Before sunset, Taemi came to visit Charlotte again.

She sold the last sleeping tincture and ointment of the day, then saw the customer out and flipped the sign from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’.

“Is it within walking distance?”

Charlotte turned around while locking the door and gaped in astonishment.

Taemi was leaning casually against a two-wheeled vehicle, his messy hair topped with goggles that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

What first caught her eye was the rusty, patched-up part of the muffler, stretched long like a curved trumpet facing backward.

Between the two pipes extending up and two down were wheel caps that looked like ancient warrior shields.

Behind the small, sturdy-looking front tire was a fuel tank with pipes, and as she approached, a strong smell of oil wafted over.

Where on earth did he get this thing, Charlotte wondered.

She had shared some of the money from solving the Baron Lirald case recently, but surely he hadn’t spent it all on this junk…

‘No, he’s entirely capable of doing just that.’

Charlotte deliberately gave Taemi’s grinning face an indifferent look as she came down the stairs.

“Does this thing actually move?”

Charlotte said, kicking the large rear tire lightly.

The body tilted slightly forward due to the height difference between the two tires, and she could see that the back seat area had been modified to be flat.

Taemi tossed her another pair of goggles from the holder and said,

“It might not be as comfortable as a four-wheeled carriage, but of course it moves. Faster than a carriage too.”

“Don’t be cheeky, Taemi.”

Charlotte adjusted the strap to fit the goggles snugly and climbed onto the back seat. It was surprisingly comfortable, and she hardly felt the tilt.

As she shifted her weight, there was a hissing sound from below and the seat sank slightly before rising again repeatedly. Feeling underneath, she found pleated shock absorbers installed.

Taemi sat in the front seat and gripped the handlebars. Charlotte hesitated for a moment, wondering where to put her hands, then resignedly grabbed his waist.

She didn’t do anything as awkward as resting her cheek against his back, though.

When he started the engine, it made quite a racket. Just as she thought it was fortunate it wasn’t rattling and vibrating, Taemi pulled the lever and operated the ignition button without a moment’s hesitation.

The moment a clicking sound rang out, Charlotte screamed and wrapped her arms tightly around Taemi’s waist.

“Slow down, Taemi! Are you crazy?”

“What, scared?”

Taemi cackled as he began to dangerously race through the narrow alley.

He barely grazed buildings as he turned, and once they hit the main road, the speed increased even more.

“We’re going to die like this!”

“Don’t worry. As if I would…”

His fading words were drowned out by the increasingly noisy exhaust.

Charlotte thought she wanted to strangle his neck rather than hold his waist, but her mind went blank at the scenery rushing by too fast to even see.

When Taemi’s madman-like—at least in Charlotte’s opinion—ride finally ended, the western sky was dyed a blazing red.

Charlotte yanked off her goggles and pushed back her completely disheveled hair, catching her breath.

“You ride alone on the way back, Taemi.”

“Why, were you scared?”

Taemi snickered and brought his face close to Charlotte’s.

“Even the little Miss Lottie gets scared sometimes, huh?”

“Move your face unless you want to get slapped.”

Despite her harsh reply, Taemi just giggled without getting angry.

Tying back his hair that barely reached his shoulders, Taemi fiddled with the scar on the bridge of his nose and said,

“What’s wrong with you today? You’ve been in a bad mood the whole time.”

“I’m always in a bad mood, but today especially so.”

“Why, did something happen?”

Taemi hooked each strap of his goggles to his shoulder strap and fastened the clasp.

Charlotte furrowed her brow, recalling what had happened that morning, then hung her goggles on the upward-facing muffler and pushed back her hair once more.

“I was summoned to the royal palace this morning.”

Taemi turned his head with wide eyes as he walked ahead.

“What? The royal palace? Why there?”

“I told you, I was summoned. I didn’t know why either. But…”

Charlotte grumbled out the details of her meeting with King Lyuen.

Taemi was already looking serious from the part about suddenly being granted an audience with the king, but when it came to the talk of titles, his expression became indescribable.

“Are you going to accept it?”

When Taemi asked, Charlotte glared at him.

“Am I crazy? I’m not a dog of the royals or nobles.”

That’s true. Taemi thought. But there was a very strange smile on his lips.

