“Your highness, could you please take some time to meet the people in the tower? They’ve been nagging day and night making the Video Stones under His Majesty’s orders.

The headmaster tossed me a question as my thought process veered off in shock.

I—I’m not so sure about that one! Isn’t it going to be one of those moments where I get bashed for being the fundamental reason why they had to work their butts off? You know, because I’m the one in the Stone?

“No way, it’s her!”

“No way, she’s right there!”

“Whoa, I literally shined her Stones clean with the magical cleaning cloth for two hours every day!”

Fortunately, they weren’t.

So I started to visit the tower floor by floor with the other mages and got to see them look at me like I was their niece taking my first steps… Or like a weeb who’s seen their minifigure magically come to life…

“Ta-da, this is my office!”

I was invited to the headmaster’s room on the top floor.

“Whoa, what is all this?”

“Hehe, my treasure. Some of ‘em are unstable prototypes, so please don’t touch them.”

The white wall had countless sheets of paper glued to it just like the exterior walls. The desk and floor were also cluttered with numerous books and random things.

Some of them had glistering rocks and gems while some others had an ominous liquid boiling inside it. There were even dolls shaking their arms or ears.

Huh… What’s that on the bookshelf? Is that like snake wine or something? B—but something’s moving in it!

That right there in the corner, even though I can’t see through the blanket covering it, seems like a caged animal with it rumbling and such…

This place is weird… Are all mages’ offices like this?

“Now, your highness, could I have a strand of your hair?”

As I squinted around the place, the headmaster smiled as he looked back at me.

I hesitated for a second then carefully asked him back.

“Hair…?”

“Yes, miss! Just think of it as helping some old wizards and witches out.”

Wee-woo! Now, this is a red flag!

Uhh, I’m getting the feeling that I shouldn’t give this man my hair…? I think he’s gonna do some really weird stuff with it!

“If you’re okay with it, you can donate a drop of blood or two…”

“Hell no!”

What a crackhead!

“Oh, come on, miss! Aren’t you curious too? About how you got that undeniably beautiful magical powers? Why just me? Where did it come from? You must be!

The tales the mages told me outside the tower came to mind.

‘Plus, I’ve never seen someone acquire such tremendous capabilities in magic!’

“Right! That’s why you’re what we’ve all been talking about these days in the Tower!”

Frick! So this guy wants to use me as a test subject? The real reason behind my magical powers is Blackie but they obviously don’t know that.

“Heh, heh… Anyway, your magical powers get prettier every time I see them. Do you mind if I touch ‘em for a second?”

When he decided to walk toward me with that broken smile, I immediately decided to teleport out of the shoddy place.

Eek! I expected mages, not crazy old peeps!

“YES! Who do you think I am?!”

Snap!

“WOOT! The Insta-Cast!”

I left behind the awestruck voice and teleported out of the Black Tower.

“Oh, your highness, you’re out pretty early.”

“Was it okay for you inside?”

Eww! I’m never visiting this creepy place ever again!

As I stepped outside, Lili, Felix, and the other knights and servants greeted me in unison.

Only the invited get to step inside the Black Tower so I deliberately came alone but I should have taken a nap in the Emerald Palace instead.

“Lili, could you prepare me some salt when we get back to Emerald Palace?”

“Huh? Salt?”

So I can throw it toward the Black Tower once I get back! Rawr!

[TL Notes: To throw salt is a Korean idiom that means ‘to mess something up.’]

I shook in terror as I thought of the crackhead headmaster creepily looking at me.

* * *

“I deeply apologize, your highness.”

The headmaster came over to my place for redemption the next day.

“Please forgive me, for I have sinned whilst dreaming of the unobtainable.”

It’s because Claude made a giant hole in the Tower after hearing the news!

“It’s not because I want my Tower back.”

I was sweating bullets seeing all the mages in the Emerald Palace apologizing for what he’s done to me.

The maids of my palace wandered around them in curiosity but promptly left as I gave them something to work on.

“It’s also not because of some threat to blow up the remaining half of the Tower and hang me upside down in front of the palace. I promise.”

Whoops, all I talked about last night was ‘this and that happened in the Tower, who is this guy?’ but I honestly didn’t expect Claude to blow the tower up!

Hannah, who visited the tower after hearing such news, told me one-third of the tower’s been obliterated.

And a death threat to hang if he doesn’t apologize?

Well, that ‘death threat’ isn’t really Claude-ish… He could’ve just said he ‘would hang!’

The good thing is that no one got hurt because Claude warned them of the obliteration. I began to talk after I let out a faint moan.

“Everybody, look up.”

I go by Confucian values! Respect your elders! Well to be fair, the headmaster guy in front of me was extremely young-looking for his age.

“If you promise not to threaten me like that again, I’ll just forgive and forget as well.”

A—Ack! The headmaster was indeed kinda rude to me yesterday but a substantial portion of the long-lasting Tower’s been blasted away in an instant. Why do I feel guilty for telling Claude that!!

“Thank you for your everlasting mercy, your highness.”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you, your highness!”

Sob!

As the mages behind the headmaster cried out in genuine feelings, I was even more guilty than before.

Sob! The headmaster was kind of a psycho but all the others looked pretty okay, to be honest.

The mages who were looking at me with touching eyes left the scene at my permission. But why are you still here, crackhead headmaster?

He laughed it off, looking at me as if nothing had happened, unlike all the other mages.

“Hehehe…. You’ve undoubtedly put me on a rollercoaster ride, your highness. Get half the tower blown up, work my spine off making a total of 500 Video Stones, get locked up in the dungeon…”

As I twitched now and then listening to him regretfully recall his recent adventures, I asked him something.

“You’ve been locked up in the dungeon?”

No way! Claude couldn’t have put him in the dungeon! No wonder he looked so wasted! Eh, now that I think about it he looked like that yesterday too…

“Oh, maybe you don’t know this but when you were unconscious due to your powers malfunctioning, your highness, I checked up on you on both the occasions.

“Oh, really?”

“Eh… But it was of no help. The silly ability of mine to see through others’ powers doesn’t work all the time anyway. So my crew and I got locked up when you fainted because his majesty got furious. Hehehe. But I didn’t go through a hell of a lot since I was only an ordinary mage back then.”

Oh! Ohhh! Right! I remember! Claude was yelling at a random shaking dude on the floor, demanding that he find a cure or else!

But with his crew? I thought only he got locked up!

“I’ve heard my master—who was the headmaster back then—went through a lot of trouble. It’s not been long ever since I assumed his position after his death.”

I subconsciously became solemn as he showed genuine affection for his long-gone master.

Huh. Then was the random dude the headmaster? I think he said something like ‘I’m their headmaster! If I don’t know, no one else will!’ and pissed Claude off extra.

Wait… So how old was he back then? This grandpa in front of me is in his sixties but appears to be only in his thirties! Then what about the middle-aged dude getting all the blame from Claude? Was Claude harassing an actual grandpa?

“I didn’t expect my Master to live to be 100, though. Eh, I could’ve become headmaster ten years earlier but he just wouldn’t die… Whoops, please disregard what I just said.”

I batted him a chilly eye as he continued with what he had to say.