In Charlotte's memory, her father, Raoul Sauron, seemed to maintain his dignity at all times. Whether he was going out or staying home, he wore a coat with lapels and heeled leather shoes, kept his silk cravat perfectly arranged, and carried a sword at his waist to proclaim his status. Aside from forgoing a wig because he belonged to the Sauron Family, he was every inch a traditional Trier nobleman.
But the Raoul who appeared at the Gustav residence's entrance now had none of that dignified bearing. His long, wide-skirted coat hung loosely over his shoulders, one button on his waistcoat was fastened incorrectly, and he wore soft-soled leather shoes unsuitable for going out. Looking anxious, he hurried in through the gate, his eyes sweeping the courtyard before settling instantly on Etienne, who lay faceup in a pool of blood. He narrowed his eyes as though trying to identify him, and his expression stiffened.
Charlotte had been watching him discreetly from the moment he entered the courtyard and immediately noticed that change in his expression.
Surprise, but more than that, confusion... Charlotte's father-or rather, Baron Sauron, who's my father now-knows Etienne, but didn't send him to find me? Just as she began to form a suspicion, Raoul turned toward her, and their eyes met.
The trace of confusion on his face immediately became delighted relief.
"Charlotte, you're all right!"
He opened his arms and, heedless of appearances, strode across Etienne's pool of blood toward Charlotte, gathering her into a tight embrace.
Caught off guard by the embrace, Charlotte stiffened slightly but did not struggle. Deep within, she felt trust toward this overwhelmed father and understood that it came from the original Charlotte's emotions, buried in her memories.
At that moment, she remembered her parents from before her transmigration. The figures who usually put on a stern front, yet always smiled when she came home for the holidays, overlapped with the father before her. His features were different, but he loved his child just as much, and she felt tears prickling behind her eyes.
To hide it, Charlotte put her arms around Baron Raoul, buried her face in his broad chest, and squeezed her eyes shut.
"...After Uncle Leon refused him, Etienne charged over like a madman, knocked down the servant blocking his way, and tried to take me away..."
"In desperation, Charlotte drew a dagger to frighten him and accidentally stabbed him in the chest. But it apparently wasn't a fatal wound and failed to stop him. Fortunately, the two armed guards arrived in time and shot him dead."
After calming herself, Charlotte gave Baron Sauron an honest account of what had happened. Leon Gustav took it upon himself to adjust certain details that might cause trouble, using Etienne's final struggles as proof that Charlotte had not killed him and attributing his death to the two lead bullets fired afterward.
After hearing everyone's accounts, Raoul took the oil lamp from the manservant beside him and cautiously approached Etienne, whose spilled blood had almost congealed. Bending down, he examined the face beneath the wig, the dagger still embedded in his chest, and the other two gunshot wounds.
Charlotte stood nearby, uneasy. She did not know what Etienne had truly intended when he pursued her into the Gustav residence after she fled, only to die here. Had he genuinely come to find his employer's daughter, or had he intended to seize the opportunity to abduct her?
If it was the former, then Charlotte had effectively caused an innocent man's death merely because she was overly suspicious.
Just then, footsteps approached from behind. On edge, she immediately turned around, only to see a young man coming down the staircase where the flames had just been extinguished.
He wore a white linen shirt with his waistcoat casually buttoned. His face had the same well-defined contours and prominent nose as Baron Leon Gustav's, his chestnut hair curled slightly, and his blue eyes held a searching look as he gazed into the middle of the courtyard.
"Hello, Mr. Roselle Gustav," Charlotte said, stepping forward and lightly lifting her skirts as she curtsied. "Thank you for your help earlier."
"Huh?"
Roselle seemed only then to notice Charlotte approaching. He responded with a somewhat bewildered expression, then hastily added:
"It was nothing... I mean, it's what one ought to do for a lady, for a young lady."
Only after answering did he belatedly remember to return her greeting. He hesitantly reached toward his head, realized he was not wearing a hat, then brought his hand back to his chest and gave an awkward smile.
Why does he look half-asleep? Is this really the same person who stood by the window and threw a vase to ruin Etienne's plan, then stopped his dying struggle...? Charlotte grumbled inwardly, but she found herself warming to him a little.
