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Chapter 12 – I Woke the Sleeping Prince of the Magic Tower?
The blue light that began at Melize’s fingertips gradually spread, enveloping Licht’s entire body.
Lady Melize’s mana could not be defined by a single attribute. She was a great archmage whose magical nature could not be categorized. It seemed she was using whatever type of mana was best suited for examining his condition.
The whole thing looked…
Like a CT scan? Or maybe an MRI?
He wasn’t lying down, but the way the magic slowly scanned his entire body reminded me exactly of one of those machines.
While I was entertaining that pointless thought, the light in Lady Melize’s hand faded.
“For someone who has been asleep for over two years, fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any major problem.”
Her voice carried satisfaction.
Perhaps he had been secretly tense all this time. Licht, who had been watching Lady Melize with a stiff expression, finally nodded.
“I see. Two years… quite a long time.”
“You should think of it as ‘only’ two years. We still need to investigate why the curse suddenly broke, but otherwise you might have remained asleep for much longer.”
The black-haired prince, whose beauty was almost unreal, stood facing the calm and elegant Master of the Magic Tower—his former teacher.
It should have been a picture-perfect reunion.
Yet the expressions on both their faces were surprisingly indifferent.
Come on, aren’t you supposed to at least hug after meeting your old master again?
They’re both surprisingly cool people…
Just then, as though something had suddenly occurred to her, Lady Melize beckoned me over.
“Edel.”
“Y-Yes!”
You startled me.
Following Lady Melize’s gesture, Licht’s gaze shifted toward me as well.
At some point, a faint smile had settled on his lips.
It was only a small smile, yet it felt as though everything around him had brightened.
Ah… dazzling.
Lady Melize lightly placed both hands on my shoulders and guided me toward Licht.
Naturally, I ended up standing between Lady Melize, who was taller than me, and Licht, who was much taller than both of us.
Ah… should I greet him?
He’s a prince, after all. I should show proper respect.
Just as I awkwardly bent my knees to bow, Lady Melize spoke in a firm voice.
“His Highness should be very, very grateful to Edel.”
“Huh?”
“This child took care of Your Highness every single day. For two whole years.”
Instead of encouraging me to greet him, Lady Melize kept both hands firmly on my shoulders and began explaining everything I had supposedly done over the past two years.
“Ah… I was only doing what Lady Melize asked me to.”
“Every morning, noon, and night, she climbed all the way to the top floor to make sure the barrier and preservation magic were functioning properly. Then she organized everything into reports afterward. Even while I was away, she never missed a single day.”
“I-I’m only a low-ranking mage, so I didn’t really have anything else to do!”
By now, my face had turned completely red.
The truth was, I had only looked after Licht for less than three months.
That made this whole situation even more embarrassing.
Meanwhile, Licht didn’t interrupt Lady Melize’s endless praise.
If anything…
He looked like he was listening intently.
“So now that Your Highness has awakened, I suppose it’s time to give Edel a vacation as well. Such a hardworking child.”
Please stop publicly embarrassing me, Lady Melize.
No matter how desperately I tried to signal her to stop, she wouldn’t budge.
If anything, it almost felt like she wanted to make it even more obvious.
“Our precious child suffered because of you!”
As though she had been waiting for this exact moment.
Edel really is loved around here.
That strange feeling surfaced again.
“…Your name.”
Licht, who had silently watched everything until now, finally spoke.
It had been nearly ten minutes since Lady Melize started talking.
Unsure of how he would react, I looked at him nervously.
“So your name is Edel.”
Then, as if committing it to memory, he repeated it several times.
“Edel.”
And then…
Licht extended his hand.
The movement was so graceful that it looked like a scene from a masterpiece painting.
“Edel.”
Standing before him with my hands awkwardly clasped together, unsure of where to put them…
He naturally reached out and took one.
More specifically, my right hand.
“?!”
Keeping hold of it, Licht slowly bent at the waist and tilted his head, lowering his face over the back of my hand.
His jet-black hair lightly tickled my skin.
“Upon my honor…”
I could only stare with wide eyes as his lips barely brushed against the back of my hand before pulling away.
I wasn’t the only one caught off guard.
Lady Melize also seemed surprised by his actions.
She froze, her brows knitting together slightly.
“I promise to repay you with everything I have.”
“…?”
Why is his greeting so… intimate?
If this had happened back in Korea, I would have immediately waved my hands and said, “Oh, it was nothing!”
