I think it’s already been implied he was an orphan raised by the church as one of their knights and went off to war to fight for them. However, comrades of his died giving him ptsd and their family’s blamed him racking him with guilt. Due to his ptsd then he wasn’t able to kill anymore and was basically refusing his knightly duties which the church then in turn saw as disgraceful and him basically breaking his knight vows which is why everyone treated him like crap then. Now what I don’t know about is how he got the mark that lets them track him and also who he’s trying to protect though it is hinted to be his men’s families.
As for Charlotte looking like the little lady I’ve had the same thought. Especially because they avoid saying the girl’s name. But they could go a few different ways with it.
I will say I don’t think the ML was involved with what happened there. For one, he’s clearly never been there before. Two he’s the 99th person they’ve done this too. My guess is the house needs to keep gobbling up souls to continue its curse or the curse is working towards a purpose like maybe reviving the lady and it needs like 99 souls to do so. It’s also possible that he was deliberately picked though. A couple thoughts there. So maybe the 99th soul needs to be particularly strong like a sword master (which they established he is) and that’s why he was picked.
Now here’s a crazy theory of mine. The abusive father or the jerk brother, one of the two makes a deal with a devil for power. They sacrifice the girl initially to get the devil which is why the curse revolves around her. Then as part of the deal the father or brother promises to sacrifice 98 souls and like one sword master. They just send random people at first for the first 98, but then they have trouble thinking of how to get a sword master when they hear about the ML. They are then the ones who requested the church send him specifically to be their guard knowing the ML would end up having to stop at the mansion. After all they already established he wasn’t doing any knightly duties at the church and couldn’t wield his sword to kill anyone so why suddenly make him a guard of a noble unless they were forced too.
hmm you're right...
there's also a possibility that ML arriving at that house is purely off chance becos the ugly man who kept threatening him (seems like ML's supervisor at church) was furious that ML suddenly disappeared
if the church premeditated ML's involvement with the house, the ugly man wouldn't have to make threats for him to come back
gaaahhhh haven't had time to revisit the previous chapters so am just throwing out curiosities at this point （/TДT)/
To clarify. I don’t think the church knew what was going on. I think the noble father/brother did and specifically asked the church for him. And while the church didn’t know why they couldn’t refuse.
omg what if the ML was deliberately led to the mansion because SOMEHOW he was involved in the little lady's misfortune (eg. his mom became her stepmother or smthg) and he's paying back the karma on behalf of them????
there must be a reason why he was isolated and treated like horse sh!t before this... usually heavy discrimination like that starts from parents who were discriminated and their kids get it worse...
and Charlotte do be looking a lot like the little lady in the narration