Needless to say, today was perhaps the most chaotic day in Subaru's life. Practically everyone in the manor was panicking and worrying for Subaru as Felix was trying his absolute best to remove the curse Subaru had. Felix was the best healer in all of Lucinica according to Reinhard and even he was having difficulties removing this curse.

"Hey, what exactly would this curse do to me? I know you said I could die but how exactly?" Subaru asked as he was lying down on the bed.

Felix was very invested in inspecting Subaru and was constantly trying to just pull the curse out of him. He's been at this for half an hour already. "That's impossible to nyow. The curse would have to activate for us to even get an idea. Nyow stay still, I think I got it nyow."

A strange black mist emitted from Subaru's hand. It did this a few times already but every time Felix tried to grab it, it'd constantly slip out of his hands. However, this time around he grabbed it firmly and yanked that sucker out. After the black mist faded away, Felix let out a loud sigh of relief.

"Whew. I don't nyow who did this but they really nyow their stuff. I have never seen such a complex curse in my life." Felix stretched a little after that hard work was finally over.

Subaru sat up in the bed he was operated on. "So you said curses aren't usually like this?"

The cat boy shrugged. "Nyot really. It could be as simple as a little tug or as difficult as a hard yank. That curse you had was very slippery. The only time I've seen it do that was if there were countless curses on someone."

Subaru blinked. "Wait, so I was cursed a whole lot of times?"

Felix shook his head. "Nyot at all. You only had one curse. That's why I found it weird that it was so hard to get out. Honestly, you're very lucky you had me today. Any other healer would say it would be best to put you out of your misery!"

Subaru shuddered at the very thought. "W-Well thanks for saving me once again, Felix. Would you have any clue who could've done this?"

Felix nodded. "Yep, that's very easy actually. Anyone that made any physical contact with you between my last checkup with you and nyow."

Well, there's no way it could be anyone in the manor so it definitely had to be someone during one of his outings, Subaru thought. During Subaru's first outing he recalled only carrying Felt. He didn't remember too much other than that as that happened before his return by death checkpoint. As for the second time when he visited the tailor, he did bump into several people. That was during the time when Reinhard left to see what the commotion was all about. Oh right, and finally there was the nice shopkeeper. But it couldn't have been him as he didn't seem suspicious in the least.

Subaru suddenly jumped, his thoughts being completely interrupted as his ear was gently nommed by Felix. "Subaru-kun, you sure seem to doze off a lot. That was actually why Reinhard called me up here in the first place you nyow."

"S-Sorry about that, I was trying to remember who touched me but it could've been anyone. Yesterday I was bumping into a lot of people."

Felix let out a sigh. "That's a shame. That means we can't rule out who this shaman could be."

"Hey wait, where can I find you if I get cursed again?"

Felix shrugged. "Wherever my lady needs me. You shouldn't rely on me to do everything you nyow. I'm nyot always gonna be there to fix up every scrape on you. I'm only here today because I had a very small opening in my very busy schedule and I'll have you nyow I'm pretty late nyow because of your carelessness."

"Sorry about that, I guess I'm just a high maintenance patient. Don't worry though, I'll be sure you're the first person I go to when I get into trouble again." Subaru smiled and gave Felix a thumbs up.

Felix chuckled at this. "And I'll be sure to boil your blood just a little~"

Subaru quivered at the very thought of that. "I-I'll keep that in mind."

After Subaru and Felix's exchange, the latter went over with Reinhard what Subaru should be looking out for and to keep physical contact to a minimum, at least until the shaman has been dealt with. While that exchange took place, Felt immediately rushed over to Subaru.

"Big bro!" The short girl cried as she ran over to him.

"Hey, lil' sis. How's it- OOOMPH!" Subaru knelt over and clenched his stomach as Felt suddenly punched him.

"I knew it! I knew something was going on with you!"

Still recovering from the sudden attack, Subaru slowly stood up straight. "Yeah, guess the news was pretty shocking, wasn't it?"

Felt glared at Subaru. "What do you think?! Do ya have any idea what it's like to suddenly hear; hey, so big bro is cursed and he might die any second now."

