Things almost seemed to be moving in a blur for Noth after his triumph. It felt like his brain couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened, and even though he could feel a sense of satisfaction at having defeated Jeck, the reality of it all still hadn’t particularly sunk in. It just didn’t feel real yet, as if time was still stuck on the confrontation and hadn’t moved past it. Noth was practically stuck in a daze. Perhaps his mind was just tired after all of the earlier events, but he couldn’t focus on anything, just running on autopilot until he woke up the next day. It would be a lie to say that his brain wasn’t still foggy after he woke up, but at least now he was able to hold on to a train of thought or two if he really focused. His body felt strangely heavy and sluggish when he tried to move however, so even after the slight improvement to his mind, he eventually accepted giving up on the rest of the day and hoping that this lethargy would soon clear away.

It took almost three days after the incident before Noth felt conscious and healthy enough to tackle the aftermath he’d been forced to put off. He hadn’t been able to realize it with how muddled his head had been, but now that he had the wherewithal to look back on the previous days, he was almost certain that his typically clingy angel had been missing from the moment he left the greenhouse. His mumbled and absentminded wishes had all been granted just as they should have been, even without her visible presence, so perhaps it didn’t really change anything if she was perpetually nearby him or not. Noth found the realization interesting, and a piece of his curiosity was echoing back that it was worth taking a bit of time to look further into. However, an even larger chunk of his mind could only scream at him that this had never happened before and was therefore greatly worrisome. Sadly, once his missing angel popped back into existence, she acted like she had no idea what he was talking about.

In the end, Noth was once again forced to give up on getting any answers from her for now.

…Very begrudgingly, though.

First up, he’d have to report to his father, who he’d not seen since the confrontation between the two ‘friends’. There was a small concern that his father might have left the event feeling wounded, and even if Noth’s intended purpose was to open his father’s eyes to the snake in front of him while simultaneously driving the monster back, that didn’t excuse any amount of hurt or burden he’d caused to the man’s emotions. Unexpectedly, however, instead of consoling a saddened man, Noth instead had to console a worried father. Considering that the boy had been missing for a few of their scheduled meetings and dinners, it was no wonder that his father’s reaction was like that. Honestly, either of his father’s possible reactions would have been a handful to deal with, but the boy felt a small tingle at the back of his heart at the reaffirmation that Ruth Kieran cared much more for his son than he did for whatever awful fake ‘friend’. Hopefully this meant that he wouldn’t care all too much that Jeck wasn’t ever coming back.

There was, however, a new problem that was poking at Noth’s side:

His father was having nightmare driven insomnia.

Somehow this new disease had cropped up while Noth had been knocked out the past few days. It sounded too fishy to not be related to the previous accidental madness incident from all those weeks ago. Far too fishy indeed. Especially with the way his angel was suddenly refusing to look at him right now. However, the boy could do nothing but sigh and ask a different question; He knew his angel too well to think she’d chime in with a helpful answer to this on command, so a less invasive question would have to be used instead.

“...Is there anything we can do to fix this again, angel?”

However, unexpectedly the Earl jumped in quicker than the angel could respond.

“No, please, really! I wouldn’t want to bother either of you over this, and especially not the angel. It’s nothing so special as to need divine help, I’m sure I’ll be fine. Let’s just give it a few days to run its course.”

Noth wasn’t really buying it. His father looked haggard and rough, like he might be slowly descending back into his previous crazy pre-monster state. The boy’s worry was immense when he realized that this might be the precursor for that whole awful event repeating itself, but the gentle hand of his angel on his shoulder mixed with her reassuring murmurs in his ears helped to decrease his fears a hefty amount.

