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Chapter : 7
Laila flailed her little flippers in panic.
“Miss, you can’t kick him out!”
“Why not?”
“That’s….”
Bang bang!
A violent pounding on the door cut through their conversation.
Startled, Charlotte and Laila snapped their heads toward the mansion entrance.
“Miss Charlotte!”
“….”
“Miss Charlotte!!”
When no one came out, the shouting man clicked his tongue in irritation.
“Damn it, why isn’t that stupid woman answering? My head’s already killing me because of Lady Kate.”
Charlotte let out a small amused laugh.
So that’s who it was—a messenger sent by Kate.
After being humiliated in front of Lacal, Kate must have wanted revenge.
But sending a messenger who couldn’t even control his mouth?
Who would obediently follow someone like that after hearing such language?
“Charlotte?”
A low, sweet male voice.
“Hm?”
When Charlotte turned, there really was a man.
Tall—at least 190 cm.
Brown hair falling softly over his shoulders.
Lips that looked like they might smirk at any moment.
A face so striking it engraved itself into memory, yet oddly impossible to judge his age.
“It really is you.”
Charlotte, who had been staring blankly, flinched.
It really is you?
According to Lacal, she had never even been here before, only introduced to the mansion by carriage.
Did the real Charlotte come here before dying?
Or did she know this man already?
“Do you know me?”
“No.”
Huh?
“I heard someone yelling outside, getting on my nerves. I thought it might be you, so I called out to check.”
His eyes sparkled mischievously.
A vein twitched on Charlotte’s forehead.
“Check? Are you mocking me right now?”
“Don’t mind him. If he gets tired of shouting your name, he’ll leave eventually.”
“I know. I don’t mind—well… I probably should.”
He paused like he had almost said something else.
Then his expression brightened like a dog who had found a bone.
“Want me to kill him?”
“Pardon?”
Charlotte froze in shock. Kill who?
Before she could panic further, she quickly corrected herself.
“No, it’s fine. If you killed everyone who annoyed you, half the world would be dead.”
One eyebrow rose on the man’s face.
“Oh? That’s an unexpected answer for a noble lady.”
On the outside she was a noble lady.
On the inside, she had lived over a year among Viking-like barbarians in the North as a former witch.
“Anyway, I’ll decline your kindness. Leaving aside the killing part, disposing of the body would be a hassle.”
“Don’t worry. I can handle that too.”
“You don’t look like the type who enjoys post-cleanup work.”
“I can dissolve it, or feed it to monsters. Clean enough.”
Experience speaking.
Was this man a professional assassin or fixer in this world?
“Can you guarantee no consequences?”
Charlotte asked like a client requesting a contract kill.
The man’s eyes sharpened.
“Consequences?”
“If that messenger doesn’t return, I don’t want his master coming after me.”
“….”
“And I don’t want to be arrested later as a suspect if his death is discovered.”
He could kill and vanish if he wanted.
But she was the owner of this mansion.
She had finally reached a “good ending” after 37 regressions.
Going to prison in handcuffs was not part of the plan.
“Fine. Got it.”
The man said casually and snapped his fingers.
Snap.
“Aaaagh!”
A scream of terror rang out outside.
Charlotte pulled back the curtain near the entrance window.
A massive magic circle was glowing on the ground outside the mansion.
The messenger was being swallowed into it.
Then, in seconds, both the man and the circle scattered like glittering dust.
Charlotte turned back in shock.
Was he a mage?
Having lived as a mage in one of her 17 past transmigrations, she could estimate his skill.
She didn’t know the standards of this world, but that spell had clearly been a high-level one—either decomposition or long-distance teleportation.
To execute it so perfectly…
This man was definitely a high-ranking mage.
“Did you kill him?”
“I sent him far away. He was too loud.”
“Oh.”
So it wasn’t decomposition—just teleportation.
Well, better than killing him over annoyance.
“At least he can probably return home eventually. No consequences then.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
The man grinned.
“If he doesn’t die there first.”
Leaving the irritating man on the first floor, Charlotte returned to the seventh floor.
She grabbed Laila’s small shoulders tightly.
“Laila. Do you know who that man downstairs is?”
“Yes, I do, yeo.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s Sir Pierce, who lives in the basement, yeo.”