Subaru blinked a few times at this. He didn't think Felix would word it like that. Subaru placed a hand on Felt's shoulder. "Look, I'm not dead. I'm right here and I'm perfectly fine now."

Felt looked into Subaru's scary looking eyes for a good while. "Fine… But if you aren't feeling well like this again, you better tell someone! I know you can be stupid sometimes but this is rediculous!"

Subaru moved his hand away from Felt's shoulder and to the back of his head. "Yeah, I'll tell you if something like this comes up again."

Finally loosening up, Felt lets out a sigh of relief. "You better or else there'll be hell to pay. Now c'mon, I wanna get some fresh air for once." The demanding girl snatched Subaru's wrist as she practically dragged him away without even giving the boy a chance to share his opinion on the matter.

Subaru didn't really mind the idea of being outside for a little so he went along with Felt's lead. Everything seemed to be just fine, that was until Felt led the way to the back of the manor. Felt even looked around in a suspicious manner as if to make sure no one followed them.

Well, despite Subaru being suspicious these past few days, this wasn't going to stop him from pointing out anyone else's odd behavior. "Erm, lil' sis? Did you want to play back here?"

"Eh, something like that. You're gonna help me get over this fence." Felt pointed to the said fence as Subaru only wore a deadpanned look.

"Really? Now you're going to use me to help you leave me?" Subaru asked with an 'Are you serious?' look on his face.

"You know very well that you're able to leave anytime you want! After you help me out, we'll meet up at the loot house."

Subaru let out a sigh. "You know everyone here will be worried about you."

"Screw what they think! If you hadn't forgotten already, you were about to die. If it weren't for me insisting something was wrong with ya, you'd be dead!"

This caught Subaru's attention. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

Felt crossed her arms. "Are ya deaf?! I pestered that idiot knight to have ya see a medic. He insisted that since you said you were fine then we should respect your words. I called him out on that and said if his so-called friend is suffering, then he's a lousy one for doing nothing!"

Subaru flinched at this revelation. He had no idea Felt was the reason this happened. "Oh… I had no idea…"

"Don't look so surprised. Now help boost me up." Felt pointed at the spot she was expecting to get said boost.

"Hey wait, I really appreciate you helping me out but I still don't want to cause trouble with everyone here."

Felt glared at Subaru. "Look, you were about to die and the people here were gonna do nothing about it. Staying here is more trouble than it's worth and there is no way in hell I'm just gonna sit back and let myself be a target to whoever this curse giver of yours is. For all we know, it could be someone here!"

Seeing how hellbent Felt was on getting out, Subaru let out another sigh. "I doubt anyone here is the shaman. They're all very nice."

"So what? They're keeping me here against my will anyways! I don't care if he's a knight, kidnapping is still kidnapping!" Felt argued.

Subaru looked over at the fence before the two. "Are you sure you even need my help? I could've sworn I saw you hopping between buildings before."

This caused the crimson eyed girl to get a little flustered. "Hold up, you've seen me before?! Why didn't ya say anything?!" Before anything could be said about it, Felt quickly shook her head. "Never mind, just keep a lookout for me, will ya?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the short girl quite easily hopped over that fence. It was probably around fifteen feet tall and the fact she did it so smoothly was impressive in itself.

With a triumphant smirk, Felt turned to Subaru who was on the other side of the fence. "Alright, big bro. I'll see ya at the loot house, got it?"

Subaru seemed surprisingly calm about this all of a sudden. "Yeah, sure. By the way, lil' sis…"

Felt perked her eyes up. "What is it, big bro?"

"There's someone there…" Subaru pointed over to something behind her.

"Huh…?" Felt slowly turned around and in front of her was an all too familiar resident of the manor. Standing tall in front of her was Grimm. He was silently looking down at the girl with that terrifying look and it was as if a terrifying aura was emitting from him. Subaru may have a scary look but this butler put that to shame.

"…" Grim didn't say a word, he just stared at Felt.

"W-What the hell are ya doing here?! I thought you were inside!" Felt yelled out.

