Why is that interesting? Although not belittling the criminals, who is he to judge them without even speaking to them? There could be innocent people among them.

“In that sense, I am undoubtedly an outstanding magician. That’s why I even came to the tower owner.”

“Ah. Yes, yes.”

How can a person be so hateful? I shook my head at him.

When my reaction was not very receptive, he stopped boasting and stared at me.

“Why are you doing that?”

“I heard rumors that Shasha’s sister kidnapped Shasha and ran away. So I thought you wouldn’t come, but I was surprised when you visited.”

“Is there such a rumor? My mother must have told you herself.”

“Heh heh.”

“If I really kidnapped Shasha, I wouldn’t have come at your request.”

I thought I was being flattered, but the situation here and at the Earl’s house made me angry.

“And the word ‘kidnapping’ seems a bit funny.”

“What’s funny? If you took her against her will, it’s kidnapping.”

“Took her against her will. Are you saying I took Shasha even though she didn’t want me to?”

“I don’t know about that, but didn’t the Earl and his wife not want it? So it’s kidnapping.”

“Interesting.”

I stiffened my face at him. His mouth seemed wide open, saying whatever he wanted.

“Shasha wanted to get out of there. I just did what the child wanted.”

“Ohho. Shasha wanted to get out? Really?”

“Because of the Earl couple’s actions, even His Majesty the Emperor permitted it. It’s not kidnapping, it’s protection. According to the tower owner, did His Majesty the Emperor approve of kidnapping? Although the tower receives many benefits, it’s a rude remark.”

“Heh heh. I just felt sorry for Shanencia. How much would she want to see her parents at such a young age?”

“I wonder. Saying a child would want to see their parents is a contradiction.”

Whether he realized my anger or not, he seemed to try to change the atmosphere, rolling his fingers round and moving the teacup in front of me further forward.

“That may be the case. I must have been wrong. Let’s talk over tea instead. The tea is good.”

“I’m fine.”

Would you eat it? The cookies that hadn’t fallen on your stomach were all scattered in the air and went into the tea. It’s dirty. Really. Where did he learn table manners? Ah. Really.

“Let’s talk about something else. I hear you are going to be Empress Mama.”

“Yes.”

“Congratulations. The position of Empress.”
The count and countess will be quite pleased. It seemed as if he was about to say something like that, his mouth shape changing, but then quickly returned to its original form, as if he had belatedly realized that I disliked them quite a bit.

In the end, he laughed awkwardly.

“There are more children in the tower than I heard.”

Now I too had to change the mood. Since I had something to talk about with him, I decided to wear a mask, suppressing the anger and irritation welling up inside me as much as possible.

I had to suppress my emotions as much as possible to achieve what I wanted.

“Heh, did Shasha say that?”

“Yes. They went on picnics together and stuff. Unexpected. I didn’t think there would be many children in the tower. I heard most of the magicians in the tower are men, are they their children?”

Historically, the tower did not favor female magicians. There was a prejudice that they were weaker than male magicians, and even if there were outstanding ones, they did not show themselves.

Female knights, female magicians, female nobles. Men occupied all the high positions. Women were considered beings that needed protection, and if they were too outstanding, they were thought to lack charm.

Nowadays, that prejudice has improved a lot, but men, who are already privileged, feared losing their position and were wary of outstanding women.

Socially as well, and the tightly knit tower was a place where the more was always more, never less.

‘Even if there were outstanding ones, they were busy taking credit for their accomplishments.’

For hundreds, thousands of years, the fact that not a single name of a female magician was properly known is telling without seeing it.

So it was strange that there were many children here. Men were the ones who worked outside, women were the ones who did housework.

The primary caregiver raising the child was naturally the mother. Now they take care of women’s rights more, so it’s better than before, they say.

The nobles had people to entrust their children to, but those who could not often took their children to their workplaces. But it was almost unheard of for men to do so.

As if understanding my meaning, he nodded his head.

“No. They are not someone’s children. Or maybe they are someone’s children.”

It seemed as if the tower lord thought of a strange joke, and he laughed unexpectedly at an unexpected timing.