NOMAMWTM Chapter 26

Morning sunlight filtered in.

Charlotte, who had been sitting on the bed with her knees drawn up and her face buried in her arms, raised her head at the rustling sound.

Michael, who had been asleep for two full days, was awake and blinking.

He sat up, pressing his temples firmly as if dizzy, then stiffened when their eyes met.

"...Are you up?"

She quietly watched him rise and asked softly.

Michael, with his pale face where color still hadn't returned despite having slept enough, remained still for a long time before pulling his lips up.

"...Yes. Did Charlotte sleep well too?"

It was the affectionate voice from before the incident.

But she didn't want to see a face that wasn't genuine.

"Stop acting."

At her single sentence, Michael's face melted and turned cold in an instant.

Though it was the same indifferent face, the temperature change was stark.

...Mm.

Though she'd finished organizing her thoughts, she still felt a bit intimidated.

He got up from the bed, seeming to go straight out without even washing, and headed directly for the door.

"...You know."

He stopped short, having opened the door handle halfway.

Charlotte hesitantly asked what had stuck in her mind last while organizing her thoughts.

"Can we really not leave here?"

"I don't want to hear such talk right after waking up. Since you told me to stop acting, I will."

Michael's cold voice echoed through the room.

So it's true.

"...Are you going to kill someone again today?"

The sharp question following his rigid answer pierced her chest.

Ouch. She sighed inwardly.

"I told you I didn't kill anyone."

He didn't even pretend to listen and just opened the door and left.

Bang.

The closing door was particularly loud.

"...Haah."

She buried her face back in her drawn-up knees.

Then she lifted her head.

Looking out the window with the curtains open, she saw the massive golden barrier she'd thought existed only to hide magic until now.

Everything looked different all of a sudden.

This was Cardium Estate. A place where not a pitiful mage and familiars existed, but monstrosities and despair.

...But still!

Charlotte let out a final sigh, said goodbye to her tangled thoughts, and flopped down sideways.

Her thought organization was complete.

What happened had happened.

Of course, her hands still trembled when she thought of that terrible scene from two days ago, but it couldn't be helped.

Thinking positively, she was fortunate to learn the truth now rather than later.

During the two days, she'd worked hard to suppress the fear and terror that kept trying to rise up, and had also escaped the serious state where she'd been trembling even though nothing was happening.

[So what will you do now, Master?]

At that moment, the black rabbit jumped up from the other end of the bed and filled her vision.

Unable to meet her eyes, Nero flopped sideways with his paws pointing at the ceiling to match her gaze.

Two pairs of ruby-like eyes looked at each other.

"Don't know."

Charlotte replied bluntly.

"I'll have to figure it out from now on."

She stared intently at Nero.

She'd been too busy organizing her thoughts to properly interrogate this rabbit.

More precisely, she hadn't completely avoided asking—she'd only learned he was a demon.

To think the pig rabbit who'd been munching grass was a demon.

It was surprising, but since what happened had happened, she wasn't greatly shocked.

Being a demon didn't make him particularly scary either.

Most people tended to think demons were very evil, but Mom had once told her that demons as a species weren't absolutely evil.

Even in mythology, they were written as a race that received the goddess's power much more strongly than humans, and due to the aftermath of that power, their nature became strange, so they lived in a different world separated from the human world.

Perhaps the words about them being evil and the reason they came to be called demons was because they very rarely crossed over to the human world and made contracts with humans using human souls as collateral.

Mom said she'd met a demon exactly once when she was young. That demon had saved her, she'd said.

After calming down and thinking about it, if she really considered it, Nero had saved her too.

Charlotte called to the rabbit with one cheek pressed against the bed.

"You."

[Yeah?]

"Transform."

Nero's brow furrowed. So rabbits could make expressions too.

[Master, do you know how much energy transforming drains?]

"Then give me back my cute Nero."

[That—, really, honestly!]

Red light spread from the grumbling Nero's tiny body.

"Happy now, Master?"

Eventually, along with a rough voice, a man appeared, leaning on his arm and looking down at her at an angle.

Black hair. Red eyes. Definitely the man she'd seen two days ago.

