Watching The Dragon's Candidate

by Reactionist

Spinoff of my story, WHDAAA, where the cast learn how one small movement from a jewel turned the boy they've been watching die over and over again into the sixth candidate vying for Lugunica's throne. Also known as that fic where two Muslims decided to piss off everyone in the community by doing more reactions. Written collab between Me and ArcherfromAnor

3. Chapter 3

Dragon's Candidate Chapter 2

---

The gazing starlight above shot through the surface of the sky and shone across the sea of moving smoke below. The freezing icicles staunchly coursed through the air; freely swimming above the clouds as the colder air of the upper hemisphere kept its famous freezing temperature.

"I hadn't actually seen everything from up here before…"

A young man with a shrill voice uttered loudly, his entire body clasped in winter wear for the weather he knew he would be facing above the clouds. The young man looked cold even with all of his clothes being made to keep him warm. Shrill his voice was, the man hoped he would at least get an answer from his gigantic old friend.

"..."

The sounds of giant flaps of the crystallized wings that propelled them was the only voice he received for his troubles.

"You know… You shouldn't just ignore somebody who is literally riding on your neck." The youth shivered as he spoke yet still tried to sound somewhat less amused with the glorified entity that chose to remain silent of the human's words.

"..."

"Okay… This is actually getting boring, man." The man huffed out as he tried to travel through the mountain of moving shells and standing spikes made out of the hardest crystallized dragon scale in all of existence.

"These things probably make you feel all warm and cozy up here in space, huh?" As the young man struggled to climb through the dense spots on his companion's back,almost falling over which would've resulted in a long drop down from heaven's door towards either a hardened ground or a raging sea depth waiting to swallow him. Which was waiting beneath the clouds, he didn't care.

The human was too annoyed with the god's silence at the moment.

400 hundred years since they last saw one another… Since they fought one another… Since Jack was captured by someone he considered a father for so long. Someone who he loved and cherished for a long time yet was forced to betray for his foolishness.

Someone that had captured and banished Jack into the depths to rot without a second fucking glance just to satisfy the 'rules'.

"So you… Really won't speak with me about… Anything?" Jack shivered in his coat as the rushing wind increased upon him because the dragon's flaps grew tenser and faster.

The tired man simply looked at the few small grips he had on the dragon's scales… He couldn't help but let a few tears slip by. Had his mental state been in a better mood, he would've thought these salty tears would freeze right on his cheek from how cold and tense the air up here was.

A few moments of flying through the air, the troubled human finally got a mental reply, as the dragon he was flying on telepathically acknowledged him with a few words.

"I don't have anything to say to you, Jack Winston."

Tone dead, mysteries, foreboding, and dismissive of the boy, The dragon simply flew into a massive black cloud and dispersed it with no trouble with a small whiff of air.

Jack's hands tightened on the rough scale mountain on the dragon's back, his teeth shattering together but not because of the cold weather up here… It was because of his deeply rooted hatred he felt for the way this holy entity treated him. As if he was scum that didn't deserve a single word of conversation to make him feel acknowledged.

"That would be a correct assessment of what you are. I agree wholeheartedly."

Without hesitating, the ruthless gravel filled voice of the dragon sounded in the man's mind and gave an answer that was aimed to break him.

Jack's fingers itched with blood running down. "Fu- - ck… You man."

He struggled to breath at this point since he was so high up with this mana covered dragon god right on the outskirts of space.

The holy dragon, Volcanica didn't grace the insult with a reply. Going back to silence and focusing his flight a little bit lower than the level he was currently on. A pity gesture for the boy on his back, if you well.

"Sigh…" Jack looked upset and disappointed but he had a gesture of defeat show in the slump of his shoulders, "Looks like I'm still truly alone in this after all of that."

The young human totted to himself as he remembered all of the convincing he had to do to let the dragon on the information that was sure to get both of his enemies fighting each other instead of having them both come after him for a stupid ass theater that couldn't be controlled by any of them.

The dragon gave no reply.

Jack's head shook for a moment before he slumped down to rest on the spikes and wake up in the morning either to his body being revealed as a small red stain on a city's concrete or roof because he let go of Volcanica's back in his sleep or to another silent day where he will only receive distasteful commentary or silence that hurt him more than it should've did.

"Whatever… Be that way. Just know that they are currently seeing through the second part right now because of what you made me do."

"That is good."

Annoyed at the small deadpanned response he got, Jack's frustration made him blabber another question.

"Why did you stop me from telling them anyway? Did you want them to see this whole thing and learn that there's an entirely different timeline that manages to be less suffering for Subaru and Satella?"

Jack's voice quivered when mentioning the two's names without his nicknames for them being used. He didn't think the dragon would've taken it well.

"I simply wanted them to see this world for themselves and learn from it. Having you explain everything is simply redundant to my plans."

Still flapping his large wings, the grand Dragon of Lugunica whizzed a few giant clouds of ash from his fiery throat, clearly remembering something agitating for him which was easy for Jack to spot as he was literally on the entity's neck and he could feel the intense heat the dragon was generating.

He could feel it through the scales… Volcanica was angry with someone… and since Jack was alive and well since the dragon had healed him, it did not seem like Volcanica was pissed at him.

Afraid that he would be thrown off… Jack did not push further.

He just stayed quiet and closed his eyes… reentering his oh so familiar wall of red..

Remembering what happened hours before because of the dragon's interruption.

---

TWO HOURS BEFORE

LOCATION: THEATER'S Bedrooms.

"Felt-sama?"

"I don't wanna go out there, Reinhard."

The Sword Saint had been sitting outside of the bedroom's door like a lost pup. His master, the hoarse-voiced crying little girl on the other side of the door had run off as soon as the Warden cut in to explain what they just saw.

"We need to hear what he has to sa-"

"You go ahead then! Just hear how better things would've been without me!"

"..."

Felt's outburst surprised Reinhard greatly. The redhead youth was confused what his lady meant with this.

"Better? My lady, what-"

"JUST GO, REIN!"

"Felt-sama… Do you… Are you expecting me to leave your cause? Just because of what we saw?" The knight's voice trembled, not with fear but with undoubted rage aimed at no one but himself for not seeing it sooner. His lady was suffering because of what she's seen, she was feeling alone, left out.

A sniffle came from inside the room, one of a heartbroken girl that had lost all hope. "Why wouldn't you? I mean you got what you wanted! Big bro's your friend, you can save him from all of those horrible deaths and you won't have me to boss you around like an ungrateful bitch anymore. It's better this way…"

"NO!"

Unable to hear anymore of the little blonde's self deprecation, the knight of all knights kicked down the door of the dark room with one thought set in his mind.

"Felt-sama, I am your knight, no other reality can change this oath I've taken… No other entity can force a different reason… No other candidate can help me like you have, my lady."

"You don't know about that!" She shouted back, her eyes red and tearful. "What if big bro did it too?! What if he did better?!"

"Felt-sama!" Reinhard shouted, much to his own surprise.

He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what he was doing. He just felt the urge to...Call her. He felt in his heart, the need to call her, to shout her name. To remind her, to reach her, to tell her he was right here.

"What?! What are you going to say?!" She said, her voice weakened by her cries. "That I don't know about it..?! That it's another reality?! That in the end, our situation will be better than the one where I'm not here?!"

Reinhard just kept his mouth shut, not able to find any words to answer the blonde candidate, and he couldn't help but blame and hate himself.

No matter what he saw on this screen was about to show him, it wouldn't change this reality and the oath he took.

"Because...That's what I want…" Felt whispered, her fists shaking. Knowing that the sword saint heard her.

"Felt-sama…?" He said in a weak tone.

Trembling, crying, the blonde-haired royal raised her ruby irises towards her knight. Tears flowing in shame and rage...Towards herself.

For what she was about to say.

"I SAID THIS IS WHAT I WANT!" She cried out loud, shocking the red-haired knight. "I WANT THIS REALITY TO BE WRONG! I DON'T...I don't...want…"

Felt's breathing hitched, her voice getting weaker and weaker as she could only realize more and more what she was thinking.

"I don't want big bro to succeed…" She whimpered, "I don't want him to go with you...Without me…"

No matter how strong she was. No matter how difficult her life was and how tough she became because of it.

She always had but one weakness. The thing she knew she wouldn't be able to live through.

Her greatest fear.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE!" She shouted, her voice becoming hoarse, her tears drenching the ground.

Not able to hold himself anymore, Reinhard decided to stop thinking about which words he should speak, and acted in a whole other way.

Listening to his instinct, or maybe his heart, the sword saint stepped forward and put a knee down, before slowly wrapping his arms around the little crying figure, holding her as close to him as possible.

No words were spoken, everything was silent, so much the only sound that could be heard was the beating hearts of the two.

And in this complete silence, sharing their warmth.

Felt raised her arms, and hugged her knight back.

---

Silence filled the dimly lit auditorium once more after the owning entity's voice went dead.

"Why would Natsuki-san be a royal candidate though? He's a man and an outsider to boot." The merchant in green asked calmly, wanting to understand everything about this situation since it was so unusual.

"I don't understand," a rough accented voice broke the silence. "Isn't Cap'n already workin' for princess ov'r there? Why isn't he with her?" Garfiel looked as confused as everyone else except the full conclusion to the viewing still hadn't reached him yet and so he wondered why Subaru wasn't taken to the clown's mansion after his fight with Elsa but ended up in a completely different place this time around.

"The magical stone depicting the prophecy stated that only five chosen maidens are allowed in the election. This viewing is making us believe that Subaru is somehow a contender for the throne even though he was not chosen to be a candidate nor is he a maiden." The duchess high above spoke with a matter-of-fact tone. Stating what truly confused her about the situation yet keeping a firm grip on her panic.

"Hmm, if this is really not a fake… Then that means Natsuki-kun might actually be a candidate for the throne in our world as well." Ever the opportunist, Anastasia sounded with excitement, her previous agitation completely dissipating as her mind filled up with hundreds of possibilities that she looked forward to.

"If he truly is a candidate, he can be the leader of his own camp and can make decisions suited to himself and himself alone!" The merchant girl had already taken to the idea of the boy being another contender for the throne as something of an opportunity rather than an issue.

But her words were heard across the room, which led to many gears turning at the idea she had proposed.

"Natsuki-kyun might be an actual royal contender?" Felix repeated emptily with no emotion present in his voice except for a small hint of surprise. The thought of the boy Felix has been disrespecting the royal for so long being actual royalty filled the boy with even more shame towards himself than possible.

