The Female Lead Takes Care of Everything - Chapter 57

When people think of a wizard, it’s easy to imagine someone who spends all day sitting and researching—thin as a stick or potbellied, with a generally frail body.

But when the Tower Master took off his shirt, his body was revealed to be densely packed with solid, defined muscles.

Even at a glance, the density of his physique was unusual.

“Wow, Grandpa, your body’s amazing,” Armiphera said, her eyes sparkling with admiration.

“It’s rare to see such well-sculpted muscles even among mercenaries.”

Mercenaries usually built their bodies through combat, so their muscles tended to be rough and bulky.

Armiphera’s own muscles were like that too.

“Isn’t it even better than my brother’s?”

“This body has been trained for over a hundred years,” Magia replied with a scoff, as if telling her to compare things fairly. He raised his right arm.

Where the shoulder connected to the arm, a dark mark stood out.

“Hmm…” the Evil Dragon Ather murmured, staring at the mark.

The stronger a spell or a curse is, the more complex the magical formula behind it tends to be.

As the formula takes hold, it leaves markings—often intricate and geometric.

The same was true for the mark left on Magia’s body.

But Ather quickly noticed something was off.

The content of the curse as described by the markings didn’t match the actual curse Magia was experiencing.

And yet, the mark held a strange, unsettling power.

“……”

Ather’s black eyes narrowed.

There were two things he discovered—one fascinating, one horrifying.

He started with the good news.

“This is definitely a curse from the Evil Dragon.”

Then came the disturbing part.

“But it’s not the Curse of Immortality.”

A hundred and eighty years ago, the previous Evil Dragon placed a curse on Magia—a curse that slowly rotted away his arm.

But someone had altered that curse.

The curse Ather saw firsthand was completely different from what he remembered inheriting.

The growing sense of disconnect made him feel almost dizzy.

Ather collapsed weakly into Armiphera’s arms.

“Can I even trust my own memories anymore?” he whispered.

Why had everything changed so drastically?

Still young, Ather began to doubt his very existence.

He had already discovered in a previous conversation with the Saintess that he might not even be the real Evil Dragon.

Where did things go wrong?

Frightened, the little dragon gently buried his face between Armiphera’s arms.

It felt as if someone had taken a story he’d poured his heart into, ripped it to pieces, and replaced parts of it with pages stolen from some other book.

It was disturbing. And terrifying.

“…Ather,” Magia said, looking at the trembling little dragon.

“Then, can you lift the curse that’s on me now?”

Ather slowly shook his head.

“If the curse hadn’t been altered, I could’ve. It’s tangled with your mana, so it would’ve taken time—but no more than a year.”

But now, the original contents of the curse had vanished. Something else had seeped into it, completely transforming it.

“The one who changed the curse—whoever they are—must lose their power first.”

“And who exactly is this person?” Armiphera asked, her voice laced with irritation.

She had a rough idea of what they were talking about.

To truly understand, you’d have to go back to a few months before Nivellia was born.

Five years ago.

Even before she came into the world, Nivellia nearly met a terrible fate.

And it was Aref who helped her escape that fate.

Of course, this was a secret that could never be spoken aloud—not even at swordpoint.

But the problem now was the recurring mention of the “culprit.” That strange entity constantly lurking near Nivellia and those around her.

“Can’t we just eliminate this culprit?” Armiphera asked.

“No,” Ather answered firmly.

“But Grandpa!”

“Your mother said it’s not time yet.”

At the mention of Muniel, Armiphera, who had been ready to draw her sword, groaned and clamped her mouth shut.

“If Mom said no… then I guess…”

There must be a reason.

Still frustrated, Armiphera asked again.

“Then when can we kill it? Can we even kill it?”

Magia glanced at Ather.

At that moment, Ather was already looking at Magia—and gave a subtle nod, making sure Armiphera didn’t notice.

It can be killed.

Then Ather slowly closed his black eyes.

But not yet.

Understanding his intent, Magia replied,

“I don’t know.”

“I didn’t even know you were under a curse, Grandpa… I just thought you were really strong, and that’s why you lived so long…”

Armiphera deeply regretted the careless words she’d said as a child—calling him “young Grandpa,” thinking she was complimenting him, completely unaware of the truth.

Magia gently placed a hand on her head as she lowered it in guilt.

