A maid? You've got to be kidding. She's the Saintess of the Candlelight Church!

She left Morse's room and headed for Saint Perode Academy, her mind heavy with worry.

According to Morse, the helper was wearing a black robe and waiting for her right outside the gates of Saint Perode Academy.

The murder had taken place on campus. A mentor named Roman had died under mysterious circumstances in the academy's mentors' dormitory. To keep the students from panicking, Headmaster Harrison suppressed the news and informed Pope Morse.

If she had a choice, Sherry wouldn't help that helper investigate at all.

She'd always kept her distance from things involving eldritch beings and other bizarre phenomena. Even brushing against those terrifying unknowns could bring her within a hair's breadth of death.

The terrifying Headless Shadow was already more than enough to scare her. She didn't want to get mixed up with any other filth.

But Morse clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer. With no other choice, she agreed.

Worst case, she'd leave all the hard work to that helper. If he lived, she'd bring him tea and water. If he died, she'd put up a tombstone for him.

Thinking about it that way, Sherry realized being a maid didn't seem so bad.

When she reached the gates of Saint Perode Academy, she looked around and spotted just one man in a black robe.

Without a second thought, she walked over to him…

…

Carlisle tugged at his black hood. His clothes looked completely different now.

“He's finally back. The wanted notice for me has been taken down, so I can start on the job now.” He leaned against a tree in front of the academy, arms crossed, as if talking to himself.

He'd come all the way to Ayideen at someone's request to handle a case. Then, halfway there, he'd run into Witch Sherry—and the lure of a monetary reward had led him down a road of no return.

Looking back, he really wished he could travel back in time and strangle the version of himself who'd agreed to escort Sherry.

If he had another chance, the moment he first met Sherry, he'd tie her up and give her a good spanking! Then he'd snatch back his ring with a cold laugh right in front of her!

Too bad time didn't run backward.

“Tsk, tsk. Let's wrap this up and get away from this place that's breaking your heart.” The Ghostling hid beneath his black robe, invisible to the passersby.

At the mention of heartbreak, Carlisle thought of that beautiful, delicate figure.

After deciding last night to give up on pursuing Liya, he'd felt as though all the color had drained from his life. Nothing held his interest, and even now, his chest still ached faintly.

But leaving Liya was necessary. This pain was something he had to go through.

If he didn't see Liya, he'd think about her less. Without anything to hold on to, time would turn him back into the person he'd been before.

“Get away?” Another figure flashed through his mind. Carlisle shook his head. “No. I won't leave until I've caught that guy.”

“Sherry?”

“That's right. She still has that necklace. It was left to me by my mother. No matter what, I have to make her hand it over!”

By the end, he was practically spitting the words out through clenched teeth.

Honestly, aside from the Golden Sword Scepter and the necklace, everything else was expendable to him. If Sherry had taken only those, he might have left after finishing the case.

As for losing his manhood, some other alchemist or Witch could probably restore it.

But of all things, Sherry had taken one of the two items she should never have touched!

No matter what, he had to catch her!

“I asked the Pope. As far as anyone knows, Hera is the only Witch in Ayideen. I'll pay her a visit tonight. Maybe she knows where Sherry is.”

Pope Morse was the one who'd hired him. As a Knight of the Round Table, he was often commissioned to handle strange incidents in places where they turned up.

They were professionals when it came to containing bizarre phenomena. Carlisle was still young, but he already had plenty of experience with containment.

Witch Sherry seemed to be a rat hiding in Ayideen. Even Morse didn't know she existed. Stranger still, for some reason, Sherry's portrait had appeared on the city guards' wanted board.

Just like his own, the portrait showed Sherry's face but not her name.

She must've gotten up to something shady again without his knowledge, and the city guards had caught her at it.

Serves her right!

So, with the Pope's pardon letting him wander freely around the city, he decided to do the guards a favor. He told them Sherry's name, so they wouldn't have to put up a giant portrait with no name beneath it.

Hera might be his only lead in tracking down Sherry. Witches were incredibly rare, and their methods were mysterious. Maybe she was secretly in touch with Sherry.

If all else failed, he could ask Hera to divine Sherry's location. As the head librarian of Saint Perrod's Great Library, Witch Hera had to be remarkably skilled at divination.

“Then what are you doing right now?” the Ghostling asked.

Carlisle had gone from the church to the gates of Saint Perode Academy, then stood leaning against a tree without moving. The Ghostling, which had been asleep inside him earlier, was puzzled.

“Waiting for the helper the Pope mentioned. Investigating the case will be a pain without them.” He glanced at the gates of Saint Perode Academy, guarded by soldiers, and sighed.

It wasn't that he couldn't get inside the academy. But once he was in, he wouldn't know anyone. Without someone familiar to show him around or introduce him to the others, he'd waste time on pointless things and get half as much done.

He closed his eyes and quietly waited for the helper Morse had mentioned.

The shadows of the trees slanted across the ground. Before long, a breeze stirred by the passing pedestrians brushed his cheek, and the faint, sweet scent of a young woman—one he'd smelled all night—drifted into his nose once more.

Was he imagining it?

“Hello. May I ask if you're…”

Only when Liya's gentle, unmistakable voice sounded in front of him did he open his eyes and see the girl he'd been longing for.

“Liya?”

“You?!”

In an instant, he realized who Morse's helper was. Liya realized everything too.

She was supposed to be Carlisle's maid?

That was a joke!

Bringing him tea and water would turn into poisoning him!

She gathered the silver strands falling over her chest, turned partly away from him, and apologized. “Sorry, I'm looking for someone in a black robe who's wandering around by the academy gates. Have you seen him?”

She didn't want to be Carlisle's maid and assistant, and Carlisle didn't want her tagging along to investigate the murder.

Liya only had to stand beside him for his heart to stir in a way he couldn't explain. The color missing from his life returned for no reason at all, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile.

His plan to forget the girl had failed before it even began?

How could that be?

He ruffled his hair and pretended to cough. “...I haven't seen the person you're talking about. But I'm also looking for a priest or nun wearing a Church uniform. Have you seen one?”

“No.”

“Oh. That's too bad.”