“Pierce? Don’t tell me… the one you said causes explosions?”
“Yes, him.”
Now it made sense.
The explosions were probably due to Pierce’s magical experiments.
But why was a mage living here?
Shouldn’t he be in a mountain hideout or a magic tower?
“Sir Pierce is actually a good person, yeo.”
“He’s basically a bomber. What’s good about him?”
“He smiles so cutely it makes your heart flutter. Grandma said people who smile nicely aren’t bad.”
“Who said that?”
“The late mistress.”
“…Laila, scammers and crazy people smile nicely too.”
“No way, yeo.”
Laila’s eyes trembled in shock.
Charlotte leaned back on the sofa, thinking.
Why would the late countess take someone like that as a tenant?
Someone so destructive would normally be avoided.
Unless…
“Did Pierce threaten her?”
Yes. That had to be it.
There was no reason to live under the same roof as someone who enjoyed killing people.
“No, yeo. Sir Pierce and the late mistress were very close.”
“Close?”
“Yes. They ate together almost every day.”
“Eating together regularly means they were more than just friends.”
Charlotte trailed off, then stopped caring.
Whether they were close or not didn’t matter.
To her, Pierce was just a problem that needed to be solved quickly.
“I need to get him out of the mansion.”
“Sir Pierce?”
“Yes. Tenants like him are nothing but trouble.”
Laila hesitated carefully.
“But if you do that… you might die, yeo.”
“…Laila, are you threatening me right now?”
“No, no!”
She shook her head frantically.
“Before, I called the late mistress an old hag, and Mr. Talus almost died because of it.”
“Talus? Who’s that?”
“The building manager, yeo. He’s not here anymore.”
“He quit?”
“No… he went somewhere.”
“Where?”
“…To earn money.”
Laila avoided eye contact.
Charlotte narrowed her eyes.
“The late countess left a huge inheritance. Why would the manager need to ‘earn money’?”
“….”
“Is he skipping work?”
“….”
“Does he do this often?”
“…Yes.”
Laila answered in a tiny voice.
Charlotte took a deep breath.
She had a strong feeling she had inherited a very problematic mansion.
Yesterday she thought she had hit the jackpot.
Now it felt like she had picked up a cursed object.
Boom.
The building suddenly shook violently.
Charlotte fell off the sofa.
The chandelier crystals rattled overhead.
Then—silence, like nothing had happened.
She grabbed Laila in alarm.
“Are you… are you okay?”
“What is?”
“Wasn’t that an earthquake?”
Laila tilted her head.
“Oh. That’s just an explosion, yeo.”
“…I thought the building was collapsing.”
“It’s not that bad. That’s like fireworks level.”
“If that’s fireworks, what do your usual explosions look like?!”
Charlotte shouted in frustration.
Laila lowered her head, looking guilty.
Sighing, Charlotte pinched her forehead.
“Sorry for yelling. It’s not your fault.”
Then her eyes sharpened.
“Fine. If I’m going to live here, I need to clean things up properly.”
Her anger flared as she thought of Pierce’s smirk.
“First, I’ll kick out Pierce. Then I’ll fire that Talus guy. No—first I’ll charge them for repair costs!”
This mansion had been earned through 36 painful deaths.
She would not let it collapse because of some mage’s experiments.
“It won’t be easy, yeo.”
Laila sounded completely hopeless.
“If they don’t pay repair costs, I’ll seize their belongings as collateral.”
“Is that possible?”
Laila’s head shot up.
“Of course. Nothing in this world is free.”
“Wow… amazing, miss.”
Laila looked at her like she had just declared war on Pierce.
“Then I’ll go right now.”
“You’re going downstairs?”
“Yes. Want to come with me?”
“Yes.”
“What if that mage gets angry at you?”
Laila froze like stone.
Then she cautiously asked,
“What will you take as collateral?”
“You want something?”
Laila smiled shyly like a child.
“Not something I want… something I want to see.”
“What is it?”
“Once, when I went downstairs on the late mistress’s errand, I saw it.”
“Mm-hm.”
“Sir Pierce has a big snow globe.”
Laila drew a huge circle with her flippers.
Her eyes sparkled.
“It’s so beautiful… like real falling snow.”
