Although Matiel’s voice was low and gentle, Charlotte felt as if he had shouted right into her ear.

At the same time, the fishy smell that had been churning her stomach became unbearable.

“Ugh…”

She covered her nose and mouth and dry heaved.

The sound was quite loud, and Charlotte expected Matiel to tell her irritably to be quiet.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”

But unexpectedly, Matiel grabbed Charlotte’s shoulder and asked that.

It sounded like a concerned voice. Hearing it, Charlotte suddenly became alert.

Her stomach still felt like it was being clawed at, but she thought she could endure it.

“I’m fine. It’s just the fishy smell.”

“You’ve been talking about the fishy smell for a while now.”

“It’s gotten worse. And… it’s not fading. It’s not going away.”

“Maybe it’s because there are many graves around.”

It seemed like Matiel was trying to comfort her in his own way, but it wasn’t much help.

However, Charlotte said nothing and just stared blankly at the men talking by the newly made grave.

She could hear their muttering voices, but it was hard to make out exactly what they were saying.

Matiel said,

“This is troublesome. We need to know what those guys are planning…”

“There’s a way to find out, but promise me you won’t make a sound even if you’re surprised or feel like fainting.”

He flinched slightly as if he hadn’t expected that, but soon nodded.

Charlotte took out something small that looked like a bracelet from her pocket, without taking her eyes off the two men.

“What’s that?”

Matiel showed interest.

A thin line, seemingly made of silver, curved into a circle converging at one point, with a round pendant hanging from the part connecting the two ends.

There was an empty birdcage drawn on the visible side, and when Charlotte flipped the pendant over, an image of an old hat appeared.

“I’m going to call my informant. Just to let you know, it’s not human, it’s a demon. Don’t be too surprised. And don’t shout.”

“You’re going to summon a demon? With that?”

Charlotte raised an eyebrow slightly as if to say ‘just watch’, then tapped the center of the pendant with her index finger.

The pendant spun, overlapping the images on both sides. Now the old hat was trapped inside the birdcage.

There was a rustling sound from behind. At the same time, Matiel could smell something foul.

As he was about to turn his head, a strangely-shaped one-legged demon, Wyan, appeared in the corner of his vision.

If Charlotte hadn’t warned him beforehand, even the great Matiel would have been startled by its appearance.

“Mischievous Lottie. When you call, with that, I must come, must.”

It speaks strangely, Matiel thought.

Charlotte waved the bracelet and said,

“That’s right. I have something I really need you to do.”

“Speak.”

“You see those two men over there?”

Wyan skillfully slid its single foot and turned silently.

“See.”

“I need to know what those men are talking about.”

“Eavesdropping. Eavesdropping.”

Charlotte nodded.

“Right, eavesdropping. But you can’t be seen. Do you understand?”

Wyan grumbled its lips as if about to complain, then suddenly disappeared as if sinking into the ground.

The area of ground where it had vanished became translucent like soap bubbles, shimmering in pieces.

After a long silence, Matiel turned to Charlotte.

“Do you carry around a whole troop of those things? You?”

“What nonsense. That’s the only one. The only demon informant. What would I use a whole troop of demons for?”

“Don’t tell me that limping fellow from earlier was a demon too?”

Charlotte turned to Matiel with somewhat sharp eyes.

“Don’t call Taemi that. Taemi is human. He’s my informant, but not a demon.”

Matiel could sense that even while bickering with him, Charlotte was subtly protecting Taemi.

Well, if one does this kind of work, informants must be valuable. Nevertheless, Charlotte’s words bothered him ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly even to himself.

Just then, Charlotte said,

“Be quiet now, I can hear them.”

Matiel raised an eyebrow.

He couldn’t hear anything. But that was only for a moment, and suddenly an unfamiliar voice rang loudly in his ears.

Though it was a voice he had never heard before, he could clearly tell it was the conversation between the two men visible in the distance.

“Why is that bastard who didn’t even show up at the funeral here?”

The man who had read the eulogy spoke. His voice was a bit low and trembling terribly.

He kept glancing towards the tombstone and the newly packed grave where the gravedigger had just finished, unable to stay still for even a moment.

