The church bell rang twenty times as the light atop the clock tower gradually dimmed. In the sky, the solar eclipse emerged, and even the stars seemed to fade.

  Compared to Rat Street, the area near the city center became a massive source of light, growing ever brighter.

  Like in other cities, the nobles of Solvellon lived on schedules opposite to those of common folk.

  For them, nightlife was just beginning. After all, money could buy light.

  The city walls enclosed Solvellon, confining Rat Street, the Upper City, the poor, the nobles, cultists, and knights all within the same city.

  Charlotte stood on the edge of a rooftop, gazing beyond the walls into the night’s darkness.

  As a child, she often climbed to the top of the Azure Lake Palace when no one was watching, trying to peer through the mist that surrounded Kaihaide.

  Back then, she dreamed that one day the mist would clear, and from the highest point of the palace, she could see what lay beyond the city.

  Now, the Azure Lake Palace was no more.

  A duke, two counts, hundreds of nobles, and countless Kaihaide residents were buried forever beneath the ruins, victims of centuries of feuds.

  Only the Eiberg family had survived. As soon as the mist showed signs of clearing, they rushed to relocate to Londini. But now, the family had dwindled to just Charlotte, her grandfather, and, counting Caroline, only three people.

  If Charlotte died on her quest to find her parents, none of the so-called four great families that once upheld Kaihaide's prosperity would remain.

  The cold wind swept across the rooftops, tossing Charlotte's long hair. She shook off her thoughts and turned her focus back to Rat Street.

  In the distance, the houses appeared shrouded in black mist, revealing only shadowy silhouettes. Occasionally, a window glowed faintly, but even weak light feared the darkness and dared not stray far from its source.

  The residents of Solvellon knew that Rat Street was even more dangerous under the eclipse. It was a haven for thieves, robbers, and kidnappers who never worked near their homes, as their neighbors were too poor to afford their services. Returning to Rat Street meant clocking out.

  But the money Charlotte carried was enough to pay for overtime.

  To avoid unnecessary trouble, Charlotte used a bronze pipe at a corner to climb back onto the rooftop. Climbing and rooftop-hopping were things she had done since childhood.

  Perched above, she watched the bearded man try to locate her, feeling a twinge of satisfaction.

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  She didn't know how he had detected her flawless tracking technique, but...

  "Does he really think I didn't notice that he noticed me tailing him?"

  A sense of superiority washed over Charlotte.

  She thought: "I finally get why villains in novels always enjoy watching the protagonist being toyed with but never take the chance to finish them off."

  "It's the thrill of intellectual dominance."

  While the bearded man walked below, Charlotte moved from rooftop to rooftop.

  In Rat Street, the buildings were so close that some gaps were barely wide enough to squeeze through. This played to Charlotte’s advantage.

  She felt like a skilled thief, stealthily breaking into the rooms of the wealthy, bypassing alchemical security systems, and slipping away with priceless treasures or evidence of conspiracies.

  Being an assassin didn’t sound bad either—leaping between rooftops, hiding in shadows.

  When the target thinks they've lost the assassin and breathes a sigh of relief, they appear silently behind them, press a hidden blade to their neck, list their sins one by one, and finally take their life amidst pleas or confessions.

  Or maybe simply jumping down and killing them on the spot was more efficient. For true villains, ethics weren't necessary.

  Charlotte knew of a knight order called "Nightingales."

  They killed so cleanly that no one could ever identify the culprit.

  She made another leap, sprinting along a roof ridge before stopping at its edge.

  If someone were watching from above, they would notice how the dense rooftops of Rat Street were interrupted here.

  A wide river split the street in two, creating an obstacle.

  The wind tugged at Charlotte's coat as she stood on the edge, unafraid of falling. The river was about 30 meters wide, and the buildings on the other side were taller, with balconies that could serve as landing points.

  Although some nobles possessed flight abilities, none were from the Eiberg or Christie families. The blood of the skies did not flow in Charlotte’s lineage.

  "Descending to follow him on the ground? Too many homeless people on the streets would notice her. There was a narrow bridge, but it was crowded, and if the bearded man slipped away, she would lose him."

  "Wait and descend carefully? No time, and her attire was too conspicuous."

  She had to cross the 30 meters.

  Retracing her steps, Charlotte found an iron chimney. Using a blade from her black box, she cut off part of it and left a silver coin to pay for the damage.

  Returning to the edge, she closed her eyes and held the cut iron. White threads extended from her palm, wrapping around the metal. Alchemical runes obeyed her will, altering the object’s properties.

  When she opened her eyes, the threads dissolved into light particles, and the metal had transformed into a disk, unstable and hot.

  White runes flickered across its surface, disappearing and being replaced by new ones.

  This instability was exactly what she needed.

  Charlotte hurled the disk into the air, calculating its trajectory, and leaped after it.

  The force from the roof wasn’t enough to carry her across the river, and the momentum from her jump faded above the water’s center. But the disk, precisely calculated, was beneath her feet.

  Midair, the disk exploded, releasing a burst of air that propelled Charlotte forward. She caught the balcony on the other side and, with practiced skill, climbed to the rooftop.

  Meanwhile, the bearded man noticed the girl had disappeared.

  But he found footprints on the bronze pipes.

  "This girl's counter-surveillance skills are quite impressive."

  He continued walking, knowing she was watching him from somewhere above. All he had to do was act as if he hadn’t noticed. His suspicions were confirmed by the rooftops’ reflection on the river.

  "Silly girl, did you really think I didn’t notice that you noticed I noticed you were following me?"

  An explosion shattered the silence over the river.

  The bearded man told himself he hadn’t heard anything.

  "I can’t look back. I’m almost there. If I turn around now, everything I’ve done could be for nothing."