"That… might actually be a possibility." Ghost-white, with his jaw slackened, Julius the most honorable knight looked at the ground with a haunted stare and his mouth open. The young man's sanity was on the verge of collapsing as one thought made him tremble in place.

"Oh~~ Are ya scared that you may have beaten up a prince, Julius-sama~~"

"Mimi! That is a serious charge to spout!"

The little kitty girl laughed childishly, ignoring her brother's desperate tries to make her stop teasing the ever so serious knight stationed in their camp.

The purple-haired young man appeared to be struggling with the concept of life itself as he realized this would be a crime against what every knight stood for. He had not just beaten a civilian before the royal barracks in a made up court. Julius publicly thrashed a high standing royal contender for the throne with a wooden sword.

"Ah, Shit!" Ricardo laughed in disbelief as he summarized what Julius was feeling in just one word. The dogman felt sympathy for his comrade but the situation's turn was just so unbelievable to him he had to laugh.

Above the stricken 'Knight of all knights', the normally eccentric smiling lord in a clownish attire was looking down at the crowd without any of his usual cheer.

Roswaal was indomitably seething in his place atop the cast.

"Subaru-kun… May be a royal candidate…" With unbroken steel in his whispers, the Margrave almost sneered as his multi-colored irises settled on the sleeping boy below.

"Teacher's teachings… My goddess's book… My destiny…"

The lord of the Mathers name could not keep his sheer distaste from showing in his expression. The mere thought that the merchant's possibility was correct was immensely displeasing to him. If Subaru had truly been chosen as the fifth candidate in their world, then that means his Tome wasn't using such knowledge… Which led to other thoughts concerning his lady's wisdom with regard to the tome.

"Impossible my teacher doesn't know about this. It's not possible! The book must've shown me the best course of action in regards to Subaru-kun's loyalty. If he really did become a candidate during this time, then it means my pick had already been decided behind the elf. Meaning Subaru Natsuki has no reason to stick by my plans or my own goals."

Roswaal rationalized in his head with vehement denial. His teacher's gospel was all knowing. The book didn't give any hints to the boy's royalty just to make him focus… Yeah.

"Subaru can't be a candidate to the kingdom's throne!" A silver-bell voice squeaked angelically from beneath the front of the seats, signaling the distress and denial of the speaker.

Emilia was clutching the hand beside her tightly but not too tight, her expression morphed into one of shock and horrified realization aimed towards the big plaque that was the screen.

"I-If he ends up as a candidate… I won't see him as much… And we'll have to be enemies! I don't want that at all!"

"Ya'r scared to be lonely rather than to have the boy away from your dangerous habitat?!" Anastasia shouted from her seat in outrage, clearly disgusted with the fact that this selfish rotten half-elf was denying the good things coming from the boy's ascendancy to the royal hall just because she wanted him as a companion that keeps suffering and laboring for her without cost.

Emilia's damp amethyst eyes stared into Ana's soul with the most determined expression her cold dark eyes could muster. The previous viewings and the reality of this one's meaning completely setting the half-elf off, not to mention that Emilia herself was still in reminding of what the merchant did to her in the viewing before, (chap 15).

"Yes." Emilia surprised everyone with how much hate and power she held in her tone as she seethed. "Yes, I would rather have Subaru as my knight rather than have him as my enemy. Can't you see that if he was to be placed as a royal candidate, then all of us are doomed as well?"

"That is correct." Crusch's voice entered the fray with a firm grimness.

"What's with the dark tone all of a sudden my lady, nyan?" Felix asked softly, his head low yet his eyes still wandering towards where his lady sat far away from him.

"..." The duchess noticed that her knight was speaking with her again, she wanted to elaborate on her point more than she wanted to open up the argument again with him so she nodded her head and kept explaining to the angry pair of Emilia and Anastasia as the others watched on.

"Had Natsuki Subaru been a candidate in our world, it would've meant that his presence is no longer present in every crisis our Subaru had averted."

As the duchess explained Emilia's point for her, many eyes began to widen in horror.

"The Mabeast Attack on the Alram village," Petra's mouth fell open, shock grazing the poor girl's face for the 80th time since her arrival in this theater. The morbid reality of the truth had hit her so many times yet the little one kept whatever shred of sanity she had intact no matter how much it breaks. The thought of her friends dying alongside her to Meili's beasts in the dark forest with no one the wiser made the little one shiver in her place which forced her blonde maid mentor to hug her frame as tightly as possible.

"I got you, Petra-chan. Don't you worry, shhhh." Frederica whispered into the shivering girl's ears.

"The alienation of White Whale and it's takedown,"

At this, Anastasia gave a reaction, "Without Natsuki-kun's efforts, the deal between a triple temporary alliance wouldn't have been made." Noticing how serious his merchant boss was all of the sudden, Ricardo mouthed out a question to make her elaborate.

"Which means?"

"It means that the Hoshin camp's forces were never deployed to aid with both the White Whale takedown and the Sloth expedition. We stayed home." Julius affirmed with grim cheeks and a solemn look.

"Ah, shit." The dogman replied, finally understanding.

"It would've meant that the formidable forces of house Karsten were the only ones present to fight the White Whale... If we could've even found him without Subaru-dono's guidance." Wilhelm noted along with another grim nod.

"Much less fight it without Subaru-kyun's involvement… The Crusch camp could've been wiped out without Subaru…" Felix realized finally how grave this reality is. A reality where his lady not only falls but he might fail to remember her or protect her. This was worse than Gluttony… It was monstrous.

"Not to mention the consequent attack on the village by the Sloth faction of the Witch's Cult and what becomes of Emilia-sama and the Archbishop. I think we all know where this leads…" Crusch went dead silent at this point, making every soul breathe her words in with clarity.

Everyone would be endangered.

"Tha' spirit cat would'a killed the world," Garfiel grumbled glumly with an emotionless expression. The blonde looking empty and dragged as he remembered one of the most horrifying moments his manly heart broke for. The image of his own Captain's head rolling off glaciers of snow as the world turned white from the Beast's storm.

"So… If Subaru-kun leaves Emilia-sama, people die everywhere and he doesn't get to meet with us?" Rem sounded as heartbroken as a widow at the thought of the boy never meeting with her, but a shrill voice caught her attention suddenly since the speaker was right before her.

"And if he had stayed like always, his fate would be to die over and over again by our hands, in fact!" Beatrice was glaring right at the maid as she said this. She hands-on her contractors as she spoke her outrage about the treatment of the one she loved the most in the room.

"B-Beatrice-sama?!"

"Finally, someone that can see sense!" Anastasia clapped her gloved hands exasperatedly to Beatrice's words.

"Beako-chan! Didn't you hear what Crusch said? Without Subaru coming with me, everyone would be de-"

"I do not care for anyone at all, in fact." Beatrice cut the silver-haired princess off which made Emilia slack-jawed at the deadpanned spirit.

"Betty's Subaru is the only one for her, I suppose. I do not care about the others that tie their fates to him and expect him to waste away his sanity with many deaths just to keep them alive, I suppose."

The spirit's harsh words hit everybody, especially a little brunette girl in the arms of a blonde demi woman that was staring at the drill-loli with hurt and disbelief.

"B-Beatrice-sama…" said spirit glanced unamused at the interrupter, a heartbroken Petra that was shaking like a leaf from despair, "D-Don't you care about what happens to us? My village.. My friends… Me…".

"You're not going to win sympathy, village girl." Beatrice harshly shot the girl down, her eyes staring at the ground as if the mere act of looking towards Petra was shameful.

"B-But.. you said-" Petra wanted to point out the spirit's final words this morning when the first viewing was about to begin. Beatrice's encouragement to be stronger and stick together with her happiness. Everything about the spirit changed in an instant after the window had opened up the possibilities once more. Such as the life of a theater's cast.

But the fuming spirit cut her off immediately, "This isn't about you, village girl!" Beatrice shouted over the sobbing girl, her blue butterfly-shaped eyes flamed by righteous fury as she faced the cold, dampened amethysts of Emilia's indifference, "Neither is it about yourself, elf girl, in fact!"

"Betty's contractor should have a happy life! The best life! Not be used as a torture doll to gain a stupid name and be forced into servitude as a 'reward'. Not be broken until his confidence is gone because a little angry girl with no friends discarded him at the first sign of a fight! You don't deserve Betty's Suba-"

"You won't meet him either!" Now with her hair raging in the wind. Emilia darkly growled as she glared down at the mighty Beatrice.

"You won't be contracted to Subaru, Beatrice," Emilia repeated in a much more civil tone, yet still holding the same cold glare over the spirit's head.

At this, Beatrice fell into silence for a moment.

"Yeah, tha's right! Cap'n wouldn't have saved my amazin' selfs and the other folks in the Sanctuary if he wasn't with Princess!" The scarred blonde shouted in disbelief and recognition of the fact. His face was running scared at the thought of having to deal with all of the troubles his captain was dealing with on his own.

"I mean… Is it worth it?" Heads turned like whiplash to the speaker, which happened to be an ever so hunched and tired Otto spoke with no malice in his tone yet showing signs of distaste for the subject.

"Is it worth all of this trouble? Natsuki-san is clearly a happier person without any contact from us. He may find other ways to save all of these people even if he was another candidate. He still has Return by Death from what we saw… It may even be better for him to solve these problems as a candidate and not some servant to Emilia-sama. We don't know if he will save us or not so we can't panic about this so soon."

"You mean, Subaru-kun might actually meet with all of us in different circumstances?" Rem's tone was filled with hope as she held a hand to her chest. What she thought about him not being so close with her anymore turned to a fantasy of her meeting with Subaru without her having killed him multiple times. The beauty of this idea made the maid so happy and in need of an answer to her prayers that she would see how Subaru would interact with her even if he was a candidate.

"He was talking about Barusu saving all of us from all of the different crises surrounding us, Rem."

The blue-haired maid blushed and sank in her seat as her rigid older twin called her out from above.

"Both could still happen!" Otto pointed to the two Oni twins with a tired smile, "He could both save and meet us in many different ways. We don't know for sure who might surround Natsuki-san if he was a royal contender. All we know is that Emilia-sama's relationship with him Is not necessary to guarantee what he might do as a candidate in regards to our fates-"

"Shut your mouth, Otto-kun." The merchant boy's hopeful words were instantly cut as another soft, cold one ordered from beside the boy. He struggled to turn his head and glance towards the towering, eye glowing silver-haired princess that was staring right at him with a glance of contempt.

