NOMAMWTM Chapter 27

"I've answered plenty, haven't I? Now it's Master's turn to answer."

"...What?"

She knew he was a demon, but those reptilian eyes sent chills down her spine. Charlotte rubbed her arms.

"What are you, really?"

The question finally dropped.

'But Master, what are you, really?'

He'd asked the same thing two days ago, right after she'd woken from fainting.

A question that suggested certainty—certainty that she wasn't human.

'You're the monster—'

The words Michael had thrown at her during their fight cut through her mind. Her mood soured naturally.

If she really were some monster with tremendous power, she wouldn't even feel wronged.

But she was just an ordinary person who couldn't even properly control the one power she had, someone who didn't deserve to be called a mage.

Charlotte lowered her eyes and mumbled.

"...Stop saying that. Stop asking what I am."

"But to my eyes, Master really isn't human. Humans can't be this terrifying. I'm not afraid of things that can kill me unless they're beings of high rank."

Nero tilted his head and held out his palm toward her.

Beads of cold sweat dotted his white palm, just like he'd shown her two days ago.

Even that felt repulsive.

She wasn't a monster.

Charlotte hunched her shoulders slightly.

Nero stared at her with an expression of complete incomprehension, then shrugged.

"Well, if you don't want to talk about it, can't be helped. But Master, why are you so scared of this place?"

"...I'm really just an ordinary person."

"Mmm. Sure, let's say that's true. Either way, I don't get it. The most dangerous thing here is belly-up fawning in front of you."

Nero answered in a tone that suggested he didn't believe her at all, pointing at the masses.

"...Don't come near."

The instant she said it, the masses huddled in the corner of the room seemed to understand she meant them and started surging forward with a clamor. Charlotte went pale and spoke urgently.

She'd worked through her emotions, but Jeina's death right before her eyes remained vivid.

The masses that had been about to launch into the air dropped to the floor with a thud.

They rolled back to their original corner in oddly dejected shapes.

"See? See? It's fascinating every time I watch."

Nero wiggled his hips side to side as he approached her, then dropped his chin onto her shoulder with a plop.

It was something he'd done often as a rabbit, but coming from a grown man, it felt disgusting. Charlotte jerked sideways.

"How cold."

Nero smiled crookedly. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Anyway, no need to be so scared. Those things—they killed that maid at the end because she was trying to kill you, right?"

"..."

Charlotte pressed her lips together tightly.

"Besides, they really hate humans. They drool trying to kill every one they see. The fact that they obey you is what's strange."

Nero's eyes narrowed into sly crescents.

"Last time when you said you hated seeing humans die, those things that only ever cared about killing humans didn't kill a single person for a while. You know that? Master, you're definitely not just human..."

"...Everyone else says they can't see them, but you can, it seems."

Charlotte deliberately ignored his last remark and changed the subject.

Adeline had clearly said that everyone in the estate, herself included, couldn't see the anomalies, yet Nero spoke as if he could see the masses.

The demon's red eyes curved prettily.

"Because I'm not human."

It sounded like he was saying she wasn't human either. Charlotte turned her head sharply away.

Tap tap.

"Oh my."

At the sudden knock, Nero became a rabbit again.

Charlotte slowly got to her feet.

Whoosh. Even before she could tell them to move, the masses retreated to their corner on their own.

She glanced at them briefly, then opened the door.

"Charlotte, have you been well?"

"...Adeline?"

It was Adeline who'd come.

She smiled gently, just as she had two days ago.

Adeline said Michael wouldn't like it if he knew she'd visited, then handed over a single luxurious bound notebook and disappeared.

Along with the words that she'd written an explanation inside.

Nero hopped onto the desk and peered at it curiously.

[What is it?]

"...I don't know."

—...Let me out.

Charlotte stared at the book without a title, then started when she realized it looked almost identical to Michael's father's diary she'd seen before. But she showed nothing and opened the book.

What Adeline had given her was a notebook.

An explanation was written in elegant handwriting.

『This is something Anton—Michael's father—and I used together. We made several identical copies, but since Michael probably won't let us meet, I brought this from the storage room.』

It was a notebook enchanted so that when Charlotte wrote something, it would appear identically in Adeline's copy.

Conversely, what Adeline wrote would appear to Charlotte. Think of it as a letter allowing immediate delivery and reply, the writing explained.

Charlotte slowly read through the text that filled the notebook densely.

Adeline had thoughtfully organized everything—what had happened in the estate until now, information about the anomalies, and other detailed things she needed to know—laid out systematically.

The regulations she'd seen before were tucked inside as well.

Nero hopped up to inform her that Michael's father and Adeline had created the regulations.

At Adeline's advice written below that it would be good to memorize them, Charlotte read and reread them meticulously.

Much of what Adeline had told her before seemed to be roughly the major truths, so aside from that there wasn't much new, but still, a few things stood out.

『I didn't finish telling you last time, Charlotte.

Since the anomalies obey you so well, they're probably speaking favorably about you.

Michael has been able to hear the voices of anomalies since birth. Just like you can see them.

That's probably why he's even more suspicious of you.』

The anomalies talked?

[Ah, they talk. I can't hear it either, but sometimes I catch bits. It's like... curses being poured out, I guess. The kid suffered because of it.]

"...I see."

Charlotte murmured.

The more she organized her thoughts, the more she learned, the more she understood why he thought of her as a monster.

It was unfair, sad, and difficult.

But she understood.

She slowly read through all of Adeline's explanations.

When the densely written text ended, she stared at the blank space on the paper for a long time before pressing down firmly to write something.

Everyone's afraid of me, and Michael doesn't trust me either, so why do you believe me, Adeline?

[Huh?]

Nero made a strange sound beside her, but Charlotte ignored him and waited for Adeline's answer.

The more she'd organized her thoughts over these two days, the more she understood why the estate's people feared her, the more this question had grown.

Charlotte had already acknowledged it while organizing her thoughts.

The masses that were monsters to everyone else—monsters who might kill them at any moment—were docile beings to her.

Docile enough that she'd lived here nearly a month without noticing this place was such a terrifying location.

If she hadn't witnessed the murder, she might have lived like that for months more.

So the servants who'd never exchanged a word with her acted like they were dying of fear, even that demon nearby said she wasn't human, and she herself didn't know why the masses liked her, yet why did Adeline believe her when no one else believed she was human?

As if choosing her words, a drop of ink appeared darkly on the notebook.

Charlotte flinched and stared at it.

Soon, a confident hand began to embroider the paper.

To be honest, if I'd encountered Charlotte like everyone else, knowing nothing, I might have been a little scared too.

But my son can hear the voices of anomalies that no one else can hear, so isn't it not so strange that Charlotte can see them, and that they obey you?

More than anything, you healed me, and if you hadn't, I wouldn't even be alive right now.

Michael seems to think you're deceiving all of us, but... I think differently.

I don't think you're acting. The power you used to save me that day was truly warm.

Charlotte, ordinary people couldn't escape from the anomalies.

We were just trapped, unable to move forward. We only survived.

Then doesn't that mean an extraordinary person—Charlotte—might be the hope that can open an escape route?

I don't know why, but I have a feeling that you might be the person who could lead us forward.

I'm going to trust my instincts—they're pretty good.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'm actually expecting it, so don't feel pressured.

I feel embarrassed and sorry that we seem to be relying only on young people.

Also, Charlotte.

There's something I didn't tell you—Michael hasn't been able to be with anyone for ten years.

He's always been alone, always a lonely child, so to me, Charlotte, who can be by his side, feels like such a great hope...