So after some support and the ideas in my head, I have decided to rebrand this story as a collection of oneshots where Noelle has a series of chats with several people, first to accept her feelings for Asta, then dealing with rivals, and later other important people she needs to chat to. In terms of setting within the timeline, the first 6 oneshots will take place between the end of episode 126 and the end of episode 140. The 7th and 8th oneshots will be between the end of episode 148 and the start of episode 153. The final oneshot is going to be much later and I still as of yet don't know when to set it but y'all will see that for yourselves. Anyway, sorry for the confusion, this is just a new note explaining the change, this first oneshot won't change at all, only the notes and title.
Who can't resist a good tsundere who either can't admit her feelings to herself or can't voice them to the person she loves. Black Clover has both types in Noelle and Charlotte so here is my first attempt at a Black Clover fic where the two biggest tsunderes in the show sit down and chat thanks to Charlotte realizing something about Noelle. This idea came from episode 126 after Charlotte confessed to her squad that she loved Yami and then he and Asta showed up. I thought that if Charlotte looked back on that conversation she'd realize that the only way Asta could have made that connection between her actions towards Yami and Noelle's towards him would be if Noelle was dealing with something similar to her but for Asta and not Yami. This is my idea of how that could have played out so I wrote it down and decided to share it to see what y'all though. That is all for now so sit back and enjoy the first oneshot in Noelle's chats: Teatime for Tsunderes.
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Black Clover franchise.
Summary - It is the night after Charlotte's confession to her squad that she has feeling for Yami. As she is thinking on it, something Asta said when he and Yami showed up hit her. Charlotte realizes in that moment the truth about Noelle's feelings for Asta and decides to help her out. Can she get Noelle to finally admit it to herself or with she remain in denial? Set after episode 126.
Teatime for Tsunderes
Charlotte Roselei paced her room in the headquarters of her Magic Knight Squadron completely flustered from the day's events. The Captain of the Blue Rose Knights had had a day and a half to say the least. She didn't even know where to begin but decided to just look back to how today had started.
She had started the day completely normally, well at least she'd started it without a problem even if she was still in the Magic Knight hospital recovering from being possessed by an elf a few days prior. She'd woken up in her private room and had been chatting with her friend and squad mate Sol about the event.
The events were of what had happened and what she'd done during the incident were still hazy in her mind, but she knew did have flashes of memories from her time being possessed. Most notably, she recalled how much help Yami, the Captain of the Black Bulls and the man she was secretly in love with, had been to her.
That had not been helped by Sol telling her about how Yami had been crucial to saving her despite being a man. That had only caused her more fluster as she recalled what happened and worried she'd revealed her true feelings to him inadvertently during the incident. Sol was as usual blind to this and keep talking while Charlotte felt that her embarrassment couldn't get worse.
Naturally, that was the moment fate had decided to make worse for her because fate was a bitch like that. As if on cue, Yami himself had showed up to check on her with a fruit basket and wanting a word about something. Charlotte wished that she could have said that she comported herself like a Magical Knight Captain and noblewoman should have. Alas she didn't, far from it in fact.
She ended up panicking as Yami was talking and then leapt out of the window, still in her night dress, and ran as fast as she could through the streets of the capital before he could finish what he was saying. She'd ended up saving a woman from an unwanted advance by a man, accidentally grabbing a baby and returning it, inadvertently saving an old lady from a falling vase, stopping a burglary, and finally running across water for some reason as she fled her feelings while screaming the entire time.
It had taken her a while to calm down and she'd ended up on a rooftop somewhere hugging her knees by the time she had regained enough of her sense to realize where she was. She'd made an absolute fool of herself in front of the man she loved and all because of her own extreme insecurities over her feelings for him, insecurities that stemmed from the conflict inside her between her feelings and her own, admittedly sexist, stance against men.
Charlotte knew that she couldn't keep going on like this as it was only going to get worse knowing that Yami had saved her again during the elf incident. It didn't help that she'd earlier made a fool of herself at the Star Awards Festival when she'd ended up in a competition with that voluptuous witch on Yami's squad. She'd been compelled to prove herself better than the other woman by a mix of her own uncontrollably jealousy towards a clear rival for Yami's affections and Sol's encouragement to beat her, though her friend was unaware of the deeper meaning behind the contest.
That contest had ended in spectacular failure with a drinking competition that proved that the Black Bull woman was already three sheets to the wind and passed out drunk during her first drink. That should have given Charlotte the advantage until she discovered that she was a total lightweight with absolutely no tolerance for alcohol. She'd only drunk to prove her superiority over the other woman and after one deep draft of the beer she was hammered and passed out drunk after Yami took the beer from her for a tie with the witch.
What was even more humiliating was that because of her unconscious state she had missed the ceremony, one of only 2 Captains to miss it with the other being Yami himself. It was unprecedented that anyone other than Yami or Jack miss something like that but she'd done so because of her inability to contain her jealousy, well that and Sol's encouragements but she didn't blame her subordinate for her own foolish actions. Her only saving grace was that Yami missed it when his squad shocked the kingdom by coming in second.
Her punishment had been a kidnapping by Mereoleona Vermillion to teach her discipline by putting her through an intense training session in a strong magic region that happened to be an active volcano. It had been a fitting punishment for her failure, though the fact that she'd ended up in a hot spring with only an earth wall separating her from Yami didn't help her. It had caused her to imagine Yami naked and she'd passed out again, this time face first in the hot spring.
All of those things had been factors that had led to her freak out that morning and her winding up on a random rooftop. It had all become too much for her and finally Charlotte had to face the music. She couldn't keep this in anymore and due to the nature of her squad she was a complete hypocrite hating men and loving one at the same time. She had to come clean to her girls and resign if they demanded it of her.
That was why she had gathered most of her squad, excluding those on missions or still recovering from being possessed, in the courtyard of their headquarters to confess to them and accept their judgement of her. There, through her own embarrassment and fluster, she practically yelled at her girls that she was hopelessly in love wit Yami. The reaction had not been what she'd been expecting.
Charlotte had expected her squad to be appalled and demand her immediate resignation for having feelings for a man when they didn't need men in their lives. The exact opposite had happened. They'd all found it romantic that she loved her fellow captain and gushed over it, promising to help her admit her feelings to him in hopes that they got together. It had also led to over half the girls present admitting to having boyfriends and glad that they could be open about it as it had been stressful keeping them a secret from everyone else in the squad.
She knew that she would have to change her squad's stance on men and be more accepting of them, not just due to her own feelings for Yami but because of the stress it had caused her teammates and how it might actually boost the girls' moral if they could be more open with the opposite sex. That would come in time though, first Charlotte had to recover from the positive support of her team. A recovery she wasn't able to manage.
That was due to Yami's impeccably terrible timing when he showed up almost as soon as her confession was over only this time he was with that non-magic member at his side, the boy called Asta who had been the hero of the other day. This had led to her entire squad pushing her towards him to confess now, long before she was ready to do actually do so.
Between her team's encouragements, her own love shyness around Yami, and his presence right after she'd let her emotional walls down and confessed to her team, she was in no state to talk to him. Then Yami had the audacity to make it so much worse by claiming she hated him because of her ki and actions.
That was of course the farthest thing from the truth. She didn't hate Yami, she was in love with him and couldn't handle her feelings in a mature way, so she compensated by being a, as he so endearingly put it, prickly princess towards him.
