Chapter 4: The Fated Heroine Arrives at Last!

Three days had passed since we’d returned to Leeuwenhoek from the capital.

“Ahhh, nothing beats lying down on grass that smells like the sun.”

I was sprawled out on my usual sunbathing spot on the lawn, relishing in the peace and quiet. It was a welcome change from the hubbub of the capital, where I’d had my hands full with distributing medicine and attending Prince Edgar’s soiree.

But more importantly...

My thoughts returned to the boy I’d found cowering in Lady Mina’s room. An enormous amount of mana had been running rampant around him, and with fearful eyes, he’d whispered, “Lilybell?”

“He called me Lilybell. I’m sure of it.”

No one else seemed to have heard his quiet word, and the ensuing chaos had prevented me from probing for information. The boy had lost consciousness right after saying my name. While Prince Edgar had been carrying him out of the room, Lord Felix had deactivated his magical barrier and promptly fainted as well from overspending his mana.

Before I had even been able to process my shock, we’d already arrived back at Leeuwenhoek with Lord Felix. It wasn’t like we’d had any other option, really—according to Sir Kain, Lord Felix recovered easier at home since the curse deeply linked him to his territory.

Sure enough, Lord Felix’s condition had quickly stabilized once within Leeuwenhoek, though he was still on bed rest, just in case.

“Argh, I can’t do this! If I keep thinking about this by myself, my head’s going to explode!” I yelled, pushing myself up.

The cats who had been lying on top of me went tumbling down.

“Meooow!”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll sunbathe with you longer next time, okay?”

Although the kitties usually meowed happily even when they rolled off of me, today, they voiced their complaints. My trip to the capital had put them in something of a bad mood. Jack, Mars, and Michelle had been especially distraught upon my return, clinging adorably to me as if to say, We won’t let you go anywhere ever again!

They just won’t leave me alone, tee hee!

As I petted them, I thought, Next time, I should give them the secret weapon I made! It was a dish that Hinako had whipped up back in my Lilybell days, claiming, “All cats love this, so I know you will too!” For some reason, despite its suspicious, mushy appearance, I’d found it irresistible. When presented with it, I’d found I’d already lapped it all up before I’d realized. What a blissful yet terrifying experience that had been!

I wasn’t sure what the dish’s name was. I vaguely recalled Hinako calling it “Churu” or something along those lines, but my memory was a blur because being in its presence had sent me into a daze. Now that I was human, I had a stronger resistance to it, though. As such, I’d been able to concoct something very similar based on what I could remember of Hinako’s recipe. It really was a strange dish—it was almost like it was enchanted with a powerful temptation spell, yet unlike the real thing, it didn’t cause any harm to the body.

“Heh heh! You wouldn’t normally be able to find a high school girl who can make Churu, you know? Thank your lucky stars that I’m your owner, Lilybell! Ahhh, you’re just so smol and adorable!”

Hinako would often say such things, and every time, I would brush her off. She would then cry, “Oh gosh, you’re also adorable when you give me the cold shoulder!” and I would merely sigh in response. But deep down, I’d truly respected her and believed she was a genius.

“Anyway, I should get going!” I said, finally working up the motivation to get up.

I quietly sneaked off the manor grounds.

◯◯◯

“That’s the story,” I said. “Maouldoth, do you know anything?”

“About what?” the dragon grumbled.

Maouldoth had immediately sensed my arrival in Leeuwenhoek and had sent me a telepathic message saying, “Shouldn’t you be greeting me when you come back? C’mon, where’s my greeting?” I figured I’d grant his request and get his opinion on the whole ordeal at the same time. After all, he was the only one I could consult with on such matters since only he knew about my past life as Lilybell.

“I told you, I went to see Great Sage Elios!” I exclaimed, exasperated.

“And you ran into a kid having a mana outburst who looked an awful lot like someone you know?”

“Yes, that’s right. So you were listening!”

“Yeah, but I don’t know what you’re trying to get out of me by asking if I ‘know anything.’”

Admittedly, my question had been worded too vaguely. “I’m talking about that boy,” I clarified. “Do you know what happened to him after I—after Lilybell died?”

I was asking because the child I’d encountered in the capital bore a striking resemblance to that boy.

The next voice I heard did not belong to Maouldoth.

“Oh, are you talking about me?”

Startled, I turned around and saw the very subject of our conversation smiling behind me.

“Th-The great sage, Sir Elios...” I stammered.

Prince Edgar’s rueful words played in the back of my head: “I’m sorry for my poor judgment call. I wasn’t expecting the great sage of all people to cause a mana outburst...”

That’s right—standing before me was Sir Elios in the flesh. And although Prince Edgar had been correct in saying that the great sage would surprise me, it actually hadn’t been the fact that Sir Elios was a small child that had shocked me. Well, in normal circumstances, it probably would’ve, but in this case, what had surprised me was that the great sage was the spitting image of someone I knew very well. Uncannily identical.

Sir Elios’s smile broadened as he continued, “‘Great sage,’ ‘sir’... There’s no need for such formalities, Lilybell.”

Is Sir Elios really that same boy I once knew? Is he Lilybell’s final owner...? That orphan?

⦿⦿⦿

“I told you, not yet! You’re still pale as a ghost! There haven’t been many monster sightings lately, so you should take this opportunity to rest,” Kain said, sighing and glaring at me.

I’d been confined to bed ever since returning to Leeuwenhoek.

“But I’m perfectly fine now,” I insisted.

“Your ‘I’m fine’ isn’t reliable. Even Lu asked me to keep an eye on you to make sure you take it easy.”

“Lucille...”

Picturing her in my mind inevitably summoned the image of the Great Sage Elios by her side. Back at the capital, on our way to see him, Lucille had suddenly darted off for some reason. Given that Sir Elios had not been informed of our visit, I’d decided to continue onward with the crown prince just in case—that way, in the event the great sage intended to depart, I could prevent him from leaving so Lucille could meet him.

As I closed my eyes, I recalled what had happened when the prince and I entered the room. There had been a small boy standing there, facing the noble lady who had been subjected to a rebounded curse. My first thought had been, Is this really the great sage? Isn’t this just a child?

Upon our arrival, the boy had flinched quite noticeably before slowly turning toward us. The right thing to do would have been to greet him first. Regardless of his appearance, he was still a great sage who had been privately summoned to the royal castle to lift a curse. Not only that, but he was the one I—or rather, Lucille—had been wanting to meet.

However, everything had happened so suddenly that I’d had no time to say a single word. The moment the boy had laid eyes on me, his lips had trembled. “Why are you...?”

Then his mana had begun to run rampant, and I had only managed to glimpse the fiery mixture of anger, sorrow, and hatred in his eyes.

“Why would someone of Sir Elios’s caliber have a mana outburst?!” Prince Edgar had exclaimed. “I’m sorry, Lord Felix, but you’ll have to find a way to endure this!”

“Eeeek! Wh-What is it this time?!” Lady Mina had shrieked.

I’d quickly deployed a magical barrier, while the crown prince had pulled the noble lady under his wing. Since the room had been designed for confinement, it had fortunately been equipped with defensive spells, preventing damage to the outside.

However, within, an enormous amount of mana—as expected from a great sage—had overflowed from the boy’s small frame. To make matters worse, it appeared our mana was incompatible, so my mana had been rapidly draining away.

Just as I’d begun to panic that my barrier wouldn’t last much longer, Lucille had shown up to save the day.

“Don’t worry. It’ll calm down soon.”

Looking divine, like a saint from a story, she’d embraced the cowering and groaning boy. Her beauty had stolen my breath away. And for reasons unknown to me, I’d also felt a tightening sensation in my chest, separate from my worry that she might get injured, defenseless as she was amid the mana outburst.

The tempest of mana had quickly come under control as Lucille had soothed the great sage. Much to my shame, I’d lost consciousness shortly after that, and I’d woken up back in my bed in the Leeuwenhoek manor.

I’d been resting here, pondering ever since.

Looking back, it seemed as though the great sage’s condition had worsened upon laying eyes on me.

That sharp glare and his whispered “Why are you...?” He’d sounded as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What thoughts had my appearance triggered within him?

He’d also looked up at Lucille and said something to her just before passing out. What had he said, and why had Lucille seemed so shocked when she’d heard it?

Something outside my understanding is happening...

◯◯◯

“‘Great sage,’ ‘sir’... There’s no need for such formalities, Lilybell.”

Before I could find my thoughts, Maouldoth spoke up first.

“Oh, you’re one of Lilybell’s former owners—the final one she introduced to me!” the dragon exclaimed. “Whaddya know, I was just thinking about the last time I saw you. Where’ve you been all this time?”

My eyes widened. W-Wow! He asked exactly what I wanted to know, but from a completely unexpected angle! Is it okay to be so straightforward about it, though?

Concerned, I examined the great sage’s expression, but a wide grin remained plastered on his face.

“It’s been quite a while, Maouldoth,” Sir Elios said. “Could I ask you to not call me Lilybell’s former owner? It makes it sound like we no longer have a connection, when in reality, we still share a deep bond.”

“Huh, were you always this talkative?”

“I’ve lived a long time. People change over the years, don’t they?”

“Well, you sure don’t look like you’ve changed.”

H-He casually addressed that too... Am I the weird one for worrying that it’d be inappropriate to ask these things? I mean, that boy from the past was human, so if he’s still alive after all this time and looks exactly the same as before, then there must be special circumstances, right?! Wouldn’t you normally hesitate to ask?!

I took stock of the scene in front of me. On one side, there was a shrunken, pitch-black dragon sealed within this forest, and on the other, a great sage who had lived for a very long time while maintaining the appearance of a child.

Okay, I guess I was wrong for framing my thoughts from such a normal perspective when both of these individuals are as far from normal as it gets. Also, this conversation confirms that Sir Elios was Lilybell’s final owner.

It was a strange feeling. Reuniting with one of my former owners after all this time had seemed impossible. It was a unique situation, though; I’d already died and been reborn, while Sir Elios had stayed alive the entire time.

As I was coming to terms with it all, Sir Elios and Maouldoth chatted amicably.

“Heh, well, it just means that not everything changes with time. By the way, my affection toward Lilybell has also remained exactly the same.”

“Ugh, I have a bad feeling about this...” Maouldoth replied.

It seemed as though Sir Elios’s smile hadn’t changed either. That warmed my heart, but at the same time, it reminded me of something very important.

“Come to think of it, I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise,” I said, bowing to him. “I was supposed to give you a name.”

Sir Elios looked intently at me. “What do you think of my name now?”

“Huh? Um, it’s great?”

“Hmm, but is it cool?”

“Of course! It’s very cool!”

“Heh heh, that’s good.”

I wonder what that was about. Is he at the age when he wants to be called ‘cool’? Wait a second, I keep thinking he’s a child because of his appearance, but how old is he, really?

“You know, I actually wanted to wait for you to name me,” Sir Elios continued. “But it’s pretty inconvenient to not have a name, so I ended up picking one myself.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“Yep. I went with one I thought you’d like, so I’m glad.”

“Huh?”

He thought I’d like it? What does he mean by that? I do think Elios is a lovely name, but did I ever mention liking it before? I can’t remember at all.

“I mean, you were always telling me about that cool black cat named Elliot, weren’t you?” Sir Elios said, still smiling happily. “That’s why I gave myself a similar name.”

Ohhh! Is that what this is about?! Yes, I did think Elliot was the most handsome cat I’d ever met, and I did tell the orphan boy about him! That I remember! But...is that really how Sir Elios chose his name?!

“I considered just calling myself Elliot, but then you might’ve been reminded of the other Elliot whenever you said my name,” he continued. “I couldn’t have that happening, so I tweaked it a bit. I think I made the right call.”

As Sir Elios spoke, nothing of what he said registered in my brain, my shock preventing any understanding. Out of all inspirations, it was one of my random enthusiastic stories that...decided a person’s name?

One of Master Alys’s teachings flashed through my head: “Names possess a very special power.”

Is this really okay? Then again, what’s done is done. As long as Sir Elios likes that name, I suppose it’s fine.

“I’m going to stay with Lilybell forever, Maouldoth, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other,” Sir Elios declared.

“Argh, I knew it!” Maouldoth lamented. “Another annoying pest! Felix was already bad enough! Cut me some damn slack here!”

Sir Elios flinched, suspicion in his eyes. “Felix?”

Oh? Is it just me, or did the air suddenly get colder? I rubbed my arms in an attempt to fend off the mysterious chill.

Sir Elios tugged on my dress and asked, “Hey, Lilybell, who’s Felix?” In contrast to the cute gesture, his lips had turned down in a stern frown.

He was all smiles before, though. I wonder why he’s suddenly in a bad mood?

Thinking back on it, I recalled he’d always been a shy one. Back in my Lilybell days, he’d never opened up to anyone besides me, and he’d gotten a little grumpy whenever I played with someone he didn’t know. Perhaps he didn’t like the feeling of having his friend taken away from him.

Coming to that conclusion, I patted Sir Elios on the head to reassure him that he had nothing to worry about.

Tee hee! As Lilybell, I was always the one being petted, but now that we’re both humans, the roles have reversed! And since Sir Elios is much shorter than me, it’s easy to give him head pats.

Sir Elios nuzzled his head against my hand, making the same face he used to back when he’d rub his cheek against my white fur.

With that fluffy, soft hair and desire for attention, he’d make a great cat! He’s so smol and cute.

His mannerisms and expressions reaffirmed that he really was that orphan boy from my past life. Although he’d been my owner, he’d only been a young child at the time, so my relationship with him had been different when compared to my relationships with my other owners. If anything, I’d been taking care of him most of the time, like a mother or older sister would have.

On reflection, I realized that our dynamic hadn’t changed since then. In fact, pampering him in my human body only served to strengthen the maternal instincts I felt.

“Hey, Lilybell?” Sir Elios said.

“Yes?”

“Right now, I’m living in a place called the Magic Tower...”

I did recall hearing that he lived by himself in a tall building by that name.

“I’m really lonely there,” he continued. “Can I live with you starting today?”

“Why, of course! Or so I’d like to say, but I’m essentially a freeloader, so we’ll have to get permission from the head of the household.”

“Will he refuse?”

“No, I’m sure it’ll be fine! He’s very nice—as are all of his servants—and besides, I live alone in a detached house on the property. We just need to ask him first as a matter of courtesy.”

“Okay. I trust you, Lilybell.” Sir Elios smiled and squeezed my hand.

Meeting his gaze, I gave him a firm, reassuring nod. “Yes, you can have faith in me, Sir Elios! Also, there’s something that’s been bothering me...”

“What is it? You can tell me anything.”

“You’ve been calling me Lilybell, haven’t you? It’s true that was my past identity, but my name is Lucille now.”

It was a real problem! He’d been calling me Lilybell ever since we’d reunited, but I was no longer that white cat—I was Lucille. And more importantly, I hadn’t told Lord Felix or anyone else about my past life. If Sir Elios called me Lilybell in front of everyone when we asked Lord Felix for permission, it would likely cause confusion.

Then again, at this point, I think I could reveal the truth, and they’d believe me. It’s not that I want to keep it hidden; it’s just that I can never find the right time to tell them.

Sir Elios’s head tilted. “What are you talking about? You’re still my Lilybell, aren’t you?”

“Um...”

Hmm, in Sir Elios’s eyes, I’m still his precious white cat, Lilybell. Perhaps it’d be difficult for him to suddenly address me by a different name after having called me Lilybell for so long.

“I guess it’s fine for now,” I said. “But you’ll have to switch at some point, okay?” I got tired of thinking about all the little details and let it slip from my mind. Everything would work out in the end, surely. “Well then, let’s go ask Lord Felix to let you live with me!”

“Wait, Felix again? Who is this Felix person?”

“You met him already, haven’t you? Oh, maybe you don’t remember because of the mana outburst. He’s the tall man who was in the room with us that day!”

“So that was Felix... I hate him.”

“Huh?! Why? Despite how he looks, he’s a nice person, you know?”

“Hmph.”

Sir Elios didn’t seem convinced, but I figured that rather than hearing it from me, it’d be faster for him to speak with Lord Felix and find out for himself. I took his small hand in mine and began to leave.

“Hold on, are you seriously going to live together?!” Maouldoth exclaimed. “Wait! That’s not fair!”

“Sorry, Maouldoth!” I replied. “I’ll come visit you again as soon as I can!”

“Wait, stop! Luciiiille!”

I decided to waste no time in bringing Sir Elios to the Leeuwenhoek manor.

⦿⦿⦿

Lilybell, can you imagine how I spent my days after you jumped into the magic circle to take my place? You were my only ally, my mother, my big sister...the most precious person in the world to me.

I always thought that I’d marry you when I grew up. Whenever I said that, you’d give me a skeptical look, probably thinking it was childish nonsense. I was human and you were a cat, so I can’t blame you for not believing me. I was serious, though. I knew that cats and humans couldn’t get married, but since I treasured you so much, I planned to figure something out before I reached adulthood. My world was small and narrow—you were all that I had—but I still thought I’d be able to do it.

With you by my side, I believed my future would be bright...because I didn’t know at the time that I was being kept as a sacrifice.

But in reality, when you disappeared, time froze for me, preventing me from ever growing up.

You were always kind, honest, and strict. You showered me with love, but you also scolded me if I did something bad. So if you knew what I did after losing you, you’d surely be angry with me. I couldn’t help it, though. I really wanted to see you again.

After you leaped into the magic circle, the demon summoning ritual succeeded. Since you carried within you the powers of the many people you’d lived with before me, you made the perfect sacrifice. What do you think happens when a demon is given much more power than it was supposed to have? Well, in this case, it modified its contract to its advantage and manifested without any of the summoner’s expected restrictions.

Did you know, Lilybell? Sacrifices have to be relatively worthless. If the sacrifice is more powerful than the summoner, then they won’t be able to control the demon. That’s why it was supposed to have been me. I learned that on the spot.

Anyway, the demon said to me, “Since you gave me such a great sacrifice, I’ll make an exception and grant you a wish.”

He probably only offered this because he could tell I valued you more than my own life. I mean, he was a demon, so it made sense that his actions were fueled by spite.

“You’ll have to pay a price, of course.”

I didn’t hesitate. Alone in a world without you, I would’ve died soon after anyway, unable to breathe. There was no point in living anymore.

Uninterested in the cost, I cried, “I want to see Lilybell again.”

It was ironic. You’d been sacrificed to this demon, and now I was begging him to let me see you again. But what other choice did I have? Yelling at him and hating him wasn’t going to bring you back. At least, I couldn’t think of another way. I mean, I didn’t even know how to live as a normal human being.

I did regret it a little bit, though. I didn’t pay the price alone—for example, the person who’d been holding me captive was afflicted with a curse that extended beyond death. That in itself didn’t bother me, but I knew that if I did get to see you again, you’d blame yourself for it.

So while looking forward to our reunion, I spent my days searching for a way to lift the curse. I couldn’t trust anyone besides you—nor did I need to—so I built a tall tower for myself. Every now and then, I’d visit one of the curse’s victims to test the results of my research.

At some point, people started calling me a great sage. Isn’t that funny? A worthless sacrifice became a great sage.

I quite liked that title, because I knew that if you heard it, you’d say, “That’s amazing! I’m so proud to have you as my owner!” You celebrated all of my accomplishments, even if they were something as simple as eating food I didn’t like.

The royal family discovered me while investigating the curse and placed me under their management. It was annoying, but at least I didn’t need to look for the curse’s victims by myself anymore.

However, the more I searched for a solution, the more I understood the nature of the curse and the price I’d paid.

That demon really was cruel.

⦿⦿⦿

“Lord Felix, is it okay if Sir Elios lives in the detached house with me?” Lilybell asked—but not before spending several minutes fussing over this Felix guy and his well-being.

As I hid behind her back, I thought, I still can’t believe Lilybell became human! It’s just as surprising as how long I had to wait for her.

Startled, Felix examined me.

This guy really is tall. I wonder if I would’ve grown this big too. That would’ve been nice.

His appearance filled me with envy and bitterness. I couldn’t stand him.

Upon our first meeting, I’d instantly noticed that his body was overflowing with Lilybell’s mana, and I’d thought, Why do you have Lilybell’s mana? Why isn’t Lilybell here even though her mana is? Where is my Lilybell?

My vision had flashed red, and before I knew it, I’d lost control of my mana. What happened next had been like a dream—I’d found myself in Lilybell’s arms! Oh, how long I’d waited for this moment! All these years, decades, and centuries later, Lilybell was finally right in front of me!

You wouldn’t understand the despair I felt when I awoke after fainting and found Lilybell was no longer there.

In my mind, I swore at Felix. Not only had he surely woken up with Lilybell at his side, he was making her worry about him even now.

And yet he’s destined to betray her. Will Lilybell be sad when that happens? Maybe not—this is Lilybell, after all. She might be completely nonchalant about it.

The future could change. In fact, it probably already had. But that was precisely why I didn’t know what was in store. What would happen to me when that future came?

Felix was hesitant to let me live with Lilybell. “Even if he’s the great sage—and even if he has a child’s body—I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to live together, just the two of you...”

He probably wanted to outright refuse. I completely sympathized, but I didn’t want to be denied any opportunity to be with Lilybell. However, since Lilybell seemed to like it here, I wanted us to stay if possible. That said, any place with Lilybell was heaven to me.

After I mulled it over for a while, an idea came to me. I quickly voiced it aloud before the conversation went in an unwanted direction.

“In that case, what if someone else lives with us? Then, it wouldn’t be just the two of us. Would that be okay?”

◯◯◯

We returned to Leeuwenhoek to ask Lord Felix if Sir Elios could live with me in the detached house, but he was unexpectedly reluctant.

I was certain he’d permit it... I guess he doesn’t feel comfortable having an unrelated person living on the premises, even if it’s away from the main manor. I can’t believe I’ve become so accustomed to his kindness that I didn’t realize something so obvious. Sir Elios may be my cherished former owner, but Lord Felix just met him for the first time the other day.

I can’t abandon Sir Elios, though—not after hearing him say he’s lonely in the Magic Tower! If he can’t live with me in the detached house, then maybe I can go with him to the Magic Tower instead.

I’d already assumed I’d have to leave this place when Elvira and Lord Felix got married, anyway. It was a bit disappointing since I liked how cozy it was here, but at least I could think of it as working ahead of schedule.

Sir Elios nervously peeked out from behind me and, interrupting my thoughts, asked, “In that case, what if someone else lives with us? Then, it wouldn’t be just the two of us. Would that be okay?”

Huh?! Who is this “someone else”?!

Lord Felix seemed equally as confused.

“Please?” Sir Elios implored weakly, eyes wet with tears.

“I...suppose it’d be fine,” Lord Felix replied, unable to say no to the boy’s pleading.

“Yay! Let’s go meet our prospective housemate right away, then.”

◯◯◯

“Huh? You’re asking if I want to live with you? You bet I do! Hooray, I get to live with Lucille too!” the dragon rejoiced.

Sir Elios’s proposed housemate turned out to be Maouldoth.

Oh my! If he nods his head so furiously, won’t it go flying off? Well, he’s been sealed for a long time, so he must be happy at the prospect of freedom.

“But Sir Elios, Maouldoth is unable to leave this forest,” I said.

Efren the hero had sealed him here, and not too long ago, the weakened state of the seal had been reinforced by Lord Felix. As much as I wanted to bring Maouldoth with us—especially after seeing the elation it’d brought him—it simply wasn’t possible.

Sir Elios grinned. With a chuckle, he said, “They don’t call me a great sage for nothing. It’ll be fine.”

Hearing his words, Maouldoth looked up at him, his red eyes glimmering with hope.

“But in exchange for modifying the nature of the seal, I want you to do me a little favor, Maouldoth,” Sir Elios continued.

“Just say the word! I’ll do anything!”

“Oh? Should you really say that before you hear what it is?”

“Well, no matter what it is, if I do it, you’ll take me with you, right? Besides, Lilybell chose you to be her owner, so you can’t be that bad of a person!”

“Ah, so it’s because of your trust in Lilybell.”

“I’ve known her longer than anyone else, after all!”

“Hmph.”

Sir Elios requested to speak with Maouldoth in private, so Lord Felix and I stepped away.

Lord Felix appeared to be mired in thought.

“Sorry for the trouble,” I said. “If you really don’t want them living with me, you can say so right now!”

“What would you do in that case?”

“Sir Elios is just a child. I can’t ignore him when he says he’s lonely. If he isn’t allowed to live here with me, then I’ll move to the Magic Tower instead!”

Wait, would Maouldoth be able to live with us in that scenario? We’re only inviting him as a condition for Sir Elios to live with me in the detached house... Well, seeing how happy he is, I’d want to bring him with us anyway.

“There’s no need for you to leave,” Lord Felix said. “In fact, I’ve said before that you’re more than welcome to live in the main manor.”

“I guess that’s true,” I said, nodding.

Lord Felix and I were technically engaged, after all—that was why I was allowed to live in the detached house to begin with. However, I was only going to be his temporary fiancée until his fated heroine, Elvira, appeared.

“I’m not being direct enough,” he muttered.

“Huh?”

“Nothing. By the way, you’ve been treating the great sage like a small child, but in spite of his appearance, he’s lived a long time, hasn’t he? Wouldn’t he be an adult at heart?”

This assumption was understandable, but I had a different opinion on the matter.

“Lord Felix, I believe that one’s heart is nurtured by their environment and the people around them. Sir Elios has spent most of his long life in solitude, so he wouldn’t have experienced the normal process of growing up, right? No matter how many years have passed, time’s been frozen for him on both the inside and out.”

When I’d first met Sir Elios as Lilybell, even though he’d been a toddler then, he’d still had the mind of a baby. Since no one had looked after him and he’d been confined to a tiny, dark room, his heart had never had the chance to mature.

This time, I’ll teach him what freedom is, tee hee! I’ll love him, just like my other owners did for me, and I’ll tell him I love him, and do lots of fun things with him! We’ll share our interests and discuss our opinions about things that happen. That way, he can learn about himself through someone who cares about him.

And surely he’ll call me Lucille after all of that, right?

It was like raising a child—something I’d excelled at when I’d lived as a stray cat, teaching the selfish kittens in my community!

As I excitedly fantasized about the good times ahead of us, Lord Felix tilted his head, confused. “You speak as if you’ve known the great sage for a long time. Have you previously met?”

Oh! Is this the right time to tell him I was Lilybell?

Before I could open my mouth, Lord Felix shook his head. “On second thought, never mind. You’d never heard of the great sage before. And had you already known him, you wouldn’t have required a royal reward in order to speak with him. Sorry, forget I asked.”

Oh, he answered his own question. It’s true that Sir Elios and I knew each other, though. The only reason I took the reward route was that I had no idea he was the great sage.

Now that there was no need to hide my past identity, I didn’t want to keep deceiving Lord Felix. But just as I was about to explain the truth, I was interrupted again—this time by Maouldoth.

“Lucille! Elios said he’d tweak my seal!”

After hearing that, we returned to Maouldoth and Sir Elios. In the end, I didn’t get to tell Lord Felix about Lilybell.

Well, while I don’t feel the need to keep it secret, I’m also in no rush to tell him. I’ll just wait for another opportunity to come.

“Um, what do you mean by ‘tweak’?” I asked.

Sir Elios grinned. “Maouldoth’s seal binds him to this forest, right? I’m going to change it so that it binds him to a person’s magic instead. Since the original seal was applied by a hero, breaking it completely would be too hard for me, even with my abilities.”

“But you can do that?!” I never even considered changing the seal! And even if I had, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it.

“I’m good at lifting curses, and if you ask me, seals have almost the same structure.”

“Oh, really?”

From what I’d heard, Sir Elios had been studying curses in the Magic Tower. He might have had the heart and body of a child, but his mind and all that lay within was worthy of his title of great sage.

“Let’s try it out, shall we?” he asked. “For the seal’s new target, let’s go with—”

“Bind me to Lucille!” Maouldoth interjected.

“Is that okay with you?” Sir Elios asked me.

I couldn’t help but giggle at the swiftness of Maouldoth’s response. There was hardly any other candidate for the job, though.

“Of course!” I replied. “Please go ahead, Sir Elios!”

The seal modification took less time than I expected. A red stone now dangled from my right ear.

“Wow,” I said, touching the earring. “So Maouldoth’s seal is connected to this?”

Sir Elios gave a satisfied nod. “By increasing or decreasing the flow of mana into it, you can strengthen or weaken the seal. It’s set pretty high right now, since we’re just starting out.”

I looked at Maouldoth. The black dragon curled up on the ground was now almost as tiny as Mars. The powerful seal was restricting his mana, making his body smaller.

Hmm, he’s basically a baby dragon at this point. Unfortunately, his former intimidating aura is all but gone. Instead, my heart is experiencing cuteness overload.

Crouching down, I held out my arms. “Come here, Mally! Let’s go home together!”

“Hey, who are you calling Mally?! Ugh.”

In spite of his angry complaints, he jumped into my embrace. He’s so smol and cute!

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Lucille! It’s not like I want you to dote on me or anything! It’s just more efficient to make you carry me because I’m not used to this tiny body yet!”

“Yes, yes, I get it.”

“There’s no way you actually understand...”

As Lord Felix watched our exchange, he mumbled, “Changing the seal... I can’t believe such a miraculous act is possible.”

Honestly, I can’t believe it either.

Suddenly, I realized something. Sir Elios had mentioned earlier that seals were very similar to curses. He was skilled at lifting curses, and although he hadn’t been able to break Efren’s seal, he had been able to modify it. In other words...

“Sir Elios!” I exclaimed. “Would you be able to lift Lord Felix’s curse?!”

With a weak smile, the boy admitted, “Sorry, I can’t.”

That was disappointing, but just to be sure, I asked him another question, this time so quietly that only he could hear. “Is there any chance that I’d be able to do it, then?”

“I doubt it, and I’d rather it stayed that way,” he replied, lowering his voice as well.

I figured it was unlikely, but now I’m sure. Still, he doesn’t want me to be able to lift a curse that he can’t? Boys sure have their pride!

“But why would either of us need to expend effort in the first place?” he continued. “Isn’t Felix’s fated heroine appearing soon?”

“Oh my! How do you know that?”

“You can tell by my appearance that something happened to me after you disappeared, right? Somehow, I’m able to see your prophetic dreams too.”

Wow! It must be for the same reason that I acquired the power of prophetic dreams through Master Alys’s mana. So that means Sir Elios saw the dream I had when I regained Lilybell’s memories?

“Is something wrong?” Lord Felix asked, worried.

Sir Elios turned around with a smile. “I was telling her that I can’t lift your curse, but someone who will be able to will appear soon.”

“What...?”

Lord Felix looked taken aback by this sudden news. I completely understood, given that he’d thought his curse was unbreakable. Being asked to believe otherwise must’ve been difficult.

I was also startled by Sir Elios’s decision to reveal the prophecy. However, since fate was undoubtedly changing, I decided it might not be such a bad idea to tell Lord Felix about Elvira.

