Charlotte withdrew her hand.

A chilling aura filled the air.

That energy penetrated the skin and lodged deep in the bones.

The creature let out a rending shriek.

That cry, tearing its maw as it wailed, was its last.

“Begone.”

Benjamin cut off its breath. The tearing cry ceased, and the plucked feathers blackened and piled up like ashes.

“Who is it?”

He swept through the interior like an evil spirit.

“Who conducted the internal search here?”

The information officer replied that it couldn’t have been them.

“The search team all finished their cross-checks! There were absolutely no missed areas, Your Majesty!”

“Continue the internal search. Do not let anything unholy set foot here. After that, this place is completely sealed off until the situation is resolved.”

It was when Charlotte dropped her arm.

A sharp gaze poured down like a rebuke. It seemed to scold, “You again.” Those eyes painfully pierced the skin and reached out an arm. His fingertips faintly brushed her wrist.

“Give me that hand first. You don’t even realize you’re foolishly hurting yourself. Can’t you be a bit more careful?”

“Ah…”

“Skin touched by poison has dulled recovery. If not treated in time, it takes longer for new flesh to grow.”

He burned away the poison with his sword energy.

Skilled knights burned away poison with sword energy, and those who reached high levels could even interfere with and burn away others’ poison.

“There’s no disinfectant here.”

“Even if there is some somewhere, it’s risky to carelessly touch anything in this mansion.”

“Ah, forget about any disinfectant in this mansion. Everything here will be disposed of.”

Charlotte tied a handkerchief around her wrist, knotting it.

“Let’s leave now.”

That knot soon came undone. As the cloth loosened, thick fingers climbed up her wrist. Tap tap, he gently caressed the cloth with a dignified gesture.

“This won’t stop the bleeding.”

As Benjamin retied the knot, a message soon arrived from outside.

“Your Majesty, we will escort you out.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Later, her hand was treated.

“Don’t come back injured,”

Aaron whispered softly.

“When Your Majesty returns injured, there are many who worry by your side.”

“I suppose so.”

“Fortunately, the initial treatment was done well.”

Aaron treated the arm with disinfectant.

“It’s finished, Your Majesty.”

As Aaron put down the medicines and stepped back, Benjamin approached.

“Will there be a scar?”

“Fortunately, it seems there won’t be a scar.”

Afterwards, Aaron provided more medicine. A bitter liquid that made one suspect it might contain ground weeds rose back up the throat.

“Swallow this medicine too.”

“…Is it safe to drink?”

“Good things for the body are naturally bitter. I boiled it well with herbs good for lacerations. Also, it’s like a tonic well-suited for Your Majesty, so you can drink it all.”

He added that it was also good for skin recovery, making one wonder what was mixed in.

“All these herbs were sent by the Windsor family, saying to take care of you with tonics. They’ve been sending me various herbs for a while now. If Your Majesty leaves this medicine, they’ll be saddened.”

They spoke as if dealing with a child, not yet realizing it.

“I shouldn’t get hurt, I suppose.”

That was the only lesson learned.

The throbbing continued for several days.

Other than the fair skin being slightly reddened, there were no scars. The torn flesh healed naturally, and new skin grew in, soft to the touch.

“The inside of the skin feels hot.”

It was the third day.

Everything had healed, but the skin was still hot.

“That’s because of the burn from the poison,”

Benjamin said, taking off his glasses beside her.

“It’ll still throb a bit.”

“Ah… It does throb when heat touches it.”

“Any scars?”

“Those have healed.”

“If heat rises again later, cool it with cold ice.”

Benjamin whispered, tracing the skin with his index finger.

“Torn flesh grows back more densely.”

“Ah…”

“As a result, the body becomes stronger. Just as torn muscles heal stronger, the same goes for skin. Such scars build up one by one to form calluses, creating a knight’s body.”

A knight’s body was torn and healed dozens of times during fierce battles. In that process, calluses formed on the skin, and as the calluses hardened, the body also became firmly established.

“You don’t need to do that though.”

“You mean to keep my distance.”

Benjamin warned in a low voice.

“Poison itself melts the skin. And divine power melts such poison. Both are destructive by nature, and burns are common in that process.”

The laceration was fine thanks to cooling the heat with cold ice.

“Even though I told you to be careful for a few days,”

“…”

“You’re still careless.”

Charlotte placed a shawl on her forearm.

“I get needlessly anxious when I see you standing like this.”

“You treat me like a child.”

“If you were a child, I wouldn’t have reason to be anxious.”

Charlotte smiled languidly at his words.

“Henrietta is leaving soon.”

“Ah, was it today that her birth mother came to take her?”

“Her birth mother was already here, but the child’s recovery was delayed, so she’s leaving today.”

Henrietta, with her young body, had been suffering from a fever, perhaps due to the psychological shock.

“She doesn’t remember properly.”

“Then it might be better for that child to forget.”

“…It wasn’t something good to remember.”

Henrietta left like that. I’m not sure if it’s right to say she left the imperial palace.

They were planning to stay at the imperial residence under the imperial family’s protective observation from now on.

Benjamin tapped the paper with his pen tip. Black ink seeped into the thin paper.