Charlotte didn't want Yami to think that she hated him, she wanted to tell him the truth about how she felt towards him but couldn't, at least not right then. She was frozen from everything and couldn't formulate a few coherent words, let alone a sentence. That had been when Asta had surprised her by coming to her rescue, well sort of as he appeared to be denser than Yami which was an impressive achievement given how dense the Black Bulls Captain was.
Yami had claimed that she felt that way about him because her past actions towards him and her ki, the latter she didn't really understand other than that it was something from Yami's homeland. However, Asta had stepped in to say that she acted similar to how his teammate Noelle acted towards him. He claimed that she was like that because she trusted Yami a lot but struggled to show her feelings of it like Noelle did around him so that was why she acted the way she did.
Charlotte had not expected that in the slightest. Of course, Yami had reacted with violence towards Asta, but Asta explained himself and how Noelle acted the same around him because of her trust for him and therefore Charlotte was just like that with Yami. He further added that it wasn't something he was embarrassed about when Yami pressed him on it.
Asta further claimed that he'd taken a while to understand it himself when it came to Noelle but had deduced that it was because Noelle and he had fought so many battles together that they were comrades and thus had developed that level of trust. Therefore, Charlotte's reaction being the same meant that she trusted Yami implicitly like Noelle did towards Asta due to all the fighting together they'd done. He exemplified this by patting her on the back for some unknown reason until Sol stopped him for her while Charlotte was still trying to figure out what had just happened.
However, that wasn't the case, Asta was almost as wrong as Yami was about how she felt towards him. It wasn't that Charlotte didn't trust Yami on that level, she did and had ever since he helped her defeat her curse by stealing her heart, but because she was madly in love with him and constantly trying to not let her feelings show. She was just glad that Asta had felt something similar as it had helped, it was a good thing that…
Suddenly the realization of what Charlotte had been thinking on hit her like a ton of bricks to the face and she stopped pacing and sat down hard on her bed her eyes wide at what her mind had just connected. Asta had only been able to help her because he'd experienced something similar in his relationship with Noelle. Noelle, the youngest child of the royal family of Silva, acted towards Asta in a similar way to how Charlotte had toward Yami.
That meant one thing to Charlotte. Noelle Silva, a royal and powerful water magic user if the reports were true, had romantic feelings for Asta, an orphan commoner from the forsaken realm. Feelings that she had problems dealing with and had led her to react towards Asta in a way that reminded him of how she acted towards Yami.
Well, that was a shock to say the least. It was the last thing that Charlotte had expected to realize while in her fluster over how spectacularly emotional her day had been but by looking over the day she'd realized that it had to be true.
It was almost unbelievable, but she'd seen how Yami had trusted Asta's opinion on the matter, albeit one that was inaccurate due to his own denseness, gave Charlotte the prove that her theory was correct. Noelle was like her, she had feelings for a man and had no idea how to deal with them.
In fairness, Charlotte expected Noelle's situation to be much worse than her own. Charlotte's issue hadn't been the fact that she was a noble in love with a foreigner, though that was definitely not socially acceptable to the more traditionalist nobles who she cared little, but because of her own distaste for men.
Charlotte had never thought that she'd needed a man until one helped save her and spoke the truth to her about leaning on people despite being strong, something Yami admitted to liking in a woman, and something Charlotte agreed with when it came to men. She had always wanted a man who could fight by her side and who didn't want her just for her looks or status. Yami was that man.
However, Noelle was in a slightly different boat to her. Noelle was the scion of one of the three Royal Houses so above a noble. Add in that she had a reputation for her lack of magical control despite her high mana levels and had thus been effectively exiled to the Black Bulls, the lowest of the low Magical Knight Squadrons, because of it and she was already in a bad situation. Then, along the way to getting to where she was today, she had fallen for her teammate, something that was not unheard of, but she'd fallen for the one who had no magic and the lowest birth possible.
All of that combined with Noelle's royal upbringing and pride would almost certainly make it almost impossible for her to accept her feelings for Asta. If she had been born a Vermillion then maybe, they seemed to respect strength and Charlotte knew that Asta had that in abundance, but the Silvas were another matter, though not as bad as the Kiras. Noelle likely had no idea how to deal with romantic feelings for anyone, let alone someone of Asta's birth.
However, as Charlotte knew better than anyone, the heart was not a rational organ. You didn't choose who you fell for, it just happened and likely Noelle saw Asta for who he was just as Charlotte did for Yami and fell for him but was in a deep denial for various reasons. It was something that Charlotte felt that Noelle shouldn't be in denial of.
Charlotte wasn't sure what gave her the strength or determination for what she did next, but she felt that it was the right thing to do to help out her fellow noble and woman who was hopeless with her feelings. Maybe it was her confession to her squad, maybe it was their complete support of her and endorsement of her love despite her past statements and Yami's social status, maybe it was just her way to thank Asta for saving her, but Charlotte knew she had to do this. Of course it could also just be the fact that someone needed to be blunt with Noelle about this and Charlotte wasn't known for her tact.
Getting up and going over to her desk, Charlotte pulled out some paper and began drafting a letter to Noelle Silva. It would take into the wee hours of the morning to get it right, but she was happy with the final product. With a smile, Charlotte folded the letter, put it in an envelope that bore her squad's crest and dropped some wax on the back of it to close the envelope before affixing her House's seal on it.
All she had to do was wait until the morning to mail it and hope that Noelle agreed to what Charlotte wanted. She felt that she had worded it right to get the girl to come and see her at the designated time while giving some leeway just in case Noelle was busy. After that, well it was all down to how the royal handled it, but Charlotte was certain she was the best there was to help her out. With that in mind, Charlotte retired for a few hours of Yami filled dreams.
Noelle sat on the couch in the Black Bulls' common room reading a book on devils and curses. She wasn't sure what help it would be, but she was going to do whatever she could do to help clear Asta's name and spare him from being executed by the monster who ran the Magical Parliament. Asta was irreplaceable to her, and she knew that she couldn't live without him, not that she wanted to live with him like that but more that she needed his strength and friendship, that's it, nothing more at all.
Asta himself was preparing to head out with Gauche, Grey, and Gordan to see the latter's family as apparently Gordan's family had a long history with curse magic, which made sense given how creepy he was. They had been given this lead the day before by Charlotte Roselei, the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights, who Yami and Asta had seen about a childhood curse that had been placed on her but that had yielded little help to their investigation.
Noelle had wanted to go with Asta, not because she wanted to be by his side all the time, certainly not that, but because she wanted to make sure he was safe when seeing Gordan's no doubt creepy family. However, she was going to go and see her brother that evening and ask him about their mother. After what had happened during the elf incident and how Nozel had begun to acknowledge her, Noelle finally wanted to get more answers about their mother.
All she had to do was wait out until the time came for Finral to take her to the capital so she could visit Nozel at their family home where he was supervising the cleanup after a large portion of it was destroyed by the reincarnated elves. That meant reading a book that may help and not occasionally giving longing, sidelong, glances at Asta before he left, she most definitely wasn't doing that or blushing like a school girl when she caught herself doing it or thinking about how much she'd miss him while he was away.
Thankfully, her distracted reading ended when a spatial portal opened and a messenger bird flew through it, dropped the letter in its beak in Noelle's lap, turned and flew out the way it came before the portal vanished as if nothing had just happened. Noelle was so stunned by this that she almost missed Asta saying goodbye to her before he left.
