The gunshot was heard from the forest not far from the mansion. Laila and Eustar exchanged glances and left the room as if on cue.

When they went down to the back garden of the mansion, another gunshot was heard. Eustar recognized it as the sound of a hunting rifle, and Laila could hear something fluttering urgently. Someone was clearly hunting in the forest.

“You there.”

An employee carrying a large sack of what looked like grain quickly ran over and bowed at Eustar’s call.

“Who is hunting in the forest?”

The employee glanced awkwardly towards the forest, then bowed his head again.

“Yes, Your Highness. It’s… the young master of this house.”

“You mean the Count’s son?”

“That’s right. The young master enjoys hunting as a hobby and often hunts in the forest like that. The master is displeased, but… he has such a free-spirited nature.”

So he’s a son who doesn’t listen at all. Eustar and Laila immediately understood the meaning behind his roundabout description of “free-spirited.”

At that moment, there was another fluttering sound and gunshot. It seemed to be a goose or a large pigeon, and they saw the body of the bird that had been soaring into the sky fall helplessly as the gunshot echoed.

Eustar asked again.

“Hunting is a hobby many enjoy, does the Count not like hunting?”

“Well, you see…”

The employee trailed off, looking troubled. Eustar guessed he was hiding something while knowing it, and just as he was about to probe further, a clear and ringing voice was heard from above.

“Because he’s the type who might shoot a person someday.”

Laila and Eustar looked up in surprise. They saw a pair of white feet dangling in mid-air.

She looked to be barely twenty, a young lady. Her face looking down was sickly pale, but there was a strangely captivating beauty to it. Despite the cold, she sat on the windowsill wearing only a thin silk dress and a shawl, seemingly unbothered by the wind.

The employee cried out in alarm.

“Miss Yerka! You’re doing it again! Haven’t I told you many times how dangerous that is? If the master and madam find out…!”

The woman called Yerka snorted.

“Find out what? Father would be so happy he’d throw a party if I fell from here and became disabled.”

The employee’s face turned pale. He was at a loss, alternately glancing at Eustar and Laila, unable to handle such an outrageous statement.

Then Laila, who had been staring up at her, said:

“From that height, you wouldn’t be disabled if you fell. But it would hurt terribly. Everywhere.”

Yerka looked down at Laila with challenging eyes. Then suddenly she smiled brightly, and her face was so pretty that for a moment Laila felt entranced.

“That’s true. Hello, Your Highness. You really do have red eyes, just like the rumors say.”

“Because I’m a witch.”

It wasn’t Yerka who flinched at her blunt response, but the poor employee standing there trying to read the situation. Yerka did seem surprised by Laila’s words… but only to the extent of widening her eyes slightly.

Her impossibly blue eyes disappeared behind blinking eyelids, then reappeared. Yerka said:

“If it’s not impolite, Your Highness. Please tell me. If I fall from here and break my leg, can you heal me? With some wondrous tincture or magic?”

Laila said:

“Unfortunately, I’m not a witch who uses magic. I could make a tincture, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The sensation of broken bones mending is terrible.”

“Have you experienced it?”

“When I was very young. It feels like tiny larvae crawling inside your bones.”

Yerka stuck out her tongue and made a face like a child. Laila said:

“For a week.”

Yerka’s body leaned back sharply as she pouted her lips. The employee was startled, and Laila and Eustar were surprised too. But the next moment, she poked her head out the window as if nothing had happened and said:

“If you’re curious about Wells, come find me later. But now I need to take a nap.”

With a thud, the window closed. Eustar chuckled at her consistently brazen attitude.

“Is she the Count’s daughter?”

The employee bowed deeply, looking ashamed.

“Yes, Your Highness. Please forgive her. Miss Yerka is… she suffers from nervous exhaustion, so… sometimes her judgment becomes clouded. Just now, she probably…”

Eustar said:

“It’s fine since my consort wasn’t offended.”

Then Laila, who had been silently staring at the closed window, asked:

“The daughter doesn’t take after the Count.”

The employee answered, “Yes,” then said:

“They say Miss Yerka takes after the madam’s mother. She’s the only child born to the master and the current madam, but with her temperament being like that…”

Eustar asked:

“The current madam? Has the Count remarried?”

