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Chapter 9 — The Sleeping Prince of the Magic Tower Has Been Awakened?
It took less than ten minutes to read through all the rejection letters she had received so far. As always, words of rejection were brief.
“What else am I supposed to improve?”
She spread the letters out, trying to find something—anything—she could work on, but none of them offered any useful clues. A click of her tongue escaped before she knew it.
The job-hunting season from her distant past came back to her.
Somehow, she had struggled through aptitude tests, gone to interviews, applied to countless companies, been rejected over and over, and finally landed a job. She still remembered how happy she had been.
“I thought that was going to be the last time I’d ever have to job hunt in my life…”
Getting rejected even after transmigrating was honestly a little depressing!
“Sigh.”
Whether her heart was heavy or not, time marched on mercilessly. Outside the window, the sky had already begun to darken.
She put the letters back into her bag.
If this doesn’t work out, maybe I’ll just show up with the letters in hand and beg them to at least give me an interview.
She could probably find a job more easily if she asked Melriz for help, but then he’d inevitably ask why she wanted to leave the Magic Tower in the first place.
I can’t exactly say, “Because I’m not actually Edel, so it’s awkward for me to stay here!”
For now, her best plan was to find a job on her own first, then leave with a confident, “I’ll come back after I’ve grown stronger!”
“Right now, I’m completely useless in the Magic Tower.”
She slumped into her seat before turning to the side.
Even though there wasn’t a single light source in the room, she could still somehow see the side profile of Prince Licht, as though he had a halo around him.
Scooting closer, she leaned beside the glass coffin and stared intently at the man sleeping within.
From his neatly shaped eyebrows, to his gently fluttering eyelashes, his sharp nose, and finally his full crimson lips…
“Prince, you’ve got it easy. You don’t even have to job hunt.”
But what she envied most wasn’t his handsome face.
It was the solid golden—
No, diamond-paved road laid out before him.
So unfair!
Someone else had a guaranteed happy ending and overwhelming talent!
“I can’t spend my whole life relying on Melriz, can I?”
She had been staying up until dawn every night writing application letters disguised as cover letters, so she was already getting sleepy. It was still far too early to go to bed.
“But becoming independent isn’t easy. I need to get a job.”
Tonight, she had no desire to write another self-introduction essay pretending to be a letter.
“Maybe… I’ll just nap for a little while…”
She vaguely remembered thinking,
No one ever comes here anyway, so resting for a bit should be fine, right?
Before she knew it…
She had fallen completely asleep.
Still leaning against the glass coffin.
What is “job hunting”?
Ever since the magician had entered the room, Licht had focused on every single one of her movements.
Today, instead of her usual lively pace, she wandered quietly around the room before stopping by the window, seemingly gazing outside.
It wasn’t surprising to hear her call him beautiful.
She’d been doing that for days now.
She had even confessed her love to him before.
But today…
There was unmistakable sadness in her voice.
Licht couldn’t help worrying that something had happened to her.
Her gloomy mood continued, becoming even heavier whenever she mentioned something called job hunting.
“I can’t spend my whole life relying on Melriz, can I?”
“But becoming independent isn’t easy. I need to get a job.”
Hearing her say she didn’t want to burden Duke Melriz tugged unexpectedly at his heart.
Having grown up as the emperor’s beloved prince, Licht had seen countless nobles cling to him, desperate for even the smallest scraps of favor.
Of course, there were loyal retainers—his aide and the knights who faithfully served him.
But that loyalty had only been forged through years of fighting countless wars together.
She truly is remarkable.
That was why the magician’s unwavering loyalty, despite expecting absolutely nothing from Duke Melriz, moved even someone as emotionally reserved as Licht.
There was no doubt.
Duke Melriz had entrusted her with protecting him precisely because he understood her sincerity.
When I awaken from this curse… I must be sure to tell the Duke as well.
Her attitude was worthy of becoming an example—not only to the empire’s ministers, but to every noble family.
If only he could awaken soon…
Then he could face her properly and praise her himself.
But more frustrating than anything else…
Was the fact that he couldn’t say a single word to the magician who was worrying about her future.
Once he overcame this curse…
Once the Apostles were eliminated…
Licht intended to repay her with the greatest reward he possibly could.
In fact…
He was already thinking very seriously—and quite specifically—about giving her exactly what she wanted most.
“…”
His own helpless situation felt unbearably frustrating once again.
The magician’s presence drew even closer.
Perhaps today had been especially exhausting.
She leaned against the glass coffin where Licht lay sleeping…
And quietly drifted off to sleep.
