About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 161
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 161. All Familiar Faces
Sir Jester answered my question.
“It’s a scroll whose magical function remains undiscovered for various reasons.”
It meant we wouldn’t know until we used it.
Menglow, who had been leading the way, laughed.
“Kekeke. Only the creator would know what it does. Better not to touch it if you don’t know.”
Then a large jar with a label and notebook attached emerged from one end of the bookshelf.
Inside the jar labeled ‘Spatial Displacement’ were bundles of small scrolls packed tightly together.
Luderne Sellen took a bundle of scrolls and recorded his name and the quantity in the notebook.
Watching him, I felt the urge to take one for myself.
“Could I have one too?”
“You don’t need one.”
His immediate refusal left me feeling disappointed.
Then Luderne Sellen interlaced his fingers with mine.
“I’ll be by your side for the next twenty-four hours, so what would you need it for?”
“What?”
“By now, they should have learned that you came to my fiefdom with me.”
That was true.
“I don’t know what copy Melissa Bilsty took, but if it’s disadvantageous to the King and Eclite, they won’t leave me alone.”
“….”
“If that happens, you’ll become my weakness and a target, so you must stay close to me. That’s why you came to the Imperial Palace with me.”
Now that he mentioned it, there was no real need for me to come to the Imperial Palace.
Luderne Sellen gripped my hand more firmly.
“Until all our plans are complete, stay by my side.”
I nodded silently.
Then Menglow’s voice rang out with delight.
“Oh, something I made is here. Kekeke.”
Menglow stood before a bookshelf section with a blank nameplate.
She pocketed several unnamed scrolls while humming a tune, then examined the nearby area and took another scroll from a section with a blank nameplate.
She approached me with a wide grin.
“I’d like to use them directly, but… tsk, you’ll encounter those women who tried to kill me faster than I would.”
She handed me two scrolls.
“I made these, so use them on those women. You know how to use them, right? You can only use one per person.”
Since I had already resolved to take revenge, Menglow’s help was more than welcome.
I accepted the scrolls.
“I understand. What kind of curse is it?”
As I asked, I imagined them falling under the same curse as me.
But Menglow shook her head.
“I don’t know either.”
“…What?”
“I don’t know what curse it is—it’s too old. But from what I can sense….”
A glimmer of madness flickered in Menglow Breeze’s eyes.
“It will be severe. Unlike the curse on the Count, there’s no conditional release. You won’t even survive until the curse expires. Kekekeke.”
She urged me to keep it safe, then returned to rifling through the bookshelves.
“Oh, there’s still one left.”
Menglow Breeze’s eyes widened as she muttered something under her breath, then turned to Luderne Sellen.
“Your Highness, do you have any final words for His Majesty?”
“I didn’t get to say goodbye. But how can we have a conversation when he’s unconscious?”
Menglow Breeze picked up a scroll.
“We can with this. However, please allow me to be present as well.”
Soon our business in the storage shed was concluded.
“Please stay well, Your Highness.”
“Until we meet again, please stay well, Your Highness.”
Luderne Sellen patted the shoulders of Brissel Mohr and Walter in response to their formal farewells.
“Both of you, stay safe until we meet again.”
Brissel Mohr and Walter bade me farewell as well before departing to carry out their respective duties.
The four of us remaining in the Imperial Palace—myself, Luderne Sellen, Menglow Breeze, and Sir Jester—made our way to the Emperor’s Bedchamber.
“Prince Wintem has arrived.”
The knights guarding the entrance announced our arrival and opened the door.
The atmosphere of the Emperor’s Bedchamber was solemn.
Four men dressed in black garments stood watch over the bed, and upon the vast bed lay the Emperor, appearing no different from a corpse.
“We greet Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
The four men standing before the Emperor’s bed turned immediately and bowed.
One of them was a face I recognized.
“Ah, the Saint has come as well.”
As I lifted my head, the High Priest of Doorban Empire greeted me warmly.
“This is the Saint?”
One of the men beside him asked with evident skepticism.
“Yes, Your Honor. Did we not say that the grace of the Chief Deity descended upon the Temple?”
The High Priest introduced me to the other two men as well.
Their expressions of disbelief revealed they were the Imperial Physician and the Secretary. They explained they were present to stand watch as the Emperor’s passing was imminent, as required by imperial law.
Then their eyes turned toward Menglow Breeze, who had pulled her hood over her head.
“Who is this person?”
“Who else? Me.”
Menglow Breeze removed her hood and stood before the four men.
