Chapter 17 (My True Friend)
It's been a couple days since Ram had her odd encounter with the mysterious woman that wandered the streets in search of her baby. Since then Ram has been flat out refusing to wander alone during late night hours.
Even though she left unharmed, the fear and chills she got when she encountered the women was a certain type of emotion that couldn't be described. The woman also left Ram with a ton of questions about who she was and if people had similar encounters.
Ram tried to conduct her own investigation into the matter and asked Reinhard a ton of questions all relating to the woman. Unfortunately Reinhard knew as much as she did. There had been no reports of anybody seeing this woman before, nor was there any record of anybody fitting her description. Leaving Ram no clues, and a brick wall.
She knew she would eventually get over the encounter, but she couldn't get it off her mind. She felt like there was more to the story then just her getting knocked out when she was lunged at. Despite fondly remembering getting lunged at, Ram didn't remember the woman laying a single finger on her. In fact Ram didn't think that woman touched her at all, since there were no cuts or bruises left on her.
All Ram wanted was to know the truth of what happened, but it seems like she was staring directly into the brick wall left for her. With no answer, Rams' choice of action was to drop the subject for a later date, maybe more information would come about.
For now though Ram continued to work on the seemingly endless amount of paperwork she had been assigned. She sat down at her small desk for hours on end each day, filling them all out one by one. As she worked the small pile of papers turned into mountains of completed papers spread all over the room.
Reinhard was pretty impressed. With Felt she flat out refused to do more than one each day. He really couldn't blame her though. Most of the paperwork royal candidates had to fill out were very confusing and not something an ordinary fifteen year old could understand.
Royal candidates had to fill out forms on stuff like their economic policies, taxation, rights and freedoms of individuals, forgin policies, and immagration policies to name a few. More paperwork would be assigned whenever a significant political issue came up. Candidates had to write a letter on their stance on the issue, and what would be their resolutions. .
Reinhard tried his best to help Felt where he could. He would often facepalm at some of Felts policies she came up with. All of them only appealed to extremists living in the slums, she was generally disliked by the higher ups and the rest of the population. Her chances of winning were slim at best. Knowing this Felt just withdrew, thinking the election was just a waste of time, and to her credit, she was right in her own regard.
Ram though seemed to be a better candidate in Felts place. Her approval rating was up and seemed to be quite popular with the average citizen. For mainly two reasons. Number one being she was running as an extreme moderate, not really being biased to any side or political issue. Number two being backed by Reinhard who was seen as the most powerful knight the world has ever seen. His title gave Ram a significant boost in the polls, but she still faced fierce opposition.
One night Reinhard went to inform Ram on her current ratings in the polls. He walked up to the door and knocked on it lightly.
"Miss Ram, may I come in?"
"Of course," Ram responded on the other side.
WIth permission granted Reinhard opened the door to see the massive piles of papers Ram had created over the evening. Despite her trying her best to organize things neatly, Ram's work area was still littered with papers completed and non completed all over the floor.
Ram got out of her chair and picked up a seemingly random pile and handed them to Reinhard.
"These ones are finished," Ram said as she walked back to her desk, and continued to work.
Reinhard looked around her work area. He knew she needed a better working environment, she was going to get depressed and demoralized from all these papers all over the place.
"Miss Ram, you really need to get a better way of organizing your work area," Reinhard said.
"I tried to organize them neatly, but I keep getting piles mixed up"
The room Ram was staying in wasn't big enough to store any filing cabinets or anything of that regard. If he wants to give Ram a better work space, she has to switch rooms.
This actually wasn't a problem. There was an empty office area upstairs near the entrance. It wasn't a huge office area, but it was big enough for Ram to do her work and keep things organized.
"Miss Ram, I am actually going to have to ask that you use that office space upstairs. I will give you the key to it, why dont you check it out and see how you like it" Reinhard said as reached into his jacket and pulled out a key that led to the empty office area.
"Sure, I can take a look" Ram accepted, as she got up and took the key from his hand. She proceeded to make her way to the room he was referring to upstairs. Ram did not have a hard time finding it since she knew the layout of Reinhard's home pretty well.
His house and domain size didnt even compare to the size of Rosswals. Ram actually liked the smaller house. It made it easier for her to navigate when she first arrived, and didn't have to go through the process of entering twenty different bedrooms to find her own.
