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Chapter 1
I Woke Up the Sleeping Prince of the Magic Tower?
The Magic Tower, located far on the outskirts of the capital of the Rudenza Empire, at its very top floor.
The quaint space that had clearly been meticulously maintained was in utter disarray, as if it had been bombed.
A dark mahogany bookshelf lay toppled on the floor, split in two, and the books that had been inside were torn beyond readability, scattered about.
Edel, a silver-haired girl who couldn’t hide her dazed expression, looked around with trembling eyes.
‘……What just happened?’
Edel tried to hold onto her fading consciousness. Only then did she notice the firm arms enveloping her.
She tried to twist her body slightly to escape, but the body, as solid as a sturdy wall, didn’t budge an inch. It seemed completely unaware of her small movements.
“Ahem! Cough!”
She let out a clumsy, forced cough.
Only then did the gaze turn towards Edel, and a low voice resonated in her ear.
“Magician, are you alright?”
Eyes the color of dark blue, as if submerged in water, looked down at her with concern.
“Ah……”
Edel, forgetting even to reply, could only stare blankly at the man’s face looking at her.
It was a visage that seemed to have gathered all the light and beauty in the world.
—
**[The Sleeping Prince Awaits the Saintess’s Kiss.]**
Yes, that was the title of the novel I had possessed. At first, I thought I’d gone crazy from reading too many novels, but truly, I had become someone else.
Absurdly enough, my end was death from overwork.
With no manpower and too much work, my days were simply consumed by labor. The strategic planning documents for next year that I’d been clinging to even after coming home vividly floated before my eyes.
‘Seriously, who dies from working too hard, honestly.’
In that kind of daily life, my only hobby to relieve stress was reading romance fantasy novels. Occasionally, I’d laugh hollowly, thinking, ‘At this rate, maybe I’ll get possessed too,’ while reading all night… but.
To think it would actually happen just like that?!
‘Wait, doesn’t that mean the team lead just gets all the benefit? I did all the work!’
No, if I was going to get possessed anyway, couldn’t I have been a noble’s child, or a princess! There were so many roles where I could enjoy wealth and honor!
But no, even when possessed, I was the weakest of the weak! I woke up as a poor commoner girl who had fallen down the stairs trying to avoid bullying.
‘Hah, I thought getting possessed meant wearing dresses and eating delicious food to my heart’s content…’
Since it was a book I’d been reading a lot lately, I could grasp the situation without much difficulty. First, Edel, the original owner of this body, was a survivor of a small village that was devastated four years ago by an attack from the black magic group known as the ‘Apostles.’
Discovered belatedly by the Tower Master, who came with the Knights to investigate the scene, she was taken in and brought into the Magic Tower—one could say she was a lucky child, in a way.
‘The problem is, aside from the luck of being rescued by Duke Meliz, she has nothing else going for her.’
Despite the opposition from the Tower’s elders, Tower Master Meliz stubbornly insisted on bringing Edel to the Tower.
In the end, she was the Tower’s master, and no mage had the nerve to break the master’s strong will.
Thanks to the Tower Master’s efforts, she entered the Tower, but unfortunately, Edel’s magical power was incredibly faint. How faint, you ask? So faint that it was hard to even distinguish what trait she possessed.
Mages were given titles like Fire Mage or Water Mage based on the natural trait of their magic, but Edel’s faint magic was at a level where even that distinction was difficult.
And on top of that, because she received the Tower Master’s affection, Edel had to endure harassment and bullying from the other mages in the Tower.
Things got even worse when she was assigned the role of managing the male lead, Prince Richt.
Eventually, the bullying led to Edel getting injured, and it was right at that point that I possessed her.
“That’s so unfair! Isn’t there any chance for a lottery win in this world too?!”
In the novel, Edel was a child who didn’t even report the bullying, not wanting to become a worry for the Tower Master. Truly a kind-hearted, extra among extras.
I swallowed my bitterness internally and gazed at the male lead’s face, lying before me like a painting.
Richt Glacies Rudenza, the First Prince of the continent’s strongest nation, the Rudenza Empire.
He was the silver spoon of this world and the novel’s male lead, who would have likely become the Crown Prince soon if not for the curse.
As befits a novel’s male lead, he was renowned as a magic swordsman with outstanding swordsmanship and strong fire-attribute magic, but he was struck by a curse that plunged him into an eternal sleep after being attacked by Deus, the leader of the Apostles.
It was precisely the setting of this beautiful Prince cursed with eternal sleep that made me start reading this novel.
“All of that was— just a device to dramatically set up the meeting with the female lead, wasn’t it.”
The Emperor, who sorrowfully watched his son sleeping as if dead, ordered the Tower Master and Duke of the Empire, Meliz Evgenin, to protect the Prince.
The reason was that, should the Apostle group attack again, the only mage capable of properly confronting them was Duke Meliz.
That wasn’t all. At the Imperial Palace, the Empress harbored ambitions to make her own son the Crown Prince. Now that the Prince, who boasted unmatched martial prowess, had fallen, keeping him in the palace was dangerous in many ways.
