HIFH | Chapter 18

Episode 18

Adrian’s last words echoed in my mind.

— Don’t interfere with our work.

— Pretend you don’t know.

Normally, I would have just ignored him, thinking he was up to something strange again.

But now that I knew about Themis’s death and the turmoil within Catacle, I couldn’t just brush it off.

So, I decided to dig deeper into him.

If I could uncover his schemes, I might be able to understand why Themis died and what direction Catacle was heading toward.

“Can you find out what he’s up to? What he’s planning?”

Pinky abruptly straightened up. Then, like a gentleman, he placed one hand on his chest and bowed slightly.

“I’ll see you on the night of the new moon.”

That meant he could do it.

I nodded lightly.

“All right. Go ahead.”

“Yes!”

With that, Pinky left, and I ordered another cup of coffee, calmly reflecting on my thoughts.

‘The Empress’s intervention, huh…’

I wasn’t well-versed in imperial politics since I only followed the orders of my commander, but one thing was clear.

The Empress was an incredibly ambitious woman.

She was desperate to have her son, the Crown Prince, ascend the throne as soon as possible. But… the Emperor stood firm and refused to step aside.

Given the Emperor’s age, he could have abdicated long ago, yet he stubbornly held onto the throne.

The reason was simple.

‘Because the Crown Prince is an absolute fool.’

But the Empress refused to acknowledge that fact.

That’s why she kept trying to rule from behind the scenes and meddle in political struggles.

‘No wonder the Commander hates her.’

After all, Catacle was directly under the Emperor’s authority.

At any rate, with things as they were, there was bound to be chaos within Catacle.

The Commander must be under a lot of stress as well.

‘I’ll wait for Pinky’s report first.’

With that thought, I took a sip of my freshly served coffee.

That’s when it happened.

“Oh my!”

A high-pitched voice rang out.

I turned my head to see a group of young noble ladies—two of whom I had previously seen at Count Floria’s estate, along with a few others I didn’t recognize.

I wondered if I should greet them and shifted slightly in my seat.

“Well, look who it is! Isn’t this the famous Lady Charles Courtney?”

“Indeed! The ‘hero’ who saved the Marquis of Bydon is sitting right here!”

Huh?

Why did they sound so sarcastic?

Should I… not greet them?

I blinked at them in confusion.

“Huh? Who’s that?”

At that moment, someone squeezed through the group of ladies and peeked out.

“Did you say Lady Charles?”

It was none other than Everlyn Floria.

— Just you wait!

The same Everlyn Floria who had stormed off after leaving those words like a declaration of war.

The moment she saw me, her eyes widened in surprise.

I gave her a slight nod.

“It’s been a while, Lady Everlyn. How have you been?”

I asked because I remembered how she had panicked at the sight of a wasp last time.

She was already quite thin, and I wondered if the incident had taken a toll on her health.

I was genuinely concerned.

But—

“D-Do you really need to worry about me?”

Everlyn snorted and turned her head away.

Wow, such attitudes…

“Worry about yourself, Lady Charles! If you’re unwell, why are you even out? You should be resting at home!”

…Huh?

“Look at you! You’ve lost so much weight! Your only redeeming feature is that cute face of yours, so what are you going to do if you don’t take care of it?”

Uh… what?

“I’ll send you some cosmetics through my butler, so make sure to use them! Not that it will do much besides making you even cuter!”

Was she worried about me… or insulting me? I couldn’t tell.

I rolled my eyes, unsure of how to respond, when Everlyn suddenly stepped closer.

“Anyway, what are you doing here? Don’t tell me… you’re all alone because you have no friends?”

“Well… I suppose that’s true?”

Pinky had been here earlier, but I couldn’t exactly call him a friend, so my answer was honest.

Everlyn’s face twisted with apparent satisfaction.

“Well, it makes sense that you don’t have any friends, Lady Charles! Of course, you’re cute and lovely, but you’re still far from being ready to join our social circles!”

Oh my. She’s complimenting me.

Am I really that cute? Hehe.

“Well…”

Everlyn continued.

“If you’re really that bored, you can come with us.”

When I looked up, her eyes sparkled—completely contradicting the dismissive tone of her words.

“Where are you going?”

The girl standing beside Everlyn—the same Agatha Lockwood I had seen at the previous party—smiled.

“We’re going clay shooting. Join us, Lady Charles. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”

“Well, if you insist, I could teach you a thing or two!”

I blinked several times, looking around at the ladies.

Aside from Agatha, who was clinging to Everlyn’s arm, the other three were unfamiliar to me.

But one thing was clear—they didn’t like me.

The moment Everlyn invited me, their eyes turned sharp with hostility.

Hmm…

What should I do?

Normally, I avoided situations like this to prevent unnecessary trouble.

But…

‘Isn’t my goal to cause chaos in high society?’

That way, fewer noble families would invite me and Lu to their gatherings, and Lu would have less access to valuable information.

So…

“Sure! Thank you for the invitation!”

If I fired a few blank rounds and acted recklessly, they’d surely come to dislike me.

With that plan in mind, I jumped up and linked my arm with Everlyn’s.

“Oh my! Don’t you know it’s improper to link arms without permission? Well… I’ll let it slide this once since you’re cute! But if you do it again, I’ll… probably allow it again!”

Hmm.

I think she likes me.

The clay shooting range wasn’t far.

After about thirty minutes in the carriage, we arrived at an open field, where the sound of gunfire echoed—Bang! Bang!

“Be careful getting out!”

Everlyn’s sharp yet concerned tone reached me as I stepped down from the carriage and looked around.

Under the blue sky, a spacious shooting area was set up on one side of the range, with several stands lined up in a row.

Beyond that, a golden field stretched out.

Every now and then, an orange clay disk would shoot into the air, cutting across the sky, only to be followed by a sharp bang! as gunfire rang out once more.

“Now that I think about it, your outfit might be uncomfortable.”

It was Everlyn who spoke.

“If it bothers you, I could lend you my clothes. Though, of course, they’d be far too big for someone as small and adorable as you, Lady Charles!”

The more I looked at her, the more she seemed kind of cute.

I gave a small smile and shook my head.

“I’ll just wear this. But thank you for your consideration.”

I had handled every type of firearm imaginable.

More than half of my life had been spent with guns, so there was no way a simple outfit would prevent me from using one properly.

That was why I declined her offer.

“As if you could even hold a gun properly. What’s the point of changing clothes?”

The three noble ladies who had been glaring at me earlier shot me another sharp look.

“There’s no way a backwater place like Courtney Province would have any refined hobbies like this. I wonder if the gunshot noise will scare you into tears.”

Oh?

They were provoking me?