Opening the door Ram was met with the dark and almost abandoned looking office. It had a desk at the end of the wall near a window. Walking up to the dusty window Ram could see the outside and see the sidewalk that still had many people walking by despite it being the evening.
There were a couple filing cabinets, and it even had a small fireplace. Making it the perfect office space. Ram knew if she needed to make this her work area that she needed to clean it up since it was all dusty and had cobwebs everywhere. She was wondering why Reinhard's servants even allowed it to get this messy to begin with.
She spared no time and cleaned the office up and gave the room some lighting. After an hour the office was all clean and was ready to be used. Ram had not actually cleaned in a long time, so cleaning this office space actually satisfied her cleaning itch she had been getting.
Ram went down to her bedroom and brought in all the piles of paperwork she had been assigned, and sorted them out in the filing cabinets. Reinhard walked in and immediately took notice of the clean office area.
He couldn't believe Ram actually cleaned the cobweb infested office space into a fully functional office in only an hour. He was going to get one of his servants to do it, but it seemed that Ram had already handled it herself.
"Well Ram I am surprised to see what you have done with the office space, this should serve as a great area for you to work in" Reinhard said as he looked around.
"When I was cleaning this I thought like I was back in the Rosswal mansion" Ram said.
"I see. Anyway with other news. Your ratings seem to have gone up significantly since last month when you took a bit of a dip, for your stance on a certain taxation issue. Anyway you seem to be ranking second overall among the public. With Crusch just slightly being more favorable. This could change however"
Ram nodded in acknowledgement. Her focus was currently dead set on the paper set in front of her. She didn't know what to fill out since it covered her view on a political issue going on in Luginica. Ram had to write a letter on her stance when it came to a border conflict going on with a nearby kingdom.
Apparently a small patrol skirmish turned into a full blown border conflict, and the Lugnican army was able to occupy a huge chunk of land from the kingdom of Aureus. There is dispute across the kingdom whether the newly occupied territory should be incorporated into Lugnica or handed back to Aureus in fear of starting a full on war.
"Sir Reinhard, what do you make of the border conflict that took place in the south?" Ram asked, still stuck on her stance on the issue.
"From what I heard many counties bordering the area we occupied are in strong support of incorporating it into Luginica, but as we go further north east we start shifting into opposition. The north east argues that this could lead to a war with the Kingdom of Aureus" Reinhard said.
"Is there much support for war in the lower counties?"
"Yes actually. Many think this is an opportunity to grab more land since we seem to have better military strength"
"What about the counties surrounding the capital and near the north west?"
"Moderate for as much as I could tell. I would be careful to not make your platform get too occupied with this issue. Remember Ram you are seen as a moderate and picking a side could lead to you losing your support. With that said, I think there is more support for incorporating the territory than returning it."
Ram let out a sigh as she set her pen down on the desk and rested her head on her hand. She was very confused as to what her stance was. She just wanted to please her supporters.
"I think… I am going to support its incorporation if it doesn't lead to a war.." Ram said, as she picked up her pen and filled out the paper in front of her.
Despite running an unbiased and moderate platform. There were still many that were not very fond of Ram. Not a lot of people liked her only message during the royal meeting when she was introduced into the election. Her message only being a promise not to withdraw. This did not bring much to show what she had to offer as a ruler. Despite this Ram still had a strong group of supporters, as did every candidate, except Emilia it seemed…
With Rosswal switching his support from Emilia to Ram, and the fact Subaru was no longer with her to help her with internal affairs Emilia was left alone. She was asked to leave Rosswals domain, she did as such and was generously invited to Julius domain. She reluctantly accepted, and so far he had been helping her stay in the royal election, despite her popularity being down.
Ram had been keeping her distance from Emilia like Rosswal requested. Emilia had been wondering why she has been getting this odd silent treatment from Ram. She just wished she had Subaru there to help her, everything seemed to be going wrong for her. She was also still upset with herself for getting upset and attacking Rem a couple months back.
The political scene in Lugnica was definitely a chaotic one, with Ram filling Felts candidacy the stage was now set for a whole ton of internal quarrels between candidates and their supporters.