“Yes, that’s right. He was widowed from his first wife. I heard they had a very bad relationship… Perhaps because of that, he’s very strict with young master Karsch. But he dotes on and adores Miss Yerka.”

“Dotes and adores…”

A bitter smile appeared on Eustar’s lips.

“It doesn’t seem like the words and actions of a daughter raised with her father’s affection. Even if she suffers from nervous exhaustion.”

The employee pressed his lips tightly shut as if he’d swallowed glue. Just then, another gunshot rang out.

Laila said:

“Eustar, we should go to the forest.”

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

As he turned, Eustar looked at the employee.

“Don’t breathe a word about your conversation with us here. Understood?”

“Ah, yes. Of course. I’ll keep it in mind, Your Highness.”

The two of them left him behind and walked towards the forest where the gunshots were coming from. Among the many paths, one stood out as noticeably wider with clear signs of frequent use. Following it, they came to a fairly large clearing, which seemed to have been artificially created by cutting down the trees that had grown there.

Laila saw caged birds, an employee holding a plump pigeon that would be the next victim, and the back of a man holding a gun. To one side was a cart full of dead birds, their necks hanging limply at odd angles in a mix of white and gray. The sight suddenly made her stomach churn.

The man who had been tending to his gun turned around. Unlike Yerka, he bore a strong resemblance to the Count. His features were a bit more defined than the Count’s, but his eyes and gaze were identical.

The man grinned and stared at Laila. He started to swagger over as if to make a pass, then hesitated briefly before removing his hat and lowering his gun.

“I beg your pardon. Please forgive my rudeness.”

When the man raised his head, his face still bore a grinning expression, but his voice was surprisingly low and his tone polite.

He continued:

“Your Highness the Prince, and Your Highness the Consort, I am Karsch Vir Halliwell.”

Karsch turned to the employees and ordered:

“Withdraw for a moment. Take those dead ones to the kitchen.”

As the employees moved in unison and quickly disappeared, an arrogant and satisfied smile appeared on Karsch’s face. Eustar, who had been watching his every move, moved his lips in a faint smile.

“You seem to enjoy hunting, Karsch Halliwell.”

“Ah, yes. I do.”

Karsch glanced at his lowered gun and grinned.

“It’s quite satisfying.”

The smile on Eustar’s lips grew deeper and more meaningful. Karsch said:

“What brings Your Highnesses to such a humble place? Surely my father didn’t invite you?”

“Something like that.”

“Good heavens.”

Karsch let out a simultaneous exclamation and laugh, shaking his head.

“I apologize on his behalf. Father has been a bit senile lately. He’s become gullible, listening to a few words from the servants…”

He even made a tsk sound, as if talking about a troublesome son.

Then Laila said:

“So you know about that story too.”

Karsch chuckled.

“Of course I do. They’ve been making such a noisy fuss about these ridiculous stories, I threatened to shoot anyone who dared say such things in front of me.”

Laila frowned and said reproachfully:

“That seems like an inappropriate thing to say to people.”

“Is that so? But as you know, Your Highness, there are distinctions of class and rank in this world. They say things were much better in the old days. If slaves dared to look their masters in the face, they could be beaten to death with leather whips.”

Eustar, still smiling but with a cold tone, said:

“I don’t know which country’s past you’re envying, but Sierou never had slaves. And as you say, it’s hard to call a world where humans could beat other humans to death without consequence a good one.”

“If Your Highness says so.”

“Moreover, if today’s Sierou were such a world, I too could whip you right here.”

Karsch’s expression changed. He grinned again, but was tense like a cornered mouse.

Laila said:

“So you know about this man called Wells too, is that right?”

Karsch stared at Laila for a long while, then shrugged.

“He was a fool who didn’t know his place. Did Your Highnesses really come all this way because of that baseless rumor? Because of the story that this idiot appears when you open the door?”

“Whether it’s a rumor or not, it’s Tentinella’s job to verify it.”

At Eustar’s words, Karsch shook his head again.

“You’re wasting your time. It’s bound to be a story made up by people with nothing better to do, or lazy bums who want to lie around. A man who’s already dead and barely more than bones appearing? It’s ridiculous.”

“We heard the Count and Countess saw him too.”

At Laila’s words, Karsch’s mouth twitched strangely.