NOMAMWTM Chapter 10

"...!"

Charlotte opened her eyes.

She gasped for breath.

Her vision was entirely pitch black. Something even seemed to writhe.

Scary.

The moment she thought that, moonlight trapped behind clouds outside the window poured down brilliantly.

"...Ah."

The darkness lifted, and she saw the antique patterns on the ceiling with familiar lumps attached.

Tension slowly left her frozen body.

For a moment she couldn't distinguish dream from reality.

She'd occasionally had strange dreams, but never one this vivid.

She turned her head.

Michael was sleeping soundly beside her.

Looking at that face—angelic like a child while asleep—Charlotte calmed down a bit and carefully sat up to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.

After drinking the water on the table, her mind cleared.

Crackle.

Wondering what nightmare that was, she was sighing when she heard a small sound and looked up, then froze.

"...Huh?"

A small sound escaped without her realizing.

Through the slightly open bedroom door sat a pure white rabbit.

It looked exactly like the rabbit she'd rescued today—a rabbit with only different colored fur and eyes.

Charlotte turned to look at the cushion where she'd placed the rabbit before sleeping. The cushion was empty.

"...What?"

The color couldn't have suddenly changed.

When she blinked blankly, the white rabbit with golden eyes that had been watching her hopped through the gap in the door and disappeared.

"Wait...!"

She reflexively reached out, then covered her mouth. Fortunately, Michael didn't wake.

She carefully got out of bed, put on a robe, and hurried out of the room.

The small rabbit was already hopping away down the far end of the corridor.

In the pitch-black darkness, its white fur reflected in the moonlight sparkled.

"What...?"

Did Michael accidentally cast wrong magic in his sleep? Charlotte tilted her head while walking quickly.

"Hey, wait!"

She called to the retreating rabbit, but the small thing didn't pretend to hear and hopped away quickly.

The tiny thing was so fast that unless she practically ran to chase it, it quickly disappeared from sight.

At some point, the rabbit even looked back as if urging her to hurry.

Eventually Charlotte gave up catching the rabbit and obediently followed it.

In the dim corridor, lumps were positioned here and there.

She walked while glancing sidelong at the things that seemed more numerous than during the day.

Perhaps because of the dream she'd had, each time the lumps squirmed in the dark places, goosebumps rose, so she shooed away the approaching things with hand gestures while following the rabbit.

Where was it going, did it even know the way—after following the rabbit for quite a while as it hopped through the maze-like estate's corridors, changing directions this way and that, the rabbit stopped short.

Charlotte stopped as well and squinted.

They stood before a door. Whatever the room's purpose, lumps were clustered thickly on the door.

The room was far from the corridor's outer windows so moonlight didn't reach it in the first place, and with so many clustered there, it even looked like bugs covered in eyeballs were attached.

Rather disgusting.

"Come out."

But no matter how many there were, they were docile children who listened well unless playing tricks, so at her single word they soon scattered whoosh in all directions.

Click.

When the cleaned door opened, the first thing that stabbed her nose was the stuffy smell of medicine.

Charlotte hesitated at the scent she hadn't smelled since childhood, then inhaled.

The room with curtains drawn back and moonlight pouring in brightly was someone's bedroom.

Wheeze—

Labored breathing could be heard.

The rabbit hopped into the room.

Frozen Charlotte slowly followed.

Unlike outside where they'd been swarming, inside there wasn't a single lump.

"Don't come in."

Looking back to see them trying to follow, she spoke firmly, then stepped inside one step, two steps.

"...!"

When she saw the face of the person lying in bed, her lips parted soundlessly.

The person lying in bed was a beautiful middle-aged woman.

Medium-length black hair was disheveled on the bed.

She could tell immediately who she was.

Her mother-in-law. Probably the one not on good terms with Michael.

Except for the black hair, even while sleeping, she looked exactly like Michael.

But that wasn't why Charlotte was surprised.

The woman's skin—her neck and arms excluding her face—was covered in faint gray spots.