“Yeah, I think so too!” I added. “In fact, the other day, I saw someone hiding immense power at the castle! Well, unfortunately, I don’t know anything about them at all.”

My plan was to get Lord Felix curious about Elvira, so that when she finally showed up, he wouldn’t be wary of her! But I had to keep it vague and noncommittal. After all, I couldn’t say, “Her name is Elvira, and she’s your fated heroine,” could I? There was nothing romantic about having someone else tell you in advance that you were going to fall in love.

“Lucille? What are you talking about?”

“Hey, can we go home already?! I’m tired!” Maouldoth yelled. “Heh heh, ‘we’... I’m really going home with you, huh?”

“Yes, we should get going,” I agreed. “I’m getting hungry.”

“So now I can live at the detached house, right?” Sir Elios asked.

“Y-Yes...”

Oh my, it’s going to be a lot livelier at home from now on. When we get back, I’ll have to introduce Jack, Mars, and Michelle to Maouldoth and Sir Elios!

◯◯◯

An air of bewilderment hung around Lord Felix as we returned to the Leeuwenhoek manor. We parted ways, and I went home with my new housemates.

“Wait, what?” Maouldoth pouted. “This place is full of cats. I thought you didn’t have any friends besides me...”

“How rude!” I exclaimed. “Believe it or not, I’m very popular!”

Even in my Lilybell days, everyone loved and pampered me. He should know that! Why would he think that I don’t have any friends? I’m offended.

I put Maouldoth down on the floor, where Michelle and the other kittens promptly crowded him.

“Mew! Mew!”

“Whoa! Wh-What’re you doing?! I’m an almighty dragon, you know?! Hey, stop that!”

Oh my! It’s a swarm of kitties!

As the cats frolicked, I overheard that they’d instantly accepted him as their friend.

Sir Elios’s head tilted as he watched the scene play out. “Hey, Lilybell, why are three of these cats special?”

“Huh? Special? Do you mean Jack, Mars, and Michelle, who are officially part of my family?”

Hearing their names, the three turned in our direction.

Tee hee! They all moved in sync! So cute!

I didn’t think of them as special, per se. It was just that the other cats seemed to have homes to return to, so I’d only named the three that didn’t. The others weren’t fussed by it, so I hadn’t given it any thought afterward. How could Sir Elios tell the difference?

“But those three aren’t really just cats anymore,” he remarked.

“Huh?!” They aren’t cats? How could they be anything other than cats?

“Did you seriously not realize, Lilybell? You’ve always been so far removed from normalcy that you don’t pick up on the weirdest things... Those three have become half spirits, you know?”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Wait, you didn’t notice?” Maouldoth replied, baffled. “You’re kidding, right? That first time you came to the forest, I was wondering why you brought a spirit with you.”

Thinking back, Jack had been leading the way at the time.

“Huh?!” I exclaimed. “But they’re clearly cats! What do you mean they’re spirits?!”

“Lilybell, you named them, didn’t you?” Sir Elios asked. “You were the one who taught me that names hold special power.”

I had named them, but had that turned them into spirits...?

“B-But Master Alys named me Lilybell, and I was still a normal white cat, albeit an especially cute one.”

If my naming power can transform cats into spirits, then why did I remain a cat after Master Alys named me? She was way more special than I could ever be!

“Um, technically, you weren’t a cat when I met you,” Sir Elios replied. “You were a holy beast.”

My eyes widened in shock. In the corner of my eye, I saw Maouldoth nodding furiously, as if to say, He’s right!

This can’t be true, right? I thought it was funny how the books about the Champions of Destiny called me a holy beast...but I really was one all along?!

Well, it’s a surprising revelation, but it doesn’t affect anything. Even though I was a holy beast, I was still just a cute little white cat. So I doubt Jack, Mars, or Michelle would’ve changed much when they became half spirits either.

I decided not to worry about it.

“Oh, the other cats don’t have enough mana, so they won’t turn into spirits even if you name them,” Sir Elios added. “That’s why they don’t complain about the difference in treatment—they know these three are special.”

“I-Is that so? You sure know a lot, Sir Elios.”

“Not really? I mainly just know about curses and cats.” He chuckled, blushing. “Also, didn’t I tell you to stop calling me ‘sir’? It feels like you’re putting distance between us. I don’t like it.” His arms tightened around my waist.

Sir Elios had always been clingy like this. Although he hadn’t changed at all from the boy I used to know, I’d been addressing him with an honorific out of respect for his status as a great sage. Even the royal family held him in high regard, after all.

But if he doesn’t want to be called that, it should be fine to drop it, right?

“Okay, Elios!” I replied.

My former owner, a sweet boy who was like a younger brother to me, smiled cheerfully. Seeing him so happy, I decided to shelve the name I’d originally intended to give him.

As I was welcoming my two new housemates, I heard a familiar, upbeat voice.

“Big sister Lucille! I’ve come to play!”

“P-Please wait, Lady Alice!”

It was the usual charade—Sarah making a token effort to stop Lady Alice from barging in, only to get flustered after being brushed off. They made such a good duo, tee hee!

I wasn’t sure how Lady Alice knew, but for some reason, she never came when I had guests over. Thus, I took no issue with her sudden visits—in fact, I welcomed them.

Upon entering the house, Lady Alice froze in place, her eyes wide.

Oh? She normally rushes at me to give me a hug.

Her lips began to tremble. “Wh-What?! B-B-Big sister Lucille! A-Am I mistaken, or does that small round black creature buried in cats resemble a d-dragon?”

“Why, how observant of you, Lady Alice! You recognized him even in his tiny form! Yes, that’s Maouldoth the dragon! There’s nothing to fear, though. His seal has been modified—he’s this small because I’m suppressing his power. He poses no danger to you!”

“Wait, are you calling me small and round?” Maouldoth asked, straining his neck to peek out from the pile of cats. He looked completely dumbfounded.

Yep, that’s definitely you! Smol, round, and adorable!

“I-I see...” Lady Alice murmured softly. “You’re suppressing his power... You really do defy common sense.”

“What were you saying, Lady Alice? I couldn’t hear the last part.”

“Um, I was just surprised to see the dragon again. I wasn’t expecting to run into him here.”

Is she okay? There’s a distant look in her eyes...

Elios, who had hidden behind me the moment Lady Alice had barged in, peeked out. “Who’s she?”

“Elios, let me introduce you to my friend: the kind, sweet, and lovely Lady Alice!” I declared.

“Huh?!” Lady Alice exclaimed. “K-Kind, sweet, and lovely? Heh heh... Oh!” She halted her fidgeting and turned her attention to Elios. “Ahem! My name is Alice! Why, you’re a very cute boy!”

“Nice to meet you...” Elios’s gaze was downcast, perhaps out of embarrassment.

“By the way, big sister Lucille, where did this boy come from? You said his name is Elios, right? Wait... Elios? Where have I heard that before? Oh, I remember! It’s the same as the great sage’s name!”

Her keen intuition was really impressive.

“Wow, Lady Alice, you’re so smart! Yes, while he may be smaller than you imagined, this is the great sage himself, Sir Elios!”

“Hey, I told you not to call me ‘sir,’” Elios grumbled.

“Oops, sorry, Elios. I only said it because I was introducing you, okay?”

He pouted and tugged on my arm. His expression, however, wasn’t one of true sulking—he actually just wanted me to dote on him! The sudden appearance of a stranger seemed to have startled him.

I patted his head, and he happily clung to my waist.

“W-Wait, hold up... What?” Lady Alice stammered. “Th-This boy is the Great Sage Elios?”

I guess it is surprising. Elios looks no different from any other small child, and his mind hasn’t matured either. Even I have to admit it’s hard to believe he’s a great sage.

“This cute little boy is the amazing Great Sage Elios...rumored to be one of my beloved Champions of Destiny...” Lady Alice mumbled. Her body suddenly careened backward.

“H-Huh?! Lady Alice?!”

Sarah, who had been standing behind her, rushed to catch her.

Oh no!

Lady Alice was a huge fan of the Champions of Destiny. She’d claimed that no one could be a Champion without the holy beast by their side, but I remembered how envious she’d looked when I’d told her I was thinking of arranging a meeting with the great sage in the capital. Because of that, I’d wanted to introduce her to him as soon as possible...

It seemed the shock had simply been too much.

As we were seeing to Lady Alice’s well-being, an unfamiliar voice sounded from outside.

“Excuse me! Is anyone there?!”

Sarah and I exchanged a look before quietly peering outside. A young woman was pacing restlessly back and forth outside the property’s front gate.

That’s...Elvira!

Elios, still clinging to me, whispered, “Isn’t this a little too soon?”

Indeed, according to my prophetic dream, she shouldn’t have arrived yet.

“Sarah, where are Lord Felix and Sir Kain?” I asked.

“They just left on an urgent extermination...”

In other words, there was currently no one in the main manor aside from the servants. Given how infrequent monster sightings had been recently, this was truly unlucky timing.

As I had no choice but to take charge, I turned to Sarah. “I’m going to bring Lady Alice to a guest room and then welcome our visitor. Can you help me?”

“Y-Yes!” she replied, a concerned look on her face. It seemed as if she were wondering why I’d be willing to allow a stranger into the residence.

It wasn’t a stranger though; this was Elvira!

Even the Great Sage Elios, who specialized in lifting curses, had said he was unable to help Lord Felix. He’d also said that I wouldn’t be able to do it either. That meant the only person capable of breaking Lord Felix’s curse was Elvira, as prophesized.

Thinking about it that way, Elvira must be an even more powerful saint than I thought.

However, in my dream, Elvira had only appeared after she’d already become close with Lord Felix. My interactions with her had strictly been because I hadn’t been able to control my burning jealousy and hatred. At the castle, I’d chased her on impulse, but I’d never actually expected I’d meet her before Lord Felix.

As we were getting ready, Elvira shouted even louder, “Someone, please! I need help!”

The grief in her voice compelled me to rush outside.

When she saw me, her face scrunched up as if she were holding back tears. “Please... M-My horse...is injured!”

“Where is it?” I asked.

She pointed, and following the direction of her finger revealed a wounded horse lying on the ground.

Ah, its leg is hurt.

I casually stuck my hand into my dress’s chest pocket, accessed my dark magic space, and took out one of the panaceas inside.

Behind me, I heard Elvira exclaim, “Huh?! H-How did you fit such a large vial in there?!”

I pretended not to hear her. Don’t worry about the details! Besides, she seems to be distraught at the moment, so she’ll surely forget about the size mismatch before long!

The injured horse looked frightened as I approached.

“Meow, it’s okay, drink this and you’ll feel better soon.”

“Um, did you just say...‘m-meow’?” Elvira asked, confused.

Hey, I had no choice! Animals understand cat language better than human language! And obviously I can’t speak horse.

Upon making eye contact with me, the horse immediately relaxed and obediently drank the medicine I offered it. A faint light radiated from its body, and its wound vanished in the blink of an eye.

“W-Wow, so this is the rumored panacea... With this, I could— No, more importantly, I can’t believe Gigagongordon listened to someone other than me, especially while agitated...”

So this fellow is named Gigagongordon? I didn’t expect a sweet-looking girl like Elvira to give her horse such a strong-sounding name! Tee hee, I like her style!

◯◯◯

When the horse had fully recovered, I guided Elvira to a room in the detached house.

“I apologize for the sudden interruption,” she said. “I am Elvira, daughter of Count Larache.”

Oh, right! The Laraches are a noble family.

The thought had never occurred to me, perhaps because my enraged dream-self hadn’t been interested in her background at all.

In my head, I rifled through what I’d learned about this country’s nobility during my princess training. If I recalled correctly, Count and Countess Larache devoted their efforts to charity and were very good people. In fact, Elvira wasn’t their biological daughter—she was adopted. Their only biological child was their son, Elvira’s elder brother and heir to the family, who I believed was currently studying in another country. The son was also said to be a reputable young man, serious and sincere. It was easy to imagine that Elvira, with her light magic, had grown up healthy in mind and body, cherished and protected by her family.

If a crooked family had adopted her, they surely would’ve taken advantage of her powers.

Light magic was valuable—everyone wanted to get their hands on it. But personally, I thought dark magic was much more useful, even if it wasn’t considered desirable these days.

“I’m Lucille Gustelanola,” I said. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Larache.”

“Please just call me Elvira. I came today to make a request to Lord Leeuwenhoek, but my horse was injured on the way, and, well...”

“Call me Lucille as well, then. Unfortunately, Lord Leeuwenhoek is not available right now, but I can hear your request instead, if you’d like.”

After some nervous fidgeting, Elvira seemed to make up her mind. “Um, I can use light magic, but my skill hasn’t been improving... I know I’m in no position to ask this, but could you please let me work in Leeuwenhoek?!”

“Oh my.”

Since Elvira hadn’t awakened to her true powers yet, it wasn’t surprising that her abilities were lacking.

I wonder if this is also why Elvira came to Leeuwenhoek in the prophetic dream? But even if it was, I’m curious as to why she came early this time.

As if to answer my question, Elvira continued, “The other day, I heard that the disease spreading in the capital was quickly brought under control by a panacea made in Leeuwenhoek. I also learned that the panacea had even cured people’s chronic illnesses and healed old wounds. Um, I know this is terribly selfish of me, but I thought that if I were in Leeuwenhoek, then even if I couldn’t properly treat patients, I wouldn’t have to worry about them losing their lives, since the panacea could act as insurance. And after witnessing its effects just now, I’m even more convinced.”

“I see.”

From the sound of it, Elvira hadn’t caught the disease in question, nor had anyone around her. Her first time seeing the panacea in action was when I used it to heal Gigagongordon.

Basically, Elvira wanted to practice her light magic, but she didn’t want her failures to put others’ lives at risk. Putting it that way, Leeuwenhoek probably was the best place to accomplish that right now. Since the land was cursed, an abundance of raspweed—the panacea’s core ingredient—grew here.

This also explained why Elvira had arrived earlier than foretold. In my dream, I hadn’t been able to make the panacea, so she’d never come to this conclusion.

As I mused over this, I received a telepathic message from Maouldoth, who was in the room next door.

“Elios says this is your chance!”

⦿⦿⦿

Once the monster extermination wrapped up, I returned to the Leeuwenhoek manor with Kain. I brought my mount to settle in the stable and found an unfamiliar horse there. It was a mare with cute, round eyes.

“Whose horse is this?” I wondered aloud. Was someone visiting? Guests weren’t typically allowed at the main manor when both Kain and I were away, though.

That said, there had been instances when some irritating nobles with too much time on their hands would go to the detached house without appointments, just to criticize Lucille. I thought they’d stopped after I’d threatened—I mean, spoken with them, but perhaps there was still a brave soul out there.

I headed to the gate, where the guard wore a puzzled expression. According to him, a noble lady had come to visit, and Lucille had invited her into the detached house. The natural assumption was that she’d been an acquaintance of Lucille’s, but judging by the look in the guard’s eyes, he didn’t seem to think so.

I just hope it isn’t someone problematic...

Lucille was whimsical and did as she pleased, but she was also good-natured to a fault. As a result, she was always helping people.

Curious, I requested Kain accompany me to investigate what was going on at the detached house.

As soon as I walked in, I was caught by a grinning Lucille.

“Oh, Lord Felix, Sir Kain! Welcome back! You’re just in time—this is Lady Elvira Larache!”

“I see...?”

Who in the world is that? Wait, Lucille just told me: Lady Elvira Larache. It was all so sudden that my brain wasn’t able to process the introduction.

Lucille continued to smile as she stared at me. Undoubtedly this was her way of urging me to greet the young lady.

I focused on Lucille’s visitor. “I’m Felix Leeuwenhoek.”

“I-It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she replied, bowing. “My name is Elvira Larache!”

She seemed restless, what with her constant blinking and flushed cheeks. Was she suffering from some kind of illness? Perhaps she’d come here after hearing rumors of Lucille’s panacea, then.

“Um, I was hoping to meet with you, Lord Leeuwenhoek!” she continued. “I, um, heard about the panacea, and...”

Ah, so I was correct. She’s here for the medicine. She seems to be under the wrong impression, though.

“In that case, it’s Lucille you’re after,” I said. “She was the one who created it.”

“Huh? No, um, it’s related to the panacea, but also not...”

“Lucille, I know you have a bleeding heart, but you can’t be letting in just anyone who’s looking for medicine. Didn’t I tell you to have Kain act as an intermediary?”

“What?!” Lucille exclaimed before muttering, “Am I being scolded?”

Why does she sound surprised? I’m quite sure I told her that.

Deep down, I knew it was best to let her do as she wished. However, I was worried that she’d get hurt one day. She held within her an innate power to attract people, yet she was utterly vulnerable.

This Larache girl is clearly suspicious. Is she really a noble lady? I’ve never seen her before. Now, I admit that I’m not good at remembering the faces of others I’m not interested in, and there are many nobles in the capital I likely don’t recognize. But if this young lady really is from there, she wouldn’t have come alone to the cursed marquess’s territory.

“Wait, Larache?” came Kain’s voice from behind me. “You mean that Larache family?”

“That”? Oh...now that he mentions it, I’ve met Count Larache’s son quite a few times. I do remember the Larache family, but I didn’t realize they had a daughter.

“Felix, what’s with the confused look? It was a popular conversation topic not so long ago. People were saying that Count Larache’s daughter is really pretty and uses light magic, almost like a saint. She’s called the mysterious fairy princess since her family dotes on her so much that they rarely let her go out in public.”

“F-Fairy princess?!” Miss Larache exclaimed. “Um, I’m really not that important at all...”

Was that gossip so widespread that it would’ve reached me?

“Lord Felix, I have great news!” Lucille said, interrupting my thoughts. “This adorable fairylike light-magic user, Lady Elvira, wants to help you with your work!”

“What?!” This shout erupted from Kain and me—and Miss Elvira as well, for some reason. Surely Lucille hadn’t suggested this on a whim, had she...?

With the exasperated sigh of one who could no longer bear to watch, the great sage entered our room. “Can you be any worse at explaining? Should I take over?”

After hearing the great sage’s summary, I didn’t know what to say. It was true that Leeuwenhoek would be a good environment for practicing light magic. However, why would Kain and I accept assistance that was unreliable? While Lucille’s odd excitement had caught my interest, I had no intention of hiring someone untrustworthy.

Just as I was about to decline, the great sage said to Miss Larache, “Go on, why don’t you try and ask nicely?”

“Y-You’re right!” Miss Larache said. “Um, Lord Leeuwenhoek, I’ll do my very best, so— Ahh!”

I didn’t know if it was out of nervousness or panic, but as Miss Larache approached me, she tripped over her own feet and stumbled in my direction. Reflexively, I held out an arm to catch her.

“I-I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed.

“It’s fine.”

More importantly, was I imagining things just now?

Miss Larache had taken my hand to steady herself, and my glove had shifted for a second, even though it shouldn’t have slipped so easily. Her hand had brushed my bare skin—only for a brief moment but long enough that some of her mana should’ve been drained. Though there appeared to be nothing wrong with her, it should have been impossible for her to have come out of such an incident unscathed.

Had I simply been mistaken?

For some reason, I unconsciously recalled the words the great sage had said to me this morning: “I was telling her that I can’t lift your curse, but someone who will be able to will appear soon.”

My gaze sought out Sir Elios, only to find that he was staring back at me with a knowing smile.

A noble lady who uses light magic and is hailed as a saint...though her skills are so lacking that she came all the way to Leeuwenhoek to train...

Are you telling me that she is the person who will change my fate?

Chapter 5: What’s Right Isn’t Always Best for Everyone

“Lucy, the vegetables are coming along well!”

“So they are! You’re such a talented gardener, Grandpa Randy!”

It was a warm, sunny afternoon. As usual, I was tending to the flowers and vegetables in the garden with Grandpa Randy.

“Hey, what’s there to be afraid of?! Go ahead and give it a try,” he urged.

“O-Okay,” Elios replied, timidly planting the flower seedlings.

Tee hee! Grandpa Randy sure knows how to look out for people! After tagging along with me, Elios was just watching from the sidelines, but Grandpa Randy nabbed him and put a shovel in his hands!

“Listen here, kid, you need to appreciate these flowers more. Eat these vegetables too!”

Grandpa Randy was very concerned about the quiet and shy Elios, who’d moved here all by himself at his seemingly young age.

Wait! He’s trying to feed him one of our naturally grown tomatoes! I’ve been waiting forever to pick those! I’ve only eaten the tomatoes I grew with magic, not the ones that Grandpa Randy painstakingly tended to from start to finish! How could you betray me like this, Grandpa Randy?! Well...it’s frustrating, but at the same time, I can’t say anything when the recipient is Elios.

Ugh, fine! As a good older sister, I’ll let him have a tomato or two!

Scratch that; I still want that second one...

I watched enviously as Grandpa Randy handed a large tomato to Elios.

Okay, once Elios finishes eating it, I’m going to ask Grandpa Randy for the next one! If I were to request it right now, Elios might relinquish his delicious tomato to me and not eat it himself. As his older sister, I must be patient.

“Even if I eat this, I won’t grow,” Elios muttered, his gaze downcast.

His appearance hadn’t changed at all since my Lilybell days. I had yet to ask him about what had happened after my disappearance, but clearly, time had stopped for his body for some reason.

“Hah! Says who?!” Grandpa Randy retorted.

“Wait, did you just scoff at me?”

“You’re pretty small, so sure, maybe it’s hard for you to grow bigger. But you’re not getting it, boy. Delicious vegetables nurture more than just the body.”

“Huh?!”

“Good food doesn’t fill just your stomach but your heart too. And the more you fill your heart, the more you grow on the inside.”

“On the inside...” Elios stared at the tomato for a little while before making up his mind. He took a bite.

“Ha ha ha! Attaboy!”

“It’s good...”

Hmm, I’ve waited long enough, right? I can’t hold back anymore!

“Grandpa Randy! Give me one of those delicious tomatoes too!”

“Leave it to me, Lucy. I saved the best one, just for you!”

Oh, Grandpa Randy! I’m sorry I doubted you for even a second!

As I received my delectable tomato, I spotted Maouldoth a short distance away, talking to some kittens.

“Listen, I am not your friend! I’m an almighty dragon that you puny things should be scared to approach!”

“Meooow!”

“Huh? You think I’m too small to be a dragon? Look, there are reasons for this...”

“Mew, mew!”

“What?! Which one of you called me round?! Identify yourself!”

Tee hee, Maouldoth’s getting along so well with the cats—especially the little ones!

I smiled at the serene and silly sight.

Also, these tomatoes are positively scrumptious!

I couldn’t stop eating them. Elios stared at me with wide eyes when I asked Grandpa Randy for a fourth.

“You’re eating more of these huge tomatoes?” he asked.

“I always have room for delicious food,” I replied. “Sometimes I wonder if my stomach is connected to my dark magic space.”

Grandpa Randy laughed heartily. “Even Lucy’s appetite is adorable! Now, follow her lead and eat more, boy!” He patted Elios’s head vigorously.

Though Elios was a little embarrassed, he didn’t seem to hate Grandpa Randy’s treatment. I’d been worried about him because he was so shy, but it looked like my fears were unfounded.

While we snacked on the tomatoes, cats began to gather around us and roll around at our feet. It was a beautiful day outside, so I’d probably join them for sunbathing later.

I was brushing the fur of a cat’s belly when I spotted Lord Felix, Sir Kain, and Elvira returning to the main manor on horseback.

Elvira had been working with Lord Felix ever since Elios and I had convinced him to hire her. I’d heard that in addition to accompanying him on exterminations, she also acted as his conversation partner and made tea for him in his maid’s stead. Much to my surprise, I’d also noticed Lord Felix going bare-handed at times, even though he normally never took off his black gloves.

Come to think of it, was Lord Felix wearing gloves in my prophetic dream? Since he avoided me as much as possible, I guess I can’t remember. Even when I did see him, it was only for a second.

Anyway, it looks like Elvira and Lord Felix are growing closer, just as planned!

The problem, however, was the matter of Elvira’s awakening. In my dream, it had been triggered by my dark magic going out of control. Naturally, I had no intention of letting that happen anymore. In fact, now that I’d regained Lilybell’s memories, I probably couldn’t let my magic get out of hand no matter how much power I used.

I tried to remember what Master Alys had told me about prophetic dreams.

“Listen, my sweet Lilybell. While it’s possible to change the future shown by prophetic dreams, you can’t change the parts that are truly important.”

“Which parts are truly important?”

“Typically, major events that occur within the dreams. Prophetic dreams don’t show trivial futures.”

“Hmm...?”

Master Alys’s explanation had been a bit too difficult for me at the time. But after witnessing many prophetic dreams alongside her, I’d come to understand that although the future changed at times, some things were fixed in place, as if destiny were being protected. It was hard to describe, but I could vaguely sense, It’s probably this part.

And now, my experience was telling me that the lifting of Lord Felix’s curse and Elvira’s awakening to her saintly powers were two such keystones of fate. So in theory, if we followed a different path—that is, if I didn’t lose control of my dark magic—Elvira would simply awaken at a different time, and Lord Felix’s curse would still be lifted in the end.

I can’t help but worry, though! I mean, in my dream, I put all of Leeuwenhoek in danger, didn’t I? What kind of crisis is going to happen instead to trigger Elvira’s awakening?!

Since this destiny was centered around Elvira and Lord Felix, I had no doubt they would be fine. And thanks to Saint Clarissa’s spell, I wouldn’t die so easily either. But what about Grandpa Randy, Lady Alice, Sarah, and the other servants? Not to mention Jack, Mars, Michelle, and the rest of the kitties, and of course Elios, Sir Kain, and...Maouldoth—he was probably at as little risk as I was. Anyway, I’d have to be careful to keep my loved ones out of that crisis, lest they get hurt.

Master Alys had also said, “When you change the foretold future, it’s not the future itself that you have to worry about—it’s how you’re going to protect the weaker beings who aren’t protected by fate.”

Since I had the power of prophetic dreams, it was up to me to watch over everyone until the time period foreseen by my dream ended and destiny became reality.

After that, I can do whatever I want whenever I want! Wait...I’m basically doing that right now, aren’t I? Tee hee!

In the timeline where I hadn’t regained Lilybell’s memory, the version of me in my prophetic dream had probably been restricted to a world where everyone rejected her. She had been left forlorn, unable to find her place, feeling worthless. However, within her, she had to have had traits to admire too—if only she’d been somewhere else, she could have been happy. Instead, assuming that there was no other world for her, she’d fallen into despair, never thinking to search for her own happiness.

But actually, if you look hard enough, there’s happiness hidden everywhere. I know that, which is why I can’t help but wish that everyone could become better at finding it. Then they could all be happy.

When I see Elios looking downcast, I want to reach out to him. When I see Maouldoth in a good mood, I feel glad that all is peaceful. When Lady Alice comes to visit me, I’m thrilled, and I’m always praying that Lord Felix’s curse will be lifted.

Thinking about everyone was getting me excited. I decided to devote my overflowing energy to what I most wanted to do right now.

“Grandpa Randy! I want to try growing something other than tomatoes!”

“Ooh, someone’s motivated! What’ll it be this time? I’m itching for a challenge!”

As Lilybell, I had been an extremely spoiled epicure, so I was actually quite greedy when it came to food. With the help of Grandpa Randy’s skilled hand, I wanted to cultivate unconventional crops that weren’t grown elsewhere and couldn’t be bought in the capital, eat them to my heart’s content, and of course, serve them to my loved ones. I couldn’t wait to see their looks of surprise and delight, tee hee!

Rare vegetables that grow in fields... Perhaps we could plant that one Hinako taught me about? It’s from her home world, after all.

I tried to recall the contents of my dark magic space. Since it existed in a different dimension, it actually still contained the things I’d put inside during my Lilybell days.

Oh, if only I’d known I’d be able to access it in my next life! Instead of thinking, “Even if I’m not actually lugging everything about, I’ll still lose track of what’s inside it!” and tossing things out during my spontaneous cleaning sprees, I should’ve just kept everything!

Wait, I think Matthew found some vegetable seeds from a foreign country, and they’re in there too.

Making a mental note to go through everything in my space to take stock of what was inside, I excitedly discussed with Grandpa Randy what we would grow next.

Unbeknownst to me, Sir Kain was muttering at the time, “Man, I’m pretty sure this is gonna get messy. Don’t blame me when it happens!”

◯◯◯

Maouldoth and Elios burst into my room first thing in the morning.

“Lucille! Where’s breakfast?”

“I’m hungry too.”

“Umm, I was going to sleep a little longer...” I replied.

Up until now, I’d been living by myself in the detached house, waking up and having my meals whenever I pleased—an unthinkable amount of freedom compared to my days in the capital as the prince’s fiancée. However, these days, my schedule was dictated by Maouldoth’s and Elios’s appetites.

Still, when I’d been Lilybell, I’d woken up my owner out of hunger on many an occasion, so I knew how the two of them felt. Plus, they always praised my cooking and didn’t leave a crumb, so I was happy to provide for them.

“Meow!”

“Mreooow!”

“Myaa!”

Jack and the other kitties curled up on my bed poked at me, meowing noisily.

“Meow?” I asked. “You guys are also becoming less reserved, huh?”

Upon witnessing the lack of restraint shown by Maouldoth and Elios, whom the cats considered newcomers, Jack, Mars, and Michelle had become much more willing to demand food from me.

But cats are adorable when they’re selfish, so I can’t help but give in! They’re too smol and cute!

As suggested by Elios, I’d begun adding a small amount of mana to the food I made for the three half-spirit cats, which had originally been based on the special cat food Matthew and Hinako had prepared for me. Apparently, since the cats had become part spirit, they could survive on mana alone.

Frankly, I still didn’t know what becoming a spirit entailed. I hadn’t noticed it’d happened to the three cats until Elios had told me, and I doubted Lilybell’s owners, excluding him, had known about my transformation either. My owners had all been the type to not pay attention to anything they weren’t interested in, which sometimes included common knowledge that anyone else would know.

Well, I’m not exactly in a position to criticize them, tee hee.

Anyway, even if mana alone was enough, that didn’t mean I had to take away the joy of eating from the cats. Eating is happiness!

As we were all enjoying our breakfast, Sarah came by like usual. However, something seemed off with her. She looked...troubled?

“Um, Lady Lucille, Lady Elvira is requesting a meeting with you,” she said.

“Oh, is that so? I’d love to see her! Will she be coming here?”

“Yes. I will show her to the reception room, if that works for you.”

“Okay. Thanks, Sarah.”

During her daily visits to the main manor, I’d seen Elvira from afar, but I hadn’t had a chance to speak with her directly since that first time. For the record, I had suggested that Lord Felix prepare a room for her since she’d been coming every day, but it seemed like nothing had come of it.

Actually, now that I thought about it, Elvira must have declined the offer. According to Sir Kain, her family doted on her so much that they rarely allowed her to go out in public. They surely wouldn’t have approved of her staying at Lord Felix’s manor, and there was also the risk of unsavory rumors. I’d only made such a careless and regrettable suggestion because my current lifestyle was far removed from noble society.

