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The word remained suspended over the table like a glass about to shatter.
"Oni, I suppose," Beatrice had said.
No one answered immediately.
Not Subaru, who until a few seconds ago had been trying to turn every pause in breakfast into an opportunity to speak. Not Emilia, who looked at Link with soft concern, still carrying the memory of those red things and the horns that had appeared during the battle. Not Puck, who floated near Emilia's shoulder with his small face strangely serious. Not Ram, whose expression usually seemed carved from a mixture of exhaustion and sarcasm. Not Rem, who had gone completely still with the serving dish in her hands.
Link was the last to understand that everyone was waiting for something from him.
He only tilted his head.
"Oni?" he repeated slowly.
The word sounded familiar to him, but it did not fit. Not with him. Not with the image he had in his head. In the stories he knew, oni were enormous, demonic, brutal creatures, sometimes red, sometimes blue, with clubs, fangs, strange skin, and the presence of monsters from ancient tales. They did not look like a guy with delayed hunger, borrowed clothes, a body far too tired, and a shame still fresh from having called a maid a goddess minutes after waking up.
He pointed at his chest with his thumb.
"Me? Oni?"
"I did not say you were a pure one," Beatrice replied, resting one cheek on the back of her hand with evident annoyance. "I said your nature feels close. If Betty had to classify what she drained in the library, that would be the least wrong word, I suppose."
Subaru slowly set his fork down on the plate.
"I love when the most reassuring explanation starts with 'least wrong.'"
"Barusu is not included in this conversation," Ram said.
"I'm sitting at the same table! My right to panic is protected by my status as a frequent victim!"
"Then panic with less noise."
Link did not take his eyes off Beatrice. The girl with blonde curls did not seem pleased to be explaining anything. In fact, she seemed offended by the obligation to translate her observations into language the others could understand. But there was something in her eyes that was not simple irritation. Something serious. Almost uncomfortable.
"What exactly does 'close' mean?" Link asked.
Beatrice looked him up and down.
"It means you are not human in the strict sense, though you are also not something Betty can completely name. The red thing that comes out of your back does not correspond to any trait of the Oni. That is your own anomaly. But the horns, the way your body absorbs and moves mana when you lose control, and the sensation of your root... that does resemble them."
The dining room remained far too still.
Link then noticed that Rem had not lowered the serving dish.
Her fingers were tense around the edge of the porcelain. Not enough to break it, but enough for Link, even without knowing her, to understand that something about that word had hurt her. Rem maintained perfect posture, her gaze lowered, her face serene. Too serene. Ram, on the other hand, was not looking at Beatrice or Link; she was looking at her plate, as if the food had suddenly acquired absolute and urgent importance.
Roswaal smiled from the head of the table.
"The Oni are a veeeery uncommon demi-human race," he said, with that drawn-out way of speaking that made any explanation sound like part of a stage play. "In another time, they were famous for their strength, their physical talent, and their particular relationship with mana. Their horns are not simple decorations. They function as an organ."
Link touched his forehead by reflex.
There was nothing there.
"An organ?"
"Correct," Puck said, floating a little closer. "In races with characteristics like that, the horn can function as a natural pathway to capture, process, or amplify mana. It isn't exactly the same in every case, but that's the general idea. In your case, when they appeared during the fight, the flow around you became very rough. Not elegant at all, by the way."
"Thank you for the aesthetic critique, cat."
"Spirit."
"Cat-shaped spirit."
Puck smiled.
"That, I can accept."
Emilia frowned slightly, worried.
"Does that mean it hurts him? When they appeared... he didn't seem well."
Link let out a brief laugh without humor.
"No, I wasn't exactly enjoying myself."
Beatrice closed her eyes.
"Because you forced them instinctively while your body was at its limit, I suppose. You did not know what you were doing. Your mana moved like water entering a broken house."
Subaru raised one hand.
"Question from someone ignorant and nearly useless in magic: are the horns good, bad, or one of those organs you'd rather not discover during a fight with a bowel hunter?"
"It depends on the user," Beatrice answered.
"So, bad for us."
"It depends on the user," Beatrice repeated with more venom.
Link lowered his gaze toward his hands.
