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Episode 10
There’s no way I’m still dreaming, right?
I grabbed hold of my sanity before I collapsed from shock again and blurted out,
“A cat is talking.”
“A cat?”
The cat’s face twisted in annoyance.
“What terrible manners. Address me as Sir Vermont.”
Was this cat really from Vermont?
My mouth hung open before I finally asked,
“Did my magic power come back?”
“No. The only reason we can speak right now is that I absorbed the tiny amount of magic still left inside your body.”
Wait.
So the little magic I had left is now even less?!
“Well, it was weak, but enough to restore my body somewhat. Back in my day, I could’ve easily dealt with one or two humans like that”
The cat suddenly changed the subject, as if he’d remembered something more important.
“But that amount isn’t nearly enough. Some kind of restraint is blocking your magic.”
“And what exactly is this ‘restraint’?”
“You’ll have to figure that out yourself.”
The cat spoke as though he were explaining something painfully obvious.
“Tsk. This is why beginner mages are such a nuisance.”
A cat clicking its tongue.
Now that was a new experience.
“Back in my day, summoning me required at least fifty years of training!”
“Oh wow. That sounds exactly like something an old man would say.”
“I’ll have you know that I’m a demon who has lived for over four hundred years!”
The contrast between his adorable appearance and the things he said was giving me whiplash.
“The mages of old would bow the moment they saw me and tremble in fear!”
I frowned and listened to his lecture before muttering,
“You’re really from Vermont? Even though you’re a cat?”
“Hmph. I merely borrowed a beast’s body temporarily while recovering my magic.”
He answered irritably.
“More importantly, who are you?”
My face stiffened in surprise at the unexpected question.
Vermont had been Enrica’s home since she was a child.
How could he not recognize her?
“You don’t remember?”
Startled, I jumped to my feet.
“Did you hit your head during what happened at the duke’s estate?”
I picked up the cat, whose body stretched out like a noodle, and carefully examined him from head to toe.
But there wasn’t even a small scratch on him, let alone a serious wound.
“You’re making a fuss over something that would heal after one night’s sleep.”
Despite apparently losing his memory, the cat seemed completely unconcerned.
“Whatever. When you’ve lived this long, today feels like two hundred years ago, and two hundred years ago feels like today. So what’s your name?”
Well, that certainly saved me from having to explain possession and everything else.
“Call me Enrica. Nice to meet you.”
I gently shook his front paw like a handshake and asked,
“Um… Vermont?”
“Sir Vermont.”
The cat immediately corrected my form of address before continuing.
“More importantly, where is the thing I told you to bring?”
“Oh, if you mean the diary, it’s right here.”
Apparently, my face clearly showed what I was thinking.
Is it really that important?
“I’m not entirely sure, but that diary smells similar to your magic.”
If a four-hundred-year-old cat said so, there was probably a reason.
“It may even help remove the restraint. Recover your magic first. The contract comes afterward.”
Still…
Could reading the Duchess’s diary really change anything?
It almost felt like the cat was trying to pressure me into making a contract.
Holding both excitement and suspicion, I picked up the diary.
[Today, I met Duke Wintersore.]
The second page began with those words.
[Other men would avoid me once they learned I was a mage, but the Duke reacted kindly and showed genuine interest.
I’d heard that female mages weren’t viewed very favorably back then.
Maybe the Duchess has struggled with relationships, too.
Thinking that, I turned the page.
[Have I fallen in love?]
“What?”
What kind of sudden development was this?
Duchess, your taste in men is absolutely awful!
With a bad feeling in my stomach, I continued reading.
As expected, everything that followed was tragedy.
In short, the diary told this story:
Vivian Montemur.
A noble lady from a marquis’ family, a mage, and eventually the Duchess.
She loved Duke Wintersore with all her heart and married him.
She granted every request he made and was used because of it.
Using magic to gather information on people.
Helping his businesses succeed.
There were many things kind-hearted Vivian disliked doing, but love had made her foolish.
If I keep doing what he asks, maybe one day he’ll truly love me.
That was what she believed.
Not long afterward, Vivian became pregnant with her first child, Enrica.
She thought those small moments of happiness would last forever.
But everything fell apart one day when the Duke secretly brought in a mistress.
“Wasn’t this marriage loveless from the beginning? I want my freedom now.”
Even though he knew perfectly well how much Vivian loved him, the Duke shamelessly spewed such nonsense.
Eventually, he even had a child with his mistress.
Shockingly enough, that illegitimate child was none other than Marta.
Yes.
My younger sister, Marta.
The Duke not only passed Marta off as the Duchess’s daughter but also planned to bring the mistress into the ducal household.
However, one day, the mistress died in a carriage accident.
The Duke became convinced that Vivian had orchestrated the accident.
After that, he treated her even worse than before.
The Duchess’s health continued to decline.
After all, the man she loved had manipulated and betrayed her entire life.
In the end, she left behind young Enrica and passed away not long afterward.
The misery and loneliness embedded in every word reached straight into my heart.
How lonely must she have been?