The night grew later and Ram was still at her desk doing paperwork. Rain started to drop down from the sky. It didn't distract Ram in the least bit, and she continued to work with the sound of the rain hammering against the window.
Ram lifted her head up to look out the window to see the creepy woman she encountered walking on the sidewalk. Her distinct broken jointed body stuck out to Ram the most.
Ram dropped her pen as the woman filled her eyes. She didn't think she would ever get the chance to see her again, but here she was. Ram didn't know what to do. The woman proceeded to walk by not paying any attention to Ram who was staring at her through the window.
There was a sudden knock on the door that made Ram jump out of her skin.
"Miss Ram, dinner is ready" Reinhard called out.
"I will be down in just a moment," Ram said.
She turned her attention back out the window, but the woman was no longer to be seen disappearing into the night. Ram scanned outside thoroughly to see if the woman was still out there, but it seems like she actually just walked off and paid no mind to Ram.
Eventually she got up and started to walk to the dining hall for dinner. She arrived and sat down to begin eating with Reinhard sitting across from her. Ram and Reinhard ate before the servants, and went unaccompanied by anyone. A couple minutes into dinner Reinhard struck up an important conversation.
"I know this might seem soon, but have you been putting any consideration to what your royal court will be made up of?" Reinhard asked.
Ram stopped eating and set her fork down and looked up at him.
"My court?"
"Yeah, your court. If you get elected you need to form a government. You need to appoint stewards, marshalls, diplomats, and other powerful positions. I suggest appointing those positions to those very loyal to you. Give too much power to an unloyal figure and we are in trouble."
"I don't think I know that many people,'' Ram said.
"No need to worry. I should be able to help you out. Remember we have at least three years to decide, so by that time we should already have an idea of what your government would be made up of" Reinhard said.
Ram nodded. She was thankful to have someone like Reinhard do all the heavy lifting when it came to forming a government. Ram had no experience in the world of politics and what it meant to rule a country. Once again she had Reinhard walking her through every step of the process.
"If you get elected…. You also get to decide if you want to king your husband"
The room became silent and awkward. Ram just sat there unsure of how to respond to such a personal question.
"Do I… Have to have a husband?" Ram asked.
"No… It's completely optional. Though you would be left without an heir. Same goes if you decided to marry, but not to have children. Although you could of course appoint someone else in your family to inherit the throne. Like a niece or nephew"
Ram began to think in her head, she hadn't been considering marrying anybody, but if she were to get elected she might have no choice on the matter. Her only remaining family member was Rem, and luckily the possibility of her having children with Subaru was high. But they would be raised in Japan and would be unfit to rule a magical and powerful kingdom.
"Hmmmm… I could marry Rosswal..." Ram said.
Reinhards face dropped a bit. For the last couple months he has been trying to block Rosswal from his mind. He did not trust him one bit, and was very convinced he had been using Ram and Emilia for his own unknown benefactor. Ram deciding to marry him could play right into his hand, and could be a part of his grand scheme.
"Could you please excuse me for a moment, Miss Ram?" Reinhard asked.
Ram nodded her head giving her formal consent and Reinhard stood up from the table and walked out for a moment to collect his thoughts. He just didn't know what to think. This Rosswal situation confused and concerned him greatly.
He walked around the halls trying to make sense of the situation he found himself in. He was quite annoyed with Rosswal for seemingly taking advantage of Rams' loyalty to him. Clearly she bent over backwards to help him out in any way possible.
Rosswal wasn't going to love her back genuinely, he would just say that he did to only get him closer to what he wants. What he wanted still remained a big and unsolved mystery to Reinhard.
Deep on the inside he actually felt a little tad bit of rejection. Although the feeling was small and he never said this or admitted it, Ram was actually able to fill the place left behind by Felt. He didn't wish to use her for her title of being a royal candidate. He already had it all when it came to his reputation. It was strange but he just wanted to stick by her, and be her personal knight throughout her life.
He hadn't yet come to terms with it in his head, but he guessed he actually loved Ram in a very odd way. As Reinhard thought about all the things he had done with Ram. She decided to go on long and boring meetings with him. She practically stood by him everyday for the past months.
