The Female Lead Takes Care of Everything - Chapter 89

“F-Father, Mother!”

Baro Inerca fell to his knees and crawled across the floor, clinging to the edge of his parents’ cloaks.

But they pulled their cloaks away from him without hesitation.

His mother, a senior mage of the Tower, shouted at him.

“Do you truly not understand what you’ve done?”

Her voice was so sharp it felt like it could tear the air apart. Baro flinched under the force of her anger.

“You disgraced magic with your selfish greed and brought shame to the Tower. You, of all people, who know exactly how this Tower was built.”

Mages had once faced persecution, just like witches, though their suffering was different.

Witches were shunned due to false beliefs that they harmed others with curses. Mages, on the other hand, were treated like tools.

Before magic was fully understood or developed, mages were often chained and beaten, forced to work in conditions worse than a dungeon while their talents were stolen.

Eventually, they rose up and formed their own group to protect themselves.

That group became the Magic Tower.

Their painful and humiliating past was what united mages to this day.

And yet Baro Inerca had put all of that at risk.

“Because of your failed cloning spell, so many people nearly froze to death. Now the Tower is being accused of helping criminals.”

“This all happened because of your choices.”

Her husband, also a senior mage and Baro’s father, tried to calm her. His voice was quiet and steady, but much colder than the yelling.

“The Tower should not have to suffer just to protect one person.”

You are not worth the cost.

With that, his father cast him aside.

The entire family had turned their backs on Baro Inerca.

“We did all we could. We believed you were mature and capable. You must have thought the same. That’s why things ended up like this.”

“Father…”

“Every decision comes with responsibility.”

Now it was time for Baro Inerca to face his.

“We will not allow Alec to follow the same path because of you.”

“We warned you. Over and over. But you crossed the line.”

He had illegally duplicated feathers from the ancient snow duck, which were stolen by mercenaries during a raid on Frigus Territory. He sold them to the public.

Making secret contracts behind the Tower’s back was already serious.

But his worst crime was using the name of the Tower in those illegal contracts without permission.

He had committed identity fraud.

The Tower Master made it clear she would not let this go.

She promised to track down every mage involved and strip them of their powers before handing them over to the Imperial Palace.

“Because of you, many mages were summoned by the palace for questioning.”

“The great Magic Tower, disgraced because of one man.”

“How is this my fault?”

Baro Inerca could no longer hold it in. He jumped to his feet.

His eyes had lost all reason. He glared at his parents with such hatred it looked like he might attack them.

But he quickly looked away.

Their eyes were sharp and full of fury. They terrified him.

“You are the ones who raised me like this.”

Even so, Baro still felt deeply wronged.

“You always told me mages were great. That the Tower was noble and powerful.”

His parents stood silent, unable to respond.

“You made me believe that. Why should powerful mages be treated the same as weak people? If we really wanted to, we could rule the world…”

Slap.

Baro’s head snapped to the side. His cheek turned red and started to swell.

“Thank you.”

His mother, once just that but now only a senior mage of the Tower, spoke coldly.

“I thought we had failed in raising you. But you just proved we were innocent.”

“You are nothing but a failure.”

His father added in a flat voice.

“I no longer care when your thoughts twisted into this. A flaw is still a flaw. A failure like you is just a mistake.”

He had become addicted to power and privilege. His beliefs were selfish and twisted.

Even though he had destroyed the peace that others had worked so hard to build, he showed no sign of regret.

They had no choice but to accept it.

Baro Inerca did not have the courage to admit what he had done wrong or take responsibility for it.

Instead of facing the truth, he chose to blame others.

He had become a disgraceful coward.

Alec looked up at his mother, who held him tightly in her arms. Her eyes were distant, staring quietly past the door with a look of sadness and surrender.

She had been covering his ears with her hands the whole time.

But it didn’t help.

Alec still heard everything.

He heard his father being thrown out.

He heard him shouting and blaming others even as he was forced to leave.

He heard his grandparents crying, finally letting out all the pain they had been holding back.

He heard it all.

“…”

Alec stayed silent and quietly sank into deep thought.

The words of the Tower Master kept echoing in Alec’s mind.

“The world is far too complicated and difficult for mages to live alone.”

