About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 141

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 141. Do Not Make Her Cry
“I cannot claim to know everything, but if there is fault to be found, I suspect it lies with Your Highness.”
Luderne’s eyes widened slightly.
“Do not make her cry.”
Having said what needed to be said, Ail bowed respectfully and turned to leave the room.
As I grasped the door handle, Luderne’s voice from behind my shoulder stopped me.
“It seemed you harbored feelings for Priscilla as well.”
Feelings.
At those words, I recalled the time when I was cursed into a fish form. Along with it came the memory of Priscilla’s tender touch enveloping me.
My face grew hot.
When I first transformed into a fish, the experience was truly dreadful.
The absence of headaches was a mercy. Yet no matter how I reasoned it, the occasional headaches seemed preferable to becoming a fish and dying years later.
However, all such complaints vanished entirely when I returned to my original form from that fish state.
All thanks to Priscilla, and no one else.
There existed a touch I would never have felt in my entire life had I not become a fish.
Priscilla’s caress.
Though covered by a towel, she had carefully stroked my entire body.
I would have been content with merely her fingers brushing my hair or the tips of her hands, yet she boldly caressed my whole form.
It was utterly intoxicating.
Of course, I was a fish at the time, not a person.
*Insane.*
The curse I had uttered when I first returned to my original form from the fish state was, in truth, an exclamation of the highest magnitude.
Insane.
There was no other way to express it. For me, it was truly a mad situation.
From that moment onward, it ceased to be a curse. I even began to think that the god of fortune had beckoned to me.
Having recalled all this, my tightly clenched fist trembled without my awareness.
Here I was, content merely to be caressed while wrapped in a towel, yet there existed one who could share breath with those crimson lips and align their beautiful form to exchange warmth—and look at how they conduct themselves.
*Blessed beyond measure, yet oblivious to their own fortune.*
No matter that he was my liege, I found this situation utterly unbearable. Thus, words rose to the very tip of my tongue.
Yes! I have feelings! Overflowing with them!
If Your Highness will not claim that affection, then I wish to possess it! I would love her enough to die gladly in your stead!
Why then does Your Highness make her weep? If you mean to conduct yourself thus, release her instead! I shall serve her as a queen!
There were so many words, cascading like a waterfall.
Yet strangely, though they rose to the tip of my tongue, they never became sound.
As if something deliberately filtered them, a different answer emerged instead.
“Someone like me has no right to presume such things.”
The answer came so naturally, so matter-of-factly, that I could only laugh bitterly at the absurdity. Where had all my passionate conviction and bold words gone?
Then, a thought struck me.
The conversation I had shared with Menglow while Priscilla was away.
Staring quietly at the door handle, I turned to face Luderne once more.
“Your Majesty, I’d like to visit the Doerban Empire for a while.”
“The Empire?”
“I’ve come to suspect that I may have committed something quite grave.”
“Does it involve Priscilla?”
“I’m not certain, but it’s possible, so I want to verify.”
Luderne gestured with his hand—a signal for me to sit across from him.
“This doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere for such a conversation. And you appear to have drunk quite a bit.”
Luderne shook his head.
“I haven’t.”
At those words, I studied Luderne’s expression carefully. Something about him seemed vacant, different from his usual demeanor, yet he claimed he hadn’t been drinking.
“You certainly appear intoxicated.”
“You’re mistaken. Sit down.”
Whether Luderne was actually drunk or not, it was a command. I had no choice but to take my seat.
“Tell me. What is it?”
With a soft sigh, I laid out the conversation I’d had with Menglow at Count Bilsty’s Mansion.
Menglow had been quite confident.
His curse was severe, but it possessed a beneficial function—it could suppress other curses.
“So sometimes, when a curse was too vicious, I’d layer my own curse over it to block it.”
True to his words, after receiving the curse to become a fish, my headaches vanished as if they’d never existed. No matter what I thought, nothing hurt.
This was proof that my headaches had also been a curse.
Based on my conversation with Menglow, it appeared to stem from the Prohibition.