Elvira was as lovely as ever—just the kind of person you’d expect to be called a saint or heroine. That said, she seemed stiff today. Last time, it’d been because she’d been nervous, but something seemed different now.

I wonder what’s wrong?

She took a sip of the tea Sarah had brewed for her. “Um...I heard from my parents that your engagement to Lord Felix was ordered by your former fiancé, the second prince, as punishment.”

“That’s the gist of it, yes.”

Unsure where she was going with this, I decided to simply acknowledge it for the truth it was. My days in Leeuwenhoek had been so enjoyable that I’d almost forgotten how they had all begun, but indeed, this engagement had been intended as punishment.

More importantly, Elvira’s calling him Lord Felix instead of Lord Leeuwenhoek! It bothered me before how distant she was being, but I’d chalked it up to it being their first meeting. I’m glad they’re getting closer!

Elvira grimaced.

Wait, when did those tears form in her eyes?! She looks like she’s about to cry!

“Th-That’s...so unfair,” she continued. “I heard all about it! You didn’t do anything to deserve that punishment! But even after the accusations were deemed false, your engagement wasn’t rescinded, so you and Lord Felix are still bound together even though neither of you asked for this... It’s just horrible.”

I’d thought she was about to accuse me of forcing Lord Felix into an unwanted engagement, but it turned out to be the opposite.

Hmm, I guess it does sound awful from an outsider’s perspective. Although I’m loving my life here in Leeuwenhoek, where I’ve made many dear friends, I’m only able to say this in hindsight. Honestly, any normal noble lady would probably have ended up in tears every day if this had happened to her. I’m only fine because Lilybell’s memories allow me to live happily anywhere at all.

It seemed Elvira was concerned about me and Lord Felix, out of consideration for our feelings. Unable to sit still and watch once she’d learned the circumstances behind our engagement, she’d come to visit me.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t just tell her, It’s only a temporary arrangement, so you don’t have to worry! Hopefully, Lord Felix or Sir Kain could reassure her in my stead, since they spent more time with her.

Suddenly, it occurred to me that Lord Felix and Sir Kain might actually think that I had to go through with this marriage—a late realization, I know.

Hmm, should I think of a roundabout way to tell them I have no intention of clinging to my position as Lord Felix’s fiancée?

Elvira’s eyes were brimming with tears at this point, her gaze fully downcast.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know saying this won’t change anything, and you and Lord Felix are the ones suffering the most...”

I understood her feelings. Even though she couldn’t do anything about it, she’d been so frustrated, she couldn’t help but come here and talk to me. I knew that everything would be fine in the end, and worst-case scenario, I had the power to change the future to make it fine. But Elvira didn’t have that knowledge, so her heart was truly aching for us. She had to be a very sensitive person with a strong sense of justice.

Or perhaps she’s already developed feelings for Lord Felix? That would make her feel even more uneasy about our unwanted engagement.

As I was mulling this over, I sensed someone coming from the hallway.

Oh? That’s...

“What are you doing here?” Lord Felix asked, quietly opening the door.

Oh my, what do we have here?! Tee hee! Lord Felix personally came to seek Elvira! They’re always together, but even a short period of separation bothered him enough for him to come all this way! Does this mean he’s fallen in love with her as well?!

Lord Felix’s and my eyes met.

Is he worried about the topic of our conversation? Well, he certainly doesn’t have to be! Unlike the version of me in my prophetic dream, I don’t love Lord Felix romantically, and I don’t hate Elvira either. On the contrary, I fully support their relationship!

I sprang up, stepping toward Elvira and taking her hand, and I urged her to stand.

“Huh?” she said.

Ignoring her confusion, I swiftly guided her to Lord Felix.

“Cheer up, Lady Elvira!” I said. “Lord Felix has come for you! I’m sure you have a lot on your mind right now, but it’ll all be just fine. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“What are you talking about, Lucille?” Lord Felix asked.

“Um, what...?” Elvira stammered.

Anything Lord Felix said to me at this point would only make Elvira even more concerned. After all, he and I were technically engaged, while Elvira had feelings for him—probably. This situation could easily spiral into some sort of problematic misunderstanding.

While I’d never been in love myself, one of Lilybell’s former owners, Princess Roselia, had been a woman of many entanglements, so I knew all about romance! According to her, people in love were quick to jump to strange conclusions. Even if something was obviously a certain way, a person blinded by love might misconstrue it and agonize, saying, “Why did it turn out like this?” That had been an especially common lament from Princess Roselia.

Wait, this isn’t the time for reminiscing.

“Lucille, I—”

“Sorry, it’s time for Maouldoth’s afternoon nap. I think you two should go back to the main manor and have a nice long chat!”

“Huh? Since when do I take afternoon naps?”

I brushed off the telepathic message coming from Maouldoth, who was in another room with Elios. I’d borrowed the dragon’s name because now that he was as small as a baby, Elvira and Lord Felix would surely believe that excuse.

Sir Kain entered the room, having followed Lord Felix here.

As usual, he was muttering something under his breath. “See, Felix? I told you this would happen.”

He might have thought his voice was too low for anyone to hear, but it was pretty obvious he was mumbling to himself. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, though, so it wasn’t worth pointing out, You’re thinking out loud again!

To his credit, he was sensible enough to realize that I was eager to get out of here. Much to my relief, he urged Lord Felix and Elvira to leave with him.

During this exchange, Maouldoth had continued to complain, “Don’t use me as an excuse! It’s bad for my reputation as an almighty dragon if people think I take afternoon naps!” But minutes later, he was snoozing away, surrounded by kittens. Truly a free spirit.

Maouldoth just keeps getting cuter and cuter. Unfortunately for him, his mighty image seems to have shrunk away.

◯◯◯

“Ugh, what is Felix thinking?! Oh, Sir Elios, you have cream on your mouth.”

We were in a room of my detached house, eating my homemade cake. Lady Alice was venting her anger regarding Lord Felix, while also not neglecting to wipe the cream from Elios’s mouth between outbursts.

“Um, but Elvira is using her light magic to help Lord Felix and Sir Kain,” I said.

“Isn’t your panacea good enough already?! Besides, I swear that woman is always hanging around the Leeuwenhoek manor, even when there aren’t any exterminations going on! Why isn’t Kain doing anything about it either?! Oh, Lord Mao’s sooo cute when he’s munching away like that!”

Her furious expressions were interspersed with silly smiles directed at Maouldoth. She’s really dexterous, huh?

Although Lady Alice had initially fainted from shock upon meeting Elios for the first time, when she next came by the detached house, she was equipped with two new modes: the older sister who wanted to take care of Elios and the pet owner who wanted to dote on Maouldoth. The former seemed to be because she’d admired Elios as the great sage for many years. As for the latter, even though she’d been so afraid of Maouldoth before, she just couldn’t resist his new small, round, adorable form.

I completely understand!

Maouldoth stared at me as if he could read my mind. “Hey, Lucille. Are you having rude thoughts about me right now?”

Just ignore him, yep.

Anyway, is it instinct for all living creatures to be unable to fight cuteness? I wondered, stealing glances at Jack, Mars, and Michelle, who were snuggling around my feet.

“I don’t approve of that Elvira woman,” Lady Alice continued. “Doesn’t she know that you’re technically engaged to Felix?! Oh, I’m not saying ‘technically’ because I don’t approve of you—it’s because I’m annoyed that Felix is your fiancé. Don’t get the wrong idea, okay?”

“Aha ha...” I didn’t know what to say, so I laughed it off.

Hmm, even if Elvira and Lord Felix weren’t falling in love as foretold, I’m sure Lord Felix would keep her by his side regardless, since she’s the only one who can lift his curse—his fated heroine. He must’ve realized that thanks to me and Elios.

On the matter of Elvira, it seemed direct contact with him didn’t harm her, judging by how Lord Felix had taken off his gloves. Even if she hadn’t yet awakened, the saintly power lying dormant within her must’ve been capable of resisting the curse. Wasn’t that incredible? Even Saint Clarissa’s power hadn’t protected me—the curse had given me superficial wounds!

Personally, seeing the two of them together relieved me and filled me with satisfaction, but I couldn’t tell Lady Alice that. Actually, I was delighted that Lady Alice was getting angry on my behalf! (Sorry, Elvira.) So I had no choice but to laugh it off, tee hee!

Lord Felix will just have to do his best to regain her trust after his curse is lifted!

According to Sarah, who lived in the main manor and came to visit me every day, Elvira’s abilities were steadily improving. Apparently it was her impatience and nervousness that had been holding her back.

Everything comes down to practice in the end, huh? My cooking skills also get better the more I do it!

“Oh, I wish I could live in this detached house too!” Lady Alice lamented. “But I feel great every time I go home, and it’s hard to give that up.”

“Is that so?”

For a long time, Lady Alice had been struggling with the relationship she had with her family. She’d told me that she didn’t fit in and that the Rohans estate was like a living hell.

“Well, I used to feel miserable every time I went home, thinking, ‘No one here notices my doom and gloom.’ But now, I think to myself, ‘No one here realizes how happy I am!’ and it puts me in a really good mood, tee hee. Even though everyone at home is the same as before, my world has completely changed!”

“Why, that’s wonderful, Lady Alice!”

“It’s all thanks to you, big sister Lucille,” she said with a grin.

Oh, how adorable!

My world had also changed upon meeting Lady Alice. After all, a world with an additional dear friend was bound to be much more blessed and enjoyable than before, no?

Lord Felix’s world must also shine brighter now that he’s met Elvira.

⦿⦿⦿

Thanks to Lucille, Miss Elvira Larache ended up working alongside me. Not that I could complain, given that I’d been the one to accept the suggestion.

The reason I’d relented was that I’d sensed potential. My glove which normally never slipped, Miss Larache brushing my bare skin with her fingertips and escaping unscathed... What if it hadn’t been a coincidence but fate’s guidance? Was it foolish of me to think this?

I recalled the great sage’s words once more: “I can’t lift your curse, but someone who will be able to will appear soon.”

Perhaps she was the one with the power to set me free. Was that why Lucille had recommended that she work here? After all, Lucille had agreed with the great sage’s statement, saying, “The other day, I saw someone hiding immense power at the castle.” Had that person been Miss Larache?

I’d wanted to ask about it, but for some reason, I could never find the time to talk to Lucille after that. Going on exterminations with Kain—and now Miss Larache—kept me occupied.

Speaking of, the frequency with which monsters appeared had suddenly increased again, and my curse seemed to have changed as well. After I defeated monsters, I felt strangely tired and sluggish. Sometimes even feverish.

I was becoming visibly more fatigued by the day when Miss Larache said to me, “I might be able to provide some relief with my light magic. Do you mind if I take your hand? Oh, but you’ll have to remove your glove, of course.”

What is she talking about? I looked at her, skeptical.

“Back at home, I was able to relieve fatigue and cure mild colds by holding people’s hands!” she hurriedly added. “If you think they were lying to me about the results, by all means, try it yourself! It’ll only take a few seconds!”

To start with, I didn’t like being touched. Since I’d grown up with this curse, it’d been imprinted in my mind that touching people would hurt them. Although it wasn’t an issue as long as there wasn’t direct contact with my bare hands, my sense of caution made me reluctant to have people near me. There was only one person who didn’t trigger that indescribable aversion...Lucille.

“Sorry, Miss Elvira,” Sir Kain said, speaking on my behalf as I fell silent. “Felix doesn’t like it when people touch him.”

“Oh, is that so? But this is to heal him—just one little touch should make him feel better. You’ve helped me so much; I want to repay the favor!”

“Aha ha, that may be true, but—”

“We can try,” I interjected.

“Huh?!” Kain exclaimed.

His surprise was understandable. I didn’t know what had come over me either.

I just wanted to ascertain whether Miss Larache really did have the power to lift my curse. To put it bluntly, her powers were currently extremely weak. It was difficult to believe she could help me, especially when the great sage couldn’t.

However, the great sage’s words and the hand-touching incident still lingered in my mind. Had it merely been a lucky coincidence that Miss Larache hadn’t been affected? I wanted to know the truth.

I’ll only touch her with my fingertips for a moment, as briefly as the first time, to see if anything happens to her. That way, the curse won’t drain enough mana to cause serious harm to her body, and even if she gets wounded, Lucille’s panacea can heal her.

I felt guilty for not taking the possibility of Miss Larache’s pain into consideration, but seeing how determined she was to be useful to Leeuwenhoek, I doubted she’d back down.

If that’s the case, I may as well try it, just this once.

It was a selfish idea. But at this point, there was no turning back. I removed one of my gloves and tried to touch her hand with only the very tip of my finger.

Her hand suddenly shot out, taking mine in hers.

“What are you doing?!” I exclaimed.

“I’m sorry! I just can’t bear to see you so pale, Lord Felix. You would’ve refrained from holding my hand out of modesty, right? That’s why I have to do this.”

It wasn’t because of modesty!

Feeling goose bumps rise on my skin, I tried to shake her off with all my might, only to realize—

“Why...?” I murmured.

“See? Doesn’t it feel nice and warm, like it’s washing your fatigue away? I still have a long way to go in my light magic training, but as long as spells aren’t involved, I can heal people like this!”

Perhaps she thought my surprise was directed at her healing power. She smiled happily, relieved that I was being treated. Her good intentions must have been sincere.

There were no signs of wounds on her hand. The curse...really didn’t affect her. Also, I could indeed feel my fever and the buildup of fatigue receding at last.

“Surely...Lu wasn’t talking about this, right...?”

My heart was too shaken to notice Kain’s stunned mutterings.

The great sage had said that someone with the power to lift my curse would appear.

If that person was Miss Larache, then would staying by her side weaken it? If I helped her develop her light magic abilities here in Leeuwenhoek, would she awaken to enough power to break it? If she did manage to, would I be freed from this seemingly eternal curse?

If so, would I someday be able to safely touch Lucille’s small, warm hands without these temperature-blocking gloves?

⦿⦿⦿

“All right, Felix, stand up!” I demanded after Miss Elvira left.

“Huh?”

Despite his confusion, he immediately did as he was told. A cute guy, really. But I couldn’t let his earlier actions slide!

“What were you thinking?” I asked.

You’ll have to forgive me for my harsh tone. I seriously want to hold my head in my hands right now.

“About what?” he replied, seemingly unable to discern the meaning of my words.

Yikes, I gotta start from the beginning?

If he didn’t know what I was criticizing, that meant he wasn’t even aware of his problematic behavior.

“Look, I know you’ve always kept people at arm’s length because of your curse, and because of that, you never learned how to intuit emotional subtleties or judge your actions objectively. But can you at least try to think?”

Not only did he keep people away, most people stayed away, intimidated by his curse and appearance. But things were different now, right? He had a fiancée—Lu—and as someone who’d known him for many years, I could see that he was in love with her. That he wasn’t aware of it yet was frustrating enough, but he just had to keep adding more complications to the mix!

I couldn’t simply confront him with his emotions, though. This kind of thing was only meaningful if the person realized it themselves. So for the sake of his own happiness, I really needed him to recognize the problem right now...before it was too late.

“I’m talking about how you accepted Miss Elvira’s offer and even took off your gloves!” I exclaimed, desperate to make him understand.

“Oh. Well, Miss Elvira isn’t affected by my curse.” Felix nodded, a pensive look in his eyes.

That was true. Naturally, I’d have been surprised as well. But that wasn’t the point.

“That doesn’t have any bearing on this,” I said.

Felix was only concerned with the possibility of lifting his curse. I’d heard about what the great sage had said, so I could guess what Felix was thinking. But I didn’t care about that—as a layman, that stuff was all a mystery to me. My only concern lay in the emotional aspect.

“The servants told Miss Elvira that you never take off your gloves, you know,” I continued. “She must’ve been thrilled that you removed them for her.”

Of course, the servants hadn’t explained the nature of the curse. They weren’t that close with her, nor did they intend to be. The only reason they’d told her was to proactively sate her curiosity—they couldn’t have her asking Felix directly about such a touchy subject.

“Is that so? Why would she be happy about that?” Felix asked.

“How would you feel if someone told you a secret that they’d never told anyone else?”

“I’d feel like helping that person, even if they only told me because they couldn’t keep it to themselves any longer.”

Okay, fine, it’s my fault for setting my expectations too high, you oblivious goody-goody. Not every good thing is really a good thing, you know!

Despite how he might appear to others, Felix was extremely naive. Just remembering how he’d believed the rumors about Lu and said those awful things to her on her first day here made my head hurt. Of all the times to do something he wasn’t used to, why did it have to have been with Lu then? His regret from that day was also preventing him from taking a sterner stance with Elvira.

I had a feeling that if he didn’t correct his course now, I’d never see him truly happy.

There’s no guarantee that I’ll be able to stay with you forever, all right? You never know what the future holds. So I can’t be helping you with every little thing. You gotta learn how to figure this stuff out yourself.

Drawing back from my thoughts, I pivoted to a new tactic. “Well then, what if Lu baked a special treat just for you and nobody else?”

The corners of Felix’s mouth lifted slightly.

What’s with that relaxed expression? Finally starting to act like a human being, huh?

“Special treatment from Lucille? That would be nice,” he said.

“Exactly! If someone does something just for you, you’ll think you’re receiving special treatment! So regardless of your intentions, Miss Elvira must think you’ve given her special treatment.”

“What? I only did that so she could try to heal me. Besides, she was the one pushing me to do it. Why would she think that I was treating her in any special way?”

“Normally, that might be true. But your timing was terrible. I was trying to gently refuse her on your behalf and you interrupted me, right? That changed the tone of everything. It made it seem like you wanted to let her touch you.”

Felix fell silent, a serious frown on his face.

That’s right; mull it over. If you keep going the way you are, your first love will never be fulfilled no matter how hard you try. Got it?

⦿⦿⦿

I continued to observe Felix without much hope. However, Miss Elvira turned out to be more cunning than I expected.

Well, I guess it’s wrong to call her cunning, since everything she does seems to be based on virtuous beliefs and good intentions. There’s no malice involved. Though, to be clear, she probably does hold affection for Felix and has ulterior motives in that sense, but there’s no doubt that she’s an upstanding person.

But the way I see it, that type of person isn’t always good. The world and humanity are complex. A lot of people don’t even understand themselves—Felix is a prime example. If the human mind were simpler, you might be able to sort people into good and bad, but unfortunately, that isn’t the case.

What’s right isn’t always best for everyone.

⦿⦿⦿

“Elvira, you will be able to help a lot of people.”

That was what my adoptive mother said on the day the Laraches welcomed me into their family.

I see. I’ve gained the power to help people.

The baronial family I’d been born into had collapsed, but I had shared a happy life with them; my kind father and cheerful mother lavished me with affection.

However, we had fallen into debt. Scary men would often show up at our door, shouting. At the time, I’d been too young to understand, but apparently there had been a major disaster in our territory, and the reconstruction had been too costly for our coffers. My father, lacking people on whom he could rely, had gone to a shady lender, who had cheated him out of more money than he’d originally borrowed.

It had been so frustrating—my father had just been trying to help his people, yet his good intentions had been targeted by bad actors. All I could think was, This is wrong. But I had been powerless to do anything about it.

One day, I happened to awaken to light magic. It had been very sudden—while I’d been out running shopping errands, I’d encountered an orphan who had been badly injured in a recent carriage accident. As I desperately wished to save the child, light had poured out from my body, interrupting my thoughts. When I’d come back to my senses, the child had been fully healed.

It just so happened that the orphanage where the child lived had been receiving support from the Larache family.

“You’ve obtained a wonderful power,” my future mother had said with a gentle smile. “However, without someone by your side to protect you, people might try to use that power for evil,” she’d added in a rueful tone.

Given my family’s state of ruin, if a high-ranking noble had tried to take advantage of me, I wouldn’t have been able to refuse. Thus, their adoption offer appealed to me because it would allow me to help others instead of having to hide my powers. My mother and father had been bewildered at first, but in the end, they supported the idea, saying it was best for my future. My new family had also promised to take on our entire debt in exchange, so I had really had no reason to refuse.

After being adopted, I was still allowed to visit my birth parents freely. My new family members were all kind to me. I even had a commendable older brother who doted on me. I didn’t have to worry about debt anymore, and both of my families told me they were proud of me. I was truly blessed.

But it worried me that my light magic wasn’t improving. After gaining the power to save people, I thought I’d be able to right the wrongs of the world. I wished to do more to repay the Larache family.

So when I heard the rumors about Leeuwenhoek, I went there as a last resort, thinking I would surely be able to develop my abilities. I was aware that I basically forced my way in, but my determination to be of help was sincere.

Lord Felix Leeuwenhoek was known as the cursed marquess and feared for his cruelty.

How awful it must be to have been cursed from birth. I’m sure he’s had a hard time all his life, and that’s why he doesn’t let people near him.

I couldn’t deny that I wondered if I could be the one to bridge the gap. If there was anything I could do for him, I’d happily help.

When I first met Lord Felix, I was captivated by his dark ashen hair and the way his golden eyes shone with the light of the moon. It felt as if his gaze could pierce through my heart. I couldn’t believe that such a beautiful person was called the cursed marquess.

Although he stared at me with suspicion, I didn’t find him scary at all. Sure, his eyes were cold, but since it was a sign that he’d closed off his heart, I felt pity rather than fear. It strengthened my desire to help him even more.

I was accepted surprisingly easily, for which I was glad. But at first, I was also concerned about Lady Lucille. As the two of them were engaged, I didn’t know if it was okay for me to spend so much time with Lord Felix.

However, Lady Lucille was always at the detached house, surrounded by people and enjoying herself. I admit that part of me thought, You’re having fun while Lord Felix is suffering?

Much to my surprise, the boy who was always with Lady Lucille turned out to be Great Sage Elios! My brother, who was studying abroad, was a fan of his and had told me many things about him: The great sage’s appearance and age were shrouded in mystery and any rumors about him were all sourced from anecdotes. He specialized in lifting curses and went around helping people, even lending his wisdom to the royal family.

Much of what my brother had shared had gone over my head, but I did remember him saying that the great sage was allowed to act freely because of his tremendous contributions to the country.

Not only does the great sage look like a small child, but he’s also right here in Leeuwenhoek! I can’t believe it!

Lady Lucille is surrounded by lots of friends, yet Lord Felix only has Sir Kain. Why doesn’t she care about her fiancé more?!

I realized my critical judgment was misinformed when I learned the truth behind their engagement. Forcing her to marry someone as punishment was just too cruel. It saddened me.

Is there no one who will provide Lord Felix the emotional support he needs, then? If Lady Lucille doesn’t intend to perform that role, I’d like to be there for him...

⦿⦿⦿

“Miss Larache, your light magic has improved quite a bit. It’s hard to believe you were lamenting your lack of ability not so long ago.”

Lord Felix’s praise filled me with joy.

“Yes! Thank you for everything! I’ll keep doing my best so that you won’t have to worry about a thing during monster exterm—”

“No matter where you go next, I’m sure you’ll be valued. You’ve done well.”

“Huh?”

I didn’t understand what he was saying. No matter where I went next? Why did that sound as if I wouldn’t be using my light magic in Leeuwenhoek anymore?

Breaking out into a cold sweat, I hurriedly tried to steer the conversation back. “Y-Yes, my touch seems to have considerably diminished your curse, so I’m sure I’ll continue to be of help in the future!”

“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m grateful to you, but I’m sure there are other places where you can make better use of your abilities.”

“But—”

It was then that I finally noticed the look of annoyance on Lord Felix’s face.

Why doesn’t he want me here? Doesn’t my presence reduce his burden? I just want to help him as much as I can...

While it was true I had a slight crush on him, I also wasn’t lying about genuinely wanting to do anything in my power to lessen his pain.

Aside from the curse itself, his unwanted engagement must also be ailing his heart.

Naturally, I’d heard the rumors about the cursed marquess. Everyone I questioned about the curse avoided telling me any specifics, but it was easy to assume that it was the reason he often felt unwell.

I’d already proven that my presence alleviated his symptoms. I mean, this was a curse that even the great sage couldn’t break, right? He would’ve lifted it by now, otherwise, since he was so close by. Shouldn’t Lord Felix have considered me special for being able to weaken the curse’s power?

He’d still been reluctant to take off his gloves, even after the first time I’d taken his hand, but I’d stubbornly made him do it anyway—it was obviously better for him if I helped. There was no point in acting reserved with me when there was literally no downside to it.

Yet all he had for me were words of distant consideration.

“I can’t keep you in Leeuwenhoek any longer. It would be detrimental to your future.”

“That’s not true! I’m fine with staying!”

I just want him to prioritize his curse! My future will work out one way or another. Besides, helping others is a happy future in my eyes. And if, just maybe, Lord Felix would keep me by his side, just in case... Of course, I’d never think such a thing if he and Lady Lucille were a traditionally engaged couple. But since that’s not the case, I’d like to support him as much as I can, that’s all—I’m not going to be greedy and ask for marriage. I have the power to help him!

Bewilderment crossed Lord Felix’s face, then he let out a sigh. “I’m told that I’m not good at grasping emotional subtleties. I don’t know how to say this—or if I should even say it in the first place—so I’ll just be honest about how I feel.”

Up until this moment, I’d gotten my hopes up. How foolish of me.

“The only person I want by my side is Lucille. I understand that you mean well, but I cannot keep someone other than her with me any longer. Frankly, I’m also terrified that she might misconstrue my relationship with you.”

I thought back to my recent visit to the detached house. When Lord Felix had appeared, Lady Lucille had assumed that he’d come for me. Actually, I’d thought the same. How could I have been so conceited? At the time, Lord Felix had been flustered, and seeing his pale complexion, I’d believed that he’d come to me for help because he wasn’t feeling well. But now I realized he’d gone there to see Lady Lucille. I’d just coincidentally been there, causing Lady Lucille to misunderstand and subsequently hurting Lord Felix’s feelings.

Have my actions caused Lord Felix pain?

All my life, my family had showered me with love. Even our servants and guests had doted on me. Anything I’d wanted, I’d been granted. Maybe that was why I’d gotten the wrong idea. For some reason, I’d assumed that Lord Felix would like me too. After all, that had been the case for everyone I’d ever met. No one had ever disliked me, so I couldn’t even imagine it happening.

What an embarrassing misconception. All along, Lord Felix wasn’t being considerate of me when he showed restraint. Right from the beginning, it’d been about Lady Lucille’s feelings.

“B-But Lady Lucille doesn’t seem to care about you that way,” I said.

No, that’s not what I meant to say! Now I sound like a spiteful sore loser or someone who’s just plain mean! I’m not supposed to be the kind of person who says hurtful things...

However, Lord Felix didn’t notice my panic. Much to my surprise, he smiled, content. I’d never seen him smile before. His default expression was flat—tired or pained at most. I gulped.

“You’re right,” he said. “Lucille isn’t particularly interested in me.”

“Huh?”

Based on his expression, I had not been expecting those words.

“It was my fault from the start. In fact, I still make mistakes all the time. Perhaps it’s too late, but now that I’ve realized how I feel, I have no choice but to try. I finally understand what Kain meant when he said I’d regret my past behavior.”

It sounded more like he was sorting out his emotions than talking to me. I turned to Sir Kain and found him staring at Lord Felix with an exasperated face.

Oh. There’s a lot going on here that I don’t know about.

I had no idea what Lord Felix was talking about, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of clarifying anything. This only further reminded me that he had no desire whatsoever for me to understand him.

When I thought about it, I realized Lord Felix had always been subtly rejecting me. When I first came to Leeuwenhoek, he’d looked uncomfortable, and he’d always been reluctant to take off his gloves and hold my hand. He probably only relented in the end because he wanted to lift his curse.

Whether we were at the manor or out defeating monsters, he never wanted me to get any closer to him than absolutely necessary. I’d thought he was being modest, but in reality, he just wanted me to stay away.

As I acknowledged this, I realized that there had never been anything between us. Lord Felix hadn’t accepted my request himself; he’d simply gone along with what Lady Lucille wanted.

“Thanks to you, I now understand the importance of communicating with words,” he said. “I really am grateful. And I’m sorry if you didn’t get what you wanted out of your time in Leeuwenhoek.”

That’s not true. I came here to improve my light magic, and I’m more than satisfied with my progress. I just...had a small misunderstanding. Although I did everything with good intentions, neither Lord Felix nor Sir Kain ever asked for any of it.

I suppressed the shame welling up within me, thanked Lord Felix for his hospitality, and left at a much earlier hour than usual.

Chapter 6: The Leeuwenhoek Curse

“Elios, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine... Stay here, Lilybell...” Elios pleaded.

Everyone wants to be pampered when they’re sick.

Elios had fallen ill and had been bedridden for the past few days—even getting up was a struggle. For some reason, the raspweed panacea had no effect on him, and the doctor’s diagnosis had simply been extreme fatigue. I was very worried about him, but apparently this had happened several times before. Perhaps it was a harmful side effect of his body’s halted growth.

I hummed in thought. Since Lilybell’s lifespan had been extended by Master Alys, I’d wondered if Elios’s eternal youth had been caused by a similar spell. When I’d casually asked him about it before, he’d calmly said, “This is the result I wished for,” which had reinforced my theory. However, seeing him in such poor health made me believe otherwise.

What if Elios’s condition is also a type of curse, like Lord Felix’s?

It was quite possible. Was that why Elios had studied curses so much? And was he keeping it a secret from me—someone who lacked the ability to lift curses—because he didn’t want to make me worry?

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. In that case, would the awakened Elvira also be able to solve the problem with Elios’s body?

As a matter of fact, how was Elvira doing? The last time I’d seen her was when she’d visited me at my detached house. Since then, I’d spotted her several times from afar, but I hadn’t asked about her recent activities because I didn’t want to interfere.

Is her relationship with Lord Felix progressing nicely? I’m also curious as to how much her light magic will improve prior to her awakening. It should be safe to ask about her now, right?

I went to ask Sarah about her, but...

“What?! Elvira isn’t coming to Leeuwenhoek anymore?!”

The unexpected news took me by surprise. Apparently Elvira was satisfied with her progress, and today had been her last day here.

Um, what does this mean? Will Lord Felix be visiting her at the Larache territory instead from now on? Does he even have time for that when monster sightings are on the rise? Huh?

The flow of events has changed so much from my prophetic dream that anything could happen at this point. Even so, I’m dying to know what’s going on right now!

If something bad was happening, I couldn’t just sit and do nothing. I decided to go to the main manor and speak directly with Lord Felix.

◯◯◯

Lord Felix spotted me and greeted me with a smile. “Lucille! I was thinking of visiting you too, actually.”

Hmm, at the very least, it doesn’t look like something bad happened.

He showed me to a room. For some reason, after I sat on the sofa, he proceeded to sit at my side instead of across from me. His unusual behavior confused me, but I dismissed it as a concern.

