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The door opened softly, and even so, Subaru felt his heart decide to jump as if someone had announced the end of the world.
It was not out of fear. Not this time. After Elsa, Beatrice, and waking up too many times in unfamiliar places, his body already had more than enough reasons to suspect any door that moved. But when he saw Emilia enter, with her silver hair falling over her shoulders and that expression of concern that seemed far too honest for a world so determined to kill him, Subaru completely forgot that only seconds ago he had been arguing with Link, being humiliated by Ram and Rem, and trying not to look like a freshly washed corpse.
Emilia entered first with caution, as if she did not want to interrupt an important conversation, though the scene she found hardly deserved that respect. Subaru was sitting on the bed with his hair a mess, his resting clothes wrinkled, and an expression that went from exhaustion to religious enlightenment the moment he saw her. Link was on the sofa, covered halfway by the blanket, still pale from exhaustion, trying to pretend he had not just been emotionally destroyed by Rem's existence. Ram stood to one side with the perfect posture of someone capable of judging everyone without moving a muscle, while Rem held Link's empty glass with a serenity that, unfortunately for him, still seemed dangerously angelic.
"I'm glad to see you've woken up," Emilia said, and her voice carried a softness that made Subaru straighten as if he had just been named honorary knight of something. "Ram and Rem told me a moment ago. Do you feel well? Does anything hurt?"
Subaru opened his mouth.
Closed it.
Opened it again.
From the sofa, Link slowly turned his head toward him with a silent warning in his gaze. Don't say something stupid. Subaru received the warning, evaluated it for half a second, and proceeded to ignore it with the suicidal courage that characterized him.
"Emilia-tan came to see me as soon as I woke up..." he murmured, bringing a hand to his chest. "This fantasy world has emotional save points after all."
Emilia blinked.
Ram closed her eyes as if confirming an ancient disappointment.
Rem tilted her head slightly.
Link covered his face with one hand.
"Subaru," Emilia said, hesitating over the pronunciation of the nickname she had just heard, "what is 'Emilia-tan'?"
"A loving, respectful, absolutely pure, and culturally complex way of addressing you," Subaru answered with a smile as bright as it was reckless.
"It's an embarrassing form of social suicide," Link corrected from the sofa.
"Traitor!"
"I'm saving what little remains of your dignity."
Ram looked at Subaru without changing expression.
"Barusu seems to have very little dignity to save."
Subaru went rigid.
"Barusu?"
"Ram has decided to call you Barusu."
"That is not my name! That's my name run over and left in a ditch!"
"Then it suits your current state," Ram said.
Rem, with all the calm in the world, added:
"Rem considers Barusu easier to remember."
Subaru brought both hands to his chest as if he had been struck by an invisible arrow.
"Even Rem... The double strike of the maid twins is relentless."
Link, despite his exhaustion, let out a brief laugh. It was a mistake, because Rem immediately looked toward him, and the laugh died halfway as if it had been caught committing a crime.
"Does the other guest also feel unwell?" Rem asked.
"No," Link said far too quickly. "I'm perfect. Almost perfect. Well, functional. Somewhat functional."
"A moment ago, the guest almost lost against the floor," Ram said.
"It was a negotiation," Link insisted.
"The floor did not seem willing to yield."
Subaru smiled maliciously.
"Rem, I think Link needs personalized assistance to walk. A lot of assistance. Maybe the kind where someone with blue hair holds his arm and he forgets how to use human words."
Link turned his head toward him with lethal slowness.
"Subaru."
"What? I'm worried about your health."
"I'm going to worry about the shape of your neck if you keep talking."
Emilia, who had followed the conversation with a mixture of confusion and relief, let out a small laugh. It was not loud, nor mocking. It was just a soft laugh, born from the absurdity of seeing two people who had been covered in blood the night before now arguing as if the greatest danger of the morning were a badly thrown joke. That laugh made Subaru go still. To him, after so many deaths, hearing Emilia laugh in a sunlit room seemed almost unfairly precious.
She approached the bed and observed him attentively.