This rollercoaster of emotions he was feeling over his father was reminding him yet again just how much things had changed over the past few years. All of a sudden the monstrous, murderous, scary, crybaby that was Earl Kieran had found a place in Noth’s heart anew. Now it was hard to see him as anything more than an overemotional, caring father, who sometimes couldn’t help but let himself get carried away by his feelings. A part of it felt wrong, like Noth was too easily forgiving the man who’d butchered his mother... And perhaps that part would never, ever let go. And really, there was a secret part of the boy that was happy that he didn’t lose that piece of cynicism towards the man. So long as that part of him remained, he was sure that even should his expectations be betrayed again, he’d at least be ready for the fall this time. It was a necessary defence, a shield for the future, a protection for his heart.

Never would Noth let himself get fooled again.

But…

Maybe…

He could still get away with giving at least a sliver of his heart to those who loved him.

There was no way he would like everything his loved ones did.

Maybe, for now, he could try to forgive those who showed they were worth it.

And maybe, with Noth around, and with the new power he’d been granted, he could stop such tragedies from striking again.

He could slowly wipe the dirt and filth off of the people he cared for.

It was worth a try at least.

~~~

Noth was doing his best to hide his excitement as he headed down towards the kitchens. It seemed that now that there was nothing else in the way, he’d finally get to make some progress on solving the mystery of the kitchen maid Elillith, and the enigma of why his angel seemed to favour her so. Perhaps this was his chance to finally put one of his many questions to rest, for the first time in a long while. The kitchen was upsettingly full of staff when Noth arrived, making it seem like he’d have to weave through the myriad of busy, hot bodies if he wanted to find the particular one he was looking for. Just the thought was making the boy claustrophobic. He’d never in his life had to be in such close contact with so many people at once, especially in the smoky heat that the ovens were oppressing the room with.

For a moment, Noth could even feel his throat closing in on itself, just from his own imaginings.

The boy let out a small gagging sound as he clutched his throat and turned away from the stifling room. He was breathing a little too hard, hard enough that his chest hurt just a tad as his lungs tried to catch up and correct themselves. There was a light pressure on his head, recognizable as the soothing pats of his angel’s hand, and Noth did his best to try and focus on that feeling instead of any of the others assailing him, in a desperate attempt to calm down more quickly.

This unforeseen attack from his own unreasonable panic greatly worried Noth. It seemed so odd and even scary to have his body suddenly overreact in such a way. But even more than worry or fear, Noth was miffed that his body would betray him in such a way. How could he ever become a great monster hunter when he got panic attacks from something as simple as a crowded room? How completely silly of a thing to have such a freak out over. He fisted the clothing at his chest and scowled, staring down at his aching heart as he swore to somehow fix the stupid reaction someday.

Just beyond Noth’s busy thoughts he could make out the dim murmurs of the kitchen staff nearby. It seemed that they were trying to sort out whose job it was going to be to check up on the suddenly unwell young master. Unsurprisingly, most of the servants didn’t appear to want anything to do with Noth, for various negative reasons. The angel next to him exhaled a clearly displeased huff, her arms tightly crossed in her anger. She even stopped floating, her unadorned feet planted firmly on the ground in a rare display. The boy gently tugged at her sleeve, doing his best to dissuade her from any bad ideas her irritation may bring forth. He was in no mood to pay such minor rudeness from the servants any mind; If anything, this was nothing compared to how he’d been treated before.

Somehow the room had come to a consensus as Noth attempted to soothe his angel. Elillith, the last kitchen staff who’d had any interaction with the unwanted boy, was shoved to the front of the crowd to deal with the problem, while everyone else swiftly turned around and went back to looking busy. The look on her face didn’t particularly change just as usual, but Noth’s heart squeezed a tiny bit when he thought he noticed a small irked look in her eyes. His grip on his angel’s sleeve tightened a small bit as he watched the kitchen maid’s slow approach.

“D’you require help, young master?”

