Chapter 169
"Phoebe is always here. You shouldn't think that I'll disappear."
"Really?"
"Of course. How can Phoebe disappear, leaving you behind? Phoebe will be here until you tell me to disappear."
"Okay."
Rosaria clung tightly to Phoebe's embrace.
The more she did so, the tighter Phoebe held Rosaria.
"Do you have someone precious to you too?"
"Yes, I do."
"Who would you choose among them?"
"If I have to choose... I choose Dad."
In Rosaria's heart, Reed had always been the number one priority.
"What about Phoebe?"
"...Can I put you next?"
"Oh my, am I on par with the Tower Master? I'm happy~."
Phoebe smiled as if even that was enough.
Seeing Phoebe's smiling face, a smile bloomed on Rosaria's face as well.
"I see. It seems that the Tower Master was the light for Miss Rosaria."
"Light?"
"You see, Phoebe has always called precious people 'light.'"
"Why did you call them that?"
Phoebe spoke with her hands on her chest.
"The God of Light, Althea, was said to generously share everything. But Phoebe didn't receive anything. At that time, I believed that I didn't have a god. But I called the person who gave clothes to Phoebe, who had nothing and wandered the streets, and made me a useful human being, 'light.' The first light was the Master Roderick, and the second one was the Tower Master."
"Dad was also good to you?"
Was he good to her?
Phoebe answered with a smile at that question.
"He treated Phoebe normally."
"Normally? Why is that a good thing?"
As Rosaria tilted her head in confusion, she answered.
"When everyone thinks they're special, if someone thinks you're just ordinary, isn't that as good as being special?"
***
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***
To those who only saw Phoebe's gentle personality, no one would believe that she was once more mad than a mad dog.
Phoebe had given everything for survival.
To survive, a more eye-catching personality was needed rather than a gentle one.
In addition, Master Ruderick had used her fierce temperament to control other half-dragon people, so she had never doubted whether her personality was bad.
'Everyone is scared of me.'
That had been a given for a long time, and Phoebe didn't doubt it.
But Reed was different.
"Phoebe Astheria Roton."
The man approached, calling her full name.
As soon as Phoebe heard his voice, she frowned.
Having the word "Roton" attached to her name still felt strange.
But that was not the only reason she frowned.
It was because of Reed's face.
At first, he had looked at her with a bland expression, but as soon as she became a member, his expression turned fierce, and he looked down at her.
He glanced up and down at her with a dissatisfied look in his eyes.
"You didn't dress properly again."
"...Mind your own business."
"From now on, I'm your superior. I'm responsible for all your actions and the results of your work."
Reed pointed out Phoebe's clothing condition one by one with the wand he was holding.
"The button is crooked, the emblem is upside down, and don't you know that attaching the symbol in reverse is an act of disrespect? Are you disrespecting the Silence Tower?"
"..."
"I'll give you one minute. Fix it now."
Phoebe didn't argue and started to change her clothes according to his instructions.
He told Phoebe, who was crying, to lay the foundation for revenge in the Silence Tower.
"There's no need to do it officially. Just staying at the bottom is less noticeable..."
Phoebe thought she would remain at the bottom.
Not starting in such a full-fledged way.
She couldn't help but feel rebellious because it was different from her thoughts.
"If you stay at the bottom, there's no reason for you to be here. I'm not going to create a reason for you to be in this tower, but a reason why you can't be without it."
"What's the difference?"
"There's a difference in that it's hard to give up something irreplaceable."
"So you're that kind of person? Useless, but indispensable..."
Phoebe inadvertently spat out a venomous remark.
"That's right. That's how you make it impossible not to hold on to it. That's what survival strategy is."
As Reed calmly brushed it off, Phoebe felt stupid for spitting out the harsh words.
Perhaps that's why she hated Reed even more and bit her lip tightly.
"So, let's start with improving your image first."
"What do you mean, improving my image?"
"I mean, starting by getting rid of your nickname. Your nickname isn't good right now."
Phoebe's nickname was the Mad Dog of Silence.
Mad dog. It was definitely not a good nickname for a low-ranking person to have.
"Have you studied magic?"
"I have."
Phoebe mainly received combat training, but since she also had an aptitude for magic, she had learned the basics of magic.
"Then you'll understand quickly."
Reed handed Phoebe a large book that was on the desk.
"What is this?"
"It's everything you need to learn to be in this tower."
"...What?"
Phoebe made a dumbfounded expression.
Reed tilted his head at her wavering gaze.
"Didn't you say you're the best half-dragon of the Astheria family?"
"I'm excellent! I'm confident that I won't lose to anyone in battle!"
"What about studying?"
"Well, that..."
Phoebe was indeed the best, but she had no talent for magic.
It was because she was not smart.
She could faithfully carry out orders, but she was weak in the realm of learning that required delving into books.
"Is that so? I guess you're not very smart."
"That's right. I'm not smart... Just give me orders, and I can do well within that."
That's how Roderick did it.
He always gave orders, and by carrying them out repeatedly, she gained his favor.
Phoebe thought that her value was enough.
"It's not acceptable."
Reed cut it off in one stroke.
Unlike Roderick, Reed hated such passivity.
"A mage thinks for themselves. If you can't think and are dragged around, you're not qualified to be a mage. Do you want to be a complacent pig?"
Phoebe's eyes widened.
"What, what, a pig!? You're calling me a pig!?"
"...Don't you even know what a metaphor is? And I'm the head of Adeleheights. Call me that when you address me."
"I don't want to! Why should I call someone like you my master? Are you crazy!?"
"…?"
Her vocabulary itself was weak, so the conversation didn't go smoothly.