"Just be careful Dorksta." Noelle said with her usual, and now false, arrogance and flicking one of her pigtails and not looking, until she peaked at Asta's handsome, smiling face as he waved goodbye and fought down a deep blush at the sight. "I'm not going to be around to save you this time."
"I know, I'll be careful." Asta said as he, Gordon, Grey, and Gauche left the hideout.
Breathing a sigh that Asta was gone and already feeling like part of her was missing without him, not that she needed him to be whole that is, Noelle just liked his company as they'd been through so much together since they had joined the Black Bulls, she turned to the letter in her lap. Instantly she was confused but intrigued by it as in the corned of the letter addressed to her was the crest of the Blue Rose Knights which she had not been expecting.
That was odd as she had had no dealings with their members that she recalled other than having one of them in the Royal Knights with her and their Captain and her right-hand woman being part of Mereoleona's insane volcano climb kidnapping incident and hot spring relaxation afterwards. Turning it over, Noelle's confusion deepened when she saw the crest of House Roselei imprinted in the seal there. That meant that it had to come from none other that Captain Charlotte herself.
All this made Noelle a little nervous and intimidated given the Blue Rose Captain's reputation but still she and opened it with her usual stoicism. Inside was a letter as she expected but what she wasn't expecting was what it said as she unfolded it and read the contents.
Princess Noelle Silva,
As a fellow noblewoman, I am sure that you already know by the crest of my Magic Knight Squad and the seal of my House who I am. I am sure that it is a shock to you that Captain Charlotte Roselei of the Blue Rose Knights is personally reaching out to you, but I have an important matter to discuss with you in person. I would be honored if you were to join me this afternoon for tea at the Blue Rose Knights Headquarters so that we can chat. I am aware that the Black Bulls have a Spatial Mage on their team who knows our location so it shouldn't be too hard.
No, getting there wasn't going to be a problem for Noelle, she had no doubt that Finral in his ever-womanizing ways had tried to hit on most, if not all, of the Blue Rose Knights and thus knew where their base was. That wasn't the surprise. No, the surprise was that Charlotte Roselei wanted to meet her of all people in person. Noelle returned to the letter to see what else Captain Roselei had to say.
As you are likely aware, two members of your Squad came by yesterday to discuss something with me regarding a curse that had been placed on me by a Curse Mage that hated my family several years back. This was to help in clearing your teammate Asta's name. Rest assured, I and all my Blue Rose Knights stand behind Asta and the Black Bulls in this matter.
That is because we all know that it was really Asta who saved myself and many of my teammates that day and are appalled by the treatment he has received for his heroism in the name of the Clover Kingdom. He may be a man, but he is courageous and brave and doesn't hesitate to do what it is right. While I know you have more experience with him, I have seen him in action myself and know just how strong he truly is.
Noelle blinked at that part in surprise and had to stop reading for a moment. She knew how misandrist the Blue Rose Knights were and their stances on men, so it was a shock to see their Captain not only praise Asta but stand behind him and support his clear innocence.
Of course, Noelle knew how special Asta was, probably better than anyone except maybe his childhood friend and rival Yuno, but it was still touching to see even the Blue Rose Knights supporting him in this troubling time. Ignoring the smile on her face and the blush on her cheeks, Noelle resumed reading the letter.
I was alas of little help to Captain Yami when I discussed my own curse with him. However, I wasn't fully honest with him about the curse, though I did tell him all the important things that he needed to know. The one thing I left out was more something I wasn't entirely comfortable sharing with a man given my reputation.
That said, I was thinking on its last night and believe that the Black Bulls need to know it as any detail may help you in clearing Asta's name. As such, I will tell you as a fellow female and noblewoman the full truth in person today, if you are free.
As odd as it was that Captain Charlotte hadn't been fully honest with Yami, Noelle did understand the position that the older woman was in. Yami was a man and that always hindered people in their dealings with the Blue Rose Knights. Add in nobility protocols and Yami's status as a foreigner and it would have been hard for Charlotte to tell him something extremely personal. Noelle by contrast did not have such limitations so she could tell Noelle what she hadn't been able to tell Yami.
If you are free, please stop by today just before afternoon tea is set to begin so that we can discuss this. If not, please send your reply and availability for a meeting on another day at the aforementioned time via your Spatial Mage and we can go from there. I await your response.
Sincerely,
Captain Charlotte Roselei, Captain of the Blue Rose Knights
Noelle finished reading the letter before she read it a second time to make sure that she'd gotten everything from it before folding it and putting it away in her robe. Of course, she was going to go and meet the Blue Rose Captain and do so at the appointed time.
This was to help Asta after all and she'd do anything for him, not because she liked him like that of course but because he was her teammate and friend. She was also going to the capital to see her brother later so she could take this little detour beforehand and see Nozel for dinner. She just needed to let her Captain know her plans.
"Captain Yami." Noelle said getting up and going to her Captain to get his permission to see Captain Charlotte.
"What is it Noelle?" Yami said gruffly as he puffed his ever-present cigarette and read that day's paper.
"I believe I may have some leads that might help Asta." Noelle said. "It appears that Captain Charlotte might have more information for us and wishes to see me about it today."
"Huh, the prickly princess has more?" Yami said looking up a little confused at what Noelle was saying. "I wonder what she has to say now. More importantly why she didn't tell me yesterday. Asta said she trusted me more than she let on and I trust him, so this is a bit of a surprise."
"She didn't say for sure, but I have a feeling that it is something too personal to share with a man." Noelle said with a shrug. "You know how she is when it comes to some things and how she can get quite cold when men are involved. It almost certainly doesn't have anything to do with trust, just her own discomfort with me. There are certainly things we women aren't comfortable sharing with just any man."
"Yeah that does sound like her prickliness." Yami said with a sigh. "Alright, go and do what you need to to help out Asta."
"Of course, thank you Captain." Noelle said with a salute before returning to what she had been doing.
She had a good few hours before she had to meet Charlotte Roselei, so Noelle spent that time doing more research, followed by a little training and then some mana regeneration food made by Charmy's sheep. It was all busy work to keep her mind occupied as she prepared to meet the intimidating Blue Rose Captain and see what information the older woman had for her.
Finally, the time came, and Noelle grabbed Finral for a portal. He wasn't too thrilled by it, especially as she was going to the Blue Rose Headquarters where he was on the list of men who were banned from it, but he agreed as it was for Asta. Of course, that was after he'd made a portal for Yami to use the bathroom, but Noelle could wait her turn behind her Captain and his eternal war with constipation.
Noelle thanked her teammate as he grumbled about his seniority and walked through the portal as properly as she could and appeared outside what she assumed to be the Blue Rose Knights Headquarters a second later. As she'd never been there before she couldn't confirm that Finral had sent her to the right place but the sight of a familiar looking woman with the royal blue cloak of a Blue Rose Knight helped confirm it.
The woman was tall with short black hair and brown skin. Her outfit was immodest to say the least. All she wore was a white tube top that exposed most of her apple breasts, white arm warmers, shorts and detached pants with a slit in the thighs. Noelle recalled that the woman was called Sol and appeared to be Charlotte's close friend as she was almost always by the Captain's side, though she didn't appear to be the Vice-Captain.
"Noelle." Sol said looking her up and down. "Yup, I remember you from the hot spring training Captain Mereoleona took us to a few months back. The offer to join us still stands, especially now that you are an even more kick ass woman."
