The Girl Who Was Forced by Her Stepsister to Marry the Cursed Duke - CH 20

Chapter 20: Breaking The Curse

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Nervously, I gave a bowl of soup to Maricle-sama. With an impeccable and graceful table manner, Maricle-sama scooped a spoonful of soup and brought it to his mouth. Then… His throat moved, like he was swallowing something and then…. His deep green eyes widened.

“………. This… Is that… Curse….?”

“Huh? Y-Yes.”

“……..Un… Unbelievable… The taste is absolutely… Refined and… Delicious.”

In regards to his words,, I also took another spoonful of the soup.

Yup. I still have a long way to go but I can definitely feel the burst of flavour coming from the stock!! Indeed, it tastes really good.

“Would you like to try one of these?”

I recommended the beautifully peeled mantis shrimp that I had boiled with salt. Sure, the soup tasted good but the juiciness of the shrimp’s meat hit different.

He seemed to have an internal struggle for a while but then, he cut the shrimp’s white flesh apart, stabbed it with his fork and gracefully brought it to his mouth.

The shrimp disappeared into his mouth…. He munched on it before he swallowed it.

“……!!!”

At that moment, shining cracks appeared on Maricle-sama’s blue-black skin with an audible snap.

“?!”

A blinding light appeared from Maricle-sama, illuminating my sight.

“Kyaaa?!”

After the shining light subsided, on the chair there was…. A beautiful young man I had never seen before.

No, this man before me was not at the level of an ordinary ‘beautiful young man’. He was the beholder of unparalleled beauty. A face so beautiful that would put any woman to shame, his smooth, bluish silver hair. His deep green eyes, adorned with thin glasses that somehow gave him the impression of a smart person.

Is he a son of some noble? Or maybe the prince himself?

“This…! I see… So that’s how…!”

That voice belonged to Maricle-sama. With my mouth hanging open, my gaze was fixed on the beautiful man in front of me.

“Thank you very much!! Miltia! Thanks to you, I finally understand!!”

“Huh? What?!”

Based on Maricle-sama’s explanation, apparently when you ate the seafood made from the curse, the same magic required to dispel the curse would flow into your body.

“So that’s the method required to break my curse! Turns out the requirement is 『eating the seafood brought forth by the curse together with the person who love you back』! Indeed! That’s why every method I tried always ended up in failure!”

Maricle-sama explained with a cheerful smile on his face.

The problem with a curse in general was, there was no universal solution to break it. Every curse required a different 『key』to break. The most famous key was 『the maiden’s kiss』but even then, that key wouldn’t work for every curse in existence.

“I didn’t know you could break a curse by doing that… Congratulations!”

I see…. But then… That means… This is the end of my happy life….

Fresh marine products would no longer gush forward from Maricle-sama’s skin.

As for Maricle-sama, since he had broken free from the curse, that meant he would become popular again amongst the high-ranking noble daughter. When I thought about that, a sense of disappointment flashed on my heart for a moment.

….. No, no. He finally broke the curse after all this time. I mustn’t be thinking so selfishly like this. If I want to eat some seafood, I can just go catch it in the ocean myself.

But… It seemed my deplorable thoughts were clearly shown in my expression. Maricle-sama’s beautiful eyebrows contorted and he let out a small sigh.

“….. Miltia, you… Do I have to say it straightforwardly for you to understand?”

“?”

“Don’t look so confused like that…. I understand.”

Maricle-sama turned his body toward me, his well-shaped face looked slightly flushed.

“My beloved one… With this, I formally request Miltia Lyran to marry me.”

“Wha- Beloved?! M-Me??”

Could it be… Maricle-sama’s taste in women became distorted too? … Could it be that the curse didn’t only corrode his skin but also his preferences?

B-but …. He looks so flushed from n-neck up to the head. His ears look like they’re on fire even.

“Will you please… Accept me?”

Maricle-sama smiled, he looked like the personification of an angel.

However, so many emotions ran through my brain all at once. Tears began to overflow from my eyes like raging waves.

“…. Uuuh… B-But… I… I… I’m s-sho… I don’t behave like a lady at all…!”

“I say, that part of you is very lovely indeed.”

“I-I can’t use magic at all! I-I’m completely u-ushless!”

A heavy flow of tears and snot poured out of my orifice from both confusion and agitation.

With this much tears, we’d definitely drown even if we have ark ready for us!

“That kind of stuff… I can teach you all about it as much as you’d like… Will that be alright for you?”

“…. Y-…. Yhh-eshhh…!”

I couldn’t pronounce 「yes」properly, maybe it was due to the heavy floods invading my eyes and nose. But despite all that…. Maricle-sama was showing me a smile I had never seen before and there was no sign of him stopping any time soon…!

I was afraid my brain tissue would flow out of my eyes and nose because of how dazzled I was by everything. I couldn’t stop my dripping nose and my eyes from crying.