Chapter 264: I’m Just Naturally Shy

Charlot was stunned and cautiously asked, “How did you know?”

Menielman Soumet coming to Silver Dove Castle was supposed to be a secret. If even the Grand Princess of Ingrima Empire, Princess May Guillaume, knew about it, didn’t that mean everyone knew?

Princess May replied calmly, “Your labyrinth’s passages are very useful. I’ve gone back to Cappadocia a few times and happened to encounter Menielman resupplying at the docks.”

Charlot was utterly shocked!

Seeing his expression, Princess May asked flatly, “The labyrinth isn’t exactly some top-secret thing. Why do you look like someone just exposed your greatest secret?”

Charlot was even more shocked!
He knew the labyrinth wasn’t a sophisticated power, but he hadn’t realized it would appear so full of flaws in the eyes of someone at the Saint rank. That Princess May could use the labyrinth’s passageways to go to Cappadocia was astonishing. Whether departing from Machubi Fortress or Silver Dove Castle, it was a groundbreaking feat.

Princess May’s sharp gaze grew curious as she asked, “Or is it that you think I’ve discovered those two novels were actually written by you?”

Charlot was completely shocked! He had reached his limit—there was no room for further shock.

Princess May said nothing, but Aurora Soumet spoke up instead: “When Princess May bought the two books from the bookstore, she inquired with the publisher and found Miss Annie Bretagne. Miss Annie admitted to it readily.”

Charlot couldn’t help but ask, “Annie just told you?”

Aurora shrugged. “The author’s name is Annie Mecklenburg. Even if she didn’t admit it, what difference would it make?”

Charlot nearly broke through his “shock limit” once again. He hadn’t known Annie had blatantly signed the novels with such an undisguised pen name.

“Annie Mecklenburg!?”

“That’s practically a confession!”

Princess May remarked curiously, “Mr. Mecklenburg, I must say, you’re a truly gifted novelist. Why hide your identity? I’ve read The Mecklenburg Chronicles as well. While its quality doesn’t match the other two books, that’s mainly due to the lack of refinement in prose and detail. It was probably written in haste, but its storytelling is superior to the others.”

Charlot thought to himself, “Ridiculous. Those are Greek myths and The Lion King!”

Since Princess May had stripped away all his defenses, he stopped bothering to hide anything. “I’m just... naturally shy,” he said.

If Earl Bretagne were present, he would have interjected: “Mr. Mecklenburg! You’re naturally shameless! Shy? A man who streaks naked has no claim to shyness!”

Even without Earl Bretagne, the two ladies, who had read the side stories of Duwei and Crown Prince Chen’s entangled relationship, couldn’t help but have similar thoughts:
“A man who writes such provocative novels and calls himself shy?”

“Is he mocking the concept of shyness?”

Charlot dared not continue the topic of novels. Instead, he casually asked, “So Senior Menielman also went to Cappadocia?”

He thought this was a safe question.

Then another thought occurred to him:
“Why didn’t Princess May and Senior Menielman settle their personal grievances in Cappadocia? Why insist on coming back to Silver Dove Castle?”

“Hm, maybe that’s not a safe question either...”

Charlot immediately realized his mistake.

Princess May replied calmly, “She said it was you who sent her to Cappadocia.”

“Oh, and she also took your fleet with her.”

Charlot wasn’t particularly upset about losing a few merchant ships. After leaving Ingrima, he couldn’t control Cappadocia anymore, and the fleet would eventually slip away. Having Menielman take it at least counted as putting it to good use.

However, Princess May’s words made Charlot sensitive to one fact: Senior Menielman didn’t have a magical alchemical warship.

If she did, why would she need to repurpose ordinary merchant vessels into warships?

For a moment, Charlot felt a pang of sympathy for Menielman. In the eyes of commoners in the Fars Empire, she was nearly perfect. Charlot himself had once felt fortunate to cling to her coattails. But as his status rose, he gradually realized that her life wasn’t easy.

The impact of the Imperial Rose Incident ran deep and turbulent.

At the beginning, Charlot thought Menielman held immense power and influence, as he was merely a first-class civil servant ranked forty-one. Now, he understood that the warden of Kilmainham Prison wasn’t a particularly significant governmental position.

Currently, even Charlot Mecklenburg himself held a slew of official titles:
Chief of the Lukavaro District City Patrol Guards, Commander of the West Wind Knight Order, Director of the Lukavaro District Administrative Bureau, Fars Empire’s Special Envoy for War to the Ingrima Empire, and temporary municipal steward of Mostar Castle, Bybury City, Seagull City, Silver Dove Castle, and Mount Ode City.

Additionally, he held the position of full municipal steward for the five cities of Arcadia Port, Sedona City, Solvan City, Carmel Town, and Interlaken in the South Seraph District, under the title of twenty-fifth-rank civil servant.

Yes, the South Seraph region had quietly been reclassified as a major district, and his five-city stewardship no longer carried the “temporary” prefix.

Had Charlot transmigrated directly into his current status, the dynamic between him and Menielman might have been entirely different regarding who needed whom.

Of course, Menielman still had the support of the Soumet family and numerous allies, while Charlot Mecklenburg had no such backing.

Charlot had never considered Annie a political pawn. While he had gained certain benefits from the Bretagne family, and even entertained shallow dreams of marrying into wealth, he would never sacrifice Annie for political gain.

For instance, if Annie were to fall out with her father, Earl Bretagne, Charlot wouldn’t side with the earl for the sake of his career. He would stand in front of Annie, even if it meant losing everything.

After all, as a transmigrator, he had started with nothing.

Because of the war, Charlot’s often-overloaded brain had failed to grasp why Princess May had come to South Seraph. But it didn’t take him long to figure it out...

Princess May had come to supervise his scribes directly. She even summoned Italio Calvino—formerly the temporary steward of Interlaken—to Sedona City...

...to demand manuscripts with maximum urgency.

Charlot wasn’t a web fiction author, nor any kind of professional writer. He didn’t know whether Earth editors were this ruthless in chasing deadlines, but he doubted any editor there could rival Princess May’s intensity.

Thanks to her, Charlot’s oral storytelling career, which had been gradually derailed by war and cultivation, suddenly reignited with dazzling brilliance.

Apart from sleeping and eating, nearly all his time was devoted to storytelling.

Even during bathroom breaks, Princess May wouldn’t follow him personally, but she would assign a scribe to accompany him.

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