NOMAMWTM Chapter 36

Charlotte was completely taken aback by the utterly unexpected situation.

"Um, excuse me—"

"Miss, miss, hic, I was so scared, so scared, hic, huuuuuugh!"

The child clung to her legs, sobbing and sobbing again.

"Something scary, hic, kept, in my ears, it kept, hic, huuugh, whispering, huuuuuugh."

Just as she'd suspected—the lumps had been trying to lure the child.

Charlotte recalled the earlier scene, her blood running cold.

What if this child had truly been entranced and opened that door?

All those lumps would have swarmed toward the child...

"Huuugh, huuuuuuugh!"

[Master, shouldn't you calm her down first? She's so loud.]

Nero's heartless words snapped her back to attention.

The child had nearly died—of course she could cry. Charlotte shot the rabbit a sidelong glance, then carefully placed her hand on the back of the child still clutching her legs, face drenched in tears.

"Huuuuuuuuuugh."

[Is she insane? This is why I hate brats!]

"Be quiet."

"Huuuugh, huugh, hic, hic! Sorry, hic!"

"Oh, no, I wasn't talking to you. You can cry. I'm sorry—you were scared, weren't you? It's okay..."

Charlotte gently patted the child's back, trying to soothe her. The child had misunderstood the warning meant for Nero and had started hiccupping.

"Huuuuuuuugh."

Reassured by those words, the child cried for quite some time longer before finally stopping.

"Hic, I'm sorry, hic!"

"It's fine. Are you alright?"

Charlotte waited patiently for the child to calm down completely before asking carefully.

"How did you end up out here at night?"

"I just came in for a moment, hic, but the door suddenly wouldn't open... hic!"

The door had opened easily when Charlotte tried it—something must have been wrong with it.

The child said it had been truly terrifying and began sobbing again. Then, regaining some composure and perhaps feeling embarrassed, she jumped up and bowed deeply to Charlotte.

"I'm sorry, hic. Thank you."

Charlotte blinked at this person—the first since Jeina, Tom, and those who had died to actually speak to her properly.

Was it because she was a child, still unaware? Or did Charlotte somehow seem normal to this child alone?

Charlotte stood there in a daze, patting the child's head, then shook her own.

She'd been treated like a monster so consistently that even in this situation, such pointless thoughts crept in.

"Where is your room? I'll take you there. If you're with me, it should be safe to open doors."

Once the child had calmed considerably, Charlotte stood and asked.

The child gripped her hand tightly and pressed close.

"Hic, second floor of the west wing, the room at the very end."

She'd heard servants stayed in the east wing—were there people living in the west wing too?

Charlotte walked down the dark corridor with the occasionally sniffling child.

Even while sniffling, perhaps because of her near-death experience with the lumps, the child kept glancing around anxiously.

Whenever she drifted even slightly away from Charlotte, she'd startle with alarm and hurry back, walking carefully.

"There, there it is!"

After walking for some time, the child raised her voice, thick with relief.

She'd been trembling the whole way, but seeing familiar surroundings seemed to release her tension.

Charlotte opened the door slightly.

Since it was a room where a child stayed, the magic circles seemed better maintained—she could feel unusual magical energy from inside.

"Go on in. If something like this happens again, you must never come outside, understand?"

"Th-thank you..."

The child stood before the door, fidgeting with her hands clasped together.

Then she bowed deeply at the waist.

"You're the, the Madam, right? I heard about you from my sister—that you're incredibly beautiful. You really are so, so beautiful in person, like an angel, a goddess. Thank you so much for saving me. I'll make sure to tell my sister. Really, really, thank you so much, hic."

The child's words tumbled out in a rush. She must have been holding back tears—by the end, a sob broke through.

Charlotte stared at the child blankly before telling her no, to hurry inside, and to be very careful from now on.

The child nodded repeatedly.

"Thank you, really thank, hic, you. I'll never forget this kindness, hic."

The child bowed once more before slipping inside the room.

Click.

—Huuuuuuuugh.

As the door closed, another sob sounded—reassured now—then gradually faded away.

