The Elven Duke Reluctantly Marries The Cursed Lady - Chapter 69
A few days later, Hydrangea was troubled over something.
And the cause of his troubles was Violette.
“Good morning, Dear.”
Violette bowed at a perfect angle and smiled as she looked at Hydrangea.
Ever since the day he took her to the theater, Violette’s attitude toward him had softened.
That was a good thing, because even though he had reluctantly gotten married, building a good relationship with his partner was still necessary for a comfortable life.
And that was the problem.
She smiles at me, happily studies magic, and thanks me for my hard work after a long day.
Why do I find Violette so adorable?
It’s not because she could turn into a cat, or because of her meows.
Why do I find her charming?
I palpitate whenever I see her. I feel restless and wonder what she’s doing when I can’t see her.
After we part at night, I keep wanting to look at her through the crystal, but I know that checking on her like that is inappropriate. Even if I give up and hide under the covers, all I can think about is Violette.
This seems to be some kind of illness.
Is this because she’s a cat?
Is it because Violette turns into a cat or meows and acts spoiled?
The mystery only deepened the more he thought about it, so he ordered Quince to do something for him the next day.
“Quince.”
“Yes?”
“Try meowing for me.”
“P-pardon!?”
“Just do it. It’s an order.”
“Eeeh~…”
“Hurry up.”
If he found Quince’s meowing cute, then it was only because of his abnormal love of cats.
But—
“M-meow~”
“Not cute at all!!”
He banged his fist on the table because of the horrible meowing.
Meanwhile, Quince mumbled, “how unreasonable,” and went off to attend a meeting.
Someone else was watching the whole exchange with narrowed eyes. It was Violette who was in her cat form.
[Dear?]
“Yes?”
Violette spoke while leisurely swaying her tail.
He had not tried to cast the illusion on her again after the first day he took her to work. Violette turns into a cat with a simple touch, so he brought her along in such a state.
However, he also had Verbena on standby in case something happened.
[What was that just now?]
“…It’s a secret order.”
[I see.]
Quince’s meowing almost distracted him.
But then, he looked up at the ceiling.
“That’s insane.”
He had Quince meow for him and found it horrible.
And with this came the realization that Violette was the only one he found cute.
◇◇◇
Maybe Violette unknowingly cast a spell on me. With that thought in mind, he left Violette with Verbena and went to the forbidden archives.
But after poring through several magic texts, Hydrangea discovered that elves such as him were resistant to charming spells. Besides, a charming spell is a high-level magic of the dark attribute, so there was no way that Violette could have cast it.
Since he was already in the forbidden book room, he decided to look into transformation magic.
He suspected that Violette turning into a cat was not a curse but a transforming spell to protect herself.
The art of transformation is a non-attribute, high-level magic that only a few mages could use. Non-attribute magic is a type of magic that does not conform to any special attributes such as transfer magic and summoning, which could potentially be used by anyone.
However, since it consumes a lot of mana and is technically difficult to pull off, only a select few could use it. There was only one book about transformation magic. It was located in a room at the back of the forbidden archives which contained books that only the royal family or the head of the Laudense Ducal house could read.
The room consisted of a selection of books containing the secrets of the kingdom, which was also known as the most forbidden of the forbidden books.
He had previously read the book on transformation magic, so he remembered its contents. It was about a married queen who fell in love with a mage and used transformation magic to pretend to be somebody else.
It was not written by the queen herself, but it was written from the point of view of the mage who served her. It was not a book focusing on transformation magic per se, but was a book about the love triangle between the king, the queen, and the mage.
This was a record of the ugly scandal within the royal family which must not be leaked to the common people, that’s why it was one of the most forbidden of the forbidden books.
There’s nothing useful here about Violette’s cat transformation. It’s just as I remembered it.
However, there was one passage that stuck out to him.
It was a passage about “love”.
… love is like a curse. One moment, you are curious about your partner’s every move and you feel your heart race when you lay eyes on him or her. When I am alone, I think about her and feel restless. This is not like me at all, but this is what love is like.
The moment he finished reading it, Hydrangea was so shocked that he lost all strength and hit his forehead hard on the desk.
Hydrangea was in love with Violette.
But it was not because she was a cat.
He was attracted to her.
Up until now, he had never harbored any feelings for someone of the opposite s*x.
She was undeniably his first love.
At first, I thought she was such a cheeky woman, but nowadays, I find myself thinking that it is alright for her to be as selfish as she wants.
However, Hydrangea had already declared that Violette was merely a “decorative wife”.
Violette would never see Hydrangea as her official husband.
His chest tightened as soon as he realized that.
Why did I even say such a thing?
Violette must have been hurt by what I said.
In the first place, marriages between nobles are not based on the premise of love, that’s why marriages without love are normal.
Still, I shouldn’t have told her that she was just a decorative wife.
But it’s too late to regret it now.
I thought I’d been responsible with my words, but it seems I lacked consideration for the other person’s feelings.
It was embarrassing for him to realize his own arrogance and stupidity at his age.
At this point, Hydrangea could only love Violette as his wife.
However, he was not sure how Violette would respond to that.
He had no choice but to express his affection without asking for anything in return.
Hydrangea came to his senses after analyzing his feelings.
But how do I express affection?
He tried looking around the forbidden archive but could not find any books on the subject.
When he returned to the office, he found a letter from Violette on his desk.
It said that she was going with Verbena to look at the flowers in the garden.
A transparent flower called the Barrier Flower could be found on the garden within the Magic Division’s grounds. It is a flower that gathers mana used for the barrier that protects the country and blooms when exposed to moonlight. Hydrangea created the Scarlet rose with this flower’s special characteristic in mind.
It did not look interesting when seen during the daytime, but Violette wanted to see it nevertheless. He looked out of the window and saw her looking at the flowers while being carried by Verbena.
It was almost lunch time, so he decided to pick her up.