What she knew of wasn't this faint, but this was definitely...

'My, beloved, Lotte...'

The illness her mother had suffered from, and that had ultimately driven her to death.

She didn't know exactly, but her mother had said it was an illness that occurred when a mage was affected by some power.

Was Michael's mother also a mage? But if so, she couldn't feel any energy from her, and she was someone who feared Michael. She couldn't be a mage.

It seemed the illness could also afflict non-mages.

She thought she understood why Michael had rushed so urgently during the day.

"Haa, ugh..."

"...!"

Charlotte, looking down with a complicated expression, was startled when the woman suddenly let out a groan.

She clutched her chest as if in agony, then coughed violently. Dead blood gushed up and soiled the white blanket.

"Ah, ugh, argh...!"

The suddenly started seizure didn't stop there.

The woman screamed and vomited blood in great heaves.

'Lo, tte...'

Charlotte knew well what this was a precursor to.

"W-wait."

She turned her head, pale.

On the table beside the bed were only liquids and powders that all looked like medicine no matter how she looked.

This wasn't something medicine could fix—she paled.

"Ah, cough, urk, aargh!"

The screams grew fiercer.

Charlotte looked around and in desperation grabbed a sharp-looking pair of tweezers from among the medicine bottles.

Though she was the person who'd made Michael make that expression today, if left in that state even a little longer, she would die.

She hated cold, quiet death more than anything.

She had to save her.

Tap.

But when she tried to rush over, something warm settled on her slippered foot.

The rabbit.

"...haa, ugh, cough, gag!"

Pain-filled screams rang sharply through the room. There was no time to worry about the rabbit.

She scooped up the tiny thing and went to the bedside.

Charlotte roughly set the rabbit down on the bed, gripped the tweezers, and tried to draw blood from her trembling finger.

But perhaps because she was flustered, the blunt tweezers wouldn't penetrate her skin.

After several attempts, she finally squeezed her eyes shut and raised her hand.

Soon after, plop—a red flower bloomed on the bed filled with black.

Charlotte's eyes flew open.

The pain she'd expected to feel didn't come.

She hurriedly looked down to see the sharp part of the tweezers embedded in the rabbit's front paw.

Just before she'd stabbed, the rabbit had placed its paw on top of her hand.

"...N-no."

Charlotte stammered, pale. Her trembling hand pulled out the tweezers.

Fortunately it hadn't gone deep, but blood was seeping between the white fur.

"Why did you do that..."

To ease the seizure, blood was needed.

A few drops obviously wouldn't be enough, but she had to at least try something. She'd been about to stab her finger in desperation.

She'd never intended to stab the rabbit.

Guilt welled up at those transparent golden eyes that made no sound despite the pain and just stared at her.

When she tried to look at the rabbit's wound with trembling hands, something churned inside her.

A thread of silver mana rose and rippled from the hand that had been reaching for the rabbit.

"...Why."

"...ugh, urk! Argh..."

Charlotte was flustered. But the faintly rippling mana soon disappeared, and she came to her senses at the woman's resumed seizure.

She had to save the person first.

"I'll treat you in a bit."

Charlotte whispered to the rabbit still staring at her and hurriedly picked up the tweezers again.

But before drawing blood from her finger, once again the rabbit placed its paw on her hand.

"Why...!"

When Charlotte let out a sharp sound, unable to bear her attempts being blocked while in such urgency, the rabbit hopped up and placed its small front paw on the woman's cheek.

For a moment, she thought she saw an afterimage of golden mana rising.

"What...?"

Had she seen wrong? When she blinked, there was nothing.

"Argh...!"

There was no time to think deeply.

The woman groaned again and vomited black blood. Every moment was urgent.

Charlotte picked up the rabbit pressing on the woman's cheek and set it down elsewhere.

In the process, her finger brushed across the woman's cheek.

At that moment, Charlotte didn't see the golden light particles faintly glittering on the woman's cheek, or the rabbit's eyes rippling and shining.

She just suddenly felt dizzy.