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Chapter : 9
“I was just curious about what kinds of people live in this building. I’m the owner after all—shouldn’t I know about my tenants in advance?”
“Oh, that makes sense, yeo.”
“So I’d like you to tell me who lives on which floor.”
“Yes, yeo.”
Laila answered cutely, then bent and straightened her small flipper-like hands as if counting on her fingers.
“Hmm… Sir Pierce lives in the basement, and a general who likes axes lives on the 3rd floor. On the 6th floor, a very, very bad kid lives there.”
“I see.”
Each description was oddly specific in personality, yet vague in detail.
“So, aside from the 7th floor, there are three tenants?”
“Nope. Four.”
“Another one?”
“The person on the 5th floor, yeo.”
“What are they like?”
“They dig the ground every day, yeo.”
“Are they a miner?”
“I don’t think they’re a miner.”
“Have you seen them?”
“No, yeo. The late mistress said they’re hard to meet. You only see them when they come looking for you.”
“Hm.”
Compared to the other tenants, the fifth-floor resident was clearly a mystery.
Still, anyone living in this mansion couldn’t be normal.
Even Pierce already felt more like an assassin than a mage.
A general who liked axes and a “very, very bad kid” probably weren’t normal either.
Dealing with all these tenant contracts was going to be troublesome.
“Bad premonitions are always accurate.”
Swoosh.
Light particles gathered in front of her, and a scroll wrapped in a blue ribbon suddenly appeared.
“Huh?”
The smooth scroll dropped into Charlotte’s hands.
On the blue ribbon tied around it was written: Charlotte Abel.
Lacal’s reply came faster than expected.
Charlotte untied the ribbon and unrolled the scroll.
[“I will visit tomorrow for afternoon tea.”]
Good. She could deal with the tenants later.
Right now, Pierce was the priority.
“Since Lacal said he’d help if needed… I can discuss the Pierce problem tomorrow.”
“Watching you move so quickly, you’re more proactive than I expected.”
From a sofa stretched out like a sloth, Talus looked at Lacal across the desk.
“Who is?”
“The woman who survived drinking poisoned tea.”
Talus looked impressed.
“Wow, there really is a woman like that?”
“There is.”
“Oh? She sounds like she suits you—an angel-faced devil.”
Lacal shot him a sharp glare over the letter.
Talus coughed and looked away.
“Cough… or maybe not. I just thought it was a love letter since you keep reading it over and over.”
“A love letter?”
“Would a man really hold onto a letter like that and reread it so many times?”
“……”
“And you, who usually burn love letters without expression even when you get many, were smiling oddly…”
Lacal touched the corner of his mouth.
Was he smiling?
Without realizing it, he placed the letter down on the desk.
“It’s nothing special. Just a letter asking for tea.”
“A tea invitation? Wow, she’s bold—inviting you on a date after surviving poisoned tea.”
“She is bold.”
A red-haired girl smiling brightly flashed in his mind.
And those sharp eyes that had cautiously guarded against him like a small fox.
Without realizing it, Lacal’s lips curled slightly.
“I’m looking forward to what she’ll show me tomorrow.”
Charlotte woke up, washed up neatly, and went to the dining room.
Laila placed a plate on her head and set it in front of her.
It held a fresh salad and pancakes.
“You didn’t hate my cooking?”
Pierce spoke from across the table.
He seemed surprised she was eating his food again.
Charlotte sipped some milk.
“There’s someone cooking for me, so I should at least repay them by eating well.”
“Who’s cooking for you?”
“Then why are you here? Habit?”
Pierce fell silent.
Seeing that he couldn’t answer, it really did seem like a habit.
“You were even told to leave yesterday, and yet you still came to cook in the mansion… surprisingly careless.”
In truth, Charlotte wasn’t losing anything.
If Pierce cooked, she got good food; if he didn’t, she didn’t care.
“I could poison your food. Aren’t you afraid?”
His voice turned eerie.
Charlotte paused for a moment, remembering yesterday’s poisoned tea.
“If a mage kills someone with poison, I suppose he’d be quite proud.”
“I don’t care. I’m not ashamed of that kind of thing.”
He smirked shamelessly and ate salad.
Laila, listening to them while tilting her head back and forth, murmured,
“Oh? The late mistress said that if you wear the Seal of the Owner, poison won’t kill you.”
