Noel

Biodata

Background / History

Noel grew up in a wealthy, loving household at Bart Manor. Her father played with her outdoors, and her mother, an opera singer, sang lullabies to her. She also had a little brown dog named Feili. Despite her happy surroundings, her perfectionism caused her to overeat when stressed, something her mother warned the servants to watch for 31 32 34 35.

Her family’s life deteriorated as Michel interfered in her parents’ marriage. Noel secretly witnessed an argument over his letters to Mrs. Bart, hiding behind a door and covering her mouth while she cried. Michel had also replaced the household’s real Butler before the war reached the manor, using a disguise to assume his appearance 37.

After soldiers devastated the manor, Noel, her mother, and her grandmother were taken outside under guard. Michel had her grandmother shot, threatened Noel to torment Mrs. Bart, and gouged out Noel’s eyes with a dagger. He threw her eyes into a crevice in a statue before shooting her mother 39 40.

Appearance

• Childlike presentation: A little girl with a childlike voice, an elegant curtsy, and a sweet smile 28 29.
• Butterfly Eyes: Two enormous living butterflies cover her empty eye sockets, opening and closing their wings 28 30 31.
• Clothing: Appears in a white dress in her prewar dream and a new, full-skirted dress during the outdoor game arranged by the impostor Butler 32 34.
• During a frenzy: Her exposed sockets resemble black holes; severe distress brings black blood from them, hoarse screams, and beastlike sharp teeth 31 34.
• Restored eyes: Recovers her original eyes and puts them back in at the end of the instance 42.

Personality

When lucid, Noel is polite, gentle, and cooperative. She greets her tutors formally, learns quickly, and enjoys the bedtime care Lu Mi provides. Her insistence that she must do her very best during riding lessons reveals the perfectionism behind her stress-related overeating 28 30 31 32.

Her attachment to her family and Feili makes their loss especially painful. The Butterfly Eyes conceal that loss behind a beautiful version of the manor, and she initially rejects statements that contradict it. When traumatic dreams force her to relive the past, she begs not to watch those events again 28 34 40.

Her violence is not constant or entirely beyond resistance. She tries to restrain herself during Michel’s provocation and later cooperates with Lu Mi to feign a loss of control. Ultimately, she accepts the ruined manor without going mad and chooses to rebuild it when she grows up 34 39 42.

Abilities & Skills

Butterfly Eyes

The butterflies substitute for Noel’s missing eyes and show her a beautiful world instead of the manor’s ruined present 30 40.

• Altered perception: She sees sunshine, lush grass, and spring scenery where the players see gray skies and withered vegetation. She also treats a room containing mutilated bodies as though everything is fine 29 30.
• Emotional stabilization: Their return calms her after she attacks a maid; she then appears bewildered by how full she feels 30.
• Possible wish-based vision: Lu Mi theorizes that Butterfly Eyes show what their wearer most desires, rather than merely producing arbitrary illusions. For Noel, that desire is her happy life at the manor 41.
• Final transformation: After Noel restores her eyes and accepts reality, the butterflies lose their eye patterns and become the key to the manor gates 42.

Frenzied Attacks

When the butterflies leave, Noel can become ravenously hungry and attack people with her teeth. Her attacks kill several players and severely mutilate He Shengguang 29 30 34.

• Physical force: She shakes a locked chest violently and later breaks through sealed-room doors 33 35.
• Associated butterfly swarm: A mass of butterflies descends during her attack on He Shengguang; afterward, he has hollow eye sockets covered by butterflies 34.
• Partial self-control: Without Michel actively provoking her, she can attempt to control herself and help Lu Mi deceive him 39.
• Underlying cause: Lu Mi concludes that losing the butterflies exposes her to reality, and that the contrast with her idealized past helps explain her breakdowns 35.

Shared Dreams

Players enter scenes from Noel’s past while she sleeps, making her dreams a major source of clues about the manor 32 37 39 40.

• Different players witness different moments depending on when they fall asleep 32.
• Dream observers cannot interact with the people they see; Lu Mi’s hands pass through Noel, and the household cannot see him 32 37.
• The visits are time-limited and end as the scenery blurs or warps 32 37.
• Afternoon naps also allow access, enabling further investigation despite Michel’s insistence on keeping Noel awake at night 36 39.

Learning and Etiquette

• Gives an elegant curtsy when introduced to her tutors 28.
• Studies a full weekly schedule that includes etiquette, horseback riding, and Latin 28.
• Learns riding quickly, though her demanding standards place her under pressure 30.

Equipment / Items

• Teddy bear — Carries it when greeting the players after the first night’s killings and holds it while confined in the chest 29 33.
• Original eyes — Hidden beneath the weeping angel statue after Michel removes them. Roman retrieves them, allowing Noel to see the real world again 40 42.

Relationships

• Mr. Bart — Her father, who loves her dearly and hires tutors for her. Her dreams show them playing together before the war 28 32.
• Mrs. Bart — Her mother, an opera singer who sings to her and recognizes her stress-related overeating. Noel defends her singing while Michel torments her 31 32 40.
• Grandmother — Appears at family dinner in Noel’s dreams and is later shot during Michel’s confrontation with the family 32 39 40.
• Feili — Her little brown dog. Michel uses dogskin coats and claims of Feili’s suffering to provoke her 32 34.
• Lu Mi — Tutor, caregiver, and rescuer. Their closeness is compared to that of siblings; he helps her exercise restraint, recover her eyes, and leave the past behind 38 39 42.
• Roman — Assists with her care, arranges her naps, comforts her alongside Lu Mi, and retrieves her eyes from the statue 36 39 40 42.
• Real Butler — The household servant replaced by Michel. After being freed, he asks to care for Noel in her parents’ place, and she accepts 37 42.
• Michel / Impostor Butler — Her tormentor. He destroys her family, blinds her, and imposes feeding and bedtime rules designed to trigger her frenzy 33 37 40.
• He Shengguang — A tutor who recognizes her attempts at restraint. She severely injures him after Jin Bi pushes him toward her during Michel’s provocation 34.

Story Role / Major Arcs

The Tutors’ Survival Problem

The players arrive as Noel’s tutors and receive instructions to make her finish every meal and play with her until ten. After the first nighttime deaths, Lu Mi and Roman investigate rather than accept those rules as protective measures 27 28 29 30.

Her dreams reveal the connection between pressure and overeating. The players briefly keep her calm with smaller meals, different ingredients, and an earlier bedtime, but Michel retaliates against their disobedience and forces them back into dangerous routines 32 33 34.

Learning to Resist Michel

Repeated force-feeding, sleeplessness, and confinement leave Noel increasingly withdrawn, while her episodes become harder to contain. Lu Mi arranges secret naps to investigate her memories and patiently helps her regain enough control to stage a false frenzy in front of Michel 35 36 38 39.

Resolving the Manor’s Curse

After freeing the real Butler, Lu Mi identifies Noel as the remaining key to resolving the curse. He leads her to the weeping angel statue, where Roman recovers her eyes. This time, the butterflies’ departure does not cause madness: Noel looks at the ruined manor and accepts it 42.

She plans to move to the capital with the Butler, stay with relatives, and restore the manor as an adult. The butterflies become a key, allowing Lu Mi to open the gates for the surviving players 42.

Notable Quotes

“No, I have to do my very best.” 30

“No, I don't want to have dreams like that anymore. I don't want to watch it over and over...” 40

“It turns out it isn't as bad as I imagined.” 42

“The Butler and I will go to the capital to stay with my relatives. When I grow up, I'll restore the manor.” 42