"…" Nothing. He continued to stare at the girl.

At this point, the tense mood was starting to get to Felt as a single drop of sweat ran down the side of her face. "L-Look, I'm just looking around so ya don't have to look at me like that."

"…" There was still nothing. Not a sound, not any signs of movement, just that intense staring.

Feeling defeated, Felt lowered her head and slowly walked her way back to the front gate as Grimm followed behind. Subaru walked alongside her from the other side of the fence, watching the blonde girl's walk of shame the whole time.

After escorting Felt back in the Manor's courtyard, Grimm simply nodded and faded back in the background. After his disappearance, Felt let out a sigh of relief. "What the hell was his problem? He didn't have to be so scary."

"I mean, you did jump the fence." Subaru pointed out.

"So what?! I told Gramps that I was just looking around! He had no reason to glare at me like he did." Felt crossed her arms and let out a loud huff.

"Gramps? Never mind, why are you so scared of Grimm? I mean, yeah, he's pretty intimidating but Reinhard quite literally blew the loot house into a pile of rubble and you don't bat an eye trying to hit him."

"You wouldn't understand! He might not be as strong as that kidnapper but he defies everything!"

Subaru lifted an eyebrow. "You were scared of him ever since day one. What could he possibly have done to you?"

"Oh let me tell ya…"

--

The first day…

--

Felt just stormed out of the room after convincing Reinhard to not start that etiquette training today. She was expecting that knight to follow her like some kind of bloodhound but to her surprise, he stayed back with Subaru. They looked like they were talking about something.

Felt suddenly smirked as an idea popped up in her head. They were distracted and she could easily use this opportunity to get out of this hell hole. Sure, it wouldn't be fair to Subaru after having him agree to take those lessons with her but the idea of getting out of this hell hole sounded a lot better.

"Eh, I'm sure big bro will understand." Felt muttered to herself. Knowing that this place was empty, she easily navigated to the front door and let herself out. She made her way over to the front gate only to find it locked.

With how tall these fences were, any normal person would be trapped here. Luckily for Felt, she wasn't any normal person. She was a master thief and some lock wasn't going to stop someone like her. The girl pulled out a hair pin from the bottom of her dagger holster. It was a shame that her dagger was compensated but she can always get a new one, she was just glad that her hairpin wasn't taken away as well.

Felt easily maneuvered the hairpin in the lock and in the matter of seconds, the lock popped open. She walked herself past the gate and let out a hearty laugh. "Damn, this was way too easy!"

However, the girl's bask of glory was short-lived as a group of maids and a butler was standing in front of her. There were three maids and one butler, one maid looked really old and the butler looked just as old. The other two maids looked perfectly identical with the only difference being the bangs of their hair and those girls didn't even look to be any older than her. All four of them were staring at Felt with a very unimpressed look.

Being way too overconfident in her skills, she simply waved at the small group. "I'd love to greet myself to ya all but I'm afraid I gotta run. Live strong!" And with those parting words she used her divine protection to dash herself up in the trees and made a run for it, hopping swiftly from tree to tree.

"Yeah! This was way too ea-" Her self praise was swiftly interrupted as her scarf seemed to get snagged on something and it caused her to lose her balance and began to dangle from one of the trees. "Dammit! What the hell was tha-"

Once again, she stopped herself as she found the source of this interruption. Right here, her scarf was pinned to the tree by a sword. "D-Did someone throw this at me?!" Felt asked herself. As she was getting the sword out, she felt something grab her foot.

Looking back, Felt saw that butler from before staring sternly at the little runaway. "…" He wasn't saying anything, just staring like he was pissed.

"Did you seriously throw a sword at me?! You coulda killed me, dumbass!" Felt screeched.

The butler seemingly ignored Felt as he casually yanked the sword out of the tree, finally freeing Felt's scarf. However, Felt was now trapped in this old man's grasp. "Hey! What the hell do ya think you're doing?! Get off of-"

Before Felt could finish, the butler actually set her down and let her go. Felt blinked a few times as now both the butler and her were staring each other down. "Oh… Um… Thanks?" Felt was not actually expecting to be let go.