The doctor – unlike what he had told Matiel, he wasn’t wearing mourning clothes – tilted his head with his hands in his pockets.

“What do you mean why I’m here? I have to pay my respects, don’t I? Teddy died after all.”

“I attended the funeral.”

The doctor laughed.

“You don’t think Teddy’s spirit was appeased by those pathetic few lines of eulogy, do you? Think about what you did to Teddy.”

At that moment, the man rushed forward and grabbed the doctor’s collar.

Both Matiel and Charlotte flinched as if about to rush out, but there was no time.

The doctor, who had been lifted almost off his heels, grabbed the man’s arm in return and, with surprising strength, slammed him down onto the grave.

“Aagh!”

The doctor pressed his lips close to the man’s ear.

“I heard you threatened Teddy? It’s because of you that Teddy trembled every night until he died. How could you do such a thing knowing his heart was weak?”

The man shouted,

“What threat! It’s true that bastard embezzled the academic society’s sponsorship funds! I couldn’t stand by and watch anymore! I don’t know what lies he told you, but…!”

It was at that moment.

There was a thud. It was clearly audible not only to the two men, but also to Charlotte and Matiel who were eavesdropping through Wyan.

It was a heavy sound, as if coming from far away.

It sounded like something struggling to escape from a box sunk deep in water.

‘No, not in water. This is…’

The man, with his cheek pressed into the dirt, struggled in panic.

“I-I hear a sound! Let go, Louis! There’s a sound coming from inside the grave!”

“Really? I don’t hear anything.”

Thud, thud! The sound continued. It even started to speed up. As it became so intense that the earth trembled, the man screamed.

“Louis, let go! I think T-Teddy is alive! Teddy is…!”

It was then. The grip of the doctor, Louis, who was holding the man, loosened.

It was just for a moment, but Charlotte noticed that he had deliberately let go.

“Teddy? Teddy! Wait!”

The man began to dig the earth with his bare hands. Since the soil had only been piled recently, digging didn’t seem too difficult.

It took some time to dig through the top layer that the gravedigger had packed, but once past that, the speed increased considerably.

Charlotte said,

“Shall I tell you what I think?”

Matiel, not taking his eyes off the man who had now dug halfway into the grave, throwing dirt wildly, and the doctor named Louis who was staring down at him, replied,

“No, I think I’m probably thinking the same thing as you.”

“Oh really? I think that guy lying in the coffin putting on a cute act and that so-called doctor are about to kill that man. Is that what you think too?”

“That’s what I think. But we can’t let them kill him.”

“If it were me, I’d go out and stop them now.”

“Not yet.”

Matiel seemed to have an excessively cautious personality.

Or maybe he enjoyed making dramatic entrances, or perhaps he just had incredible patience, or maybe he was simply a coward.

While Charlotte was making these scathing assessments, Matiel continued to stare intently at them.

“Teddy!”

The voice of the man, who had gone into the hole and was no longer visible, rang out.

At that moment, there was another bang! from inside the coffin, and the man screamed.

“Louis, Louis! Help me! Teddy is…!”

The doctor said,

“He’s alive. No, has he come back to life?”

He chuckled with his arms crossed.

Bang! Bang! The man, who was about to bend down to open the coffin lid that was making the noise, looked up with a face as if he’d seen a ghost.

“…Don’t tell me this is your doing? Did you two plan this terrible thing?”

“Why don’t you ask Teddy?”

There was a loud crash! As the bottom of the coffin lid lifted, the man was now beyond screaming.

As the lid opened, an arm shot out and grabbed the man’s collar, and Teddy Riberon, who was thought to be dead, leaped out of the coffin with his teeth bared like a beast.

“T-Teddy…”

“You damn bastard, how dare you try to expose me to the academic society? I was already annoyed by a butcher’s son carrying books and going to school, but did you think you were something special just because you were treated like a human among nobles? You bastard.”

The man’s eyes widened.

Every word Teddy spat out hit his head like an iron hammer.

Teddy shoved the trembling and struggling man into the coffin he had just emerged from.

Stepping on his stomach and groin to prevent him from getting up, he pulled the slightly slid coffin lid back over and shouted,

“Give me the nails, Louis!”