"That would be me." Noelle said with a nod recalling that training with mixed feelings, including Sol's unwanted help washing her hair and the sudden offer to switch squads. "I am here to see Captain Charlotte, so please take me to her and I am more than happy with the Black Bulls. They're my family, I'm not leaving them, especially after all we did for Asta and Nero."
"Char is waiting for you in the tea room." Sol said clearly disappointed with the rejection of her offer and turning and leading Noelle into the building. "I am glad she wanted to see you and not those men from yesterday. They came at the worst time and made matters worse."
Noelle just nodded. She recalled that Sol was somehow more misandrist than Charlotte was, so much so that it actually caused her problems with following male orders in the field which could be a detriment to her, but Noelle kept that to herself. Whatever Sol's issues were, they were her own to deal with and Noelle wasn't going to pry. She was her to help Asta and that was her main focus.
Sol lead her in silence through the building to a small room on an upper level of the main building. She opened the door to reveal a simple, spartan room with only a table and two chairs in it. On the table was a large teapot with two cups in the proper settings for afternoon tea.
Sitting at the table was Captain Charlotte Roselei herself in her full regalia minus her armor and with her hair down and not in a bun though as there she was not training that made sense. She was calmly sipping her cup of tea as Noelle was led in, not looking at them as she did. Noelle could feel the powerful mana coming from the Captain but that was too be expected from a Magic Knight Captain.
"Thank you Sol, that will be all." Charlotte said dismissively. "Please give me and Miss Silva some time alone."
"Right, you are Char." Sol said happily. "I'll be nearby if you need me."
"Thank you and call me Captain." Charlotte said with a hint of annoyance in her tone that Sol clearly ignored as she left and closed the door behind them. "Noelle, please come and join me. We have much to discuss and limited time to do so in as we are both busy women."
"Thank you Lady Charlotte." Noelle said with a small bow as she took the seat opposite the imposing and stunning Blue Rose Captain and accepted her tea with the proper amount of grace and taking a polite sip of the warm liquid, appreciating the taste of a fine and sweet tea. "It is an honor to be here."
"Please, call me Captain." Charlotte said putting down her tea cup and looking Noelle in the eye. "I may be a noble, but I am like Mereoleona, I care little for pomp and ceremony, so my rank is the only title I use. Of course, I am much less brutish than that woman, but we all have our own ways."
"Yeah don't remind me." Noelle said with a sigh. "I like the results from Mereoleona's training but not her methods."
"She is a unique one for sure." Charlotte said before taking another sip of tea. "But enough small talk, let's get down to business. I am sure that you are busy, as am I, so best to get this over as soon as possible."
"I agree." Noelle said with a nod and a sip of her own. "What do you want to tell me?"
"One moment." Charlotte said as she summoned her grimoire and pulled out the thing she seemed to use to control her briars. "I need to make this room secure."
Noelle stared at the older woman in confusion for a moment before the thick vines of Charlotte's magic shot out with their strange blue roses. In less than a half a minute they were in a sealed cocoon of latticed vines. The woman's magic and skill was impressive, but Noelle already knew that from the woman's reputation.
"There, now we can talk in private." Charlotte said with a smile knowing that this was actually for Noelle's sake and not hers as what she had to tell Noelle was something her teammates knew more about than the Black Bull did, but she had to keep up appearances with Noelle. "There are things that I do not wish to share with my squad mates, not because I don't trust them but because I don't want to worry them too much about something from my past. This is something for the Black Bulls, not the Blue Rose Knights."
"I understand." Noelle said even though she didn't but went with it as it appeared she had to do so in order to get the information she came for. "You did say that there was more to the curse than you let Yami know about."
"Correct there is." Charlotte said with a small nod and taking another measured sip of tea before continuing. "I didn't tell him because it wasn't really relevant at the time and my own reputation stilled my tongue but now that I look back on it he has a right to know. However, I cannot give that man, or any man for that matter, the satisfaction of hearing it from me personally. I am sure he will make fun of me when he finds out but this way I can be mentally prepared for that."
"Really?" Noelle asked confused. "I, er, guess that does make sense seeing as Captain Yami can be an acquired taste to some."
"Yes, it is embarrassing." Charlotte said with a rather deep flush because the reason for it was Yami himself though Noelle wouldn't assume that. "You see, I didn't so much break my curse but rather overcame it so that it didn't kill me. I still have it so to speak, it is why my magic is the way it is what with my blue and not red roses. However, the way to defeat it was for a man to steal my heart."
"A man to steal your heart?" Noelle asked still confused until it suddenly hit her. "Wait, by steal your heart you mean…"
"Yup." Charlotte confirmed with a sigh. "I had to fall in love with a man by my 18th birthday to avoid being consumed by the curse."
Even with Noelle's royal training she was slack jawed and wide eyed at what Charlotte had just said, she was just glad she hadn't been drinking any of the excellent tea when Charlotte had confirmed it. To say that it was a shock was an understatement. Charlotte Roselei, the noted misandrist Captain of the Blue Rose Knights who claimed that the battlefield was her husband, was in love with a man.
"Shocking I know." Charlotte said with a chuckle at Noelle's reaction, that was what she'd been expecting from her squad before they demanded her resignation, not what had actually happened. "I won't tell you who it is, so please don't ask me but you can see why I can't tell Yami this directly. If he found out that I, the prickly princess as he calls me, had feelings for a man, well I don't think he'd stop laughing. He'll know now but I can be prepared for that moment when the time comes, I hope."
"I can certainly see that from my Captain." Noelle said as she was still processing what Charlotte had said while the blonde woman was trying to not show her internal monologue to Noelle regarding her feelings for the silver haired woman's Captain or the fact that she wouldn't be prepared for when she next saw Yami. "He's not the most tactful person out there, that's for sure. I can certainly understand why you don't want people to know."
"Yes it did cause a lot of internal strife for me." Charlotte admitted as she internally calmed down and decided to press a little to probe at Noelle's defenses by going after their similarities. "I can't openly show my feelings for him to him, so I ended up hiding them behind a cold front where I mostly insulted him to hide the fact that I'm in love with him and have been for years."
"I see." Noelle said talking a sip to calm her nerves a little as what Charlotte had said was eerily similar to how she treated Asta when certain feelings she didn't understand welled up in her regarding him, not that those feelings were love, just that he was an idiot who needed to be insulted to break his stupid habits that's all. "And of course, with your noted distain for men and the nature of the Blue Rose Knights you can't say anything to anyone. I will be as discreet as possible, and I will make sure only those who need to know do though Captain Yami will be one of them as he is my Captain."
"I appreciate you for that, but I can handle Yami with preparation and you do not need to worry about my squad." Charlotte said surprising Noelle though she was lying about being able to handle Yami next time she saw him. "I actually recently told them not only that I love a man but who he is as I finally reached the point where my feelings were causing too many internal problems and I needed to get them off my chest."
"Oh, how'd they handle it?" Noelle asked curiously and glad that they had moved on from anything that could possible be related to her not feelings for a certain loud-mouthed idiot on her squad, well the one with ash gray hair and no magic that is. "I'm surprised they would let you stay on as their Captain after a confession like that."