He did not like the explanation. Not because it was absurd; at this point, absurdity had become part of breakfast. It bothered him because it made sense. During the fight with Elsa, when the horns appeared, something had changed. The kagune was physical rage, red flesh, animal reflex, something his memory could associate with a concrete word. But the horns had brought another sensation. Heat. Pressure. As if the air had weight and could enter him. As if his body had found a door to something he could not name.
Mana.
Part of him was Oni.
The idea was ridiculous.
And yet there it was, sitting at the table with him.
"But I don't look like one," he said, more to himself than to the others. "The oni I know from stories aren't like this."
Ram spoke for the first time since Beatrice had used that word.
"Stories are usually written by people who have never seen what they are talking about."
Her voice was the same as always, dry, precise, almost indifferent. But Link looked at her and noticed that her face did not fully match that indifference. Ram was not mocking him. Not really.
Rem carefully lowered the serving dish onto a side table. The sound was minimal, but in the dining room's silence, it seemed loud.
"Oni do not have to match exaggerated tales," she said.
Link turned toward Rem without being able to help it.
She was not looking directly at him. Her visible eye was lowered, fixed on a point between the table and her hands. Her expression remained calm, but there was something rigid in the line of her shoulders.
"Then..." Link swallowed. "You know about them?"
Ram answered before Rem could.
"More than Barusu, certainly."
"That applies to almost anything in this mansion," Subaru said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
No one laughed.
Subaru closed his mouth.
Roswaal interlaced his fingers in front of his face, resting his elbows with an elegance that would probably have been bad manners on anyone else.
"Ram and Rem have personal knowledge on that matter. There is no need to go deeper than necessary during breakfast."
The phrase was kind on the surface.
Deep down, it was a door closing.
Link understood it. Subaru did too, though it was obvious he struggled to swallow the questions. Emilia glanced sideways at the twins with soft sadness, as if she knew part of that story but respected the silence. Beatrice looked away, pretending disinterest with too much insistence.
Link felt an uncomfortable knot in his stomach.
He did not know what wound he had just touched, but it was clear one existed.
"Sorry," he said.
Rem lifted her gaze toward him.
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because I asked without knowing."
"You did nothing incorrect."
The answer was polite.
Too polite.
That made him feel worse.
Roswaal, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy observing how every piece at the table reacted to the new information. His smile did not disappear, but there was nothing light in his eyes. Link felt that gaze on him like an invisible hand measuring his edges, calculating how much force could be applied before something broke.
"In any case," Roswaal continued, "what is peculiar is not only that you possess a nature cloooose to that of the Oni. What is truly rare is that, according to what Beatrice observed, your mana reserve is enoooormous. Not refined, not trained, not disciplined... but enormous."
Subaru leaned toward Link.
"Congratulations. You're a gasoline barrel with legs."
"Subaru."
"I say it with affection and fear."
Beatrice scoffed.
"A vulgar comparison, but not completely useless, I suppose."
"Beatrice approved one of my analogies! I'm growing."
"Do not get excited, Barusu," Ram said. "Even an insect can walk in the right direction by accident."
"Ram, that was extremely personal!"
Link barely heard the argument. His hand rested on his forehead, exactly where the horns had appeared. If they were an organ, if they were linked to mana, perhaps they were not like the kagune. The kagune came out when his body reacted, when rage or danger opened some internal cage. The horns, however, could perhaps be called another way. Maybe he did not have to wait to lose control to understand them.
He looked at Beatrice.
"You seem to know the most."
"Betty does not seem. Betty knows."
"Fine. Then tell me how to bring them out."
The dining room went still again.
Subaru slowly turned toward him.
"Excuse me?"
Emilia opened her eyes.
"Now?"
Puck tilted his head.
"That could be reckless."
"Many things are reckless," Link said. "Having breakfast with a man painted like a circus noble, a librarian who drains people, two maids who insult with elegance, and a spirit cat is also reckless. But here we are."
"Spirit," Puck repeated.
"I'm trying."
Roswaal let out a delighted laugh.
"What a veeeery direct guest."
Ram looked at Link with one eyebrow barely raised.
"The secondary guest wishes to experiment on his own body at the table."
"I'd rather do it here, surrounded by people who can stop me, than discover them again when someone threatens to kill another person."
That extinguished any possible joke.
The phrase was too honest.
