Adopting Disaster

When he went outside, Rosaria and Kaitlyn were standing there.

Rosaria's cheeks were puffed up like two steamed buns, and she was holding a cardboard sword in her hand.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, Tower Master, let me explain."

Kaitlyn calmly blinked and explained the situation.

"I came up to get permission to process more magnesium plates for my research, but this girl suddenly asked me if this sword was any good."

"And?"

"So I honestly answered her. I told her that with this, she couldn't even catch a rabbit, and that it had technical flaws. But then she suddenly screamed in the middle..."

"No way! With this, I can even defeat the demon king!"

Rosaria raised her voice and showed her sword.

Objectively speaking, Kaitlyn's assessment was accurate, as it was just a piece of cardboard cut out.

The problem was that the target happened to be Rosaria.

"Weren't you too harsh in your evaluation of a child?"

"But isn't this inside the Tower of Silence? She must have come here as a mage too, so shouldn't I give her an objective evaluation?"

Reed felt something was off in her words.

"That child is my daughter."

"...What?"

He had a feeling that would be the case.

"Did you not know?"

"I couldn't even imagine that you, Tower Master, were married..."

"I'm not married. I adopted her as my daughter."

Her thought process came to a halt and resumed.

Now she realized that she had angered the Tower Master's daughter.

"…Ah!"

"Hmph!"

Rosaria stomped back to her room.

Phoebe followed Rosaria, and Kaitlyn, unable to speak, covered her face and sank to the ground right there.

"Oh my, oh my goodness, how could this happen..."

"Did you really not know, even though every magician knows?"

"....It's been over 6 months since I entered the tower...."

"Even so, isn't it too much to think of that young child as a member of the tower?"

"I thought they were either accepting young children as apprentices these days or that she might be older than she looks... I didn't think it through."

Daughter? A daughter?

Kaitlyn muttered to herself, and Reed sighed.

"Anyway, do your best to make amends. If you can't..."

Reed trailed off, not knowing what to do, but Kaitlyn heard it as a death sentence.

Rosaria's room.

She frowned and threw her cardboard sword on the desk.

"I could defeat the demon king with this...."

But Rosaria knew Kaitlyn's words were right.

She was angry because Kaitlyn's words were true, but she didn't cry.

"Miss, may I come in?"

The drawn-out voice was undoubtedly Phoebe's.

Rosaria didn't answer as she sat at the desk, trying to cool off her anger, and Phoebe cautiously entered the room.

"Miss, are you okay?"

"I'm not okay."

"Would you like to touch my horn?"

Rosaria didn't respond, but she grabbed Phoebe's horn as she bowed her head.

Her angry face never left the cardboard sword she made.

"Did you make this sword to give as a gift to the Tower Master?"

"Yes, I saw Papa making it. Rosaria wanted to help too."

"I know. I could feel that you were thinking of the Tower Master."

"I worked so hard on coloring it..."

Rosaria's voice trembled.

Phoebe put her hand on her shoulder and comforted her.

"I would have been really upset too if someone spoke like that about something I worked hard on."

"She's a bad, stupid, dog-like lady."

"That's right! She's really a bad person!"

Phoebe, who had built up resentment towards Kaitlyn for being rude to Reed, agreed with Rosaria's words.

"Miss, shall I bite that stupid, foolish dog lady once on your behalf?"

Her red eyes looked up at her, even redder than before.

"But it will hurt if you bite."

"That's why I'm going to bite."

"I don't like hurting others."

Although she had been hurt, Rosaria didn't want to resort to violence.

Phoebe found Rosaria's attitude endearing and hugged her tightly. She smiled brightly and kissed Rosaria's head.

"Our kind, angel-like Miss, I understand. I won't bite that bad lady."

"Okay."

Rosaria, buried in Phoebe's chest, felt her emotions subside in the comfort.

Knock, knock.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

"Um, excuse me, girl, I mean, Miss, are you in there? I came to apologize."

"Should I send her away?"

Rosaria hesitated and shook her head while still buried in Phoebe's embrace.

"Then I'll step aside."

"…Okay."

Phoebe stood up and opened the door.

Behind her was a redhead woman, Kaitlyn.

Phoebe smiled brightly.

"Miss Kaitlyn~."

"Yes, Deputy Tower Master."

"You're lucky."

"…Lucky?"

Kaitlyn received Phoebe's glare with a puzzled expression.

She didn't say anything more and stepped out of the room, and Kaitlyn cautiously entered.

"Um, well…"

"…"

"Wow, you really made that sword well. I didn't notice it until now because I'm not good at recognizing things!"

"…"

"Please, calm down… I made a mistake. I shouldn't have thought of you as a magician of the tower in the first place."

"Hmph!"

Rosaria snorted and didn't even look at her.

Her opponent was the Tower Master's daughter.

Seeing Rosaria's sulking, Kaitlyn recalled scenes of her clashing with Reed.

Such a future couldn't happen.

Kaitlyn looked around, trying to find a way to make amends.

Then she discovered a notebook on Rosaria's desk.

It wasn't just a simple notebook.

It was a magic notebook used when designing magical formulas.

It was made of a special paper that reacted to mana.

"Ah…!"

She came up with a brilliant idea and tore off a sheet of special paper.

"Um, Miss, look at this."

"…"

"You won't regret looking at it for just a moment."

Rosaria glanced at the object in Kaitlyn's hand.

It was a neatly rolled-up piece of paper.

"When it's like this in your hand, it's just a bunch of paper, but when you infuse mana into it…"

Her hand glowed blue.

As mana flowed out of her hand and seeped into the paper, it began to move slowly from the tip.

The paper that she thought was simply crumpled turned into petals and slowly unfolded.

When the last petal fully bloomed, it became a white rose.

"It turns into such a beautiful flower."

Rosaria was now facing Kaitlyn, looking at the rose.

Her red eyes were filled with admiration as they stared at the white rose.

"How did you do that?"

"Are you curious?"

"Yes."

Kaitlyn placed the rose in Rosaria's hair and said,

"When I was young, I didn't want to throw away my tightly-filled notebooks, so I always folded them like this as decorations."

"Why?"

"When you forget the fact that you've worked hard, it's easy to get discouraged and complacent. I've always made these roses as a reminder."

However, Rosaria was too young to understand Kaitlyn's words.

Seeing Rosaria tilt her head in confusion, Kaitlyn gently smiled.

"You seem to be interested in paper roses. Would it be okay if I taught you how to make them?"

Her anger from earlier had vanished, and her eyes were now filled with curiosity as she nodded.

"Teach me how to make them."

"Will you forgive me if I do?"

"Yes."

Rosaria nodded lightly again, and Kaitlyn sighed in relief.

For Kaitlyn, it was a moment of relief. She had just avoided being kicked out of the tower.