“Besides, it’s not like I’m some pureblood royal anyway.”
“Not pureblood?” What did she mean by that?
Allen tilted his head, having never heard that before. Then he noticed Mylène glancing at Noel, probably silently asking if it was okay to say more. Noel just gave a small shrug in response. Apparently, it was fine, though whether that meant the information was insignificant or that she now trusted Allen enough was hard to say.
“Oh, I don’t mean bloodline-wise or anything. I’ve been told I have the blood of elven royalty flowing through me. I just...don’t really know much about it myself.”
“You don’t know?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. The truth is, I have no memories from before a few years ago.”
Noel stated this so plainly that Allen’s eyes instinctively widened in surprise. He had suspected as much. After all, the Noel he knew well had been the same, but he hadn’t expected her to open up this much.
“Apparently, there was an incident where the elven royal family was attacked by demons, and people think that might be the cause. Oh, and don’t feel like you have to be careful around me, okay? I’m not bothered by it.”
“If anything, maybe you should be a little bothered,” he replied.
“What good would that do? It’s not like worrying about it would change anything. In fact, it’d just be a waste of energy. Well, it is a little inconvenient that I can’t remember any of the royal knowledge I supposedly learned back then.”
“Ah. So when you said you weren’t a pure royal, that’s what you meant?”
“Exactly. Even if I have royal blood, if I don’t know anything, then I’m not even half a proper royal.”
So that was what she meant. Allen nodded. It didn’t sound like she was just putting herself down. Rather, it felt like a form of self-discipline. Having royal blood wasn’t enough. If she was going to claim the title of Elven Queen, she needed to have the proper knowledge to go with it.
Seeing Noel trying to be worthy of the title, Allen couldn’t help but soften his gaze. She may not have been the Noel that he knew, but in moments like this, she was unmistakably still Noel.
“Well, that’s not the whole story,” she continued.
“Oh? What else?”
“I was apparently attacked by demons, and before I knew it, I found myself deep in the mountains. I don’t know if I escaped or if someone got me out of there. Probably the latter. That’s my oldest memory—the first thing I remember in this life. My body was torn to shreds, my mind hazy. I remember thinking, vaguely, that I was going to die there. And that’s when I met her.”
“Her?”
“The one who saved my life. The person who took care of me for a while afterward. And the reason I’m heading to the Frontier.”
“I see.” Allen nodded, understanding why she had brought all this up. It was to explain the reason behind her journey to the Frontier. So that was how it all connected.
But now that he realized who she was talking about, a new question emerged. The person Noel was referring to had to be the woman she called her master, an eccentric and stubborn dwarven blacksmith who lived deep in the mountains. Allen knew that much. And precisely because he knew that, he couldn’t figure out what connection she might have to a Frontier town.
“No, maybe saying she took care of me isn’t quite right. It kind of felt like I was the one looking after her. She did save my life, that much is true, but beyond that, I can’t really say she did anything in particular. So why am I trying to go to the Frontier in the first place?” Noel said.
“Uh, I was about to ask you the same thing? I thought I was the one who wanted to know,” said Allen.
“Noel said she wanted to go thank her because she was her savior,” answered Mylène.
“Thank her? So that means she’s in the Frontier?” asked Allen.
“That’s what I heard, so I figured I might as well go while we’re nearby. But the more I think about it, the more it feels like maybe she should be thanking me,” said Noel.
Allen hadn’t caught the second half of that conversation. Because the person Noel called her master—the one who lived deep in the mountains—had, to his knowledge, been killed by the Fenrir. So if she was supposedly in the Frontier town now, that would change everything. Which could only mean...
“You’re going to thank her because you two parted ways before you could properly say anything?” asked Mylène.
“Hmm? Yeah, pretty much. She saved me, or rather, maybe I should say she picked me up. I think it was about six months to a year after.”
“That’s a little vague timing-wise, isn’t it?” responded Mylène.
“Oh, hush. We were living in a place where hardly any people ever came by. Time kind of blurs together when you live like that. And then the people who came to get me were elves too, so their sense of time was just as fuzzy,” Noel replied.
“Elves came for you?” asked Allen.
“Yeah. One day, completely out of the blue. Apparently, all the other members of the royal family had died off for various reasons, and they were searching for any survivors. They found me by chance and came to bring me back. But it was so sudden, everything turned into a mess, and I didn’t even get the chance to thank her properly,” said Noel.
“And you’ve been carrying that with you ever since,” said Mylène.
“It’s not like I constantly think about it. But she did save me, and the fact that I never actually thanked her always lingered in the back of my mind,” said Noel.
As the two of them continued their conversation, Allen half listened, his brows furrowed and lips pressed tightly together. If what Noel was saying was true, then it was something that should be impossible. In the world Allen knew, that event could not—should not—have happened. And if it had...then that could only mean this was a world he didn’t know.
It wasn’t certain yet, but faced with the growing likelihood of that unwelcome possibility, Allen let out a long, reluctant sigh.