Work, work, and more work. That was what Otto's afternoon involved. Turns out taking a day off without permission from the clown wasn't exactly normalized in the mansion. Roswaal had even threatened to take away his dolls, which were one of the few things the merchant cared about. It didn't help that Meili was yelling at him for some reason.
"What did you do now Otto?" The memory of the black haired boy the child had run to came back to him.
"Meili was roleplaying an assassin killing a knight so I thought I would add realism"
"BY SMEARING THE DOLLS WITH BLOOD?!" While the little girl's enraged cry made him want to put her back in the basement, her words greatly confused Otto.
"I told you it was donated. I didn't steal it, and they knew what it was wanted for"
"I think you're missing the point here but... Eh? Who would donate blood for something like this?" Needless to say, Subaru was creeped out. He had met quite a handful of sick individuals. In fact, he himself had been one some time ago, but would any of them give blood just to have it thrown on some dolls? Maybe if it wasn't their own or if they got something in return... His train of thought was interrupted when he saw it. Hidden and barely noticeable was a scar on Otto's neck. That scar wasn't here when they were together with Garfiel. Just like that, the dots connected.
"I see. Well, Otto will have his dolls taken and given to Meili then, and I'm not sewing him new dolls for a week"
Those words resounded like thunder in the crazy merchant's ears.
"What?! You can't do that! How else am I going to get replicas of the other camps' members and cut open their guts before stabbing their eyes out and swallowing them?"
"Firstly, what is wrong with you? Secondly, you'll just have to wait for a week until I sew you new ones" Subaru didn't bother commenting on how weird it felt to say that to a man who was probably in his twenties.
With that, the two left, and a heartbroken Otto added them to his list titled "Tormentors", completely ignoring how he got in that situation to begin with.
Could he even go back to work after this chilling encounter? He could ignore the destruction he brought upon the land, but he could not ignore the pain inflicted to him by the retaliation of the kind hearted and the iron willed. But Otto had made a promise, when that cool handsome disgusting cat took his first love, that his dark tendrils would stretch until they enveloped the world confined by the great waterfall, and the name "Otto Suwen" would be even more terrifying than "Satella". And so, Otto had accepted the pain that he knew he would face on this path. With renewed resolve, Otto decided that he would gladly face that pain head on, or become a masochist. That might be useful.
"I would be having fun playing with my dolls right now if Natsuki-san hadn't intervened. Even the voices have forsaken me, and so I'm sitting here while boredom slowly takes away what little sanity I have left. And you not answering isn't helping..."
Having determined that the wall in his bedroom wouldn't answer him no matter how much he talked to it, Otto left the mansion, seeking amusement.
He soon came to regret his decision as the moment he stepped into the garden, the" new problem", as he referred to her, judged him to be a good tree to climb. At this point, it was no secret in the mansion that Otto hated children. Even Rem, who had only come back recently, had the displeasure of finding that out the moment she, Subaru and Rui entered the mansion when Otto let out a high-pitched squeal filled with genuine fear at the sight of the blond child, before trying to throw her in the trash, only to be knocked out by an angry Ram. Anyway, point is Otto hated children, and Rui was no exception, but she sure was an exceptional pain. Petra would often avoid Otto, Meili would try to ignore him but would threaten him the moment she couldn't take it anymore, and Beatrice would just straight up shower him with insults. But none of that would annoy him as much as Rui's way of dealing with him. Rui was different, because the little thing just wouldn't understand that even he valued his own personal space.
But this time, Otto had a plan, ideas involving this friendly child. Rem would probably try to impale him, so he would need to make sure Subaru was there. If Subaru was there, then he would save him. He always did... for some reason.
A cackle could be heard from the merchant, making him sound like a stereotypical cartoon villain, with a clueless girl imitating him.
And so, with Rui clinging to him, the creep set out for the capital.
In a surprisingly tidy hideout where rejects are collected to play family, a woman reads her gospel carefully, before closing it and staring at the sunset.
"This should be interesting" she says, eyes full of delight, excitement, and lust.