The Elven Duke Reluctantly Marries The Cursed Lady - Chapter 55
“I’m interested in this cat-shifting curse, but… If that’s the case, then too bad. I have to see the curse in action to believe it first.”
“We’re still not sure if the curse has truly been broken yet.”
There might be a condition where she is unable to immediately turn into a cat after the curse has worn off. Since this is an unprecedented curse, we don’t know anything about it.
While they were discussing, there was a knock at the door.
The door opened after Hydrangea gave his permission.
Violette entered wearing a bright, chrome yellow dress.
She looked very stately and not unlike the flustered mess she was moments ago.
“Aah, you must be Violette.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. I am Violette, Lord Hydrangea’s wife.”
Violette pulled her skirt to the sides and bent her knees in a perfect, ladylike curtsy.
Meanwhile, Prince Magnolia held out his hand for a handshake.
Violette smiled and returned the handshake. But at that moment, a magic circle appeared beneath her and she was enveloped in light.
And in the place of the beautiful woman stood a cat with golden fur.
“Th-this is!”
[……]
Just when I finally turned back into a human, I went back to being a cat again.
Violette’s fur puffed up and bristled.
“Apologies, Violette. His Highness was curious about your curse.”
[Oh, is that… so.]
When Hydrangea persuaded her, Violette’s fur returned to normal.
He picked up Violette who looked downhearted and picked up her dress with his other hand. The chrome yellow dress was draped over the back of the couch.
He then sat down and placed Violette on his lap.
“Now then—”
“I’m surprised. This is a discovery that must go down in the history of magic!”
It seemed as if a switch was flipped within Prince Magnolia and the magic-obsessed side of him came out to play.
“Transformation magic is a type of Great Magic. Generally, curses that change one’s appearance mostly make use of illusions instead of transformation, but—”
Although the cat transformation curse is well known, the victims themselves do not actually become cats. It is merely an illusory magic that interferes with the human mind and influences both the victim and the people around them to think that the cursed person is a cat.
On the other hand, magic that completely transforms a person into a cat requires a high amount of mana and abundant knowledge because it changes the composition of the body as a whole. Transformation magic was a specialty of the legendary Great Sage, but there had been no one who could imitate it.
“So in other words, that curse is incredible.”
[I see…]
Violette, who was affected by the curse, gave a half-hearted answer.
As the person who was suffering from the curse, she did not think it was amazing at all and thought of it as a troublesome problem instead.
The prince’s opinion as a mage did not matter to her at all.
“So, after she turned back into human, the curse did not reactivate because—-”
“They ran out of magic, right?”
Curses use the caster’s mana to work. Since it uses up a lot of mana to transform and shift back, it was possible that the curse did not reactivate because the person behind it ran out of mana.
“But is there a mage who could regenerate their mana in a short amount of time to reactivate the curse?”
“If there was, their skill would be on par with the Magic Division’s first class mage.”
The person suspected of placing the curse on Violette was the mage who was working with Tritoma Celsia.
Hydrangea also shared that bit of information with Prince Magnolia.
“I see, so they are connected with the curse and the incidents happening in the royal capital.”
“Yes, that is why I want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.”
Although they knew where the enemy was, it was unfortunate that they were facing off with a mage. It was too risky to infiltrate their base.
But then, Violette made an unexpected proposal.
[Why don’t you use me as bait to lure them out?]