Sarah prepared us two cups of tea, then took her leave. Sir Kain and the other servants went with her. Barring myself and Lord Felix, the room was now empty—another strange occurrence.

However, there were more pressing matters at hand. I got straight to the point: “Um, I heard that Lady Elvira isn’t coming to Leeuwenhoek anymore.”

As soon as I began speaking, Lord Felix’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.

Hmm? Why does he look like he’s in pain?

“I told Miss Larache that she no longer needs to come here,” he said.

“What?! Wh-Why?!”

“Because her light magic has already improved enough,” he replied nonchalantly.

My head was full of question marks.

It was true that Elvira had been commuting to Leeuwenhoek for the purpose of improving her light magic. But wasn’t that supposed to lead to her developing a close relationship with Lord Felix? I’d thought they’d want to be together as much as possible, just like in my prophetic dream...

Was Lord Felix actually the type to separate his work from his personal life, and I’d simply been too fixated on the dream to realize it?

Distressed, I decided to press for more information.

“But aren’t Lady Elvira’s abilities useful to Leeuwenhoek? Perhaps you should have kept her around.”

“No, I couldn’t bear to have her near me any longer.”

I tilted my head. He “couldn’t bear” it? His phrasing is kind of off-putting... What does he mean by that?

Lord Felix’s expression stiffened. “Miss Larache certainly seemed to possess a special power. I even thought that she might have been the person the great sage mentioned.”

That’s right! In my head, I nodded with all my might.

“In fact, my curse did not affect her when she touched my bare hand. On the contrary, her touch seemed to have a slight restorative effect on me even though she wasn’t using magic.”

“Oh, so I was right! I’d seen you together a few times and wondered if that were the case! I see, so a mere touch has a healing effect... You must be very compatible with her!” I smiled and nodded gleefully.

Lord Felix’s eyes narrowed. “For the record, it was simply a test I agreed to as I’d noticed that Miss Larache might be immune to my curse. I absolutely did not do it because I wanted to touch her without my gloves on. Please do not misunderstand.”

“Um, okay? But now that you’ve verified that’s true, why didn’t you keep her in Leeuwenhoek?”

“There were several reasons. One of them was that I was afraid you would misunderstand, as I just said. But also...whenever I touched her hands, I would, without fail, have the same dream that following night.”

There was something odd about what he’d said, but I found myself most intrigued by the last part.

“A dream?” I asked.

Lord Felix grimaced and nodded. “A horrifying and strangely realistic dream, as if I were peering into the future.”

⦿⦿⦿

At last, I confided in Lucille something that I hadn’t even told Kain: the recurring dream I saw after touching Miss Larache’s hand.

“Um, may I ask what happened in the dream?”

Frankly, I wanted her to ask. I was desperate to divulge this. Deep down, I was terrified that if I kept the dream to myself, it would take over me and eventually become reality.

“In the dream, you came to Leeuwenhoek as punishment, just as it was in real life,” I said. “However, instead of you only becoming my fiancée, we were soon to be wed.”

I recounted the dream, sorting out the information as I went. Lucille listened intently all the while.

⦿⦿⦿

The dream began with the same words I’d said to Lucille in real life:

“I hate despicable, foolish women like you the most.”

Looking back, I wondered how I’d been able to say that. I regretted it more than anything. But in the dream, I was convinced that I was right, spitting those words out with more force than the real me had.

Upon hearing that, the Lucille in the dream scowled and glared hatefully at me.

The days after that played out in a way far removed from reality.

Lucille entered the detached house and flew into a rage, flinging everything she could get her hands on and making a mess of the place. Immediately after, she raised her hand to call for Sarah using the communication crystal.

Just like in real life, Sarah neglected Lucille out of defiance. Even when she became the primary target for Lucille’s abuse, she didn’t consult with me right away because she knew it was partially her own fault.

By the time I became aware of this, everything had fallen into a horrible state. I felt my heart grow cold at my wife, who was even viler than the rumors had suggested.

What’s with this woman?

Because of her awful reputation, I’d tried to warn her in advance not to cause problems. All she’d had to do was keep her distance from me and behave. Since I was cursed, I wouldn’t be able to satisfy her desires anyway, so the best option was for us to stay out of each other’s way, content with our individual freedoms. The marriage had been a punishment imposed on her anyway—an absurd one, to say the least. Marrying me as punishment? Really?

As I was racking my brain over what to do, Lucille Gustelanola’s reckless behavior escalated. Unfortunately, I was often away on exterminations, leaving the servants to suffer her episodes while I was gone. Feeling sorry for them, I tried to do what I could to reel her in a bit, but that didn’t stop her from constantly lashing out at the servants, sometimes even injuring them.

My poor initial treatment of her had caused this behavior. Whenever her eyes met mine, they would waver with sorrow. It was a familiar sight: a gaze that sought love. I’d seen that look—on Alice, on Kain, and in the mirror. Lucille, too, harbored profound darkness in her heart.

But that did not excuse her actions.

I didn’t know why, but she seemed to have taken a liking to me. She would try to touch me at every opportunity. Considering her pushiness and lack of restraint, I was concerned she might end up touching my bare hand somehow and suffer the consequences.

Though I couldn’t bring myself to like her, that didn’t mean I wanted to hurt her. Shuddering at the thought, I began to distance myself from her even more.

Then, I met Elvira.

“Um, I can use light magic, but my skill hasn’t been improving... I know I’m in no position to ask this, but could you please let me work in Leeuwenhoek?!”

At first, I thought, Yet another annoyance.

However, in a strange turn of events, I discovered that Elvira was unaffected by my curse. Even when she touched my bare hand, she continued to smile, unconcerned.

I was stunned. Elvira is the only person who can touch me...

My instinct told me that she was special. She was my ray of hope.

From then on, I kept Elvira by my side at all times. As a light magic user, she contributed greatly to our monster exterminations. Her presence alone was enough to make me feel at ease during combat. And most of all, being with someone who was immune to my curse made me feel as if I were a normal human.

Much to my surprise, Elvira seemed to grow fond of me. Thus, I tried to reciprocate to the best of my ability. It was the least I could do to repay her for the peace of mind and proof of normalcy she gave me. When she came close to me, I allowed it. When she looked at me, I made sure to return her gaze. And when her face lit up with joy as a result, I felt joy in my heart too... No, perhaps I was only trying to make myself believe that, thinking it made me normal.

Elvira cried that she felt sorry that I’d been married to Lucille Gustelanola. Indeed, it might have been a pitiful fate. However, I was sure that Lucille Gustelanola, having been forced to marry a cursed man, was even more deserving of pity. From what I’d heard, Prince Bernard had falsely accused her for the benefit of his lover.

Lucille Gustelanola was not merely looking for love. She had been hurt so badly that she didn’t know how to stanch the blood flowing from her wounds—that is, her tears—and couldn’t help but lash out at the people around her. Kain had told me that, and he didn’t approve of the way I gave preferential treatment to Elvira.

“I’m not gonna tell you to stop since I want you to be happy, but how do you think Miss Lucille Gustelanola feels, all alone in that detached house? I know you can’t have her attacking the servants, but honestly, I can see why she acts that way.”

Those words were like small thorns, pricking me in the chest. But what was I supposed to do? My curse prevented me from truly treating her as my wife.

I kept telling myself it was out of my control, but as a result of my complacency, Lucille Gustelanola tried to harm Elvira, only to fail. Her magic ran rampant, shrouding the entire territory of Leeuwenhoek in darkness.

By some twist of fate, Elvira awakened to her true power, dispelled the darkness, and earned the title of saint. Shockingly, her awakening also cleansed the curse on this land.

When the royal family asked Elvira what she wanted as a reward, her request was to marry me. I had no choice but to accept. Elvira was the only person who could make me human. She was special, and I owed her for lifting my curse.

Thus, I took Elvira as my wife.

And Lucille Gustelanola was sentenced to death.

⦿⦿⦿

Even if it was only a dream, the thought of Lucille being executed made me feel sick. And why had I called Miss Larache by her first name and thought of her as special?

Upon waking, I realized that the me in my dream had simply been relieved to know that there was someone immune to my curse. It’d given me some peace of mind, and I’d deluded myself into thinking the feeling meant more than it actually did.

How foolish. My dream self was a clueless idiot that didn’t understand how to truly feel that someone was special or “the one.” I’d only learned such a thing after meeting Lucille.

If I’d kept my distance from Lucille, refusing to coexist with her, that same mistake in my dream could’ve become reality. Just thinking about a timeline where I didn’t know the real Lucille made me shudder. What a horrifying nightmare.

In my dream, the hardest part to accept was that I’d genuinely thought I was experiencing “happiness.” If those events had really come to pass, I would have gone my entire life never knowing true happiness.

Lucille patiently listened to my story.

“I can’t bear to have that nightmare again,” I said. “Feeling happy without you, you being...executed...and the fact that the me in the dream simply accepted it all—it was just too much. Every time I woke up, I thought I was going to lose my mind.”

◯◯◯

A few days had passed since Lord Felix had told me about his dream. I continued to contemplate it as I watched over Elios, whose condition hadn’t improved.

Hmm, no matter how I think about it, it’s nearly identical to my prophetic dream, isn’t it?

The only difference was the point of view, but that was to be expected, since prophetic dreams were visions of the future presented from one’s own perspective. The reason I’d settled on saying it was only “nearly” identical was that, although the events themselves had likely been the same, they’d been perceived in such a different way that I was forced to wonder if Lord Felix’s dream had actually been an alternate timeline altogether.

Then again, since we’d already entered the time frame covered by the dream, perhaps what Lord Felix saw was no longer a “prophetic dream” but “another reality that could have existed.”

Elios had seen that same future, so it wasn’t beyond belief that Lord Felix had too. In fact, I had an idea as to why Lord Felix had become privy to it.

It must be because I filled up his magical circuits when he was suffering from mana exhaustion!

When Master Alys had used her mana to extend my lifespan, her ability to have prophetic dreams had been shared with me. Thus, the same thing must have happened between me and Felix. How intriguing that I was able to cause the same phenomenon as Master Alys! Especially since there was a huge gap in strength between us. I never would have imagined that my measly power could have such an impact on others.

My thoughts drifted to a concern that had lingered in my mind the past few days.

Lord Felix clearly referred to that dream as a “nightmare”... He even said the happiness he felt in the dream was “horrifying.” How should I interpret that?

To be fair, unlike in my prophetic dream, the current version of myself was relatively calm. I also liked to think that I’d built a good relationship with Lord Felix. Perhaps it was because he had these memories of me as a foundation, that even though I’d lived up to my troublesome and violent reputation in the dream, he’d still felt uneasy about my being executed.

But...

“What he said he felt in his dream seemed awfully different from what I’d imagined...”

In my dream, Lord Felix had appeared to love Elvira very much. But according to Lord Felix, that wasn’t quite the case. Of course, since it was the current Lord Felix—who lived in a slightly different timeline—interpreting his behavior rather than the Lord Felix within the dream, I couldn’t be sure that his conclusions were entirely correct.

My guess was that my mana had given him the potential to see this prophetic dream, and coming into physical contact with his fated heroine, Elvira, had triggered it.

But still, if you dreamed that someone was your lover, wouldn’t you normally be more conscious of them in real life?!

Even Roselia, a woman of many liaisons, and Hinako, who hadn’t shown much interest in the opposite sex, had both said something along those lines despite being polar opposites! “I didn’t feel anything toward him yesterday, but after having that dream, I have a bit of a crush now!” Hinako had explained it to me as some sort of connection between dreams and the brain, but I couldn’t remember most of it because it’d been too difficult to understand.

“Lilybell, what are you talking to yourself about?” Elios asked.

He tugged on my sleeve, snapping me back to reality.

Oh no, I can’t just focus on something completely different when Elios is right here. He shouldn’t have to feel lonely when he’s already suffering.

“Sorry, it’s nothing,” I said.

After Lord Felix had told me about his dream, he’d immediately received notice of another monster sighting and hurried away to deal with it. Additional such outbreaks had since prevented us from being able to meet.

As I wanted Elios to rest, I hadn’t told him much about recent events, not even what was currently on my mind. However, he seemed to have noticed that something was off.

“What is it?” he asked. “I wanna know what you’ve been thinking about all this time.”

At this point, the more I try to hide it, the more he’s going to want to know what it is, right?

I decided to start with the least serious topic. “Well, Elvira left Leeuwenhoek, you see. In my prophetic dream, I only ever saw her with Lord Felix, so I’m wondering what will happen now.”

That said, I wasn’t actually concerned. Even though the future had changed, I had no doubt that Elvira was Lord Felix’s fated heroine who would lift his curse. Mostly, I was just curious.

Contrary to the reaction I’d intended to elicit, Elios began to panic when he heard that Elvira was gone.

“Elvira isn’t in Leeuwenhoek anymore? Why? Wait, but what about Felix’s curse?”

“Um, it doesn’t look like it’s been lifted yet...but things were already starting to deviate from the dream, weren’t they? I don’t think we need to worry that much.”

“No... This is a problem, Lilybell. We need Elvira to fulfill her role. How much of the future has changed? What if, in the worst-case scenario, Elvira doesn’t awaken? Then... Then...” Elios desperately tried to form words, but a wooziness came over him.

“Oh no! You’re burning up! Don’t worry, Elios. Everything will be fine, so please rest.”

“But Lilybell, the future...”

“Elios. Even if the future changes, the core destiny will still be fulfilled. It’s okay. Elvira will definitely awaken, and Lord Felix’s curse will definitely be broken.”

“Really...?”

“Of course! Have I ever lied to you before?”

“No... You’re right. If you say it’ll be okay, then it must be true...”

Finally feeling reassured, Elios calmed down, and he immediately fell asleep. It seemed his rising fever had made him unstable, causing mild panic.

Still, his words—“We need Elvira to fulfill her role”—lingered in my mind. Well, either way, she was sure to accomplish it, so I decided to dismiss the concern and focus on Elios instead.

◯◯◯

Elios was showing no sign of improvement. During the several days after he’d fallen ill, Lord Felix had remained quite busy.

I asked Sarah why I hadn’t seen Lord Felix around much, and she explained that monsters were appearing more and more frequently, with no end in sight.

“You must have so much to worry about, big sister Lucille,” Lady Alice said, brooding. “Felix and Kain are always out on exterminations, and Sir Elios is still bedridden.”

Concerned that Elios’s illness might be contagious, Lady Alice and I chose to chat in a room separate from him. After all, Lady Alice wasn’t protected by Saint Clarissa’s magic like I was. While she did have a special constitution that gave her resistance to abnormal situations, it wouldn’t help her against disease.

Sitting next to me on the sofa, Lady Alice pulled me into a listless hug. As I comforted her in my arms, I thought, There does seem to be an unsettling mood hanging in the air. Everyone around me has something going on except Maouldoth.

Speaking of, for some reason, he remained incredibly popular with the kitten squad. In fact, the kittens were currently sprawled all over him as he took his nap in the corner of the room. In the beginning, he’d yelled at them, “Don’t touch me! I’m not your friend!” but it hadn’t deterred them at all. Either because he’d gotten used to them or because he’d resigned himself to his fate, he now allowed them to cling to him. The sight was enough to melt one’s heart.

Michelle peeked out from the pile of kittens, strolled toward us, and hopped into Lady Alice’s lap. The girl’s eyes widened a bit in surprise.

“Oh my!” Lady Alice exclaimed, smiling happily. “How unusual for you to sit in my lap, Lady Michelle! Whenever I’m here, you usually cling to Lady Lucille as if to say, She’s mine!”

Lady Alice is trying to act aggrieved, but she can’t hide her delight. So adorable! And perhaps Michelle noticed that Lady Alice was feeling glum and is trying to comfort her. Tee hee! It’s great that everyone is getting along!

A realization suddenly came to me. Though the cats were free to come and go as they pleased, wandering around the detached house and relaxing wherever and however they liked, I’d never really seen any of them in Elios’s room.

Cats had keener senses than humans. Could it be that they sensed Elios’s poor condition? No, as I thought about it, I realized even before he’d fallen ill, they hadn’t entered his room. And yet, the kittens had been inseparable from Maouldoth since the day he arrived. Why didn’t any of them ever approach Elios?

Once I started pulling at this thread of thought, I couldn’t stop. Eventually, I decided to ask Mars, who’d just entered the room and was nuzzling my legs.

“Meow? Hey, Mars, are you guys not particularly fond of Elios?”

“Meooow,” the cat complained.

Oh my! Her response was a bit unexpected. In Mars’s words: “We love him and want to cozy up to him, but we can’t!”

“Meow, why can’t you?” I asked.

“Myaa!”

Hmm. “Because we aren’t strong enough!” you say? Now I’m even more confused!

Sulking because she couldn’t get close to Elios, Mars curled up at my feet and promptly fell asleep, as if to say, I’m not talking about this anymore!

“Seeing you talk to cats never stops being strange,” Lady Alice murmured. She turned her attention to Michelle on her lap. “Meow? Myaa?”

When her attempt at communication was ignored, she pouted.

Ahhh, how can my friend be so cute?! But you know, Lady Alice, what you just said means something awfully embarrassing in cat language, so Michelle was probably right not to respond!

Snapping awake from his nap, Maouldoth craned his neck to peer outside in suspicion. An explosion thundered in the distance, interrupting the peaceful atmosphere.

Is that what I think it is?!

The cats gathered around me, trembling, hackles raised and tails puffed.

“Eek! What was that?!” Lady Alice screamed, clutching at me.

There was an intense energy tingling on my skin that lingered for a while, but it eventually subsided. The original calmness about us returned.

As Maouldoth curled up on the floor again, he muttered, “Oh, an awakening of light magic. Whatever.”

That’s right! Somewhere out there, Elvira finally awakened to her true power! Destiny really is proceeding as foretold. I was a little concerned since Elios seemed anxious, but there was no need to worry all along! Now then, I wonder how Lord Felix’s curse is going to be lifted?

“I thought things would change since that girl left, but oh well,” Maouldoth continued. “Guess Elios is gonna disappear after all.”

Elios...is going to disappear? What?

The dragon then released a laid-back yawn as if he hadn’t just made an awfully serious statement.

“Hey, Maouldoth, what do you mean by that?” I asked.

“Huh?” He pursed his lips. “Crap, was I not supposed to say that? Then again, it’s not like he told me to keep it a secret... Man, I let my guard down since I thought it’d be fine by now. Uh-oh.”

“What are you mumbling about? Answer my question.”

Maouldoth tilted his head, muttering to himself, “Eh, whatever. She would’ve found out soon anyway.”

He told me what he knew, then declared, “I don’t remember the specifics since I didn’t really care, so ask Elios for the rest!”

Nevertheless, what little he did tell me surprised me greatly.

◯◯◯

Elios was still too exhausted to get out of bed. He also seemed to run a fever every now and again. I pulled up a chair and sat by his side, taking his hand.

He slowly opened his eyes to look at me. “Oh, it’s Lilybell, ha ha. I’m so happy to have you here with me.”

“Yes, I’m here for you—and I will be forever.”

Normally, that response would’ve made him rejoice, but instead, he simply smiled and said nothing. These days, that was how he was. Even when I talked to him about the future, he’d only smile happily, never saying anything definitive.

How could I have been so oblivious? Then again, I never imagined that Elios might disappear!

“Elios, Maouldoth told me you’re going to disappear,” I said. “What does that mean?”

He’d only explained the very beginning of Elios’s story, so I was clueless as to what exactly was happening.

Elios’s hand trembled in mine. “Oh, so the cat’s out of the bag. Well, I didn’t think that dragon would be able to keep a secret from you anyway, so I didn’t tell him to. I mean, I wouldn’t want to keep secrets from my beloved Lilybell either. It’d be unbearably painful.”

“But you were willing to accept that pain in this case?”

He smiled awkwardly. “I only wanted to make happy memories with you before saying goodbye.”

“I won’t let you say goodbye.”

“Heh heh, my Lilybell really is kind, dependable, and brave.” He gently squeezed my hand. “Maouldoth probably didn’t even remember half of what I told him, right? He doesn’t care about anything besides you. Let’s see, where to start... Maybe the very beginning, after you disappeared?”

Elios proceeded to recount what had happened after I’d leaped into the magic circle in his place: The ritual had succeeded in summoning a demon. The demon had been very satisfied with the provided sacrifice—me—and offered to grant Elios his wish. Elios had wished to “see Lilybell again.”

Naturally, it had come at a cost that had been unknowable at the time. When Elios realized it wasn’t only him paying the price, he had started researching ways to break the curse all by himself and eventually became known as a great sage. Even the royal family valued his power and knowledge despite concealing his existence.

So that’s why he knows so much about curses.

My heart ached for the boy. When I’d first met him as Lilybell, he’d also been alone. Though he’d acted calm about it because he’d thought it was normal, in reality, he’d been extremely lonely and clingy. I’d wanted to show this adorable boy the world one day, teaching him all sorts of fun and interesting things—just as my beloved owners had done for me.

Yet, in the end, I’d left him behind. Even so, I’d prayed that he would find happiness.

But Elios remained alone, waiting for the day he could see me again...

Elios had no one but me. Thrown back into the world entirely alone, he’d studied curses in the Magic Tower for what must’ve been an astoundingly long time, all while blaming himself. How had he felt during those years?

And why is he talking about disappearing now?

The next part of his story answered my question.

⦿⦿⦿

Lilybell, do you remember how I didn’t want to talk about myself when we first met all those years ago? That was because I was having so much fun with you that I didn’t want to think about anything else. I genuinely didn’t care about anything that didn’t involve you.

What I’m about to tell you has to do with my birth. I know it’s been a long time coming. Will you listen?

When I made a deal with the demon summoned with your sacrifice, I indirectly gained benefits from your mana—namely, prophetic dreams and improved recall. Because of that, I didn’t forget events from long before I met you—memories that would normally have faded with time. Eventually, I came to understand the meaning of those memories, and when I did, I was forced to come to terms with everything that had happened to me.

I didn’t start having prophetic dreams right away, though; that power works in a special way.

I was born as the second son of a noble family. Well, I say that, but my older brother was almost the same age as me. We were twins.

This is going to sound ridiculous, but my family thought twins were unlucky. It was actually a widespread belief at the time, but I guess you could say my family was especially superstitious.

As a baby, I often heard them say things like:

“We must deal with it quickly.”

“Our house is going to be cursed.”

“But what can we do?”

“I know someone who can help...”

Do you get it now? My family—my own parents—sold me to a shady corporation that was secretly gathering people to sacrifice to demons.

You’re smart, Lilybell, so you might’ve guessed it already, but my birth family apparently had a pretty high rank. Contacting an underground organization would’ve been impossible otherwise. Most nobles are involved in dirty business. That’s something I’ve learned well over the past centuries.

Anyway, as a high-ranking noble, I naturally had a considerable amount of mana, so the organization was very pleased. In other words, I was lucky because that meant they planned to keep me alive for some time before offering me up—the organization was going to “raise” me into a high-quality sacrifice to be used when a powerful ruler wished for something extravagant.

And then I met you, Lilybell.

If I were to focus only on that, I would have nothing but gratitude for my former family. But when I think about how you died because you took my place as the demon’s sacrifice, I get unbearably angry and distressed. Emotions are such a hassle.

Ahh, when it comes to you, I can’t help but think about things I shouldn’t.

The demon granted my wish in a malicious way. I’d assumed it’d return you to me right away—I never thought it’d freeze my body’s time and make me wait an eternity for you to be reborn.

Still, in the end, I did get to see you again, so I do feel grateful to the demon. You might get angry if I say that, though. Just know that my feelings regarding the demon are really complicated, so it’s hard to explain.

I mentioned earlier that my wish came with a cost, but it wasn’t just I who paid it. My “blood”—my very existence—was essentially the price. An ordinary demon wouldn’t have been able to grant a wish that involved the complexities of lives, but in this case, it succeeded because of two factors: the high-quality sacrifice and the fact that the price was shouldered by more than just me.

Was that confusing? Sorry, it’s my first time explaining this to someone. I was able to understand because I myself was the price—I could feel it in my blood and bones.

To put it simply, the price was paid by myself and my blood relatives. Although I was a nameless orphan, my original surname was Leeuwenhoek. Felix is a distant descendant of my older twin brother.

In other words, Felix and the land of Leeuwenhoek are cursed because of me and my former family.

After a long time, my wish came true when we reunited. The great power the demon used to stop my time returned to me together with a curse. From the very start, the final cost of my wish was going to be my life, consumed by the demon.

But if I simply accepted that, then anyone who shared the curse’s price with me—including Felix—would also suffer a cruel fate.

That’s where Elvira Larache comes in. If she awakens her light magic and blasts away the entire curse along with the demon, then I’ll just disappear with the demon, and that’ll be the end of that. It has to be while I’m still alive, though. If I die, the demon will absorb my power and grow stronger. At the present time, Elvira’s just strong enough to defeat it, as my wish being fulfilled slightly weakened it.

Our opponent is a demon that devoured Lilybell, so you can imagine how powerful it must be. Without Elvira, the damage will surely extend beyond me, Felix, and the land of Leeuwenhoek. I don’t want to get you involved in this when you’ve just been reborn.

If Elvira lifts the curse, Felix and this land will be freed, and everyone gets a happy ending.

What? That is a happy ending, isn’t it? I mean, my family and I got what we deserved, but Felix doesn’t have anything to do with what happened all those centuries ago. I only hate him because I’m jealous that he’ll be able to stay by your side. He gets to have a future with you, and I don’t. And yes, I know I’m a terrible person for thinking that way about him when it’s my fault he’s cursed. But emotions can’t be controlled by reason, can they?

I’m sorry I didn’t tell you all of this until now, Lilybell. I figured if I was going to die anyway, I didn’t want to make you angry by telling you the truth. I wanted to leave you with only happy memories when I disappeared.

I’ve caused so much suffering to the people of this bloodline. But I’ll be gone soon. So please don’t forgive me for my horrible deeds, my beloved Lilybell.

◯◯◯

After listening to Elios’s story, I found myself curious about something.

“Why did you tell Maouldoth this?” I asked.

“Because the future seems to have changed considerably from the prophetic dream. It’d be a disaster if I died before Elvira awakened, wouldn’t it? So I got Maouldoth to share his mana with me just in case. That way I can buy some time if I need to.”

“I see...”

As a dragon, Maouldoth’s mana could indeed be strong enough to prevent death. However, it would only maintain a bare minimum state of life that was accompanied by intense agony.

“So the reason you said you can’t lift Lord Felix’s curse is because you’re at the center of it,” I said.

Elios smiled awkwardly, but I wasn’t going to let him confuse me with his ambivalent behavior.

“Why did you tell Maouldoth to erase my memories if worse comes to worst?” I asked.

“He even told you that? Well, I guess a dragon wouldn’t care about tact.”

“Answer me, Elios.”

That’s right—Elios had asked Maouldoth to erase my memories of him if the situation called for it. I couldn’t believe it! It was surprising that such a thing could even be possible. Apparently, over the years, Elios had collected the curses he’d lifted and stored them in a magical tool. When he’d been modifying Maouldoth’s seal, he’d converted that device into something that could wipe memories only once and had given it to the dragon.

What incredible power... How much research does it take to be able to do something like that? It makes me feel even more sad about how much time Elios has spent on his own.

Elios heaved a sigh of resignation. “I couldn’t bear the thought of you feeling responsible after I was gone. Heh heh, I did hesitate a bit, though, thinking it might not be so bad if you kept me in your thoughts forever.”

Hearing all of this, anger began to burn within me. It seemed that Elios had been afraid that I’d get angry if I found out what he’d done.

And he was right!

“You’ve really done it now, Elios.”

“I’m sorry, Lilybell. Because of me, so many people are sufferi—”

“That’s not what I mean! Ugh! You pretend to understand me, but you’re completely off base!”

“Huh?”

I wasn’t an especially virtuous person, and of course, I was no saint. Frankly, I didn’t care about Lord Felix’s ancestors who had been cursed for generations—I’d never even met them, after all. The boy right in front of me was obviously more important!

“Look how much you’re suffering, Elios! Why do you think I’d be angry on behalf of strangers?! I’m angry because you tried to keep something so critical from me!”

Elios gasped.

I mean, it’s true, isn’t it? If Maouldoth hadn’t slipped up, Elios might’ve died without telling me anything! I might’ve even been forced to forget about him! How could I possibly accept that?!

Most of all, I was furious that Elios had fully resigned himself to such an awful fate.

“But I’m not so heartless that I’d unleash my anger on a sick person, so I’ll save the lecture for later. We’ll have all the time in the world after everything is resolved, so you’d better prepare yourself!” I declared, standing up and pointing my index finger at him.

“Lilybell...it’s impossible.”

“Hmph! I will not let you die! So why do you look so downcast? Have I ever lied to you before?”

“No...”

I gently helped Elios sit up. His face was scrunched up, and his eyes were brimming with tears. Perhaps feeling a bit better after revealing his past—or because he was summoning what remaining strength he had now that the end was nigh—he seemed to have regained some energy and was able to stand on his own.

But of course, I wasn’t going to let his life end like this.

“Now then, let’s go!” I said. “It might be hard, but do your best anyway!”

“Where are we going?”

Heh heh! I didn’t have that prophetic dream for nothing, and I’m not stupid!

“In the dream, Elvira blew away the curse with the force of her awakening, right? It looks like that didn’t happen this time because the catalyst for her awakening was too weak,” I said. The fact that Elios was still alive was proof of that.

It just goes to show how powerful my rampaging dark magic was. My triggering her awakening ended up eradicating the curse in an instant! Tee hee, I’m so amazing!

“But the timing shouldn’t be too far off,” I continued. “If my hunch is right, the demon will be appearing soon!”

A powerful conviction grew within me.

Since Elios’s life is at stake, I can’t let Elvira dispel the curse. This is the total opposite of what I’ve been trying to accomplish thus far, but oh well!

“Elios, do you know where Elvira is?”

“I think so. My connection with the demon is strong right now, so she’s probably wherever feels the most unpleasant to me.”

“Okay. So first, we need to go to Elvira and ask her not to do anything to the curse!”

I helped Elios onto the horse I usually rode, and together, we sped away from the detached house. Elios now had enough strength to move on his own without issue. Whether that was due to him regaining the will to live or his proximity to the demon, I wasn’t sure.

Either way, I’m glad I asked Lord Felix to let me practice riding a horse!

I thought my steed might be scared of the demon’s presence, but it turned out to be very determined and reliable.

“Lilybell, what are you going to do after stopping Elvira? I still think we should let her use her power as prophesized, so that only I have to disa—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence.”

Elios fell silent.

“Heh heh! I have a plan. Just leave it to me!”

Really, Elios gets discouraged so easily! The next time he mentions sacrificing himself, I’ll have to punish him.

As we continued onward, Jack, Mars, and Michelle suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

“Meow!”

“Meooow!”

“Mreow?”

“Myaa?! You were following us?!”