"Please, never open it again." The usually shy and sweet princess now growled darkly and a bit childishly at the poor head interior.

"Hmph! You refuse to admit that the fact he is free from your collar is pissing you off, Wench? Ha!" Priscilla, who had been watching this with the utmost glee, had her arm under her cheek as she smirked down at Emilia.

Emilia's eyes turned their cold glazing sight right into Priscilla's.

The two maidens faced off with an amused stare and an annoyed glare.

And before fire and ice were about to meet, a shaky voice with an unusual calm demeanor spoke up.

"I mean… guys… Why is this even important to ya?" Al asked, stopping both capable princesses from starting a nuclear fight in the theater.

"What do you mean?" Otto stuttered, trying to sound serious but the command from the angry mistress of his camp still weighing on him. It looked like Emilia was able to ignore the boy's words since she was occupied with the red princess and her knight.

"I mean ah… Isn't this meant to be another world anyways? Our pal has already lived through a different route, didn't he? The one we know…" Al calmly pin-pointed his reasoning to them.

"Yeah, our Subaru wasn't chosen as a candidate. Why would we fight over him being one now?" Mimi said with a sad frown.

At the one-armed knight and the child's words, the group of individuals most heated in this discussion were thrown into a frenzy.

"That's… true…" Crusch didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or a bit disgruntled with how easily her emotions are getting the best of her lately.

"Hmm, the thought is always fascinating and I've only just been theorizing what would happen if the boy was an actual possible choice for the fire stones once we get back." Anastasia mused with a delighted grin, rubbing her scarf more excitedly at each passing thought in her mind.

"He would still be with me." Emilia's firm voice cut through the merchant's thoughts as quick as an arrow. The silver-haired princess looked determined and stern at the bleachers behind her, even Ram was a bit intimidated by the once shy girl's sudden authority, "Subaru wouldn't ever leave us… He forgave Rem… He loves Beatrice and Garfiel… He loves me." Emilia trailed off weakly, her eyes faltering.

"Are you really that desperate to justify any sort of connection with the foolish child?" Priscilla spoke at the half elf below with a bored tone. Her face was unimpressed.

"You're grasping at straws, cut your losses and make peace with the truth that the boy has a way out of your enslavement of him."

Emilia's glare has never been so cold towards anyone, and she had met a few mean platinum-haired witches.

Undeterred, Priscilla's scarlet eyes filled up with pity and amusement over the glaciated witch below her.

"The boy doesn't need you. Once he is announced as a dragon maiden or a prince, he will have nothing tying him to you."

"..."

Emilia's fists were shaking, Priscilla could see droplets of tears in the corner of the hard cold eyes of the half-elf.

The red princess's grin grows, her own rage and hatred for the selfish monster below her driving her to carry through with the breaking of Emilia's sanity and weak will.

"Or is it that you're scared he might take everything he built in your name for himself and his own camp? The members, the achievements, the tales spreading about him… You would lose your greatest too-"

"That's enough, Barielle-sama." The two furious princesses and the crowd around them were suddenly shocked by Roswaal's cold, aggressive voice. The clown-faced lord looked more than furious, he was down right pissed. Even Julius looked a bit disturbed at the sight of the man's glare.

Ram shuffled in her seat uncomfortably, her own small glare settling on her master. She wouldn't want him to lose his cool and act on impulse now, she knew how shattered this man has become ever since the start of every viewing.

"You dare interrupt your god, dog?" The red princess was the only one in the room that could care less about a clown's anger being pointed towards her. She had him beneath her shoe once, why should she care about him now when he was throwing his tone around?

"With all due respect, Barielle-sama. Go no further into this discussion. While what you said may have a lot of truth to it-"

"R-Roswa-!"

"SIT DOWN, EMILIA-SAMA!"

"Oh shit!" Ricardo whispered a little scared.

The half-elf and the crowd of people watching stared at the clown with their mouths open in shock, Roswaal was completely enraged, and it seemed that the silver-haired girl was a source of that rage.

Silently, weakly… Emilia whimpered and sat down in her seat, facing away from the scene, holding on to the hand of the boy beside her. Crusch and Rem gazed at her with sympathy for a moment.

Priscilla loved the sight before her, even letting out a small chuckle behind her fan. She continued to enjoy it for a few more seconds but then turned serious as she faced back to the one man sitting above everybody in the same row as herself.

The lord of the Mathers name faced her with an unreadable expression, had his clown makeup not been colored, he would've been called a mime.

But then… he spoke.

"Please excuse my adulterous displaaay,"

"He's back to the accent again." Al sighed dryly.

"Like I was saying befooore, you may have a lot of wisdom to give us, Priscilla-sama~. But you can't go around and insulting the candidate I'm baaacking on matters that concern a knight under my household's banner."

Priscilla snorted, unimpressed. Her eyes wandered back towards the crowd below her, gauging people for reactions as she toyed with her fan.

But then someone else replied to the eccentric lord, "Roswaal L. Mathers… May I ask a question?"

Roswaal and everybody minus Emilia looked down towards the green-haired duchess that was all but glaring up towards him.

"Yes, Karsten-sama~?"

Her amber-eyes narrowed, staring into him with all the accuracy she could pinpoint. Her divine protection was on high alert no doubt as she asked her next question.

"If it is revealed that Natsuki Subaru can contend for Lugunica's throne once we leave here… Will you drop your sponsorship of Emilia-sama's candidacy?"

Eyes widened at the question coming from the duchess, Emilia stiffened like a wood plank as her face went ghost white.

Otto and Garfiel glanced at one another in shock at the thought. Who would they choose to stand with if Subaru went against Emilia?

"Hm, that's a valid question…" Anastasia mused with a smile of approval towards the duchess, even the red princess up above glanced with interest behind her fan at the magic lord.

Ram and Rem stared at their master with conflicting feelings of mistrust and loyalty. Not knowing what they might do if this choice was ever presented to their master.

Roswaal himself fell into silence that deafened the entire room.

Even Petra's sobs stopped as she too waited to hear what the lord she was employed under would choose.

Subaru or Emilia.

And Roswaal's answer was awaited by nearly everyone except for the blonde-haired spirit at the front.

"Betty's tied to her contractor no matter what, I suppose." Beatrice said, uncaring to the second flinch Emilia gave.

"It would be good to answer this question, Lord Mathers. We must know where your loyalty lies." Julius urged out as he waited with everyone else the stone-faced man.

And as Roswaal's features changed into a rigid smile, his answer would've come as soon as he parted his lips.

"Ye-"

You guys have some high class bamboo sticks up your bums huh.

Shock filled the room, as the sarcastic deadpanned person that had them all trapped here for so long spoke into their minds. Everyone could feel his annoyance dripping from his tone.

It surprised everyone, mostly the people that were waiting for the clown's answer to this question. Mainly, Emilia and Crusch wanted to hear this answer more than anyone else in the room.

"That's a very rude thing to say." Frederica mumbled weakly, holding the little girl tightly as she glared up at the ceiling where she assumed this Warden was.

The voice sounded amused for a moment.

I mean, I was out here explaining what this viewing was. I literally told you I'm going to tell you what happened there but then you started talking with each other as if I'm a substitute teacher in a music class.

"Why did you intervene?" Crusch's tone was one of distaste. The duchess did not like the Warden's interruption of her questioner.

I understand you're mad at me for stopping your display, Crusch-sama.

But I would hold off on breaking the Emilia camp just yet, for the answer he will give you would only cause you harm than do any good.

Crusch's glare narrowed harder as her gloved hands turned to raging fists. She no doubt wanted to punch this smug all knowing kidnapper in his teeth.

Roswaal however, was smiling to high heaven.

I can sense your excitement, Roswaal-sama. But let me tell you before you make any stupid decisions.

Subaru Natsuki is not a Dragon's Candidate in your timeline. But he had a chance to be one. A very close chance that you must see and understand from.

"B-But you said he was! It was the reason why we accepted the different viewing in the first place!" Otto sounded in confusion, leading everyone else to nod along with him.

You… Accepted?

I recall saying that you all will watch this alternate reality because something in it's chapters will help you defeat a great evil in yours. Not to mention that my very powerful friend out here was the one that compelled such a diversion from our original viewing plan.

You hold no power here. You will see what I want you to see and for now, it just so happens that I'm forced to show you these different timelines for the sake of my own protection and your advantage in learning of many hidden factors about your world that this reality can open up.

Never said anything about you guys 'accepting' my change of plans.

"You're… forcing us to see this then." Julius muttered in slight surprise.

Crusch was full on glaring towards the screen. The green-haired lady's hatred for the Warden's authoritarian ways is clear in her amber gaze.

This can be seen as the way I'm doing it, yes. But at the end of the day… It's all to help Subaru.

"Help...? How could any of this help Betty's Subaru, I wonder?" Beatrice grumbled in her seat, a look of mocking disdain on her face aimed at the screen.

"This doesn't make sense. You told us that Barusu was a royal chosen by the dragon and we must watch because this could affect our own reality." Ram rigidly weighed in, keeping her calm with the clearly all powerful Warden that seemed to be more hardened in tone than before.

This viewing was and still is a massive chance for you all to gain useful knowledge that I think might help you once you get back.

See, this had many things to show you.

It could be the interactions you all should've and could have had you known this future was possible.

The silent pair of the blonde girl and the redheaded young man sitting opposite each other flinched at the same time with surprise showing on their expressions.

The clown sitting way back in the theater frowned deeply, knowing he had missed his chance to redeem any interaction with his own Subaru and that he wouldn't have the chance to do anything about this once they returned since their own world was already finished with this part of the story.

Could be that I want you all to see what would've happened had you guys not done a few of your mistakes to Subaru.

The slight hurt that overwhelmed Rem's facial features explained the entire self loathing mood the girl was going through and Warden's world clearly did not help her.

Emilia wasn't looking so good either as the princess looked to be as if she was biting her lip to draw blood in a useless attempt to distract herself from the guilt and the immense shame she was feeling.

Beatrice held on to her contractor in a hug and looked unamused towards the screen.

Or maybe I just want to show you all that you can go about this a better way when it comes to handling him. Give you a chance by showing you that you can help him by showing another you doing so in another reality.

At this, many of the cast's expressions looked a bit shocked out of the despairing revere.