The butler on the other hand didn't change his stern look one bit. Without a word, he pointed back to the direction of the manor. Felt was smart enough to know what he meant. She did want to run away again but something about this guy was really throwing her off and in all honesty, it scared her.

"R-Right…" And without a fight, Felt shamefully walked herself back in the direction of the manor.

--

"And then I tried to hop over the fence but that old lady snatched me and tossed me over her shoulder before I could. That's about it." Felt finished.

Subaru rubbed his chin as he processed Felt's story. "So you got your butt handed to you by Grimm and you're scared of him now."

The answer Subaru received was a kick to his side. "Were ya even listening?! I'm sayin that it's like he didn't care! He let me go and made me go back on my own!"

"Ow…" Subaru complained as he rubbed the spot he was kicked in. "I heard your story but it just sounded like you got served."

Felt crossed her arms and looked away. "I should've figured that you're too stupid to get it."

"Oh yeah! Before I forget, I have something I'm pretty sure you'll like."

This easily caught Felt's attention and her pouty demeanor instantly vanished. "For me? What is it?"

Subaru formed an X with his arms. "Nope! Telling you will ruin the surprise! You'll have to follow me if you want to know what it is."

"You mean that surprise from the other day? I guess you never really told me what that was all about… Sure, lead the way, big bro." Felt began to follow Subaru's lead.

Subaru proudly marched to his room and once there, he turned back to Felt. "Now wait right here and cover your eyes for me."

Felt's crimson eyes stared at Subaru suspiciously. "I swear, if you touch me, I'll bite your hand off."

Subaru instinctively took a step back. "What? No! Am I some kind of pervert to you?!"

Felt shrugged. "Probably, I mean, you do some pretty weird stuff. I even saw ya making those twins do some weird poses yesterday."

"We were doing a perfectly normal stretch routine! There was nothing weird about it!" Subaru defended.

Felt smirked before teasing the poor boy some more. "I dunno, it sounds like you're trying to hide your perverted operation to me."

"They're twelve! Why would you even think that I'd do something as illegal as that?!" Subaru quickly shook his head as he realized that this was getting way too off track. "At least turn around, I'm trying to make a memory of a lifetime for you."

Felt chuckled as she finally listened and placed her hands over her eyes. "Cmon, big bro. I was just messing with ya a little."

Seeing Felt finally complying, Subaru let out a sigh of relief. "I only need a second." And with that, Subaru rushed into his room and pulled out his little present that was in the sealed box safely hidden under his bed.

After securing the item out from the box, he rushed out while hiding it behind his back. "Alright, are you ready?"

Felt answered by removing her hands from her face and she looked over to Subaru. "Well? Let's see this surprise of yours."

"H-Hey! You're supposed to say 'Yes, I'm ready.' Don't just look without any warning! Luckily I planned for this and helped to not ruin it."

Felt crossed her arms and began to look annoyed. "Who cares? It looks like you're hiding it behind your back anyways. Quit stalling and show me already."

Finally getting to the point, Subaru revealed the doll he made for her. It was still designed after himself but hey, the design still looked cute.

Sorta…

After taking the doll, Felt examined it a little. A small moment of silence occurred before the blonde haired girl burst out laughing.

Subaru was taken aback by this behavior. "Hey! What's so funny?!" This was a much better reaction compared to last time but it still felt demoralizing.

Felt barely recovered from laughing, it was apparent that she found this hilarious. "All this was for a weird doll that looks like you?"

"I'll have you know that it took me all night to make that!" That was a lie. Thanks to making the doll the first time, he certainly saved a lot of time this time around thanks to the memory alone.

"Pfft, whatever you say, big bro." Despite her rude comments, she was smiling happily.

"Well if you don't like it, I'll just make you something else." As Subaru tried to take the doll back, Felt swiftly pulled it away from his reach.

"Slow down there, I never said I hated it. Besides, this little guy will never find a good home in your reach."

