Chapter 22: Abnormality
“Noah-sama.”
“…Hm?”
As I walked down the corridor toward my sister Shia’s room, a servant called out to me, her voice hesitant yet urgent enough to stop me in my tracks.
“May I… have a moment of your time?”
“What is it?”
It was rare for a servant to approach me like this.
After all, I was nothing more than a “lump of dirt” in their eyes—someone beneath notice, beneath respect. Even the servants, who were meant to serve the household as a whole, rarely spoke to me unless absolutely necessary.
Which was precisely why I turned toward her with a faintly suspicious look, narrowing my eyes ever so slightly.
“It’s about Shia-sama… there’s something I must tell you.”
“…About Shia?”
The moment her name left the servant’s lips, my attention sharpened.
“P-please, don’t glare at me… I—I’ve served Shia-sama for many years.”
“…Ah. You must be Ryui, then?”
“Y-you know of me?”
“Yes. My sister has mentioned you before.” I tilted my head slightly, studying her expression. “So? What is it you need from me?”
If she truly was one of the attendants close to Shia, then she was also among those who had once warned her to stay away from someone like me.
To be blunt, I didn’t have a particularly good impression of her.
“…Shia-sama… has begun mistaking the clothes you left behind for you, Noah-sama.”
“…What?”
I had been listening with mild impatience, but the moment those words reached me, my thoughts froze completely.
“I—I’m sorry, what do you mean by that…?”
“…Shia-sama has always tried to appear strong,” the servant continued, her voice trembling slightly. “But in truth, she is a very delicate person. She hated the idea of going to war from the very beginning…”
“…What?”
“In that brutal battlefield, both of her brothers fell… and she herself lost both arms. Her confidence was shattered—her pride broken completely. And then, the younger brother she loved… was sent in her place to that same battlefield…”
The servant lowered her head, her voice tightening with emotion.
“…She could not endure it.”
“…Shia… sister…”
The words barely left my lips, weighed down by something heavy and suffocating.
“Please… I beg of you,” she said, bowing deeply. “I know I have no right to ask this of you now… but Noah-sama, you are the only one who can support her. No matter what happens—please, don’t abandon Shia-sama.”
“…You don’t need to tell me that.”
The words caught in my throat.
But… how could I have known?
I hadn’t realized that she had hated the very idea of going to war so deeply—that even the act of stepping onto the battlefield had been something she wished to avoid with all her heart.
“….”
Turning my back on the servant, I resumed walking, my steps carrying me steadily toward Shia’s room.
“I’m coming in, Shia.”
Lately, I had heard she rarely left her room.
After knocking lightly, I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
“Noah. I made food for you today. Come on, eat!”
Inside the room—
Shia was speaking.
But not to me.
She was speaking… to my clothes.
The garments I had left behind were carefully placed on her lap, as if they were a living person. With only her shoulders moving slightly, as though trying to mimic the act of holding or feeding someone, she spoke to them with a gentle, earnest expression.
The sight was so painfully fragile… it made my chest tighten.
“…Shia…”
Faced with that scene, I found myself at a loss for words.
“…N-Noah? …Noah? Noah?”
She slowly turned her gaze toward me.
Then, her eyes darted between the clothes in her lap and my standing figure—confusion and disbelief spreading rapidly across her face.
“No… why…? Noah should be right here, in my hands…”
“…Haha…”
A small, quiet laugh escaped her lips.
It was brief—too brief.
She lowered her head, as if something inside her had snapped back into place.
“Noah…!”
Then suddenly, she looked up again—
And in the next instant, she was on her feet, rushing toward me.
“Welcome back.”
I opened my arms without hesitation.
And as she threw herself into me, I gently wrapped her in an embrace—holding her as if to anchor her, as if to assure her that I was truly here.