The renounced knight sitting in his own corner looked at the screen with nothing but shock as he felt oddly pulled by these specific words, "… A chance, nyan?" Felix whispered in a dead tone, silent and alone in his corner contemplating his own actions in his reality and wishing to see how he could fix them.

A little brunette girl had stopped her sniffling a while ago and looked to be more distraught than happy since the viewing had finished. She couldn't fathom how much her friends changed, or it would be redundant to call any of these people friends. One thing Petra knew, is that the screen was pulling her to watch more, the first time she had felt hope like this in a while. Hope that maybe Subaru can be saved by her, somehow.

But while the others weighed in silence, Otto and Julius looked unsure, the implications of Subaru being a royal candidate still in their minds.

"Well then if you don't mind me asking, how is Subaru a chosen candidate in this one? Could it be true in our world as well?" The lethal knight of all knights asked this question with a grimace of shame at the probability of having beaten up a future Royal.

While the merchant sitting at the front row was on another wavelength,

"What happened to those of us that needed Subaru's help the most? What happens if he doesn't meet with us at all because of his new destiny?" Otto's question raised more heads in his own camp than he would've liked to be seen. It was no question that Subaru's importance to their lives was the reason this entire team existed in the first place. Having the idea that they were useless without him run wild in their enemies minds was the last thing he wanted but at this point, the screen was talking and the merchant was curious.

Alright. Let me explain it like this.

All of you have a lot of questions about the effects of Subaru's sudden destiny that came from the insignia.

Some of you also wish to learn how or why the insignia did this in one world while it didn't do the same to your Subaru in your world.

I think simplifying this could be easier for us all to understand what's happening.

As I said, this reality is a branch one. Just like yours, someone made a very important choice between other factors and the timeline of events was changed to best suit the choice's consequence.

In this world, the insignialit up in Subaru's hand to signify his candidacy for Lugunica's throne.

This… was the dominating factor that created such a difference in between your events and this world's.

"What…?!"

"That's such a small change..."

Felix and Julius both expressed their own fascination and shock with how much diverted just because of one small moment in the timeline.

"So because I dropped the jewel in one world… Big bro replaced me?"

Reinhard could only frown deeply and glance in pity at the little blonde muttering away from him.

Felt only stared at the dark screen with a frozen look that seemed unreadable.

Not really… You aren't the only person that did something different in that moment… And I can't tell you who helped Felt in making this fateful change of course.

"Why is that? Don't we have a right to know?" Crusch piped up with a stern frown and a bit of a growl in her tone.

"Yes… I think we deserve to know how our stories with Subaru changed and who was responsible for them." Emilia also weighed in with a surprising hateful tone in her silver bell voice that only showed how colder and darker the shy half-elf was turning.

Apart from these angry princesses, the others seemed just as curious and felt just as deserving of an answer.

I can't tell you who else other than Felt-sama caused this change.

And to be honest, I don't care to explain it either. I owe you all nothing.

Clearly more agitated at the obvious jab the Warden spitefully delivered at Emilia and Crusch, the two royal candidates found it appropriate to glare with all of their malice and hate through Amethyst and amber fiery eyes.

"Why are you keeping us here then?" Felt looked to be dead inside as she asked this question, her knight knew that had she spoken one more word, the little blonde would fall into a sea of sobs and tears.

Anastasia and Priscilla seemed to be more amused than anything at the state of the three other girls meant to rival them. Ana though seemed to be more pitiful and sympathetic with the little blonde than the Half-elf and the duchess.

"They seemed to have forgotten we are here." Otto whispered to his friend, earning a firm nod from a narrow-eyed Garfiel.

"This is gettin' bad." The blonde gruffian muttered.

You know what? Why don't I solve this issue with all of you?

You guys want answers about this reality and how different things are in the timeline here, right?

At this, the entire crowd seemed to have fallen into confusion. Except for one little burnette.

"Wait! You don't mean we will continue to watch King Subaru's world, do you?!" Petra asked in horror, not thinking of anything good that might come from this change of pace.

At the little one's words, eyes began to widen, especially those of the three distraught, angry princesses that clearly hated this viewing with a passion.

"Don't! Please don't!" Felt shouted in despair.

"This- This isn't our world, we shouldn't watch it!" Emilia hastily tried to stop this but her voice cracked with tears showing at the corner of her eyes. Her self loathing unable to be hidden as she knew that only good things would happen to Subaru in that timeline since she wasn't with him. And it hurt her more that this fact was a universal one than anything. Watching it take place is just a cruel punishment.

"You best not!" Crusch firmly ordered, losing control of all her cool as she demanded a change back to their own world.

But the girls' only got an amused hum in response.

Ladies, ladies.

You don't really think the Dragon's Candidate route is better for Subaru… Do you?

The girls' and everyone around them widened their eyes at the Warden's words.

The meaning was clear to all and curiosity induced frowns covering the most shrewd in the crowd.

Horror filled the backs of those who cared for the boy, especially the young men who aimed to befriend him and apologize as well as the girls' that truly and deeply cared for the young man spoken about.

No matter the route, Subaru is always doomed to die.

This one is just more… Relieving than what happened in your timeline. At least he has some pride here.

Haha, he still dies though. Painfully.

The Warden's voice only seemed to grow desperate, hopeless… Dead as he laughed coldly.

Let's fucking watch.

He said in a humorless tone before a click sounded from the window standing above them and activating the flashing background of the screen once more.

"Curious… This seems a bit mor' pullin' than I had thought." Anastasia muttered as she rubbed her chin. The horror of the implications the Warden had given clear on everyone but the more morbidly curious in the crowd were thinking of 'how' this could be darker for Subaru?

It was fascinating and cruel. To think of another Subaru's destiny and see how better or worse he would've had it.

All because of one small choice.

"One that clearly no one seems to like here..." Wilhelm muttered under his breath as he sighed in displeasure. His own head hurting from the constant thinking of every possible difference such a change in the events could cause.

"I guess it would be better to see if Betty failed him here as well, in fact. Maybe even see if he chooses another spirit, I suppose." Betty muttered tiredly and leaned into her contractor's humming chest. Feeling safe in his arms and not caring if this viewing showed him being happier without her. The spirit didn't care anymore. All she wanted was to have him be happy.

Otto and Garfiel seemed to be on the same wavelength.

"I hope at least he saves me." the merchant muttered as he sat back.

"Yeah, me 's well." Garfiel nodded, already sitting back to watch.

"You're not worried this might show you different things?" Reinhard inquired, in disbelief at the boys' easy attitude regarding the screen's show.

Only to be met with a shrug from the gruf blonde sitting beside him, "Noth'n is gonna happen to us. Cap'n's already ours and this is jus' a different lifetime."

"It's not our world. We shouldn't care so much or else we would only get a headache." Otto sighed tiredly and nodded in agreement with his friend.

Julius and Felix looked at them with surprised looks, Reinhard as well.

It seemed that the entire group was split between either caring too much and not caring at all what the screen shows.

It was a mess.

One which, the Half-elf in the front, the Duchess in the back, the blonde beside the sleeping knight, and the blue-haired despaired maid seemed to dislike vehemently.

"Please don't let me kill you this time, Subaru-kun." Rem whispered in self-hate and brought her stocking-clad knees to fold under her chin.

And then the screen stopped flashing.

Chapter 2: the scent's cost.

After the sword saint's long-awaited revelation, the room had been silent for a moment. As a confused black-haired boy was in deep thought, mulling over the words just spoken to him.

With one hand covering his mouth and his narrowed eyes gazing towards the insignia he held in his palm, Subaru didn't say a word. From the asphyxiating silence grew an anxious pressure, crushing all those who assisted in the event.

"Ya know, this is kind of similar to yer reaction when the jewel glowed in yer hands, boss."

Anastasia couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her mercenary companion.

"Why does it matter?" Otto couldn't help but voice out his confusion as to why the dogman found this silent reaction. Anastasia found herself to be in agreement with the head interior of Emilia's camp.

Ricardo simply shrugged his shoulders, "Just wanted to fill the air with someth'n. And the thought is amusing tah me. The boy can be very similar to ya, boss."

The merchant queen raised her brow further, her head disconnecting from the conversation as she turned to keep her eyes focused on the screen. That thought was nice.

A certain duchess from far away found herself eluded into the dogman's thoughts and found herself thinking of her own reaction in the royal hall when the council presented her and a few others with the dragon gems.

She couldn't help but feel eerie with how similar the boy's reaction was to her as well.

The only one somehow managing to keep their composure was Reinhard, patiently waiting for Subaru's answer. In the knight's mind, it was obvious that someone chosen by the insignia to rule over the kingdom would show commitment to this task…Or that was what he wanted to believe.

Truth was that Reinhard couldn't predict how Subaru would react. He knew very little of the final candidate for the Lugunican throne., Not even knowing if this was what Subaru wanted or if this would be of interest to him in the slightest…

Reinhard just knew that he couldn't fail.

"You look rather tense here, don't you?" Julius mused, narrowing his eyes towards the red-haired on the screen.

Reinhard kept his gaze on his screen, not paying much attention to what his fellow knight was saying, an action that didn't go unnoticed by all those around these two.

"I mean. This is really silent…" Al scoffed under his helmet, finding this silence to be a bit overwhelming, much like the dogman.

No one paid attention to him.

As a knight, for the kingdom and the sake of its prosperity, he had to make sure Natsuki Subaru would become a candidate. As appointed by the dragon himself.

Suddenly, Subaru closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking his thoughts off the sword saint. He was eager to fulfill his duty, but he also knew that holding the position of a candidate was no easy task.

"Hm, does he seem to be backtracking on his desciiiision?" Roswaal mused from above, as focused as everyone else around him.

"He hasn't made a decision yet, pal." Al interjected, happy to finally have something to break the pressuring silence.

"It's not like Rein would let big bro leave without saying yes, anyways. This thing has been rigged since the start and I know it." Felt interjected on them both, catching the flinch the redhead gave as she reminded him how much trouble he gave her when she tried to run away from the mansion because she wanted nothing to do with the royal selection nonsense and wanted to check up on her old man.

As rare as it was, all this heavy thinking made him start to sweat a little bit from his forehead.

Taking everyone by surprise, Subaru ended up exclaiming out loud, "Aaaaaah Thank goodness!"

The servants glanced at each other in confusion, trying to understand this rather unexpected reaction.