"Subaru, truly, are you all right? When I healed you in the Loot Warehouse, your wound was very deep. And then Beatrice drained your mana. You shouldn't move too much."
Subaru felt his name, spoken by her so naturally, pierce his chest with ridiculous warmth.
"I'm fine. Well, as fine as someone can be after being cut, healed, drained, and waking up in front of two maids who insult him with surgical precision. But I'm alive, and that's much more than I expected yesterday."
Emilia lowered her gaze with a guilty gesture.
"I'm sorry. All of this happened because of my insignia. If you hadn't tried to help me..."
"No," Subaru interrupted her, this time without theatrics. "Not that. I chose to help. Not because I understood everything, not because I was strong, not because I had some grand plan. I chose to do it because I wanted to. So don't put my heroic stupidity on your account."
Link watched him from the sofa. The phrase was very Subaru, but for once it did not sound like boasting. It sounded simple. Honest. And that made it harder to tease.
Emilia looked at him for a moment, surprised by the firmness. Then she smiled in a small way.
"Thank you."
Subaru opened his mouth to answer with something probably unbearable, but Link threw a pillow at him from the sofa. The pillow hit Subaru in the shoulder and forced him to turn.
"What was that?"
"Disaster prevention," Link answered. "I saw your face. You were about to say something stupid."
"You can't censor me before the crime!"
"I can and I will."
Emilia laughed again, and this time Ram even closed her eyes with a sigh that could have been resignation or an elegant way of not admitting that the atmosphere had grown lighter.
"Well," Emilia said, recovering a more practical tone. "If you can walk, Subaru, I'd like us to go outside for a moment. There's something I do in the mornings, and I also think some fresh air would do you good. The mansion can feel a little suffocating when you've just woken up in it without understanding anything."
Subaru almost jumped out of bed.
"Yes! Of course! Air! Morning! Walk with Emilia! I mean, normal walk, for medical and respiratory purposes, completely respectable."
Link looked at him with deep exhaustion.
"You are an international embarrassment."
"You called Rem a goddess the moment you woke up."
The room froze.
Rem blinked.
Ram looked at Link.
Emilia looked at Link.
Link looked at Subaru with the expression of a man who had just decided to bury a corpse in the garden.
"Subaru."
Subaru, aware that he had crossed a line but incapable of retreating, pointed desperately at Emilia.
"Look, Emilia invited me to walk! I have to get ready! I can't die here from Latin revenge!"
Link pushed himself up a little on the sofa. The movement caused him visible dizziness, though he tried to hide it by clenching his jaw. Rem took a step toward him almost at the same time, but Link raised one hand before she could get too close, more from embarrassment than rejection.
"I'm not going," he said, breathing deeply. "I'm too tired. My body feels like someone wrung it out like an old rag and then folded it wrong."
Emilia looked at him with concern.
"Are you sure? I can ask them to examine you again."
"I'm sure. I just need not to move for a while. Besides..." Link looked at Subaru, and though he tried to sound casual, his voice lowered a little. "Go together. You wanted to talk to her, didn't you?"
Subaru went still.
He had not expected that. He had been prepared for teasing, threats, pillow strikes, and comments about his lack of dignity. He had not expected Link to give him the moment without fighting over it. Emilia also seemed surprised, though she did not fully understand the background of that gesture.
Subaru opened his mouth.
Link pointed at him with two fingers.
"You owe me," he whispered, low enough that only Subaru understood through tone and intention, though not necessarily every word. "And don't say anything weird about Rem while I'm not there to defend my honor."
Subaru smiled.
"Your honor or your heart?"
Link grabbed another pillow.
Subaru raised both hands.
"Understood! I owe you one, and I won't talk about the blue goddess!"
Rem tilted her head.
"Blue goddess?"
Link dropped backward onto the sofa and covered his face with the blanket.
"I'm going to die right here."
Ram observed the scene serenely.
"Ram recommends that the secondary guest not die on the sofa. It would be inconvenient to clean."
"Thank you for your compassion," Link murmured beneath the blanket.
Emilia, calmer now, looked at Subaru and extended a hand toward the door.
"Let's go, Subaru. Before you keep making things worse."