It was a headache for Reed.
So she complained, and Reed accepted her request.
"Fine, you can call me that. But there's a condition."
"What is it?"
"Memorize 30 pages of this book I gave you by tomorrow, all of it. Don't miss a single word. And I'll test you."
Reed said that and took out the pocket watch from his waist.
"It's almost time for the meeting. Come back later. Study quietly until then."
After saying that, Reed disappeared.
Phoebe muttered as she looked at the spot where Reed had disappeared.
"He talks about improving my image and then just throws studying at me..."
It seemed irresponsible.
Phoebe looked down at the book with a face that seemed to have no expectations.
"Funny guy. He thinks I can't memorize this stuff... Ugh."
Just by opening the first page, she felt suffocated.
The font was as small as a fingernail, and the text filled the page tightly without any indentation.
That day, a hellish day began for Phoebe.
***
While studying in the tower, Phoebe learned several facts.
The rumors about Reed Adeleheights were not good.
-Apparently, he couldn't even find his talent properly and failed miserably in various places.
-He barely made it into the Silence Tower, right?
-That's not it. He said he would invest all his money here. So the Tower Master let him in.
The reason he was in tower was said to be solely to gain the favor of the Tower Master.
He valued discipline and had no flexibility at all.
Having heard all that, Phoebe secretly thought,
'I knew it. It wasn't just me who thought he was strange.'
He seemed like an odd man, always meddling and tormenting others, and Phoebe's image of him had built up as a person full of inferiority.
"Is there anything you don't know?"
"..."
"I guess not. It seems easy, so I have high expectations for this test."
Puff.
Annoying.
It would be refreshing to crush that annoying nose.
All she had left was persistence, so Phoebe delved into the book.
Then, someone approached Phoebe.
"Hello?"
"..."
"Haha, you always study here. You're Phoebe, right?"
"...Go away? I don't have enough time to study."
"What are you doing that you don't have enough time to study?"
"I have to memorize 120 pages of this."
During the week, the test range continued to increase as she failed the tests.
"He told you to memorize 120 pages of that book in a day?"
"...Yeah."
"Wow, he's a crazy person."
"Right. He's a lunatic."
"He's famous. Reed, the lunatic manager."
That's how Phoebe made her first friend in the tower.
His name was Ritz.
With a talkative personality, he always helped her with her studies, and she naturally asked him whenever she didn't know something.
She never asked Reed even once.
Phoebe wanted to crush Reed's nose in the tests.
***
"You got 52 points."
"..."
"It's better than before, but it's still below the standard. I guess I'll have to test you up to 150 pages again."
"...Okay."
Phoebe took the test paper.
As she tried to take it out of his hand, he held onto it and didn't let go.
"I heard you've been hanging out with Ritz lately."
"Mind your own business."
"I don't care who you hang out with, but don't hang out with that guy. He's not a good person. He's a man who tries to raise his reputation by putting others down."
"Are you jealous? He's a hundred times better than you."
"There are many people better than me in this tower. But he's not one of them."
Phoebe was infuriated.
'He said he'd start by taking away the name "Mad Dog of Silence"...!'
She thought he only knew how to nag, and he had never considered her relationships once, but now he was trying to stop her from making friends, which made her angry.
"I..."
"I?"
"I'll do whatever I want. It's none of your business who I'm friends with."
She thought she had suppressed her emotions as much as possible, but Reed could read her anger.
He closed his eyes.
And then he nodded.
"Alright, I'm sorry."
Reed apologized calmly and stepped back.
Although the apology was uncomfortable, she was right, and it was like she had hit him back.
So she moved to the library where she always went.
That's when it happened.
Ritz's voice reached her ears.
'Ritz is in the reading room.'
He was quite far away, talking with his friends.
Phoebe hurried her steps to greet him.
"Ritz, you've been getting close to that half-dragon lately?"
Phoebe stopped.
The topic seemed to be about her.
She listened to his conversation from afar, curious about what Ritz was thinking.
"Look at this, this."
"Yeah, her face is pretty. If only she didn't have that expression, she'd be a complete beauty. Why does she always have that look?"
"She'd be pretty if she started smiling. I thought if I worked on her a little more, she'd fall for me."
"She's totally crazy, though. She falls for weird things."
"Are you an idiot? Just play with her for a while and then dump her when she gets boring, what's there to worry about? There's no risk, so don't worry."
Phoebe clenched the book she was holding.
Reed told her not to damage it, but the hardcover was already half crumpled.
'Should I endure?'
Reed had instructed her not to cause trouble in the tower.
She had heard numerous backstabbing remarks about herself in the tower, so she could tolerate that much.
Yeah, that much.
"The one who tried to overthrow the continent, Roderick Astheria, favored her, right?"
"That damned traitor left her behind."
Phoebe dropped the book she was holding.
She could tolerate being criticized and insulted.
But not her family head.
"Hey? Phoebe, hello?"
Ritz greeted Phoebe with a calm face as if nothing had happened.
"Say it again."
"Uh, what?"
As she countered his feigned ignorance with a twist, Phoebe broke his wrist.
Snap-
His wrist snapped like a twig, and Ritz's scream echoed through the tower.
"Arrrgghhh!!!"
"Say it again. Spit out what you said with that mouth."
Phoebe's golden eyes glowed, and her murderous intent spread out.
The aura of a dragon.
The man who was talking behind her back with Ritz felt his breath being choked and stepped back.
The most ferocious and terrifying black dragon's bloodline not only suppressed Ritz's friends but also those who had nothing to do with the situation.
"What's all this commotion?"
Reed appeared belatedly.
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