NOMAMWTM Chapter 18

Charlotte tilted her head.

She'd definitely said it was cute then. Had she changed her mind so quickly?

No—it was more likely that Nero's sudden pounce had startled her. That demand to get rid of the rabbit must have been words spoken in the heat of the moment.

Even people who liked animals would be startled if something suddenly launched itself at their face.

When Charlotte thought about it, Jeina seemed similar to Michael—aside from that earlier moment, her expression rarely showed much. Maybe she was angry without showing it.

"Don't you dare do that again."

Charlotte felt newly apologetic toward Jeina and shot a sideways glance at Nero, who had finally settled down.

Still.

Charlotte finished her preparations for bed and let out a small hehe laugh.

It felt good to talk with people other than Michael.

She left a single candle burning in case Michael came by late, then buried her face in the freshly laundered pillow—it smelled clean and felt soft—and closed her eyes.

Before long, the sound of her regular breathing filled the darkened room with its quiet rhythm.

Beside her sleeping form, Nero stared intently at the door where the clumps rolled round and round.

With pupils split vertically. Dark red.

Unblinking.

The red light flashed.

Click.

The door opened.

Late at night.

In the room lit by lamplight, Jeina looked across at her partner Daisy, who sat on the opposite bed, with dark eyes.

Daisy had been newly assigned as her partner after Becky died.

"J-Jeina?"

This maid—with that huge ugly scar on her right leg and timid beyond measure—was too different from Becky, who had been Jeina's partner for ten years.

Too different from Becky, who had been calm and level-headed in all things, who had guided Jeina.

The image of Becky's gruesome state as she died before Jeina's eyes overlaid Daisy's form.

That day. If only she hadn't been assigned to clean Madam's room. If only she hadn't encountered Madam. If only she hadn't encountered that monster of a rabbit—Becky wouldn't have died.

Jeina missed dead Becky so much.

She missed Becky, who had tumbled down the stairs and died, so much.

She hated Madam, who had killed Becky.

That bewitching, beautiful woman who acted as if she didn't even remember the person she'd killed, who had laughed and chatted so happily with the servants today.

That woman who had used her monster rabbit to scatter her diediediediedie malice.

"J-eina..."

Madam had to die.

Just as Becky had died before her eyes, Madam had to die the same way.

She'd definitely trembled every time they met, had been so terrified of Madam she wanted to run away immediately—but after her childhood friend died like that, hatred overwhelmed fear.

She wasn't scared at all.

When she'd encountered three nameless servants by chance in the west wing who insisted on going to Madam despite their master's wishes, she'd even volunteered, saying shouldn't they coordinate their approach so as not to miss the opportunity to be with Madam.

...No, wait.

She hated Madam, but still—Madam was terrifying, wasn't she?

When had she, who used to startle at the tiny sound of a teacup breaking, started thinking Madam wasn't frighten—

[Deli...cious, ...malice...]

[...who, whowhowhowho...die...evil]

[Who die diedie...]

[...there, deli...ous, ...there...]

The light that had briefly returned to Jeina's eyes darkened again.

Of course she wasn't afraid. She had to avenge Becky.

Making Madam disappear was everyone's wish, not just Becky's.

killherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillherkillher

Without finding the whispers strange, Jeina's abnormally swollen hatred and malice and desire for revenge blazed up.

"...herkillherkillherkillherkillherkillher..."

"...Um, excuse me. J-Jeina!"

Jeina had been muttering without realizing it. She raised her head.

This annoying partner had been calling her name over and over.

Daisy, wearing a short slip that exposed the full scar on her leg, was pointing toward the room entrance, her face gone pale.

Jeina turned her head.

Working hours were over, so naturally the door was closed. Naturally no one was there. But.

She lowered her gaze and paused.

How did it get in? Madam's rabbit was staring directly at her.

The monster rabbit that had pounced on her today.

Remembering the tremendous headache that had struck when the rabbit pounced, Jeina took an involuntary step back.

At the same moment, the rabbit's dark red pupils split vertically, and just like before, just like before, that same red light—

[hatehatehatehatehatehatehatehate!]

[goawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoawaygoaway—]

[aaaahhhhhhAAAAAHHHHH]

"Ah, huk, huuhk."

