“It’s a relief that you’ve come to your senses.”

The clear voice I heard was completely different from the auditory hallucinations I experienced in my dreams. This was a real person speaking with their own voice right next to me. I slowly turned my head towards the sound.

“Still, you opened your eyes faster than last time.”

“Carl.”

It was Grand Duke Carl Albrecht. I blinked my eyes several times, thinking I might be seeing wrong, but the Carl in front of me didn’t disappear. He was wearing a white shirt and vest that looked more comfortable than his usual uniform.

“Is this a dream?”

“It’s real.”

If it’s not a dream, why is Carl in my bedroom? Moreover, I’m lying down while Carl is sitting right next to the bed.

I tried to rack my brain to grasp the situation, but I had to close my eyes again as I felt a dizzying headache.

“What’s wrong? Does your head hurt again?”

“Please lower your voice a little… My head is throbbing.”

Carl closed his mouth. I opened my eyes, but it seemed my body hadn’t fully recovered yet.

Come to think of it, the feeling was quite similar to when I lost consciousness and woke up on the train last time. Does that mean I was possessed by that black magic or something again?

“I didn’t eat the pie this time though.”

I heard Carl chuckling. Why is he laughing? I’m being serious. I opened my eyes and glared at him, and Carl straightened his expression as if he hadn’t laughed and met my eyes.

“You didn’t eat the pie, but you met the bastard who gave you the pie.”

“What, why is this so vivid. This isn’t a dream, right?”

“It’s not a dream, Celi.”

As he spoke, Carl raised his hand. Something was tightly grasped in his hand. What is that? I looked closely and saw it was my hand.

“Oh my god!”

I was startled and tried to sit up abruptly. No, I tried to sit up abruptly. As soon as I lifted my upper body, I had to lie back down on the bed due to the spinning world.

“You shouldn’t get up so quickly. Thanks to the recovery magic, you regained consciousness faster, but your body still hasn’t fully recovered.”

“No, why are we holding hands…?”

“You mean why are we holding hands?”

Carl smiled with a chuckle. Was he originally such a smiley man?

“Well, you were mumbling in your sleep and grabbed my hand. You told me not to go. And quite firmly at that.”

“Me? No way.”

I quietly pulled my hand away from him. It seemed I reached out to grab Celeste’s father who was moving away in my dream and ended up grabbing Carl’s hand. Ah, how embarrassing. My face felt hot.

“By the way, why are you really here?”

If it wasn’t a dream but reality, that was the first thing I had to ask him. Why did you suddenly come to our house?

“The Count’s assistant urgently contacted Clovis. They said the Count had collapsed.”

“You mean Hannah contacted him? How?”

“Louisette transmitter.”

“Ah… But how did you know their contact information?”

“You may not have known, but Hannah and Clovis have been in contact for a while now.”

“Why?”

“Because of what happened on the train. Didn’t you say it didn’t seem like a simple case of upset stomach, but more like being possessed by black magic?”

“They’ve been in constant contact since then?”

“Not often, only once or twice when a clue about that incident was spotted or when there was some new communication from Urentum.”

“I had no idea.”

“That’s because I told them not to tell the Count.”

“Why?”

“I thought you might get unnecessarily anxious if you knew an investigation was underway.”

Carl smiled again as he spoke.

It was strange how he was dressed in comfortable clothes unlike usual, and how smiles kept spreading across his face that was usually as expressionless as if wearing a stiff mask. It was disconcerting, as if he was a different person from the Carl I had seen so far.

“So you came all the way here after receiving the message?”

“Yes.”

“There have been a lot of carriages coming and going to the mansion today. I wonder which guest you are.”

“Since you brought it up, I heard Franz dropped by. What was that about?”

The smile disappeared. Every time Franz is mentioned, Carl’s face always hardens. It seems there’s a deeper story between the two of them that goes beyond simply being rivals or nemeses, even though it wasn’t mentioned in the original work.

I wondered if it was okay to tell Carl about the contract made between the Count’s family and Marina. Since I didn’t know how much he knew about the secret between the Louisette family and the Toskur duchy, it was difficult to bring up the subject recklessly.

“I’m not too sure myself. He was very angry and said he came to clearly establish the master-servant relationship. Something like that.”

“It must have been because of the contract made between Franz’s mother and the previous Count.”

“You know about the contract?”

“To some extent. How else could Franz, who has no maternal relatives, maintain such a wealthy lifestyle? Even as imperial family, there is a set upper limit to the national treasury he can use. The luxurious life he currently leads could never be achieved within that budget. Franz probably has assets he receives from various places besides the Count’s family. He was probably angry at the thought of not being able to do that anymore.”

Carl had a much more detailed understanding of Franz than I expected.

“We’ll have to hurry.”

“Hurry with what?”

“Our marriage.”

“What?”

How did the conversation suddenly flow in that direction?

“I don’t feel at ease. I think I need to keep you far away from Franz. And it would be even more reassuring if you were by my side.”

“Come to think of it, what did you mean earlier? When you said I didn’t eat the pie, but I met the one who gave me the pie. Don’t tell me you meant Franz? Is that why you’re saying you need to keep him away?”

Carl nodded.

“Just a moment ago, Duke Linke, the head of the Magic Department, stopped by.”

“Duke Linke from the Magic Department?”

Who is that? As I was thinking, Carl quickly continued his explanation.

“I called him to confirm whether the harm to your body was indeed a curse of black magic. And I received a definite answer that it is black magic.”

“So you’re saying I’m under a curse? And that’s why I’m in so much pain?”

“Rather than a curse, he said it’s more like a trap.”

“A trap…?”

“The one who cast the black magic has set a trap on you. I don’t know what their intention is, but they want to control your body according to their thoughts and will.”

The thought sent chills down my spine.

“I asked the assistant if there were any unusual appointments for you today. They said two unexpected guests came by. The assistant sent by your aunt and Franz. These two people. Since there’s no way the person your aunt sent would cast black magic on you, that leaves Franz. In fact, you lost consciousness while talking to him, didn’t you?”

That’s right, I remembered. As I was talking to Franz, I suddenly felt suffocated while watching him get uncontrollably angry.

“That’s right. The Duke of Toskur suddenly got angry… And I think that’s when I started having severe difficulty breathing.”

“If Franz is the one who cast the black magic, it explains why your condition worsened according to his emotions and thoughts.”

“Then… Is there no way to escape from that black magic?”

“It’s a bit difficult, but there is a way. Usually, magic is designed to be dispelled when the one who cast it voluntarily removes the spell. However, since black magic is an evil technique that involves sacrificing someone to harm another, once it’s performed, it’s irreversible.”

“Then how?”

“It’s possible if the one who cast the black magic disappears.”

“You mean they have to die?”

I gasped in surprise.

“But we can’t kill them…?”

“That’s right. So for now, you need to stay far away from that person. Magic can’t exert its influence indefinitely, so if you get out of range, it can’t affect you. According to Duke Linke’s explanation, that’s how it works.”

So that’s why he said I need to stay away from Franz. Still, I was worried. Distancing myself from him might be a temporary solution, but I couldn’t keep running away forever, and then wouldn’t the same thing that happened today occur again someday?

“For now, I’ve called Captain Kassel, who commands the army in the capital, and instructed him to protect the Count’s mansion. Even if he’s imperial family, he won’t be able to set foot here without my permission.”