He seemed to pity her for suddenly finding herself in an awkward situation, but on the other hand, he also seemed to be mocking her. In fact, even Taemi himself couldn’t be sure which it was.

“Why don’t you accept it?”

As soon as Taemi’s words fell, Charlotte’s foot sank deep into a soft mound of dirt. She glared at him fiercely as if it were his fault.

“What did you say?”

“They’re giving it to you for free, right? A noble title at that. You, you were already good at pretending to be a noble without it. Weren’t you? Wouldn’t it be better to become the real thing?”

Taemi, who had been rambling whatever came to mind, suddenly realized that Charlotte’s presence behind him had grown distant and stopped.

She was still standing with one foot sunk in the dirt mound, looking up at Taemi with a strange gaze.

She looked furious, but oddly, she also seemed hurt.

Charlotte, who had been clamping her mouth shut like a clam, asked,

“Are you being serious right now? Did you think I enjoyed pretending to be a noble?”

“No, what…”

Taemi, slightly flustered, slid down the slope. He helped Charlotte pull her foot out by taking her hand and said,

“If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to.”

Taemi, looking down at Charlotte with calm eyes, knelt on one knee.

Then, carefully brushing off Charlotte’s mud-covered shoes with his bare hands, he continued,

“If you don’t want to do it and they won’t take no for an answer, what’s there to worry about? If needed, I’ll help you run away.”

Charlotte’s eyes wavered slightly as she looked down at the back of his head. If someone had heard, they might have thought Taemi was professing his love to her at the risk of his life. But that wasn’t the case.

Charlotte knew this better than anyone, perhaps even better than Taemi himself.

He simply couldn’t let go of his sense of responsibility towards Charlotte. Like an older brother, or a father.

‘This was my limit…’

Charlotte blankly watched and listened to the rumbling thunder in her head and the vision of Taemi soaked in blood and rain, then suddenly snapped back to reality.

By the time his hand left her shoe, Charlotte had returned to her usual sullen expression.

“When are you going to stop boasting?”

Taemi grinned and shrugged.

“Well, I suppose it’ll stop when I’m in my coffin.”

After that, the two didn’t speak to each other until they reached their destination.

It wasn’t just because they had nothing to say. From the moment their destination came into view, an uneasiness began to creep over their entire bodies.

“This is it.”

Taemi said, standing in front of a small, ordinary wooden house. Charlotte habitually looked around the surroundings.

To the left was a roughly constructed terrace floor, with stools with wobbly legs and a pile of straw.

On top of the straw pile was a rusty transistor radio, which Charlotte knew was a very old piece of junk.

Nevertheless, when she fiddled with the buttons, music played through the static.

“Charlotte!”

Charlotte, who had been listening to the static-filled music, returned to the entrance at the sound of Taemi calling.

He had already knocked on the door, and footsteps were heard from inside before a woman with a very haggard appearance opened the door.

She looked as if she hadn’t slept properly for days, her face dark. She seemed about Charlotte’s age but had eyes worn by life.

“Who are you?” the woman asked in a trembling voice. Charlotte peeked inside through the door crack.

In front of a fireplace made of discolored and chipped bricks sat a man who appeared to be the woman’s husband, looking this way.

Taemi said,

“We’ve come on Mrs. Laurel’s recommendation.”

At his words, the woman’s eyes took on a complex and confused light. She seemed glad, yet not at all pleased by their visit.

It would have been stranger if she didn’t chase them away immediately, but the woman opened the door and stepped back.

“Oh my, I see. Please, come in.”

As the two entered, the man sitting in front of the unlit fireplace stood up.

He set down the pipe he had been holding on a shelf, then strode over to Taemi and Charlotte, extending his hand.

“Thank you for coming.”

The man greeted them, but somehow it sounded reluctant. Nevertheless, Charlotte took his hand and shook it lightly. It was rough and hard, as if he had been farming all his life.

“I’m Charlotte Berrett. This is my companion.”

“Call me Taemi.”

The man just nodded silently.

The woman who had first opened the door stood behind her husband as if hiding, wringing her hands.

Her bony shoulders, which seemed to have nothing left but bone, trembled pitifully.

Charlotte looked at the two of them in turn and said,

“I’ve heard a brief explanation, but I’ll need more details. You said there was a ‘problem’ with the child? What kind of problem?”