"J-Jeina?!"

The same headache crashed over her.

No, it wasn't the same. It was worse.

Before, it had merely felt like her head was being shaken violently, but this time it felt like someone had burrowed into her skull and was brutally ripping out roots.

"Huk, uuk. Argh...!"

"Jeina, Jeina?!"

Under the impact that felt like her head would split open, Jeina collapsed with a thud and clutched her head.

The terrible pain gradually subsided over time.

But as soon as the headache receded, tremendous fear came flooding in to replace it.

Yes, it had been like this before too. For just a moment, sudden overwhelming fear had surged in.

But back then it had subsided before she could even register it, whereas now it wouldn't easily disappear.

The fear she'd forgotten, the fear any person should have felt, came crashing in all at once like waves.

From the memory of how she'd treated Madam so casually today, terror suddenly erupted.

"...ina, Jeina? Jeina! Get a hold of yourself, Jeina!"

Daisy's screaming voice echoed distantly in her ears.

Her vision flickered black.

...have to kill her, have to kill her...

Kill who?

Why am I thinking such frightening thoughts?

A hazy question with no clear target floated up just before consciousness cut out.

[...ve to, prote...eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee]

[Tch, only a temporary measure. Where the fuck is that Cardium bastard and what's he doing. At least make her dream—f*ck, get off me!]

In her fading unconsciousness, it seemed she heard overlapping voices—one wailing and one rough.

Tom and Jeina came again the next day.

Charlotte had been a bit worried since Jeina had even said yesterday to throw Nero out, but judging by how she listened to Charlotte's stories and occasionally spoke up, she seemed fine after all.

She didn't even glance in Nero's direction, as if he didn't bother her at all.

Rather, it was Nero who kept struggling and trying to get to Jeina for some reason since yesterday.

As long as Charlotte held Nero securely, it would be fine.

This pig rabbit. She'd starve him good.

"...so apparently this kind of thing is trendy even in the capital."

"Really?"

"Really. I was shocked by how many noblewomen came looking for it, and how many young ladies too."

Charlotte remained absorbed in the stories Tom and Jeina told her, just like yesterday.

The stories Tom told about the outside world were fascinating.

Tom seemed quite accustomed to it now too—he didn't tremble or show fear at all even with clumps dangling from his shoulders. That was fortunate as well.

They chatted and laughed together for quite a while.

When the conversation hit a brief lull, Charlotte hesitated slightly before asking.

"...Hey. Tom, Jeina."

"Yes, Madam."

"Yes."

"You're not afraid of Michael, right?"

Actually, this was just confirming a fact she already knew—a foundation for throwing out a different question.

What she really wanted to ask them was why they weren't afraid of Michael and the clumps.

She'd thought it unlikely they'd know much about magic, but still, just in case.

If they knew, even better. If they didn't, she planned to tell them.

It was a thought that had occurred to her last night before falling asleep.

Couldn't she use Tom and Jeina to spread word to the other servants, even a little, that Michael wasn't someone to fear?

The servants already perceived Charlotte as a frightening existence, so it would be difficult for her to explain herself, but Tom and Jeina were fellow servants.

No matter how scared they were, they might listen a little if a colleague spoke up.

"Of course not."

At their smiling response, Charlotte's face brightened.

But.

"Why is that—"

"He's hate—such a grateful person."

Just as she was about to ask why, Jeina said something strange.

Charlotte paused.

"...What?"

Hate—grateful? Had she heard that right?

She looked at Jeina, but her smile was too clear for someone who'd just said something strange.

"I'm not scared. He's truly someone to be grateful for."

"Oh, yeah. Really?"

The words that followed were perfectly normal.

She must have misheard. Right, why would anyone mix the word 'hate' before 'grateful'?

"He's grateful—I hate him."

Charlotte had just dismissed it and was about to ask why again when—however—Jeina spoke strange words again in a voice oddly mixed with metallic sounds.

"Uh...?"

Charlotte had to pause once more.

"I hate Master."

This time, as if to prove she hadn't misheard, Jeina said it with a smiling face.

"Ihateihateihateihatehim."

In that metallic voice. Those strange words. Once more.