"Ha, well you see that's the thing." Charlotte said with a flush of embarrassment that wasn't fully due to Yami this time, only mostly due to him. "It turns out that I was actually being a little too repressive on my team with my views and policies regarding men and inadvertently causing a lot of stress. Apparently my girls are all really positive about romance and men, in fact most have boyfriends that they are thrilled to be able to be open about now. That is why I've decided to lesson the rules we have regarding men. I think it will be good in the long run given the nature of my squad."
"That is a surprise." Noelle said and she meant it, that was the last thing she'd expected from this Magic Knight Squadron and its Captain. "And they were supportive of your feelings?"
"More than I could have ever hoped for." Charlotte said with a smile of pride at her girls for how they had helped her out and been supportive of her when she needed them most. "I couldn't ask for a better team around me. I honestly thought that they'd demand my resignation as Captain, not try and get me to be open with him about my feelings."
"Oh, and will you?" Noelle asked curious about this, this wasn't what she'd expected from coming here but it was still something of note and she couldn't resist finding out more given who she was talking to and what they were talking about. "Be honest with him that is?"
"I'm honest with myself and my squad about my feelings." Charlotte said though her deeper meaning went way over Noelle's head. "But alas the man in question is one of the two densest men I have ever met so it is a bit of a problem being honest with him."
"Trust me, I know the feeling." Noelle muttered darkly at how dense Asta was before she could stop herself. "Dorksta redefines the word dense."
"What was that?" Charlotte asked with a grin at what Noelle had said as her guard had slipped. "I didn't quite here you Noelle."
"Nothing!" Noelle almost screeched her face going bright red at what she'd said because it certainly wasn't the same density problem Charlotte was dealing with, not at all, never, especially not with Asta. "I just mean that I know what you mean in the sense that some of the guys on my team are rather dense about pretty much everything that's all. Not anyone in particular and certainly not someone I have feelings for as I don't have feelings for any guy. Yes that's it."
"Sure." Charlotte said though she didn't believe Noelle in the slightest as the younger girl took a gulp of tea to distract herself.
"Anyway." Noelle said putting down her tea cup and knowing that she had to quickly shift the topic just to be safe. "I am curious as to why you asked me and not one of the other Black Bull women. They're all senior to me, well except for Nero as she's our newest member and not really well known yet, so why me? Why not one of the other girls?"
"Well frankly you are the only Black Bull woman I know of." Charlotte said, which wasn't true, but she was not going to talk about that witch or her impressive rack and clear comfort around Yami. "And you are a noble, a royal no less, so I felt that you were the right person for this job. That said, the short girl on your team who can cook was considered as I hear her food can replenish mana and was curious to see it for myself."
"Oh Charmy, yeah he magic can do that." Noelle said with a nod glad they had moved onto the other women on her team. "It's been a great help and her sheep cooks are amazing, though I have to train hard to keep my figure as she expects us to eat as much as she does, but it all makes sense as the food replenishes my mana for training, so it is a good cycle."
"I'll have to make a request for her to come help out one day when I want to put my team through the ringer Mereoleona style." Charlotte said. "She could be of some use for us during it."
"You'll have to tempt her with food." Noelle said. "She responds well to that."
"Very well." Charlotte said. "But yes, she was the only other woman on your team I knew of."
"Well, we have 5 girls now, which is nice as I thought it was only 3 when I joined." Noelle said. "Nero is the newest though she showed up same time as me and Asta, long story there, and then we have Charmy, Vanessa, and Grey who we didn't even know was a girl until recently, again long story that isn't relevant now."
"Interesting." Charlotte said though more that she now had a name for her potential rival. "This Vanessa, she wouldn't happen to be an immodest alcoholic by any chance?"
"I see you've met her before." Noelle said confirming who she was to Charlotte. "She's a little wild but she's like a big sister to me, more so than my actual one in fact, so I've gotten used to her oddities. Plus, she's really reliable in a fight thanks to Asta's influence. She was crucial in our two big fights with members of the Third Eye. Without her and Finral's support magic helping Asta we wouldn't have won those battles."
"A well-balanced team is good to have." Charlotte said understanding that much despite her dislike for Vanessa, she did admire the versatility Yami had on his team as it made the Black Bulls a squad that shouldn't be underestimated. "And speaking of your team, there was something else I wanted to discuss with you. If I'm being honest that was the real reason I wanted to see you, so I apologize for the ruse I used to get you here. The info I had is useful but there was more I wanted to talk with you in particular about Noelle."
"There is?" Noelle asked both confused and worried at what Charlotte had said. "What?"
"I requested you specifically because I realized something last night as I was thinking over what I told Yami yesterday and all that led to our discussion." Charlotte said taking a sip of tea to prolong the moment. "You and I are in the same boat, to an extent at least, when it comes to the topic of romantic feelings, so I wanted to talk to you in private and give you a little friendly advice from an older, more experienced, woman. I can't offer much mind you, but I can at least help you to the next stage."
"What!" Noelle screeched her face bright red, that was the very last thing she'd expected from someone like Charlotte Roselei even with the earlier revelation that the older woman was in love with someone. "I don't have feelings for anyone, not at all, no, not me."
"You can deny it all you want; I was expecting you to." Charlotte said with a chuckle at the reaction she had predicted Noelle would have. "I am pretty sure that you are even in denial to yourself about it, but I know that you have feelings for someone and that you act similar to him as I do towards the man that I love."
"But I don't have feelings for anyone." Noelle said still in denial but knowing exactly who was in her mind as she spoke, but she also knew that what she felt was not romantic feelings, it couldn't be, not for him, it had to be something else that she felt when she was around him. "I swear it. I am also confused as to how you would know. This isn't exactly something I talk about with anyone, let alone the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights of all people."
"I was wondering if you would ask that." Charlotte said calmly. "I only know because of hindsight with a clear head. You see, I have met the guy you like, and I know because of what he said about you that made me realize that you liked him as more than a friend."
"Damnit Asta what did you say you idiot." Noelle muttered before she realized and quickly backtracked. "Not that I like him, I just know that he and Yami saw you earlier that's all, well and Nero but she was in bird form I believe and she's not male so you can't be referring to her, that's why I deduced that you were talking about Dorksta. It's not that I have feelings for Asta or anything."
"Sure, you don't." Charlotte said but decided to humor Noelle first and then press her advantage when she had it, she had to break Noelle's walls to help her, and she was far too blunt to be sensitive about the younger girl's discomfort on the topic to stop now. "As for how I know you like him, it was what he said about you."
"Wha, what did he say?" Noelle asked nervously her heart beating a mile a minute for some reason hoping that it was something really good as any praise from Asta meant more than anything to her, not that that was a sign that she had romantic feelings for him though. "Out of curiosity as his teammate and friend that is, not because I like him like that."
"He said that you trusted him a lot but that you have trouble expressing your feelings." Charlotte said deciding to skirt around how it was brought up in relation to how she acted around Yami though Noelle felt herself flush at that praise from Asta, so she wasn't fully focused on Charlotte at the moment. "You know, from all the battles you have fought together. It apparently took him a bit to figure it out, but he did in the end. I am sure that he is right about the trust though he's completely oblivious to your feelings for him."
"He said that, about me?" Noelle asked in a wistful tone, it was one of the best things Asta could have ever said about her and her inner self was jumping for joy because Asta knew she trusted him completed and that meant he knew how irreplaceable he was to her even if he was an idiot who she totally didn't have feelings for. "What would make him say that?"
