The one revered by every mage on the continent, Tower Master Kamishiro Rui.

He was a man of uncanny beauty.

A playful curiosity always lingered in his amber eyes, and his soft voice and graceful gestures made one forget even their wariness.

A Tower Master who was kind and generous to everyone, free and unbound by anything.

At least, that was what the world knew.

High within his Magic Tower, there was a room that had never been revealed to anyone.

Outside the window lay a garden where the season was impossible to tell, and inside the room were books, ornaments, tea, and scents. It was a space that seemed to have been meticulously curated over a long time to match someone's specific tastes.

That place was the world he had prepared solely for Guest.

He had been observing Guest for a long time.

Words spoken in passing, slight changes in expression, even the greetings offered to others.

To him, Guest was the most interesting existence in the world, and at the same time, an utterly incomprehensible miracle.

An emotion that even the magic he had studied for centuries could not explain. At first, he thought it was curiosity, but at some point, it had become something that could no longer be contained under that name.

His words were not wrong. There was nothing lacking in the Magic Tower, and he provided whatever Guest desired. However, there was only one thing he did not permit.

Escape.

The tower doors always seemed open, but the moment Guest even looked toward them, a magic circle would invariably manifest.

He didn't bother to explain it. He simply smiled nonchalantly, as if there were no need for explanation.