“Y-you are…!”
“Menglow Breeze!”
“Gasp!”
“You were alive?”
The four men’s eyes widened in shock.
Watching their expressions, Menglow Breeze laughed as if delighted by some cosmic joke.
“Tee-hee-hee. Judge, Secretary, High Priest, Imperial Physician. Still recognizable faces, I see.”
She addressed each of them in turn, those who had gasped upon seeing me, and promptly withdrew a magical scroll from her bosom.
The four men, seized by terror, hastily distanced themselves from Menglow Breeze and appealed to Luderne.
“W-what is the meaning of this, Your Highness?”
“This woman is the one who cursed His Majesty.”
At the words of the Imperial Physician and the Judge, Menglow Breeze’s brow furrowed sharply.
“Tch… It’s true the magic is mine, but I didn’t do such a thing!”
“Then who did? You clearly wrote a curse scroll for His Majesty and fled.”
At the Secretary’s question, Menglow Breeze limped forward toward the Emperor.
“It was that bastard Eclite who said such things, wasn’t it?”
Alarm flickered across the men’s faces at once.
“How dare you speak such nonsense about His Highness the Prince!”
“How disrespectful!”
Toward the Judge and Secretary, who retorted with furrowed brows, Menglow Breeze raised the scroll once more.
The two men flinched and hid behind the Imperial Physician and the High Priest. Then those positioned in front, terrified, retreated backward again.
“Have you lost your minds? Why are you using me as a shield?”
I watched the four men bicker with Menglow Breeze about maintaining distance, then took a step forward and supported her so she could approach the Emperor more easily.
The four men fell silent at once.
Seeing their relief, it appeared they at least felt safe from the curse.
Standing before the Emperor, Menglow Breeze looked at me.
“Thank you, Baron.”
With that, she gestured for me to step back.
As I retreated several paces, Menglow Breeze tore the scroll pressed against the Emperor’s face and spoke.
“I don’t know who used my scroll on His Majesty. But I’ve been falsely accused. Before he passes, I must clear my name.”
Soon a bluish light rose from the Emperor’s body like clouds.
―How… how am I still alive?
An elderly man’s voice emerged from within the mist.
Simultaneously, the four men and Sir Jester prostrated themselves toward the clouds.
Menglow Breeze limped backward.
“It has been far too long, Your Majesty. I am Menglow Breeze, who devoted her entire life to your service.”
Having offered her respects, she bowed her head toward the recumbent Emperor and began to appeal her grievance.
At this, the Secretary’s pen began moving rapidly.
“Someone claimed my scroll had been used on Your Majesty. But since I created the scroll, an investigation would follow. As this is an extremely sensitive and dangerous matter, I was told to hide away for now, and after it’s resolved, I would be summoned back to the Imperial Palace.”
She recounted what happened afterward.
After leaving the Imperial Palace, someone kept trying to kill her. Only later did she realize they were knights sent by Eclite.
As Menglow Breeze finished speaking, the clouds transformed into the shape of a person.
The clouds, hovering like a phantom, soon took on the Emperor’s appearance. Yet his feet remained connected like smoke seeping from the nostrils of the Emperor lying below.
The Emperor, examining his own form, looked at Menglow Breeze.
―Ah, now I see. I am neither living nor dead. It was because of your magic.
“Yes. I used the scroll to restore my honor.”
The Emperor glanced around and nodded.
―Indeed. I too suspected you had cursed me. Yet no matter how I pondered it, there seemed no reason for you to do so. Something felt amiss, so I investigated. The mastermind turned out to be Eclite. Thus, I resolved to do what I had long contemplated—appoint Luderne Sellen as Crown Prince.
Relief washed across Menglow’s face.
“Thank you for clearing my name, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor spoke to Luderne Sellen and the Judge.
―Exonerate the Mage Menglow Breeze, who has served the Empire with unwavering loyalty his entire life. Compensate him for his losses and restore his titles.
“Now this old man can finally close his eyes in peace.”
At that moment, the Judge spoke to Menglow.
“Pardon me, but is that truly His Majesty? Might this be some magical deception?”
“Bingo—it’s definitely His Majesty. As proof, once the spell’s duration ends, he’ll open his eyes briefly, and he’ll likely testify in person.”
―The copy given to Luderne Sellen’s retinue also contains documentation of your innocence. That should suffice as verification.
The Emperor, having offered testimony to substantiate Menglow’s claims, now turned his gaze toward Luderne Sellen.
―My son.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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