My Charlotte Hates Me

Chapter 79: All Things I Love

A few days later, I received a report from my informant on Lady Kaya. It took several months to receive information on Lady Kaya all because someone was purposely blocking all information surrounding her. That person was previously the Queen herself. Now that she has lost her power, there is nothing holding all of the information back.

The Informant that came to me looked like a weak man with unremarkable features. He looked as if a simple kick was enough to bring him down. One look could tell that a throw away grunt worker for in case a Noble lost their temper and decided to kill the person brought to them.

"Our apologies in the long hold-up. We are currently understaffed," the Informant said.

"Do not lie to me. I know that the Former Queen was forcing you to withhold information," I said coldly.

"It was not our intention..."

"I was told that your Guild prides themselves in trust with their clientele," I said.

The Informant looked as if his tongue tied on himself.

"I will put all of your Guild's past actions behind as long as you people will not continue to lie to me in the future," I said as I lightly put a small stone lion statue onto the table.

"That is..."

"It seems that you know of it...Your eyes are not deceiving you. This is the genuine article of...the Royal Seal," I said.

The favor I asked of the King...

"Goodness, then you are..."

"You are currently talking to your future Queen," I said. "I think you know what will happen if you double cross me in the future."

A few days ago, I met with King Arundel and asked him to make me his Queen. I would take over Queen Gaelle's duties during her absence and stop his Advisors from pressuring him to marry again. Of course, he was reluctant to hand the position over to me, so I promised him that I would not have any of his children. To prove that, I drank a poison that would make me infertile. All I wanted was power to protect Arielle from all harm and that her child would be blessed with the Crown. It was then that King Arundel agreed to my terms no matter how insane they seemed.

I had already sunk passed the point of no return. From now on, it is further down Hell I go. That is why I will become the most insufferable woman after Queen Gaelle...

"...I understand," he said as he kneeled in front of me.

After he left, I began reading the report on Lady Kaya. As expected, the information did not stem too far from the rumors about Lady Kaya's backwater origins. Her mother Kayla Ouchi was a maid under Baron Oslo. The two engaged in an illicit affair that resulted in Kayla Ouchi getting pregnant and forced out by the legal wife. Kayla Ouchi then went to the countryside and had her child. That child would then be Kaya Ouchi herself. She did not have a particularly eventful childhood, nor was she exceptional in any way.

Lady Kaya's relationships with men were nearly nonexistent, until she visited a particular shop one day. After spending about half an hour in there, she purchased one jewelry item and was then bothered by multiple men vying for her attention. These were the very same four men whom had ignored Lady Kaya for years. Rather, they did their best to woo more beautiful women or already had loving partners. Some were even engaged. However, after just one random day as if responding to a change in the direction of the wind, they suddenly had a change of heart.

At first, these men showed light romantic gestures like giving her flowers and greeting her every morning. They quickly left their beloved partners and went on to pursue more aggressive forms of courting. These four men began to compete for her love. Eventually, these men broke out in a fight hoping to cover her love for themselves. Even though those men acted violent towards one another, she did not try one bit to calm the men down. Rather, she seemed as if she unknowingly fueled the aggressive nature of the men even more with her careless words. This is when Queen Gaelle took notice of her and decided to take her in.

She decided to make a blissful exit after making all of their lives a mess and joined hands with Queen Gaelle as her anonymous sponsor. Whether it was a whim or the Queen was genuinely interested in her as a person, Lady Kaya certainly has a factor about her that draws people in. As hateful as she is, there is a certain mystery about her that would draw people in. It would not hurt to investigate, so I decided to visit the shop Lady Kaya went to that started everything.

"Lady Charlotte...Lady Charlotte..."

I was woken up by Sir Evan's light shaking of my shoulder.

To my surprise, it was only a few minutes away from the Exurbia Library. The shop had a small storefront with dark wood panels and black iron fixtures over the windows. It looked an antique shop from the outside. However, I noticed a few items shrouded in the same black mist the same as Lady Kaya's locket and artifacts from the museum already in the window front. I had Knight Evan stand outside for me.

An older woman with dark purple lipstick and all gray hair was the only person who manned the entire store.

"Oh, who do we have here? Are you looking for anything in particular, Miss?" she asked.

Even though I shrouded myself with a long hooded robe, she picked out my gender immediately.

"Do you remember a girl with black hair and dark brown eyes that bought a locket from this store a few months ago?" I asked.

"Ah, that girl...I remember her. How did you know she bought a locket from here?" the woman asked.

"It isn't difficult to tell that it originated from when all of your wares look the same," I said.

"...They all look the same to you?" she asked. She suddenly reached her hands out towards me and pulled me close. A dreadful smile went across her face. "It has been so long that I almost did not recognize your changed form."

Recognize me? I have never been here before.

"You are speaking crazy dribble! I have never met you before," I said as I pulled my arm away from her bony fingers.

"You have forgotten why you are in that miserable body...Poor you. Do you want me to remind you who put you in that body?" she asked.

"You are the one who made me repeat this miserable life over and over again, Witch!" I shouted as I grabbed her by her collar. "It must be your fault Arielle keeps dying!"

"You are mistaken. You are the one who came to me and asked for an undying body to save your unfortunate friend," she said.

"I came to you...When have I ever come to you? This is our first meeting," I said. Suddenly, images of me coming to this shop prior to this meeting showed up in my head alongside a pestering headache. "You...what did you do to me?"

"I will let you recover the memories you have lost as a present for our reunion," she said.

The headache continued to persist alongside a terrible desire to sleep. I fell head first onto the ground and was forced to shut my eyes while lying on cold hardwood floors.

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