Codex Null: Simulation Through Madness

Back in the present, inside the living room, on the same sofa where Noel had been sitting alone earlier, Lilith now sat pressed against him, clinging to him as if the events from just minutes ago had never happened.

Together, they looked across at Selena, who sat quietly in front of them.

For a brief moment, Noel's mind wandered.

He remembered his own shameful past — the days when he still didn't understand the meaning of failure, when arrogance had filled him to the brim, and he had believed, without question, that the world revolved around him.

He remembered the first time, he met Selena, and for a moment, he wanted return back to his room.

In the end, he chose to close that chapter, attributing it to nothing more than the reckless ignorance of his six-year-old self.

"Have you finished talking with Serah? You know, that business you left for?" Noel asked suddenly.

Selena had been staring at him since she arrived, silent and unmoving. And so, he decided to speak first.

He didn't really expect an answer — and indeed, she gave none. Instead, in a calm, steady voice, she asked:

"How much did you remember?"

Noel met her gaze with a calm one, and took a moment to consider his reply. Then he shook his head.

"No matter what I say, you won't believe it. You'll still plan to call some witch or someone else to try and check it yourself… so why bother asking?"

"Have you tried?" Selena asked again, her tone carrying a quiet confidence.

Something in that confidence made Noel smile.

He thought back — how, despite trying to keep the ordinary life he'd been living, he had dropped her countless hints. How, in the simulation, he had even spoken to her directly.

Did those not count?

He wondered for a moment, then chuckled softly. "Around seven years' worth of memory have returned to me," he said at last.

He decided to be honest.

They had never given him any real answers when he asked… but he wouldn't be the same — at least not with topics he could safely divulge, like this one.

Selena continued questioning him after that — about his condition, how much he understood of it, and how he had healed his soul.

He answered most of them.

Noel didn't stray far from his prepared responses, though. After all, he had no intention of confronting her this time.

Still, he figured he should get something out of this exchange.

While they talked, he tried to quietly gauge her strength… and Lilith's.

Had either of them reached the fifth rank, Law Master?

He knew those ranks didn't dictate everything about a person's combat ability, but they were still a useful measure, at least to some extent.

In the end, he gleaned nothing certain about their ranks.

But he did come away with one useful detail: of the three — Selena, Lilith, and Serah — Selena was the strongest, and Lilith the weakest.

Absorbed in his thoughts, Noel was pulled out of them by a different kind of question from Selena.

"Are you not being too close with Lilith? How will she ever make a boyfriend when she clings to her big brother like this?"

Her gaze slid toward Lilith, who was hugging his arm between her breasts and leaning against him as if she belonged there.

For a moment, Selena's eyes narrowed, the faint gleam in them turning sharp and dangerous.

And her smile, warm on the surface, carried a chill that seeped into the air.

Noel raised an eyebrow at that… and chose to make his move.

Without hesitation, he drew Lilith closer, settling her onto his lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he let his cheek brush against hers — an old habit from when they were children, one he knew Lilith would not resist.

"Does she need to?" Noel asked softly.

The question, whether a boyfriend was even necessary — hit the room hard, and the air seemed to cool.

Noel, however, didn't mind. Lilith's warmth was pressed firmly against him.

Besides, putting the simulations aside — where he seemed to have suffered the most under Lilith… in his eyes, Selena was the one most responsible for his current state. So, playing nice with her wasn't on his list.

With the memories he had regained, Noel understood something clearly now — Lilith alone could never have kept him from making contact with the Hidden Society.

It was Selena. She had been the one controlling the boundaries around him, tightening the invisible net to ensure he would never meet anyone from the other side.

Today's encounter had been nothing more than a slip in her control — a coincidence.

After all, Serah was different. She was someone Selena couldn't affect the way she did others.

If it hadn't been for that, events would never have unfolded the way they did.

Even then… did he really need to provoke her like this? Especially with Lilith, who was equally at fault, sitting right there?

One might wonder. But for these two women, there was never a correct answer.

No matter what, he had no intention of letting go of either of them.

That was why, at this moment, as he felt like annoying her… he did exactly that. Simply.

"You know, there's something I'm strangely curious about," Noel said.

Selena stayed silent again. All the better — time to rattle her more.

"Do you think I met Serah today by coincidence?" he asked.

His tone carried a quiet weight, hinting that he hadn't gone to Charles Street to gather Null Points at all, but to wait for Serah. And the suggestion was enough to stir all kinds of storms in Selena's mind.

Noel noticed it — and his smile widened.

He had been wondering how to explain the sudden interest in gathering antiquities, but today's meeting had solved that neatly.

With Serah in the picture, Selena's focus would drift away from the antiquities… and toward Serah instead.