace—
“Tower Master?”
A quiet voice called my name.
“The Grand Duke has asked about your well-being….”
I could feel Ateol’s intrigued gaze.
Not just him—everyone in the banquet hall was looking at me.
Yet, I was frozen in place, unable to move.
How could this be happening?
“Um… Tower Master….”
The man standing before me was visibly flustered.
Black hair, brown eyes.
A somewhat melancholic air.
A face that resembled mine, as though reflected in water.
Yuri.
He was right in front of me.
Attending in place of Grand Duke Roanes, under that pretext.
I stammered like a fool, barely managing to ask,
“Y-your name… Who did you say it was…?”
“Siwoo. Siwoo Roanes.”
My legs gave out.
The scene from just moments ago replayed vividly in my mind.
Entering the banquet hall.
Exchanging some sharp words with the imperial couple.
Then, the doorman introduced a late-arriving guest.
Unexpectedly, it was the Grand Duke’s representative.
Grand Duke Roanes rarely left the North, almost never making an appearance in the capital.
Whether it was banquets or balls, people had simply come to accept that he wouldn’t attend.
So, the fact that he had sent a representative at all was already surprising.
But that wasn’t what shocked me the most.
The Grand Duke’s representative… was the very same person I had encountered at the market just days ago.
The real Yuri.
And yet, Yuri had introduced himself with a name I’d never heard before—Siwoo Roanes.
I had heard he had recently been adopted as the Grand Duke’s younger brother’s son.
Was this all some elaborate scheme Yuri devised just to toy with me?
A carefully crafted plan to drag me down into utter despair?
Trapped in fear and helplessness, my mind could only conjure such thoughts.
“Tower Master.”
A low voice calling me snapped me out of my thoughts.
Now that I thought about it, I had been sure I wouldn’t be able to stay standing.
Yet, I was still on my feet.
Something was holding me up firmly.
Ateol’s arm.
“Are you alright?”
“…….”
No.
How could I be?
The thing I feared most, the thing I wanted to avoid above all else, had manifested in the most absurd way.
I glanced at Ateol.
Yuri was supposed to have been found by him.
So why—how—had he ended up by the Grand Duke’s side instead?
The Grand Duke had always claimed he had no interest in the throne.
Had he suddenly changed his mind?
If I tried to think optimistically, perhaps he had simply sent his newly adopted nephew to the capital to make connections, considering him a potential successor.
“The Grand Duke’s… nephew?”
“Yes.”
His manners were slightly awkward.
The real Yuri would never be like that.
He had been raised in the Magic Tower since birth—there was no way his etiquette would be lacking.
Even I, who had no prior knowledge of this world, had somehow managed to fake the Tower Master’s mannerisms well enough.
Could it be that he was merely someone who looked like Yuri?
His eyes weren’t the same color as mine—they were brown.
I couldn’t sense any magic from him.
His name was different.
And that hesitant, nervous demeanor—was it even possible to fake it so convincingly?
But then again…
What were the odds of meeting three people with nearly identical faces?
And for it to happen in the imperial palace of all places?
This wasn’t some game where things conveniently lined up to create a dramatic twist.
There were only two of us so far—maybe that’s why nothing had “triggered” yet.
I could only hope a third wouldn’t appear.
Not that it mattered, unless this minuscule possibility turned out to be true—that he wasn’t really Yuri.
“How is the Grand Duke?”
“Thanks to the Tower Master’s grace, he is managing the territory without issue.”
Ah, a textbook response.
Grand Duke Roanes was a royal who ruled over the northern lands of the empire.
His territory, Narksabel, bordered both the Eternal Frost of Prisia—where forsaken monsters roamed—and the kingdom of Novella, whose forces constantly sought to invade.
On top of that, the curse of the Eternal Frost made the land barren.
No matter which deity’s presence graced the skies, the North remained frozen.
With monsters lurking at all times, there was never a moment of peace.
He was the perfect embodiment of a Northern Grand Duke—tall, with a cold and unreadable expression.
An icy demeanor that made it seem as though he had brought the northern winds with him wherever he went.
He had always made it clear that he had no interest in the throne, and he never showed much concern for the Magic Tower or me.
Aside from the occasional formal correspondence, we had little reason to be involved with each other.
And yet… that very same Grand Duke had now sent a representative to an imperial banquet.
And that representative just so happened to be someone who might be Yuri.
I trembled.
* * *
