Ch.88Meeting

Sometimes it happens.

When someone unexpected appears in an unexpected place.

Serena was like that, appearing in the forest and breaking my ribs. Christine was the same, showing up in the forest and immediately throwing rocks. Charlotte was like that too, opening a transfer gate in the middle of the city.

Come to think of it, all three of them were like that.

Anyway, that’s not the important part. The key point is that situations where I wonder why someone is here happen quite often.

“Charlotte…?”

For instance, Charlotte elegantly sitting with her legs crossed at the central table on the first floor of an underground criminal organization’s headquarters.

It was a sight I encountered as soon as I came down to the first floor to check it one more time after methodically inspecting the corridors and rooms from the top floor to the second.

The first floor, which had been as dark as midnight without a single ray of light when I entered the building, was now brightly illuminated.

As always, Charlotte was dressed in a black uniform, holding a steaming teacup in her right hand with her eyes closed, seemingly savoring its aroma and taste.

Her slender right leg, resting on her left thigh, tapped rhythmically. The black boots on her feet didn’t have a speck of dust on them.

Perhaps hearing my dumbfounded murmur, Charlotte turned her crimson eyes toward me.

Upon recognizing me, the corners of her eyes curved into a gentle arc, and the teacup she was about to bring to her lips was placed back on the small saucer on the table.

“It’s been a while, my dear. Have you been well?”

Her voice was so serene, unlike my complicated feelings. It sounded just like a sweet whisper from beside you when you wake up in the morning.

“Never mind how I’ve been—why are you here?”

“Did I not tell you before? All this territory is mine, and does a monarch need a specific reason to survey their own domain?”

“Of course you need a reason. Didn’t I tell you to find and kill the Black Blood Demons? What about that?”

“I have placed one of my doppelgangers there. The doppelganger’s orders are my orders, so there should be no problem.”

“That seems plenty problematic to me. It’s just a fake after all.”

“A fake…”

Charlotte chuckled at my words.

It wasn’t a sneer or a smile from genuine amusement, but more like the smile of a parent watching a child presenting their own logic.

“Even if it is a fake, by what skill could one distinguish it?”

“Huh?”

“I asked by what skill could one distinguish between me and my doppelganger. What you believe to be real could be fake, and what you believe to be fake could be real. It’s a very simple principle. The Royal Knights and Royal Mages do not possess the discernment to identify my doppelganger as fake, and therefore they firmly believe the doppelganger to be the real Charlotte de Gargantua and will follow its orders with their lives. You too lack the skill to distinguish whether the Charlotte de Gargantua before you is real or a doppelganger, do you not?”

Though she spoke at length, the core of her argument was this:

To those who cannot distinguish between real and fake, the doppelganger is as good as real, and therefore the doppelganger’s orders are Charlotte’s orders.

It was a wordplay I’d heard countless times, and one that was half-truth.

Charlotte’s doppelganger magic was so sophisticated that it was essentially creating another replica human, making it impossible for most people to tell the difference.

No, considering that even the Royal Knights and Royal Mages couldn’t distinguish them, it’s fair to say that virtually no one in this kingdom could identify them.

At best, perhaps only Christine with her absurd ability to nullify mana, or Serena who could instinctively read mana flows.

And with her last words, Charlotte was subtly asking me if I could distinguish whether the Charlotte before me was a doppelganger or the real one.

Seeing right through her intentions, I answered leisurely.

“Of course I can tell the difference. I’ve lived with you for years.”

“Then explain it to me. Since you’re so confident, I believe you’ll surely find the correct answer. If not…”

The red eyes looking at me gleamed with a murderous crimson. It was a killing intent that would crush ordinary people to death just by looking at it, but I wasn’t affected at all.

Because I knew that if I failed to distinguish between the real Charlotte and the fake Charlotte, she would simply sulk with that murderous aura.

It might be hard to understand that she would merely sulk rather than blow off my head or explode my body, but it’s absolutely true.

And I would have to spend a long time consoling a sulking Charlotte. All while giving in to her various demands, which would be more intense than usual.

“The Charlotte in front of me right now is the real one. You didn’t think I wouldn’t get it right, did you?”