He unbelievably felt a small tear fall down his face as he thought of Ram being used and thrown to the corner by Rosswal. Though he still supported her decision no matter the circumstances, it was his job and he felt morally obligated to do so.
He snapped out of his sad thoughts and hit himself in the face. Trying to pull himself together, he knew silly relationships like these would lead him nowhere and do nothing for him.
Eventually he returned back to the dining room ready to resume eating. When Reinhard sat down, Ram took notice of his face and immediately knew he had been crying slightly.
Ram had never thought in a million years someone like Reinhard would cry. Just before he was being informative and helpful, now all of the sudden he was sad about something.
Ram started to retrace her steps trying to figure out the meaning behind his mysterious sadness. It had to be something she said, he wasn't sad until they were talking about Ram's marriage.
A realization just hit Ram like a ton of bricks. She started to think Reinhard was kind of sad that Ram didn't want to marry him. She didn't think Reinhard felt that way about her. She was never truly loved by anyone except Rem, and she guessed Subaru to some extent. Though he was only just a normal friend then anything.
Even though her loyalty to Rosswal had no boundaries, she knew on the inside he didn't feel the same way about her. It still didn't change her opinion on him a slight bit. But here was someone who seemed to actually love her in a way, and she seemed to have unintentionally turned him away. She would have put more thought into the matter if she knew Reinhard felt this way.
But once again, Ram thought she could just be thinking crazy, and that Reinhard was sad about a completely different reason. She needed to get some sort of closure on the topic.
"Sir Reinhard, why do you seem off?" Ram asked, deciding to press the subject.
"I'm fine. Something unprofessional and immature got caught into my mind and I just needed a moment. I am fine now, no need to worry" Reinhard said, forcing a smile on his face.
Ram immediately saw through Reinhard's white lie. She knew this was going to be another fight to care for him. Reinhard had this odd habit about only keeping his own problems with himself and no one else. It was actually starting to get annoying with Ram, who just wanted to help him, yet he sat there with his mouth zipped, trying to live a white lie.
Reinhard knew Ram didn't believe him by the look he was getting, and just decided to push his concerns with Rosswal. Now was a better time than any. Although he was going to keep his respectable stance on things.
"Miss Ram, do I have permission to express my concerns about your partner choice?" Reinhard asked. Ram hesitated a bit before responding.
"… Sure"
"Miss Ram, forgive me for saying this, but I believe you are being used for Rosswals benefactor. The way he threw out Emilia in place of you being more favourable isn't sitting well with me. Still if you vouch for him, I shall hundred percent condone your decision" Reinhard said. It actually felt good to finally get it off his chest after it had plagued his mind for months.
"… Despite how morally off it is, I just want to make it clear I completely condone every one of his wishes, but Sir Reinhard, could you please answer me a question…."
Ram hesitated to ask him the question. She considered just dropping the topic, but she just needed to know. She took some deep breaths trying to keep her composure.
"Did you wish to marry me?" Ram asked, growing extremely embarrassed.
Dead silence fell upon the room and Reinhard debated his answer. On the inside he wanted to say yes, but he couldn't find the words. This was by far the most extreme situation he had ever been in.
Minutes went by and Reinhard had yet to give Ram his response. Ram was growing tired of the suspense and just wanted an answer.
"Just a simple yes or no," Ram said.
"... Yes," Reinhard said confidently. The atmosphere just grew to be ten times more awkward. It was Ram's turn to debate her response, and sat in silence. Reinhard couldn't take the suspense, and decided just to give Ram the ultimate question he thought he was never going to ask.
"Ram… Do you want to marry me?" Reinhard asked.
Ram didn't know this question would come up. Here she was being proposed to in the middle of dinner. Instead of just continuing to sit there in silence Ram just blurted out the first answer that came to her mind.
"Yes!" Ram exclaimed as she covered her face. Reinhard didn't expect Ram to be so straight forward. He expected her to beat around the bush and leave him a blank response.
"You sure…." Reinhard asked. He wanted to make sure Ram was being a hundred percent confident in her answer.
"You heard me, yes! What, are you trying to chicken out now after getting this far?"
"No, it's just that you obviously showed interest in Rosswal, and I wanted to make sure you really preferred me over him..."
