The Object of your Obsession is Wrong, Lord of the Tower!

CHAPTER 004

Since that creepy welcome party, I hadn't met Lewis again.

Fortunately. I never want to meet a man who treats me like a test subject.

So far, things have been similar to the original story.

Lewis returned to the magic tower and took on the scheduled position of Tower Lord, and he received a new title, Marquis of Bloomberg.

"He must be really busy right now."

Bella easily guessed Lewis's situation.

Of course, he'd be busy after taking half a year off.

I asked cautiously.

"If he went on a half-year-long trip, it'll take quite some time to adjust, right?"

"Definitely. He left saying he wanted to play to his heart's content before becoming Tower Lord, so he must be having a hard time now."

"Oh, poor thing..."

Stay busy.

At this moment, I became a person with different outward and inward thoughts.

Forget being the second male lead; I just hope Lewis is swamped with work and forgets about me completely!

But why did the Tower Lord, who should be incredibly busy, come to the Duke's mansion?

When I returned from dining out with Bella, Lewis was in the drawing room having tea.

As soon as he saw us, he asked,

"When will you two stop being friends?"

Chills. A shiver ran down my spine.

Was he waiting for me to end my friendship with Bella...?

Just as "magic tower" and "research" flashed through my mind, Bella frowned.

"What are you talking about? Why would we stop being friends?"

"Yeah, we'll never stop being friends!"

My mouth automatically echoed Bella's words.

"We promised to be friends until death. Haha..."

I've never been more relieved by Bella's words about being friends for life. Especially seeing the disappointed look on Lewis's face.

"Why do you need friends? Weren't we friends?"

"Why would I be friends with you?"

Our Bella is so decisive.

I awkwardly smiled next to Bella, who drew a clear line.

"You took one of my only two friends."

I didn't expect that fire to fall on me. What did I do...?

"Hey, we can be friends too! Why do you think I took her? I didn't!"

Fortunately, Lewis showed interest in my passionate words.

"Be friends with me?"

"Yes. A friend of a friend is a friend. We're all friends! Haha..."

It's not exactly fortunate to be friends with the Tower Lord who messes with people, but my mouth continued to flatter him faithfully.

The survival instinct of the weak...

"Alright. Then I'll put off taking you to the magic tower for now."

To my surprise, Lewis responded to my insincere words with a serious offer.

"You don't hear my noise when you're around?"

"What?"

"How did you do it?"

* * *

Not hearing the noise? Was that why he showed unusual interest in me?

"What are you talking about?"

Bella answered faster than I did.

"Didn't you just meet Selina for the second time today? Why would you ask her that?"

Exactly. How can you ask such a thing when we've just met?

But having read the original story, I knew what Lewis was talking about.

"You don't understand, do you? It's something Lewis has been saying since he was young."

Bella shrugged and explained Lewis's chronic condition.

The crackling noise in his head, like something gnawing at his sanity.

In the original story, days, when this symptom worsened, were described as days when the wizards lived as quietly as mice.

No matter what he did, he couldn't stop it, so he must have been on edge.

"There's noise in your head?"

I feigned ignorance and asked, and Lewis nodded.

"Yeah. But it's calm now."

Calm? In the original story, it was either "annoying" or "extremely annoying."

Lewis extended his hand toward me.

"Just a moment. Let me check."

When I obediently held his hand, Lewis smiled with satisfaction.

"It's completely gone now. The noise has stopped."

Completely stopped?

I tilted my head at the newly discovered pattern, and Lewis asked with his golden eyes shining.

"How did you do it?"

How did I do it? How would I know?

I didn't know I had such a talent. It's nice to have a talent, but since it involves Lewis, it wasn't exactly welcome.

In the original story, there was no intersection between Lewis and Selina.

Selina wasn't friends with Bella.

"I'll put off taking you to the magic tower, but I have a request instead. Let's meet here sometimes."

"Here?"

Meeting at the Croft Duke's mansion, like now. He seemed to have come up with this plan after some thought.

"It lasts about three hours. The noise is completely gone during that time."

He seemed to have measured the time when the distracting noise was completely gone.

"Just hold my hand like this once."

Lewis smiled and glanced at our still-joined hands.

I hesitated for a moment at the unexpected request.