The droning quality to her bored sounding voice was so hard for Noth to discern. Was she angry? Tired? Was she anything at all? He spared a quick glance towards his angel, hoping to catch a glimpse of her thoughts on the matter, but all he saw was a big pleased smile painted across her previously peeved countenance.

…Why did this please her so much?

What was so special or important about this maid that she never sees?

It was so annoying always feeling like he knew none of the answers… especially when that very annoyance was combined with a light peppering of jealousy.

Noth straightened up and reaffirmed the reason why he came here in his mind. He’d find out the answer to this riddle himself, dammit! And it all starts with today!

“Yes, I need you in particular. Come and follow me outside, Elillith.”

A few moments later had them both under the shade of Noth’s favourite tree, just outside the manor. The boy sat himself down unceremoniously on the tree's roots, motioning for the maid to join him. He’d expected any amount of hesitation, perhaps maybe a question, or even a look of light disgust to grace the woman’s features. At the very least he expected a tiny rebuttal that a servant cannot sit with their master, even if it was just on the ground. Contrary to any of Noth’s expectations, however, Elillith immediately sat on the ground, right in place. She paid no mind for her clothes or hair becoming dirtied by the soil. She paid no attention to whether she was sitting in leaves or mud. Not a word was uttered, and her expression remained unchanged as per the norm. Her eyes seemed unfocused, and yet her gaze was clearly pointed in his direction.

Noth thought back to their first meeting, when she swept the acrid and disgusting filth off of the garden table using her apron. The woman hadn’t even batted an eyelash at the action. She truly seemed in both meetings to be a completely unfazed person. Noth couldn’t help but study the woman in front of him all over again, his analytical eyes scanning every small detail he could find in the hope of gaining even just the tiniest bit more understanding of her. Sadly he found no new information about her in this way. It was like he was watching a statue with how emotionless her face looked. The boy quickly glanced around for his angel, finding her sitting on a tree branch above, looking down encouragingly at the two of them as she happily swung her feet. Noth couldn’t help but frown a small bit as he realized his best bet would be to ask the stoic maid questions about herself. But Noth wasn’t a very sociable person, not even a little. So how was he supposed to do this kind of thing? How do you get to know someone?

“Umm, so, how… Uhm... Tell me about yourself Elillith.”

“M’name’s Elillith. M’ a kitchen maid. I help in Earl Kieran’s kitch’n.”

The boy grimaced at how massively unhelpful her answer was. He couldn’t help fisting and pulling out the grass peeking out between the roots next to him as his mind went into overdrive, struggling to think of what to say next.

“Yes, wonderful, you’re a kitchen maid. Great. Do you like being a maid here?”

“Y’don’t have to like somethin' t’ do it.”

“Then…is that a no?”

“S’not.”

“...So it’s a yes then…?”

“S’not.”

Noth wanted to scream. This whole conversation barely even qualified as being a conversation. His frustration was rising immeasurably, but the boy grit his teeth and tried to continue on.

“Then what even made you come work here?”

The question felt stupid once it left the boy’s lips. Obviously it was to make money using her [Gift], just like most of the other [Maids] in the manor.

“Th’ young lord’s mother gave me a job here, s’now I work here.”

That answer didn’t sound right. No, all of Noth’s mother’s servants were removed once she died. Why would they have just left this one here? As Noth stared at the maid in disbelief, his mind rocketed through all the possible explanations. Was it due to her quiet unreadable nature that they simply forgot about her? Perhaps the woman’s stoicness made it so they’d disliked having to converse with her, resulting in there being no one to tell her to leave. Or could it be that she was lying? But with how straightforward and dull a person she seemed to be, it didn’t seem likely that she’d lie about something like that. Or maybe that’s the trick, and her coldness is a facade to help her hide her nefarious secrets better! But if she was up to something or posed a threat to him, then it’s unlikely that his angel would have reacted with such care towards the woman in the first place.

Noth hated how much of a riddle this was all continuing to be. As his mind steamed with the sheer amount of unending theories weighing him down, his lips let out a small mumble, unbidden.

“How is it possible that Elillith the [Maid] stayed behind?”

“But young master, ‘m not a [Maid].”