Charlotte heard the sound of footsteps.

She pointed the tip of her sword in the direction of the noise. "Stay right there, don't move."

"It's me, miss." Caroline's voice came from the shadows.

Charlotte immediately relaxed, letting the tip of her sword drop to the ground.

"Caroline!"

She called out the doll's name with joy, but her face quickly turned red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry... I promised I would wait for you to come back."

"Don't worry about it." Caroline had her own plans. In truth, she hadn't intended to act together with Charlotte.

Caroline's original plan was to kill the basilisk and, while Charlotte was still asleep, deal with the true culprit on her own.

Charlotte's gaze fell on Caroline's hand—or, more precisely, the five blades she held. "Are you hurt?" She grabbed Caroline's hand and asked anxiously.

"It was stronger than I expected," Caroline replied. "It had four more legs. But breaking blades doesn't count as being hurt. Miss, I'll need your help from now on."

Charlotte put her massive sword back into its black case and wrapped Caroline's hands in hers. White threads, like mycelium, sprouted from her hands, covering the blades and Caroline's hand.

The blades melted into a liquid, slowly seeping into Caroline's fingers. Under Charlotte's guidance, the solidified alchemical patterns reconnected at the break points, allowing the magic to flow smoothly.

Caroline moved her fingers, the blades emerging from her fingertips and then retracting. Her knowledge of alchemy was limited to practical use; repairs and restorations were beyond her expertise.

"Have you been watching the whole time?" Charlotte asked.

"Actually, when I arrived, your fight with Lady Kelly had already begun," Caroline replied.

"Really?" Charlotte seemed doubtful. "What did you see when you got here?"

"You being thrown through the air by entrails," Caroline answered honestly.

"And you just stood there watching!" Charlotte said indignantly.

"You saw me being thrown, crushed by the shelf, and splattered with blood! You, Caroline, my doll, just stood outside watching! Without doing anything!"

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"I thought you wanted a fair fight with Lady Kelly." With one sentence, Caroline silenced Charlotte.

In truth, Caroline knew Charlotte's strength well. She was fully aware that someone like Kelly, a wild witch who needed so much time to cast a basic spell, couldn't pose any real danger to Charlotte.

Even if something unexpected happened, Caroline was confident she could protect Charlotte.

She would never put her mistress in harm's way.

However, a small trial was acceptable. If Charlotte could investigate and defeat the real culprit on her own, Caroline felt she shouldn't interfere too much.

One day, Caroline would leave Charlotte.

Before that, she needed to mold Charlotte into a true knight.

Charlotte opened her mouth but couldn't argue back. She had indeed wanted a fair fight, like in the novels, where knights battled witches on equal footing and ultimately defeated them gloriously.

As for being thrown... Well, Charlotte thought, the plot of a story is never completely smooth. There are always some setbacks.

Yes, everything was part of Miss Charlotte's plan.

That's how she comforted herself.

"Oh, Caroline, we made so much noise just now. Do you think anyone heard us?" Charlotte suddenly remembered something worrisome. "If someone finds out, how will we explain this? How can we prove Kelly was a witch? I burned her body!"

Charlotte didn't want to be misunderstood as a misjudged hero—those characters usually had tragic endings.

"Don't worry, miss. I didn't hear any sounds outside the house. There must be some kind of barrier here," Caroline said.

"Oh, I see..."

Caroline tilted her head, displaying an enigmatic smile.

"Miss, this is just basic deduction."

"You didn't tell me!"

"You didn't ask."

Charlotte glared at Caroline, who returned the look with gentle eyes.

In the end, Charlotte conceded. Indeed, she hadn't asked.

"So, next!" In an instant, Charlotte regained her enthusiasm. She loudly declared, "Let's collect the spoils of battle!"

"Spoils?"

"Like evil things, for example."

"Do you mean the calendar, the medicine shelves, the herbs, or the stove?" Caroline looked around the house. "Or perhaps that table looks especially evil to you?"

"There must be other things!" Charlotte insisted. "There has to be a secret passage or hidden room. A witch couldn't have stayed hidden here for so long without one!"

"Miss, the people here don't care if there are witches. They know they could die at any moment. They don't care about others' secrets, they don't even care about their own lives."

"But Kelly was a witch. She... witches must have laboratories! That's what the books say!" Charlotte hastily added, "History books!"

"You can't compare today's wild witches to the dark witches of the Dark Ages. Aside from the fact that they both practice witchcraft and are equally evil, they have nothing in common."

"Maybe there's some hidden mechanism, not involving white alchemy," Charlotte said as she knocked on the walls and pulled down a hanging calendar, trying to find evidence to support her theory.

Caroline sighed. She knew Charlotte's stubbornness had kicked in again. She noticed a human head specimen resting on a chair arm and walked over to it.

"Leave that alone, Caroline." Charlotte was busy rummaging through jars and bottles, hoping to find one that "opened a secret passage with a twist."

"Evil secrets often don't look evil."

"In mysticism, an intact human skeleton symbolizes pure lineage," Caroline said as she opened the skull of the specimen. "So, this isn't evil. Miss, perhaps this is what you're looking for."

Inside the skull was a brain—or rather, a brain that looked like a book.

Seeing such a strange object, Charlotte was thrilled. "Ah! This is a true magical tome!"

She reached out to take the book. The moment her fingers touched the brain, a red light burst from within the skull.