“Cough!”
Pierce choked.
Charlotte blinked and looked at the golden bracelet on her wrist.
“This says I won’t die from poison?”
“Hmph.”
Pierce pouted as if to say I shouldn’t have made that thing.
Wait… did he make this bracelet?
Charlotte tilted her head, then spoke to him.
“You can keep coming until you leave. Since it’s become a habit, it feels wrong to stop you from cooking.”
Pierce stabbed his salad aggressively, then tossed his fork down.
“Is this your way of using me?”
“If you don’t like it, you can pack up and leave quietly.”
“Hmph. As if.”
“Then I’d like a sandwich for lunch, please.”
She casually added while cutting pancakes.
“Oh, and a guest is coming for tea, so please prepare snacks too.”
Pierce, who had been glaring, suddenly scoffed.
“Not sure you’ll still be able to act like that after you see the contract.”
Charlotte paused mid-bite.
This man… did he know the contract wasn’t in her hands?
At lunchtime, Pierce was nowhere to be seen.
Only a neatly arranged sandwich sat on a plate.
She had expected him to refuse—but he didn’t.
Surprising.
In the afternoon, a carriage bearing the Statua family crest arrived right on time.
Charlotte went out to greet him at the mansion entrance.
“It is an honor to have you, Duke Statua.”
“The honor is mine. Thank you for inviting me. I was looking forward to meeting you, Miss Charlotte.”
Lacal smiled gently.
Wow. Even after two days, it hadn’t changed.
That dangerously charming smile that could redeem a fallen soul.
Charlotte guided him inside.
Lacal admired the magical door connecting the 1st to 7th floors.
“I heard about it from the late countess, but seeing it in person is fascinating.”
“Have you never been here before?”
“I was close with the late countess, but she always came to visit me instead.”
That was unexpected.
She had assumed he would visit often as the countess’s lawyer.
Lacal studied the magical door with interest.
“I’d love to have something like this. It seems very efficient.”
“Is it that impressive?”
“I believe even the royal palace doesn’t have one. I heard it was installed long ago by an acquaintance of the late countess.”
So even the palace didn’t have it?
Charlotte felt unexpectedly proud, realizing she owned such a rare item.
She opened the magical door with a bright smile.
“This way.”
Laila had apparently fled earlier, saying it wasn’t proper for a penguin to receive a duke.
But she had still prepared everything perfectly.
A luxurious three-tier dessert stand with gold trim.
Pierce’s beautifully made sweets.
A silver tea set with a soft, fragrant aroma.
However… Laila, today’s guest was a man.
Not a lady.
Lacal sat on the sofa and accepted the teacup Charlotte offered.
“The aroma is excellent.”
“Thank you.”
Our Laila may be terrible at cooking meals, but she’s excellent at tea.
After sipping, Lacal spoke politely.
“I only intended to share tea with Miss Charlotte, but I may have caused you trouble.”
“No. Compared to what you helped me with during the will reading, this is nothing.”
Charlotte replied as gracefully as a proper noble lady.
But internally, she was tense.
She knew Lacal was a duke… but not just any duke.
Who would expect that the elegant man holding a teacup—beyond noble blood itself—was actually the emperor’s elder brother?
Charlotte had almost no information about him.
In the novel, Lacal Statua was a duke admired by high society.
A man so beautiful that even women who died loving him were said to stalk him as ghosts.
And beyond that—she knew nothing.
Honestly, she had died after only reading a few rumors and his debut scene at the ball.
But the real Charlotte would have known him well.
Someone like him would be famous enough that simply breathing near him would purify the air.
So if the real Charlotte had been confined in the Abel mansion, she would definitely know him.
If she met Lacal like this, her lack of knowledge would expose her immediately.
So before Lacal arrived, she had conducted a “pre-interview” with Laila under the guise of a quiz.
“Dear Laila, what do you know about the handsome Duke Statua?”
Laila had eagerly shared gossip like a proper little servant.
“Duke Statua is the elder brother of His Majesty the Emperor, yeo.”
“Correct!”
Laila had proudly puffed up her chest.
The emperor’s elder brother… that detail hadn’t appeared in the novel.
Did that come later in the part she hadn’t read?