The reason Edel could be given the role of managing the Prince was probably because she was a low-ranking commoner mage with no political ties to the Imperial nobility and whose magic posed no threat.
‘Well, her diligent and kind personality was probably the biggest reason, though?’
And so, Edel was assigned the role of recording the Prince’s condition three times a day.
And the moment she first laid eyes on Prince Richt, who lay sleeping beautifully within a glass case like a painting, Edel fell instantly in love.
For the innocent and naive Edel, the sight of the beautiful Prince with a sculptural appearance lying in a glass case must have been shocking in itself.
Of course, falling in love with someone asleep… is a bit grotesque, honestly.
But fortunately (?) Edel only harbored a one-sided crush; she wasn’t a character who was used by villains or became a villain herself. She was just a pure and devoted girl in love.
Then, one day, as she faithfully cared for him with all her heart, the novel’s female lead— the Saintess Sephina— appeared, destined to save the Prince from his curse!
Sephina, who worked as a priestess at a provincial temple, was blessed by the god Merdemia, reborn as a Saintess. To fight against the Apostles and save the world, she arrived at the top floor of the Magic Tower seeking the male lead Prince.
And as if drawn in, she opened the glass door, bestowed a kiss upon the Prince, and thus broke the curse— this was the starting point of the novel.
Just like Sleeping Beauty, or rather, the Sleeping Prince!
‘I don’t know why the method had to be a kiss, but anyway.’
And Edel, who watched that scene unfold before her very eyes, finally put an end to her long, long unrequited love.
Ah, what a timid and faint extra!
‘Right. Even if her abilities are lacking, at least she’s not a villain.’
If she were a villain, I would have had to rack my brains trying to avoid a death flag or a miserable end.
I just needed to diligently care for the Prince, then witness the scene where the Saintess kisses him awake from up close. It was a pretty sweet role, in its own way.
‘It’s already been over a month since I possessed her.’
Thinking back to when the Saintess appeared, the novel said it was ‘one day, as it was approaching three years since the Prince was cursed.’
The point I possessed Edel was when she had been caring for him for a little over two years. Roughly estimating, it meant I only had to hold out for about six months to see that scene with my own eyes.
After that, the female lead and male lead would take care of the Empress and the Black Mages themselves!
“Then, that means I’m completely free!”
In the novel, Edel’s story was never mentioned again after the point where the male lead woke up.
In other words, it meant that a significant part of the life I had to forge ahead was still unwritten. Plus, Edel was only 18. Still young, with a bright future ahead of her.
‘I wonder what the work-life balance is like in this world.’
Here, I vow to live a comfortable life, working moderately and living well!
“Okay. Let’s prepare slowly.”
I nodded to myself and took out a notebook from my apron pocket.
Worrying could wait; I still had to write today’s report.
It was something Edel had diligently done for a long time. Even while grasping the situation after the possession, I had somehow managed to follow the daily routine my body remembered.
Tower Master Meliz was traveling across the Empire tracking the black mage Deus. He would return to the Tower perhaps once every two or three months, and whenever he did, he would look over the reports Edel had diligently written.
Of course, in case of an emergency, a communication device to contact Meliz immediately hung around my neck.
There were three things I needed to check.
First, checking if there were any issues with the preservation magic, and if the glass case had any cracks or special problems.
Second, checking the status of the barrier placed on the top-floor room.
Third, checking the Prince’s face.
I stroked the glass case with my hand.
“August 2nd, 7:30 AM. No cracks on the glass case, temperature and humidity stable.”
Next, the barrier. I inserted my finger next to the door, the central axis of the barrier, to check the wavelength. Following Edel’s memory, it wasn’t a difficult task.
“The barrier is also well-maintained, no signs of intruders or other traces.”
No major issues! And now, what remained was…
I turned my gaze awkwardly towards the glass case where the Prince lay.
Even after repeating this task for the past month, it was still hard to get used to.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps because he showed no movement at all, staring blankly at him made it confusing—was I looking at a person, or a famous painting on display?
He had fair skin without a single blemish, yet his strong jawline, which seemed incongruous with that fairness, gave a firm impression. His jet-black hair appeared neatly arranged, as if it had been groomed just today.
This was probably exactly how he looked on the day the Prince was laid in this glass case.
‘Certainly, with a sculptural appearance like this, it’s understandable to fall for him at first sight.’
But I wasn’t a teenage girl who had only ever lived in the Magic Tower, nor would I fall into a hopeless love like in a novel.
I put the notebook back in my pocket and stood up. It was time to return to my quarters.
As I walked slowly towards the door, I turned my head for a moment. The face of the Prince lying in the distance came into view.
Why was it? Even though his eyes were definitely closed and he had no sensation, the sight of the lying Prince felt pitiful.
“Well, it won’t be long now.”
Right, the male lead’s future is a guaranteed path of flowers! Even without me worrying, it was bound to go well. I clenched my fist as if cheering him on and called out.
“Fighting!”
