Secretly Summoning the Cursed Mage
The doctor came rushing breathlessly into the room. The duke blinked at me with dazed eyes before losing consciousness again. Still, it seemed he'd passed the crisis—his complexion had improved since before. I let out a breath of relief and climbed down from the bed.
"Miss, it would be best if you left now."
"...All right."
I watched the duke receive treatment from the chief physician for a moment before turning away. Everyone left the duke's room except for a few servants to tend to him.
I suddenly felt exhausted and sighed. Annie handed me a towel. Touching my face, I found it damp with sweat.
"Thank you, Annie."
"...You must be tired. Why don't you return to your room and rest?"
"No. I'll stay here until the doctor comes out."
I said stubbornly. The sensation of pressing on the duke's chest still lingered vividly in my hands. His emaciated chest had felt like a thin plank of wood, as if it might shatter under my palms at any moment.
"......"
I bit my lip hard. If I hadn't performed emergency measures, the duke might truly have been in mortal danger. Even if death was inevitable, it should have been years away—why had his life hung by a thread today? Was it because I'd possessed Abigail? Could my mere presence alone alter the circumstances around everyone? If so, the duke might die sooner than I'd anticipated. Worse, everything I knew could change entirely...
Anxious, I gnawed at my innocent fingernail. Annie watched me quietly from the side.
Click.
A short while later, the door opened, and the white-haired chief physician emerged. He wiped his forehead with a handkerchief and looked at me and Dominic.
"His Grace is out of danger."
"Hah, thank goodness, milady."
"...Good."
Dominic sighed in relief.
"If it weren't for you, milady, I don't know what would have become of His Grace..."
"......"
Dominic muttered, then continued as if something struck him as odd.
"But it's strange. It wasn't time for an attack yet."
"It's an illness without a known cause. The attacks being regular up to now might have been the truly unusual part," the chief physician replied calmly. His eyes were moist, perhaps from shock.
"I suppose I've clung on too long. For an old man like me to keep tending His Grace... You should hire a young doctor now, Viscount."
"Hazel..."
Hazel, who had served as the ducal house's chief physician since the previous duke's time, gave an awkward smile.
"His Grace would hate that."
"There's no guarantee another stroke of luck like today will happen. Please convince him."
"...Understood."
"......"
I watched Dominic nod, then reentered the duke's room. Even breathing came steadily now. Approaching the bed, I saw the duke still lying there, pale-faced.
"Miss, His Grace needs rest now."
"I'll go in just a bit."
"Yes."
The duke's illness stemmed from magic, so no physician, no matter how skilled, could cure it. With a heavy heart, I stared at his face for a long while.
"...Canella... ra..."
Canella? I frowned at the name the duke murmured, then realized it was the name of his late duchess.
"......"
I quietly left the duke's room.
* * *
The day after the duke collapsed, I skipped sword training. Perhaps out of consideration for me, no message came from the knight order. Thanks to that, I'd been holed up in my room since morning, pondering future plans.
"Miss, breakfast is ready. Shall we eat?"
"Yeah, I'll eat."
"You didn't even have dinner last night."
"I'll eat soon."
"Haa..."
I felt Annie's worried gaze as she sighed deeply, but I didn't stop scribbling furiously on the paper.
In the original story, Duke Carpoem died four years from now, right before Abigail and the crown prince's coming-of-age banquet. They were set to marry immediately after the ceremony. But the duke's sudden death canceled the wedding, and House Carpoem began to waver badly. Amid the chaos, monsters poured in from the northern edge, throwing the empire into disarray. The crown prince stepped up personally to repel them, and that's when he truly became hailed as a hero.
Four years—I'd thought there were surely four years left. But after nearly watching the duke die yesterday, I could no longer trust the original plot's timeline.
Calling Ren Magicus to this Magic Festival despite the strain had been the right call. I drew a big circle around the name of the future grand mage, Ren Magicus.
"Annie!"
"Will you eat now?"
"No, call Viscount Fuchs for me."
"Please eat first."
"I said, call Viscount—"
"Please eat first."
"......"
I stared blankly at Annie, who repeated herself with a remarkably firm expression. Yet she maintained a perfectly polite demeanor. A chill emanated from her composed face.
"A-alright. Then I'll eat and have you call Viscount Fuchs after."
"Understood."
Thinking about it, it was still early; summoning Dominic now might inconvenience him. Absolutely not because Annie scared me. Somehow feeling like I might cry, I had breakfast.
Savoring the excessively abundant meal for breakfast, I glanced around. The maids around me peeked at me with somewhat gloomy faces.
Why? Puzzled, I popped my favorite tomato caprese into my mouth.