"He said it to help me actually." Charlotte said deciding to give an abbreviation of the truth to explain it and to surprise Noelle back to earth from where she was on cloud nine at hearing what Asta had said about her. "Yami had misread the situation when he'd come to see me about my curse based on our past interactions, and it was getting uncomfortable until Asta butted in without thinking, which earned him a head squeeze."
"That does sound exactly like Asta." Noelle said with a sigh, he was really an idiot who acted without thinking most of the time. "But it is totally him to help out no matter what."
"Yes it was." Charlotte said with a smile. "You see, I do trust Yami just as you trust Asta and for the same reason of being in some many battle with him fighting by my side. It's just my, and pardon the terrible pun, thorny personality around men has caused them to misread me and for me to be awkward around the few men I respect. I'm like that with Yami, Julius, Nozel, and Fuegoleon. Not so much with Asta as he's younger and junior to me, though after all he did I do respect him."
"I saw what you wrote, I am pleased that you support him in this troubling time despite the fact that he literally saved the Kingdom and allowed the elves to finally rest in peace." Noelle said. "It means a lot to me, I mean all of us, that you all believe him and support him."
"He may be an idiot and a boy, but I've never seen heart or determination like his." Charlotte said and she meant it, she was impressed with the boy and by telling Noelle this she hoped it would help the royal open up about her feelings for him. "I was there when we first learned Licht, or Patry as he was actually called, and saw the aftermath of the first round of that fight before me, your brother, and Jack joined in to save Yami and the other Black Bulls there."
"I wish I had been there to help him, but I had to stay in the village and wait for backup." Noelle said with a sigh. "It was really hard waiting there not knowing what was happening to Asta, I mean all of my teammates who were in that cave, but I did what I could to help out while I was there."
"You played a vital role that day." Charlotte said reassuringly. "If you hadn't have alerted the Magical Knights then Yami wouldn't have gone to face Patry, where he proved an equal match for him, and we wouldn't have been informed with just enough time to arrive when the battle turned against him with the Third Eye. Even then, we were evenly matched in that battle until Yami and Asta landed their hits on Patry despite their injuries. That was what led to their tactical retreat. I was impressed then with Asta as none of us saw him move until he was about to hit Patry, and I know he's gotten stronger since then."
"You have no idea." Noelle said with a smile as she thought on how amazing Asta was and how he'd grown so much since they first met. "We wouldn't be where we are today without him, and he's made all of us stronger. When I joined I never imagined getting control, but he helped me ensure that. He also helped bring all of the team out of their shells so to speak. I wouldn't have expected a fight to be mainly Finral and Vanessa stepping up to aid Asta to the very end, but they did, and we couldn't have beaten Vetto without them."
"I don't doubt that." Charlotte said as she turned the conversation back to where she wanted it to be. "That is why I think you need to be honest with yourself about your feelings for him. It is only fair to Asta after all to be honest about them. You don't have to tell him, I know I can't tell who I like yet, or anyone else for that matter but it is good for you to at least be honest to yourself."
"But I don't like Asta like that." Noelle said though her denial sounded weaker while her blush got deeper as she spoke. "I mean it, I don't have romantic feelings for him."
"It's not healthy to be in denial." Charlotte said softly. "I was like that about my curse as I thought I could break it by simply getting stronger until a man captured my heart and it saved me. The only difference between you and me is that I am honest with myself about my feelings and have been since I fell for him all those years ago. We act the same, or at least similar, towards the one who we like with that one difference."
"It's not like that though." Noelle said still in denial about it, but it sounded more like a reflex at this point. "Besides, I'm a royal and he's…"
"A commoner, and? Why should that matter?" Charlotte asked surprising Noelle. "The man I love isn't a noble or a royal, but I don't care about his status. I fell for him for who he is, not his station, just as you no doubt fell for Asta the same way. My squad knows who he is, and they are all in support of me getting with him, they don't care about his status either, and I know that your friends won't care either so why should you. So, what if he's a commoner with no magic, the heart wants what it wants, that has been my unexpected experience as it has been yours, so you should try to accept it."
"I, but my family." Noelle said weakly still in denial as she looked around and realized just how trapped she was. "Even if I did like Asta like that, which I don't, they'd never accept him."
"Then fuck them." Charlotte said bluntly much to Noelle's surprise. "Since when have you cared about what your family thought? I may not know you well Noelle, but I know of you just as all the other nobles do. I may not play their games and focus solely on getting stronger with my squad but even I am aware of the black sheep of the Silva family. We all know of the royal with great magic potential but no control over it. The girl who was such a disgrace that she was exiled to the Black Bulls, the lowest of the low Magic Knight squads because of her failure."
"I, well that is true." Noelle muttered though she had wished Charlotte hadn't been so blunt about it, she had since overcome her past and was becoming a much better mage these days. "And in hindsight it was for the best that I ended up there, I couldn't have become who I was today without them. Still, they'd never accept him even if I did like him."
"Nebra and Solid won't, that is true." Charlotte said bluntly. "But I am sure that Nozel would."
"He would?" Noelle asked shocked. "I admit that I don't have a great relationship with him, though it is now on the mend, but I doubt he'd accept Asta."
"He went to the trial to help Asta out did he not?" Charlotte said. "I was informed of that and while I know that sending two royals who are also Magic Knight Captains was deliberate he still went. I know that Fuegoleon has acknowledged Asta as a rival and if he has then I wouldn't be surprised if Nozel did as well in his own way. He's seen Asta in action on more than one occasion, he was with me in the cave after all, and has seen his determination and drive. I am pretty sure he was also there at the end when Asta beat that devil. Do you really think he wouldn't approve of Asta as your partner?"
Noelle gulped; her tea now untouched as she thought on Charlotte's words. She realized that she wasn't going to get out of this, and she would have to deal with it now, so she took a breath, closed her eyes, and delved into her own mind regarding the current situation.
If Noelle was honest with herself, which she wasn't, she knew that something like this was coming for her one day and she would have to confront all the strange feelings she had around Asta. Well, that and all the completely stupid and irrational acts she did because of that dork.
The prime example was when she tailed him not once but twice to the village of Nean. First there was that mixer that Finral had brought Asta to and which she didn't understand why she followed him to it or why she demanded to be a lowly peasant waitress just to spy on him.
She'd done it again, complete with another stupid disguise, when Asta had had a second date with that Rebecca girl, not to mention the stuff with Gauche's sister Marie that had thrown her for a loop as well that day. That had turned out for the best though because she'd been able to help when the children were abducted and get the word out to the Magic Knights, but her actions weren't rational.
Then there had been the swimsuit issue. As soon as she was going to be heading to the beach to investigate the Underwater Temple she had needed one and after declining Vanessa's excuses of suits, she'd bought an expensive, flashy, and slightly revealing bikini and proceeded to spend the day trying to get Asta to notice her and complement her in it. That had failed but she still didn't understand why she'd done any of that or why she'd been so desperate for Asta to look at her and like it.
After that the incidents just kept piling up for her. There was the whole Star Awards Festival with the double date that Kahono had orchestrated and made her jealous the entire time. The Royal Knights selection exam and being there for him during it and how she'd been so happy that they'd both passed. Not to mention her reaction to almost sharing a room with Asta when the hideout was rebuilt. Those were just some of the other incidents that Noelle had been involved in regarding Asta and how she felt around him.