Subaru blinked a few times before smiling. "Ah, so you're going to adopt him then?"

Felt chuckled. "Yeah, I doubt you'd be smart enough to do it yourself."

This irked Subaru a little. "Stop treating it like a child. It's just a doll you know."

"What? You're the one spouting about adopting it."

Well, Felt did have a point there. Subaru relented and sighed. "I guess you're right. Well I'll try to make better surprises next time."

Felt shook her head. "No need, it was good enough."

This caught the boy's attention as he smiled deviously. "Oh?~ Could it be that the tsundere in you is finally making its debut?~"

Felt looked very confused. "Soon da-what? Wait, are ya making fun of me?!"

Ignoring her question, Subaru continued, "My, to think lil' sis would have such a cute side to her~"

"Grrr… You better canit or else I'll kick your ass!"

Clearly having his excitement get the better of him, he just went on. "You know, I'm pretty sure there's a tsundere loli at Roswaal's mansion. I think you two could-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!!!"

Subaru might need to see Felix again.

--

It was now nighttime. Luckily, Felt didn't send him to the hospital.

The lessons were more behind then last time because of everything that happened and Felt really was more rebellious about participating more than usual. Subaru concluded that it had to be because of him getting cursed considering the timing.

"Are you alright, guest-sama?"

Subaru flinched, snapping out of his train of thought and looked over to Grassis. Today she was the one teaching him how to read which in itself was kinda embarrassing to have a little kid teaching a high schooler about reading and writing.

"I'm fine, today was just pretty eventful." Subaru clarified.

The little maid nodded, agreeing with Subaru's assessment. "I agree. I heard you were going to die from a curse."

Her too? Felix really shouldn't have added the dying part. "Look Grassis, I'm stronger than I look. Some curse isn't going to take me down."

Grassis suddenly leaned uncomfortably close to Subaru, staring at him intently. After her evaluation, she finally revealed her results; "I doubt it."

Subaru looked down in defeat. "You didn't even hold back…"

Seeing how Subaru's attention was recaptured, Grassis continued with the writing lesson. "Now write this character a few times."

Subaru nodded as he followed the little girl's instruction. This was a nice change of pace at least, Carol was way more strict in her teachings and didn't hold back one bit. Grassis was a lot more easy going.

As the practice continued, Subaru was distracted by a strange movement from the corner of his eye. Out the window, he saw another nearby window suddenly open and to no one's surprise, Felt's head peeked out from it.

Subaru couldn't help but watch this as Felt looked around a bit. Soon her head pulled back in the building and a rope sprung out from the open window. Felt got herself out and slowly descended down the rope until she was out of sight.

Subaru continued to stare out the window dumbfounded for a few moments until the scene suddenly changed as a ladder suddenly posted itself up towards the window Felt escaped from. Following that scene, he saw Grimm climbing up the ladder with one hand as his other was carrying a bewildered looking Felt over his shoulder. She wasn't struggling or anything, she just had that ' what just happened?' look on her face.

Subaru blinked a few times as he subconsciously pulled his phone out and took a picture. The flash went off and it caught the attention of both Grimm and Felt. Grimm was visibly confused and simply waved to Subaru. The boy kindly returned the gesture and waved back to him.

However, Felt remembered exactly what that phone can do. Knowing what Subaru did, she began kicking and screaming, trying to flail out of Grimm's grasp. It was strange though, Subaru could barely hear a thing. These must be some sound-proof walls.

After Grimm hauled Felt back inside, Subaru turned his attention over to Grassis. "Hey Grassis? I suddenly have a bad feeling about this room. Let's go to another room."

Grassis tilted her head. "Are you sure, guest-sama? Would you like me to get Master Reinhard?"

Subaru shook his head. "No, I don't think he can stop what's about to happen."

Concerned about what Subaru was talking about, Grassis agreed and the two moved to a different room. Needless to say, Subaru could hear loud banging and crashing noises from his room while they were settled.

Fearing that he might actually die, Subaru ended up sleeping in that room for the night.