At least she seemed to be calming down.

[How disgustingly noisy.]

"Can't you be quiet?"

Charlotte grabbed the rabbit by the scruff and flicked its snout—the rabbit that kept complaining when the child had done nothing wrong.

[Ow, owww!]

"Reflect on yourself."

Charlotte tossed the rabbit to the floor—it didn't even hurt, yet it was making a fuss. She looked once more at the door where the child had disappeared, then felt the fatigue she'd briefly forgotten come crashing down and staggered.

She turned to head back to her bedroom.

Fingers brushing the tiny orb that had been a sphere of light, the one that had led her to that child.

She was exhausted to death, but still.

'Thank you so much.'

The child's bright words of gratitude, spoken without a trace of fear even after learning she was the "Madam."

A strange warmth came over her—at least to this child, she wasn't treated as a monster. Relief, too, that she'd saved a life.

Barely making it back to her bedroom, she collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep as if losing consciousness.

Hannah had no idea how she'd made it back to the annex in that state of mind.

What had been the problem?

The thought of wanting to see the main house, so much larger and grander than the annex?

The thought of wanting to visit a place only adults could go?

The thought of how much attention she'd get, how exciting it would be, when she returned to tell her adventure story after sneaking away from the other children?

Whatever the problem had been, Hannah had snuck into the main house during the day wearing her sister's old maid uniform that she'd wheedled out of her long ago—despite knowing from birth, with perhaps slight exaggeration, just how dangerous the main house was and exactly why children had to stay in the annex.

She'd thought that no matter how much more dangerous the main house was, she'd be fine if she just followed the same rules they kept in the annex.

But before she could properly explore the main house, she became trapped in a room on the third floor. Afraid that struggling to open it or making loud noises would alert adults, she simply decided to stay there until morning.

She'd naively thought she could somehow force the door open and escape as soon as dawn broke.

But night came.

The terrifying night when you couldn't leave your room, even in the annex. That night, Hannah understood why the main house was so dangerous, and why children absolutely had to be protected in the annex.

There was clearly nothing around her, yet at some point, voices whispered in her ear.

—[youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave youcanleave]

A horrifyingly terrifying voice covered her mind, insistently trying to move her body and make her leave.

The moment her hand moved against her will to grab and turn the doorknob, she felt it.

A cold chill several times stronger than what she felt in the annex. A chilling coldness. A scream in her head to get back, right now!

If she'd gone out like that, or if the Madam hadn't saved her, Hannah probably would have died.

The Madam who saved her was truly beautiful.

Her sister Daisy had told her that if she ever saw a beautiful monster, she should run—that the Madam was a monster. But to Hannah, she was simply a goddess who'd saved her life.

A pure white angel that even the horrors couldn't carelessly approach. Kind, beautiful, and lovely—an angel.

When her sister came, she'd tell her about it too.

She didn't want to get caught for going to the main house, but even if she got scolded, she wanted to share the story with someone about how the angel had saved her.

Inside the annex-connecting room, she trembled and cried for a long time in front of the magic circle that led to the annex, waiting until dawn broke before going back.

And then.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Adin, Adin!"

"Adin, calm down!"

For the first time, Hannah had to watch Adin—always sickly and gentle—lose his temper fiercely.

"What do you think Master goes through to protect this place, and you break the rules!"

Adin, who always insisted they follow the rules, which she'd found boring.

But Adin, always gentle, who at fifteen led the children as the eldest brother, the oldest one there.

Adin became angry, then coughed up blood violently.

Adin was already very sick, and the feeling that she'd made him even sicker made Hannah sob uncontrollably.

She'd done wrong.

She'd never go out again.

She was sorry. Even though the adults kept telling her how dangerous the main house was, she hadn't understood.

She'd never do it again.

But Hannah didn't know.

She'd been so flustered crossing back to the annex that she hadn't properly followed all the rules about turning off and reactivating the magic circle when moving between the main house and annex.

And inside the hem of her skirt, something black and round clung there, its eyeballs rolling round and round and round and round and round.