Master, I Swear I Didn’t Mean To! - Chapter 90

“Stop!”

Eki was shedding chicken-dropping-like tears as she prepared to leave. Then she saw Cassius being dragged toward her because of the chain.

Come to think of it, since she was connected to her master, she couldn’t leave the tower either.

Her barely held-back tears burst out all at once.

“Hiic, Venta you idiot. Undo this!”

【 I, I’m sorry. 】

“I can’t even chase after the Association Head!”

【 It’s my fault… 】

“Eki, calm down for now.”

“How am I supposed to calm down! Master’s been trapped in this trashy rotten tower for hundreds of years!”

“…Trashy tower?”

Eki’s shoulders flinched. She pretended not to notice and only wiped her wet eyes with the back of her hand.

“You’ll hurt yourself wiping like that. Move your hand.”

“I don’t care. I’m too sad.”

“What’s so sad about this. You’re not the one who’s trapped.”

He reached into his coat and pulled out a white handkerchief. Then he gently lifted Eki’s chin and began carefully wiping beneath her eyes and cheeks. Even though she remembered how terrible she must look, she didn’t dodge his touch and let her damp lashes flutter softly.

“You can’t take even one step out of here? Not even into the yard?”

“…Right.”

“Hasn’t it been hard?”

Cassius hesitated. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to answer. It was more that it was the first time in his entire life someone had asked him that, so he didn’t know how much he should say.

“Before I came, you didn’t have a proper disciple, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you must have spent most of your time alone.”

“…It couldn’t be helped.”

“While I went out every weekend to have fun, Master had to stay locked inside the room…”

“I’m fine.”

“What do you mean fine. We can’t even go out together.”

“Why would I go out with you.”

“Why not. We could.”

He didn’t say anything. He only continued to meticulously wipe her face. Eki’s breathing grew heavier and silver-drop tears rolled down again.

“Stop crying already.”

“Why did the Association Head trap you here? It’s not because you’re a dragon, right?”

“What other reason would there be.”

“Oh my goodness.”

She knew dragons were the sinners of the world. But for Cassius, who had chosen to live among humans, to bear the entire punishment… wasn’t that unfair?

Now she clenched her fists and cursed Ikelid in her heart.

“Once this chain is undone, I’m going to file a formal complaint.”

“Forget it. I can leave in ten years anyway.”

“That’s the problem! How can it take ten years!”

Ikelid said ten years wasn’t long, but for Eki it was enough time for the landscape to change, for her friends to marry and have children. Who cared about someone else’s perspective. To her, it felt long.

Come to think of it, he said if more fairies were born, the barrier would recover faster.

Eki pushed Cassius gently aside and wiped her own tears. Now that she had vented in fury, her resentment had eased somewhat.

“So the dimensional barrier just has to fully recover? But why do they let you out only then?”

“…Eki, your nose is running.”

“Ah.”

Eki scrambled for a tissue and blew her nose. Then she came to her own conclusion.

Ikelid must have needed Master’s strength. To complete the fairy summoning circle, you’d need a great archmage. He must have believed Master could do it together with him.

So he locked him in the tower so he couldn’t run away. And since he was a dragon, there must’ve also been the intent to restrain him.

Master, really…

What kind of devilish contract had this man made with the Association Head? Was he even really a dragon? According to the old texts, dragons had intelligence far surpassing humans, so why had he made such an unfair contract?

Eki suddenly looked at Cassius with suspicion. He lifted one brow.

“What’s that look for.”

“It’s nothing. More importantly, I think we have to make more fairies if we want the barrier to recover faster.”

That was the only way Cassius could leave this damned tower.

His lips twitched, then he turned his head with an unreadable expression. He stayed silent for a long time, but Eki was already used to his quiet spells. She picked up Venta from her shoulder.

“Venta, what do we do to make more fairies be born?”