Where were they hiding? I didn’t notice them at all! Oh, but I see...

“Tee hee! You guys are worried about Elios too, aren’t you?”

“Huh?” Elios looked confused.

The cats meowed excitedly as if to say, That’s right!

Only just before, Mars had complained that she wanted to get closer to Elios but couldn’t. I now knew that it was because the curse was centered around him. After all, cats had keener senses than humans. Even if they didn’t understand the curse, they could innately feel that it was unsafe to approach him.

This also reminded me of what Lady Alice had once said about Lord Felix.

“You see, despite Felix’s appearance, he loves small animals!”

“But they run away from him in fear, so he never gets to touch them.”

Oh? Could it be that the animals weren’t scared of Lord Felix himself, but rather, it was the curse keeping them at bay?

If so, then he’ll be able to play with the cats once his curse is lifted, won’t he?

In my mind, I imagined Lord Felix petting a cat to his heart’s content, his cheeks flushed with joy. Then I pictured him buried in cats, looking like he could die of happiness.

Wait, wouldn’t this Lord Felix be...really cute?! That tall and intimidating Lord Felix, fawning over kitty cats! Just the thought is wonderful! I need to make this a reality!

“Meow!”

“Myaa! Tee hee, that’s right! These guys really want to play with you, Elios. Once the curse is gone, I’m sure they’ll be all over you for quite a while!”

Elios stared at the three cats with an expression that was hard to describe. It was as if he were looking at something dazzling—or trying to endure pain.

◯◯◯

When we finally came upon Elvira, she was surrounded by unfamiliar knights. Even more unfamiliar to me was the large monster lying motionless on the ground before her. Though it didn’t appear to be breathing, it exuded an incredibly sinister mana.

Hmm, it looks like this monster was the catalyst for Elvira’s awakening.

Frankly, I was relieved. An enemy of this caliber wouldn’t trigger an awakening powerful enough to blow away the curse.

Too bad for Elvira, though.

The knights were celebrating their victory over their foe—after all, it was unique enough to have caused a light magic awakening in the first place. I was only downplaying it because I had the curse on my mind.

Noticing my presence, Elvira turned to look at me, her eyes sparkling with energy.

“Oh my, is that you, Lady Lucille?! What are you doing here? Wait, first, I need to tell you something!” Beaming with excitement, she stepped away from the knights to approach me. “I thought I’d gotten quite good with my light magic, but I was wrong. It actually awakened just now! Magical power filled my body, and then, through my light magic I learned that I’d be able to lift the curse on Lord Felix and Leeuwenhoek with it!”

Ahhh, I’m so sorry, Elvira! I really can’t have you doing that!

I glanced back at Elios, whom I’d inadvertently left on the horse behind me. He wore a concerned expression—he’d probably overheard what Elvira had said, despite the distance between us. Not wanting him to worry, I gave him a reassuring nod as if to say, It’s okay!

This kind of thing only gets more awkward the longer you draw it out, so I’m just going to give it to her straight. Here goes!

“Lady Elvira, I’m really, really sorry, but I can’t let you break Lord Felix’s curse!”

“Huh?” She froze, features still suspended in an elated smile.

Well, that’s a perfectly natural reaction. Elvira’s just trying to do the right thing out of the goodness of her heart. She’d never expect anyone to tell her to stop.

She deserved something of an explanation. I didn’t have enough time to cover it all, though, so I decided to keep it to the bare minimum.

“Umm, you see, Lord Felix’s curse is actually so strong that if you try to lift it, your powers will react so dramatically that they’ll simply blast away the curse with sheer force!”

“How do you know that? And...what’s wrong with that?”

Oh! Right, Elvira wouldn’t know the problem!

Since the plan I had in mind required Elvira’s help, I’d need to inform her of the most crucial elements. After contemplating how to best explain myself, I realized that this hesitation was only wasting time.

“The truth is, Elios is involved in Lord Felix’s curse. If you blow away the curse, you’ll be blowing Elios away too!”

“Wait a second, what are you talking about?!”

Oh no! She’s panicking!

I was in such a rush that the more I tried to explain, the more I struggled to find the right thing to say. Argh!

“Anyway, using your powerful magic on the curse will put Elios in danger, so leave the curse to me!”

“Lady Lucille...I don’t really understand. Even if that is the case, what exactly is the issue?”

“Huh?!”

Her unexpected response put me at a loss for words. As if unsatisfied with my reaction, she frowned and stared at me in suspicion.

“If what you say is true, then it’s Sir Elios who caused Lord Felix’s curse, correct? It only makes sense for him to face the blowback!”

“I-I guess that’s one way to see it.”

“Lord Felix never did anything wrong, yet you would have a man who’s suffered all his life continue to do so in order to protect the instigator of the curse?! I can’t go along with that!”

“I...guess that is one way to see it.”

Elvira wasn’t wrong. Regardless of his reasons, Elios had been the one to curse Leeuwenhoek, and technically his death would be classified as a rebound effect of the curse. Since he was essentially linked to the curse at the moment, it was fair to say that he would reap what he’d sowed.

It was possible that Elvira was much more adherent to “doing the right thing” than I’d originally thought.

“I do plan on doing something about Lord Felix’s curse,” I said. “I’m not going to let him suffer forever.”

“You’re aware of the increase in monster sightings, aren’t you? My awakened powers alerted me to the fact that the curse is growing stronger by the day. In other words, Lord Felix’s pain is worsening as well. I don’t know why this is happening all of a sudden, though.”

I knew the reason—it was because Elios’s wish had been granted.

“That’s why I want to lift his curse as soon as possible!” Elvira insisted. “I’ve finally obtained the power to do that, so why are you trying to stop me? Why aren’t you more concerned about Lord Felix?!”

Her agitation was mounting the longer the conversation went on.

“I know I’m being selfish, but I really want to save Elios too!”

“But Sir Elios is a great sage and an expert in curses, isn’t he?! If you’re capable of saving him, then he should be able to do it himself too!”

“That’s true. If Elios were to give it his all, he might be able to save himself.”

I, too, believed that if Elios hadn’t given up—if he refused to accept his punishment and truly wanted to live on—he could have found a way on his own. But he hadn’t been able to do that.

“Well, since we don’t disagree, why don’t you let me lift the curse?” Elvira reasoned.

“Elios can’t save his own heart.”

I wasn’t only concerned with Elios’s life.

Elvira clammed up after hearing that.

“Lucille? What are you doing here?” came a sudden voice from behind me.

I turned around to Lord Felix cantering in on a horse that stopped next to Elios’s. Past him was Sir Kain, also on horseback. Elvira’s awakening had likely drawn them here.

Regardless, I was currently in the middle of an important discussion. Instead of answering Lord Felix, I made a point to focus on Elvira.

“Huh? You’re ignoring him?” she asked, bewildered. But again, there was a more pressing matter at hand.

“Lady Elvira, I think your feelings are valid. Nevertheless, I want to go ahead with my plan.”

“Even if it means Lord Felix has to suffer?”

From the corner of my eye, I saw Lord Felix twitch at the mention of his name, but I kept my gaze centered on Elvira.

“Yes! I do feel bad for Lord Felix, but abandoning Elios simply isn’t an option for me, so I want Lord Felix to hang in there for just a bit longer! For the record, my opinion would not change even if Elios could protect himself.”

Elvira’s expression was stiff as she stared at me. “Why are you trying so hard for Sir Elios’s sake? What is your connection with him? Shouldn’t you...prioritize Lord Felix, your fiancé?”

Hmm, it’s only natural for Elvira to think that way. Though Elios may look like a small child, the rumors only refer to him as an incredibly talented great sage. Elvira can’t understand why I’m worried about him while seemingly having no meaningful relationship with him.

Her last sentence had been quiet and difficult to make out, but I felt obligated to at least answer her first question. Besides, as I’d been saying to myself all this time, there had never been a reason to hide the truth in the first place! It was just that I hadn’t had a chance to reveal it. So I decided that now was the time—luckily for me, Lord Felix and Sir Kain were present too!

“The truth is, in my past life, I was the most beloved cat in the world! For various reasons, I was able to live for centuries, and Elios was my last owner. But as you can see, Elios is only a child, so he was more like a little brother to me, tee hee! So as his big sister, I can’t just let him die!”

Elvira widened her eyes and shrieked, “Wait! My mind can’t process all of this so suddenly!”

“Is that so? I can explain in more detail later, if you’d like! But there’s something else I have to do first!”

“Um, what?! Okay, I have a lot of questions, but...did you just say that Sir Elios is going to die?!”

“Haven’t I been saying that this entire time?”

“Not that I’m aware of! You said something about him getting blown away, but you were so casual about it that I didn’t imagine it was his life that was at risk!” Elvira squeaked.

Oh my! Perhaps this is my fault. I could have sworn I’d conveyed the threat clearly! After all, having a connection to a demon is akin to being at death’s door. It’s only natural that Elios’s life would be in danger after centuries of exposure.

“I wouldn’t have been so callous if I’d known he was going to die!” Elvira continued. “Ugh, I’m supposed to be a better person than this... Now I just feel evil.”

“You aren’t evil at all, Lady Elvira! It’s okay!”

In fact, you’re going to become a saint really soon!

“You’ve always been like this, Lilybell,” Elios said, exasperated. “When you get worked up, it’s impossible to figure out what you’re trying to say.”

Lord Felix and Sir Kain were currently sporting identical dumbfounded expressions.

Lord and retainer really are similar, huh? Is it because they’ve been together for so long? It’s said that dogs and cats resemble their owners too. Then again, I wouldn’t call myself similar to my past owners... They were all oddballs, after all!

“Lilybell...” Lord Felix murmured. “Was that Lucille’s name in her previous life? Is her story...actually true?”

Now that I had confirmation that the others aside from Elvira had heard my confession too, I decided to go straight to making my request.

“Anyway, that’s how it is, Lord Felix! I’m really sorry I have to ask you this, but could I ask for your help? Though it’ll probably be extremely painful and unbearable...”

As I realized how inhumane I sounded, my voice faltered toward the end. Now I feel evil!

Telling anyone something was going to be painful and unbearable would probably make them reluctant to agree to anything. Even if it didn’t, at the very least, they’d still demand further explanation—or so I thought.

“I understand,” he said without a moment’s hesitation. “What do you need me to do?”

“Um, are you sure about this?” I asked, startled.

“Yes. I want to respect your wishes, Lucille. Even if it’s to my disadvantage, I have faith in your heart.”

Oh my! This is the greatest display of trust I could ever ask for. I’m touched.

In my prophetic dream, I had lamented how pitiful I was, neglected by both Prince Bernard and Lord Felix until the very end. But now, Lord Felix was looking me straight in the eye, telling me that he had faith in me.

“But to be honest,” he continued, “I haven’t grasped the situation at all, so please explain it to me later if possible.”

“Tee hee! Of course I will!”

I really am blessed! So I need to let Elios experience a blessed future too!

⦿⦿⦿

Wait, hold on, what?

I, Kain Purcell, was in a state of utter confusion.

You’re telling me that in her past life, Lu was the most beloved cat in the world?! Who would ever belie— Actually, uh, weirdly enough, it kind of makes sense...

The reasonable mini-me in my head was shouting, No way, it’s too ridiculous to be true! Not only did she retain memories of her past life, but she was a cat?! And yes, I agreed with him. But at the same time, it was all starting to click together. So that’s why cats like her so much! And that’s why she knows how to talk to cats!

Okay, but even if I give Lu the benefit of the doubt, there’s still something weird about what she said, isn’t there? She said she lived for centuries, which isn’t something that can be explained away by “for various reasons.” How can a cat live for centuries? Are cats really that long-lived? No, I’m pretty sure this goes beyond “long-lived”!

Also, she said that Great Sage Elios was her last owner, right? I don’t know how long ago she died in her past life, but it had to have been before her current self was born, yeah? I mean, the whole point is that it was a past life. That means the great sage has to have grown older by at least Lu’s current age since then, but he’s clearly a child! Then again, it doesn’t make sense for such a small kid to be a great sage in the first place. Nothing here makes sense—including what Lu said about the curse. How is the great sage connected to Felix’s curse? Why would Miss Elvira blasting away the curse put the great sage’s life in danger? Ugh, I just wanna cradle my head in my hands!

And yet, Felix didn’t seem to have any doubts at all. He was dumbstruck for a second but showed no signs of panic or confusion.

“H-Hey, Felix, do you really believe all that nonsense Lu said? Even if you do, don’t you have questions?” I asked while Lu was explaining her plan to Miss Elvira.

It wasn’t that I was suspicious of Lu. She wasn’t the kind of girl to tell lies. So despite the contradictions in her story, it was all probably true. But even so, it was hard to believe...wasn’t it?

I was asking Felix this in hopes that his response would calm my confusion a bit. However, he simply tilted his head as if to say, Why are you asking the obvious?

“Lucille doesn’t lie, so it’s probably true,” he said. “As I told her just now, I’d like a proper explanation later—it doesn’t seem like we have time for that right now, so it can wait.”

Oh god, he’s being dead serious! Now I look like the bad guy for doubting her! But I’m pretty sure my reaction’s the normal one! No matter how much you trust someone, it’s hard to instantly accept such a farfetched premise!

As I screamed that in my heart, I felt a tear well up in my eye.

Ah, I see. Felix must’ve realized that it doesn’t matter whether Lu’s story is real or fake. He doesn’t trust it because “Lu wouldn’t lie;” he trusts it because “Lu says so.” Regardless of whatever story Lu shares, he never has a choice but to trust it anyway.

Felix, who spent his whole life distancing himself from others and building a wall around himself, is now trusting someone with all his heart.

As if interpreting my silence as disagreement, Felix added, “Also, even if it’s all one big lie, I’m sure Lucille has her reasons. So there’s nothing to be concerned about.”

Ha ha! What the hell? Why are you reassuring me about Lu? What I’m worried about is you!

But yeah, it was dumb of me to have doubts. We’re talking about someone who managed to earn Felix’s unconditional trust. This can’t end badly. I’m ultimately just concerned about my liege over here, who, despite his appearance, is incredibly clumsy, sensitive, and unreliable. But if Felix says he’s fine, then he’s fine.

“Okay, Lord Felix, can we talk now?” Lu asked.

“Have you finished speaking with Miss Larache?” Felix replied.

“For now, yes!”

Lu rushed toward Felix with a smile.

Come to think of it, despite Miss Elvira’s repeated requests to be called by her first name, Felix had never stopped calling her Miss Larache. Meanwhile, he’d started calling Lu by her first name right after the initial misunderstanding had been cleared up.

Lu’s been special to you right from the start, huh? You just weren’t aware of it. But yeah, I know, I should keep my mouth shut and patiently watch your feelings develop.

That said...

“W-Wait, Lu! What about me?! What do you need me to do?!” I asked, panicking as I watched Lu lead Felix away by the arm. You don’t think I’m useless, do you?!

She turned around with a serious expression.

Uhh, that doesn’t mean I want a particularly critical task, though...

“I have a very, very important job for you, Sir Kain,” she said.

“Wh-What is it?” I gulped.

“I want you to accompany them until everything is over!” She pointed at the three cats that were always following her around.

“Uh...”

“I’m sorry you have to take on such a huge responsibility! But these three can’t approach Lord Felix or Elios, and I need Elvira to stay with Lord Felix, so you’re the only person I can ask!”

“W-Wow, I’m honored to be given such an important duty. You can count on me...”

“Thank you so much!” Lu smiled, seeming genuinely relieved.

Well, I guess it’s true that cats are important! They’re cute, after all!

“Meooow! Jack, Mars, Michelle, don’t leave Sir Kain’s side, okay?”

“Myaa!”

“Mreooow.”

“Hiss!”

The cats scrambled up my legs with gusto.

Uh, did one of them just hiss at me? But man, they really are adorable...

I cradled the three cats in my arms and resolved to watch everything play out without interfering.

Well then, Lu, what kind of fairy tale are you going to show me this time?

Chapter 7: Relying on My Loved Ones!

Now that I’d relayed my plan to Elvira and Lord Felix and entrusted Jack, Mars, and Michelle to Sir Kain, everything was in place.

And just in time too! I feel powerful, painfully stagnant mana tingling my skin.

Despite it being my first time experiencing this as Lucille, I recognized the mana from my numerous demon encounters in my Lilybell days. I didn’t know it at the time, but those frequent run-ins must’ve been because my owners were the Champions of Destiny. Justice is meant to fight evil, right? Tee hee!

Not to mention, my previous life had ended while being swallowed up by this painful mana. There was no way I’d forget it.

We had moved to the forest where Maouldoth used to be sealed. Though the demon was bound to appear in Leeuwenhoek, I’d chosen this location to avoid exposing the townspeople and the staff—and cats—at the manor to danger.

Elios and Sir Kain were on standby a short distance away. As the mana grew stronger, Elios’s condition worsened until he was eventually forced to sit down.

I wish I could run over and help, but you’ll have to bear with the pain for now, Elios!

While waiting for the fateful moment to arrive, I used my dark magic to send a telepathic message to the Leeuwenhoek detached house.

Maouldoth responded instantly: “Huh?! I fall asleep for a second and you’re gone! Hey, you didn’t go somewhere without me, did you?!”

Apparently he’d still been having his afternoon nap and hadn’t realized I’d left until he received my message.

That sleepyhead! Well, he’s only a baby dragon, so he does need to eat and sleep a lot to grow bigger!

By the way, whenever I said that kind of thing to Maouldoth directly, he’d get incredibly cranky and say, “Don’t treat me like a kid! I’m a proud, strong, adult male!” So in my wisdom, I chose to keep my thoughts to myself this time.

“Sorry! I didn’t forget you, though! It’s going to get a bit rowdy soon, so I want you to protect everyone at the manor if the situation calls for it!”

“Huh? But if you’re not here, I don’t have a reason to stay...”

“Please, Maouldoth! This job calls for a proud, strong dragon! You’re the only one I can ask!”

“O-Oh? Well, if you insist, I guess I can do it. But when you get back, you have to play with me instead of those damn cats!”

“Thank you, Maouldoth! I knew I could count on you! I love you!”

“Huh?! Heh heh, heh heh heh, heh! Aw, ever since you were Lilybell, you’ve always been hopeless without me! B-By the way, I also lo—”

Reflecting on it, I realized that since we’d both been surrounded by cats these days, we hadn’t been spending time together.

Once this is over, I’ll play the usual games with him, like crossbreeding poisonous mushrooms to make delicious nontoxic ones and competing to see who can catch the rarest bugs.

But for now, I have to focus on the looming crisis, I thought, ending our telepathic conversation.

I’d positioned Lord Felix and Elvira nearby, while the horses, Elios, Sir Kain, and the cats were farther away for their safety.

As dark mana began to swirl around Lord Felix, an immense power approached.

“Ngh...” he groaned.

“Lord Felix!” Elvira shrieked.

Despite what was happening to them, I didn’t dare turn to look. I had to keep my eyes on the sky. Nothing was there yet, but the demon had to be close by.

“Come at me!” I yelled. “I, Lucille, shall defeat you!”

The space I’d been staring at began to sway and distort before splitting open. A being emerged from the gap, shrouded in sinister black mana. It was a very familiar sight—one that I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to.

Been a while, demon! In fact, it’s been ever since the final moments of my previous life!

The demon was essentially the incarnation of the curse itself, so its sudden appearance had a dramatic effect on our surroundings. The trees, flowers, and plants near the demon all began to wither and decay. In the same instant, slashes began hissing through the air in Lord Felix’s direction—the dark mana swirled around him like blades slicing at his skin.

“Eek! Lord Felix!”

Elvira had been tasked with healing him when he was at his limit. That was why she was with him now.

“Ha ha, I see... This is indeed quite painful and unbearable,” Lord Felix noted.

“I’ll heal your wounds, Lord Felix!” Elvira panicked.

“No, I can keep going.”

“But...!”

“If you heal me now, this dark mana will likely target the great sage and harm him instead.”

Elios was lying on the ground at this point, desperately straining to keep his head up to see what was happening.

Lord Felix was right—as expected of the curse’s bearer, he could sense what it would do. And if he refused to take the brunt of the curse’s power, Elios would be in grave danger.

I really am sorry for forcing such a painful job onto you, Lord Felix!

“I’m sorry, Lord Felix,” I said aloud. “Once this is all over, I’ll undergo any punishment you want!” I really meant it.

“No, that won’t be necessary.”

“But...”

I can’t accept his kindness to this extent, can I? Like Elvira said, Lord Felix is the pitiful victim here. Hurting him in order to save Elios, who could be considered to be getting his just deserts, is completely selfish of me.

Lord Felix grinned. “Wounds can heal. Besides, do you really think I would be afraid of something like this? Unfortunately, I’m not so frail and cowardly. There aren’t many fears that can outweigh the joy of being able to help you, so don’t worry about me—do what you need to do.”

I thought back to a previous conversation that had taken place after I’d given him my mana to cure his mana exhaustion. My hands had been injured by his curse in the process, and he’d been expressing his concern.

“Do you really think I would be afraid of something like that?” I scoffed. “Is that how frail and cowardly I look in your eyes? How awful! If you want to scare me, you’ll have to at least get a dragon to— Wait, I’m not afraid of those. Hmm, what would be scary if it attacked me...?”

Oh my, Lord Felix was thinking about my words when he said that, wasn’t he? What a show-off! Tee hee, it feels like we have a mutual relationship of trust and support! How wonderful!

With such a trustworthy ally on my side, I was not about to lose to this demon.

“Lilybell...you were the one who said that some parts of fate can’t be changed,” Elios whispered feebly. “What are you going to do?”

Indeed, I had said that. The future could change, but some events were fixed in place. Yet I had no choice but to try anyway—I couldn’t accept that outcome no matter what!

I puffed my chest out as much as I could, raised my chin, and placed my hands on my hips. “Oho ho ho ho! I am the foolish, ugly, and despised Lucille Gustelanola who came to Leeuwenhoek! If fate can’t be changed, then I’ll just have to forcibly twist it like a true wicked woman would!”

“Meooow!”

“Myaaa!”

“Hiss!”

Jack, Mars, and Michelle cheered me on from behind me.

See? The world’s freest cats agree with me!

An exasperated telepathic message from Maouldoth sounded in my head: “What was with that laugh? That lousy villainess act doesn’t suit you at all...”

Hey now, if you keep being rude, I won’t play with you!

During my gloating, the demon, now fully emerged, slowly turned its gaze to me. The demon, its form almost made from shadow itself, was enormous but gaunt and spindly. Its arms and legs extended out to an unnatural length, yet it still somewhat resembled a human—but distorted, a failed attempt of imitation.

The stronger the demon, the more it would try to mimic a human. Most demons couldn’t even come close, so the fact that this one was vaguely recognizable meant it was quite powerful. I’d seen stronger, though. Truly powerful demons that radiated nothing but despair looked more human than this.

Suspended in the air, the demon turned in a circle.

“Ah...so many meals.”

Its gaze swung from Lord Felix to Elios before settling on me. It tilted its head. Well, given the length of its neck, the action was much more grotesque than that, but I assumed that was what it was trying to do. A shrill laugh erupted from it, fueled by childlike glee.

Wow! What a creepy, fake-sounding voice! It sounds just like the time Hinako made a strange gas and breathed it in! I think she said it was called “helium gas from another world.”

The strongest demon I’d ever encountered had been able to speak in a voice almost indistinguishable from a human’s. It’d been a long, long time ago—most of my run-ins with demons had been during my time with Master Alys. Part of it had been because people had come to her for help with demon-related issues, but it was probably also because there were now fewer demons coming to the human world than before.

If Master Alys were here now, she would dispatch this demon with ease—no one would need to get hurt, and there would be no trauma afterward.

But she isn’t here, so I’ll do this my own way!

Originally, Lucille’s body only possessed dark magic. But after regaining Lilybell’s memories, I’d been able to reclaim all of the mana I’d received from my past owners, which also meant that I could use the elements they had been most skilled with.

“Take this!”

Activating the light magic from the mana Saint Clarissa had shared with me, I shot several small projectiles straight at the demon!

“Huh?! That was light magic,” Elvira remarked, surprised. “Lady Lucille can use light magic?”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t as good with light magic as dark magic, but in this case, my goal was to draw the demon’s attention. The attack I’d fired at about ten percent of my power smacked the demon and bounced off of it. That was good enough for now.

“Huh... What was that? What a nuisance.”

Though the projectiles hadn’t left so much as a scratch, the demon’s glare turned toward me, its expression rife with displeasure. Just as I’d intended. An indescribable tension hung in the air, a silence so empty that it was as if everyone but the demon and I were holding their breath.

I stared into the demon’s ominous, glowing eyes and giggled.

“Is this everything you’ve got? I expected a powerful demon to be making Elios and Lord Felix suffer so much, but you’re nothing special.”

“What...?”

I needed it to strike me first. Given how many years it’d waited for this, the demon was bound to want to devour Elios to start with—the boy would surely make for an incredibly satisfying meal. But if it absorbed Elios, not only would my plan have a high chance of failure, I wouldn’t be able to save him in the first place.

Nothing was more prideful than a moderately powerful demon.

“I thought you’d be stronger and scarier than this!” I shouted.

The mana emitted by the demon flared.

Okay, it’s pretty amped up now!

“Ngh...!”

“Lord Felix!”

However, this reaction simultaneously increased the burden on Lord Felix and Elios.

Just a little longer, okay? Please hang in there, Lord Felix, Elios!

“You’ll die first,” the demon said, its voice even more shrill than before.

It extended its dark, hazy mana into tendrils and launched them at me!

This...is more than I expected!

I cast a protective light magic spell on myself, a thin membrane pooling around my body. However, my weak spell could neither dispel nor repel the black mana. As a result, it coiled tightly about me, increasing in pressure.

“Heh heh, heh heh heh heh!” The demon laughed, overjoyed at the sight of my powerless form, blasting more mana at me as if to mock me.

“Ugh...!”

Unable to bear the weight any longer, I fell to my knees.

“Ngh... Lucille!”

“Lady Lucille!”

“Lilybell...”

“Lu!”

“Myaa!”

“Meooow!”

“Mreow!”

Everyone called my name as I sat there, helpless against the demon’s overwhelming strength.

“O-Oh no,” said Elvira. “Even my magic can’t stand up against this...”

Despair enveloped the forest.

Tee hee! No one else can tell, but Jack, Mars, and Michelle are cheering me on, saying, “Gooo!” “Take that demon down!” “Crush it to smithereens!” My cuties are so smol and adorable! Not only are they capable of understanding what’s going on, they’re actually enjoying it.

Everyone else seemed seriously worried about me, but I didn’t have the means to assuage their concerns. The mana being emitted from the demon was applying so much pressure upon us that we could barely remain standing, let alone move from our positions. Even Elvira, who was immune to the curse, was sitting by Lord Felix’s side as he knelt on the ground. Sir Kain had been forced into a squat, his arms full of cats.

I was holding out for the right moment: The demon would eventually push past an invisible line, allowing me to flip the situation on its head.

Almost there! Just a little longer! But, ugh, it’s blasting us with such force! Sure, its human mimicry is imperfect, but I guess I should’ve expected this much from a demon that ate up Lilybell and kept Elios’s soul bound to it for hundreds of years!

That said, its half-baked imitation was one of the crucial pieces of information that my plan relied on. There had been many hints regarding the demon’s power level—for example, the fact that it had been summoned with a magic circle in the first place. Although upper-tier demons couldn’t enter and leave the human world as they pleased, they didn’t need a medium to do so. Rather, only a demon of mid-tier strength or lower would respond to a summoning circle. In other words, we were currently facing a demon that hadn’t been particularly strong before it’d devoured me.

Another example to consider was the fact that the demon hadn’t granted Elios’s wish right away. Given the demon’s malicious nature, I imagined that after eating the past me, it’d grown overconfident and decided to toy with Elios’s emotions. However, that decision had backfired—binding a soul for a long time took a considerable amount of energy, especially when that soul belonged to someone who was now strong enough to be called a great sage.

If the demon swallowed Elios up, it would probably gain several times more energy than it had used to bind him, but since it hadn’t done that yet, its strength was likely still quite low. As a result, its replication of the human form was flawed.

This was a stroke of luck for me. If the demon had been more impatient or gluttonous—the type to prefer satisfying itself over aggravating humans—I wouldn’t have stood a chance against it!

To further reinforce my assumptions about its power level, I recalled that in my prophetic dream, the demon had been banished by a mere human—Elvira. A truly strong demon wouldn’t have gone down so easily, even when faced with the power of a saint.

For these reasons, I was sure my plan would work. As for what that plan was...

Here it comes!

The demon’s assault was growing stronger and stronger, and it was blasting past my paltry light magic shield and slicing into my skin. And then the opening I’d been waiting for appeared!

The pressure from the demon’s mana skyrocketed in intensity. An instant before its darkness swallowed me whole, I deactivated my light magic and flashed my dark magic space in its place, into which the demon’s mana was siphoned instead!

“Wh-What?!” the demon exclaimed, confounded by the sensation of its mana being drained away.

Heh heh heh! When you’re releasing mana at a certain rate, you can’t simply shut it off. No matter how much the demon panics, it won’t be able to stop blasting me with its mana, and I’ll be here to suck it all up!

The demon had derived much of its current strength from Lilybell, but now that I was human, my ability to manipulate the mana I’d received from Master Alys far surpassed my past self’s. When combined with Lucille’s latent abilities, my dark magic was leagues ahead of Lilybell’s! With it, I expected to be able to absorb every last drop of the demon’s power.

I got the idea from Lord Felix’s curse! I was told that if he touched someone with his bare hands, they’d shrivel up into a mummy.

Heh heh, take that, demon! How does it feel to be defeated by the very (similar) mechanism you wrought upon Lord Felix?!

Wait, the demon’s stronger than I thought! I can’t absorb all of its mana! In fact, at this rate, it’s going to swallow me!

“Heh heh heh! Idiot!” the demon taunted. It sounded genuinely excited, like an innocent child engrossed in a game.

Hmm, based on Elvira’s overall power, I thought I could make this work...

In the prophetic dream, Elvira’s awakening had been triggered by my dark magic going out of control. But in this timeline, the catalyst had been a battle against a dangerous monster. My magical outburst must have been much stronger than that monster, making the current Elvira weaker than she had been in my dream!

What a blunder! Using Elvira as a basis made me underestimate the demon’s strength!

I considered my next move, even as the demon’s mana coursed about me like a muddy river, enveloping my vision. Although I couldn’t see anything, Lord Felix’s pained groans and Elvira’s screams still reached me.

I’m making Lord Felix push himself...

If I’d allowed Elvira to blow away the demon and the curse as my dream had foretold, then Lord Felix wouldn’t be suffering like this. This was all because I’d wanted to change fate. As such, it was my duty to defeat this demon one way or another and free Lord Felix and Leeuwenhoek from the curse.

I have...no choice...but to switch to my last resort, Plan B!

I thought back on a conversation I’d once had with Master Alys.