Once Menglow understood this, he shared other information with me as well.
“Listen carefully.”
Regression magic typically allows the target to remember that it occurred.
But Menglow said that either there was some error in my magic, or mages had begun appearing who remembered the regression.
“Every time you used regression, there were mages who noticed the time gap. I was one of them. So there’s no way I wouldn’t know about you.”
But that wasn’t all.
“There’s… what is it. In the Doorban Grand Temple, there’s a hidden magical theory book. It’s an environment where one can research safely, and if the Prohibition hadn’t been mentioned, I would have investigated more actively.”
“Did you happen to see the contents?”
Menglow clicked his tongue.
“What a stupid question from a so-called mage. I went that far—would any idiot not look at it?”
When I said I wanted to hear the details, Menglow waved his withered, wrinkled hand right in front of my face.
“If you want to hear it, pay me first. Unlike the Empire, making money here is terribly difficult.”
When I pulled out five silver coins, Menglow’s voice grew sharp.
“Ah, so you’re crossing the line now that I’ve treated you well? Are you looking down on me because I’m in this state?”
Five silver coins were no small sum.
But Menglow pressed me until I handed over ten gold coins more, only then cackling as he opened his mouth.
“It was the ultimate magical theory—a method for a caster to draw upon another’s mana when wielding magic beyond their own capacity. This is my speculation, mind you.”
From here on, I wondered how this would sound to Luderne.
I swallowed hard.
“Priscilla went through a regression, didn’t she?”
“She did.”
Luderne brought the wine glass to his lips.
“If I calculate backward from the time of her regression, it’s not a matter of minutes. The regression time applied to Priscilla spans at least twenty years or more.”
“That’s extraordinary.”
At Luderne’s acknowledgment, Ail spoke carefully.
“According to Menglow Breeze’s estimates, it appears I cast a regression spell spanning at least twenty years. And it seems Priscilla remembers it.”
Luderne’s eyes widened slightly.
The target of a regression remembers the regression. Luderne knew this from his own experience with one.
He nodded once.
“So the future Mage accessed the magical theory texts of the Doorban Grand Temple and, for reasons unknown, cast a regression spanning more than twenty years with Priscilla as the target. Is that the story?”
“Yes. It’s possible that because I lacked the ability to handle that spell alone, I drew upon another’s mana.”
Luderne sat quietly for a moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched upward.
“This is absurd. By that logic, a single regression spell would have caused all magic in the world to vanish.”
His expression seemed to suggest he was hearing something utterly preposterous.
Yet Ail nodded.
“Yes. That possibility has now emerged.”
“And thanks to that, I can even entertain thoughts of ascending to the throne. Heh heh. If it’s true, I owe you a considerable debt.”
Had magic not vanished from the world, Luderne would never have dared attempt anything with mere wealth alone.
“Otherwise, Eclite would have possessed an overwhelmingly greater arsenal of magical weapons first.”
Ail shrugged.
“Yes. They likely would have sought to monopolize every magical weapon in existence. In any case, since this matter has come up, I wish to investigate it. Please grant me permission. I will depart at an opportune time and return promptly.”
Luderne rose from his seat and opened a drawer along the wall.
He handed Ail two magical scrolls and a rather weighty pouch of gold coins.
“Use one when you depart for the Empire, and one when you return. Use the gold coins as an offering when entering the Temple.”
A faint smirk played at Luderne’s lips.
“The Empire’s priests consider gold coins to be divinity itself, so it will work quite well.”
Ail bowed his head respectfully.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
He resolved to seek out Priscilla as soon as dawn broke tomorrow.
He would go, pay his respects, and return.
A single word of encouragement would make the journey feel all the more vibrant.
“I will conduct a swift investigation and return.”
Just as he was about to bow and leave, Luderne urged him on.
“Go at once.”
“Your Majesty?”
“Don’t think of visiting Priscilla. Just go immediately.”
At words that seemed to peer into his very thoughts, Ail was taken aback.
“But Your Majesty, I still need to prepare for the journey….”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————