“It’s not all bad. Actually, it’s a good thing. We’ve finally found a clue to breaking the curse. And even the Evil Dragon, who I considered an enemy for so long… turns out to be a victim, just like me.”

A victim…?

Magia hesitated mid-sentence, trying to stay optimistic.

But it was that damned Evil Dragon who cursed his arm to rot, after all.

“That wasn’t me! That was the previous Evil Dragon!” Ather cried out in frustration.

“If my memory’s right, it was you who was sneaking around the dragon’s nest collecting ingredients for your experiments…!”

Tower Master, sir!

A voice rang out from the opaque crystal orb on the desk.

Ather immediately shifted into a small black kitten—though in his rush, his wings were still sticking out.

“What is it now?” Magia muttered, snapping his fingers.

A face appeared in the crystal. It was one of the kindergarten teachers.

[There’s a problem! Miss Nini—no, Lady Deiamor—she’s…!]

Before the teacher could finish her sentence, Magia and Armiphera were already running toward the Tower Kindergarten.

What they saw when they arrived left them frozen in disbelief.

“Aah! Aahhh! Waaaah!”

“……”

“It hurts! Waaaah!”

Nivellia was sitting on top of a boy, furiously punching him.

She had him pinned down, sitting squarely on his stomach so he couldn’t twist away, and used her feet to press down his arms. Her punches were swift and well-aimed—this wasn’t her first time.

“Hit him again! Harder!”

“Go, Nini!”

The other children were gathered around, cheering, turning the fight into a full-on spectacle.

“Tower Master…!”

The teachers stood nearby, pale and trembling like they might faint.

“Wow…” Armiphera said with genuine admiration.

“She’s more brutal than most mercenaries.”

The kindergarten had become a battleground.

The fight ended in Nivellia’s clear victory.

“Nini never loses!” she shouted proudly.

The excitement hadn’t left her body. It had been a while since she’d had a proper fight, and the thrill of it still burned in her veins.

Meanwhile, Magia and the teachers looked absolutely stunned.

“Oh, you amazing little thing! You really are my niece,” Armiphera beamed and smothered Nivellia’s cheeks in kisses.

This time, Nivellia didn’t pull away.

After spending a few days with Armiphera, she’d realized—this adult was stronger than her. She respected that.

Still, what had just happened wasn’t something they could brush off as a simple scuffle between kids.

The boy, Alec, had a split lip and was bleeding.

Something else felt off too—something about the other children.

“Why didn’t any of you try to stop the fight?” Magia asked.

The children replied all at once, like they’d been waiting for the chance to speak.

“Nini didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Yeah! Alec kept saying really mean things to all of us, and Nini stood up for us!”

“He even told Nini to ‘get lost’ first!”

“Alec’s always like that!”

All the kids started talking at once, their voices overlapping.

Magia raised a hand to quiet them, then asked them to explain one by one.

After carefully listening to each of them, he stood and handed out candy and chocolates.

“Teachers, come with me, please.”

He led them out into the hallway.

Then he asked, voice calm but firm, “Why didn’t you separate the two children?”

One teacher nervously replied, “I was just organizing their supplies for a moment, and when I looked up… it had already started.”

“That’s not what I asked,” Magia said coldly. “I’m asking why you didn’t pull them apart. It doesn’t matter who started it, or why you weren’t watching. The question is: Why didn’t you stop it?”

Another teacher hesitated, then spoke quietly.

“It’s just that… both children…”

What followed made Magia go pale.

One of the children involved—Nivellia—was the daughter of a noble house that had helped found the nation.

The other—Alec—was the son of one of the very few wizard families with three consecutive generations of mages. His grandparents were even Elders in the Tower.

So they hadn’t dared to intervene.

Magia was dumbfounded.

Then furious.

“I told you, didn’t I?”

He had made it absolutely clear: at the Tower Kindergarten and Academy, a child’s family status or political background must never influence how they were treated.

He’d stressed this especially when bringing in Nivellia and Aref.

It was to stop exactly this kind of nonsense—where kids acted like they were untouchable because of who their parents were.

Wizards had power. Enough to hurt people.

That’s why Magia had always put special care into their character education. He wanted to prevent them from ever misusing that power—and ending up cursed like him.

But today…

Today, he saw exactly what he’d feared. And he realized—it wasn’t the first time.

“Yeah! Alec kept saying really mean things to all of us, and Nini stood up for us!”

“Alec’s always like that…!”

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