When he finished expressing his relief, Subaru turned toward his friend once again, witnessing his visible confusion.

"No, don't worry Reinhard! I'm just relieved!" He said with a bright smile. "I mean, for a moment I just thought that I had been summoned to a parallel universe with the worst stats a man could have!"

"He doesn't even know how true that is, I suppose," Beatrice whispered brokenly, her eyes seeming hollow.

Beside the blonde loli spirit, the half-elven silver-haired girl seemingly flinched out of her focused glare.

Those words physically hurt Emilia to hear.

"The irony in them words." Garfield found himself facepalming from the painful truth Subaru's words exposed, beside him Otto was doing the same while hiding his face behind his hat.

"Big bro really would be dissing his luck if he knew what really happened, huh." Felt said while flinching.

"I think he did more than curse his luck, Felt-sama." Rem nodded along sadly.

"I think the irony isn't lost on anyone here. Barusu outlined his other self's situation perfectly as a bad state to start his journey." Ram, undoubtedly unhappy with how truthfully Subaru's words depicted her own Subaru's life.

"It is interesting though, Natsuki-kun is speaking in those 'video game' terms once again. He had stopped talk'n like that in our worl' for a while now, hasn't he?" Anastasia found herself occupied with something more to the words of the boy rather than how accurate they were, but what they were displaying.

"Natsuki Subaru seems a lot more confident here even if he was chosen to be a royal contender for the throne… Almost arrogant." Crusch also piped with a frown.

"He… probably has the mindset that our Natsuki-san used to have… The one about him being chosen to be a powerful hero." Otto mumbled his speculation.

Julius and Anastasia flenched in their own ways because they heard him.

"That could probably be why he's so relaxed to the news." Frederica also revealed that she had heard the merchant boy.

"I don't think any of us were relaxed when we learned about our candidacy." Anastasia quipped with an amused smile.

"It was no surprise to mineself." Priscilla snorted haughtily, speaking for the first time since a while.

Even though Subaru's words were difficult to understand for Reinhard, the clear joy and excitement the newly made candidate showcased were enough to make the knight realize that the news had been taken rather well.

The situation now cleared up, the servants in the room decided to take their leave, taking the dishes with them. Letting both the knight and the candidate have a much needed talk.

"So...Is this why I've been summoned? To be the king...? Hehe, that's not so bad either."

"Ah, shit." Al grunted, already feeling bad for the boy on screen, knowing how much his expectations would be crushed later on.

"Wait, so he believes that he has been summoned here…" Mimi started, her voice expressing her surprise.

"To be the ruler of the nation?!" Tivey continued for his sister.

"Oh so he's 'bout to believe that he's here for the throne?" Anastasia wondered, caressing her scarf. "Poor fella, this' gonna hurt…"

"Surely you are speaking for yourself as well." Priscilla voiced out loud from her seat, her eyes showing contempt towards the screen, to this boy who dared to think that he would get her rightful throne.

"Always here to throw a jab when no one's askin' again aren't ya?" Anastasia replied in disinterest.

"Mine ears simply cannot stand to hear such stupid thoughts." Priscilla answered in a bored tone, not bothering to look at the merchant princess. "Keep it as a dream in the back of your mind if you want to, but believing these to become true is nothing but an insult towards myself."

"So ya take the fact that I might take the throne as an insult? I understood for a while now that ya had a big ego, but ain't that just frustration?" Smirking to her own choice of words, the purple haired candidate looked up to the crimson princess, waiting for her reaction.

And just like she expected, Priscilla finally turned her ruby irises towards her.

"No. I take you believing you could take mine throne as a joke. But when you dare to believe that you and I stand on an even ground, where you could have a chance...this is what mineself take as an insult." The fiery princess voiced out loud with a hint of threat behind her tongue, a way to warn this merchant to mind her words.

"While I certainly stand by your side, I believe it would be wiser to avoid responding to Priscilla-sama, my lady." Julius promptly intervened, wanting to ease the tension in the theatre.

Anastasia threw one last glance to the princess above her, before turning towards the screen once again, taking the decision to listen to her knight.

Priscilla didn't pay much attention to her "rival" as her eyes quickly turned back to the screen as well. Focusing on the wannabe candidate that would become one of those that would fight for the crown.

"Uh...Princess?" Al asked, noticing how the fiery lady stared at the screen, her face hidden by her crimson fan.

Priscilla didn't respond to him, nor did she voice the thoughts running in her mind. She simply leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowed to the sleeping boy on the front row, and the one of the screen.

The ruby-eyed blonde sitting to the side of the black-haired subject of the matter was continuously frowning in a glaring motion. "He accepted his destiny rather quickly, eh? He didn't even give Rein any trouble… unlike me."

Clearly emotional, the little blonde one continued to grip the sides of her seat in frustration. Noting every single detail that showed how much better both, Reinhard and Subaru would've been off had she not been there to take one of the two's places. It was infuriating yet deeply frightening just how… better, everything seemed without her in the picture.

Something Reinhard had been keeping an eye on ever since this had started, he wanted nothing more than to go over to her and give her a hug once more, his own thoughts clouded between excitement, for the future and yet his focus was on nothing more than how his lady was feeling.

"It's not that he accepted it just yet, Felt-chan."

The blondes including Beatrice that was sitting on Subaru's lap and Felt that was sitting beside her glanced at the other side of the sleeping boy where the speaker chimed in with a softened tone that was almost unhearable.

"He didn't accept it. He feels entitled to it, because Subaru is a boy without a purpose." Emilia whispered with a glimmer of sadness in her eyes. Felt and Beatrice listened carefully to what the half-elf was saying.

"Subaru… He thinks that his entire reason for his existence is to be important somewhere far away from his own home. He's the type to set his sight on one objective and focus on nothing else."

"So…?" Felt couldn't help but sound her confusion at Emilia's soft whispered rambles.

"I'm saying that he would only focus on being king for the sake of having a purpose… But he didn't think of any other option he was liable to take. He could've had something far easier and better than working to be a king… A-And..."

As Emilia trailed off in a broken whisper, Felt started to catch on along with the elegant other blonde sitting beside her.

"He would've chosen something far better than to be your knight. Isn't that what you are so regretful of, girl? Or perhaps you are disappointed he chose being king over being a mere servant to you, I wonder?" Beatrice growled coldly as she side glared at the distraught Emilia.

"That isn't it, Beatrice-san… It's not it at all..." Emilia whispered sadly while shaking her head.

"What is it then?" Felt asked with impatience.

"I don't want him to be closer to me at all… I can't let go of him but… I don't want him to be anywhere near the election because… Even if he decided to be my rival… He would still help me. I'm not dumb. I know my knight… I know him."

Beatrice and Felt only stared with shocked faces as Emilia whispered to herself with tears trailing down her cheeks. Tears of guilt.

"It seems you aren't that clueless, I suppose. At least Bubby hadn't fully ruined your common sense, in fact."

Beatrice sounded unsure as she turned back to the screen. Leaving Felt to be the only one staring at Emilia.

"Looks like I ain't the only one mess'n my own head about this, huh?" The gruf blonde muttered in pity and turned to the screen after Emilia regained a sense of clarity and wiped her tears away.

"Subaru is close with everyone here… I love him and he loves me… But he doesn't love himself at all." Emilia spoke in a less than freshened voice while cleaning her face up.

"He would choose anything that gives him a purpose no matter how hard it was. He just wants something to belong to."

"It's sad." Felt commented as Emilia and even Beatrice both nodded quietly.

Subaru started smiling, he held the insignia tight in his palm, as if he was embracing his new life. Such enthusiasm from his new master allowed Reinhard to feel relieved as well. He was surprised, but to see Subaru ready to take on his new role made him very happy.

After completing the rough task that had been bestowed on his shoulders, he had immediately received a new mission, one that he was ready to take.

"I am truly glad you came to acknowledge your upcoming duties, Subaru-sama." Reinhard spoke as he got up from his seat, walking closer to the candidate. "While being named as a candidate by the divine dragon is the greatest honor one could have, it is also far from being an easy task."

"What are you doing now?" Otto asked the sword saint, wondering if the one by his side could tell his counterpart's actions.

Which was somehow true, as Reinhard's eyes widened in shock, slowly realizing what was happening.

"Oi, sword saint?" Garfiel called again, waving his hand in front of him.

Subaru's eyes followed the sword saint until the latter stopped just a few feet away from him. Reinhard kneeled on one knee, in the most elegant manner a knight could, bowing his head down as he stuck his fist against the ground, taking Subaru aback.

"Wait…!" Felix let out a gasp, eyes wide.

"Don't tell me…" Much like his fellow knight, Julius understood the meaning of this very well.

"So...This is reaaaaaallly how it will go…." Roswaal whispered in a dreadfilled tone. He did consider this possibility to happen in this reality, and the only thing he could do was to feel fear and relief.

"What? What is happening?" Petra asked, curious and worried about the reactions of the two.

"This looks...Very courteous?" Frederica whispered, only for the little maid to hear.

"What is… with Reinhard-san?" Asked the silver-haired girl with a hand held to her chest, feeling confusion as to why a sudden tightness filled her chest. "Subaru?"

"What are you doing, Reinhard?" A voice whispered harshly from behind him but he couldn't care less. The red haired knight ignored Julius's seething plea and continued to glance towards his own liege. The girl is currently trembling as she watches the next scene.

Reinhard couldn't help but frown more deeply as his mind refused to come up with any solution to make the little blonde royal feel better about herself.

"This is why I humbly request that you allow me to be by your side. As your knight, sword, and shield. I beseech you to use me as you will., I swear to be the tool you need to support your candidacy and allow you to reach your goal-"

"Alright, alright! Stop! Damn it, Reinhard, what the hell is that?!" Subaru exclaimed as he waved his hands around, embarrassment clear on his face as he urged the sword saint to get up.

"I…I-" The sword saint stuttered, his eyes betraying his worry and incomprehension towards Subaru's reaction.

"What did I do wrong…?" He wondered, fearing the worse to come.

"Oh you have it wrong here." Otto smiled slightly as he shook his head.

"You...Instantly believed you were in the wrong…" The old man bearing the name of Astrea spoke out. It was neither a question, nor him trying to understand his grandson's words.

Wilehlm perfectly knew why he reacted this way.

"That's an old habit of his." The little blonde sitting at the front grumbled without a hint of humor.