Sniffling, I rubbed my reddened nose.
On the very last page, these words were written:
[I will make sure my daughter uses magic only for the people she truly loves.]
My eyes widened as I read the next line.
[Rather than let her use it for a father like that, I’d rather take her magic away entirely.]
The moment I read those words, something from my dream came back to me.
“Your magic was never gone in the first place.”
Wait.
Could it be?
Enrica had repeated her mother’s fate and worked herself to death.
If so, then maybe the restraint Sir Vermont mentioned wasn’t an accident at all.
Maybe it was something her mother had left behind.
Maybe my magic had been hidden somewhere inside this body the entire time.
Just then, I noticed another neatly written sentence.
[But if my daughter, Enrica, one day understands the true value of magic again…]
I could almost feel her mother’s warmth through the page.
[Then all she needs to do is wish for it.]
[I only hope my daughter makes the right choice and finds happiness through her own abilities.]
The diary ended there.
But I felt like I finally understood what I had to do.
Moonlight from the early dawn poured into the room.
“If I become a mage again, this time I’ll walk the right path.”
Standing beneath the moonlight, I clenched my fist.
“I won’t let anyone control me anymore.”
Thinking about the Duke’s past made my blood boil.
He was even more garbage than I’d imagined.
“I want revenge on the Duke. And I want to break Kael’s curse and save him.”
Something unfamiliar stirred deep inside my body.
“Please return my power to me.”
As soon as I shut my eyes tightly and finished speaking, it felt as though my head was being violently shaken.
A brilliant light burst forth.
Dizziness overwhelmed me.
And I lost consciousness.
“Wake up.”
Mmm…
Something soft slapped my cheek.
“Wake up already. You’re the first mage who’s ever fallen asleep after waking me.”
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself lying on the cold floor.
The first thing I saw was a tiny cat sitting proudly on my chest.
The memories of everything that had happened came rushing back.
I proudly shouted,
“Kitty!”
“I said, ‘Sir Vermont!’”
“I think I got my magic back! Something weird is moving around inside me!”
“I already know.”
The cat seemed noticeably gentler than before.
He took a deep breath.
“Such powerful magic. Such high purity. Now you’re finally starting to look like my contractor.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
But it sounded like a compliment.
I grinned.
“Now then, tell me what you want. After that, I’ll decide whether to make a contract with you.”
“I…”
The tragic contents of the diary flashed through my mind
[My daughter will use magic only for the people she loves.]
But the Duchess wouldn’t want me to throw away my own life for revenge.
Making up my mind, I spoke.
“I want to break my fiancé’s curse.”
“Why are you telling me that?”
“Huh?”
The cat looked utterly dumbfounded.
“My specialty is assassinating emperors and conquering the world. How would I know anything about lifting a fiancé’s curse?”
The more he talked, the paler my face became.
Wasn’t he a demon?
Shouldn’t lifting curses be easy for him?
“You’ve lived for four hundred years, and you can’t remove one curse? Think harder!”
The cat answered indifferently.
“I thought I’d finally found an interesting master. Even the most talented familiars can’t remove a curse from someone they’ve never met.”
Then what am I supposed to do?!
Perhaps seeing my frustration, he generously added,
“There was one rare case where a magical artifact was used to remove a curse.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
“About a hundred years ago, I saw a man who had angered a dark mage and was cursed so that his entire body slowly rotted away.”
My eyes lit up.
I listened carefully.
“He searched everywhere and eventually found a scale-shaped magical artifact that had been treasured by a certain noble family for generations.”
A magical artifact.
An item imbued with mysterious magical power.
It was such an unfamiliar term that ordinary people rarely even mentioned it.
“That artifact demanded a price equal to the value of the curse it removed.”
Vermont continued.
“But the man had already handed over his entire fortune to the noble family just for permission to use it. He had nothing left to offer.”
Kael’s wealth would probably be enough to buy the artifact outright.
That thought filled me with hope.
“So he gave up both of his eyes and removed the curse.”
Still.
At least it meant there was a way out.
“But after becoming blind, he fell into despair over his condition and eventually took his own life.”
The cat deliberately lowered his voice into something eerie.
“Well? Creepy story, isn’t it?”
“Yeah… definitely.”
“You should stop talking about curing curses and just break off the engagement. Getting involved with that kind of thing never ends well.”
When I shot him a sharp look, he seemed slightly guilty.
“Curses are scary, okay? Forget that and let’s conquer the world instead. I really like your magic.”
“Which family has the artifact?”
“Hmm… my memory’s a little fuzzy…”
Already fed up with his contradictions, I shouted,
“Act like a familiar for once!”
The cat groaned before reluctantly answering.
“Wintersore. I believe that was the name of the family.”
My lips parted slightly.
“What? You’re not actually thinking about challenging a ducal family, are you? You’re giving up, right?”
The cat chattered on eagerly.
But I wasn’t listening anymore.
I had never believed in fate.
Not once.
But maybe meeting Kael and me.
Maybe that was the only true destiny in this world.