“My sweet Lilybell, I am beautiful, unparalleled in strength, and have you to treasure—I’m blessed in all aspects of life. However, I still have one regret.”

“Really? What is it?”

“I think I should have relied on others more.”

“Huh...?”

Since our days had been blissful with nothing amiss, a carefree cat like me hadn’t understood what she’d meant back then. But all of Master Alys’s teachings had been important. If even the invincible great witch had felt that way, then I, a weakling by comparison, would have to rely on my loved ones with all my might.

Sending a telepathic message while struggling against the demon would be too difficult. Instead, I breathed in deep and released the loudest shout my lungs could expel.

“Maouldoooth!”

“Huh?! Me? What’s up?!”

With the dragon’s attention confirmed, I began my preparations.

“I’m going to send you a ton of mana, okay?! Catch it!”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

Right now, I couldn’t spare a single thought to clarify his confusion, let alone explain the situation in full. I probably should have told him about this in advance, but it really had been my last recourse—I hadn’t expected to resort to this.

You’ll have to forgive my lack of thoroughness! It all happened so fast; I didn’t have time!

I swapped the exit point for the demon’s mana from my dark magic space to the earring dangling from my right ear—the red stone Elios had linked to Maouldoth’s seal. This would send all of the mana to Maouldoth, thus weakening his seal.

Maouldoth, proud almighty dragon and my beloved friend, surely you’ll swallow up all of the demon’s mana for me, right? After all, even the human Elvira was able to defeat it in a certain timeline!

Even though I said this, I knew the stone being so small presented a new challenge. While I could make the opening to the dark magic space as large as I wanted, I couldn’t do that with the earring. Funneling mana into the stone would require extreme finesse.

The me in my prophetic dream wouldn’t have been able to do it—not when she’d allowed rage to consume her and had lost control of her dark magic. But regaining Lilybell’s memories had made the current me much more adept at manipulating mana. Not only that, but I’d also reclaimed the mana I’d received from my past owners, and I’d gotten a lot of hints from Elios and my dream.

Sweat trickled down my brow as I concentrated. It’d been a while since I’d had to focus this hard. My vision flickered. Still, I continued to channel the incoming mana into the earring, quickly and carefully compressing it so that it wouldn’t overflow.

“G-Guh, urgh, g-graaargh!”

With that ear-piercing scream, the demon’s immense flood of mana abruptly vanished.

The world fell silent.

“D-Did you do it...?”

Elvira was the first to speak—or rather, she was the only person capable of speaking. Elios and Lord Felix were covered in wounds, Sir Kain was in a state of utter shock, and I didn’t have the energy to even release a groan.

W-Wow, this must be the power of an awakened light magic user! An ordinary person wouldn’t be able to stay calm after experiencing that torrent of demonic mana, let alone at such a close distance. It must be because her light magic is strong against dark magic.

I couldn’t say the same for myself, though. Too exhausted to turn to her, I struggled to wring words out of my mouth. “E-Elvira...heal...Lord Felix first...”

“Oh no! How could I forget?! Lord Felix!”

In the end, Lord Felix and Elios were both fine. The demon’s presence had been completely erased, as had the curse. It was almost disappointing how quickly everything had ended.

◯◯◯

After Elvira healed everyone to the point where they could move and talk again, I first expressed my gratitude to Lord Felix.

“Everything worked out because you bore the brunt of the curse, Lord Felix! Thank you!”

Him taking on that painful role had been the lynchpin of my plan. If it weren’t for Lord Felix, Elios would have been swallowed up immediately, and I probably would’ve met the same fate.

“I’m just glad I was able to help you,” Lord Felix said. “Besides...the curse is gone too. I still can’t believe it,” he murmured as if feverish.

It was understandable, considering he’d grown up with the curse’s burden. Thanks to the prophetic dream, I’d known that his curse would be lifted no matter which future came to pass. But from his perspective, it’d happened relatively soon after he’d come to learn of the possibility in the first place.

Elios seemed to still be in a daze as well. “Lilybell, you really did change fate...”

Changed fate, huh?

Master Alys had told me that fate couldn’t be changed. In fact, the parts of my prophetic dream that I’d deemed fixed in place—Elvira’s awakening and the lifting of the curse on Lord Felix and Leeuwenhoek—really had occurred, just in a different way than expected.

Though I did think Elvira being the one to lift the curse was also set in stone...

In the end, I didn’t know what was a keystone of fate and what wasn’t. Had I actually succeeded in changing fate? Or had I simply switched out one piece, changing the future to the best of my ability but not affecting fate itself?

Well, thinking about it isn’t going to give me the answer! Who cares whether I changed fate or not? The important thing is that no one died! Everyone’s alive! That’s all I need.

Or so I thought, but...

“Eeeeeek!”

As we approached the Leeuwenhoek manor, a scream tore out of the building.

That was...Lady Alice! Did something happen to her?!

I’d thought the demon had been completely vanquished since I couldn’t sense it anymore, but perhaps that wasn’t the case. Either that or the confrontation had unexpectedly affected the Leeuwenhoek manor. Since I’d never been in this situation before, as far as I was concerned, anything was possible. That was why I’d kept Maouldoth as a backup plan, but...

My imagination ran wild with potential catastrophes as we made our way to the manor. Before we reached the gate, however, I noticed something clearly abnormal.

“Th-This is...”

Guessing what had happened, I slowed my horse’s gallop to a hesitant walk.

Oh no. I have an awful feeling about this!

As we proceeded, I stole glances at the others. Lord Felix looked exasperated, while Sir Kain had an extremely strained expression on his face. It seemed the two of them shared my hunch. The cats in Sir Kain’s arms took advantage of his momentary distraction to claw and bite at his knight uniform.

At last, we passed through the manor gate and found Lady Alice staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed at Maouldoth—specifically Maouldoth’s head, which was sticking out of the detached house’s now broken roof. He’d grown so large that his limbs and tail were also bursting out of the building.

Oh my gosh! I haven’t seen Maouldoth this big in centuries!

When I’d first met him in this life, his seal had only been weakened, not broken, so he’d been less than half his original size.

Noticing me, Maouldoth met my gaze. We stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before he grinned and burst out laughing.

“M-Mua ha ha ha! Look at me, Lucille! This is what it means to be an almighty dragon! Doesn’t this remind you of how cool I am?!”

Oh, Maouldoth... He sounds so happy, laughing like a demon lord would...

“If you’re this big, we can’t live together anymore,” I murmured.

“Huh?” A distraught expression overtook his smug smile.

I noticed that Sarah and the other servants had come out of the manor to stare in awe at Maouldoth. Meanwhile, the kitten gang was excitedly playing with the end of his tail.

A-Aha ha, it’s like a huge cat toy...

As far as I could tell, no one had been injured. But naturally, the detached house’s roof, walls, and windows had been destroyed. It was no longer fit to live in.

◯◯◯

Apparently I’d sent so much mana through the earring that Maouldoth had grown back to his original size. In retrospect, this outcome was predictable, seeing as how he’d only been lovably miniaturized because of the seal restricting his mana. As he’d been lazily napping with the cats when he’d received my message, he hadn’t had time to exit the detached house before the mana began pouring in.

That Maouldoth was now sobbing. “It’s not fair... What do you mean I can’t live with you because I’m big?! You’re the one who suddenly gave me all this mana, Lucille!”

Lord Felix and Sir Kain stared at the crying dragon in disbelief. I was worried that Lady Alice might’ve had a flashback to her scary experience in the forest, but that didn’t seem to be an issue. She was simply hugging Elios and saying, “Poor Lord Mao...” Meanwhile, Elvira looked slightly wary.

Hmm, I guess this is my fault for not properly thinking things through.

“I’m really sorry, Maouldoth!”

“I don’t need an apology; just make me smaller! I am not going back to that forest by myself!”

“Huh? You’re okay with being smaller?”

“Wait, you can actually do it?”

Obviously, I could—the seal was tied to me, after all.

When I told him as much, his expression instantly brightened. “Hmph! Why didn’t you say so sooner?! Not that I mind being big, though! It’s just that you’d be lonely without me, so I’ll shrink for your sake!”

Who was the one begging me for this mere seconds ago?

That said, it was true that I’d forced Maouldoth into this predicament, so I decided to keep that retort to myself.

I inspected the mana contained within the earring. In theory, all I had to do was extract the mana I’d sent to him, since it was directly linked to Maouldoth’s seal, but...

Hmm, this seems like it’ll be tough!

Originally I’d planned on sucking up the demon’s mana by myself—I’d only resorted to sending it to Maouldoth because I couldn’t handle it all. That meant it’d also be difficult for me to remove it from Maouldoth.

“What would be the best solution, then?” I mused.

Gazing at the dragon, I thought, Yep, he sure is big!

The kitten gang wasn’t afraid of him—on the contrary, they were having the time of their lives playing with him. Despite Maouldoth’s angry shouts of “Stop that!” and “I’m not a toy!” he let them do as they pleased. What a heartwarming sight, tee hee!

Even though Maouldoth was full of the demon’s mana, it didn’t seem to be negatively affecting the cats because Maouldoth himself was acting as a medium. If he hadn’t been, none of the servants here would’ve been able to endure the sinister mana either.

That’s a dragon for you—he can take all that demonic mana and convert it into his own.

Actually, now that I thought about it, if the mana was released from Maouldoth, it would return to its original form. In fact, that was why I’d originally planned on absorbing all of it by myself—to avoid impacting anyone else.

What if I convert it too, then? If I change it into a type of mana that won’t cause harm, can’t I just release it into the air?

A simply brilliant idea. Now I just had to figure out how to do it.

I decided to experiment with the mana inside Maouldoth. As I pressed my entire body against him, I let some of my own mana flow through his form. For some reason, he began to panic.

“Wh-Wh-What do you think you’re doing, Lucille?!”

“Huh? I’m trying to figure out how your body is converting the demon’s mana.”

The cats are already messing with you, anyway! Why can’t I do it too?

I examined his internals.

Hmm, I didn’t think it’d be a big deal, but I can see how my probing would feel uncomfortable. Since he’s a dragon, it’s probably also his first time having his mana interfered with like this. Well, he’ll just have to put up with it.

“O-Ooh, stop that! It tickles— No, it feels gross! Ahh! But I hate that it also feels good sometimes...”

I know exactly what you mean! It’s probably the same thing I felt when my owners gave me their mana. It feels icky at first, but once you get used to it, it’s kind of nice.

I ignored Maouldoth’s squeals and continued. Once I’d concluded my investigation, my findings made me relatively confident I’d be able to pull this off.

“I should practice first, just in case...”

After opening my dark magic space, I shoved my hand in and rummaged through the things inside.

Oh gosh, there’s so much demonic mana in here that it feels disgusting to put my hand in... If I succeed in getting the mana out of Maouldoth, I’ll have to do the same thing here.

I retrieved a small lyre from the space.

With some hesitation, Lord Felix approached me. He looked at the instrument in my hands. “What is that, Lucille?”

“Tee hee, this is a little something made by one of my past owners! It plays a note corresponding to the qualities of the mana you input, so in order to play a proper tune, you have to manipulate your mana. It’s very entertaining, so I played with it quite a lot as a cat.”

“I-I see...”

Naturally, the lyre had been one of Conrad’s inventions; he had created it to keep me from getting bored on his frequent long-distance business trips. As a cat, I obviously hadn’t been able to play normal musical instruments with any kind of finesse, but since this lyre produced sound using mana, I’d been able to enjoy making music.

My next owner, Roselia, had liked to sing, so when I played the lyre, she accompanied me. I had a lot of fun making music with her.

Basking in happy, nostalgic memories, I let my mana flow into the lyre. Though I stumbled a bit since it’d been so long since I’d last used it, it didn’t take me long to get back into the swing of things.

I really did play with this so much back then...

“Now, let’s do this!”

With the utmost care, I pulled the demonic mana out of Maouldoth via the earring while beginning the conversion.

I may as well release it through the lyre while I’m at it!

Brimming with excitement, I used the converted mana to play the lyre. Though I now had human hands, I’d never played a real lyre before, so I simply placed them wherever felt right. Tee hee, doesn’t this make me look like a talented musician?

As I began to play, small particles of light materialized and floated in the air. They multiplied in accordance with the music until there was a sea of motes dancing around me.

“Meow!”

“Meooow!”

Oh my, the kitties are frolicking too!

The kittens who’d been playing with Maouldoth’s tail and other cats who’d gathered at some point were swatting at the particles of light and jumping at them. As if intentionally teasing them, the particles faded in and out, buoyed by the wind.

I glanced at Maouldoth, whose limbs were still sticking out from the detached house, and found him fidgeting.

“Maouldoth! I know you’re itching to play too, but stay still until you’ve shrunk again!”

“Urk! H-Hmph! Don’t lump me in with these puny things! There’s no way I’d want to play with these floating lights!”

He turned his face away, pouting, but it was obvious that his eyes were tracking the lights—his tail was wagging too!

I’ll have to hurry this up so he can join the fun!

As I worked my magic, I regained my sense for the lyre. I think it’s safe to play it more boldly now!

I gradually increased the mana transfer from Maouldoth. The more I funneled into the lyre, the louder and more grandiose the music grew, until it was resounding far and wide. The particles of light spread along with it as if they were riding the wind together.

“Oh?”

Upon closer inspection, the light particles were latching onto things—plants, flowers, soil, the vegetables I was growing with Grandpa Randy, even the cats—and disappearing as though being absorbed. Startled, I looked around and saw Lord Felix and Elios also staring in fascination at the vanishing lights.

“What’s happening?” Lord Felix asked, looking down at his palms.

“Wow... It’s so warm...” Elios closed his eyes and let out a relaxed sigh.

“Could this be purifying light?” Elvira whispered, gazing at the scene in awe.

“Wh-Whoa!” Sir Kain exclaimed. “What is this stuff? Is it safe? Well, I guess it would be...”

The particles of light also gathered around Jack, Mars, and Michelle, who jumped out of Sir Kain’s arms to play.

Tee hee, I’m glad they’re having fun!

Immersed in music and surrounded by frolicking cats, swaying plants, and curious servants... It was like holding a ball under the blue sky!

Maouldoth’s body shrank little by little. It seemed I was drawing quite a bit of mana out of him, and it wouldn’t be long before he was back to his previous cute size.

I continued to play the lyre in high spirits.

After finally dispersing all of the demon’s mana, I looked around and murmured, “Hmm, I didn’t see this coming either!”

Maouldoth had shrunk, but that was planned, so it was fine. The surprise lay in the vegetables I’d been cultivating with Grandpa Randy, which were now unbelievably huge, and the flowers we’d only just planted, which were suddenly in full bloom. I didn’t recall there being much vegetation growing outside the manor, yet there was now greenery everywhere, as if we’d been transplanted to another world.

Is this a jungle? Has a jungle sprung up here?!

It seemed that the particles of light had greatly enhanced the life force of everything they’d touched, spurring incredible growth.

“I thought plants rarely grew in Leeuwenhoek,” Lady Alice muttered. “Then again, the garden big sister Lucille made with Grandpa Randolph recently changed my perception of that, but still, this is something else altogether...”

“Truly.” I tilted my head. “I wonder if it’s because the curse was broken?”

Something wrapped about my waist. Looking down, I saw Elios hugging me with all his might.

“Elios? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“My body...feels weird,” the boy said.

“Oh no! Does it hurt? Do you feel sick again?”

And here I thought the curse was broken... I placed my hands on his shoulders and peered into his face.

Elios grimaced and shook his head. “No, that’s not it... All these years, I’ve felt as though my heart wasn’t beating—like blood wasn’t circulating in my body. Since my time was frozen, it always felt like the world was leaving me behind. But I don’t feel that at all anymore.”

He seemed confused yet excited.

“Isn’t it ’cause your time’s moving again now that the curse is gone and Lucille scattered mana everywhere?” Maouldoth said. “Like how the leaves and flowers are all growing like crazy too. Hey, I told you guys I’m not a toy!” He rolled over as the cats tried to cling to him.

“That could be it... Aha ha ha... I... I can grow up too...?” Elios whispered, teetering between laughing and crying. “I...have a future...”

⦿⦿⦿

Lilybell lifted the curse on me, Felix, and Leeuwenhoek. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

To be honest, I always dreamed of having a future. People who’ve never had to worry about that might not understand, but dreaming about something means it’s unattainable. At the very least, that’s what dreaming meant to me. I longed for a future I knew I could never have...but now, I’ve obtained it.

“Huuuh?! H-H-Hey, that can’t be possible, can it?!”

Maouldoth’s screams snapped me out of my thoughts. Wide-eyed, the reshrunken dragon trembled.

Ha ha, he won’t even give me time to be shocked about the sudden miracle that’s befallen me.

I followed his gaze to find... Oh? Where did those young children come from? I mean, I look like a child too, but these ones are even smaller and can barely walk. Who are they?

“You guys are just cats! How’d you turn into humans?!”

Startled by Maouldoth’s words, I studied the children more closely. There was a black-haired boy, a taller long-haired girl, and a much smaller girl with fluffy brown hair.

Lilybell must’ve realized what had happened at the same time as I did. “Oh my, could you three be Jack, Mars, and Michelle? You’ve become human?!”

As if to back up her theory, the three cats that always accompanied Lilybell were now nowhere to be seen.

The children began to chatter excitedly.

“Wow! I look human!”

“Ooh, me too! Now I match Lucille!”

“Hey! How come I’m the smallest?! Hmph!”

Their conversation sure makes for a good indicator of their individual personalities.

I contemplated what had caused this phenomenon. These three cats had been normal until Lilybell named them and they became half-spirits. Since Maouldoth had grown in size after taking in the demon’s mana, perhaps absorbing the mana Lilybell had scattered around had given the half-spirit cats a boost in power that allowed them to take on human forms. After all, the more powerful a demon, the better they were at acting like a human, but the more powerful a spirit, the greater their capability for becoming human.

But for some reason, something felt wrong. What was this strange feeling...?

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Maouldoth yelled. “If you guys can turn human, why can’t I?!”

“Your mana capacity is too great to begin with,” I explained. “It’d take a lot more than this to give you enough power to transform.”

“Huh? Really?! Ugh, this is cruel and unfair!” The dragon began to sob.

“I didn’t know you wanted to be human, Maouldoth!” Lilybell exclaimed.

“Leave me alone! I never wanted to before! I’m just jealous that only those three get to do it!”

“Oh dear...”

I noticed the cats whispering among themselves and decided to eavesdrop.

“If we let Lucille be an option, we’ll just end up fighting, so pick someone else”? What are they talking about?

I looked up and saw them skipping away.

“Alice, carry me!” Jack said, leaping at the girl.

Startled, she caught him in his arms. “H-Huh?! A-Are you really Jack...?”

“I choose Felix, then!” Mars said. “Tee hee, you can pick me up now that you’re not cursed anymore, right?” She tilted her head sweetly as if to say, Aren’t you happy?

“U-Um, yes,” Felix replied, hesitantly holding out his arms.

Ah, so they wanted to be held in their human forms. I guess that makes sense—if they didn’t blacklist Lucille, they’d argue over who got to have her first.

Suddenly, I noticed that Michelle was standing in front of me.

“I get Elios!” she exclaimed. “Come on, pick me up!”

“I’m included too...?” I looked around in panic.

Aha ha, I guess I can’t laugh at Felix when I’m reacting the same way.

Michelle looked confident, as if there were no world where her request wouldn’t be granted. It was dazzling. These cats had only ever known love, just like Lilybell. They didn’t have a reason to doubt that they were loved, so no thought to the contrary ever crossed their minds.

Must be nice.

A pair of arms hoisted Michelle away.

“Aww, you’re adorable in human form too!” Kain remarked. “C’mon, don’t forget who was protecting you earlier!”

“Nooo! Not you, Kain! I don’t want you! Hiss!”

“Why am I the only one who gets treated like this...?”

Come to think of it, Michelle always tried to intimidate Kain. But that was because she hated how he loved to nuzzle his cheek against her without permission.

Do you guys know how awe-inspiring this scene is for me? It’s like I’ve reached the peak of happiness.

“I’ll take Elios, then!” came a cheerful voice from behind me.

“Huh? Whoa!”

Before I was able to turn around, I’d already been lifted up by Lilybell.

“Elios can hold you next time, Michelle! Today, he’s all mine!”

The cats whined from their holders’ arms, complaining that it was unfair. As for me, I was too overwhelmed to get a single word out.

I can’t believe I get to experience such joy.

I unconsciously clung to Lilybell’s neck.

She giggled. “Tee hee, still a needy child, I see. But from now on, I’ll give you as much attention as you want!”

“From now on.” I can actually believe those words now.

The source of the strange feeling I’d had earlier suddenly became clear. It was the lack of mana. I was supposed to be skilled at detecting it, but even though the children should’ve possessed an immense amount of mana because they’d been able to take on human forms, I’d needed Maouldoth to clue me in to their identities.

I tried to examine my own mana store, only to fail. It can’t be...

“What’s wrong, Elios?” Lilybell asked.

“I don’t have any mana,” I replied, dumbfounded. “It’s all gone...”

Oh no... Without mana, I won’t be able to do anything for Lilybell...

She looked at me in surprise. “Oh my, is that so? Well, it’s okay. Even if you don’t have mana, the future is bound to be fun! In fact, I’ll make it fun for you!”

Just how much happiness is she going to give me?

“Thank you, Lilybell...I mean, Lucille.”

Calling her by that name for the first time made me feel ticklish and shy. But as her eyes widened and she broke out into an elated grin, the happiness inside me grew.

As someone with no future, who could only live in the past, I used to think I didn’t have the right to say that name. But Lucille had saved me. She’d given me a future.

Lucille, I may have lost my mana, but I’ll grow into a man who can put even more smiles on your face.

◯◯◯

In a shocking turn of events, Jack, Mars, and Michelle transformed into humans! According to Elios, taking in so much of the mana I’d scattered around had bestowed them with more power and raised their status as spirits, giving them this ability. Still, it had taken me by surprise.

After witnessing this phenomenon, Maouldoth complained, “I want to be human too!” Meanwhile, the three cats—or should I say children?—were frolicking in their new bodies, and everyone else was celebrating Leeuwenhoek’s freedom from the curse. At any rate, the air pulsed with excitement.

Wanting to be sure that nothing was wrong with the three cats-turned-children, I ran some tests and discovered that they could switch between cat and human form at will.

As the commotion began to die down, Lady Alice spoke up. “Hey, um, am I allowed to ask some questions yet?” She had an impatient look on her face as she patted the dragon in her arms, who was still making a show of sobbing and clearly wasn’t interested in answering anything she’d ask.

I know those are crocodile tears, Maouldoth!

“What’s wrong, Lady Alice?” I asked.

As if she’d been waiting for those words, she immediately groaned, “Ugh, I can’t take this anymore! What’s all this about demon mana? How did the cats turn into people? Why did Lord Mao grow so big? Where did this jungle come from? I don’t understand anything!”

Well...I can see why she’s confused. From her perspective, a bunch of nonsensical things all happened at once. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting most of this either, and even Lord Felix and Sir Kain, who were with me the whole time, probably don’t understand much. I don’t think I should tell Lady Alice that, though.

“And I simply cannot overlook what you said, big sister Lucille!”

“H-Huh?”

Just when I thought her focus was on today’s events, she suddenly set her sights on me. Had I really said something so outlandish?

Seeing my reaction, Lady Alice grew even more impassioned. “Big sister Lucille, what do you mean you played the lyre ‘as a cat’?! And this unbelievable miracle instrument was made by one of your ‘past owners’?! Also, Sir Elios called you ‘Lilybell’ earlier, didn’t he?!”

“Oh!” I mentioned to Lord Felix and the others that I was a cat in my past life, but Lady Alice wasn’t there at the time, so she’s completely out of the loop!

“I don’t understand anything at all! Can you please explain?!”

Lord Felix had also asked me to explain after everything was settled, so this was a good opportunity.

“Yes, I have quite a bit I’d like to say to everyone. Shall we go inside? I don’t want to make you stand the whole time.” I glanced at the detached house in front of me. “Um...”

Oh dear, with the oversized Maouldoth gone, the building looks like it’s in even worse shape! I’m surprised it hasn’t collapsed yet.

“Let’s go to the manor,” Lord Felix suggested.

I decided to accept his offer.

◯◯◯

After everyone had taken their seats in the main manor’s reception room, I began to share the story I’d been hiding from them, starting from the fact that in my past life, I’d been Lilybell, the most beloved cat in the world. I explained that my first owner had been a powerful magic user who had bestowed me with a long lifespan, and because of that, I’d had many owners over the years. I told them that Elios had been my final owner, whose place I’d taken as a demon sacrifice, and how that had led to the Leeuwenhoek curse and my eventual solution.

I explained everything that came to mind, answering a barrage of questions along the way.

Glancing at Lord Felix and Elvira, who were listening to me in a daze, I thought to myself, Hmm, I probably shouldn’t talk about the prophetic dream, huh?

The two didn’t appear to be in love at the moment, and it was possible that my meddling with fate had completely changed the future. I didn’t know how their relationship was going to progress from here on out, and that was fine.

No matter how you look at it, it’s wrong to interfere with people’s love lives more than necessary.

Though I didn’t know how they currently felt about each other, they’d obviously feel uncomfortable if I suddenly told them, “In the prophetic dream I had, you two were actually devoted lovers who got married after I was gone!”

For their sakes, I kept that part of the story rather vague.

When I was done, Lady Alice murmured, “I can’t believe it...and yet, a lot of things make sense now...”

I guess it’s a lot to take in at once. Well, there’s nothing left for me to do but sit here until she comes to terms with everything. I nonchalantly sipped the tea Sarah had prepared.

All of a sudden, Lady Alice gasped.

“Wait. Your first owner was a powerful magic user, followed by a saint, an adventuring chef, and a merchant who was good at inventing things... There are a couple of unexpected details, but it all lines up. I really can’t believe it, but your owners in your past life as Lilybell—could they be...?” she asked, beginning to tremble.

Um, is she okay?

“Big sister Lucille, may I ask you for the names of those owners?”

“Sure! First was Master Alys, followed by Saint Clarissa, Matthew, Conrad, Roselia, Hinako, and Efren... I was a stray for a while too, tee hee.”

“Th-The Champions of Destinyyy!”

Oh, right! How could I have forgotten?

“Now that you mention it, yes! I was so surprised when I read those books you lent me! I had no idea my owners were the Champions of Destiny you loved to talk about so much. They weren’t called that in the past, after all.”

Wait, what if they had been called that, and it was just that my owners and I hadn’t been aware?

Lady Alice’s face had turned bright red by this point. “Ugh, I won’t faint just yet! I’m not the girl I was before! I can’t miss my chance to hear this miraculous story! Big sister Lucille, just to be sure, what did you look like in your past life as Lilybell?”

“Tee hee! I was the cutest cat in the world! All of my owners praised my pure-white fluffy fur and my blue eyes that shone like gems! In fact, when I was with Saint Clarissa, people called me a holy cat because of her profession and my unmatched adorableness!” Eager to boast of Lilybell’s cuteness, I puffed out my chest and smugly revealed my past moniker.

That said, back then all I thought was, “They’re sorely mistaken if they think I’m a holy cat!”

I expected Lady Alice to imagine my incredible adorableness and say, “No wonder you were so loved!” but instead...

“Oh my gosh, it’s the holy beast in the flesh!” she screamed and then fainted.

“H-Huh? Lady Alice?!”

“That was your fault, Lucille,” Elios said. “Back when you were Lilybell, you acted like you were aware of your own greatness, but you actually didn’t understand it at all.”

“What?!”

That can’t be true! And yet everyone else is nodding in agreement for some reason, so I can’t argue back!

⦿⦿⦿

I, Felix Leeuwenhoek, had just gone through a life-changing event. Actually, it was probably on a grander scale than that—I suspected it had changed the entire world. It was that incredible of a miracle. A beautiful spectacle, as if happiness itself were using the world as a canvas to paint on... Even now, as I sat in my reception room, I couldn’t get the lyre’s melody out of my head. At that moment when those warm, bright particles of light enveloped me, I had truly questioned whether I was awake or dreaming.

My body felt lighter than before. I hadn’t known it was possible to feel so pleasant. But beyond that, my heart was filled with a sense of liberation, the likes of which I’d never experienced before.

To be honest, I’d yet to fully come to terms with what had happened. How could I? Who would be able to imagine their curse suddenly disappearing one day—the curse that had dwelled within them and the land they called home since birth, that they’d thought was unbreakable? I wouldn’t deny that the thought of freedom had crossed my mind before, but I’d only ever considered it a fanciful dream.

So long as you think of something as a dream, it won’t come true. And it’s the fact that it won’t come true that makes you want to reach for it anyway. That’s what makes it a dream.

But my dream had just become reality—in such a way that was several times more beautiful than I’d ever imagined, no less.

I’d once thought, “If it weren’t for this curse, I could touch Lucille’s hands without hurting her.” But I’d never expected Lucille herself to lift me out of despair and make that wish come true.

“Then again, I suppose this curse was connected to her previous life—to Lilybell—in the first place,” I mused.

The story went back centuries to when Lilybell had lost her life. I couldn’t believe the great sage had been her final owner—though Lilybell had apparently been more of a guardian than a pet. That explained why she’d been so worried about him. The gentle and caring Lucille I knew would never stop cherishing someone important to her, no matter how much time passed or how drastically her situation changed.

“Lord Felix? Is something the matter?” Lucille asked, having overheard my mumbling. She was looking after the unconscious Alice.

“No, it’s nothing.”

I understood how Alice felt. She never could have predicted that Lucille, the woman she admired as an older sister figure, was not only connected to her beloved Champions of Destiny but was also the very reincarnation of the holy beast that had made the legend what it was.

“Ha ha...” I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

Knowing that my curse had been linked to Lucille all along, however, wasn’t a bad feeling. It pained my heart to think about how she had died, but I’d only been able to meet her because of the curse. In fact, I was glad that I had been the curse’s target—not for a noble reason like “so that no one else would have to suffer,” but because if the curse had gone to someone else, fate might have changed and connected Lucille to that person instead. The thought gave me chills.

Plus, Lucille had only come to Leeuwenhoek in the first place because she’d been ordered to marry the feared and despised “cursed marquess.” When I thought about it that way, I couldn’t help but feel thankful to that irritating Prince Bernard. Awfully selfish of me, I know. But, yes, I was indeed grateful for every factor, good or bad, that had brought Lucille to me. I never thought I would feel so appreciative of the curse that had haunted me all my life.

The great sage watched Lucille fret over Alice, an exasperated expression on his face. He was muttering things like “What did you think would happen?”

That obliviousness of hers was one of her best traits, though, so he’d just have to accept it.

As I looked at the great sage, I thought about how special of an individual he was. However, earlier, he had said, “I don’t have any mana.” I suspected it was some kind of adverse effect caused by his long lifespan. Bluntly speaking, he was most likely no longer a great sage but an ordinary human.

