Chapter 38.2

Reed couldn't answer easily.

It felt like he was skipping the process and choosing the decisive option.

The answer was clear, but he was worried that he might be shooting himself in the foot without understanding the context.

But as Reed hesitated, Dolores wavered, and the chill intensified.

"Your hands are cold."

At those words, Dolores looked down at her own hands.

"Ah, I was emitting cold again... Is it very cold?"

As Dolores tried to remove her hand, Reed shook his head.

"I'm just worried that your delicate hands might crack."

At his words, Dolores laughed brightly and held Reed's hand tightly.

"It's okay, if it cracks with just this much, I wouldn't be an Archmage."

Dolores' wavering disappeared, and Reed answered her.

"Yes, I didn't mean it."

Hearing his answer, a deeper smile spread across Dolores' face.

"I knew it! I knew it wasn't true~. Yeah. There's no way. You've always been kind to me."

Chuckling and delighted, Dolores rushed into Reed's arms.

Even if she was drunk, her action was too reckless, so Reed spoke in a stern tone.

"Dolores, this is really inconvenient—."

"I'm sorry."

Reed's words were cut off by her apology.

Dolores' hand, clutching the pocket of her uniform, tightened.

The chest where she buried her face grew damp.

"Since that day... I hated you to death."

"......"

"I know you don't hate me, I know you said those things just to push me away, I know you did it on purpose to sever all connections because of my father... but I hated it so much because you, my only support, said those things."

It was beyond simple heartbreak.

The pain Reed had given Dolores was no different from ripping out her heart and stomping on it right before her eyes.

In that pain, Dolores, who had vowed never to touch alcohol when she was young, emptied three bottles of wine that day, which she normally couldn't even finish a single glass.

Then, she became half-paralyzed and cried quietly to no end.

When she found out that everything was a plot by her parents to allow Dolores, the eldest daughter, to marry into a better family, she ran away from the Baldschmidt estate of her own accord.

She turned her dream of becoming a workshop magician into a tower and eventually climbed to the top of the Wallin Tower.

'I was quite a trashy guy too.'

The current Reed, being a different person from the original Reed, couldn't understand what kind of feelings Reed had when he said those things that day.

But seeing that strong woman burst into tears as soon as she showed her emotions, he must have done something quite cruel.

Reed brought his hand to Dolores' head.

He gently patted her head.

"Dolores, now I'm a tower master, and you are too."

"A sermon...?"

"Now we're facing each other as a single 'Tower Master'. That means we're not puppets dragged around by families."

He declared to her in a soft voice, as he would do to Rosaria.

"So whether willingly or not... I will no longer cause you any harm."

The strength in Dolores' hand, which was tightly clutching the chest pocket, gradually loosened.

"I'm jealous."

The word she uttered was unexpected.

"You can get away from Adeleheights, but... no matter what, I have the blood of Baldschmidt flowing through me..."

Her words scattered like a baby's cooing.

A moment later, Dolores' chest rises and falls.

She had cried like a child and, exhausted, had fallen asleep.

Reed carefully moved away and brought a cushion to her head.

'The blood of Baldschmidt...'

He wondered why that phrase was nagging at him, but he couldn't recall any stories related to the Baldschmidt family.

Only that it was a prestigious magical family, and that Dolores had an unparalleled talent within that magical family.

Unlike Reed.

"I-I'm sorry. I really behaved disgracefully."

An hour later, Dolores woke up and, wincing from a hangover, apologized to Reed.

He assumed she wouldn't remember her crying and fussing once she woke up, but surprisingly, Dolores remembered everything.

All the words and actions she had done.

That's why her face turned bright red, like a drunk person.

"No, it's my fault for suggesting alcohol. I thought it would get better when you became an adult."

"It's hard to change as it's innate. And since I end up making mistakes like this, I tend to avoid it..."

"It's a habit that's not looked upon favorably in social circles."

"Yes..."

It was a big weakness in social circles where light drinking was common.

She became so honest that it was difficult for anyone who wasn't a close friend to understand, making it burdensome for the other party.

That's why she decided not to drink at all.

"Still, thank you. Thanks to you... I was able to say things I wouldn't normally be able to say."

"If you're okay with it, let's have a drink again sometime."

At Reed's sudden suggestion, Dolores furrowed her brows.

"Do you want me to act like a drunkard again as I did today?"

"What's wrong with that? As you get used to it, you'll stop making mistakes after just two or three drinks."

Though that was his excuse, his real intention was to dig more information out of her while she was drunk.

If she drank, she would naturally spill stories from her childhood, and Reed would be able to learn about 'Reed' from that.

Unaware of Reed's plan, Dolores fell into thought.

"Hmm... Ugh!"

Dolores, who was thinking, clutched her head.

"Is your hangover okay?"

"It's fine. A bit of magic will fix it."

Dolores waved her hand as if it was nothing serious.

After the headache subsided, Dolores politely bid farewell to Reed.

"I shall take my leave now, Master of the Silent Tower."

"Very well, take care, Masterof the Wallin Tower."

They bid each other goodbye not as siblings, but as Masters of their respective Towers.

"Tower Master!"

After Dolores returned to her tower, Phoebe ran into the office shouting with joy.

"The message you've been waiting for has finally arrived!"

What he'd been waiting for.

At these words, Reed jumped up and took the letter from Phoebe.

The seal on the letter was of the HupperKingdom.

He didn't even think about elegantly opening it with a letter knife but ripped it open on the spot to check its contents.

After reading the entire letter, Reed said.

"We've got them."