"Yes, Emilia-tan."
"That still sounds strange."
"I'm willing to work on an improved version."
"Please do."
Subaru stood up with more enthusiasm than real strength. The dizziness made him sway, but he managed to stay upright with a rather poor victory pose. Rem offered him support out of protocol, but he raised a thumb as if he were about to compete in a race.
"I'm perfectly fine. My body is weak, my spirit questionable, but my will is on fire."
Ram observed him.
"Barusu will fall before reaching the garden."
"I'm not going to fall!"
Subaru nearly tripped over the rug on his first step.
From the sofa, Link raised a hand without looking.
"Ram wins."
"That was an irregularity in the terrain!"
Emilia approached and naturally held him by the arm. Subaru stiffened like a statue, his eyes wide, his face dangerously red.
"Can you walk?" Emilia asked.
"Right now I could cross a desert, climb a mountain, and declare my love for life."
"Then let's walk slowly."
"Yes, ma'am."
Ram opened the door. Emilia went out first, Subaru at her side, trying not to stare too much at the exact spot where her hand helped him remain standing. Before crossing the threshold, Subaru turned toward Link. For one second, the jokes disappeared.
Link was still under the blanket, but he raised his thumb.
Subaru answered the same way.
Then the door closed.
The room went silent.
Link slowly lowered the blanket from his face. Ram and Rem were still there. That made him tense immediately, because being left alone with them, especially Rem, was not a situation his emotional health was ready for.
"Weren't you going to report something?" he asked, trying to sound normal.
Ram looked at him.
"It has already been reported that the guests woke up. Emilia-sama came in person for Barusu. Roswaal-sama has not yet returned to the mansion."
"Ah."
Rem approached to pick up the glass left on the table.
Link followed her with his gaze for half a second and then looked at the ceiling with almost military discipline. Don't look. Don't make a fool of yourself. Don't say goddess again. The simple fact that he had to repeat those instructions to himself made him feel miserable.
Rem, of course, noticed the gesture.
"Does the secondary guest need anything else?"
"No. Yes. I don't know. Water, maybe. But I can wait."
"Rem can bring water."
"Thank you."
Rem gave a small bow and left the room with silent steps. Link watched her go despite his best efforts. Ram watched him watch her. Link realized too late.
Ram said nothing for several seconds.
That was worse.
"What?" Link asked.
"Nothing."
"That 'nothing' sounds like a pending execution."
"Ram is only thinking that the secondary guest is easy to read."
"I am not easy to read."
"Ram did not say he was interesting to read."
Link covered his eyes with one hand.
"God, you two are lethal."
"Thank you."
"It wasn't a compliment."
"Ram will take it as one."
The morning advanced in an oddly peaceful way after that. Rem returned with water and a small plate with something like soft bread, sliced fruit, and a light soup, explaining that it was better for a newly awakened body not to start with heavy food. Link, who had spent far too long among deaths, fights, magical drains, and romantic embarrassment, accepted without arguing. The first bite tasted like glory. Not because it was the most incredible food he had ever tried in his life; his Latin pride would never allow him to concede that easily. But it was warm, it was real, it was not poisoned as far as he knew, and no one was trying to open his stomach while he ate. That already placed it above almost everything that had happened since he arrived in Lugnica.
He ate slowly at first, then with more appetite. Ram watched him as if evaluating a domestic anomaly.
"The secondary guest eats with enthusiasm."
Link swallowed.
"I haven't eaten properly since I got to this place."
"That explains part of his behavior."
"My behavior has more complex causes."
"Ram doubts that."
Rem, on the other hand, seemed to take practical note.
"Rem will inform the kitchen that the secondary guest has a good appetite."
"Thank you, Rem."
Link said her name far too softly. He hated himself immediately. Ram closed her eyes as if the evidence kept piling up.
Not too long passed before the door opened again, this time with Ram entering from the hall after having gone out to complete some silent task. Her expression was the same as always, but the message she brought changed the atmosphere.
"Roswaal-sama has returned."
Link set the glass on the table.
"Roswaal is the owner of the mansion, right?"