“Considering the possibility of the head of the family approaching, we’ll have to wait and see further.”

His gaze reached outside.

“Those are the information officers dispatched to Poputa.”

Figures in robes passed the entrance to the imperial palace.

They were information officers sent to Poputa, through whom the imperial family had been monitoring their activities and current status. They were visiting the imperial family to report on the current situation.

– Knock knock.

There was a presence outside. An aide who knocked on the office door stated his business.

“Your Majesty. The information officer dispatched to Poputa has returned.”

Benjamin rose, pushing back his office chair.

“Will you listen together?”

“Poputa involves many confidential matters. Is it alright for me to listen?”

“There’s nothing you can’t hear.”

Benjamin nodded.

“They’ve just returned after completing their dispatch mission.”

The office door opened, and the group of information officers entered.

They wore plain black robes. The uniforms underneath were also without pattern and dull black, and their well-built bodies beneath the uniforms were proportionally stretched.

“The first subjugation unit dispatch has just ended. Monster transformation has begun inside the restricted area, and the number of krakens has greatly increased as they’ve entered breeding season and given birth to offspring.”

Charlotte set down the shawl on her forearm onto the sofa. Their report continued.

“Also, all traces of the Tutea incident suspect have been completely lost.”

The end of this matter had already been reached.

“He is no longer on this land.”

[This is the timeline separator]

‘We establish order on this land, and the black bloodline that has forgotten rule and norm shall descend below the earth, and this covenant shall be a curse and shackle binding them.

The executor of the covenant has shattered their soul bound by the treaty, and tied to eons of time, that soul certifies the fulfillment of the covenant.’
‘Each bloodline shall watch over the black bloodline bound to their land, and they shall be divided into forest, desert, and sea respectively, which the executor also certifies,’

The ground beneath is dark.

What is there? What is not there? Even such distinctions couldn’t be made.

Where am I standing now? Was I standing?

“Mmm.”

The hazy consciousness gradually became clearer.

“Why do you keep groaning.”

This scratching the throat was a moan.

The document held in hand fell limply.

Charlotte disheveled her red hair.

“Did you fall asleep again?”

“I told you to sleep when you’re tired, yet you do this.”

Benjamin brushed Charlotte’s eyebrow with the back of his hand.

“Look. Your eyes are dazed.”

“It’s all finished.”

“Is that the Tutea family’s property list?”

Charlotte closed the documents.

“It’s part of the Tutea family’s assets confiscated by the national treasury. I’ve noted separately the parts missing from the list.”

Benjamin whispered, gesturing to the documents set aside nearby.

“It’s quite detailed in its own way.”

Charlotte scanned the densely packed documents with her eyes.

“It’s just old memories. Because they often left their posts vacant, when those empty spaces became lax, they were tracked like this.”

Charlotte went through the list divided by category, finished up and closed it.

“The documents are done.”

Benjamin received the documents. The file was heavy and thick, meticulously categorized by item.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The sun outside had already set. The candle on the side table flickered, illuminating, and even the yellowish light now felt burdensome.

Benjamin tapped the paper with his pen tip. Black ink seeped into the thin paper.

“The writing is small and neat.”

“Pardon?”

“When I first saw you long ago. The writing was all squiggly, just like worms crawling. I’ve kept the letters we exchanged back then separately. I could probably find them somewhere if I looked.”

“You still have those?”

“They’re traces that connected me to you back then.”

He spoke as if driving in a wedge.

“How could I throw that away?”

Charlotte paused her hand holding the quill.

“What kind of things did we talk about?”

“Well. I don’t remember well what we talked about either.”

“…”

“I think I waited for those letters back then.”

The memory of waiting for news of you was vivid.

“You always felt vague like mist, but it was nice to retrace even such traces.”

Benjamin whispered as he entered numbers on the document with his quill. The document organization seemed like it would be done soon, but it felt a shame to end it like this. Maybe I’ll finish a bit more before sleeping.

He whispered and met Charlotte’s eyes.

“What is it?”

Charlotte quietly asked back to his question.

“…Do you remember what it was like?”

“Hmm. Even back then, the writing was small. It was rather small and neat handwriting, but there was quite a bit of weight in the strokes.”

Benjamin slowly drew out his words.

“Also, it wandered vaguely like someone who had lost sensation in their fingertips.”

“…”

“It was as if you didn’t know how much force to use or how much to ease up. Only after becoming a bit more familiar did such signs disappear.”

Charlotte placed her hand on top of the hand holding the quill in the same way. Somehow the hand muscles trembled faintly. Benjamin’s gaze, keenly reading that sign, fell on her fingertips.

“Are you alright?”

Charlotte smiled and answered.

“I think I’m a bit tired now.”

“Hmm. It is time to be tired.”

The quill rolled off the side table.

– Snap.

The pen tip broke and ink splattered on the floor.

Rolling, the quill came to rest at Charlotte’s feet.

He had thus narrowed the distance.

“Let’s wrap up here for today.”

Benjamin tidied up the closed documents and gathered them on the side table. He picked up the quill and set it down as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s go to sleep now, Charlotte.”

It wasn’t hidden.

He just didn’t ask.

Somehow, Charlotte felt she needed to make such an excuse inwardly.