Now, finally someone had directly confronted her on why she did what she did when it came to Asta, and she was unable to escape facing it rather than just continuing to deny it. Kahono had tried to confront her in a round about way while the Rebecca girl had clearly been threatened by her, and Noelle couldn't deny she was always jealous of how close Mimosa got to Asta, but until now no one had directly called her out like Charlotte. It was time Noelle had to finally face the music. Did she have romantic feelings for Asta?
The moment she asked herself that question she instantly went into denial about it but with no way out this time she forced herself to push past it, to surpass her limits, and address it head on. If she didn't have feelings for him then why did she act the way she did around him? Why was she jealous of literally every woman who made a pass at Asta, there were more than she wanted to admit, and even a few who hadn't shown an interest in him but who she was still threatened by.
That last one was reserved for Nero specifically. The girl was cute, Noelle couldn't deny it, and she had been living in Asta's room for months, she'd basically been sleeping with him though not in that sense, so she'd seen a side of Asta that Noelle desperately wanted to see for herself. She also always perched on his head and fought with him almost as much as Noelle did so there had to be something there, right? That thought alone made Noelle irrationally jealous of her newest teammate.
As did any thoughts about Mimosa or Rebecca, both of whom Noelle knew, or at least she strongly suspected, liked Asta that way. Then there was Kahono's actions during the Star Awards Festival, where Asta had admitted to liking her a lot and she'd freaked out because it was exactly what she wanted to hear from him but had blasted him with water for it. Lastly she had even been jealous of sweet Marie, Gauche's sister, who also had some little girl crush on Asta.
It wasn't normal to be jealous like this when it came to other girls and Asta, right? She certainly didn't feel that way about any other male members of her squad, or any male she'd known in general, but she did when it came to Asta. However, she couldn't like Asta like that. She was a royal after all and he was a commoner, an orphan with no magic, there was not way that she would have romantic feelings for him.
However, when she thought about his status and all he did to overcome that and emerge as one of the best Magic Knights in the kingdom she knew that his status meant nothing to her. That was because it never stopped him from pushing forward in his quest to achieve his dream.
He had been the first peasant she'd acknowledged but it was more than that, he was the second person to be nice to her and become her friend after Mimosa. She saw how amazing he was the moment he praised her magic despite having to rescue her when it went out of control rather than call her a failure like everyone else had, and right after she'd insulted him as well.
That showed just how great he was. It was something she truly saw in action when they went to Saussy Village and he didn't give up until they had won, that had been the first time she'd felt her heart flutter when thinking about Asta.
Then there was the War Merits Ceremony where he stood up for her to all three of her siblings, even fighting Nebra and Solid, as well as at least one other noble to a standstill for her while declaring that he'd become the next Wizard King. He'd earned the respect and the rivalry of both Leopold and Fuegoleon Vermillion for his actions that day, that said a lot about him. Multiple royals acknowledged him as their equal, Noelle herself being the first, so why should his status matter.
That was only the tip of the iceberg with Asta though. He had always been amazing. He was the reason why the Black Bulls came second in the Star Awards Festival, they would have actually been first had they not started the year in the negative, and all that was because of Asta's hard work propelling all of them to surpass their limits, even Yami himself did so thanks in no small part to Asta. He always gave it his all until the very end, saving her own life and countless others in the process while making all the Black Bulls better.
It was because of Asta that they survived the mission to Saussy Village, the dungeon, the Underwater Temple, the Forest of Witches, and so much more since they'd both joined the Black Bulls. He was really amazing, and Noelle had always admired him for that. She knew he was irreplaceable to her even if she could never say it out loud. He was why she had been able to become strong herself.
Still, did that mean she had feelings for him. She was in denial but now she had to face how she truly felt about Asta. She'd never had a crush before, between the bullying, the sheltered family life, and her attitude she'd never really met a guy who could stand her before Asta, but he had and had accepted her despite her many flaws that she would never admit to. From there she saw him for who he was and how he was always doing his best. Now it was her turn to do her best.
Charlotte had said as much and Noelle had to do it, not just for her sake but Asta's as well. She couldn't keep doing what she was doing when her jealousy ran rampant because eventually even someone as dense as Asta would notice and that could be an issue.
All she had to do was admit to herself what she had always known was true but had been too terrified to admit because of her own insecurities, her noble pride, and his low-born status. However, now she had to push past it and come to terms with the truth that had always existed in her heart. Noelle had romantic feelings for Asta, and she'd had them for a long time.
As she did that she felt a calm come over her as she accepted the truth but that was just the start. She may have accepted them, but she knew that she was only scratching the surface, she had to dive deeper into that pool that was her feelings for Asta. Had she been honest from the start that she had these feelings for Asta then she might have been able to deal with them properly, but her denial had only caused her to ignore them and now they had burrowed deep within her very being.
That was because Noelle didn't just have a crush on Asta. No, she had to come to terms with the full truth and depth of how she felt for her teammate. Noelle Silva, the fourth child of the ancient House Silva and a royal of the Clover Kingdom was head over heals in love with an orphaned peasant with absolutely no magic from the forsaken region called Asta.
Noelle let out a long sigh and opened her eyes to see Charlotte still there in the cocoon she'd created for them looking intently at her having not disturbed her thought process at all. The older woman knew in that look that Noelle had accepted her feelings for Asta but didn't say anything as she waited for the younger woman to speak.
"We, we are totally soundproof in here?" Noelle asked hesitantly, she didn't know how long she'd been thinking but she had come to her conclusion and Charlotte deserved the answer but not before she knew it was safe to speak it out loud. "Like you said at the start?"
"We are, no sound will enter this cocoon." Charlotte said with a nod. "This is the real reason why I created it, so that you could be honest with only me knowing the truth should you decide to voice it. Do not worry, your secret is safe with me."
"Yeah, you figured it all out." Noelle said with another sigh as she finally spoke about her conclusion though her face was now bright red as she thought on what she'd come to realize about herself. "I just needed this confrontation and blunt accusation of my feelings to accept them myself. You are right Captain Charlotte, I am like you, I am hopelessly in love with someone who I can't admit it to. I am in love with Asta."
As soon as Noelle said the truth out loud she felt a huge weight she didn't know that she had been carrying lift from her shoulders with her words. She was in love with Asta and there was no changing that fact. She couldn't tell him, not yet at least, but she could at least accept it and accept that she shouldn't give two shits what anyone else thought about it. Dealing with it and seeing Asta, or her rivals for him, now that she'd accepted it was a different matter though but that was a problem for another day.
Charlotte had to admit, she wasn't expecting the full-blown love confession, but she smiled at the other girl in sympathy for what she'd just gone through. She'd forced Noelle to confront something difficult, but she'd done it and there was no doubt in Charlotte's mind that Noelle had come out stronger because of it. What came next was up to her but hopefully Noelle didn't end up running all over a city and hiding on a rooftop because of her feelings like Charlotte had done the day before.
"I'll admit that I wasn't expecting you to be in love with him, but I knew you had feelings for him." Charlotte said breaking the silence. "And admitting them to yourself is the first stage."
"Yeah I feel better now." Noelle admitted with a small smile and a light blush at being able to admit that she loved Asta to herself. "I am no where near ready to tell him, or anyone else for that matter other than my rivals so that they know that I will fight them for him, but I can at least understand my actions and jealousy now. I had been deep in denial to myself, I really needed this reality check to come to terms with everything."