"Correct," Ram said. "Roswaal L. Mathers-sama. Emilia-sama and Barusu will be informed in the garden. The secondary guest must also present himself in the dining room."
Link looked toward the sofa with immediate nostalgia.
"Can I pretend I'm still unconscious?"
"No."
"Can I fake a contagious illness?"
"No."
"Can I say my religion forbids meetings with nobles before lunch?"
Ram observed him.
"Ram can drag you."
Link sighed.
"I'll get up."
He did so carefully. His legs were much better than when he woke up, though they still had that heaviness of someone who had slept after emptying an energy reserve he did not even know he had. Rem approached in case he needed help, and Link, out of pride and emotional survival, managed to stay upright before she had to touch him. He regretted it a little. Only a little.
The path to the dining room was less labyrinthine with Ram and Rem as guides. The mansion still seemed too large, too clean, and too wealthy for any sensible person. Link walked in silence, observing paintings, curtains, lamps, doors, and hallways that seemed to multiply with architectural malice. He did not know what he expected to find when meeting Roswaal. A serious noble. An old man. A feudal lord. Someone in armor. Someone normal, if that word had any right to exist in that world.
What he found first was Beatrice.
The library was not there, fortunately. Beatrice was seated in the dining room, in a chair that seemed too large for her small body, with a closed book on her lap and an expression of absolute annoyance. The dining room was spacious, elegant, lit by tall windows and a long table that could have hosted an entire family, their political enemies, and perhaps half the guests of a wedding. The silverware shone. The plates were perfectly arranged. There were flowers in the center, discreet, probably expensive. And there, amid so much formality, Beatrice looked at Link as if he were a difficult stain to remove.
"The problematic guest has arrived, I suppose."
Link stopped at the entrance.
"Good morning to you too, aggressive child."
Ram and Rem tensed slightly.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes.
"Betty could drain you again."
Link raised both hands.
"I withdraw what I said. Good morning, Miss Beatrice, guardian of books, empress of the rug, and terror of badly oriented guests."
"That was not better either, I suppose."
"I'm working with sleepiness and trauma, give me some margin."
Beatrice looked at him for another moment, then shifted her gaze to her book as if Link had stopped deserving energy.
"Sit. Roswaal will arrive soon."
Link obeyed, choosing a seat not too close to her, but not far enough to seem like he was fleeing. Ram remained by a wall, while Rem withdrew toward the kitchen or some nearby place to coordinate service. Link tried not to look too much as she passed. He failed with moderate dignity.
Beatrice did not lift her gaze from her book.
"Your mana feels less disordered than before."
Link looked at her.
"Is that good?"
"It is less annoying."
"That's not the same."
"For Betty, it is."
Link placed his elbows on the table and interlaced his fingers, though one look from Ram was enough for him to lower his arms and remember that perhaps, in this world, putting elbows on a noble table was an etiquette crime.
"The thing in the library..." Link began, uncomfortable. "I didn't control it."
"That was evident, I suppose."
"I wasn't trying to attack you."
"That was also evident."
Link blinked.
"Then why are you looking at me like I stepped on your cat?"
"Betty does not have a cat."
"Your book, then."
Beatrice closed the book softly. Her gaze was serious now, and that seriousness made her seem less like an irritated child and more like something ancient locked inside a small form.
"Because what came out of your back does not belong to any category Betty knows, and your body reacted to a normal extraction as if it were a cornered animal. That is annoying. It is also dangerous."
Link did not find a quick answer.
"I don't know what I am," he finally said.
Beatrice studied him for a second.
"That is also evident."
The phrase was not kind, but it did not sound cruel either. Link lowered his gaze to his hands. He had no wounds. No claws. No missing fingers. It was almost offensive how normal he looked.
Before he could ask more, the dining room door opened again.
Roswaal L. Mathers entered as if the concept of normality had been personally insulted by his existence.
Link looked at him and was left speechless.
The man was tall, elegant, dressed in clothes that mixed nobility, theatricality, and a taste for drawing attention that bordered on criminal. His hair, makeup, smile, and the way he walked seemed carefully designed to prevent anyone from mistaking him for an ordinary person. There was something of a clown, something of a magician, something of a dangerous aristocrat, and something of an actor who enjoyed every syllable far too much before pronouncing it.
