Meneilman Soumei whispered, "This is a replica of the Emerald Codex made by Master Mani; the real Emerald Tablet is in the Court of Fate."
Charlotte was still deeply shaken.
Master Mani's Emerald Codex was also featured in university textbooks, hailed as the pinnacle of human alchemy.
He also noticed that Meneilman's expression was extremely complex, filled with hatred, regret, sorrow, relief, and many other emotions that were difficult to interpret and describe.
Charlotte tried his best to suppress the surging bloodlust within him. Under the influence of the Emerald Codex, it was becoming increasingly uncontrollable. Curious, he asked, "Can these memories be reviewed?" He had always been curious about this question during his studies, but there were no answers in the textbooks, and the professors refused to explain, saying it was knowledge he shouldn't be exposed to.
Meneilman replied, "They will be shattered by the Emerald Codex and converted into pure knowledge. The Emerald Codex does not retain the ordinary memories it extracts."
Charlotte understood that having one's memories extracted by the Emerald Codex was essentially no different from being killed.
The memory erasure process was uneventful, and before long, Zimorman Axel Robin became completely lifeless.
The heavy, ancient phantom of the Emerald Codex slowly disappeared, along with the countless wisps of gray fog that had been rising from Zimorman's body.
The aura of fighting spirit surrounding Meneilman subsided, and the bloodlust within Charlotte also calmed down, retreating back into the vortex in his brow.
The Emerald Codex, as a supreme alchemical treasure, had an overwhelming impact on extraordinary powers.
Charlotte felt anything but relieved.
The alchemists in black robes and hoods, after performing a series of operations, bestowed Zimorman Axel Robin with an entirely new personality and a fabricated identity.
His new name was Huntington, a captain at Kilmainham Prison, loyal to the royal family and skilled in combat.
Once the alchemists finished their work, they handed a document to Meneilman, who signed it and then gave it to Charlotte, saying, "According to imperial law, this document requires two signatures."
Only then did Charlotte realize why Meneilman had brought him along. He quickly signed the document without even bothering to carefully read its contents.
Meneilman did not linger any longer and led Charlotte back through the mysterious gate, returning to Kilmainham Prison in the Marne District.
This brief journey left Charlotte feeling extremely weighed down.
Meneilman gave him half a day off, and she also left work early.
Charlotte even hitched a ride on his superior's carriage, which dropped him off in the Val-de-Vass District.
He returned to the Alexander District, first terminating his rental contract with the Savings Association Apartments and paying a fee for compensation. He then hired a cart to transport all his personal belongings, leaving the place he had lived for two years and bidding a complete farewell to Charlotte Mecklenburg's past.
Upon arriving at 58 Élysée Garden Street, Charlotte realized that his predecessor had quite a few personal items, including a collection of books.
He stored the miscellaneous items in the large study and placed the books in the smaller study, intending to organize them separately.
The previous owner had taken all the valuable items, leaving the two studies devoid of any books. Books in this world were expensive, so only the bulky furniture remained.
The larger study was about sixty or seventy square meters, with bookshelves lining all four walls, and an enormous conference table with matching chairs.
The smaller study was more of a lounge, with a very old desk and matching chair, two sofas for receiving guests, and a chaise longue for resting. It was more suitable for daily relaxation, with only one and a half walls fitted with bookshelves. Originally, these were likely used to store miscellaneous items rather than books, as now only some empty boxes and a few letters remained.
He didn't bother with the other luggage. After briefly organizing the small study and clearing out the clutter, he placed the books he had brought along onto the bookshelf and also inserted the previous owner's diary among them.
These "predecessor" books would help him better understand his new identity, and he planned to browse through them whenever he had the time. As for that diary, he still felt uneasy about it and hadn't dared to read it again.
Most of the previous owner's clothing had been discarded, leaving behind only a few daily necessities like tableware.
Charlotte's tableware was minimal and made of tin, much cheaper.
After placing the tableware in the dining room, Charlotte felt hungry. There was no food in the house, although he had brought some ingredients, but he didn't feel like cooking because...
Those ingredients made terrible meals.
Charlotte didn't want to spend the entire afternoon unpacking, so he decided to go out to eat something. Leaving No. 58, he turned onto Élysée Garden Street and soon passed by a bakery. Without much thought, he entered and asked, "What bread do you have today?"
Most bakeries in the Falst Empire were run independently by various ladies, with everything from baking to selling done by a single person.
As a result, each bakery had its own style, and the bread flavors varied greatly.
The owner of this bakery was a petite, red-haired woman in her late twenties. She smiled and said, "Our croissants are famous far and wide. Would you like some?"
Charlotte smiled and said, "I'll take twenty."
The red-haired baker quickly wrapped up twenty croissants for him.
Charlotte asked a few more questions and was delighted to find that the shop also sold Torigan flower tea, which had a much better flavor than imperial black tea. He bought some as well before leaving the bakery.
Although Élysée Garden Street was bustling, and it was a good time for a stroll, Charlotte returned directly to No. 58 instead of continuing to wander.
Back home, he ate two croissants with some water and stored the rest in the dining room sideboard, planning to use them as meals for the next few days.
This ancient, otherworldly empire had no refrigerators, so food couldn't be kept for long.
After a moment's hesitation, Charlotte decided to check out the basement. He had already explored the three floors of the house but hadn't yet visited the basement. With the daylight still good, it was a perfect time to take a look around.
Charlotte lit an oil lamp; the architects of the Falst Empire would never put windows in basements. It was a unique feature of the empire, so basements were always dark, even during the day.
It wouldn't be convenient once night fell.
The basement stairs were long, with three turns. At each corner of the walls, there was a bracket for placing oil lamps, suggesting that the basement might have a ceiling height of over five pimi.
Charlotte had calculated that a pimi in the empire was slightly longer than a metric meter on Earth, about 1.15 meters. With this ceiling height, the basement was quite spacious.