PUBW 38

Chapter  38

The fact that Artif came in human form meant that my curse had truly been lifted.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just now.”

I looked down from the terrace.

“Did you really get past the knights and climb all the way up to the second floor bare-handed?”

“It was nothing.”

Nothing, he says. But that means my family’s knights failed to stop an intruder.

“Come in.”

I opened the terrace door and led Artif into my room.

“Excuse me.”

“I couldn’t prepare tea. After all, this is a secret meeting.”

I’d insisted we meet at night—during the day, no matter where we met, we’d draw attention.

A young lady with a fiancé meeting an unmarried duke in private was not looked upon kindly.

And more than anything… if Chase found out, he’d go berserk.

“Please, sit here… though your outfit doesn’t seem very suited for sneaking in.”

I couldn’t help but comment when I saw what Artif was wearing. A sky-blue suit. With a matching vest, no less.

I think I picked that outfit out for him once.

“Even if I came at night, I couldn’t just show up carelessly when visiting as a guest.”

He really meant it. That extravagant cravat—was that an emerald? Even I don’t own one that large.

Still… it did suit him.

I sat across from him.

“So you really don’t turn into Shasha anymore.”

There was a distinct note of regret in Artif’s voice.

But unlike before, I didn’t feel guilty about it.

Because what he just said meant he knew that when he returned to human form today, I should have turned into Shasha.

So you knew all along.

“What is it you want to ask of me?”

The words came out sharper than I intended.

Artif hesitated, then spoke heavily.

“First… I want to apologize. I knew from the start that Shasha was you.”

The candlelight flickered across his face.

“But I didn’t want to let Shasha—you—go. So I pretended not to know.”

My heart thudded wildly. Was it shock at his unexpected words?

“Why tell me this now? If you’d kept quiet, I never would have known.”

Why are you saying this now? Don’t confuse me any more.

You used to hate me, didn’t you? Is this some kind of ploy?

“I had a dream. A man who hid his true feelings until the end, only to lose the woman he loved, and in despair, gave up on life.”

“What are you…?”

The fact he was telling me this now…

Our eyes met. The mischievous smile tugging at his lips was the same one he wore whenever he teased or toyed with me.

“Shasha. Your face is red.”

“…!”

I instantly hid my face in my hands.

His deep voice rumbled with laughter.

“Will you stop laughing?”

I glared through the gaps between my fingers.

“Ahem. Still, I can’t lay all my feelings bare just yet.”

He already had, if you asked me—but I didn’t say it aloud.

Otherwise, the heat I’d barely managed to cool would flare back up.

“When the time comes that I can speak openly about what’s in my heart, I’ll tell you. And then… I’ll hear your honest answer too.”

Artif reached out and seized both my wrists, pulling my hands down.

“And by then… you’ll give me a truthful reply.”

My heart pounded like it was running a race, and heat rushed into my face.

Flustered, unable to think of what to say, I blurted out a tangent.

“Why are you suddenly speaking informally?”

“Didn’t you do it first, Shasha?”

“When?”

“When I first returned to human form in my room… and just now, when you said, ‘Will you stop laughing?’”

Oh no. I must’ve spoken like I did when I was a cat.

“That was a mistake.”

“It wasn’t. You always spoke informally to me. Called me stupid, cowardly…”

“…”

I was at a loss for words. True, when we played cards I held back, but in cat language I’d insulted him far worse.

“I won’t treat you like this in front of others. But since we’ll keep seeing each other—sharing Rika leaves, doing favors for each other—wouldn’t it be better if we were comfortable in private?”

He looked at me with the same expression he used when demanding jelly paw pads: desperate yet brazen, even shameless.

“Hm? Shasha. I’m even wearing the suit you personally chose for me. You’d really throw away our memories? Abandon the man who catered to a picky cat that refused to eat without a fork?”

And then he dared bring up one of my darkest moments.

“Not to mention when you smeared tears and snot all over my clothes…”

“Stop!”

Artif grinned, lifting one corner of his mouth.

“Not in front of others.”

“Of course not, Shasha.”

Why did it feel like he was still playing me, even in human form? And now I didn’t even have jelly to bribe him with.

“Then let me tell you my request.”

Oh, sure, that’s how someone asking a favor talks?

“The reason I could easily believe you were the daughter of House Retel… there’s something I haven’t told you.”

“What is it?”

I feigned ignorance.

You’re actually the descendant of Chase, the reincarnation of the hero Calix, and the curse he bore has manifested in you.

There’s no way I could say that aloud.

If I were Artif, I’d have gone straight after Chase. Do you know how mentally draining it is to keep transforming into an animal?

“In truth, I also turn into an animal. Because of the curse Calix, our founding patriarch, received from the Demon King.”

Artif revealed his family’s secret without hesitation.

“On the nights when the full moon makes you a cat, I return to human form. I think the reason you suddenly stopped transforming is because you awakened your holy power.”

His guess was spot-on.

“So you want me to use my holy power to lift your curse?”

“Exactly. Your holy power is unique. Even the Pope’s power couldn’t touch my curse.”

“Has Seth helped you before?”

That lazy man?

Curious, I glanced at him, and Artif’s brow furrowed.

“You’re on a first-name basis with him?”

I knew that look. Minam had made it too.

“Well, he was the one who tested my power, gave me the recipe for Rika medicine, and even offered to help me since I didn’t know how to use holy power.”

With no jelly to pacify him, I scrambled for excuses.

“So that’s why he’s been acting differently.”

As Artif said, Seth’s newfound pope-like attitude was the hottest topic among the nobility lately.

“In any case, if I’m to use holy power to break your curse, I’ll need His Holiness’s help.”

Artif still looked displeased.

“Don’t start nitpicking again.”

“Nitpicking?”

One dark brow arched.

“You’re always nitpicking, twisting things with nonsense logic.”

“I’ve no idea what you mean.”

“Hmph.”

I stared at him incredulously, but Artif just chuckled and silenced me.

“All right. Enough now. It’s late—go to bed.”

“What about you? Still staying up until dawn and waking early?”

“Even with Allen around, there’s a limit to what I can do in animal form.”

His matter-of-fact reply made me ache with pity.

“When I learn to use my holy power, I’ll send word right away.”

I didn’t know how much power it would take to break his curse, but I wanted to free him as soon as possible.

I draped my pitch-black robe over his brilliant sky-blue suit, trying to conceal it.

“I’ll come again, Shasha.”

The next day, when I arrived at the temple, I was greeted—once again—by Seth’s aide, Colin.

He had already looked worn to the bone, doing all of Seth’s work in his stead, but now that Seth had recovered… Colin looked even more haggard.

“It’s been a while, Lady Sha—Sha… pardon me, Lady Charlize. Forgive me, I’ve said it so often the other name just stuck.”

“It’s fine. But… are you all right?”

I couldn’t help asking.

Could a priest blessed with holy power actually die of overwork? And not just any priest, but the Chief Priest?

“Please, save me. Only you can save me, my lady.”

He spoke with the expression of a man utterly devoid of will to live, with not a single spark of hope.

“Is there some way I can help?”

In that instant, Colin’s eyes lit up.

“Of course. If you would just go to His Holiness right now and—”

“Why, isn’t this Lady Charlize?”

And then, someone appeared, neatly severing Colin’s last desperate lifeline.