While his attention was fully focused on his lady, the sword saint couldn't help but raise his head towards the screen, understanding precisely what was going on as soon as he noticed his other self's posture on the floor before one of his most genuine friends.

He was offering his vow to Subaru. This version of him, this reality, was about him and Subaru becoming what him and his lady were. Even if he brought himself to firmly stand by his candidate's side...This much was impossible for him to ignore.

For Reinhard was still human. And even if his height and age could bring to a certain conclusion, his mind still couldn't be called as one of an adult. He was sometimes confused as to how he had to react to certain situations, he was still curious about the simplest things...And he still bore a lot of fears and insecurities.

Along with so many, one was his need for friendship. His need for companions to walk along every day of life with.

And the dragon only knows that Subaru Natsuki was one of those he wanted the most to be close to. To share the same relation he did with the merchant or the tiger boy, was a wish he thought he could only dream about.

Yet. Right before his eyes the reality of such a possibility unfolded. A wish, a dream, an envy.

So, while still having his lady in his mind, Reinhard raised his eyes towards the screen.

And watched.

"You don't need to go that far! That's super embarrassing! Like I said, I was just the simplest middle-class guy just a moment ago! There's no need to treat me like that all of a sudden, especially not someone as impressive as you!" Subaru continued, begging his friend to stop his noble request.

"Ah, himself admitting he is from a common class. At least the boy knows his place." Priscilla off handily commented in boredom. "The way he treats this hero as superior might be wrong, however."

"Eh...That was a little harsh princess. The guy's still the sword saint of the kingdo-"

"I do not remember giving you permission to open that mouth of yours, Aldebaran."

Sighing in cold sweat behind his helmet, Al just turned his eyes away from the sun princess, feeling somewhat relieved she didn't go further than warning him.

"Man, he has it hard." Scoffed Ricardo as he kept watching.

Reinhard just froze in place, as he tried to understand what had just been told to him now. While he had thought he failed to hold up the etiquette proper to a knight, the reality seemed to hold another meaning.

Subaru continued, "Come on! You could've just said 'I'll help you' or something, that would've done the trick." rubbing the back of his head with a shy smile on his face as he stood up, he then offered his hand for the bewildered knight to take.

"You...Took an oath to Subaru-kun…!?" The blue-haired maid said in disbelief. The thought of her hero and love being so far away not only in status but also in destiny and fate was heartbreaking but the fact that he wouldn't be in need of any of her friend's help now that he had the greatest hero in the land serving him was downright shattering for the maiden's dreams. "S-Subaru-kun..." Rem whispered her folded knees with an increasingly despairing expression.

The fact that he became a contender for the throne was already a thing. But having the Sword saint himself by his side was an entirely different situation.

Of course, regarding how things began, it would have been a lie to say that no one expected some sort of connexion between Subaru and Reinhard.

"But for them to become master and knight…" Anastasia uttered with narrowed eyes.

"Anastasia-sama?" Julius asked, noticing his lady thoughtfully looking at the screen.

"I was just wonderin'...If he did so much on his own…" She told her knight, her voice low and filled with curiosity. "How far can he go with someone like the current sword saint with him?"

"...I suppose we will soon come to discover it…" Julius said in a barely audible voice. A grim and bitter tone at the tip of his tongue.

It was not new to him that Reinhard was viewed as a very capable knight. Still, he couldn't help but to let certain thoughts surface every time he had to admit it. Certain thoughts, a proper knight shouldn't bear.

"Ya're letting your jealousy come off of yourself with such few words, Julius-kun?"

"My lady…" Eyes wide, Julius turned towards the purple haired merchant queen with surprise.

"Even if ya're not saying anything, it still radiates strongly, ya know?" She told him, her eyes still fixated on the screen.

"This is most certainly something I am not proud of." Julius told her, keeping his voice low, and slightly bowing. "I apologize. This behavior is unworthy of you, my lady."

"Ya should know that ya have a name that stands out, too." She turned to him, smiling. "And yet, even though I said that I was curious to know how far they would go...Nothing actually predicts that them together will be a good thing, if at all."

"It would be wrong of me to believe something akin to that." He whispered, more to himself than to his lady.

"I don't understand…" Reinhard uttered, accepting his master's benevolence as he slowly stood up. "Why would you refuse the honors due to a person of your status?"

"Because I don't hold a candle to you!" He laughed nervously. "And aside from that, I'm the one guy here that has nowhere to go…And you're the one asking me if you can-…Damn it, scratch that!"

Reinhard stayed silent, his mind drowning in confusion as he just listened to Subaru. He didn't understand why he would say such things. He didn't understand why a candidate for the throne would think of himself unworthy to receive the vow of a knight but most importantly…The sword saint's confusion layed with Subaru's bizarre belief. To think a mere knight was far above him, all while in the knight's very eyes… the opposite was the case.

"Thank you, Reinhard."

Hearing this, the sword saint lifted his face to meet with the warm expression of his new friend.

Above the watchers, the pink-haired maid couldn't stop an elegant snort which earned her some glances demanding an elaboration. "Who would've thought that the sword saint and Barusu share such strong comradery that even their self-esteem issues are nearly identical? You both should've been twins."

"I-" Not knowing what to say, Reinhard paused at a standstill for the surprising warm answer that came from Beatrice.

"I do agree, I suppose. You both are seemingly suffering from the same disease, in fact."

Rem's eyes widened at this, "D-Disease?! Do you mean we've missed something else that's hurting my Subaru-kun?!"

Beatrice and Ram nodded with each other, "It's also tragic our grand hero is suffering from the same one. This might be dangerous."

"What is it?" Felix asked, a little spooked out from the two girls' conspiracy feel.

Until Beatrice answered with a simple cruel, "They both are morons, in fact. Unfortunate, I suppose."

"Uh..." Otto sighed with relief, thinking something much more serious was happening but it had just been a bit of the two most well known tsundere's in his camp being themselves and insulting both Subaru and Reinhard.

Heh… He used a Subaruism.

"Ah man~~~!" Garfiel slammed his fist on the armrest, an expression of pure frustration on the boy's face. "This is so amazin'! But I thought the Sword Saint's Oath would be taken before a huge ass crowd or somethin' like when Cap'n became one for Princess ov'r here."

"Is… Isn't that needed somehow? When a knight yields their oath, shouldn't there be a big ceremony?" Innecontly, the silver-haired elf sitting at the front said with a growing pained expression.

"Subaru really waited for nothing?" Emilia's thoughts were as negative as ever, not wanting to have her knight alone in a world she was detached from but still wishing she could at least be his friend. Seeing Reinhard lay down his Oath to help her knight was a happy moment for the half-elf, honestly. Emilia was truly happy for this moment. But she couldn't help but feel disappointed that Subaru was having a happy moment that had nothing to do with her or her friends. It just felt so… Different from having him work his own destiny away from her.

She truly was a selfish girl.

Emilia bit her lip and shrunk on herself from shame, Beatrice noticed.

"I think it makes sense that Natsuki Subaru earned someone of Reinhard's calibre as his right hand." Crusch noted simply with a stare honed on the black haired boy. "It's not surprising to me at all…", the Duchess muttered once more.

"I think everyone expected something to come of them two," Anastasia bemusedly collaborated with the Duchess sitting beside her.

All of a sudden, the feeling of happiness Reinhard had felt once staring at the screen to find his relationship with Subaru lifting to unimaginable heights… Had evaporated as the words of everyone around him finally registered.

Reinhard's soft-blue eyes widened and wandered over to the blon- his liege. She was his liege and his destiny was to be hers.

As the shame filled his panicked expression, Julius commented from behind him with a soft sigh, "This is what I meant… She's not doing well, Reinhard," The knight softly told the redhead before him.

Reinhard could only but stiffen as he recognized the slight shining trail flowing down Felt's cheek. Obscured by her downed blonde hair, he couldn't see those red eyes he served to brighten everyday.

"Go, Reinhard-san."

Stiffening, the knight looked at the normal boy sitting beside him. Otto stared into the greatest hero's eyes with conviction and confidence.

With that fact and this overwhelming support from people he had the pleasure of calling his friends, Reinhard quickly found power to stand and step towards the seats beside his own, where Natsuki Subaru's sleeping body lay on a chair, and his lady sat all alone.

Feeling more guilty than ashamed, the knight found it appropriate to bow on his knee before Felt, surprising Emilia and Beatrice.

"My lady."

"..."

There was nothing in the world for the little blonde to cause her such pain. And she could only feel the warmth radiating from the knight's hands on hers.

"My lady… This is a simple reality with its own rules," His words reached the little blonde's ears but they barely entered her mind, "It's not good to think about these things too much. What would've been and what would come to be had we changed this and that. You're only setting yourself up for disappointment."

"Are ya kiddin' yerself?" She met him with a simple snort, "You?! The guy screamin' for someone to cherish and bond with 'em?... Yeah, 'simple reality' my ass. I bet you forgot all 'bout me when you drooled over yer friendship with Big bro!"

With one statement, Reinhard's hopes of finding a good reason to doubt himself shattered. He wanted to feel guilty again, to bring back a hateful remark from his master that shows that she doubted him all along. Maybe even get her to say how much she hated him? That would've been nice.

But instead, and for the second time since coming to this theater, Reinhard could only stiffen with righteous anger at someone dear to him.

Someone that had been doubting and breaking themselves this whole time, for a damn viewing.

"This reality isn't mine! You're the only one I serve, Felt-sama!" Ironic as it may seem, the knight of all knights had broken every code of chivalry as he loudly proclaimed with a piercing glare at the lady before him.

Many were taken a back by this behaviour, especially Julius and Felix. Never expecting this from the most humble knight. Such selfishness to drive a point his master didn't understand, it was uncouth for Reinhard to demand his leige's attention in such a manner.

The two knights seemed to be more shocked straight than angry by Reinhard's breaking of their ethics. At which one bemused girl snorted.

"Ya really need t' let go once in a while, Julius-kun~," Anastasia blew her scarf back and forth with her chin resting on her knuckle as she watched everything with a smile.

"Cut the crap a'ready! You ain't stopped smilin' since ya found out big bro was in your home!" Felt, however, was not bemused one bit by the young man's breaking of his persona. Taking Reinhard's newfound defiance as a challenge, the street prone girl knocked a fist on her arm seat and glared heatedly with her tooth bared.

"Because I was happy I saved a friend, Felt-sama! I didn't feel happy I was paired with someone over you!" Reinhard bared his own anger in a courteous frown.