"Gooood morning," Roswaal sang, extending his arms with a broad smile. "So you must be the other guest I've heard sooo much about."
Link stared at him.
Then he looked at Ram.
"This is Roswaal?"
"Roswaal-sama," Ram corrected.
Link looked back at the noble.
"Right."
Roswaal smiled wider.
"Do not worry, there is no need for you to be so stiff. After all, if Emilia-sama decided to bring you to my mansion, then you are a guest. A very peculiar guest, it seems."
Beatrice closed her eyes.
"Problematic, I suppose."
"Peculiar sounds kinder, Beatrice."
"Betty is not trying to be kind."
"We aaall know that."
Link swallowed. Something about Roswaal was difficult for him to place. He was not like Elsa. He did not emanate that open, sensual, horrible murderous intent. Nor was he like Reinhard, whose presence seemed to say that the entire world aligned itself to avoid contradicting him. Roswaal was different. His smile was broad, his voice playful, his posture relaxed, but the eyes behind all of that were not entirely playing.
Roswaal took a seat at the head of the table.
"Emilia-sama and Subaru-kun will arrive shortly. I have been informed they were enjoying a little morning walk. I am glad to see one of our guests was already able to come by himself."
"With escort," Link said.
"With escort, yes. The mansion can be somewhat complicated for those who do not know it."
Beatrice murmured:
"Especially for those who open doors without permission, I suppose."
Link ignored her with the effort of a saint.
Not long passed before Emilia and Subaru entered the dining room. Subaru came with renewed energy, a broad smile, and that expression of someone who had just spent an entire walk beside the girl he liked and had therefore selectively forgotten that his life was still a disaster. Emilia, meanwhile, seemed calmer, though somewhat embarrassed by Subaru's intensity. Puck floated near her shoulder, small and satisfied, as if he had woken from a perfectly calculated nap.
"Link," Subaru said upon seeing him. "You survived being alone with Beatrice and Roswaal. I'm proud."
"I almost prefer Elsa," Link murmured.
Roswaal let out a musical laugh.
"What an inteeereeeesting comparison."
Emilia gave Link a worried look.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes. I'm just discovering that this mansion has personalities more dangerous than death traps."
Puck floated toward him, examining him with curious eyes.
"You're the boy who made a lot of noise in the capital, right?"
Link looked at him.
"Is the cat going to diagnose me too?"
"I'm a spirit, not just any cat."
"Sorry. Is the cat-shaped spirit also going to diagnose me?"
Puck laughed softly.
"Maybe after breakfast."
The word breakfast was, for Link, more powerful than any threat or mystery. Rem and Ram began serving with perfect coordination. Hot plates, bread, fruit, an aromatic soup, lightly prepared meat, drinks, small side dishes. Subaru looked at the table with the emotion of a castaway seeing land. Link looked at it with something closer to divine revelation, and this time he had the prudence not to use that word in front of Rem.
"Behave," Subaru whispered as he sat beside him.
"I'm hungry."
"Me too, but try not to look like you're going to declare war on the bread."
"I make no promises."
Breakfast began with a formality that lasted exactly until Subaru opened his mouth to introduce himself far too enthusiastically and Roswaal answered him with his elongated, theatrical, and disconcerting tone. The scene took the course it was meant to take: Roswaal introduced himself as the mansion's owner, Emilia patiently explained the basics Subaru needed to understand, and Subaru, between spoonfuls and inevitable glances at Emilia, learned that the stolen insignia carried far greater weight than a simple jewel. That insignia was necessary to certify Emilia as a candidate in the royal selection, a revelation that made Subaru freeze with his fork halfway to his mouth.
"Candidate..." Subaru repeated. "Wait. Candidate for what?"
Roswaal rested his chin on one hand, smiling.
"The throne, Subaru-kun. Emilia-sama is one of the candidates to become the next ruler of the Kingdom of Lugnica."
Subaru looked at Emilia.
Emilia shifted her gaze slightly, uncomfortable with the solemnity of the topic.
