About Becoming My Ex-Husband's Mistress - Chapter 197

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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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Side Story 7. The Curse of Becoming a Frog
“Good heavens.”
“Oh my.”
Small exclamations of delight echoed from the women around us. I couldn’t deny that my own spirits had lifted as well.
‘My goodness.’
It was an unexpected feast for the eyes. I pressed my hand to my lips, desperately suppressing the smile that threatened to bloom across my face as my heart quickened.
Here I was, managing a traffic accident scene, and I found myself grinning like a fool at Luderne Sellen’s masculine presence.
‘This won’t do—not for the Empress.’
I needed to regain my composure.
“Heave!”
The cargo carriage looked immovable without heavy machinery. Yet as Luderne Sellen and Walter gave their signal, the laborers roared in unison, and the carriage lurched.
“What? …It moved?”
“If we put in a bit more effort, I think we can do it?”
The merchants watching nearby gasped in admiration and rolled up their sleeves to join in.
“One, two.”
At Luderne Sellen’s signal, the men pooled their strength once more.
“Heave!”
With a resounding shout, the carriage gradually began sliding to one side.
None of them seemed to mind the rain drenching them.
I couldn’t simply stand idle. I entrusted my umbrella and both men’s jackets to the nearest shop. The rain would soak us, but the weather wasn’t cold enough to be a real concern.
As I helped move the scattered items from the ground, the path gradually began to open up.
The Newspaper Boy and the Doctor arrived together.
Soon enough, space emerged for a single carriage to pass through. As if on cue, carriages began moving simultaneously from both sides of the street.
“Wait, everyone hold on.”
I quickly stepped forward and blocked both directions.
Given the foul weather, everyone naturally wanted to pass through quickly, but this wouldn’t do.
“If only one carriage width opens up and both sides try to enter at once, we’ll only create more congestion. I’ll signal you through in order.”
The carriage owners hesitated for a moment, but they obediently followed my instructions. Soon the carriages began moving in alternation.
The flow of traffic gradually became smoother. Some of the Empire’s citizens who witnessed this rolled up their sleeves and joined in as well.
With more hands helping, the cleanup accelerated. It was just as the last carriages were being moved to the side of the road.
“We received a report of a major accident.”
The officials handling the carriage accident appeared with large umbrellas, leading heavy machinery and workers behind them for the cleanup.
Upon seeing the already partially cleared scene, they gasped and held their breath.
“H-how did you move all this?”
Their expressions soon darkened.
“How can you organize the scene before we’ve even determined the circumstances of the accident?”
“That noble directed the cleanup.”
The one who answered was the carriage owner who had first protested to Luderne Sellen.
The officials’ faces soured as they watched Luderne Sellen’s back, still occupied with the cleanup. I approached him.
“Darling, the officials have arrived.”
At my words, Luderne Sellen and Walter straightened and turned around. The administrators, their expressions darkening with displeasure, strode forward and positioned themselves before Luderne Sellen, who brushed rain-soaked hair from his face with his hand.
“Listen here, you.”
The administrators’ necks tensed visibly, their tone suggesting they might seize him at any moment. Their reaction was understandable, of course.
A fair judgment required inspecting the accident site, but the rain had made that difficult.
However, the situation changed rapidly.
“Y-Your Majesty? And isn’t that Walter, the Margrave?”
The administrators had recognized Luderne Sellen and Walter. Upon spotting me standing beside them, their faces went pale.
“W-Was the Empress also present?”
The surrounding area erupted in shock. Despite the rain-soaked ground, some people threw themselves prostrate.
The administrators hastily lowered their umbrellas and bowed anxiously, their heads bent.
“No, why would Your Majesty be getting soaked by the rain while personally overseeing the cleanup…?”
Their voices became infinitely more respectful.
“The rain has created considerable chaos in the area.”
Luderne Sellen wiped his rain-wet face with his hand.
“I witnessed the accident while traveling incognito. Since I’m well aware of the situation, don’t worry—just proceed with the cleanup quickly.”
“Yes, sir!”
The administrators, bowing with military precision, turned to address the workers they’d brought and raised their voices.
“Clean up the site immediately!”
“Understood!”
The workers moved urgently. Simultaneously, commotion erupted throughout the area.
From the carriages waiting their turn to pass, people hurriedly descended and began assisting with clearing the accident site.
Just as the cleanup was nearly complete, an elderly man came staggering toward us.
“Your Majesty. Your Majesty. To meet you in such a place. This must be heaven’s will. I shall help as well.”
His voice was hoarse with age. Concerned that an elderly person getting soaked in the rain couldn’t be good for his health, I stepped closer to dissuade him.
That’s when I noticed the elderly man holding a cup filled with dark brown liquid. An ominous feeling washed over me.
“And this is a magical potion I’ve prepared for Your Majesty! Kekeke!”
Everything happened so fast I had no time to think.