"Liar!" Felt shouted in fury.

"I'm not! I've been fearing the mere thought of showing my happiness that my friend was saved from certain death because I didn't want you to think of me as a traitor. Yet all you can think about is yourself!" Reinhard replied in equal childishness, uncaring for those who watched him and breaking his code once again.

Looks like his liege rubbed off on him too much.

Even she was taken aback by him.

"What the hell are ya on?!"

"Felt-sama… Why do you think so lowly of me?" This time, he whispered it while looking at the floor.

Felt's reaction to the entire way the knight was handling her outburst was bafflement.

He looks so down… And he thinks I'm the one that's insulting HIM?!

"l-low?! Are you daft?"

"Felt-sama," Reinhard called whisperingly, raising his head to meet the candidate's eyes with a look of disappointment dawning on him, "You were doubting yourself and thought that me ending up with you was a mistake, didn't you?"

"..." She seemed to be out of words. No stutter or choked sobs… Just shocked silence befell the little girl.

It made a few in the crowd, mainly Priscilla and Roswaal, to snort towards the empathetic scene and the helpless girl as she was nearly berated by her own knight.

Emilia and Crusch were staring with silent frowns.

"Y-You looked happier with Big bro in one day, than you did with me for a long while..."

"So you didn't think of my feelings about this?" He asked. Urged. Demanded of the girl that had taken it upon herself to decide for him instead of taking part in their partnership.

"..."

"Felt-sama… You told me to be greedy to things I want and need from time to time," Reinhard ignored Felt's silence and filled the atmosphere with his own soft musing of disappointment, "I want you to think about how I feel..."

"Aren't you feeling happy when you see yourself with Big bro?"

"... How I feel when I see myself happy without the girl I've sworn my sword for. About my best friend."

And before she could even comment on that shocking endearment from her usually incombered knight, the redhead hung his head in disappointment and stoof off his knee.

Walking towards his own seat as everyone watched him in silence. Felt couldn't utter a word of discourse as the feeling of shame and guilt had filled her.

"Let's continue this farce!" Priscilla took delight in bypassing Felt's upcoming effort to resolve her relationship with Reinhard and commanded the warden to play the viewing again. Making everyone turn to the screen and forget about the duo's conflict.

Emilia and Crusch seemed to notice this and they both held their anger with pointed glares.

Not missing a beat, Subaru continued, "If you're fine with it, I'll gladly take you up on the offer!"

A strange feeling ran through Reinhard van Astrea's mind upon hearing those words. Bafflement would be too light of a word…It was so much more, more complicated, something that barely made sense to him.

But one thing was sure, out of this complex maze of thoughts that raced at insane speed within his mind, relief was the dominant one. A sentiment he rarely had the chance to feel, one that could even be qualified as alien to the greatest knight.

"Reinhard?" Subaru called, noticing the redhead man's silence.

"I…Am the one who should thank you, Subaru-sama…" Answered Reinhard, slightly bowing his head to him once more.

Dejected, Subaru said in a tired voice, "We'll need to find something for that as well…"

"And thus, they became candidate and knight, I suppose," Beatrice murmured.

"..." Reinhard kept the thoughts running in his mind to himself for now. Eyes glued to the screen. And his heart beating without rest.

And everyone else just watched...In awe.

"Is it just me or...Does it look...Scary?" The purple haired merchant said in a low voice, enough for those around her to hear her.

"...I…" Crusch uttered, as she understood what the merchant queen meant.

"Y'are saying the little boss and the Sword Saint can be a real damn challenge for ya, right boss?" the dogman laughed, readjusting himself in his seat, "I get ya."

"You seem to be strangely unfazed by this." Julius commented to his comrade, "I admit that I can't percieve if you are not scared for our lady, or-"

"I ain't scared for anything pal. But after everything we saw, would be a bit stupid in my opinion if you can't tell that the lil' boss would be one hell of a challenge for the princesses." The dogman said with a smile and a shake of his head,"besides why should we even care? This ain't our world, remember? We're just 'ere to watch."

Julius remained out of words towards his friends...As he understood there was nothing to argue. All of his points were legitimate, after all.

Sealing their new bond of friendship with a smile, Subaru sat down and leaned back into his chair. He started to stare at the ceiling, remembering everything he went through as soon as he opened his eyes and found himself in the capital of Lugunica. Away from his home, from his life, from his parents…

Being trope-savvy on the 'summoned to another world' subgenre, Subaru knew that he had been summoned for an important reason. Thus, the fact that he had been given nothing more than his grim "Return By Death" honestly disappointed him.

For someone who had just spent many years of his life stuck in his shell, wasting his life it was a chance of a lifetime that only a fool would throw away, and right now, he could be anything but this fool.

Right now, his wildest fantasies were taking shape before him

Holding his insignia up his eyes again, he realized that right now… He had the chance to become a king.

"Wait...If the insignia means that I'm a candidate..." Subaru thought out loud, turning his eyes towards his friend. "DOES THAT MEAN WHAT I THINK IT MEANS?!"

"Ah, he realized it." Otto shook his head, along with Garfiel laughing loud as he understood.

"Yes, Emilia-sama is also a candidate for the throne." And just like that, the young man's excitement about his candidacy disappeared as fast as it came. He surely was overjoyed at the idea of becoming the ruler of a nation, as anyone would be at his place, but if it meant to forsake his love at first sight…

"Ugh, this world is so cruel..." He silently whimpered, cursing the world who forced him into making this unfair choice.

"Pfft…" Emilia giggled with a fond voice, nudging the shoulder of the sleeping boy, a feeling of satisfaction growing in her heart to the idea of Subaru still having affection for her in this reality.

"It seems our idea seems to be correct so far, I suppose," rigidly, Rem turned her head once she heard what the spirit at the front had said. But because the maid was sitting so far back beside her lord, she couldn't ask the great spirit girl what she had meant.

"...Mhm." Softly, Emilia began ruffling Subaru's hair. unconsciously, she leaned on him and enjoyed his warmth. She seemed to have slightly frowned as she settled on his shoulder.

"He's not a different Subaru… He's the same one… And that will only mean disaster for him."

Beatrice took no more time to understand those cryptic words of the half-elf girl.

"Well…" Reinhard began to speak, searching for his words"Nothing prevents you from having a good relationship with the other candidates. I believe it would only be for the greater good since the race for the throne should be won fair and square. In that regard, what could provide better stability than trust between the candidates?" He explained, trying to cheer up his friend.

"Uh?!"

Like a spark that managed to fire up his spirits once more, Reinhard's statement put stars in Subaru's eyes. Just by looking at them, the knight understood that he did well.

"That's it! That's exactly it, Rein! Dammit, what would I do without you!?" He exclaimed as Reinhard scratched the back of his head with a shy smile, "Right, let's go!"

Still with a smile on their faces as they witnessed Subaru's antics, several people stopped laughing when they heard the last part of his sentence in surprise.

"What?" Emilia whispered, eyes wide in realisation of what her knight in this reality meant.

"Don't tell me…" Beatrice murmured with a similar expression.

"Ah, of course," Ram spat as she shook her head.

"What?"

"I said: let's go! Come on!"

"He's going to Emilia-sama's place?" Honestly surprised by the sheer speed with which Subaru was already prepared to meet the silver-haired candidate, Julius voiced his thoughts out loud, "So his feelings really didn't change…"

Seated just in front of him, Emilia stood in awe before the screen. Her eyes twinkling in fondness as she covered her mouth, and her blushing face with her hands. She had nothing but happiness filling her mind at the moment, nothing but gratefulness…

As Natsuki Subaru, even in this reality…

"Is it really a good thing?" Anastasia commented, looking unassured by how things were going.

"What do you mean…?" picking up on the merchant queen's words, Emilia turned towards her.

"Emilia-sama…" putting a hand on the half-elf shoulder, Crusch got her attention, "Do not inflict that to yourself…"

"W-What are you-" Emilia cut on her own words as she noticed far on the back behind the verdant-haired Duchess...A trembling Rem staring at the screen.

"Please...Please...Not again…" She begged silently, only for her sister to hear, "don't make me do it again…"

The half-elf could only but widen her eyes as the memories of one fateful viewing played in her mind making her expression grow more ambient with horror.

"Took you one split second to forget, I suppose," Beatrice mocked the half-elf's surprise with a seething edge in her tone, "You've forgotten that those twins are also considered a big reason why Betty's Subaru shouldn't have ended up with you, Emilia."

Emilia faced the spirit girl with nothing short of distable dissidence in her eyes.

"Don't tell me… REM!"

The entire arena turned fickle by the thick dangerous aura of the two clearly unstable girls that had faced one another. Rem was way back with her entire form hunched and trembling but her eyes were wide with fear.

Emilia was glaring outright into the girl's soul.

"You told me that Subaru's murder was because of certain circumstances! You won't kill him again here now that he's a candidate, right?" Her tone was laced with command, it impressed Priscilla enough to raise a brow at the half-elf's demanding aura.

"I… I… "

"DID YOU LIE?!"

"NO I DIDN'T!"

"... Then why do you look so guilty, Rem?" Amazingly, Emilia has been running the entire conversation with nothing but tonal shifts of her voice. It was like she could get any answer she wanted by a simple change of voice for the shattered-like Rem to comply with any of her questions.

"I… "

"Emilia-sama, Barusu was saved by my sister multi-"

"Your sister killed him. Ram. Sit down." Emilia's cold tone did not do her glare justice, so many times she had promised to protect and work in the best interest of the boy she'd failed to love. So many times.

Now, she will get the answer she's been waiting for.

"Rem… in our reality. Did you ever plan to kill him? Kill your Subaru-kyun?"

So much different. This Emilia was so much different than the one who cried and threw a fit towards her when her murder of the black-haired knight was revealed. So many emotions were hidden behind the half-elf's eyes it broke every ounce of confidence in the maid.

Rem's lips parted with the answer…

And Emilia's fist was on the girl's hair almost immediately.

"EMILIA!" "PRINCESS!" "EMILIA-SAMA!"

The shock engraved in the theater was notable as even Priscilla and Roswaal couldn't tell what was happening.

Emilia had taken less than a second to dash across the rows and manhandle the blue maid into her seat. Emilia stood not in the front row like she had last time Rem's fate was in the red. No. Emilia was now feral, unattentive, standing over the hunched maid with a flock of Rem's hair in her fist, keeping their eyes on each other. Rem's looking up in absolute fear at this corrupted Emilia, and Emilia's looking like she was staring at the most pathetic creature to exist.

