In the end, I rode the carriage and returned home first. Davian wanted to come with me, but Clements stopped him, saying it wouldn’t work.

“You didn’t come here for leisure, Davian.”

I didn’t know, but Davian said he followed me to learn from Clements, who was inspecting things.

Unlike when we went out together earlier, coming back to the mansion alone made me feel calm.

All of this was because of the silver snake. I squinted my eyes at the snake from the carriage.

[Hmm…]

“You remember what I told you earlier, right? Don’t startle people.”

[Hmm… Did I say that?]

“Yeah!”

I had a feeling it would be uneasy from the beginning. The snake that found amusement in startling people within the mansion had eventually caused an accident.

[But that kid struck me first! I always repay what I receive,]

“You probably didn’t know. Also, since it’s still a young one, it won’t understand you yet.”

[Hmph, why would I?]

Even though I taunted, the snake just pretended to hear and turned its gaze to the side. Originally, I didn’t expect the snake to regret what happened.

Rather, the biggest problem now was elsewhere.

“W-witch! Witch!”

The reason the child insisted like that was that the child heard the snake’s voice. I rubbed my forehead and asked again.

“Did you tell it loud enough for that kid to hear? Did you?”

The snake rolled its eyes at my words. Now that I think about it, the snake had quite a mischievous expression.

[Yeah, so what?]

“So what? Ordinary snakes don’t talk. Do you want rumors to spread that you’re a supernatural being?”

[Even without a contract, you can hear my voice. There’s no rule saying I can’t shout at other creatures. Whether I yell at other creatures or not, it’s my will.]

The snake turned its head abruptly, as if it wouldn’t listen to me anymore. I realized why.

‘Looks like it’s sulking.’

Maybe it was because of what I shouted earlier. Anyway, today wasn’t the day I wanted to placate the snake first, unlike other times.

‘All because of someone who ruined the outing and made me come home.’

People’s attention was immediately focused on the child’s words. On top of that, carrying a snake around, the suspicious looks of people turned from doubt to conviction.

Seeing the atmosphere created by those people, Clements immediately decided for me to go home.

‘A witch.’

A witch, or a dark witch. Both terms meant a magician who used black magic and harmed humans. It reminded me of the time Amelia Hwangbi tried to label me as a dark witch.

‘I wonder how people treated supernatural beings in the original.’

Come to think of it, Elijah, who contracted with a supernatural being, seemed to have faced such misunderstandings quite often in the beginning. In fact, people mostly didn’t know exactly how supernatural beings looked like.
When the silver snake partially transformed into a dragon, he believed it was a supernatural being.

“Was I too careless?”

Should I have hidden the silver snake more thoroughly? However, the snake didn’t easily comply with my words.

“If rumors spread that I’m a witch, it will affect my family.”

Punishment for dark magic was severe. It not only affected the individual but also led to the destruction of the family and the next three generations.

In the original story, Elijah was able to avoid the misconception of being a witch because he directly demonstrated sacred power through the contract with a supernatural being.

“I can’t use such things.”

Another problem that I had temporarily forgotten came to mind. I had to bring the silver snake to Elijah.

“By today, they should have noticed over there anyway.”

As soon as I arrived at the mansion, I headed straight to my room.

“Hmph!”

The silver snake seemed sulky as it entered the room and immediately hid under the blanket.

Soon after, someone knocked on my door.

“Miss, I have a delivery.”

“Yes, come in.”

The one entering the room was Montree. He took out the letter he had hidden in his arms and placed it on the table.

“As you said, a letter has arrived from the capital temple. No one has seen it yet.”

“Good job.”

The day when Amelia Hwangbi falsely accused me of being a dark witch, I had called Montree to give him a specific order in advance.

“Contact from the capital temple will come soon. When it does, bring it to me immediately. The recipient will probably be my father, so check the sender carefully. Absolutely don’t let my father see it.”

Managing all the letters coming to the duke’s house was Philene’s responsibility.

However, before the letters reached Philene, they had to go through the soldiers who delivered the letters from the main gate to the mansion.

Thus, Montree deliberately befriended the soldiers guarding the main gate, breaking down their guard.

Not an outsider and holding the position of my aide, it wasn’t difficult for him to become friendly with them and retrieve the letters.

I slowly read the letter as I descended. The content was not surprisingly as expected.

“To Sir Kyrillius Crustel,