But being hit with something like this out of nowhere…
I had absolutely no idea how to respond.
Did a few months away from the office completely erase my workplace survival skills?
“N-No, really! I was only doing what I was told!”
Feeling like I had to say something, I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
And yet…
He still wasn’t letting go of my hand.
What’s with him?
Having such a handsome prince gazing at me while holding my hand…
It was nice.
But at the same time…
It was incredibly burdensome.
Can I even tell a prince to let go of my hand?
I secretly glanced toward Lady Melize.
Years of surviving the corporate hierarchy had conditioned me to constantly read the room.
Lady Melize still looked displeased with the current situation, her brows furrowed.
Yet she said nothing about Licht holding my hand.
My palms are going to start sweating.
I couldn’t possibly let the male lead get my sweaty hand all over his.
I’d better casually pull it away…
“Um… this is really too mu—”
“I have a feeling…”
Licht interrupted.
“…that it was this mage who woke me.”
“…What?”
“It was undoubtedly Edel’s mana.”
“…Ah.”
The fact I had completely forgotten suddenly flashed back into my mind.
The white light.
Crap.
I’d barely spent a day deciding I needed to hide that fact at all costs…
And now I’d been exposed immediately?
I hurriedly searched for an excuse.
But before I could say anything, Lady Melize stepped closer and took my other hand.
Her expression quickly turned serious as well.
You said you’d repay me, and this is what you do?!
I shot Licht a resentful glare.
The very first thing he did after waking up was expose my magical attribute.
For a moment, even his ridiculously handsome face looked slightly annoying.
…No.
That wasn’t true.
He was still ridiculously handsome.
Both Edel and I must have inherited an incurable weakness for good-looking faces.
There was no way Lady Melize wouldn’t recognize what the change in my mana color meant.
It could very well be the long-lost Light Attribute—
The strongest power that once opposed black magic.
Inside, I was already crying rivers.
But on the outside, I simply put on the most innocent expression I could manage and quietly observed Lady Melize’s reaction.
Hey, it’s possible we’re wrong, isn’t it?
This scene wasn’t even in the novel!
But Lady Melize’s next words shattered even that last tiny hope.
“If this mana truly is what I think it is…”
“The fact that I can speak to the Duke right now is proof enough, isn’t it?”
“…”
No, no.
Let’s not jump to conclusions.
No one knows exactly what this power is or why it appeared.
I couldn’t let go of that last thread of hope.
With one hand held by each of them, I hesitantly spoke.
“Um… could it be that my Water Attribute has simply become so faint that it feels a little unusual?”
It sounded reasonably convincing.
Right.
Edel originally had the Water Attribute.
It had always been incredibly weak, but she still possessed it.
Maybe the blue mana had simply become so pale that it looked white.
That could happen.
Definitely.
Watching me with hopeful eyes, Licht let out a quiet chuckle.
“If we couldn’t distinguish something as simple as that…”
“…we wouldn’t be worthy of being called high-ranking mages.”
Well… that’s impressive.
He had a point.
That was probably why he recognized it the moment he held my hand.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s the case, Edel. Have you noticed anything yourself?”
Unlike before, Lady Melize now looked deeply troubled.
If she was reacting like this…
Then something truly had changed about my mana.
Sigh…
“I… did think the color of my mana looked a little different.”
Specifically…
About ten minutes before that handsome prince over there woke up.
I lowered my head in resignation.
Only then did Lady Melize and Licht finally release my hands.
At last, my poor hands were free.
I clasped them together again.
“Do you know anything about the Light Attribute?”
“Only… what I’ve read in books.”
Even in the novel, there had barely been any mention of mages possessing the Light Attribute—
White mages.
Well, of course.
None of them ever appeared.
Then why on earth did I suddenly become a White Mage?!
I felt like screaming.
But no matter how much I complained internally, there didn’t seem to be anything I could do.
Besides, these two seemed completely convinced that my power had awakened Licht.
We’re not even sure it was really my mana…
I nervously fidgeted with my fingers.
Watching me, Lady Melize reached out and gently smoothed my disheveled hair.
“I don’t know why such a power has appeared within you, but there’s no doubt that the mana I sense now is completely different from before.”
Was it just my imagination…
Or did that gentle touch carry a hint of complicated emotions?
The room at the very top of the Magic Tower, which had been so lively just moments ago, was now filled with an awkward silence.