"Don't worry about Rosswal… Though I will still hold a tremendous amount of loyalty to him. I still gratefully accept your marriage proposal" Ram said. Even though it was by no means an easy choice, Ram couldn't hold back and just accepted Reinhard's proposal.
In Japan
Subaru woke up with Rems face resting on his cheek, smearing saliva all over one side of his face. What Subaru first thought was adorable soon turned painful with the pressure of her head pressing his cheek against his teeth.
As the pain grew more uncomfortable Subaru had to wake her. He slipped his face away from hers, landing it on the pillow. He sat up right and wiped the drool from his face with his sleeve. Rem actually awoke when her head hit the pillow.
Making her consciousness aware by breathing in and stretching her limbs.
"Oh hi Rem" Subaru said as kept rubbing his face. Rem had been laying on his face for so long that it went somewhat numb.
Apparently Rem was still not ready to wake up since she buried her face back into the pillow and groaned.
"What time is it?" Rem asked.
Subaru looked over to the clock on the nightstand. The time was currently 5:07 in the morning. It was Sunday and they didn't have school, so it was way too early to be getting up. Subaru usually woke up at 7:00 in the morning. Rem woke up an hour earlier most days.
"It's… five in the morning" Subaru said, as he laid his head back down. Silence fell upon the room because neither of them could fall back asleep. Even though both of them tried.
Suddenly Subarus' phone rang on the nightstand. He let out a groan not wanting to pick up and answer whoever was calling him.
"Rem pick up the phone," Subaru said.
"It's on your side of the bed" Rem responded with her face in the pillow.
Subaru let out one last groan as he lifted his hand and felt around the nightstand "I can't believe I am getting a call at five in the morning. Who does this?" Subaru said.
His hand eventually landed on the phone resting on the nightstand vibrating from the incoming call. He kept his head laid down on the pillow as he flipped open the phone and read the number that was calling him.
He immediately noticed Beatrice's name on the top, and quickly answered the call.
"Hello? Why are you calling me this early in the morning?"
"Ram came by earlier today and told me to tell you that she is getting married in two weeks I suppose" Beatrice said.
"Wait, what did you just say!?" Subaru asked in disbelief.
"You heard me I suppose"
"It's too early for news like this. Who is she even getting married to? I bet he's a tall guy in clown makeup" Subaru said. Rem turned to look at Subaru curious to what marriage he was talking about. Rem couldn't hear because the phone was held to Subarus ear.
"Her knight, I think. Anyway, just know you've been invited to her ceremony. hanging up now"
"Hold on! Wait!" Subaru tried to stop Beatrice from hanging up, but it was too late and she hung up the call.
Subaru closed his phone and set it back on the nightstand; he couldn't believe that Ram was actually getting married to someone like Reinhard. They have only known each other for four months and they were already getting married.
But then again marriage probably worked differently in Luginica than it did in Subarus world. Subaru knew they didn't even know what dating was in Luginica, so it was probably common for two people to get together, just to be together. Not really having any love for eachother.
Seeing how Rem and Emilia seemed to be unaware of the word "girlfriend" it was obvious that love relationships in Lugnica just jumped the gun, and went straight to marriage.
"Subaru who called you" Rem asked.
"Beako, She told me. Your not going to believe this, but apparently Ram's getting married soon"
"Really? Who is she getting married to?" Rem asked, getting excited.
"Her knight… Who is Reinhard…" Subaru said
"Subaru, that's amazing! Nee-Sama is getting married!" Rem said happily.
"I am just more impressed at the fact they have only known each other for like four months and decided to get married. What happened to liking the tall guy in clown makeup? Actually… Reinhard is a tall guy so that's one tick off her criteria sheet."
"When is she getting married?" Rem asked.
"Like in two weeks. We might have to take some time off school, since there has to be week between portal openings or whatever"
"Subaru, it's worth it! I can't wait to see her! '' Rem said.
"Well we know that those two are definitely moving faster than us, that's for sure. I have yet to even propose to you yet. I clearly need to get on that"
"Subaru, there is no need to rush it. Save it until the times are right. We are too preoccupied with school and other stuff. Us being married isnt going to change our relationship much. It isn't like it's required in our relationship" Rem said.
"Yeah you're right. Anyways I am going back to sleep, because it is way too early to be conscious."