“So don’t judge others based on whether they can use magic or not.”

“That kind of thinking will only turn you into a lonely person.”

She had been right.

‘Father became a lonely man.’

He always told Alec that only mages were special, that magic was the greatest power of all.

But in the end, his father had committed a crime and been cast out of the Tower.

His mother did not try to stop him.

And Alec had no intention of following in his father’s footsteps.

Mages cannot make beautiful glassware, sweet chocolate, soft music, or wonderful paintings.

Even the warm clothes Alec was wearing were made by people without magic.

The furniture. The books. Everything else in the world except magic.

‘The Tower Master wanted me to understand this.’

Mages who have strong power must be careful with how they act.

If they are not, they end up completely alone.

“Alec, my dear.”

He looked up at the sound of his name. His mother was looking down at him with a gentle smile.

She kissed his forehead and cheek softly.

“You must have been so scared. It’s okay now.”

“Mother.”

“Yes?”

“Are you okay?”

“It would be a lie to say I’m not sad.”

But she had chosen to part ways with her husband.

The day she heard what Alec’s father had done, fear crept into her heart. She feared Alec might grow up to be just like him.

“Alec.”

“Yes, Mother?”

“Please grow into someone who can admit their mistakes and truly feel sorry for them.”

“I will.”

Alec nodded and began to think.

‘What can a mage do for the world?’

The final steps of opening the Deiamor Bank had just barely been completed.

“Finally…”

“Ugh…”

“Someone saves us…”

Only then did Caleo, his secretary, and the exhausted aides finally let out the groans they had been holding in.

“Did you see the newspaper?”

The secretary stretched his arms and asked the question, though his voice came out slurred from fatigue.

“I saw it.”

Caleo rolled his shoulders and answered.

“He was arrested.”

“This really has been the most eventful winter I can remember.”

“You’re telling me.”

So many things had happened over the season.

The shop owner who sold fake ancient snow duck feather coats had been arrested. The mages and mercenaries involved were also caught.

The mage tried to escape in the night with just a travel bag, but was stopped by the Tower Master.

The mercenaries who had raided Frigus Territory were captured by none other than the Mercenary King himself.

Petra’s second son had already taken up residence in the underground prison, waiting for the others.

“However, they still haven’t found the broker named Pellsoné or the head of the merchant group.”

As soon as the word “merchant group” was mentioned, Caleo’s expression darkened.

His secretary also looked displeased.

“Their intent seems suspicious. Of all names, why would they choose ‘Meow Merchant Group’?”

It reminded them of Nivellia’s “Meow Shop.”

Of course, the Meow Shop had only operated briefly on the first day of the department store’s opening and had not been active since. So, the name hadn’t drawn much attention publicly.

“I doubt they were targeting the young lady directly.”

“It’s probably aimed at our family or at Rubeo.”

Or maybe at both.

Caleo was relieved that Nivellia had ended up choosing a different name for her merchant group. That was truly fortunate.

‘If Nini had insisted on naming it Meow Merchant Group, this could have turned into a disaster.’

Still, he couldn’t just ignore it.

Both the Deiamor and Rubeo families had sent people to uncover the real owner of the Meow Merchant Group.

But so far, they had found no meaningful clues.

‘Was it careful planning? Or is someone blocking everything?’

Caleo grew more and more uneasy.

“Dad!”

A loud voice called from outside the office.

“Dad! Come eat lunch! Lunchtime!”

Nivellia had come to bring him to the dining room.

“You all worked hard. You can look forward to a nice bonus.”

After encouraging the tired aides, Caleo walked out and lifted Nivellia up in his arms.

“My sweet girl.”

“Dad!”

“You could’ve gone to the dining room first. I was just about to head over.”

“I wanted to go with you. They’re serving tomato stew with beef today. Your favorite!”

Nivellia had come to tell him the good news.

“Nini…”

Overwhelmed, Caleo picked her up high and spun her in a circle.

“Kyaa!”

Nivellia’s joyful laughter echoed down the hallway.

‘That man must be caught and punished.’

Whether it was on purpose or not no longer mattered.

Caleo made up his mind.

He would find the true owner of the Meow Merchant Group, no matter what.

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