When the assassins blew up Grand Duke Ferdinand's coffin, they unexpectedly left behind several broken canes at the scene. For assassins capable of producing alchemical explosives, how could they fail to acquire firearms?The only expnation was that something had gone wrong with the firearms they had prepared.

  Recalling the batch of short pistols Charlot had taken from the Chelsea Detective Agency, everything became clear: these assassins were reted to the Orc Assassin Alliance. Their short pistols for this operation had been seized by Charlot in one swoop.

  Because of this, Charlot paid particur attention to this model of short pistol. When the Doll Sister appeared before him, the first thing he noticed was that she possessed a matching short pistol.

  Charlot leisurely flicked his fingers, and Blood Rose appeared beside his hand. Gripping the hilt of the magical rapier, he spoke with calm confidence:"Dear Miss Leopard, please resist with all your might."

  Frederica raised her elegant brows slightly and said, "You should know, I am a Tier Ten Orc Assassin!"

  Charlot responded, "What a coincidence! Not long ago, I publicly dueled a Tier Fourteen Radiant Knight and killed him."

  The leopard girl’s aura faltered momentarily; she had, in fact, received this news.

  The st time she and Algernon joined forces, Charlot had nearly turned the tables on them. Both of them concluded that while his strength wasn’t overwhelming, his abilities were cunning and unpredictable—he was adept in both direct combat and ambush assassinations.

  Despite this, Frederica felt that if she faced him fair and square, she wouldn’t necessarily lose. However, after learning that Harriet Alva had been killed in a duel, her confidence crumbled.

  The difference in strength between mid-tier and high-tier Transcendents was significant.

  Frederica gripped a throwing knife at her waist but showed no intention of striking. She said, "Those people waited until Grand Duke Ferdinand's coffin left your jurisdiction to act, but the credit for that belongs to me."

  Charlot pondered for a moment, then nodded slightly and said, "Are you trying to trade that for a whole corpse?"

  Frederica was a little exasperated. "If that’s not enough, I can exchange it for a secret. I need to use your Free Knights Order to escape Strasbourg."

  Charlot, slightly curious, asked, "Why do you need to flee?"

  Frederica replied, "That’s none of your concern. But the secret I know is deeply tied to you."

  Though Charlot outwardly exuded absolute confidence and his Angel's Thorn had advanced—reaching the Second Movement: Fire of Dawn, which greatly improved his swordsmanship—he still preferred avoiding combat if possible.

  After all, he was a civil servant by profession. While he now served as the interim Knight Commander, he hadn’t officially switched to a military career.

  After a brief hesitation, Charlot said, "Fine! I can take you to Behemoth."

  Frederica added, "The Soumet Family has encountered a major crisis. Several noble houses want to crush the First Rose of the Empire."

  Charlot was stunned. "Why?"

  He quickly pieced it together, exciming, "It’s the families of those who died at the hands of Zimourman Axel Robin, isn’t it?"

  The leopard girl widened her eyes. "How are you this smart?"

  Charlot knew that Zimourman Axel Robin had killed several people in duels, but he had never thought about the ramifications because the incident had nothing to do with him.

  But now, understanding the situation, he realized the gravity of it.

  This incident was called the Imperial Rose Incident. The young nobles who fought in the duels cimed they were standing up for Miss Menielman, but when they died, their families came to loathe Zimourman Axel Robin and deeply resented Menielman Soumet.

  Without Menielman Soumet, these young nobles wouldn’t have died in vain.This was the cssic case of “a beauty bringing camity.”

  Whether Menielman was innocent or not was irrelevant. Those noble families, having lost their young heirs, would inevitably direct their fury toward those connected to the incident.

  Charlot suddenly understood why the unfortunate former Warden Magru Trell had been so desperate to frame Miss Menielman.

  There must have been powerful nobles pulling the strings behind Magru Trell.

  Once exposed, he was sacrificed without hesitation. The former warden likely had no other choice at the time.

  Frederica tried to recover some of her dignity and asked, "Do you know who is orchestrating all of this?"

  Charlot answered without hesitation, "Of course I do!"

  He wasn’t bluffing—he had previously helped Miss Menielman uncover the files for the Night Window Incident and the Imperial Rose Incident. The names of those killed by Zimourman Axel Robin and their respective families were etched in his memory.

  Frederica’s beautiful green eyes burned with frustration. "If you know everything, why did you make me say it?"

  Charlot dismissed Blood Rose and said ftly, "Because I hadn’t thought about it before."

  He paused slightly and suddenly understood why Dolores Soumet had become his "deputy." The former Laurel Goddess of Gorgias University had come to him seeking protection.

  He also realized why Miss Menielman had failed to transfer him to the military and why she had been the one to greet Grand Duke Ferdinand. Originally, the bme for failing to protect the Grand Duke was intended for his dear senior.

  He muttered to himself, "Maybe I should find a different patron."

  On the Old Continent, there was no saying equivalent to "hugging someone’s thigh" (seeking powerful protection). Hearing his mumbling, Frederica instinctively gnced down at her own long, toned, and shapely legs, suddenly feeling a strange sense of crisis.

  For the first time, Charlot felt that the Fars Empire’s political scene was treacherously complex. Unwittingly dragged into a massive whirlpool, he found it mildly headache-inducing.

  Just as he was about to return to the camp, he remembered something and asked, "Did you kill the real Doll Sister?"

  Frederica put on her mask, transforming back into the slightly bulky but still pleasant-looking Doll Sister, and replied, "My assassination fees are very high. If no one paid me, I wouldn’t kill anyone."

  "I merely knocked her unconscious, tied her up, and tossed her onto a bed. She’s probably awake by now, and with her Doll Secret Arts, escaping shouldn’t be difficult."

  Satisfied with the answer, Charlot gnced at Frederica’s outfit, ignored the leopard girl entirely, and walked back to the camp.