I should stop calling him “great sage” in my head, then. Let’s go with “Sir Elios.”

Sir Elios’s place in the world would probably lose stability. It’d been his unique status as a great sage that had secured his identity as a person of this era.

“Lucille, Sir Elios, do you have a moment? I’d like to discuss something with you.”

“What is it?” Lucille asked.

“You want to talk with me?” Sir Elios looked confused.

Perhaps my suggestion would only serve to make him uncomfortable, but it was an offer that only I could make.

“I would like to formally welcome you, Sir Elios, to the Leeuwenhoek family, but only if you wish to join. Opinions?”

“Huh...?”

“Oh my!”

Bewilderment flickered over Sir Elios’s face, while Lucille’s eyes lit up with glee.

Sir Elios might have been born in Leeuwenhoek, but it was people of this very land who had sold him to be used as a demon sacrifice. It was possible that he wanted nothing to do with the Leeuwenhoek family after he’d experienced that. However, since his circumstances were known to only the people here, I felt this was the optimal solution. Also, he almost certainly wanted to stay with Lucille, and she would never leave him to fend for himself.

The thought of Lucille leaving was unbearable.

The boy seemed hesitant, so I added, “You would be adopted by my parents, making you my younger brother. What do you think?”

He stared wide-eyed at me.

I’d identified the reason Sir Elios was reluctant to return to Leeuwenhoek, even though it would be best for him. Adopting him as my son would’ve actually made the most sense. But in order for Lucille to remain here with him, she would need to resign herself to becoming my wife—and his mother.

No one would want to be the son of the person they’re in love with, even if only in name.

Frankly, I didn’t like the idea of that either. I didn’t want to obtain Lucille’s hand in marriage through such means, nor did I want to have an annoying rival for her affection as my son.

I wanted to win Lucille’s heart fair and square, no matter how long it took. My wish was that one day, we would share a mutual understanding.

Well, I know it’ll be tough since I started with such a negative weighting.

Kain’s previous words returned to me: “Maybe you’re fine with how today went, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I just know you’re gonna regret it someday.”

He was right. I’ve been doing nothing but regretting it. But there’s no changing the past, so all I can do is work with what I have now.

Eyes brimming with tears, Sir Elios asked timidly, “Is that okay?”

“Of course,” I replied.

Beaming, Lucille came to my side and took my hand. Her own hand, which I’d longed to hold for so long, shared its warmth with me without hesitation.

“Thank you, Lord Felix!” she exclaimed. “Oh, what an amazing day it’s been!”

My face lit up from the warmth radiating from her touch and the sight of her lovely smile. It was probably impossible to hide my flushed cheeks at this point. Still, I had to express my feelings or else they would never be conveyed.

“Sir Elios is without a doubt my blood relative, after all. Besides, if he’s important to you, he’s important to me too...b-because I l-love you, Lucille,” I confessed, bracing for rejection.

Lucille looked stunned for a second, but a bright smile quickly took over her face.

I-Is this a positive reaction?!

“You’re important to me too, Lord Felix! I love you!”

“L-Lucille!”

For a moment, I saw the gates of heaven. Alas...

“And I also love Elios, Lady Alice, Maouldoth, Sir Kain, Jack, Mars, and Michelle, tee hee! Oh, and Grandpa Randy, Sarah, and all of the other servants too, of course! I love everyone in Leeuwenhoek, and I’m so happy to be loved back!”

Oh, she meant it that way... I may have obtained a reality beyond my greatest dreams, but it would appear that this reality can still be harsh. Wait, what am I saying?

There was a pat on my shoulder. I turned around to see Kain giving me a sympathetic nod.

“If only you’d been sincere with Lu from the start, it wouldn’t be this hard. Well, do your best!” he said with a wan smile.

His words were a stab to the heart.

As if noticing my plight, Elios slipped away from Lucille—who was now surrounded by the cats-turned-humans, Sarah, and the others—to approach me.

“Um, Lucille was showered with love in her past life as a cat,” he said. “In other words, she’s used to extreme displays of affection, so it’ll take a lot to make her realize how you feel about her. It’s going to be a tough road, big brother.”

Hey, don’t smirk while taking pity on me.

“Well, it’s finally looking like I’ll be able to grow up,” he continued. “As an apology for cursing you, and as thanks for sustaining all those wounds at Lucille’s request and adopting me into the Leeuwenhoek family, I’ll show you some support for the time being. Not like I stand much of a chance as a kid anyway, and Lucille’s happiness matters most.” He grinned. “But if you haven’t managed to win her over by the time I become an adult, I won’t hold back.”

“Uh...thanks.”

That was all I could say at this point.

Well, whatever. I need to make up for my initial blunder anyway, so this is a fine challenge. I thought having my feelings reciprocated would be the tricky part... I didn’t expect just conveying my love to be my first hurdle.

Still, for now, I was happy seeing Lucille’s joyful smile.

I’ll...work my way there slowly.

Chapter 8: The Birth of a New Great Sage!

A few weeks after the Leeuwenhoek curse was lifted, I found myself back in the capital, sitting across from Prince Edgar.

“Uh, could you give me a moment to process this information?” he asked, placing a hand on his forehead and hanging his head.

He seems tired. Is he all right?

I looked at Lord Felix, who was sitting beside me. Noticing my gaze, he shrugged. His face seemed to say, Well, it’ll probably be fine.

“So that small black thing is a dragon—specifically, the ‘demon lord’ once sealed by one of the Champions of Destiny,” Prince Edgar said, stealing glances at Maouldoth, who was lounging smugly in my lap.

Maouldoth had insisted on coming to the capital with me. I hadn’t had it in me to refuse, given that he had contributed a great deal to our success. Plus, he was small enough to ride in the carriage with us, and his presence would probably give further credence to my story. Regardless, he wouldn’t be able to get up to any mischief with me around, since his seal was still linked to my earring.

To be clear, I did get permission from Prince Edgar before bringing Maouldoth to the castle. But for some reason, he apparently thought I was talking about a pet cat, so he froze upon seeing Maouldoth. Did he think I was joking?

The prince closed his eyes before continuing—perhaps he really was tired. Was work keeping him busy?

“And in Miss Lucille’s previous life, she was a cat who lived for hundreds of years? And that dragon is an old friend of hers?! And...the very hero who sealed him was one of Miss Lucille’s owners?”

I didn’t know if Prince Edgar was asking me for confirmation or simply sorting out the information in his head, but I nodded along just in case.

“And Great Sage Elios was Miss Lucille’s final owner, a member of the Leeuwenhoek line, but he was nearly sacrificed to a demon? And that was what led to the Leeuwenhoek curse, which also resulted in him maintaining his childlike appearance for centuries?!”

Lord Felix and I had discussed how to best approach this castle visit, and in the end, we’d decided to divulge everything to Prince Edgar. At first, Lord Felix had been worried about revealing the whole story, but the way I saw it, it wouldn’t do us any harm. In fact, I felt it would make things go more smoothly in the long run. Elios had also said, “I’ll let Lucille decide.”

Speaking of, the boy was currently sitting on an armchair across from Lord Felix, munching on delicious sweets.

“And after the curse, which plagued Leeuwenhoek for generations, was finally broken, Sir Elios lost all of his mana and his body’s time began to move again, effectively making him an ordinary human being? And it was Miss Lucille who broke the curse?”

He has the gist of it, but there’s one thing I simply must correct.

“It wasn’t me who broke the curse—it was all of our powers combined!”

Maouldoth, who’d been quietly reclining in my lap this entire time, immediately chimed in: “I helped the most!”

“Yes, Maouldoth! You definitely made the biggest contribution!”

“Hmph! That’s right!”

Prince Edgar heaved a sigh.

Oh, I knew he was tired! It’s so kind of him to make time for us when he must be really busy.

“I’d like to add that all of the Champions of Destiny, not just the hero, were Lucille’s owners in her past life,” Lord Felix casually pointed out.

“Uh, doesn’t that basically mean that Miss Lucille was the legendary holy beast whose presence was what marked someone as a Champion of Destiny? You both speak so nonchalantly about this even though it’s clearly an important topic...”

Prince Edgar buried his face in his hands, and then after a moment, his countenance flipped, his composure restored, and he flashed his usual smile at me.

He’s so quick to move on—just as you’d expect from royalty.

“Anyway, you’re here today to adopt Sir Elios into the Leeuwenhoek family, yes?” Prince Edgar asked.

“Correct,” Lord Felix replied. “We were hoping to enlist your aid.”

Having Lord Felix’s parents adopt Elios had been an easy decision on our part. We’d also received permission from the parents in question. Preparations were going smoothly...save for a certain problem.

“Yes, I understand,” Prince Edgar said. “Sir Elios is a special case.”

Elios’s existence was not officially recognized in the current era.

Wealthy families adopting orphans from impoverished districts was uncommon but not unheard of, and as such, there were procedures in place. However, complicating matters was the fact that Elios had been under the royal family’s supervision thus far. Adopting him would be no simple matter.

That said, now that Elios had lost his mana, he wouldn’t be able to help the royal family as a great sage anymore. That was why we’d chosen to tell Prince Edgar everything—so that he could relinquish the royal family’s claim on Elios and approve our adoption application while he was at it. Essentially, we’d only explained the situation to advance our own cause.

Prince Edgar suddenly beamed, as if his previous bewilderment had all been an illusion. “I have one condition,” he said.

“What is it?” I asked.

Lord Felix tensed up beside me. Even Elios, who’d been absorbed in his sweets, stopped eating to look up at the prince. Only Maouldoth seemed unfazed, curling up in my lap and pressing his face against my stomach as if he were bored and sleepy.

Seeing our reactions, Prince Edgar hurriedly added, “It’s more of a request than a condition—so you can stop glaring at me like that, Lord Felix.”

Glaring?

Confused, I checked Lord Felix’s expression, but he seemed calm and composed. Had Prince Edgar interpreted his tensing up as aggression rather than wariness?

The prince sighed. “I’m not going to take Miss Lucille from you. Relax.”

“Good. What is your request, then?”

Wait, when did Lord Felix become the voice of our party? Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

Prince Edgar, looking mildly intimidated, cleared his throat and turned to me. “Miss Lucille, would you consider succeeding Sir Elios as the next great sage?”

Huh?

“Um, what do you mean by that?” I asked, baffled.

“I mean exactly what I said.”

Becoming the next great sage? Hmm, what does that entail? I can’t even imagine what would happen if I were to accept.

As if noticing my inner plight, Prince Edgar added, “Your position and daily life wouldn’t change at all. You wouldn’t need to have a grand inauguration ceremony, and it wouldn’t make you stand out either—just look at Sir Elios. Even though his name and role weren’t kept secret, many people were barely aware of his existence.”

“That’s true.”

“But so long as despair exists in the form of curses, there will always be people who need hope in their lives—hope that their curses can be broken. Until now, that was the role of Great Sage Elios.”

I see. It probably wasn’t originally the case that having the power to lift curses gave someone this role. I imagine the position was established because Elios spent his whole life studying curses and came to be known as the great sage, someone who broke curses better than anyone else.

And now that Elios had lost that power, he could not remain a great sage.

Prince Edgar’s posture straightened, and he gave me another earnest look. “Miss Lucille, allow me to repeat my entreaty: Could you take Sir Elios’s place as great sage and lift curses at the behest of the royal family? Given that you broke the powerful, long-standing curse of Leeuwenhoek, I’d say there is no other more suited for the role. But of course, as the great sage’s services to the royal family are not public knowledge, this is not an official request. Therefore, you have the right to refuse.”

Oh, that makes sense. We’re in the prince’s office right now—in other words, this isn’t a formal audience. Had this been a public setting, his request would’ve actually been a command in disguise. But since it isn’t, he’s truly giving me the power to choose.

I didn’t have any particular misgivings about the idea, though. The great sage matter aside, I’d observed something during the previous events: Nothing about demons had changed since long ago.

Many people didn’t know this since it wasn’t explicitly stated, but the power of curses came from demons. There were many ways to break a curse, but the most effective—and universal—strategy was to use light-attributed mana more powerful than the demon causing the curse. In other words, light magic strong enough to earn its user the title of saint, like Elvira’s.

Back in my Lilybell days, there had been many dark magic and light magic users, but it seemed their numbers had dwindled considerably since then. Many things must have happened over the years to make these abilities so rare.

I was accused of placing a curse just because I was a dark magic user. That proves that people these days lack knowledge on the subject. Well...it was also just a huge misunderstanding on Prince Bernard’s part.

Anyway, the fact that there were very few light magic users meant that there was also a shortage of people capable of lifting curses. And considering how long Elios had served as great sage, there was likely almost no one left who could break curses by other means.

All of Lilybell’s owners had been able to remove curses. As a result, I knew quite a few methods of doing so.

That means I have no choice but to take the job! After all, I have the power to save people from their suffering.

“I don’t know how much I’ll be able to do, but I’d like to help as much as I can,” I said, bowing to Prince Edgar.

He smiled, relieved. “Thank goodness. Don’t worry—even if there’s a curse you can’t break, you won’t be held liable. Also, while there’s no need to make your role as great sage known, you aren’t obligated to hide it either. Feel free to use the title to your advantage as you see fit.”

Isn’t that quite the extraordinary arrangement? All I have to do is help the royal family lift a curse every now and then and I’ll gain the authority that comes with being a great sage, right?

I don’t intend to wield that power recklessly, of course. I’m just thankful that I won’t get in trouble for revealing my true identity as necessary.

Back when I’d been distributing the panacea, rumors had spread that I was an angel, and then people had eagerly accepted the medicine.

Well, even now, I think that rumor was a bit much.

Anyway, this was how I came to inherit Elios’s title.

Heh heh! Say hello to Great Sage Lucille!

◯◯◯

After being appointed great sage and returning to Leeuwenhoek, I was given a room in the main manor, as the detached house was no longer viable as a residence to live in. Repairing it with magic wouldn’t have cost anything or taken much time, but...

“Since the curse has been lifted, we may as well demolish the detached house and use that space to expand the garden,” Lord Felix suggested.

I accepted his proposal. Until now, the land of Leeuwenhoek had been mostly barren of crops and vegetation. I could understand why he wanted to expand the garden after seeing that jungle sprout up when the curse was erased.

Plus, Lord Felix had seemed incredibly moved when he’d tasted the vegetables I’d grown with Grandpa Randy! He must have been shocked that they were more delicious than any other vegetable he’d ever eaten before. Grandpa Randy and I had put our hearts into them, after all!

Expanding the garden most likely meant we’d have more space for vegetable patches too. Clearly, Lord Felix was making this suggestion because he wanted to eat more types of homegrown vegetables!

Tee hee, how can I possibly refuse a request like that? I originally had no intention of moving to the main manor because I was fond of the detached house, but since things turned out this way, accepting the offer just makes sense.

Lord Felix gave me the room that got the most sunlight.

At this point, Lord Felix and Elvira probably aren’t going to become a couple like they did in my prophetic dream. But I’m sure that someday, his fated heroine will appear. I’ll stay in this room until then.

And so, I spent my days in peace.

Or did I?

“Ugh, not again...” I couldn’t help but sigh.

I stared at the crystal that sat atop a shelf in the corner of my room. It was an even more expensive version of the communication crystal I’d been given when I first moved to Leeuwenhoek. What made it different was its vastly greater range.

I’d returned the communication crystal from the detached house to Lord Felix, figuring that I wouldn’t need it now that I was living in the main manor. Not that it’d gotten much use to begin with...

In contrast to that barely touched crystal, the one currently in my room was being worked to the metaphorical bone. It was faintly flickering even now.

Lord Felix had taught me that pale-colored flashing indicated a nonurgent call that didn’t need to be answered. Apparently the crystal that had been in the detached house lacked this feature—it always flashed the same way regardless of urgency.

When I first heard this, I had my reservations. Was there really such a thing as a call that didn’t have to be answered? And even if that were the case, would the person on the other end of the crystal ever call me to begin with? After all, the person who’d given me this crystal was supposed to be the busiest man in the country: Prince Edgar.

Yet it never stopped flashing.

Is Prince Edgar bored or something?

Even though I knew that was very unlikely to be true, the calls came so incessantly that I couldn’t help but wonder. And I’d learned after several conversations that this faint flicker did indeed indicate “a call that didn’t need to be answered.”

“Miss Lucille, I hear your homegrown vegetables are delicious. Do you grow them differently from the norm?”

“Miss Lucille, why don’t you visit the capital incognito sometime? Just let me know, and I’ll arrange for special treatment. Don’t tell Lord Felix.”

And so on...

To be blunt, all of these calls were completely irrelevant! Making matters worse, Lord Felix had come to my room at the exact moment Prince Edgar had said, “Don’t tell Lord Felix.” The dark aura he’d radiated as a result had been incredibly intense.

Lord Felix had also had mixed feelings when Elios first began living with me. While Lord Felix appeared to be uninterested in others, he actually worried quite a bit about things like letting people into his personal territory or being left out while others were getting along. I’d noticed that Elios was similar in that regard. Though they were generations apart, could it have been a trait of the Leeuwenhoek bloodline?

At first, I’d wondered why Lord Felix acted that way. But recently, I’d finally come to understand: Lord Felix actually hated to be alone!

Heh heh heh! I’ve seen countless cats like that! They act aloof and independent, but deep down, they crave attention and get lonely easily! You may be trying to hide those feelings, but they’re clear as day to me!

Even as I let my mind drift to Lord Felix, the crystal continued to flicker.

Naturally, I understood Prince Edgar’s intentions too. He wanted to keep a tight rein on me now that I’d been appointed great sage. That was why he kept in constant contact—to make a show of caring about me. By making me think he liked me to the point of finding time in his busy schedule to chat about trivial things, he could create a dynamic between us in which I’d feel obliged to accept his requests.

“You don’t have to do all that, you know? I already intend to fulfill my duties.”

Then again, Prince Edgar doesn’t know me that well, so it’s not his fault for feeling uneasy. I’m sure he’ll tone it down after seeing how I handle my work as great sage.

Just as I was thinking about finally answering the call, Lord Felix appeared and snatched the crystal away. Judging by his displeased expression, perhaps he was about to voice his complaints to Prince Edgar.

Well, I’m sure I won’t have to deal with these calls for long. Prince Edgar will soon become king, after all.

With Grandpa Randy at my side, I stepped outside to admire the transformed rear yard.

“Lucy! These crops are doing well too, eh?”

“Yes! When we first started growing them, I never imagined they’d turn out so well.”

Extracting the demon’s mana from Maouldoth and releasing it had accelerated plant growth at an astonishing rate, not just outside the manor but also here in the yard. The flowers bloomed beautifully, while the green tree leaves were lush and vibrant. Moreover, the garden I’d been tending to with Grandpa Randy had grown beyond the level of a mere backyard veggie patch. It was a full-fledged field at this point!

Even the seeds and seedlings I’d been holding on to since my Lilybell days were thriving despite not being native to the area.

This means I’ll soon be able to serve the dishes I often ate with Hinako and Matthew to the people of Leeuwenhoek! Just imagining everyone’s happy faces as they eat my cooking puts a grin on my face.

“You look like you’re having fun, Lucille,” Elios said, smiling at me.

“Yes, I am!” I replied honestly. I couldn’t be happier!

Looking back, I’d had nothing but good experiences since coming to Leeuwenhoek. Lord Felix had been cooler and kinder than I’d expected, and I’d made wonderful friends like Grandpa Randy, Sarah, and Lady Alice. I’d been able to use Lilybell’s memories to help a lot of people with Conrad’s panacea, and I’d even discovered a good quality of Prince Bernard’s. Who knows if that would’ve happened if I hadn’t come here?

The Leeuwenhoek curse was lifted, I got to live with Maouldoth, the cats were as adorable as ever, and I could stay with Elios forever too. Of everything that had happened in my prophetic dream, only the painful parts hadn’t come true.

In the end, I still don’t know if I actually changed fate, though.

Perhaps I’d overturned the rules of prophetic dreams that Master Alys had taught me. Or perhaps it was simply that what I’d thought were keystones of fate hadn’t been in the first place.

I don’t care either way, because I’m as satisfied as can be with how things turned out! I just hope Elvira can accept this outcome too...

One day, Elvira had come to tell me that she had decided to leave this country.

“I couldn’t agree with your choice,” she’d said. “You forced Lord Felix to endure pain while prioritizing Sir Elios, the source of the curse. You can only say it was for the best because everyone was saved in the end. But the way I see it, anything could have happened to Lord Felix.”

“Well, I can’t claim there were no risks. I was definitely being selfish.”

The original timeline had Elvira resolving everything. Lord Felix wouldn’t have suffered so much, and the two would have fallen in love with each other. Elvira might have been happier in the prophetic dream’s future than in our current reality. As such, she had the right to blame me, and I’d been prepared to accept that.

However, her next words had defied my expectations.

“That said, everyone looks really happy now...including Lord Felix,” she’d said, looking out at the land of Leeuwenhoek with a calm yet wistful expression. “Everyone except me understood your decision. Well, that’s not exactly true. It’s more that they had absolute faith in you. It seemed like they’d be satisfied regardless of the outcome. I...still don’t think my opinion was wrong. But I’ve realized that I wasn’t necessarily right either.”

Smiling at me, she’d continued, “There’s no such thing as a ‘right answer,’ is there? It was foolish and arrogant of me to assume my mindset was right just because it wasn’t wrong. I’m ashamed of myself. I’m going to leave the country to reexamine myself and become a saint with both physical and mental fortitude.”

“Lady Elvira...”

In my head, I’d thought, You’re already a powerful and righteous saint, Elvira! But those surely weren’t the words she wanted to hear. It was insensitive to tell someone aiming for greater heights that they were already good enough.

So instead, I’d taken her hand and said, “I’m rooting for you, Lady Elvira!”

“Thank you, Lady Lucille! I probably won’t be able to return for a while, so when things settle down, could you come visit me? As a friend, that is...and only if you don’t mind.”

“Of course!”

When I had that prophetic dream, I never imagined the day would come when Elvira and I could smile at each other like this. Who would’ve thought we’d become friends?!

Beaming with joy, I’d cheered Elvira on.

Even if she hadn’t blown the curse away, it was a fact that she had awakened to immense power. Apparently, back when she hadn’t been able to use light magic well, she’d already received an offer to train abroad as a saint, and she’d decided to accept it now. It was just a hunch, but I suspected the Elvira in the prophetic dream had received the same offer and had declined to stay with Lord Felix.

Elvira’s destination was the Holy Kingdom, a nation that maintained few ties to other countries. It was home to the Sacred Temple, an institution that gathered the world’s scarce light magic users and nurtured their abilities. Apparently the temple towered high above its surroundings, and it was enchanted with a special power that made it impossible to access from the ground. Instead, one entered from the sky, riding a winged horse called a Pegasus.

That sounds like so much fun! I want to go too!

I knew about Pegasi since they’d also existed in my Lilybell days, but I was shocked to learn that they were now under national management! No wonder I hadn’t seen any after becoming Lucille! So much had changed about the world I’d known, and there were surely many more surprises to come.

Now that I’m a great sage, can I visit other countries under the pretense of breaking curses there? Just like my beloved owners from my past life, I’ll travel the world, lift curses for people along the way, and live happily, doing whatever I want!

Oh, it’s so exciting to be alive!

As I toiled away in the field, Lord Felix called out to me.

“Lucille, may I join you? You’d need to teach me the ropes, though.”

“Oh my! Yes, of course! You’ll like it—it’s fun!”

Tee hee, I knew Lord Felix was interested! And he’s one of the rare people who still looks attractive with a shovel in his hand and in clothes meant to get dirty!

It’s just so cozy here. Since Elvira is no longer Lord Felix’s fated heroine, that means I can stay until he finds someone he truly loves, right?

I’ll keep enjoying this temporary engagement for the time being!

◯◯◯

I still didn’t know the true nature of the Champions of Destiny—what their existences meant and what my existence meant.

I thought back to what Master Alys had once said.

“Remember this, my sweet Lilybell. You can make any of your wishes come true. No matter what hardship you face, you mustn’t give up. My dear Lilybell, you are my hope...”

At the time, I’d purred happily, thinking, Tee hee, Master Alys loves me so much! She and my later owners were always drowning me in love, so I’d taken her words as one of her usual displays of affection, not knowing what they really meant otherwise.

I also didn’t know that I would soon find myself jumping out of bed in a panic one fateful morning.

“Huff, huff! That was...a new prophetic dream!”

Behind the Scenes of “Engaging with the Plot”

✵ A Delightful Lucille Watch Party with the Champions of Destiny #2

In a pure-white space, surrounded by a sort of fog that created a tangible divide from the rest of the world, a solemn atmosphere hung in the air. But as usual, the calm was broken by the voices of several men and women engaged in lively conversation.

Gathered here were Lilybell’s former owners, known to humanity as the Champions of Destiny. They had all loved Lucille ever since her previous life as a cat.

They sat around a round table, peering into the large crystal that floated in its center.

“Oh! Lulu is such a genius! I can’t believe she managed to re-create the Churu I made for her! I mean, I’m also pretty amazing for being able to make it, but Lilybell was so excited while eating it that she couldn’t possibly have analyzed the taste at the time!”

The girl whose long black hair was swishing about as she rejoiced was Hinako the otherworlder. “Churu” was a paste-type treat for cats from her original world, said to be irresistible to any feline. Desperate for Lilybell’s attention, the genius high school girl had re-created it using ingredients from the world she’d ended up in.

Matthew, master chef and S-rank adventurer, watched Lucille make the Churu with great interest. “Huh, does that sticky stuff really taste that good? This otherworldly food culture intrigues me.”

“Heh heh! She seems intent on cooking with the ingredients I gave her, so I’m sure you’ll be seeing even more interesting dishes!”

“Now that’s something to look forward to.” Matthew grinned.

Saint Clarissa sighed. “This really isn’t the time for that. Who would have thought that Lilybell’s final owner was still alive? I’m so envious.”

“Careful, Saint Clarissa, you’re saying your true feelings out loud!” Hinako laughed, but in reality, she felt the exact same way.

It wasn’t just Hinako either—everyone at the table was thinking, He gets to be with not only Lilybell but with Lucille as well? That’s not fair.

“Now, now,” said Conrad, alchemist extraordinaire. “He only got to spend a little bit of time with Lilybell, and he was lonely for centuries, waiting until he could meet Lucille. Let’s cut him some slack, okay?”

Although Conrad was a successful merchant and thus skilled in negotiation, he still retained his timid side after death. As such, he was always trying to appease the other champions, not wanting to rock the boat.

“Forget about all of that and look!” Princess Roselia exclaimed. “Lord Felix is jealous of little Elios! That’s why he’s conflicted about them living together, right? How adorable!”

Efren the hero shook his head in disapproval. “You underestimate a man’s heart, Princess. Age has nothing to do with love. I get what Felix is thinking. That boy, Elios, clearly has romantic feelings for Lucille.”

“In fact, based on the monologue we just heard, he even wanted to marry her when she was Lilybell,” Hinako added. “Is that possible in this world? Marrying a cat would have been pretty hard in mine.”

“Nah, you wouldn’t see that happening in any world. I love all women and all women love me, but even I’ve never heard of such a case.”

“Hmm, despite the fact you answered my question, you still managed to annoy me.”

Efren laughed.

“I know exactly how you feel, Hinako,” Clarissa said.

“Me too,” Roselia chimed in.

“Wait, really?” Efren’s face stiffened.

“Ha ha ha! For all your popularity with the ladies when you were alive, you’re no match for the ones here,” Matthew remarked.

Conrad cleared his throat. “Sir Matthew, for the sake of my stomach, please don’t get Sir Efren riled up.”

“Ah, your sensitive nature must give you a difficult time,” Saint Clarissa said. “I can cast healing spells on you when necessary, though I’m not sure how effective they’ll be in this space. None of us are alive anymore, after all.”

“Ha ha, thanks, Saint Clarissa. I appreciate the thought.”

As the champions conversed among themselves, the image of the events Lucille was involved in moved onward.

Roselia began to feel uneasy. “Poor Lord Felix... Everything he does backfires, and Lucille is convinced that he’s falling in love with Elvira like the dream foretold.”

Efren sighed. “Well, it’s turning out exactly as we feared. Remember what I said about how Lucille got too used to being spoiled as Lilybell, making it ridiculously hard to express romantic love to her?”

Roselia groaned. “But still, how can she be so dense?! Lord Felix clearly only has eyes for her! It’s kind of frustrating.”

Beside her, Conrad gazed at the crystal. He seemed more concerned about Elvira than Lucille’s cluelessness about romance. “Miss Elvira is pretty stubborn, huh? Being a good person can be a problem sometimes. For example, in alchemy, no matter how amazing a medicine is, it’s poison when used incorrectly. The same goes for human nature.”

Clarissa quietly laughed it off. “I understand why you say that, but there’s no need to worry in this case, is there? After all, Lucille is right there. Any poison that passes through her hands can be turned into medicine or neutralized. See?”

“Oh... Ha ha, you’re right. That’s our Lucille for you. Wait, what?! Aha ha ha ha! Look at the face Maouldoth’s making now that he’s grown huge and smashed through the detached house! Lucille sure is a riot. You’d never expect her to pull off something like this.”

“Heh heh heh!” Roselia giggled. “Indeed, I never get tired of watching her. But you know, lately I can’t help but find Maouldoth adorable too—it’s the way Lucille has him wrapped around her little finger. That fellow was always up to no good, though. I never realized he could be so cute.”

“Maouldoth’s always been cute,” Efren said, his expression relaxing. “In fact, he was sniffling and weeping when I sealed him. Sure, he can strike with the force of a natural disaster, but he started showing his pathetic side a lot more after falling head over heels for Lilybell.”

Everyone laughed as they watched the comical scene, but when Lucille began to extract the demon’s mana from Maouldoth, they all stared at the crystal, fascinated by the sight within.

“Oh, she kept the lyre I made for her...” Touched, Conrad pressed a hand to his chest. “She really loved that instrument. She must’ve taken good care of it all this time.”

Roselia squealed and covered her mouth. “Yes! I have fond memories of that lyre too. Whenever I sang, Lilybell would channel her mana into it and provide accompaniment. We both loved performing together. Thanks to you, Sir Conrad, Lilybell became a music-loving cat.”

“I’m honored to hear you say that, Princess Roselia.”

Hinako swayed her body to the beat of the lively tune. “Look! The light is dancing to Lucille’s music! Oh my gosh, it’s so magical. And Lucille’s cute too! It’s like watching a pop idol’s concert...”

With a fond smile, Clarissa said a prayer for Elios. “It looks like he’s become an ordinary human again. Now he’ll be able to enjoy wonderful times with Lucille, just as Lilybell blessed us with immeasurable happiness during our lifetimes.”

Matthew clapped his hands and cheered. “The once barren land of Leeuwenhoek is now a verdant paradise! Just look at those succulent vegetables! Anything you cook with those is bound to be delicious.”