Charlotte stared at him blankly for a moment.

...She'd suspected, but—

"I hugged an outside man, fed him, and slept in the same bed with him."

Other things were shocking, but that was shocking too.

Though her relationship with her husband had become terrible, she—what had Maria said? Ah, she'd wanted to keep her chastity.

"What?"

When the man grimaced, Charlotte, who'd been thinking thoughts unsuited to the situation, let out a hollow laugh.

"Since when were you Nero?"

Thinking about it now, he'd seemed strangely perceptive recently.

Like attacking Jeina—had he realized from the beginning that Jeina was possessed by a lump, by a monstrosity?

The man—Nero—narrowed the space between his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"You're a demon. Can't demons possess animals or something?"

"What are you saying? I was Nero from the start, you know? I was running away from those damn things and Master picked me up."

"...Ah, really?"

"Yeah."

Charlotte, who'd thought he'd possessed Nero, nodded somewhat reluctantly at the grumbling man, then paused.

He was a demon, yet he'd been running from monstrosities.

"You can't beat the lumps—I mean, monstrosities either?"

His expression crumpled instantly.

"...Not telling."

So he can't beat them.

"...Aren't demons supposed to be strong?"

"F*ck, I'm not usually like this. Who says I can't beat them? I'm just not telling, that's all."

Nero was a demon with rough language and quite strong pride.

His mood unpleasant, he chewed his lips.

"This isn't my real body. Long ago, I was fighting in a weakened state and almost got annihilated, so I temporarily abandoned my real body and inhabited the flesh Whitey rescued for me."

"Whitey?"

"The rabbit you saw the other day."

Charlotte opened her mouth. "Ah."

"Is he a demon too?"

Nero snorted.

"As if. Demons don't like humans that much. He's... on the humans' side."

Not a demon, but the white rabbit wasn't an ordinary rabbit either.

Taking her to Adeline wasn't an ordinary thing to begin with.

By the time Charlotte's eyes had settled, Nero, whose arm seemed to have gone numb, abruptly sat up on the bed in a rough posture.

She also sat up following him, cushion against her back.

After a long while, she asked.

"...If you're a demon, then why do you stay by my side? No, why are you even here in the first place? Since when?"

"I'm not here by choice either, you know? It's because of that thing."

Nero jerked his chin toward the window where the barrier rippled.

"...That blocks you too?"

"No living creature can leave. And I've been trapped here for 36 years, since that thing appeared."

Charlotte blinked.

Nero was older than expected. By appearance, he seemed her age.

And, if 36 years—

"...Do you know why this place is like this?"

Adeline had definitely told her.

Thirty-six years ago, this place was just a normal, sole surviving magical noble house and a distinguished ducal family.

Overnight, monstrosities suddenly appeared, a barrier suddenly formed, and everything was turned upside down.

Nero laughed shortly.

"I know. But..."

In an instant, crackle!

Charlotte flinched. Golden electricity sparked briefly around Nero's mouth.

Nero stuck out his tongue demonstratively.

A golden magic circle was engraved on his bright red tongue.

It was the same light as Michael's magic.

"...Did Michael put that on you?"

Nero, who'd retracted his tongue, laughed. Keke.

"No. His grandfather. If that kid knew the whole truth, he'd already be dead like his old man. Anyway, as you can see, I have a prohibition spell on me, so even though I know, I can't say anything. But I can help Master."

She wanted to ask what he meant by "like his old man," but Nero had already continued speaking.

"And the reason I'm with Master is partly because Master saved me, but also because I originally couldn't use much power in this state, you know? Even when I used it, I almost always fainted, and naturally I couldn't imitate this real body form. But for some reason, just by being next to Master, my power gradually recovers? That's why I'm here. Also, I'm safe from those things scattered everywhere. And... it's fun too."

He jerked his chin toward the lumps that Charlotte had been trying hard not to look at since opening her eyes.

"So take care of me, Master? Like last time, if it seems dangerous, do some prevention in advance, and I'll move you if you faint. Having one bodyguard is good for Master too, right?"

Nero curved his bright red eyes and pulled up his bright red lips.

His bright red pupils split vertically. Slit.