Honest Conversation (2)

Dolores Jade.

The Tower Lord of Wallin, once the daughter of Baldschmidt but now abandoned that name.

She was the youngest to ascend to the position of tower master, and her conviction earned her the trust of Helios, the Sky Chamber tower master.

But even Helios did not know Dolores' weakness.

Alcohol.

Since entering Wallen Tower, she had never drunk with anyone, nor had she drunk alone.

People unaware of her circumstances thought that Dolores didn't drink because of her meticulous and careful personality.

But the real reason was different.

"What are you trying to do to me? I know everything."

The moment she drinks, she becomes a big child.

Dolores slumped on the sofa with a sly grin.

Her face was flushed red, contrasting with her blue hair, and the way she looked at Reed was as if he was a man with naughty thoughts.

It was more of a cute feeling than contempt.

Reed looked at her with a dumbfounded expression and denied her words.

"It's not like that."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Really, really?"

"Yes."

"Then cast a spell to sober me up right now."

"...Cast it on yourself."

"How can a drunken magician cast a spell? What if my hand explodes? You do it, Oppa."

Dolores was acting like a younger sister.

However, Reed couldn't cast that spell.

Because he had heard for the first time from Dolores that such a spell existed.

As he silently folded his lips into his mouth, Dolores' face became stern.

"See! I knew you were trying to get me drunk on purpose! Remember when I was 12, and I accidentally drank wine from your glass and got drunk?"

Dolores giggled as she twirled her hair around her finger.

Though it was annoying to the point of being unbearable, it was just as Reed had intended, as she began to spill out her past.

"Can I have one more drink since I'm drunk anyway?"

No sooner had she said this that Reed snatched Dolores' glass away.

He didn't even want to imagine what would happen if a lightweight who got drunk after one drink had another.

Instead of crystal glass, he handed Dolores an ordinary glass of water.

"Drink water."

Dolores stared hard at the glass of water, then rolled her eyes and looked up at Reed.

"Feed it to me."

"Drink it with your own hands."

"Then I won't drink."

"You're being childish."

"I can be childish. You told me to tell you whenever..."

Dolores grumbled in a childlike tone and turned her head sharply as if she was sulky.

Dolores certainly remembered.

-If you want to act spoiled, tell me. I'll go along with it until you're tired.

And young Dolores did act like a younger sister, always being childish, just as he had told her.

But Reed didn't know this fact now.

No, he couldn't have known.

Because he was a third party with no memories of Dolores.

'If this is considered a sincere conversation, then it is a conversation.'

He had to know about Reed.

And to do so, listening to Dolores, who had turned into a child now, was the most ideal.

With no other choice, Reed indulged her childishness and sat down next to her.

He could distinctly feel the chill emanating from her body.

Reed lifted the glass of water in place of her and brought it to her lips.

Her hair, blue as the sea, contrasted with her face, flushed as a beetroot.

Her eyes closed, lips slightly parted, looking up, she reminded him of a bride at a wedding ceremony waiting for the groom's kiss.

Wary of possible dribbles, Reed carefully poured the water into her mouth.

Gulp, gulp.

Her slender throat moved up and down, swallowing the water.

Over three minutes, she emptied the entire glass of water.

"Feeling a bit sober?"

"Yeah, Oppa."

While her mouth said so, seeing her beaming smile, he realized that she was not.

As Reed held the water glass and attempted to get up from his seat, Dolores unexpectedly grabbed his hand.

"Stay here."

"Isn't it a bit too close for a man and woman..."

"..."

"...All right."

His words were cut off by the sight of her lips beginning to pout.

Since it was hard to put up with Dolores' tantrums any further, Reed decided to calmly accept her request.

Even though Reed sat down, Dolores did not let go of his hand.

Reed looked down at her hand.

Her small hand was wrapped around the back of his hand, and her slender fingers tickled his palm.

"Can I... ask one thing? You have to answer no matter what."

"...Depending on the situation, I might not be able to answer."

"If you don't answer, I'll cry right here."

"...Do as you please."

' It's scary, a six-year-old with a large body.'

Seeing her cruel threat, Reed resigned himself.

With a beaming face, Dolores asked Reed.

"Do you still hate the thought of seeing the face of a child we'll make together?"

Upon hearing this, Reed's body stiffened instantly.

"...What?"

"I've always been curious. You like Rosaria so much... I wondered if you'd still dislike having a baby with me."

"Did I say that?"

"Are you evading the question?"

Then Dolores' eyebrows came together.

Her eyes, moist and as transparent as the ocean, changed to a clear blue color.

Reed fumbled for an explanation about it.

"I can't remember everything clearly because the memory of that day is too stormy."

At his words, Dolores nodded as if in agreement.

"Yeah, that time was really like a storm. What did you say then? Ah, I remember. 'Are you deaf? I don't even want to see the face of a child made from mixing my blood with yours.' That's what you said."

"..."

"It really hurt, hehe. I still remember your face. The way your eyes looked at me with resignation..."

Dolores chuckles lightly.

Reed knew that her laughter was not laughter.

It was her way of preventing her tears from flowing by laughing instead.

"That wasn't true, right, Oppa?"

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."