"I figured as much." Charlotte said with a nod. "I was more in denial about ever loving a man, and then when I did fall in love I struggled with the conflict it caused and being able to tell him the truth, but I do know where you are coming from in one sense. Love can make us do some strange things; I know I have acted out of character because of jealousy over a rival."
"Did you follow him on multiple occasions when he met another woman or went to a mixer where he met said woman." Noelle said surprising Charlotte with her confession. "Or pretend to be a waitress just so that you could spy on him, or an old lady to do the same on the second occasion. Have you gotten violent with him to avoid admitting why you are flustered?"
"I have gotten violent with him a few times though usually he just makes me flustered and unable to act in a cool and rational way." Charlotte said without providing too many detail about how she'd reacted the day before when Yami had visited her in the hospital. "And while I haven't gone to those extremes, I have gotten involved in at least two really stupid and embarrassing contests with a rival to prove myself to him and assert dominance over her. The second of those contests did not end well for me."
"That is at least different to me." Noelle said. "I've only really once had a direct stare down with a rival, one who kissed Asta on the cheek right in front of me in fact, and that was when Asta introduced me as his friend but she instantly suspicious of me. In her defense, I had followed Asta to the village to spy on him because I was confused as to why he was heading there alone. Turned out she was the girl he'd met at the mixer a few days before it and he was going to see her and play with her siblings."
"Ah so she was the one you spied on twice then." Charlotte said understanding the irrationality of Noelle's actions perfectly, she doubted that she'd be able to not resist spying on Yami if she learned that he was on a date with another woman. "I can understand that."
"Well, the second time was directly her." Noelle admitted. "The first time was when they met, I was just stalking him because Finral invited Asta to a mixer as a wingman of sorts and I wanted to learn what was going on. That was also the time I persuaded the bar owner to give me a job as a waitress to aid in my spying on Asta."
"And you didn't realize that you had feelings for him from those acts?" Charlotte asked surprised at the depth of Noelle's denial of her feelings for the boy who could wield anti-magic. "A woman doesn't do that kinda thing unless she really likes a guy. Love makes people do irrational things."
"I was in extreme denial and making excuses to myself for why I did what I did that day." Noelle said with a sigh and deciding not to mention what she heard Asta say to Rebecca in that alleyway, that was something else entirely and she was to emotionally drained to deal with that right now. "But now that I can accept it, I can at least meet my rivals on an even playing field. I can't say what I will do, and I am sure that I will still be unable to deal with my feelings around Asta but at least now I can understand them."
"That is a start." Charlotte said with a nod. "Out of curiosity, how many rivals do you have?"
"At least 4 that I can either confirm or at least am almost certain like him." Noelle said darkly thinking of the women in question. "With at least one potential one as well. I am friends with 3 of them so we can be civil, and I am sure at least one knows of my feelings for Asta given her past actions. As for the other two. One is the one who kissed Asta in front of me and we barely know each other, the other is an utter psychopath who I'm not sure if she likes Asta like that, but I consider her a legit threat. The potential one is emerging now that I know more about her, but I can't figure her out yet."
"That is a lot." Charlotte said a little taken aback by how many women Asta had managed to charm and almost certainly he had no idea that any of them liked him in that way, he struck Charlotte as being as dense as Yami, if not more so and that was saying something. "I only have one that I know of, but I am always suspicious of any women around him."
"As am I." Noelle said. "But now I can deal with them in a healthier manner at least, though I doubt I'll stop being stupid or jealous at times either, not that I'd ever admit those things to Asta."
"I understand and if you ever need to chat you can always reach out to me and I will try and find the time." Charlotte said kindly. "We are similar in how we can't really deal with our feelings and act cold because of them so we can help each other I think. It will be a little refreshing for me in fact as my own squad is, well, stereotypically girly when it comes to romance."
"That is a big surprise." Noelle admitted given that it was the exact opposite of the reputation the Blue Rose Knights had. "But I think I'd like that in a bit when I am ready to talk about this again. I still have a lot to process and there is something else I have to do today that will be just as emotionally draining as this, so I need to recover and focus on that."
"It was a surprise to me as well." Charlotte said. "And I understand, focus on that for now, this stuff can wait for a better time. We are about done now so if you need to leave…"
As if on cue, one of Charlotte's vines suddenly shivered and cut her off by alerting her to one of her teammates coming to the room to get either her or Noelle. She instantly ended her magic and the vines withered and died just as Sol came into the room.
"Sorry to bother you Char but that annoying Black Bull Spatial Mage who flirts with every woman is here for Noelle." Sol said. "He says she needs to go to him right away if she wants a portal as he has to get back soon."
"Of course, we are done here." Charlotte said with a nod. "And call me Captain."
"Right, you are Char." Sol said with a smile showing that the order still had no effect on her.
"Thank you for stopping by Miss Silva." Charlotte said dismissing Noelle. "This was a productive conversation."
"Yes it was." Noelle said getting up and bowing to Captain Charlotte. "And I am rooting for you Captain."
"And I you." Charlotte said as Sol looked on in confusion at what was going on between the two nobles. "Now go, I have to attend to my squad."
Noelle knew that the was dismissed and left following Sol out of the room so fast that she didn't see Charlotte smile at her as she left glad that the girl had come to terms with her own feelings for her teammate. It was the first step for Noelle but now she was at the same stage as Charlotte, so she had someone in a similar boat to her which somehow made her own situation more bearable.
As for Noelle herself, she was a mess as she thought on all that she'd confronted with Charlotte, but she was also grateful for the woman's help in getting her over her issues and accepting the truth of her feelings for Asta. She had a long ways to go, as did Charlotte it seemed, but she'd get there in the end.
Asta wouldn't give up and that attitude had passed onto her and even though this was about admitting her love to Asta, she wouldn't give up on one day finding the courage to do so. Now she could go forward and understand why she was acting this way and face at least Mimosa and Rebecca as an equal without denying anything to herself or them regarding her claim on Asta.
However, all that would come later as Noelle exited the Blue Rose Knights' Headquarters and saw Finral waiting for her. She had to deal with her family now and needed to focus on that first. Hopefully that wouldn't be as wild as her conversation with Charlotte, she wasn't sure if she could handle another life changing revelation today.
Sorry, couldn't resist ending like that given what happens next for Noelle. Anyway, I hope y'all liked my first attempt at a Black Clover one shot. I had this idea in my head right after watching episode 126 where Charlotte confesses to her team and Asta's statements about how Noelle is the same around him while being utterly dense. I just had to write this idea for a tsundere chat between Black Clover's two resident tsunderes as a way to get Noelle to finally admit her feeling to herself. If y'all liked this, I am considering a few confrontation one shots where Noelle confronts her rivals for Asta now that she's accepted her love for him. Only problem is I am not sure what anime stereotype Mimosa falls into (for title purposes). Rebecca is a waifu I feel while Sally is very much a yandere with a slight twist but I'm not sure what Mimosa would be as I'm hesitant to call her a tsundere as she seems to at least embrace her feelings and is warm to Asta rather than how Noelle and Charlotte are to their love interests. I do have a current -dere for Mimosa and it is not a common or widely known one so you will have to wait for her oneshot to find out but it seems to fit and she is in fact listed as an example of an anime character who is considered one. That is all I have for this oneshot, stay tuned to see who is next. Please let me know what you think in your reviews and PMs and don't forget to follow and favorite my work.
Stringdog