By Zephyria 
“Where is this?”
I knew it was Lennox’s lab without asking, but I asked out of courtesy. I knew how important and sensitive the security of a personal laboratory was to magicians. Lennox casually said it was his lab. Then, he somehow made space on a piece of furniture that seemed more like a bookshelf than a sofa and offered me a seat.
I sat down on the seat and looked around the lab incessantly.
A desk cluttered with all sorts of experimental tools and thick books, and an interior that was dark and gloomy as if it never saw the sun. Seriously, there’s no point in changing fate. Just like that fox-like smiling face of his. Even though this place is definitely inside the Magic Tower, and physically cannot be the exact same space as the lab he used in the previous iterations, it was structurally almost the same space.
Even the somewhat chilling atmosphere that made me feel uneasy even when I was just standing still was the same. The only difference was that Lennox’s expression was much more gentle than when I visited his lab, when he seemed to dislike even me setting foot in his space, let alone offering me a seat.
“The dangerous part is over. It’s okay, Young Master. This place is safe. So don’t tremble like that.”
“Ah.”
I hadn’t even realized I was trembling. Only after hearing Lennox’s words did I look down and see that my hands were still shaking.
“Shall I make you some warm tea? Just a moment.”
“No. It’s okay.”
I reflexively grabbed Lennox, who was about to leave. I didn’t want to be alone right now.
I had always thought that I just hated being sick and didn’t care about dying, but what do you know. Did I somehow become attached to this iteration?
Well, I had put my heart and soul into changing my relationships with the other capture targets, including Lennox in front of me, for the first time, so it was understandable… Other capture targets?
“Ah! This is no time for this!”
How long had it been since I entered the Magic Tower? Lennox, who was using high-level magic like teleportation so freely, was incomparable to any human in this world, let alone the capture targets, in terms of pure individual power. This was no time for me to be happy that I was alive. While I was talking to Lennox like this, Carlisle was…!
“I told you it’s okay. Sit down.”
“Help me. I have to go back right now. There’s someone I have to save.”
“Young Master.”
“Please. Somehow, I’ll pay you back somehow, so, so Lennox…!”
I know it in my head. I didn’t die, and therefore the world wasn’t ‘reset’. The game continues. Carlisle will never die, even to appear before Allen as a major character in this world. Even if he suffers enough pain to die, he will survive looking neat and tidy. As an outstanding Alpha that anyone would covet. In order to fall in love with Allen, he will appear in the capital perfectly fine around the time the main story begins.
But even that fact cannot be an optimism at this moment. I didn’t want Carlisle to suffer.
“Calm down.”
Lennox said, pressing down on my shoulders with both hands as I jumped up and shouted hysterically.
“I’ll give you some warm black tea, so sit down and drink it all. Understood?”
Somehow, I couldn’t open my mouth. It wasn’t a strong force, but strangely, my legs gave way and I plopped back down in my seat. Unlike the overbearing Crown Prince or the authoritarian Andrew, Lennox’s words were very soft and gentle, but still.
“Good job. Just wait nicely like that, Young Master.”
It was a gentle yet strange coercion. He stood in front of me, bent down to meet my eye level, and traced his fingers in the air in a rhythmic pattern as if conducting. Clatter, clatter. The teapot and teacup in the opposite cupboard moved as if dancing to his gestures. It was truly magic that could only be found in fairy tales that all children dream of. Infinitely relaxed, and infinitely romantic.
It didn’t take long for two teacups filled with fragrant tea to fly to him and me. Lennox watched me take the teacup that was right in front of me with both hands and finally take a sip of the tea, then released my shoulders and straightened his posture as if satisfied. Then, he took a few steps back and buried himself in the opposite chair.
“Well then, let me tell you what you’re most curious about first.”
“…….”
“The young Graham you’re so worried about has wonderfully entered the stage of growth. Right now, it’s not the young Graham you should be worried about, but those bastards who attacked you. Well… I guess you don’t care whether they live or die?”
He continued to speak without hesitation, as if he had been watching the whole situation.
“Your beloved attendant is also safe and sound under the protection of the Royal Knights. Ah, it seems that the Grand Duke, having confirmed the safety of his child, has also taken care of the other situations well.”
Only then did I feel relieved. The rapid pounding of my heart began to gradually find its original tempo. How did he know all that, how did he think of coming to save me, was he somehow related to the group that attacked the Ducal Palace? The words I had to ask boiled up simultaneously, then the fire went out all at once.
What does it matter now? The only thing I can say in my position as someone who has been saved is thank you.
“…That’s a relief. Thank you. By the way, if the situation is settled, can I go back soon? Nicole will be worried.”
“Ah. About that, Young Master.”
Lennox sipped his tea and snapped his fingers once more. Then, the air flickered for a moment, and soon created an image.
“I was worried, Young Master!”
Nicole in the video said, almost crying as if he was angry. What is this? I’m here, but Nicole in the video is as if he’s talking to me…
“I’m sorry. I won’t worry you again. I really won’t.”
“Do you really promise? I won’t change your appearance at all until the day you go back.”
“Okay, I promise. It’s only two days anyway. I’ll stay in my room and not move at all for two days.”
That was my voice.
“It’s quite seamless, isn’t it?”
“Lennox.”
There’s no time to be shocked. Lennox smiles softly and looks at me.
“I’ve collected quite a lot of your voice over the past few days. It’s still difficult to say completely new words because it’s a recombination of existing utterances, but this should be enough to go unnoticed for a few days.”
“What, what does that mean? Explain it in a way I can understand.”
“I’ve put your voice on a Golem I made, cast an Illusion Magic to make it look like you, and sent it to Graham Castle. No one will know that you’re here. Simple, right?”
“You…!”
My tongue stiffens. It wasn’t just a feeling.
“My innocent benefactor. It seems no one told you not to easily bite into the poisoned apple given by a suspicious magician.”
An unbearable drowsiness poured over my body with a fierce momentum.
“But if I didn’t do it this way, you wouldn’t meet me at all…”
It’s no use biting the inside of my cheek and tearing at my palm with my nails until blood shows. I’ve been had.
“But I saved you this time. I won’t be too greedy. Just two days. Okay?”
Damn it… It’s not like he’s teasing me, Lennox is now asking me sweetly as if he’s asking for permission. My vision is already blurring.
“Sweet dreams, Young Master.”
Those were his last words.
‘You can use me.’
‘What?’
‘Since it’s a life you saved anyway, since it’s a life that was worth less than a beggar on the street without you.’
‘…Master of the Magic Tower.’
‘I don’t like it, Empress. Don’t call me so coldly.’
‘…….’
‘Call me kindly again, like before. Look at me. I’m your Lennox.’
‘…….’
‘So choose me. You already know that the stuffy and old-fashioned Young Duke, and that knight who is too insignificant to be the Emperor’s match, are not enough to satisfy you.’
Lennox’s voice was as sweet as melting. The smiling eyes on his face are no different from now. The only difference is……. That the emotion in those eyes is desperation, not composure.
‘Keep me as a consort, play with me as much as you want… You can throw me away when you get tired of me. I’m not afraid of the world’s attention, so you can ruin me however you want. So please, just once, Empress, my benefactor.’
‘Lennox. Why are you doing this so much just for me.’
Suddenly, the me in the dream wants to strangle myself. Is the end of a coward so miserable? Even though I know I’m receiving excessive love, why is my heart breaking like this…
‘Just for you? Don’t say such things and take me. My only wish has been that since the day you saved me when I was young.’
It was because there was no answer from the person he wanted to be loved by, to the point of being cruel.