Link had not said Felt's name, but everyone felt it. Subaru lowered his gaze. Emilia gently tightened her fingers over her napkin. Rem closed her eyes for an almost imperceptible instant. Ram remained still, though her expression hardened slightly.
Beatrice was the one who spoke.
"Do not try to call that red thing from your back. Your control is nonexistent, and Betty does not intend to let you destroy the dining room."
"I don't want to bring that out."
"Good. Then focus on your forehead. Do not push from the muscles. Do not clench your teeth like an animal. If there really is a dormant organ there, the movement must come from mana. Raise the flow, not the force."
Link looked at her as if she had spoken in another language.
"And that means...?"
Beatrice clicked her tongue.
"Breathe, imagine the heat you felt when they appeared during the fight, and bring it toward the point where they were born. Slowly. If you feel your back begin to move, stop. If your eyes change, stop. If you start growling, Barusu will hit you with something soft before Ram and Rem have to do something more unpleasant."
Subaru pointed at his own face.
"Me? Why am I in charge of hitting him with something soft?"
"Because you are not useful for more complicated tasks, I suppose."
"I can't argue because she's probably right!"
Link stood up.
The chair scraped softly against the floor. Rem took one minimal step toward him and then stopped. Link noticed it, and for some reason that made him breathe better. Not because Rem trusted him. She did not. Not yet. But she also had not run away. She was still there, firm, ready to act if necessary.
Roswaal did not stop him.
That was unsettling.
Emilia half rose.
"Link, you don't have to do it if you aren't ready."
"I'm not ready," he admitted. "But I'd rather not keep pretending this disappears if I don't look at it."
Subaru stood too, though more slowly, his body still aching from the wounds and Beatrice's draining.
"I'm here. In case you go into furniture-destruction mode again."
"How reassuring."
"I'm low-quality moral support, but support all the same."
Link closed his eyes.
The dining room slowly disappeared behind his eyelids. He heard the faint clink of silverware, the movement of Emilia's dress fabric, Ram's silence, Rem's controlled breathing, the small hum of Puck floating, Beatrice's almost palpable annoyance, and Roswaal's smile without needing to see it. All of that remained at the edge. He tried to search for the sensation from the fight. Not the blood. Not the knives. Not Elsa. Only the heat.
At first, he found nothing.
Only his own body, tired, full of recent food and tension. Then something deeper appeared. A sleeping pressure behind his forehead. It was not pain yet. It was like touching a scar beneath the skin, a sensitive area that responded before being called completely. Link breathed slowly. He tried not to force. He tried not to think about the kagune. He tried not to remember his black eyes or the wet sensation of red limbs emerging from his back.
Heat.
Rising.
Not from blood, but from something invisible.
His forehead began to hurt.
He clenched his fists, but remembered Beatrice's warning and loosened them. The pain increased. Not like a cut. It was pressure from within, two points pushing beneath the skin with slow insistence. Link opened his mouth and breathed deeply, trying not to curse. He felt something move in the room. Subaru, surely. Perhaps Emilia. He did not open his eyes.
"Slowly," Beatrice said.
It was the first time she sounded less irritated than focused.
The skin of his forehead tightened.
Then the horns came out.
There was no explosion or roar. The kagune did not appear. His eyes did not turn black and red. It was a smaller process, but no less shocking. Two short horns emerged from his forehead, curving slightly backward, dark at the base and more reddish toward the tips. They were not enormous, but they were clear. Real. Symmetrical. Two.
The entire dining room held its breath.
Link opened his eyes.
His vision was not dyed red. There was no hunger. No rage. No loss of control. Only a strange pressure in his head and a new sensitivity, as if the air around him had texture. He could feel something moving in the environment, not precisely, not like a developed sense, but like a warm current brushing his skin from a place that had not existed before.
"They came out," Subaru murmured.
"Thank you for the observation, genius," Link said, though his voice trembled.
Subaru did not answer with mockery.
He was too impressed.
Emilia brought a hand to her chest. Her eyes held no direct fear; they held concern and astonishment. Puck floated nearby, observing the horns as if confirming a suspicion. Beatrice looked at them with narrowed eyes, studying the flow of mana around Link. Roswaal smiled, but the smile had lost some theatricality and gained an almost uncomfortable intensity.
Ram and Rem were something else.
Ram had stopped looking at her plate.