After all, as a modern person who had only just transmigrated, she inwardly resisted the etiquette that came with the original Charlotte's memories and habits.
Had he been impeccably courteous, she would have felt less comfortable instead.
But Roselle was clearly still caught up in the brief confrontation. One moment he looked at Etienne's body lying among the shattered vase fragments, and the next he stole a glance at Charlotte. She could not tell whether his expression reflected exhilaration or excitement.
Charlotte had intended to chat with this young man her age, but seeing his state, she remained silent and listened instead to Raoul's conversation with Baron Gustav as they moved away from the body.
From the snatches of conversation that drifted over, she learned that Etienne Marceau really was a solicitor employed by the Sauron household. He had helped Raoul resolve numerous disputes and had thus had access to the baron's seal. Perhaps he had made a copy for his own use during that time.
But apart from his identity, everything Etienne had said was a lie. Raoul had not sent him out that night to find his daughter.
In fact, it was not until evening that the baron realized something might have happened to his daughter, who had gone out at noon and never returned. Near midnight, after the servants he had sent to several of her usual haunts came back empty-handed, he was just preparing to notify the Police Commissioner and widen the search when he learned that Charlotte had appeared at Baron Gustav's home.
In other words, the original Charlotte had not been missing for very long, most likely only those few hours between evening and midnight. Something had happened during that time that left her in trouble, allowing Gao Linyuan to inhabit this body upon transmigrating. Unfortunately, her memories were incomplete. She could just about recall what had happened a week ago, but she remembered nothing of the past few days, especially that night.
Is this a side effect of transmigration, or had the original Charlotte already lost her memory? she wondered, continuing to eavesdrop on the two barons.
"...What about the body?" Raoul Sauron asked in a low voice.
"The gunshots were loud. There's no way to conceal this. I'll send someone to find the Night Watchers who were attacked. With their experience as corroborating evidence, it won't be hard to establish this as a serious case of Etienne Marceau attempting to abduct Charlotte. As for him breaking into the residence, injuring a servant, and being shot dead in the ensuing confrontation, that was simply an unfortunate accident," Leon Gustav replied quietly.
Raoul nodded and continued:
"I'll visit the High Court tomorrow and speak with a few old friends. I'll do my best to keep this from affecting Charlotte. If your servants are sentenced to imprisonment over this, I'll compensate them."
Hearing them decide the course of events in just a few words, Charlotte felt reassured, but also found it absurd.
In this era, the strength of the churches, along with commoners gaining the right to an education and steadily entering every profession, had gradually eroded the nobility's privileges. Even so, those privileges remained far beyond commoners' reach.
Supposedly, in some small places, four nobles can surround a commoner and make it impossible for him not to break the law against turning one's back on a noble, then have him thrown in prison. I wonder if that's true... Charlotte mused.
At that moment, Baron Sauron seemed to remember something and added:
"...There were several murders in the old quarter tonight. The streets are full of Night Watchers searching for suspicious people. When the Police Commissioner arrives, remind him that Etienne Marceau might be connected to them."
The murders in the old quarter... The Night Watchers who found me mentioned them too. Could they be connected to the original Charlotte's disappearance? Was she one of the victims? Charlotte lowered her head to glance at the bloodstains on her clothes, long since dried into something like black paint, then looked speculatively at Etienne's body. Her gaze settled on the dagger buried in his chest, with only its handle showing.
If Charlotte had merely worn commoners' clothing to conceal her identity, then the dagger she had been carrying was far more suspicious.
Seeing that the two barons' discussion was nearly over, she quietly approached the body and crouched down. Hesitantly, she reached out to grasp the dagger, but stopped halfway, worried about disturbing the scene.
Suddenly, Leon Gustav's voice came from behind her:
"I told them not to disturb the scene just now because I didn't want the servants to leave more inconsistencies in their panic. But this dagger is different. It will give whoever comes to deal with the body the immediate impression that this was the fatal wound. I didn't expect you to notice that too."
I only wanted to take a look... Charlotte opened her mouth soundlessly. After a moment, she stopped hesitating, reached out, and pulled the weapon free with a wet squelch.
The dagger, which had still held a faint, cold gleam earlier, was now completely coated in blood. Beneath the mingled light of the Crimson Moon and the oil lamp, it appeared an eerie black, as though absorbing all the light around it.