--

Today was now the fifth day. By the looks of it, Subaru didn't return by death. The primary evidence for this was not only waking up in that different room but he also found two sleeping girls by his sides.

At first, he was relieved that he didn't go back but that relief turned into panic as he finally realized the seriourity of the situation he was in. He was in bed sleeping with Flam and Grassis. He could practically hear the police sirens already.

Without even thinking, Subaru quickly got off the bed. "What do you both think you're doing?!"

The twins lifted their heads up in unison and tiredly looked over to Subaru. "Huh…?" The twins took a moment to survey their surroundings until it finally hit them. "Oh, this is our room."

"Huh…?" It was Subaru's turn to be confused. As he was putting the pieces together, it finally hit him. He didn't return to his room last night and Grassis led him to a different room. That means he was brought into the twins room and ended up passing out. Last thing he remembered was sitting at the desk.

"Wasn't I sleeping on the desk over there? How did I end up in the bed?" Subaru asked.

"You seemed adamant on not returning to your room last night so I moved you into our bed. The desk didn't look comfortable to sleep on and there's a lot of room on the bed so it shouldn't be cramped with the three of us." Grassis calmly explained.

Subaru let out a sigh of relief at the innocent explanation. At least no one showed up to spark any misunderstandings. "Thanks, you two. But could you take me to a different room next time? I don't want to get in trouble if anyone sees this."

The twins tilted their heads in unison. "What's there to get in trouble for?"

Subaru would never tell these innocent girls such a thing. He just took a deep breath before saying, "N-Never mind. Sorry for waking you two." And without further delay, he left the room, leaving the two clueless girls behind.

Subaru needed to get dressed still so he returned to his room. What he saw next was even more traumatizing than waking up with two minors.

Nevermind, nothing could ever top that.

Regardless, he found his room in pieces. Dressers were knocked over, closets were rummaged through, his desk was flipped to its side, his clothes the manor provided him were scattered all over the floor, and lastly, there was a blonde petite girl sleeping soundly in the center of his bed.

Of course, it was Felt.

Subaru was just glad that he didn't decide to stay in his room last night. He definitely would've been a goner otherwise.

However, Subaru didn't have time to think about this. Right now, he had to think of a way to take the ticking time bomb off of his bed. In order to test the girl's awareness, Subaru tossed one of the clothes at Felt while he waited by the door in case anything went wrong.

"Nghhh…" Felt muttered out in her sleep before rolling to her side. Luckily, she was still fast asleep. Subaru let out a sigh of relief as he knew it was all clear. Very slowly and carefully, the boy approached the sleeping girl and cautiously carried them in his arms.

He panicked once Felt grumbled and squirmed around a little but she stopped as she comfortably slept in Subaru's arms. He let out a silent sigh of relief and started to tiptoe his way out of his room. Everything was going really smoothly so far, he couldn't think of anything that could go wrong.

And as if the world wanted to prove him wrong, his door burst open right in front of him. It was Reinhard and he had a worried expression on his face. "Subaru! Have you seen Felt?! She wasn't in her-" The knight stopped mid sentence as he saw Subaru carrying Felt in his arms. Let's just say Felt wasn't exactly sleeping anymore. Now with his worries subsided, Reinhard smiled at the two. "Oh, my apologies. I didn't mean to interrupt." And with that, he closed the door.

Subaru's gaze was locked on the closed door in disbelief. It felt as if his heart stopped after he heard Felt's voice. "Care to explain why you're holding me like this, big bro?" It was said in a very serious and stern tone.

Subaru didn't say a word. He slowly walked back to his bed, set Felt down on it, and walked out of the room. After closing the door, he started running as if his life depended on it.

As he ran, he heard his door slam open and heard Felt yelling at the top of her lungs. "Hey! Get your dumb ass back here!"

"I'm sorry but your big bro is in another castle!" Subaru shouted back as he didn't stop running. He didn't dare look back in fear at what he might see.

Eventually, the boy turned a tight corner and quickly slipped into a random room. He held his breath in order to not make any noise. Footsteps swiftly passed by which showed the effectiveness of his plan and Subaru gasped for air. "I-I barely made it…" Subaru said to himself.