Her gentle breathing vibrated softly through the glass.
Licht listened to every breath in silence.
Hoping that the magician who always watched over his sleep…
Would at least be able to rest peacefully beside him tonight.
“Ugh… my back.”
Oh no.
I really did fall into a deep sleep.
Startled, I looked out the window.
The moon had already climbed to the very top of the sky.
Sleeping while bent over the glass coffin had left my back incredibly stiff.
Even the smallest, shabbiest bed was far more comfortable than sleeping like this.
Rubbing my aching back with both hands, I slowly stood up.
“Hmm.”
Come to think of it…
It was already very late.
There wasn’t really any reason to rush back to my room.
No one was going to come looking for me anyway.
Sleep still lingered in my mind, making it hard to think clearly.
“I’ll rest a little longer.”
I ended up sitting back down, leaning against the coffin once again.
High above, the full moon shone brilliantly.
Its pale light streamed into the room, illuminating everything around me.
Wow…
The weather really is nice tonight.
I lifted one hand, briefly covering the moon with my palm before focusing mana into my fingertips.
Soon…
A tiny sphere of light appeared.
“It’s so small.”
What am I even supposed to do with something this tiny?
No matter how I look at it… it’s really small… and so white…
“Huh?”
Something was strange.
The last time I’d checked my mana, it had clearly been a pale blue sphere.
But now…
A brilliant white orb radiated intensely from my fingertips.
I rubbed my eyes with my free hand.
“Am I just too sleepy to see properly?”
“No…”
No matter how many times I looked…
It stayed exactly the same.
“The color changed.”
Determining a person’s mana attribute was extremely straightforward.
Fire was red.
Wind was green.
Water was blue.
And Light…
Light was white.
But the Light attribute had disappeared long ago.
The only record of white mana was a brief mention on the very first page of the most basic introductory mana theory textbook.
Everything Edel had learned about mana…
Along with everything I’d recently studied while researching career options in the Magic Tower library…
Flashed rapidly through my mind.
“No way.”
An impossible possibility surfaced.
I waved my fingertips around, checking again to see whether the color would change.
It remained a brilliant white.
Could Edel… actually be a White Mage?
That couldn’t be right.
Sure, she only appeared briefly at the beginning of the novel before disappearing forever, but Edel had been established as a magician with pitifully weak mana who had barely managed to obtain the Water attribute.
And until the novel ended…
She was never mentioned again.
“Haha… no way. All of a sudden?”
But…
There was one thing that made the current Edel different from the one in the novel.
She had been transmigrated into.
Could this… be my transmigration bonus?
Considering how many transmigration fantasy novels she’d read, it wasn’t impossible that the benefit granted to a transmigrator would be awakening a rare mana attribute.
“…Am I supposed to save the world or something?”
I really didn’t want that.
My goal was to protect my work-life balance and live peacefully as an insignificant extra in this world.
“For now… I’ll stay quiet.”
The change in my mana was an absolute secret.
Even from Melriz!
I refused to suddenly step out of my role as an extra.
Maybe I’d simply absorbed moonlight tonight and that’s why it turned white.
It sounded ridiculous, but after transmigrating into a fantasy romance novel…
I knew anything could happen.
Calming myself again, I clenched my fist.
And then—
Crackle—
Bzzzzt.
A faint vibration spread through the floor beneath me.
Thinking it was my imagination, I glanced to the side.
Even the glass coffin holding the prince was visibly shaking.
“What…?”
A moment later…
The protective barrier Melriz had cast around the top floor let out the sound of something cracking.
“Eek!”
BOOM!
A scream escaped me.
“The… the barrier…!”
The normally invisible barrier began splitting apart, scar-like cracks spreading across its surface.
The vibrations intensified.
More and more fractures raced across it.
As if it could no longer endure…
The barrier shook violently.
Then came the deafening sound of someone forcefully slamming against the door again and again.
“What do I do?!”
What could I do?!
No matter what happened, the prince had to survive.
Otherwise, the entire plot of this novel would fall apart.
I had to stop anyone from attacking the glass coffin.
Melriz must’ve received the emergency signal… right?
I’d only just discovered my strange mana attribute…
But unfortunately…
I was still nothing more than a low-ranking magician who could barely use mediocre defensive magic.
Cold sweat trickled down my back as unfamiliar terror gripped me.
In my previous life, my life was never in danger…
My trembling hands desperately pressed against the glass coffin.
Even now…
The prince simply lay there peacefully, his expression completely serene.
Please… hurry…
Please come quickly, Melriz!