Efren nodded several times in agreement with everything that had been said. “It’s like all the happiness in the world gathered in one spot. People can’t help but be happy when they’re with Lucille, no matter what burdens are weighing them down. It was the same for us.”

As everyone basked in their blissful memories with Lilybell, Great Witch Alys, who had yet to utter a single word, murmured, “Lucille will be fine. My beloved Lilybell—my precious, special girl—will surely see it through. She’ll make it happen...”

Only Clarissa, who was sitting next to Alys, picked up on those words. Curious, she turned to look at the witch, just in time to see her abruptly stand up to leave.

“Where are you going, Master Alys?”

“I still have things to do. I’ll leave watching Lucille to the rest of you.” Without turning around, Alys raised her hand and disappeared.

“Master Alys...?”

The people here were in soul form, so they all vanished now and again. But Alys was clearly acting differently from usual.

Come to think of it... Clarissa realized something was off, and she wondered why she hadn’t thought anything of it before.

After her death, Clarissa had created this space using the sacred power that dwelled within her soul, wanting to watch over her beloved Lilybell. She had also summoned the souls of Lilybell’s other devoted owners, believing that they, too, still loved the cat dearly and wanted more of her.

Her assumption had been correct. Everyone joyfully remained in this space, watching Lilybell, who was now Lucille. They would probably stay until they’d gotten their fill—in other words, forever.

When Lilybell had died, Clarissa had wanted to summon her to the space too, but Elios’s wish had gotten in the way. As a result, Lilybell had reincarnated as Lucille instead. The other owners’ souls would have reincarnated too, if Clarissa hadn’t brought them here.

So why had Great Witch Alys been able to come here? As Lilybell’s first owner, she would have died long before Clarissa had...

☼ Leeuwenhoek

As the carriage gently rocked my body, I wondered, How many years has it been since I last saw my mother?

The first time the effects of my curse had come to light, she had distanced herself from me, declaring, “That monster is not my son!” After she fell ill, she moved to another territory owned by the Leeuwenhoek family, and eventually my father joined her. They now lived a quiet life. I hadn’t once seen my mother since she’d fled Leeuwenhoek—and me. Nor had I seen my father once he’d followed after her.

Having someone I loved unconditionally—who was also supposed to love me unconditionally—call me a monster and reject my very existence had cast a grim shadow over my heart. And the more I tried to seek out the light, to prevent myself from being swallowed up by darkness, the blacker that shadow grew. It was like being in quicksand—the more I struggled, the deeper I sank.

However, I was the cursed head of the Leeuwenhoek family. Letting my suffering show and allowing another to reach out a hand to help me would drain all of their mana, killing them.

Kain’s presence was a blessing, but it didn’t illuminate the shadow encompassing me. In fact, the brighter the light he shone on me, the darker the shadow grew. Then again, perhaps Kain also bore a shadow like mine and had to strive to hold on to his light. Alice as well. After all, Leeuwenhoek was a land to which shadows were drawn.

Though I’d revisited that bitter memory of my mother countless times, lately, I’d found myself recalling experiences from much further back instead.

Before my curse had manifested, my mother had loved me dearly and smiled at me. Had I pushed those memories to the back of my heart and pretended not to see them because they were too dazzling, thus making the darkness of my shadow too stark? Perhaps I’d instinctively feared that should the gap between light and shadow grow any wider than it already had, my heart wouldn’t be able to bear it. After all, in the early days, I’d replayed those radiant and affectionate memories over and over. And each time, it’d hurt more and more.

Whenever I’d remember my mother’s warmth, my inner child would scream out.

A memory of my mother cradling me in her arms when I was tired, singing a lullaby as she rocked me to sleep?

“Why won’t she ever hug me again?!”

A memory of walking through the manor garden, my mother holding my hand to make sure I didn’t fall—even when there was nothing to trip over?

“Why won’t she ever hold my hand again?!”

A memory of waking from a nightmare, after which my mother hugged me in bed and stroked my head until I fell asleep again?

“Why won’t she ever comfort me again?!”

And each time, as I sobbed in my heart, the answer would come to me: “It’s because I’m a monster.”

My chest would feel as if it were being ripped apart, and so I’d made a conscious effort to stop drawing on those memories. Eventually I grew accustomed to life without warmth.

But for some reason, I could now look back on the past calmly. I used to half-heartedly tell myself that my mother had suffered a lot too, but now, I genuinely believed that. The fact that there’d been a time she’d cherished me meant that she had loved me and probably wanted to keep loving me. It was the Leeuwenhoek curse that had obstructed her wish.

Now that I could reflect on it while maintaining my composure, I realized that, in my memories, my mother had been a kind person. Not being able to love her own child would’ve tormented her.

It wasn’t only I who was hurt.

Since I’d come to think of it this way, I now felt comfortable with the idea of visiting my mother and father. If I hadn’t, I never would’ve considered going to speak with them in person, even if I needed them to adopt Elios. A letter would’ve sufficed, and if they’d replied with reluctance, I could’ve asked Prince Edgar to talk to them instead. Actually, that would’ve been the easier solution, logistically—and psychologically.

It was an undeniable fact that this visit had been made possible entirely thanks to Lucille.

My gaze was drawn to where she was sitting across from me in the carriage. She was quietly looking out the window and petting Maouldoth in her lap whenever he demanded it. The dragon had tagged along without asking, and Lucille’s touch was gentle, just as my mother’s had been.

Leaning against her, Elios was fast asleep, as if lulled into reassurance by her presence. I vaguely recalled Lucille once saying that Elios was still a child at heart despite how long he’d lived. Seeing the boy’s innocent sleeping face, I fully agreed with her. And when I thought about how many lonely years he’d spent in that tiny body, suffering and blaming himself, I was truly glad that he’d been saved as well.

At first, I’d planned on making the trip on horseback, without Lucille. I was just going to stop in quickly before heading back. However, when Lucille learned about this, she’d stopped me.

“It’s a special occasion, so I want to come too! And since it’s a faraway place I’ve never been to, I’d like to take a carriage so that I can slowly take in the new scenery! Oh, but I’d feel awkward using the Leeuwenhoek carriage all by myself, so please join me inside, Lord Felix!”

Lucille generally acted out of consideration for others, but at times, she made small, selfish requests like this—and she didn’t back down. She was never unpleasant in her demands, though, and even though she wasn’t pushy, things always ended up the way she wanted them. Ever since I’d noticed this, I’d begun granting her wishes without much thought. It helped that her whims were always quite easy to fulfill.

This time, however, I realized she was probably being selfish for my sake. My decision to visit my parents marked a major change in my heart, but it didn’t mean my wounds had healed. Lucille had likely sensed this and felt that I needed more time.

And so, just as she’d intended, I now sat in this slow-moving carriage, coming to terms with my feelings as I gazed out the window. I was able to reflect on thoughts I normally avoided and calmly organize them. Recognizing Lucille’s act of thoughtfulness for what it was had also sparked a small joy in my heart. I felt incredibly good for once.

I’m really no match for Lucille.

We arrived at my parents’ estate in the early afternoon. I’d chosen this time of day because I didn’t have the courage to suddenly join them for a meal.

My father was standing in front of the manor. He’d visibly aged a bit in the years I hadn’t seen him. Still, he appeared younger than he really was, thanks to his tall, well-built frame and good posture.

There weren’t many monsters in this area, but I’d heard that whenever something happened on the outskirts, my father was the first to set out with his sword. Despite living a retired life with his wife, he remained a true man of Leeuwenhoek. While my feelings toward him were complicated, I sincerely respected him for that.

“Welcome,” he said the instant I stepped out of the carriage.

I bowed. “Thank you for allowing us to visit on such short notice.”

It went without saying that I had asked for permission in advance. But after years without contact, my request undoubtedly would have felt abrupt to my parents, regardless of how or when I’d gone about it.

Seeing my parents in person made me nervous, and since my father didn’t say anything further, an awkward tension hung in the air.

However, as Lucille took my hand and stepped down from the carriage, she looked up at my father with a beaming smile.

She bowed. “My name is Lucille Gustelanola,” she said. “It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Indeed.”

Lucille’s cheerful disposition should have lightened the mood, but for some reason, my father stared at her with a scrutinizing gaze.

“Hmm, he’s not quite what I imagined,” Elios murmured.

I tilted my head, clueless as to why he’d said that.

As if reading my mind, Elios whispered so that only I could hear, “It’s always the strongest light that casts the darkest shadow, isn’t it?”

Perhaps because he’d lived so long, Elios’s behavior sometimes contradicted his childish appearance; he said things that were beyond my ability to comprehend.

My father personally guided us to the manor.

“My wife, Aurelia, is waiting inside,” he explained quietly.

His words were directed at Lucille, not me. Other than our initial exchange, he hadn’t so much as glanced at me a single time. For that matter, he hadn’t acknowledged Elios in any way either, to the point where I was beginning to worry if he could even see him.

“I’m so excited to meet her!” Lucille said with a giggle.

We were brought to a reception room, where my mother was seated on the sofa, waiting for us.

Despite the fact that, like my father, she probably also appeared younger than her actual age, I’d only been a child when I’d last seen her, so I couldn’t help but feel that she seemed to have aged even more than he had—especially since my last memory of her was years prior to his.

My mother looked at Lucille with an impassive expression.

We decided to keep the greetings brief before getting to business. It wasn’t the kind of atmosphere for enjoying small talk, anyway.

There’s no point in hanging around such an uncomfortable place. Let’s finish this up quickly and go home.

I explained the events leading up to Elios’s adoption and promptly presented the necessary paperwork. For the sake of keeping discussion to the bare minimum, I’d filled everything out in advance—all I needed was a signature.

As for Elios’s background, we’d decided to withhold nothing. Hiding his identity wouldn’t change anything, and besides, my parents belonged to the Leeuwenhoek family, so the information was relevant to them. Elios himself had also wanted them to know the truth.

Contrary to my expectations, my father hesitated to pick up the pen.

As I watched him in suspicion, my mother broke the silence.

“You say that boy is the source of the heinous Leeuwenhoek curse? Why must I be forced to adopt such a repulsive child?”

This scenario wasn’t outside the scope of my predictions. In fact, it was why I’d initially intended to gloss over Elios’s origins. However, Elios had stopped me, saying that since my mother hated the curse and had distanced herself from me because of it, there was no telling what would happen if she were to learn the truth after the fact.

I had considered that it might have been easier to just adopt him as my own son, but neither I nor Elios wanted to take that path if we could avoid it. I was the one who had suffered from the curse, so why shouldn’t I be allowed to be selfish just this once?—I’ll admit that thought crossed my mind.

My mother’s rejection of Elios brought back my own sorrowful memories; the words “repulsive child” overlapped with the word “monster” in my head. Anger surged through me.

In a way, being able to feel angry means that I’ve overcome it, the rational part of my mind said. Still, I prepared to voice my counterargument—only to swallow it as Lucille spoke first.

“The curse that plagued Lord Felix and the land of Leeuwenhoek is completely gone now,” she said. “You can rest assured that there’s nothing repulsive about anyone here!”

Elios looked up at her in shock, then immediately lowered his gaze, seeming as if he were about to cry. I felt a rush of emotion in my heart too. Lucille probably hadn’t put much thought into her response, but something about the words “there’s nothing repulsive about anyone here” stuck with me.

However, what Lucille said didn’t stir my mother’s emotions in the same way. She glared sharply at the smiling Lucille and said, “That’s not what I’m talking about. How could I possibly ‘rest assured’?! What an incredibly insensitive remark. No wonder the second prince broke his engagement to you. Even in this remote territory, I’ve heard rumors of your wickedness!”

I should have said something before Lucille did. Then she wouldn’t have been attacked like this.

Regretting my slow response, I opened my mouth to defend her, only for Elios to stealthily pinch my thigh. I gasped at the sharp pain, and when I looked at him, he shook his head as if to say, Keep quiet.

But why? Elios loves Lucille dearly. Why would he stop me from protecting her? Is there a deeper meaning behind this?

“Yes, you’re right,” Lucille said. “I’m extremely insensitive and self-centered. Otherwise, I never would’ve asked you to adopt Elios. How could I, when he was the source of the curse that tormented Lord Felix? I couldn’t possibly expect you to accept someone who hurt your precious son!”

What she was saying didn’t quite make sense to me. The way she’d phrased her words, it was as if she thought my mother was reluctant to adopt Elios not because she was repulsed by the curse itself, but because she thought Elios was the reason I’d suffered.

But my mother had called me a monster. She’d truly despised me. Given that her real son was already a repulsive child, I wouldn’t have thought she’d care about adopting another on paper. It was a terribly insensitive way of thinking, and I was aware that adopting Elios would likely hurt my mother. But I was hoping she’d concede to my selfishness to make up for the lack of love she’d given me... Perhaps I was testing her.

So Lucille’s implication couldn’t be true. There was no way.

“My precious son?” My mother balked. “I shunned my son.”

“It’s not unusual to feel fear and affection at the same time.” Lucille giggled. “Human emotions are complex. They’re hard to understand, and they get in the way at times.”

My mother fell silent. Seeing her lost in thought, my father went ahead and signed the paperwork.

With this, Elios would become Elios Leeuwenhoek, my new younger brother.

◯◯◯

Lord Felix’s mother, Lady Aurelia, came to see us off.

Calling me over to her so that Lord Felix wouldn’t hear our conversation, she quietly admitted, “I couldn’t stand how you were smiling next to Felix—as if you were genuinely happy. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t accept him after his curse manifested. Even though I’d loved him so much before, being near him was unbearably painful. Seeing you accept him so easily...frustrated me.”

Today’s visit had been truly selfish on my and Lord Felix’s part. For Lady Aurelia, meeting Lord Felix could have already been a burden in itself, and she probably wouldn’t have wanted to see Elios at all. As she’d said, we were insensitive.

But even knowing that, I’d still wanted to grant Lord Felix and Elios’s wish. The two of them wanted to become family—not as father and son but as brothers. I wasn’t quite sure why they were so fixated on the latter, but presumably there was a reason for the distinction.

Both Lord Felix and Elios had suffered painful experiences. Since I treasured them, I wanted to make their wish come true. Lord Felix’s parents must’ve suffered too, and I certainly didn’t want to dismiss that, but as I didn’t know their story, I was obviously going to prioritize Lord Felix and Elios over them.

I’m a selfish person, so I always choose my actions based on what I want most. And I think it turned out for the best this time.

“Lady Aurelia, it’s not your fault you couldn’t love him,” I said. “Besides, it’s not like you really didn’t love him, is it? Love and repulsion can coexist.”

“What? How could they? That’s absurd.”

“I believe that it’s possible to feel any combination of emotions at the same time, no matter how much they contradict. The human heart is truly profound!”

It was undoubtedly true that Lady Aurelia had suffered because she’d failed to accept Lord Felix, felt repulsed by him, and couldn’t love him. Even with the curse gone, starting over as if nothing had happened would be difficult on an emotional level for the both of them.

But speaking as a selfish bystander, I don’t think she needs to blame herself for that. You can’t help the way you feel. It’s not about what’s right or wrong or who’s at fault. Sometimes, things are just the way they are, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

If Lord Felix was wounded by this and hated Lady Aurelia for her actions, then that’s just how it is. And if Lady Aurelia felt guilty but still couldn’t stop rejecting him, then that’s also just how it is.

I know Lady Aurelia can’t help but blame herself anyway, but at the same time, I feel like it’s okay to declare that something is out of your control...because that’s just how things are sometimes.

“If you ever find yourself wanting to reconnect with Lord Felix, you can just write him a letter,” I said. “Though whether he chooses to accept reconciliation or not is up to him. In the end, a person’s feelings can only be truly understood by themselves.”

“You really are insensitive, saying that so casually.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lady Aurelia chuckled.

Oh, I can see the resemblance to Lord Felix when she smiles. They really are mother and son.

“I’m sorry too,” she said. “To be honest, I already knew the rumors about you were false. Even in this quiet countryside, I keep hearing things about you. I knew about your accomplishments and that you saved Felix, yet I still said those awful things to you.”

I felt that Lady Aurelia was a kind person, just like Lord Felix. Her frustration toward me had probably been rooted in resentment toward herself for not being able to accept him.

I hoped Lord Felix and Lady Aurelia would be able to laugh and smile together one day. It wasn’t too unthinkable of an idea, judging by the contentment on Lord Felix’s face—the expression was a far cry from how stiff he’d been on the carriage ride here.

Well, if it turns out to be impossible after all, then that’s just how it’s going to be.

With that, we took our leave.

◯◯◯

After returning to the Leeuwenhoek manor, we decided to finalize the paperwork.

“Lucille, when we write my name on this document and submit it, I’ll become part of the Leeuwenhoek family, right? I have a request, then.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t forget the promise you made back when you were Lilybell. You said you’d give me a name, right? I want that name.”

“Oh my.”

I had indeed made that promise back when Elios had been an orphan. I’d also already decided on the name itself; I just hadn’t been able to tell him. But was this really a good idea?

“I’m not going to change my name from Elios, of course,” he clarified. “You taught me that names hold a lot of power, after all. Since everyone’s been calling me Elios so much, the name is deeply engraved in my soul. I was just wondering if I could have your choice be my middle name...”

I see. I was worried he might be planning to abandon the name Elios but apparently not.

“That’s a great idea! Lord Felix, is that okay with you?”

“Yes, we should prioritize Elios’s wishes,” Lord Felix replied.

“I appreciate you both respecting my feelings,” Elios said.

I never thought I’d get a chance to reveal the name I chose for Elios back in my Lilybell days.

Elios’s eyes lit up with excitement. Lord Felix also gave me his full attention. Meanwhile, Maouldoth remained sprawled out on the sofa, fast asleep.

“I hereby give Elios the name...”

Elios gripped his chest for a moment, then wrote his new name on the page with trembling fingers:

Elios Noah Leeuwenhoek

Noah meant “joy and rest.” It was a prayer that he could obtain all the joys in the world and rest without worries. It was also a message from me: “When I’m with you, I feel joy and happiness. Just being by your side gives me peace of mind. You’re really important to me!”

Elios, unfortunately I wasn’t able to make that prayer come true when I was Lilybell. Instead, I caused you a lot of sorrow. But this time, we’ll experience lots of joy and happiness together, okay?

☼ Elios is a Grandpa’s Boy?

After formally joining the Leeuwenhoek family, I found myself with a new problem: the gardener’s constant pestering.

“Elios! Are you still asleep? Wake up and get over here! We’re going to work the fields together!”

“Huh?”

He was always insisting that I sleep and wake up early, eat well, and exercise a lot.

I’d rather spend as much time with Lucille as possible, though...

Also, his definition of “early” was too early. I wanted to sleep in more. Lucille and Maouldoth were allowed to keep sleeping, so why was I the only one forced to get up? I’d once heard that old people were early risers, and now I knew that was true.

Not only that, but Mr. Randolph’s idea of appropriate portion sizes also seemed off. How could I possibly fit that much food into my small body? It was at the point where I was worried that my stomach would swell up and burst one day.

But if I didn’t eat, he’d get super annoying, asking me things like “Are you sick?” “Not a fan of this vegetable?” “If it’s the seasoning you don’t like, should I cook it a different way?” To which I’d reply, “No, it’s just too much food. It tastes good, and I feel healthier than I ever have in my life.” Then he’d start nagging again, saying, “Well then, eat more. Otherwise you won’t grow!” Seriously, it was such a pain.

It was the same thing with exercise. Though my body was that of a kid, I’d lived for a very long time, so I wasn’t bursting with energy, and I’d lost my childish sense of wonder ages ago. Plus, spending all those years studying curses in the sunless Magic Tower hadn’t exactly made me adept at physical activity.

So each time, he’d widen his eyes and say, “Ran out of steam already? A kid like you should have more stamina!” Then he’d start fretting over whether I was sick again. I really couldn’t handle him.

No matter how much you tell me to do these things, I’ll never be able to. Getting up early, eating lots of food, running around outside—it’s a struggle for me.

I’d been alone for most of my life, so I’d never known what it was like to have someone pestering me and worrying over everything. My daily routine until now had consisted of researching until I passed out from exhaustion, waking up whenever I wanted to, and eating the bare minimum required for survival. I’d hardly ever even walked around in the sun. I’d never lived the life that Mr. Randolph expected me to.

Sure, my beloved Lilybell had stayed by my side, but that was back when I’d been confined to a dark room. In other words, I’d never been able to live like a normal child.

So I don’t understand...what this feeling is. Getting nagged to do things should be annoying. I should be fed up with him. Maybe even angry at him. But deep down, I feel a faint warmth, and sometimes, I get the urge to cry for no reason.

“Mr. Randolph, why do you—”

“You know, Elios, I’ve been thinking this for a while now. What’s with that precocious ‘Mr. Randolph’? Kids should talk like kids!”

Under my breath, I muttered, “Annoying old man.”

“Ha ha ha! There you go!” he said, grabbing my head. “That’s what I’m talking about. You’re a Leeuwenhoek kid now, so you don’t have to worry about offending anyone. I’m just a gardener, so no calling me ‘mister’!”

No way, he heard me? I said that as quietly as I could! For an old man, he’s got sharp ears...

Also, I would’ve expected him to scold me for saying that. Seeing him look pleased about it threw me off. It wasn’t a bad feeling, though. It was just really strange, and it made me feel all tingly.

I’d definitely feel bad calling him “old man,” so let’s go with Gramps, I decided on my own.

The first time I called him that, he beamed with joy for some reason. The tingly feeling grew stronger.

Lucille woke up much later than us.

“Oh my! When did you and Grandpa Randy become such close friends? Well, you were always friends, but your bond is even deeper now!”

“Huh?” My eyes widened. Close friends? Is that what we look like to her? “Me and Gramps? Close friends?”

“You just called him ‘Gramps’! You’re such a grandpa’s boy, Elios.”

“Huh?”

It was human nature to struggle to respond to things that completely defied expectations. As I floundered, Lucille happily chatted with Gramps.

A grandpa’s boy? That’s a kid who loves their grandpa or gets doted on by him, right? The only person I love is Lucille...

But something felt off about that thought. Perhaps...Lucille wasn’t the only one I loved. Before Gramps interrupted me earlier, I was going to ask him, Why do you pay so much attention to me? If I really was a grandpa’s boy and that grandpa was Gramps...could it be that Gramps loved me and wanted to dote on me?

Me? Even though I’ve always been a loner?

Until now, I’d never been loved by anyone but Lucille. I didn’t have anyone to love besides her, and I thought that as long as I had her, I didn’t need anything else. But the idea of Gramps wanting to dote on me...made me a bit happy.

Unable to contain my emotions, I approached Lucille and Gramps and paused to think for a moment before throwing my arms around Gramps. It was the first time I’d ever considered hugging anyone who wasn’t Lucille.

“What’s wrong, Elios? Are you tired? How are you gonna build stamina when you don’t exercise enough?”

His casual reaction felt like he was pushing me away... But before the sadness could sink in, he lifted me up in his arms.

“Huh?!”

“Ha ha ha! You’re so light that even an old man like me can pick you up with ease! You gotta eat more!” He plucked a nearby tomato from its stem and shoved it at my mouth. “Eat, sleep, wake up, and exercise!”

He started patting my back.

What’s happening?

Lucille watched us with delight.

What is this feeling?

My chest felt like it was going to burst.

Lucille hugged me all the time, but she rarely picked me up since it was harder for her. And this was the first time I’d been carried by anyone else.

“Gramps, you’re strong for an old man, huh?” I teased, wrapping my arms around his neck.

When he laughed in response, the vibrations reached me too.

Being a grandpa’s boy isn’t so bad, I thought. Basking in the warm sunlight, I drifted off to sleep in his arms.

As for what happened next... All I’ll say is that a nap like that can only produce happy dreams.

Afterword

Hello to new readers and old readers alike. It’s me, Usagi Hoshimi.

I was able to publish volume 2 of this series. Thank you for picking it up!

Qi234-sensei has done another wonderful job with the illustrations! Lucille’s cuteness on the cover goes without saying, but Elios had me bursting at the seams with excitement. He’s so, so, so adorable.

Some of you may have noticed that the hood of Elios’s robe has cat ears! Just as with the paw prints in Lucille’s and Lilybell’s eyes, I’m so impressed by how even the little details have been made as cute as possible.

If I may talk about personal matters for a bit, I recently had some health concerns and went to the hospital to get checked. They did a CT scan and, much to my surprise, found tumors nowhere near the part of the body I was worried about. After that, it was tests, tests, and more tests. In the end, all of the tumors turned out benign. But including the small ones, I now have five or six of them in my body, ha ha. Also, the part I was concerned about ended up being perfectly healthy.

Actually, I’ve always had oddly good luck. This time, something felt off, so I went to get it checked because I was worried, and as a result, I discovered problems in completely unexpected places. This kind of thing has happened to me a lot, not just with health issues.

Afterward, I’m always relieved, thinking, Whoa! That could’ve been really bad! I once had the opportunity to meet a clairvoyant, who assured me that I have a very powerful guardian spirit. (I think I have to agree.)

In the end, what I’m trying to say is, although I fortunately didn’t have a serious illness, even if you think you’re healthy, you never know what could be developing in your body. It’s important to get regular checkups! Health comes first!

Lastly, I’d like to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of my readers, Qi234-sensei for drawing the most adorable illustrations ever, and everyone else who was involved in the creation of this book. Thank you so much!

I hope we’ll meet again.

Usagi Hoshimi

Bonus Short Story

The Misfortune of Gon the Charismatic Cat

Glossy fur, a long and fluffy tail, and a cute, slightly dewy nose—that’s me, the most adorable and wonderful white cat in the world, Gonzalez!

As I walked, basking in my fellow strays’ gazes—some envious, some reverent—a cat came running to me in a panic.

“L-Lady Gon!”

“Oh? What’s the matter?”

Goodness, how noisy. It seems something dire has occurred, but an elegant cat like me never loses her composure. Now, tell me what happened!

“I-I heard a strange rumor! Apparently your good friend, Miss Lucille, has welcomed a newcomer to her abode!”

“What did you say?!”

According to this cat, ever since this newcomer had been accepted by the cats in that area, he’d never left Lucille’s side. And yet, he didn’t participate in the cats’ meetings and constantly acted brazenly arrogant.

“What’s more, I hear he sleeps with Miss Lucille!”

“I... I won’t stand for this!”

If what this cat was saying was true, I couldn’t let it slide. This newcomer dared to move in with Lucille without so much as a word to me—her best friend and soulmate? The proper etiquette would have been to come greet me first, no? And although it wasn’t mandatory to attend cat meetings, how could the other cats allow his presence when he acted in such a way? What were they thinking?! One’s seniors were supposed to guide juniors and teach them how the hierarchy works!

Ugh, no one can do anything right without me! Also, Lucille isn’t being fair either! She’s never even slept with me before! I can understand losing to those three cats who met her first and were even named by her—but to a newcomer? That’s just wrong!

“I’m going to see Lucille right this moment!” I declared.

Around me, I heard voices saying things like “Ooh, that’s Lady Gon for you! You’re so cool!” But I didn’t have time to respond to their cheers.

Depending on what I find at Lucille’s place, I might have to personally give that newcomer a stern dressing-down!

As I hurried to Lucille’s home, the sights I saw caused an uneasiness to creep over me. By the time I reached the manor, I was so shaken that I couldn’t help but mutter, “M-Meow... (Wh-What happened here?)”

Lucille’s territory had become a jungle.

Huh?! It definitely wasn’t like this before, right? Wasn’t this place basically barren aside from Lucille’s precious garden?! But it’s clearly a jungle now! It shouldn’t be possible for grass, trees, and flowers to grow this fast!

“Mreooow... (I’m scared...)”

Humans and cats alike reacted with the same feeling of horror when faced with an incomprehensible phenomenon.

“L-Lady Gon? Are you all right?”

“Oh!”

My cat companion’s voice brought me back to my senses.

No! I am not a weak cat who would freeze in terror over something like this!

Besides, Lucille was formerly Lilybell, the holy beast loved by champions! It’s perfectly normal for unbelievable things to happen around her. Great, thinking rationally has me feeling much calmer!

I raised my chin, attempting to appear unconcerned. “So where is this newcomer?”

“Um, according to the report, Lucille is usually tending to her garden at this time of day...and the newcomer can often be seen lounging nearby!”

“The garden, you say? Well then, let’s go!”

“Okay!”

Hmm, what should I do when I meet this newcomer? As his senior, I should teach him some manners, right? Depending on his attitude, a cat slap might be in order too.

I peeked over at the garden.

“Wh-What is that?”

Several kittens had gathered in a sunny spot, but the problem sat at the center of their huddle: a black creature. He had a round body covered in glittering scales, a smooth,thick tail, horns protruding from his head, and wings on his back...

W-Wait! What part of this is a cat?! And why do I sense mana similar to Lucille’s—like a concentrated natural disaster?!

Hold on, why are the cats clinging to that terrifying creature?! Ahh! Weaklings like you shouldn’t be playing with that flapping tail like it’s a toy!

Horrified, I stared in morbid curiosity, as the dozing creature’s eyelids suddenly parted, and he glanced in my direction. Our gazes met.

“Eek!” I squeaked.

Things took a turn for the worse when the creature rose to his feet, sending the kittens around him tumbling to the ground. With a flap of his wings, he launched himself straight at me!

N-Nooo! Please don’t kill me—I’m sorry—I’ll never act like I’m superior ever agaaain!

Finding myself unable to even scream, my lips sputtered open and closed in silence.

The creature alighted on the ground before me.

“Who and what are you?” He tilted his head, staring.

I finally managed to stammer, “I-I’m sowwy...”

Unfortunately, my companion had not yet realized the gravity of the situation.

“Who do you think you are, newcomer?! This here is Lady Gon, almighty white cat and best friend of Miss Lucille! How dare you start living with Miss Lucille without paying your respects to Lady Gon first?! Please give him a piece of your mind, Lady Gon!”

“Sto—”

“Hm?”

“Stop it!”

“Huh? L-Lady Gon?”

How can anyone look at this creature and think he’s just some newcomer cat?! Unbelievable!

I’d tried to stop my friend, but the cat was now out of the bag. The black creature glared in my direction.

Eeeeek!

“What?” the creature scoffed. “You claim to be Lucille’s best friend? Hmph! If you really are her best friend, that makes me her bestest friend! After all, I’m a proud dragon! Look how strong and cool I am!”

“D-Dragon? Um, you mean the legendary creature? You’re one of those great and almighty dragons?”

“Huh?! H-Heh heh, I was annoyed that Lucille made yet another friend, but hey, you’re actually not bad!”

The black creature—I mean, dragon—grinned.

Oh, Lucille... This is too extraordinary, even for the champions’ beloved holy beast. I can’t believe you’re friends with a dragon, and he’s following you around everywhere...

Little did I know, from that point forward, every time the dragon spotted me, I’d be forced to praise him over and over again.