"Welcome back, guest-sama. May we help you with anything?"

That voice was one of the twins. Subaru couldn't tell which one since they sounded exactly alike. Before he could answer, he took notice that the room he slipped into was the twin's room. He hadn't realized that he took the same path back.

"Oh, sorry about that, I was trying to save myself from-" Subaru stopped mid sentence once he looked towards the twins. The two were in the middle of changing. One of them was already dressed and they were helping the other get their cute little maid dress on.

However, Subaru's eyes widened in fear as he saw that little maid completely in her underwear. The intense fear of being imprisoned forever plagued his mind and he knew very well his run wasn't anywhere near over.

"I'm sorry!" Subaru cried out, he was even crying as he rushed out of the door.

"Guest-sama!" The twins cried out in unison. They both sounded very concerned for the poor boy.

--

Subaru had an epiphany. He realized that the curse was only trying to save him from the horror he would go through on this day. It was only trying to put him out of his misery.

"Defying fate was a mistake…" Subaru muttered to himself, his tone lacking any kind of emotion.

Suddenly his arm was punched. It didn't hurt or anything, it was more of a rough nudge if anything. "Get over it already, ya crybaby." Felt demanded before returning to her food. Right now, everyone was gathered at the dining hall for breakfast.

The nudge was enough to return to normal only to complain. "You wouldn't understand! Anyone in my shoes would be traumatized and never be the same again!"

"I dunno, you sound fine to me." Felt concluded before stuffing her mouth with steamed tatoes.

"Miss Felt, please refrain from eating the tatoe whole." Reinhard advised before demonstrating the proper way of eating it.

"Yeah yeah, I know how to eat a tatoe. The thing is, I'm gonna eat it how I want." Felt responded as her mouth was full.

"Miss Felt, please swallow your food before talking. It's rude behavior and it'll make your peers feel uncomfortable." Reinhard lectured.

Felt didn't answer. Well, verbally at least. What she did was flip Reinhard off.

This behavior was enough to make Subaru concerned and helped him forget about his personal problems altogether. "Um, lil' sis? Are you doing alright?" Subaru whispered.

Swallowing her food, Felt answered. "Yeah, I'm just fine."

Well, that was a blatant lie. Subaru didn't need Reinhard's lie detector power to figure that out. Subaru placed his hand on Felt's shoulder and persisted. "I know something's wrong. If I have to tell you when I'm feeling down, that goes for you too."

Felt let out a sigh. She really couldn't fight that logic. "Fine, but not in front of everyone. I'll tell ya later."

Subaru nodded and finally started to eat his own food. "Oh yeah, did you make any plans for us to visit Emilia, Rein?"

Reinhard nodded. "I have, we'll be heading out after we finish breakfast."

"You guys are going out? Count me in!" Felt said. Despite her sour mood earlier, she sounded pretty excited this time. She always seemed excited to go out though.

"Before we go, I wanted to check on something, Felt was going to help me with that."

Felt lifted her eyebrow at Subaru's excuse. "I did?"

Subaru didn't answer that verbally. Instead, he just looked to Felt deadpanned.

"Huh? Oh… Ohhhhh! Yeah, I was gonna help big bro out with… something." Felt said, finally getting it.

Reinhard knew very well they were hiding something but he didn't press on it. He didn't sense any ill intentions from them after all. He also heard what they were whispering about earlier and knew it would've been rude to intrude on a private conversation. "I understand. I'll be waiting by the dragon carriage."

After breakfast, everyone split off. Subaru just took Felt to the side so he could start that conversation he wanted. "So, can you tell me what's going on now?" Subaru started.

Felt crossed her arms. "I still don't trust anyone. It feels like I'm the only one here that remembers that ya got cursed and everyone is treating it like nothing happened."

"Well, I'm pretty sure they're just keeping a good atmosphere. I'm pretty positive that no one here is that shaman that cursed me."

"I don't care if you're pretty sure! I'm not gonna let my guard down and risk my life over an assumption like that."

