Sensing that something was wrong, Lila, the personal maid who had accompanied her young mistress to church and had just declared that she would never report the matter, barely dared to breathe.
She hurried out through the side door with quick, mincing steps, remembering to close it gently behind her.
Charlotte wished she could flee like her maid, but Raoul's gaze remained fixed on her, leaving her afraid to move. She could only lower her head slightly and glance at him from the corner of her eye, waiting for a storm of rebukes.
After a long while, a sigh reached her ears.
Baron Sauron's taut expression relaxed a little. He walked past the family portrait depicting his younger self, descended the stairs to the center of the hall, and stopped in front of Charlotte.
"Did you go to church?"
Charlotte kept her head lowered in silence, held back by the instinctive fear of her father that lingered in her body. Knowing she could not hide it, she nodded honestly.
"What happened last night frightened me. Etienne's expression before he died keeps appearing in my dreams, and the memories from just before that feel as though someone stole them. No matter how hard I try, I can't remember." Seeing that her father made no further move, she continued explaining, "I thought going to church to hear a sermon and feel the Sun's radiance would help me forget these fears."
As she spoke, she took the amulet she had bought at Saint Roch Cathedral out of her pocket and displayed it on her open palm.
The gold Sun Holy Emblem amulet had cost Charlotte an entire Gold Louis, worth twenty-four Verl D'Or. Although Baron Sauron was generous with his daughter's allowance, it had still consumed most of her savings.
Of course, the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun had not charged much of a markup. It was simply that the Church favored gold, and necklaces and amulets made from it were expensive to produce.
They seemed to place greater importance on the act of believers purchasing gold ornaments to express praise for a Saint or Angel. If believers of modest means could not afford gold items, lighting an ordinary candle worth one Rieck beneath a mural depicting a Saint's deeds would also earn the clergy's heartfelt gratitude-and that cost only one-twentieth of a Verl D'Or.
Raoul narrowed his eyes at the abstract symbol of the sun formed from a sphere and lines. After a moment, he shook his head and asked helplessly:
"Did the clergy question you? Did any strange people approach you secretly?"
Why is he asking that...? Charlotte paused, the beautiful face and noble bearing of the blond, blue-eyed nun surfacing in her mind. She shook her head instinctively and answered without betraying anything:
"No one approached me specifically."
"That's good."
Baron Sauron's expression softened.
Only then did Charlotte realize why her father was wary of the Church and so deeply concerned about his daughter going there.
He knew that Beyonder powers existed!
According to Henriette, the Sauron Family, as royalty, selected gifted young people from within its ranks and trained them as Beyonders. If something like that continued long enough, it couldn't possibly remain a complete secret. A few scraps of information were bound to reach other people. As a member of a collateral branch far removed from the center of power, Raoul Sauron hadn't been selected for training, but he should have heard something about it... Yet Charlotte's memories contain none of this, which means he hid everything from his children... She secretly raised her head to glance at Raoul. Finding nothing in his eyes but concern for his daughter, she felt warmth well up inside her, and her slight resentment toward him for concealing this knowledge quickly faded.
Unaware that his daughter's opinion of him had grown even higher, Baron Sauron continued:
"In any case, don't go to church again for a while. If you want to praise the Sun, you can pray in the Prayer Room at home."
At this point, he seemed to realize that his tone was too forceful and managed a faint smile:
"You needn't worry too much. I went to City Hall and spoke to a few old friends. What happened last night wasn't as serious as we imagined. Seven bodies were found in the old town, and several more people were injured, but there are no leads on the killer at all. The Sheriff may treat Etienne as one of the main suspects to explain last night's chaos to the public.
"Someone was a great help in this matter. His name is Morvan Durand, an experienced and well-connected defense lawyer. When there's an opportunity, I'll introduce you."
There could actually have been eight bodies... So the cult's sacrificial ritual was hushed up just like that? Because the Church wants to handle it quietly and uncover the forces hiding behind it? Beginning to understand, Charlotte nodded, then said:
"I'm planning to visit Uncle Leon in a few days to thank him for last night."
Raoul agreed:
"As you should. Next Tuesday, you'll accompany me on a formal visit to Baron Gustav's home."
He glanced at the gold amulet again and said:
"Go to the butler later and collect your allowance for this month."
