◯◯◯
I left the forest the same way I’d come—on the back of Lord Felix’s horse. Lady Alice was riding with Sir Kain, whose horse had been waiting nearby.
“Meooow!”
“Yes, you really did great! Thank you, Jack.”
“Myaa.”
The gallant cat had run much faster than the horse when he had been guiding us to Lady Alice. Now that his work was done, he’d curled up in my arms and was requesting praise. His sweet meows translated to “I did a good job, right? I was useful, right?” So smol and cute.
Naturally, we’d left Maouldoth where he was. He wouldn’t have been able to leave anyway because of his seal.
In the corner of my eye, I noticed that one of Lord Felix’s gloves was slightly torn at the palm, where the reins were resting in his hold. Perhaps when I’d channeled mana into his sword, I had accidentally damaged it.
Come to think of it, I’ve never seen Lord Felix without these gloves. Are they his favorite pair? If so, maybe I should apologize...
The rip in the glove revealed a small cut on his skin. I unconsciously reached for it, thinking I could easily heal it. But before I could make contact, my hand was abruptly flicked away by his.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said.
Of course he’d be startled if someone suddenly tried to touch his wound.
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry,” Lord Felix said with a troubled look. Maybe he felt awkward because of his knee-jerk reaction.
I’ll just sit here quietly so I don’t say or do something I shouldn’t.
You know, I probably should’ve thought about this sooner, but what is Lord Felix’s curse? It hasn’t crossed my mind until now... Wait, aren’t I way too apathetic?!
In my defense, I hadn’t originally expected to interact with Lord Felix all that much, and thanks to my prophetic dream, I knew that Elvira would cure him eventually, so I wasn’t too concerned.
I sneaked a glance at Lord Felix.
He does look uncomfortable. Actually, his face is pale!
Even though I had just decided to keep my mouth shut, I couldn’t help but worry, so I asked, “Lord Felix, are you feeling unwell by any chance? You don’t look too good. Are you okay?”
“I... I’m fine.”
Hmm, he doesn’t seem fine at all!
His face was so unusually ashen that it made me wonder if the curse was affecting him at this very moment. That said, it would obviously be insensitive to say, “Come to think of it, there’s a curse on you and this territory, right? What kind of curse is it?” with no lead-up whatsoever.
I looked around and saw Sir Kain regarding Lord Felix with concern in his gaze. I supposed it was only natural for Lord Felix’s close aide and childhood friend to notice something was wrong. Sir Kain certainly knew what the curse entailed, so he must’ve been even more worried than I was.
Speaking of Sir Kain, in my prophetic dream, he had seemed troubled by the relationship developing between Lord Felix and Elvira.
After thinking for a while, I arrived at another realization that had come all too late: There’s still a lot of time left before Elvira appears, and Lord Felix is going to keep suffering from his curse until then. Won’t that be extremely painful for him?
In my dream, my burning jealousy and hatred toward Elvira and her relationship with Lord Felix had made me lose control of my dark magic. As a result, she had awakened to stronger powers and had lifted the curse on Lord Felix and this land. But now that I’d had that dream and regained Lilybell’s memories, I had no intention of interfering with their relationship, nor did I have any desire to harm Elvira.
Without my dark magic wreaking havoc, there was a high likelihood that Elvira’s awakening would occur later than predicted, inevitably extending Lord Felix’s suffering.
Changing the future foretold by my prophetic dreams was possible. However, there were also parts of our destinies that were fixed in place, barring extreme circumstances. One could consider them keystones of fate.
In this case, I suspected that “Elvira gains great power and becomes a saint” and “Elvira is Lord Felix’s fated heroine” were just such elements that wouldn’t change. While I had my own reasons for believing this, I’d have to wait until later to dwell on it more. There was too much else to consider at the moment.
So it may be later than expected, but Elvira should be able to lift the curse eventually. Still, it pains me to know that my change in behavior will prolong Lord Felix’s torment.
Actually, does it have to be Elvira who lifts the curse? I mean, it’d certainly be more dramatic and romantic for his fated heroine to do it, but if the goal is just to free Lord Felix, I feel like it technically doesn’t matter how the curse is broken. Is it wrong for me to do it because the prophetic dream cast me as the despised villain?!
As Lilybell, I had watched my owners lift curses from people several times. I wondered if those experiences would provide me with any hints.
Of course, it was also possible that only Elvira’s powers could break the curse. But if there was a chance of saving Lord Felix sooner, wouldn’t it be callous of me not to at least try?
Besides, if I did lift his curse, all I’d have to do was step aside right away, and then the couple could have their happily ever after without having to face any ordeals.
That could only be a good thing, right?
Part of me was afraid there wouldn’t be any passion to bring them together that way. But as far as I could remember from my dream, the two of them hit it off immediately when they first met. So I didn’t think I had to worry about them needing a catalyst to forge their affections.
Well, at any rate, this is something I can think about after I know what the curse is.
For now, I wanted to do something about the awkward tension between Lady Alice and Lord Felix. Thanks to Maouldoth throwing a wrench in the works, it was easy to forget that all this chaos had started with a heartbroken Lady Alice running away from Lord Felix.
Considering that Lord Felix would one day meet Elvira and choose her, it’d probably be better if I guided Lady Alice into sorting out her feelings rather than support her crush.