Oh boy, this was one tough nut to crack, Subaru thought. "Look, what will it take for you to trust everyone here? I don't think it's healthy living like that."

Felt took a second to think and let out a sigh. "I honestly don't know. I'd be a lot more willing to trust everyone if it weren't for Reinhard abducting me!"

Well, she did have a point there. Subaru still wanted to help ease Felt's worries though. "Well, I am allowed to leave anytime I want to. Is there something you'd want me to do out there for you that would help make you trust everyone here some more? And no, helping you break out isn't an option!"

Felt took a second to think before looking down, getting all flustered as she thought of something. "Well… I'm kinda worried about old man Rom. If you could, would you check up on him and tell him I'm doing alright?"

"Rom? Oh yeah! That giant! If that's all you want, then I'll go check up on him for you. I'll even give you a bonus and tell him to come visit sometime." Subaru was all smiles.

Felt in return smiled, her cheeks adopted a light shade of pink as well. "T-Thanks. That would mean a lot to me."

Subaru blushed a bit at this. He usually saw Felt in her angry state and seeing her all flustered like this was just so cute. "So cute…" And of course, Subaru began to pat Felt's head.

Felt's cheeks deepened as she looked a bit panicked. "H-Hey! Get your hands off of me! I swear I'll bite you!"

"Cmon, lil' sis. Isn't it supposed to be normal for big brothers to pat their cute little sister's head?" Subaru was not moving his hand at all. He was intent on patting Felt.

"Since when was our relationship ever normal?!" Felt retorted.

"I guess you're right… You'd probably be the cat in that case."

"Cat?! Grrr… That's it!"

Already knowing what's to come, Subaru quickly moved his hand away from her head and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He was pushing the feisty girl back as she was chomping the air like a vicious alligator.

"Alright, alright. I'll stop. I just wanted to tease you a little."

Felt surprisingly stopped. "Fine, but I'll beat you up if you try that again."

Subaru let out a sigh of relief at how easy that was before letting go. "Alright, let's meet up with Reinhard."

"Yeah, sounds good. Hold on, what's on your hand?" Felt pointed to Subaru's left hand.

Subaru inspected his hand and didn't see anything. "Huh? I don't see anything…"

"Cmon, it's right here." Felt took Subaru's left hand. He didn't fight it at all as he wanted to know what Felt was seeing. She must have really good eyesight if she can really spot something that sma-

Chomp!

"GYAAAAAH!!!"

--

Both Felt and Subaru were making their way outside after their little talk. Before they could make it to the door, Reinhard opened it and came back inside. He was holding a letter and he looked stern and serious.

Subaru waved at the knight. "Hey, Rein. We were just about to meet you by the carriage."

"I'm sorry to say but we have to cancel our plans." Reinhard said in a serious tone.

Felt glared at him. "Hey! What happened this time?!"

Reinhard looked down at the letter before continuing. "A resident at the Mather's Estate was found dead earlier this morning and they won't be accepting visitors until further notice."

Subaru's eyes widened as he immediately thought of the worst. "What…? Please… Please tell me Emilia's ok!"

Reinhard placed his hand on Subaru's shoulder. "Emilia is alright. The letter said it was one of the staff."

Subaru was slightly relieved at this but he was still panicking. "What happened?! Did they catch the guy who did it?!"

Reinhard shook his head. "I'm not sure. It only says that one of their staff died this morning and they won't be accepting any visits until further notice."

Subaru's mind was wandering. He was trying to pinpoint anything that could've happened. "C-Could it have been the shaman…?"

"I am not sure. I'm not aware of their circumstances but it would be in our best interest to give them some space." Reinhard calmly explained.

Felt who was in a state of shock finally spoke up. "I-I'm going to my room…" She really sounded spooked from all this.

Once Felt left, Subaru continued to ponder what could've happened. Last time when he was there everything seemed fine over there. All the residents looked young and healthy so it couldn't be some kind of health issue. But this happened on the same day he looked back. Could it be that they were cursed by the same person and Subaru's only safe now because he had his curse removed before the fifth day?