But didn't I already receive this month's allowance at the beginning of the month...? Charlotte parted her lips. Looking at the slight upward curve of her father's mouth, she suddenly felt her spirits soar.
Tuesday symbolized the Eternal Blazing Sun. Devout believers usually conducted their most important affairs on this day, so it was entirely fitting for Raoul Sauron, who also worshipped that Father of All Living, to choose it for a visit to Baron Leon Gustav.
Charlotte also thought the timing was good. It would be a full four days after the late Friday night when she had transmigrated into this world and received help from Gustav and his son-neither too sudden nor impolitely late.
But a year in this world actually has twelve months and three hundred and sixty-five days too... Could this planet and Earth be parallel worlds, with roughly the same celestial patterns? The seven-day week comes from the seven orthodox gods. The Eternal Blazing Sun has Tuesday, and the God of Artisan has Friday... Back in her bedroom, Charlotte sat at her dressing table and carefully put away the precious Sun Holy Emblem amulet, reviewing her conversation with Raoul.
After learning that her father also possessed a basic knowledge of mysticism and understood that the Church represented official Beyonders, Charlotte had briefly considered telling him the whole story.
After all, in her plan, cooperating with the Church to lure out the cultists who had escaped was her first step into the world of mysticism. Once she obtained a potion and became a true Beyonder, it would be difficult to keep hiding it from the father she lived with every day.
But one lie required countless more to cover it up. If she confessed now, her earlier decision to visit the church without her father's knowledge would seem far too deliberate. More importantly, she had followed Henriette's advice when she took the dagger that had become a Sealed Artifact to the church and turned herself in. Concealing that motive from Viève, whom she had only just met, was not difficult, but Raoul, who knew the original Charlotte's rather timid personality well, would certainly grow suspicious.
I can only take things one step at a time. Viève said revealing Beyonder secrets to the people around me would only harm them. Perhaps I should be more careful... Henriette wasn't particularly cautious when she told me about these things. And I never mentioned her existence, but that Holy Bible didn't react at all... Was it because the questioning focused on Etienne and the cult, or because of the "anti-divination" ability Henri mentioned? Thoughts kept swirling through Charlotte's mind. Remembering the beautiful woman who had appeared and disappeared so suddenly yesterday, she instinctively compared her with Viève.
One is powerful and mysterious, the other gentle and holy. If I hadn't transmigrated into a woman's body, should I be seriously considering how to raise their affection for me right now...? As Charlotte's thoughts began to wander, her gaze suddenly fell on the dressing mirror. The girl in the reflection looked back at her, her expression melancholy and delicate.
I'm no worse than either of them... No, what am I thinking...? She looked away and quickly reined in her thoughts, turning to something else that was far more important and urgent.
Making money.
More specifically, earning her first pot of gold as a transmigrator.
A single gold amulet purchased to conceal her movements had nearly exhausted all the allowance she had saved. Although her father had given her some extra money, the discomfort of being short on funds still felt awful.
As a university-educated modern person from the twenty-first century, Charlotte had countless pieces of knowledge in her head that were far ahead of this era. Even casually producing one of them should have been enough to shock the entire world. Whether she borrowed from literary classics, drew up mechanical designs, or published principles and formulas that this era had yet to discover, any of those should earn her ample fame and profit.
All she had to do was...
Taking out a quill, Charlotte excitedly dipped it into the ink and prepared to write her money-making plans in her notebook. But she soon frowned again, the tip wavering in the air without putting down a single word.
The principles and formulas she understood and could explain in full had already been compiled by scholars of this era. As for truly advanced theories capable of changing the age, she herself knew little more than their names. Steam engines and modern firearms, those staples of transmigration novels-she knew a few keywords at most, and asking her to draw their schematics would immediately expose her ignorance. As for the Chinese and foreign classics on primary and secondary school extracurricular reading lists, she could not even remember the protagonists' names without a search engine...
Does that mean I can only plagiarize webnovels like Douluo Sky, Battle Through the Continent, or Mysterious Night Watchman...? Wait, what was that last one?
Charlotte held her quill as all kinds of superficial knowledge gleaned from the internet surfaced and vanished in her mind. For a moment, she had no idea what to write.