Her face remained serene, but her lips were tighter. Her eyes were fixed on Link's two horns with a stillness heavier than any loud reaction. It did not seem like ordinary surprise. It seemed like memory. A closed door opening just enough to let out a cold current.
Rem, on the other hand, had completely lost that perfect calm for an instant.
Only an instant.
Her visible eye opened a little wider. Her hands, resting in front of her apron, slowly closed. She did not retreat, but her body went rigid, as if seeing those two horns did not seem simply strange to her, but deeply unfair. There was pain there. Pain and something like nostalgia. Also distrust, because Link was still Link: an unknown guest, tied to Subaru, smelling of danger, with a body that had attacked by instinct. But above all, the image of those two complete horns seemed to strike her in a place far too old.
Link saw her.
And suddenly the horns weighed much more.
"Two," Ram said.
The word was soft.
No one dared interrupt her.
Link carefully touched one of the horns. The contact caused a strange sensation, not of skin or exposed bone, but of internal pressure. Like touching a tooth, but more sensitive and deeper. He immediately withdrew his hand.
"Yes," he said, uncomfortable. "Two."
Rem lowered her gaze.
Subaru, who did not understand everything but understood enough to notice something hurt, spoke with less noise than usual.
"Is that rare?"
Beatrice looked at him as if the question were obvious.
"For an Oni, no. For those who know these two, yes."
Ram closed her eyes.
Rem said nothing.
Link understood that he should not ask more. Not there. Not in front of everyone. The information was enough to hurt without giving complete explanations. Two horns were normal for an Oni. Ram and Rem did not have two. That was enough to fill the table with unspoken things.
Roswaal placed his hands on the table.
"Fascinating. Truly fascinaaaating. Two horns manifested without losing consciousness, rough but stable maaaana flow, absence of the red limb... It seems our guest can learn to seeeparate his characteristics, at least partially."
Link frowned.
"Don't talk about me like I'm an experiment."
"My apologies. Old habits of a mage."
"That doesn't make it better."
"No, but it makes it honest."
Beatrice scoffed.
"Do not keep the horns out too long. Your flow is clumsy and you are wasting mana unnecessarily. Withdraw them."
"And how do I do that?"
"Stop feeding them, I suppose."
"What clear instructions. I can almost see the manual."
"If you want, Betty can drain you again."
"Withdrawing them."
Link closed his eyes and tried to reverse the sensation. It was not immediate. For a moment, the heat resisted, as if his body had found a new position and did not want to abandon it. Then the pressure in his forehead slowly decreased. The horns began to retract, not falling or breaking, but sinking beneath the skin with an unpleasant but bearable sensation. When they disappeared, Link brought a hand to his forehead. It was intact.
"I hate this," he murmured.
Subaru gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder.
"Welcome to the 'my body does things I didn't approve' club."
"Your body doesn't do anything special."
"Precisely. That is its greatest offense."
Ram returned to her usual tone, though some of the rigidity remained in her eyes.
"Barusu tries to turn his mediocrity into a tragedy."
"Ram, I'm trying to support my monstrous companion."
"You are doing it badly."
"I know, but I'm doing it with feeling!"
Rem was still silent.
Link looked at her once. Only once. She noticed the look and lifted her face. For one second, neither of them spoke. Link wanted to say something, but he did not know what. Sorry for having two horns. Sorry for appearing out of nowhere with part of a race that perhaps means something to you. Sorry for understanding nothing and still sitting here, eating the food from your mansion and looking at you like an infatuated idiot.
He said none of that.
Neither did Rem.
She only gave a small bow, stiffer than before.
"Rem will bring more food if the guest requires it."
Link lowered his gaze.
"Thank you."
The answer was simple. Too simple. But Rem accepted it with a nod and moved toward the kitchen. Ram followed her with her gaze for barely half a second before returning to her normal posture. Roswaal observed that exchange without missing a detail.
Breakfast continued, but it was no longer the same.
The food kept arriving. Subaru spoke again, because if he did not speak, he would probably choke on his questions. Emilia tried to guide the conversation back toward practical topics, explaining what she could about the mansion, about Roswaal, and about the situation with the insignia. Roswaal completed what was necessary with his theatrical style, making it clear that Emilia was a candidate in the royal selection and that the recovered insignia was indispensable to her position. Link listened while eating more slowly, though even with that slowness he continued emptying plates at an indecent speed.