"Nothing has been decided yet. I am only a candidate. And without my insignia, I would not even have been able to present myself as one."
"Then..." Subaru swallowed. "Yesterday wasn't just about recovering a lost object. It was political. Huge. Kingdom. Throne. Candidate. Assassin. Bowel Hunter. All that for an insignia."
"Exactly," Roswaal said, happy to have it summarized with a smile. "Although you made it sound a little more vulgar."
Link, meanwhile, had reduced his verbal participation to nearly zero. Not because he was not listening. He was listening to everything. The royal selection, Emilia's importance, the fact that Roswaal supported her, the gravity of what they had prevented without understanding it. But his body had other priorities, and those priorities included eating as if every plate could vanish if he stopped watching it. Rem served him a second portion. Then a third. Then a fourth, with a minimal pause that might have been professional surprise.
Subaru looked at him sideways.
"Are you inhaling food?"
Link, his mouth full, raised one finger asking for silence.
Ram observed the empty plate before him.
"The secondary guest eats as if trying to compensate for several days of incompetence."
Link swallowed.
"Several days of almost dying."
"Ram accepts the correction."
Rem approached with another serving dish.
"Would you like more?"
Link looked at her. His brain asked him to respond with dignity. His stomach answered first.
"Yes, please."
Subaru brought a hand to his chest.
"Look at him. The Latino ghoul doesn't eat people, but he can destroy a mansion's food economy."
Link kicked his leg under the table.
"Ow!"
Emilia blinked.
"Ghoul?"
Link froze with the fork in his hand.
So did Subaru.
Beatrice slowly raised her gaze from her cup.
Puck turned in the air.
Roswaal smiled as if someone had just handed him a letter he had already expected to read, though not necessarily aloud.
"Ghoul?" Emilia repeated, more confused than frightened. "What does that mean?"
Subaru made a desperate gesture with both hands.
"It's a word from our place. Not exactly important. Well, yes important, but not in the sense of 'alert, political danger.' More like... cultural classification of a fictional monster that maybe now isn't so fictional, ha, ha... I shouldn't have spoken."
Link closed his eyes.
"Subaru."
"It was an accident."
"It's always an accident with you."
Emilia looked at Link with genuine concern.
"Does it have to do with what happened at the Loot Warehouse? I remember that during the fight... your body changed. I saw horns. And those red things..."
Link slowly lowered the fork. The hunger was still there, but the conversation had closed his stomach for the first time all morning. Rem, standing beside him with the serving dish, went still. Ram also stopped moving by the wall. The change was minimal to anyone not paying attention, but Link felt it: the air in the dining room tensed.
Puck floated close to Emilia, his eyes more serious.
"I didn't see the whole transformation, Lia, but now that he's awake, I can feel him better. His mana doesn't resemble that of a normal human."
Subaru looked at Link.
Link said nothing.
Beatrice set the cup on the table with a soft sound.
"Betty already knew that, I suppose."
All eyes turned toward her.
Beatrice seemed annoyed at having to speak during breakfast, as if explaining a living anomaly were a vulgar interruption to her routine.
"When Betty drained his mana in the library, the reserve was large. Far too large for an ordinary human. There was also a mixed quality in his root. It was not exactly pure, and there was something strange Betty does not recognize, but part of his nature feels close to that of an Oni."
The dining room fell silent.
It was not the light silence of an interrupted conversation. It was a heavy, absolute silence, as if the word had fallen onto the table with more force than any weapon.
Subaru looked at Beatrice.
Emilia looked at Link.
Puck stopped floating with his usual lightness.
Roswaal smiled, but his eyes became sharper.
Ram did not move.
Neither did Rem.
Link felt the word lodge itself in his chest.
"Oni?" he repeated, not fully understanding.
Beatrice looked at him with contained irritation.
"Yes. Oni, I suppose."
The serving dish Rem held did not fall, but her fingers tightened around it with barely visible strength.
Ram, for the first time all morning, had no immediate comment.
And Roswaal, from the head of the table, tilted his head slightly, as if he had just confirmed that the true breakfast was only just beginning.