Taemi shuddered and rubbed his arms in disgust.

“I hate snakes.”

Charlotte glanced at him as if she’d seen it all.

“Who likes them? Everyone hates snakes.”

“Really? I didn’t know you disliked snakes too.”

Charlotte retorted.

“I hate their slick scales, and the spots are even worse. The way they coil up is disgusting.”

Taemi immediately changed his expression and became serious.

“You better watch what you say. If the Royal Snake Society catches you, you’ll get a beating.”

“What’s the Royal Snake Society?”

“The Royal Reptile Lovers Association. They especially love snakes. I once met someone from there, did you know there’s a snake that’s really good at playing dead? It’s so convincing that it’s almost…”

Charlotte started walking briskly without looking back.

Taemi hurried after her, calling out:

“Hey! Do you even know where you’re going?”

“You said the personal physician’s agent. If we go towards the village and ask around, someone will know. It’s not a big city, and if he’s a personal physician for a mansion like this, he must be quite a well-known doctor.”

“Even so…!”

It was then that the two of them turned onto the intersection near the cemetery.

The sound of carriage wheels rolling accompanied by the flickering of two lamp lights cast long shadows on the road.

Charlotte, squinting at the blindingly bright light, grabbed Taemi’s arm and stepped to the side of the road.

Taemi whistled.

“It’s a four-wheeled carriage. Not even oil lamps. Must be quite a wealthy person or someone incredibly important.”

“None of our business.”

Just as she turned away, the steadily moving carriage suddenly stopped, and there was a click as a window opened.

“I didn’t expect to see you here again.”

Taemi turned around first at the sudden male voice.

Charlotte, who was about to take a step, flinched like someone burned and whipped her head around a beat later.

The person looking out the window was, as she expected, Matiel.

His face, leaning slightly towards the window, was filled with an arrogant curiosity, but his gaze sharpened a bit more when he looked at Taemi’s face.

After a strange standoff and silence between the three, Matiel spoke:

“What are you doing here?”

Charlotte replied.

“Well, what does it look like we’re doing? Treasure hunting?”

Her tone was indifferent yet tinged with annoyance.

However, Matiel seemed unfazed and made a ‘hmm’ sound as he pretended to scan the scenery outside the window.

“Could be. In any case, it doesn’t seem like you’re here for a date. It’s not exactly a romantic spot.”

“Even if it were romantic, wouldn’t it have run away? There’s a stalker here.”

Taemi interjected then.

“What? Stalker?”

Matiel ignored Taemi’s words and let out a chuckle.

“Aren’t you being a bit too self-conscious, Miss Charlotte Berrett?”

Taemi was first shocked that he called Charlotte by her exact name.

He knew better than anyone that Charlotte rarely revealed her real name unless to very close neighbors.

And because of the magic she always seemed to wrap around herself, even if someone had long, deep conversations with Charlotte, they would vaguely forget her face and name once they turned away, unless she ‘allowed’ it.

Taemi said:

“Charlotte, what’s going on? Do you know this man?”

“No, let’s go.”

As Charlotte turned away again, Matiel spoke:

“Are you here because of the Baron’s dead son?”

Charlotte’s gaze turned to Matiel.

She seemed angry, or perhaps overwhelmed by some indescribable confusion.

In fact, Matiel didn’t actually know Charlotte’s purpose.

He just guessed, since she was inexplicably loitering around at this hour, in this place, with a man who looked like either a back-alley thug or a mercenary, there was only one place that came to mind.

Nevertheless, Charlotte, perhaps not realizing this fact, stared blankly at Matiel.

“The person living in the mansion on the hill, I guess he’s the Baron?”

Matiel nodded and let out a long sigh.

“That’s right. He’s a long-time loyal servant to the royal family. It’s unfortunate his second son died at such a young age. The Baron himself has a chronic illness, and due to his grief, his days might be numbered.”

Taemi sneered.

“Even vulgar words sound elegant coming from the mouth of a noble person.”

“Be quiet, Taemi.”

Taemi’s eyebrows furrowed at Charlotte’s words. She stepped closer to Matiel and said:

“Were you close to the deceased?”

“No, not at all.”

It couldn’t have been a more disappointing answer. She thought she might be able to dig up something…

“Then? Are you here to pay respects out of nobility solidarity?”

“I might answer if you get in the carriage.”

Charlotte looked at Matiel for a moment with an expression that seemed to say, ‘What kind of fool is this?’

But the next moment, she could sense that he knew something.

Sometimes her intuition was more certain and sharper than long-calculated logic.

“Taemi, let’s get in.”

