HCM – 40

Thank you raw provider 🌻haebaragi_syk❄

Thank you for the Ko-fi LC!

‘It seems that the enchantment was properly cast on the woman.’

Jeremy had no intention of having an eyewitness to Aslei’s transformation into an aberration. He had to live and die as a monster on the run.

If he sinned with the hex, he too would be punished by the goddess, but he was willing to endure it. Or he could capture him in the form of Aslei and imprison him in a dungeon!

When Jeremy snapped his fingers, Friscia’s eyes sealed shut with his sleep spell, opened her eyes. He waited for her to scream, but she was surprisingly quiet.

‘What are you doing?’

Duke Tintalion’s bedroom was huge, and the bed was far behind, so he couldn’t tell what she was muttering from his vantage point, peeking in from the balcony.

He couldn’t even see Frisia because of Aslei, who had turned into a giant wolf, blocked his view.

‘You didn’t just faint, did you?’

Considering that she was the noble princess of the Duke of Atreilles, it was possible. As Jeremy was wondering about what to do, he saw a light coming through the window in the hallway.

Hearing the howl of Aslei screaming in pain, servants started running towards the room. It was only natural since his cry shook the whole mansion.

Jeremy smirked and waited for his cue. Soon, servants were banging on the door.

“No!”

He dodged the fleeing massive shadow that rushed towards the windows. A huge black beast smashed through the windows and doors and leapt over the balcony.

It landed gracefully into the courtyard and traversed the garden to avoid the rushing soldiers. Under the moonlight, he could see the gigantic beast moving swiftly.

Jeremy clicked his tongue in disappointment. He was injured so it would have been better if he was caught right away.

‘The soldiers of the Duke of Tintalion seemed to be highly skilled. How disappointing.’

Unlike him, who could not use magic properly in the form of a crow, Aslei seemed to be able to manipulate mana even though he could not hold a sword.

It was annoying, but it didn’t look like he would die easily, so maybe he would suffer for longer and that wasn’t too bad.

Jeremy turned around and entered the Duke’s bedroom. Recognizing Jeremy as Aslei, the servants ran to him in surprise.

‘The Duchess… … .’

Frisia was sitting on the floor, looking shocked and unladylike, her face blue as if she could not take a breath.

‘Aslei seemed to be fond of his wife.’

Jeremy wondered if he could deceive the Duchess, but thought the Duchess couldn’t do anything even if she found him a bit strange.

‘I must kill them, or chase them out before they notice me.’

Now not Aslei—but he, himself was the Duke of Tintalion.

❁ ❁ ❁

‘What is going on?’

Obviously, the giant wolf in the bedroom before was Aslei. Logically, that was right. If Aslei had not changed, he would have been the first to notice the beast’s approach.

The person walking through the broken windows and glass doors was completely naked. Rather it would have made sense if he slept with Frisia, hadn’t gotten out of bed and had on a robe.

‘There is no trace of the curse on that person’s chest!’

Is that all? When the giant wolf broke the window, this man had been struck by its shards, and he was bleeding from all the little cuts from all over his body.

Aslei was a sword master. His body was always protected and fortified by his mana, so it was rare for Frisia to scratch him during an affair.

If he had seen the windows break, he would have turned his mana to protect his body. If it was really him he should have been unscathed.

The fake, who was walking, met Frisia’s eyes. His blue eyes did not contain any concern for her, nor could she detect even a handful of affection. Perhaps, it was as if his heart froze cold.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen her husband in a week and he had changed but it was only a few hours. Aslei’s eyes couldn’t change that much. What’s more… … .

‘That’s not the gait of a sword-wielder!’

Her father, Duke Atreilles, and brother, Ryan, were both skilled swordsmen. Additionally Frisia, a ducal princess, had picked up on it instinctively because she had been raised all her life under the protection of many knighted escorts and guards.

People who did not wield a sword held themselves differently and had a certain type of walk.

Aslei Tintalion was not some ordinary sword-handler but a Sword Master.

He couldn’t change that much in a few hours.