Even at noon the following day, Charlotte still felt as though the previous night's experiences had been an absurd dream.
How had she attended a ball without dancing a single dance?
How had she been inexplicably provoked and then dragged into a duel?
How had she nearly been killed by a Beyonder who had infiltrated the Earl's castle, with a psychological analysis thrown in for good measure?
Even now, looking back, she felt a lingering fear. The slightest misstep last night could have led to an irreversible disaster: Roselle could have been injured or even killed in the duel, her own reputation could have suffered because she had caused two nobles to duel, or a Beyonder of the Spectator pathway could have controlled her actions and made her "commit suicide out of shame."
Fortunately, nothing had taken that final turn for the worse. Her involvement had reduced someone's carefully planned duel to a farce, and the Earl's timely intervention had limited its impact to the few young nobles involved. As for the experienced Spectator, her original intention had merely been to steal something belonging to the Foulis Family. She had not planned to cause casualties-or perhaps she had not wanted to truly antagonize the official Beyonders-so she had not killed Charlotte to silence her.
Charlotte herself had come away from that absurd night with a revolver that still lacked its own ammunition, an understanding of the terrifying abilities of mid-sequence Beyonders, and a certain measure of gratitude from Earl Foulis-
It should be gratitude, right? Although my warning came too late and that Spectator still stole the item, at least I helped the Earl discover the intrusion in time to take appropriate action- Charlotte comforted herself.
Of course, the biggest winner had undoubtedly been the brown-haired lady. She had obtained