“Luderne Sellen! Watch out!”
I threw myself forward, and the liquid the elderly man had sprayed toward Luderne Sellen splashed directly onto me instead.
“Priscilla!”
Luderne Sellen’s cry pierced the air. The surroundings erupted in chaos.
“What is the meaning of this!”
“Ugh!”
Walter’s shout coincided with the elderly man’s scream. He’d been subdued immediately.
Sizzzzz—
An ominous sound came from the liquid. Since the elderly man had sprayed it like a terrorist attack, there was no chance it contained anything beneficial. My head spun with dread.
What would become of me now?
Would I simply melt away, or would I fall victim to some terrible curse?
Then the elderly man laughed loudly.
“Kahahaha! It’s unfortunate it wasn’t Your Majesty, but what does it matter? Watching your beloved transform into a frog before your eyes, or seeing them waste away and die in agony over four days—that suffering alone will be exquisite!”
I doubted my own ears.
‘Ah.’
At the same moment, the children at the Academy came to mind.
Prince Arsen and Princess Sapina, who had turned thirteen this year, along with the twin princes Adrey and Azeno.
And finally, the youngest princess, Arieti.
Such lovely faces.
“Priscilla! Lift your head!”
Despair swiftly transformed into a glimmer of hope. I was relieved that Luderne was unharmed.
“My dear.”
I answered while examining my body.
The dark brown liquid the elderly man had splashed on me had vanished without a trace. When I lifted my head, Luderne—ashen-faced and trembling—was frantically inspecting my condition.
The elderly man lay prone with both arms twisted behind his back, pinned down by Walter’s knee.
Yet Luderne did not so much as glance at the old man. He merely fidgeted, his eyes fixed solely upon me.
I too stared at my own hands for a long moment. Since nothing had occurred, I straightened my body.
“Well… I’m perfectly fine.”
“Perfectly fine?”
“Yes.”
There was only one conclusion to draw.
“It must have been false magic.”
“…”
Luderne’s eyes widened, and he seemed to have stopped breathing altogether.
It was not only Luderne. Everyone around us stood frozen like statues, as if they had forgotten how to breathe.
“Phew.”
Then, the moment Luderne exhaled a long breath, a cascade of sighs erupted from all directions.
And veins bulged prominently across Luderne’s forehead and jaw.
Luderne and the others glared at the elderly man with terrifying intensity, while the old man stared at me with wide, vacant eyes.
“That… that can’t be. You should be… your insides should be roiling and your skin should feel compressed by now?”
“Not at all.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“I’m perfectly fine.”
The elderly man trembled violently as if struck by shock. Then he suddenly screamed.
“It can’t be! That! What kind of curse is that! How much I suffered to obtain that grimoire!”
“Wait.”
At that moment, Luderne strode forward and seized the old man by the collar. He stared at him intently for a long while, then ground his teeth.
“You… you’re Rozette, the mage who clung to Eclite’s side before the regression. I wondered why you hadn’t shown yourself this time.”
The startled elderly man swallowed hard.
“You… you remember me?”
“How could I forget? Before the regression, there were far too many uncomfortable dealings between us. It was ambiguous whether to apprehend and punish you.”
One corner of Luderne’s mouth twitched upward.
“Yet you’ve provided me with the perfect pretext by revealing yourself.”
It seemed the Elderly Man had some bad blood with Luderne Sellen before the regression.
We returned to the Imperial Palace, and Luderne Sellen, Walter, and Duke Jester immediately began interrogating the Elderly Man.
In the meantime, after bathing and changing into fresh clothes and eating, I made my way to the Mage Tower within the Imperial Palace. Even if there were no obvious symptoms, I needed to have my condition examined after being doused in an unknown magical potion.
The Mages at the Mage Tower examined my condition and tilted their heads in confusion.
“There is certainly some magic at work, but… it doesn’t appear to be a transformation spell into a frog.”
“The sensation of mana is rather subtle.”
“If it were a curse involving death, it wouldn’t feel like this…”
“At least it doesn’t appear to be serious.”
Still, the Mages huddled together and deliberated further, ultimately concluding that the magic afflicting me was likely of a mild nature.
“You may set your mind at ease, Your Majesty the Empress.”
“Once we decipher the magical formula, we should be able to determine how to dispel it.”
A breath of relief escaped me naturally.
“Well, that’s a blessing in disguise.”
After a couple of hours had passed, Duke Jester returned to the Mage Tower carrying a thin grimoire and a bundle of something.
“We found his residence and conducted a hasty search. This is all of the grimoire and materials.”
As Duke Jester spread the materials across a wide table, the Mages examined the grimoire and gasped in horror.
“This, this is a curse grimoire!”
“It’s a spell that transforms one into a frog and then causes death?”
Then they tilted their heads in confusion once more.
“How strange. But why does it feel completely different?”

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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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