"The secondary guest is still eating," Ram said when Rem returned with another serving dish.
"I'm processing an identity crisis," Link replied. "It requires fuel."
"Ram suspects any excuse requires fuel for you."
"That suspicion is correct."
Rem placed the new portion before him.
"You must eat slowly. If your body is spending mana abnormally, eating too quickly may cause discomfort."
Link looked at her as if he had just received a blessing.
"Yes, Rem."
Subaru covered his mouth with the napkin.
"I'm not going to say anything."
"You better not."
"But my eyes are writing a novel."
"I'm going to break your pen."
Emilia, who was beginning to partially understand the dynamic, smiled with some confusion. Puck settled on her shoulder, amused again, though every so often his gaze returned to Link with thoughtful seriousness.
Finally, Roswaal brought the conversation to the point canon required.
"Now then, Subaru-kun, Link-kun. Setting aside for a moment horns, destroyed libraries, and appetites that would make an accountant weep, both of you aided Emilia-sama during the incident in the capital. For that reason, as lord of this mansion and sponsor of Emilia-sama, I must offer an appropriate reward."
Subaru straightened.
Link stopped eating.
Emilia looked at Roswaal with some unease, as if she feared his way of saying it would make the moment larger than necessary.
"Anything within my power," Roswaal continued. "Money, temporary lodging, a formal introduction, help establishing yourselves. Ask for whatever you desire."
Subaru looked at Emilia.
He needed nothing more.
Link saw the decision on his face before he opened his mouth and nearly kicked him under the table, not to stop him, but out of pure anticipation of embarrassment. Subaru stood up abruptly, his eyes lit with absurd resolve.
"Then I want to work here."
The dining room went still for the second time that morning.
"Work?" Emilia repeated.
Subaru nodded firmly.
"Yes. As an employee of the mansion. I have no money, no roof, I understand nothing about this place, and if I'm honest, my useful skills are under review due to low productivity. But I want to stay. I want to repay the favor, learn, help, and... well, be close."
He said the last part looking at Emilia, then tried to pretend it had not been that obvious.
Ram observed him as if he had just asked permission to become an administrative disaster.
"Barusu does not seem suited to serving."
"I haven't even started and I've already failed!"
"Ram saves time."
Rem evaluated Subaru seriously.
"The tasks of the mansion require discipline, punctuality, endurance, attention to detail, and the ability to follow instructions."
Subaru smiled with effort.
"I have... enthusiasm."
"Rem did not mention enthusiasm."
"Because it's my surprise card."
"A weak card," Ram said.
Roswaal let out a musical laugh.
"Accepted."
Subaru froze.
"Really?"
"Really. If Subaru-kun wishes to work in the mansion, we will give him the opportunity. Of course, Ram and Rem will be the ones supervising your performance."
Subaru looked at the twins. Ram seemed ready to bury him alive with a list of tasks. Rem seemed calm, which was almost worse.
"Suddenly my surprise card feels insufficient."
"It is," Ram said.
Roswaal then turned toward Link.
"And you, Link-kun? Do you also desire a reward?"
Link took a moment to answer.
Part of him wanted to ask for information. About Oni. About mana. About Felt. About Reinhard. About his van, his weapons, Elsa, about anything that would let him feel that the ground beneath his feet was not a tightrope. But asking for answers at that table was dangerous. Roswaal smiled too much. Beatrice knew too much. Ram and Rem had wounds he did not want to step on. Emilia was kind, but she was involved in something enormous and political. Subaru had already decided to stay.
And Link, no matter how much he wanted to mock him, had nowhere else to go either.
"I want to work too," he finally said.
Subaru looked at him in surprise.
"Seriously?"
"Yes. But not as an indoor servant."
Ram raised an eyebrow.
"The secondary guest admits his limitations."
"I admit that if you make me clean expensive dishes, I'll break something and they'll charge me a kidney. Besides, I need air. Space. Something where my strength isn't a problem every time I touch a cup."
Roswaal tilted his head.
"Then?"
Link looked out the window, toward the gardens he had seen before. Wide, cared for, full of hedges, paths, trees, and earth. Hard work, physical, outdoors. Something he could understand even if the world was different.