“How can you be so certain?”

“Because you would never bring a fake before me.”

As if she had anticipated this answer, Charlotte smiled even more gently. Her eyes looking at me were filled with affection.

“Correct. As the monarch of this country, I should reward a loyal subject who has discerned the truth.”

With those words, Charlotte spread her arms wide and tilted her head slightly. Her rounded breasts asserted themselves prominently at the center of her chest.

“Come. As a token of commendation for my loyal subject, I shall embrace you tightly.”

“Your intentions are so obvious. This isn’t a reward for me; it’s a reward for you.”

“Am I that transparent?”

“Why pretend when you had no intention of hiding it in the first place?”

“Then I shall change my words. Give a reward to this pitiful woman named Charlotte who has been diligently killing Black Blood Demons for your sake.”

“Huh? Wait—”

As soon as Charlotte uttered those words, my limbs stiffened. I tried to open my mouth urgently, but no voice came out.

It was puppet magic. A spell that completely strips control of the target’s body and manipulates it according to the caster’s will.

It could even command someone to commit suicide by holding their breath.

Considering that humans cannot commit suicide by holding their breath on their own, one can imagine how powerful the control of this magic is.

What makes it more vicious is that this magic only takes away control of the body while maintaining consciousness, forcing you to watch with your own eyes as your body is controlled.

If you add mental domination magic on top of this, you create a walking slave completely stripped of free will.

And Charlotte was using this magic—which the Magic Tower was debating whether to ban due to its dangers—for the purpose of making me hug her.

“Now, come to me, my dear. Come and embrace this pitiful woman with all your might.”

Upon hearing those words, my body creakily began to move toward Charlotte, who was standing with her arms spread wide.

My super-regeneration ability considered this situation—where magic was infiltrating my nervous system and muscles—as damage and tried to restore it to normal, but Charlotte simply reapplied the puppet magic each time with a very simple and straightforward solution.

Simple and straightforward in words only—this magic required extreme precision to use. Only Charlotte could do it, and only Charlotte would actually implement it.

Since resistance was meaningless once under the spell, I simply felt my body move as Charlotte guided it.

My face was enveloped in her chest.

A soft, plump sensation pressed against my cheek. A unique scent—whether Charlotte’s own or that of her uniform—rushed into my nostrils.

Charlotte made me wrap my arms around her waist, then wrapped her own arms around my neck, holding me tight.

Due to the command to “embrace tightly,” my arms were literally crushing her waist. I heard a cracking sound as my arm bones began to fracture.

Of course, Charlotte wasn’t in any danger from someone like me hugging her tightly. Despite embracing her so forcefully that my arms were breaking from the strain, Charlotte remained unharmed.

A voice dripping with desire flowed from above my head.

“Holding you like this feels just like embracing you with only your head remaining.”

“Do you really have to make such a strange comparison?”

“Strange? It’s something we’ve already experienced.”

“That was because you asked for it, Charlotte, so I indulged you once. Why did you want to hold just my head in the first place?”

I was referring to a time when, at Charlotte’s request, I had my neck cut so she could hold just my head in her arms.

“Do not try to casually understand a woman’s heart. A woman’s heart is more complex than you could ever imagine.”

“…”

When she responded like that, I had nothing more to say. Charlotte seemed to think she had won because I closed my mouth, and she softly laughed while stroking my head.

The puppet magic cast on my body still hadn’t been lifted.

After we had remained like that for some time—me with my face buried in Charlotte’s chest and arms around her waist, and Charlotte with her arms around my neck and her cheek nuzzling my head—Charlotte suddenly spoke.

“Now I should answer your question.”

I wondered what question she meant, then remembered how I had asked in bewilderment why she was here when I first saw her.

“You’re only telling me now?”

“My dear, why do you think I came here?”

Despite my exasperated grumbling, Charlotte continued with her own agenda, seemingly unconcerned. I quietly gave up and shook my head.

Though I failed because I was still under the puppet spell.

“…I don’t know.”

“Black Blood Demons.”

As soon as those words left Charlotte’s lips, I instinctively tried to raise my head but failed due to the puppet magic. Charlotte continued.

“It’s related to them.”