"...Miss, try this too. The shrimp is fresh today."
"Huh? Oh, sure."
May sidled up and scooped a bit of shrimp gratin onto my plate. The gratin, loaded with cheese, was one of the chef's specialties here. Feeling the shrimp burst in my mouth, I ate heartily.
"I've cut the steak for you, miss."
"The asparagus is perfectly cooked—have some together."
"......"
Why were they all fussing over me like this? I eyed the maids warily as they served me with burdensome attentiveness, then nodded. I took a bite of the steak cut to an easy size.
The beef steak melted tenderly in my mouth. I enjoyed a far more satisfying meal than usual.
After finishing, I sent Annie to fetch Dominic and tried to return to my private study. But upon entering my room, a faint floral scent enveloped me.
"Hm? Flowers?"
The maids were busily decorating my room with flowers. When I looked at them curiously, May approached and explained.
"The gardeners just came by and left them."
"Oh, right. I haven't gone to see the flowers lately."
I'd been too busy with sword training to stroll. I recalled the gardener I'd met shortly after possessing this body. His name was Shawn, right? Young, but the longest-serving gardener in the ducal house. Remembering how he'd blushed at me, I chuckled unwittingly.
"Nice scent. Different from the ones before."
"They said they planted a different variety as you requested, miss."
"Oh, did I?"
I vaguely remembered mentioning it in passing. Abigail's tastes had made even the garden flowers too garish, which had bothered me. But these were all small and pale-colored, soothing my mind effortlessly.
"From now on, tell the gardeners to keep decorating my room with flowers."
"Understood, miss."
And later, I'd call Shawn separately to praise him. I passed through the room into the study.
For some reason, my mood differed from this morning when I'd woken irritably and scrawled notes. My heart itched restlessly. I tried to calm my complicated feelings until Dominic arrived.
"You called for me, milady?"
"Come in, Dominic."
Dominic looked even more haggard than yesterday. He'd probably spent the night worrying about the duke, unable to sleep.
"You were truly amazing yesterday, milady."
"Mm."
"How did you know such a treatment method?"
I panicked for a moment. Did people here know CPR?
"Oh, just... I think the knights taught me briefly."
"I see. Knights must encounter emergencies often, after all."
Dominic, aware of my sword training with the knight order, nodded with a smile.
"Anyway, Dominic, I have a favor to ask."
"Anything."
Dominic gazed at me like a guard dog fully at ease—worlds apart from how he'd seemed terrified of Abigail in the duke's office recently.
I cleared my throat awkwardly and got to the point.
"So, the Magic Festival is starting soon, right?"
"Yes, now that you mention it, not much time left."
Dominic's expression darkened, perhaps thinking of his backlog. With the duke ill, his duties as adjutant had piled up too. The dark circles under his eyes weren't just from yesterday's worry.
I briefly recalled my pre-overwork-death days at the office, pulling all-nighters. Poor guy, Dominic.
"How do the mages from the Magic Tower get to the ducal residence? It's quite a distance from the south—have they already set off?"
"Oh, no. They warp directly to the ducal residence. There's a magic circle underground for their warping."
"Oh?"
Warping in one go with magic—something I'd love to witness. Having lived in a world without magic made it all the more fascinating.
"However, with so many people, they warp in batches. Lower-ranking mages come first to start Magic Festival preparations, and higher-ups arrive later."
"Hmm. I see."
In the original novel, Ren Magicus appeared after becoming Magic Tower Master. The capable puppy-like younger man archetype. Unlike the perfect crown prince, his wistful expressions and speech stirred the heroine's maternal instincts. Yet he was cold and ruthless to others, creating a huge personality gap.
His childhood wasn't detailed, but he'd been ostracized as a cursed clan, so I figured now was a tough time for him. Recruiting him to my side and helping lift that curse stigma would make us win-win. No—for my future, I had to win him over.
"Dominic, there's someone among the first arriving mages I want to meet."
"You'll speak to them personally?"
"Yes."
Dominic hesitated briefly before asking cautiously.
"Who might that be? Surely not..."
"Right. Ren Magicus."
"Absolutely not!"
Dominic cried out in alarm. I grimaced, worried the sound might leak outside the study.
"Quiet down, Dominic."
"I-if His Grace finds out, it'll be a disaster."
Ugh, that superstition again. In the original, Ren being called cursed was baseless myth. I looked at Dominic pitifully.
"Keep it secret from Father and bring him to me quietly."
"I-I can't do that."
Dominic refused quite steadfastly, shaking his head. I smirked at him.
"Keep resisting, and it'll get boring, Dominic."