"Gardener," he said. "Or gardener's assistant if there already is one. I can carry heavy things, move dirt, cut branches, fix fences, whatever. If I have to stay here, I'd rather work outside."
Subaru smiled.
"Makes sense. With your strength, you could prune a tree with one punch."
"That comment does not help."
"But it's visually impressive."
Roswaal brought a hand to his chin.
"Interesting. The mansion has wide grounds, and there is always exterior work. Besides, being under supervision in open spaces could be... convenient."
Link noticed the pause.
He did not like it.
"I am not an animal that needs a pen."
"I did not say that."
"You thought it prettily."
Roswaal's smile widened.
"Accepted as well. You will work in the gardens and exterior maintenance, with tasks assigned according to your physical state. Ram and Rem will coordinate what is necessary, though perhaps it would be prudent for Beatrice to occasionally evaluate your mana control."
"I don't love the Beatrice part."
"Neither does Betty," Beatrice said.
"Perfect. We already have something in common."
"Do not confuse tolerance with a bond, I suppose."
Emilia looked at both of them with an expression between relief and concern.
"Then you'll stay..."
Subaru raised his thumb.
"Starting today, Subaru Natsuki begins his life as an apprentice servant of the Roswaal mansion."
Ram corrected him mercilessly.
"Barusu begins his life as an additional burden for Ram and Rem."
"That's not going in the contract!"
Link rested his chin on one hand.
"And I, apparently, begin my life as a half-Oni, half-medical-crisis gardener."
Rem, standing beside the table, looked at him.
"If you work in the gardens, you will need appropriate clothing and a clear routine."
"Yes, Rem."
"You must also learn to control your strength so you do not damage tools."
"Yes, Rem."
"And you must not manifest your horns without supervision until your state is better understood."
"Yes, Rem."
Subaru leaned toward him with an unbearable smile.
"How obedient."
Link did not take his eyes off Rem.
"Shut up, Subaru."
Ram closed her eyes.
"Rem, it seems the secondary guest will be easier to manage than Barusu."
"Rem is not certain. Both seem problematic in different ways."
"That hurt more coming from you," Link murmured.
Rem blinked.
"Rem only told the truth."
"I know. That's why it hurt."
Puck laughed softly from Emilia's shoulder.
Roswaal observed the entire scene: Subaru overflowing with useless energy, Link trying to pretend he did not obey better when Rem spoke, Emilia smiling with fragile peace, Ram and Rem recovering their composure after the word that had shaken the table, Beatrice pretending all of it bored her, though her eyes returned again and again to the boy with two horns.
For everyone else, breakfast had ended with two new workers.
For Roswaal, it had ended with an unexpected variable sitting inside his house, eating like a starving beast, carrying the nature of a nearly lost race and an anomaly even Beatrice could not name.
"What a wonderfully agitated morning," Roswaal said, raising his glass theatrically. "Welcome to the Roswaal mansion, Subaru-kun, Link-kun. I hope your stay will be fruitful."
Subaru smiled as if he did not understand half the danger behind that phrase.
Link did feel it.
Not all of it. Not enough to explain it. But something in Roswaal's tone reminded him that this man was not only an eccentric noble with makeup and a drawn-out voice. He was someone who looked at people like pieces, even if he called them guests.
Even so, Link took another piece of bread from the table.
If he was going to be trapped in a mansion of secrets, with a librarian who could drain him, two maids tied to a word that had just opened invisible wounds, a noble who smiled too much, and a body that could sprout horns when he fed it with mana, he was at least going to do it with a full stomach.
Subaru raised his glass.
"To not dying during our first breakfast."
Ram looked at him.
"Barusu sets his expectations far too low."
"And yet this world almost fails to meet them!"
Emilia laughed softly.
Link glanced sideways at Rem. She was serving with the same calm as always, but her gaze passed once over his forehead, exactly where the horns had been. She said nothing. Neither did he.
The morning continued.
And beneath the polished tranquility of the mansion, a new truth remained breathing between them all: Link was not only a strange guest. Nor was he only the boy with noisy weapons, nor the red monster who had protected Felt, nor the improvised gardener who had just gotten a job for lack of better options.
He had Oni blood.
And in a house where two maids knew all too well what that word meant, that could not be a small thing.