'Why should I...? There's no benefit for me!'

But not having the courage to say it honestly, I said, "Such an easy request! Of course, Tower Lord!"

I accepted Lewis's proposal.

Ah, life...

* * *

The greatest magician in the history of the empire.

That was the title Lewis received at the age of 21.

Although he was a widely recognized magician, Lewis himself was skeptical.

"They're making such a big fuss."

What kind of great magician suffers from auditory hallucinations?

By his mid-teens, Lewis was driven crazy by the extreme noise.

The noise that couldn't be cured by medicine or magic seemed to gnaw at his brain.

But the citizens of the empire couldn't even imagine his suffering.

A genius of the century. They only saw Lewis's abilities and praised him.

"Lord Lewis, the Tower Lord has appointed you as his successor-"

"The Tower elders have high expectations for you, Lord Lewis."

Even though Lewis's expression was unpleasant, they always blabbed on.

Lewis sat at his desk, rubbing his forehead.

"…I'm having a headache right now. Let's talk later."

"Sir, can we have a word?"

When the Tower Lord chose Lewis as his successor, even senior wizards approached him.

They couldn't accept that a much younger Lewis suddenly rose to a high position.

"I said we'll talk later..."

"But there's an order to things, you should refuse if you know manners-"

They had no intention of listening to Lewis.

The patience of Lewis, who had been under extreme stress, finally snapped.

He stared at them, who had been talking non-stop.

"Wouldn't it be a pity if you died following the order of things?"

"What?"

"Let's die in the order we were born."

Right after Lewis smiled, the building exploded.

He had long abandoned his temper in his childhood but had lived as a moderately unpleasant and grumpy person.

However, the noise in his head and the jealousy and hatred of the wizards made Lewis reveal his true colors.

"Why are you messing around, you idiots."

Lewis laughed as he looked at the burning building.

After messing with every wizard who approached, no one dared to talk to him anymore.

"Lewis, you shouldn't do this."

Michael, who rushed over after hearing the news, tried to stop him.

"What do you expect me to do? They're provoking me when I'm already on edge."

"You seem to be forgetting one thing..."

"What?"

Lewis, who didn't care even the emperor couldn't control him, had nothing to fear.

But—

"If you kill all the wizards, you'll have to do all the work until new ones are hired."

"…!"

Michael, a wizard working at the palace, warned him about the future with no wizards left.

Lewis, who had nothing to fear, hesitated at those words.

"Doing even more work when I already have a lot? What kind of..."

Though his anger flared up again, Lewis quickly stopped his rampage.

"Bloodline is indeed bloodline!"

The wizards who had been extinguishing the fire secretly stuck out their tongues.

Since then, whenever he got annoyed, Lewis lived by flipping things over just enough.

There was no way to be free from the chronic symptoms.

Then he met her.

"Suddenly moving…"

"Sorry!"

The moment he caught the woman who was about to fall, the noise stopped.

The noise that had been ringing in his head since he was young, so long ago that he couldn't remember when it started.

'What's this?'

It was a first-time feeling.

Lewis's thoughts halted for a while in the silence he had never experienced.

A woman with orange hair and blue eyes, looked younger than him.

A noble?

Lewis wanted to hold onto this mysterious woman he didn't recognize.

"Are you uncomfortable somewhere? Do you have a lot of pain from bumping into me...?"

"What if I do?"

So he answered the woman's question with nonsense.

Her face at that moment was priceless.

'Isn't it true anyway?'

The noise that had been annoying him stopped, so it was a good change, but it was strange.

It had never happened before.

Lewis wanted to talk more with the woman, but things didn't go as he wished.

"Sorry, Selina. There's something else that caught my eye."

The woman's companion came out from inside.

A man with red eyes whom Lewis knew very well.

Initially a bit surprised, he soon smiled.

The mysterious woman knew his cousins. What a funny situation.

After parting ways with Lewis, she turned around while walking. She must have been concerned about him.

But she couldn't find him.

How could she? He was looking down from above the building with an invisibility spell.

Lewis's gaze moved from the woman to her companions.

"Was there any need to hold her on the street?"

Seeing them, Lewis smiled happily.

The woman probably never dreamed that she would meet him again the next day.

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