At her words, Taemi let out an incredulous laugh.

“Are you serious? You want us to ride in this flashy nobleman’s carriage? It looks so well-oiled we might slip as soon as we sit down.”

“Then? Are you thinking of going back alone? From here?”

Taemi suddenly realized that no matter what he did, he couldn’t change Charlotte’s mind.

Whatever relationship she had with this smooth-faced guy, however they knew each other, she would get in the carriage to investigate the case, and he couldn’t stop her.

Taemi said:

“Charlotte, we can find out on our own. We came here not even knowing that man had died! We might have no connection to the dead man…”

“Even if you won’t get in, I will. And let me tell you, you’d better get in too. Unless you want to go back alone.”

With that, Charlotte flung open the carriage door and climbed in.

Matiel glanced at Taemi through the window and made room for her.

“Hey!”

“Taemi, last…”

Before Charlotte could finish her sentence, Taemi turned away harshly.

He glared at Charlotte with half-reproachful eyes and said:

“If you like the nobleman’s fine carriage so much, you ride it all you want, Charlotte.”

Leaving those harsh words behind, Taemi limped away into the darkness.

As Charlotte, letting out an irritated sigh, tried to follow him out, the carriage door closed with a thud.

Matiel tapped his cane.

The coachman moved the reins, and the large four-wheeled carriage began to glide along the road.

“What are you doing! Stop!”

A flustered Charlotte poked her head out the window.

But Taemi’s figure had already disappeared into the darkness.

‘Damn it, Taemi, that bastard! Stubbornly making trouble for no reason!’

Charlotte turned sharply to Matiel and said in a voice suppressing anger:

“I didn’t say to start.”

“We can’t wait forever for someone who refuses to ride. You may not know, but I’m a busy person.”

“Taemi has a bad leg.”

“That doesn’t seem like information I need to know.”

Charlotte closed her eyes, furrowing her brow, and let out a short sigh.

Right, he wasn’t a child.

He might have a bad leg, but he wasn’t weak enough to fall into danger.

If Matiel had kicked him out of the carriage, that would be one thing, but Taemi had refused and left first, so there wasn’t much to say.

‘Who could break that stubbornness? I hope he steps on a fist-sized grasshopper on his way.’

Charlotte cursed inwardly, thinking of Taemi’s back as he turned away without regret.

“Tell me. What are you doing here?”

“I came to pay respects on His Majesty the King’s orders.”

“There’s more to it than that. The real reason.”

“No, that’s all there is to it.”

The carriage picked up speed as it passed the slope of the hill.

Charlotte felt somehow deceived and at the same time sensed that Matiel was lying.

Normally, she would have immediately jumped out of the carriage or tried to use hypnosis or magic… but now she couldn’t do either.

First, as she sensed, Matiel was hiding something. So she couldn’t rashly jump out of the carriage.

Secondly, Charlotte’s own magic didn’t work on him.

Therefore, she couldn’t manipulate his mind or heart with her illusory hands to make him spill what he knew.

“I know you’re hiding something.”

A mocking smile briefly appeared on Matiel’s lips before disappearing without a trace.

He looked out at the swaying landscape with his arms crossed, then rolled his tongue once in his mouth.

“Did you see the dead man?”

“What?”

Matiel’s gaze looked directly at Charlotte.

“The Baron’s dead son. Did you see the corpse in the coffin?”

“Yes, I did.”

It wasn’t particularly surprising.

As at Lady Lirald’s party, this time too, she must have entered the mansion as ‘Sherry’…

Matiel nodded as if he had expected as much and continued:

“Didn’t it look a bit strange?”

Charlotte carefully gauged his intentions before answering honestly.

“The servant said the cause of death was heart attack. But to me, it didn’t look like that at all. Rather…”

“He died of poisoning. Isn’t that right?”

Matiel rummaged in his breast pocket and pulled out a silver rod to show Charlotte.

The discoloration had almost disappeared, but bluish and blackish stains could still be seen.

Charlotte frowned as she examined the rod.

Matiel then put it back into his jacket’s inner pocket.

“When I put the silver rod in the dead man’s mouth, it immediately reacted. Not only that, but I could faintly see marks under the powder applied to his face that weren’t lividity. It wasn’t a heart attack.”

“They said there was a personal physician. I was just about to go find him.”

“I just met with that personal physician, do you want to hear what he said?”

Charlotte looked at Matiel with a slightly surprised expression.

“You met the physician? What did he say? If he really diagnosed it as a heart attack, it’s one of two things. Either he’s a quack who doesn’t deserve a medical license, or he’s lying.”