Rem's eyes dripped tears.

Emilia's lips moved beside the girl's ears.

The aura of freezing cold stuck from Emilia onto Rem's shaking form, Emilia's entire presence was calling for the girl's hurt. For her to be pained.

And when Emilia's nonchalant tone could be heard from beside Rem's ear, the maid's entire soul froze.

"Whatever it was that was said between us, Rem, discard it. I do not forgive. I do not wish to have any sort of competition with you."

All she could do was shake and huddle her knees under her to keep warmth as Emilia let go of her hair and raised herself from atop her.

A finger under Rem's chin forced her eyes upwards to those of Emilia's dimmed purple, "Forget him. Forget about your memories. About your sacrifice for him. About his sacrifice to you. From this day forth, you should know no one in this world named Subaru… Do you understand, maid?"

"E-Emilia-sam-!"

"Should she disregard my warning, I want her executed."

Rem's shock made her nerves clash and give out as her entire body felt numb and her hearing went into a deeper distortion.

All she could do was cry from this painful ice that had covered her entire form. In reality she couldn't tell if it was her entire form or not. But Emilia's magic was amazingly feeble.

Emilia had the magic to incase her entire heart in a chunk of freezing ice with just a few simple non magical words.

Whatever happened to Emilia's personality… It was haunting.

"... What the hell..." Al whispered from the side as he witnessed the scene in silence, everyone else was staring at Emilia in wonder and fear as the half-elf layed the one last command to Roswaal and turned from him without another word, not even letting him speak on behalf of his staff that she ordered him to butcher should they disobey her command.

Simply, Emilia walked with her eyes stuck on the black mop of hair at the front, dismissing every frown and look of sadness her camp members, plus Crusch, sent her way.

'They don't get to judge me. I thought Subaru's murder was atoned for. That Rem was a good person at heart…

Various clenches of Emilia's fists could be heard, as her fingers cracked in the silent theater.

She could only think about Rem's answer.

The answer that told Emilia everything she needed to know about those twins.

"Disgusting..." Emilia found herself spitting in a whisper as she regaled her dress and regally sat down in her seat.

She looked at no one but the screen.

But Emilia did notice the few smirks, Anastasia and Priscilla sent her way. She could even see Felt glance at her with an encouraging look.

Even Emilia had her own detractors and allies in her position.

"What changed now, I wonder? Last time you only cried and hogged Betty's Subaru from the maid, in fact."

Beatrice didn't sound so amused, merely curious as to why Emilia became so violent in such an uncharacteristic manner.

She did not show signs of discomfort or dislike of what Emilia had done though.

Emilia remembered back to when she saw the first time Rem would torture and murder Subaru in cold blood. She thought it had good reasons for happening but she was wrong.

"Rem is no longer allowed to come near him because she simply shouldn't have been since the start. I was naive and weak to understand that back then," Emilia answered smoothly as her eyes stuck to the screen. The memory of Rem's answer played in her mind again and again.

Beatrice simply snorted, "You weren't weaker than you are now, girl. It's only been a couple of days since you watched that viewing, in fact. You couldn't even use your magic this time because it's blocked by this theater's master, I suppose."

"I simply promised not to be nicer to people that harm my Subaru… Especially ones that lied to me about it."

"... You've changed, I suppose."

"For the better?" Emilia humorlessly smiled as her eyes showed tired bangs for the first time since her outburst.

Beatrice simply turned away without emotion, "Whether that is the case would be up to Betty's Subaru, I suppose. He's the one that wanted to marry both of you, in fact."

Emilia only felt a lump in her throat.

Subaru opened the door in haste, only to be stopped by the two small figures standing behind it. Both girls were almost perfectly identical, having short pink hair with yellow ribbons in them and wearing white and pink dresses.

"Who are these two?" Scouting closer to have a better view, Tivey asked out loud, "I don't remember ever seeing them…"

"They seem familiar…" Aldebaran commented as he scratched the side of his helmet, "Where did I see them…"

"The selection." Priscilla off-handily commented as she fanned herself, "These two children accompanied the slum dweller during her entrance in the kingdom's royal hall."

"Ah, yep. You're right as always, princess." Leaning back in his seat with a nod of his head as he remembered himself of this day, the one-armed jester kept watching the screen with another familiar feeling coming up in his mind.

"O-oh, hey there…" Subaru said as he slowly turned toward Reinhard, who joined the little group. "Are these two part of your family?

Reinhard simply smiled at him as he turned towards the twins.

"Good morning, Flam and Grassy. Allow me to introduce you to Natsuki Subaru-sama, the fifth candidate to the throne of Lugunica. Be careful to treat him with the utmost respect." He then turned towards Subaru. "Subaru-sama, those are Flam and Grassy Remendis, the granddaughters of Carol and Grimm Fauzen. Both of whom are loyal servants of the Astrea family."

Both twins then wordlessly bowed in front of the black-haired candidate, showing respect due to someone of his position.

Gently laughing, Subaru said "Hey, you two don't need to be that shy! I swear I'm not a tyrant or anything!" He then kneeled at their level when he noticed how quiet they stayed.

They titled their heads to him, confusing Subaru.

"They are not afraid, Subaru-sama. They are just naturally reserved, please know that they can fully understand us, as well as understand each other." Reinhard explained.

"I-I see…"

"It's kinda unstelling." Now realising what had been bothering him, Al couldn't help but let these few words slip out of his mouth.

"Whacha mean?" Ricardo inquired of the one armed knight behind him, finding Al's statement to be too vague for his liking.

The helmeted man seemed to be nervous for some reason, "Uh, just forget it. It was only a thought that came across my mind, that's all."

The dogman just shrugged and turned away from the weird knight. If he didn't want to talk then he didn't want to talk.

But a certain girl dressed in crimson blood red, however, felt a bit more entitled than that.

"OW!"

Al's grunt was heard by all as the back hand made him fall to the floor of the theater once again.

The person who attacked him seemed to be satisfied with her job, making a humming noise that was muffled behind her ever diligent half-circle fan.

The crimson princess stared her fallen knight down with amusement as she demanded, "Speak, Aldebaran."

The man stood on his knees and dusted himself, sighing in frustration, "Fine, fine! Jeez… I was only gonna say how humourless it was that pal over there seems to always have cold creepy twins that work as maids to whatever mansion he lives under."

"EEh?!" "That's actually true…!"

Garfiel and Otto were the two most shocked enough to elicit a reaction to this strange coincidence.

Most didn't really care for that fact, however.

"Sit down and never talk without permission again," Priscilla huffed in annoyance and ignored the pained man as he got off of his knees and into the chair.

"S-Sorry, princess..."

As that was settled, many in the crowd managed to forget about the silly situation and moved on to watch the rest of this abnormal reality. But not before a strange huff from one disgruntled Felt.

"Flam and Grassy are not like those two!"

Obviously, the blonde girl was only referring to a specific pair that had just been declared similar to the Astrea's servant twins.

The maids sitting beside Roswaal in the back row.

"..."

Ram gave no reaction, simply glared ahead and kept her eyes on the screen with no emotion.

"Just ignore it, Sister."

The blue-haired twin did as she was told. She sat there with a grip around her legs and her head in her knees. Eyes closed and sobs unheard.

Rem was living her nightmare in a worse distortion that tore her heart one thousand times over anything else she had experienced before.

"I'm sorry..."

Emilia and Beatrice did not even acknowledge her.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you two! I'm sure we'll become great friends, so I look forward to working with you!" He exclaimed as he stretched both his hands for them to shake, which they did even though they remained expressionless.

"I guess...He befriended them?" Trying to understand the meaning behind this handshake, Otto spoke his mind in hope to have confirmation from someone who'd be more knowledgeable of the twins.

"Well...Most of the time, these two don't do physical contact this easily…" Felt commented, looking to the sleeping boy by her side.

"THIS IS…!" Tivey exclaimed.

"THE LEGENDARY…!" Mimi continued.

"LOLIMANCER TECHNIQUE?!" Ricardo roared in the room, making most of the cast laugh and chuckle to Subaru's secret power.

"Man I don't know why ya're all laughing this is scary!" The dogman continued with a laugh of his own, "One second ya see these little girls being unsocial as hell and ya don't even got time to blink, they're already sitting on this guy's lap!"

"This is wrong, in fact!" Beatrice shot back immediately, "Subaru's lap is only for Betty, I suppose!"

"Alright!" He smiled as he stood up, turning toward Reinhard. "Now, let's go to Emilia's!"

"Wait a moment, Subaru-sama…" Reinhard replied, preventing him from going further. "This much is impossible at the moment."

"Uh? Why?!"

"The rules of the candidacy state that it is forbidden for the known candidates to meet before the selection begins," Reinhard explained.

Outraged and failing to control the tone of his voice, Subaru shouted, "What?! You gotta be kidding me!"

"Subaru-sama…"

"This is not okay Reinhard! I need to check up on her! Just to be sure she's alright! O-oh! And she healed me! Yeah, I can't just brush that off, that would be horribly rude of me!"

Reinhard winced as he simply shook his head.

"I…Am sorry. But those are the rules all official candidates of the kingdom must follow." Reinhard concluded, his voice showing his reluctance to disappoint his master.

"Jeez, them rules really caused a mess for this world's boss, huh."

"I'm guessing he'll adhere to the rule like the rest of us? He's not going to squander his chances for the throne simply to thank Emilia-sama," Crusch dismissed, feeling relief as equal to ease once she noticed that Emilia's expression softened to one of relief and ease.

"He won't be coming… Reinhard won't let him," Emilia affirmed while nodding her head. Her expression was one of acceptance.

Rem sank deeper in her self loathing as her heart ached a one over the thousand burns.

"Wait…" Subaru interrupted his face, one of hope and delight. Yet, the knight couldn't help but feel the slight hint of scheming enthusiasm in those ugly eyes of the boy which built up unease. "You just said it!"

"Pardon me?" Reinhard asked, now officially troubled

"Official candidate of the kingdom!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Yes?"

Pointing the Sword Saint with his finger, Subaru gleefully exclaimed, "That's the thing! We just discovered it, right? So the kingdom doesn't know! I'm not an official candidate at all... not yet, at least! I'm just a simple civilian!"

"I…I am not sure that-"

"Am I wrong though?" Subaru inquired, challenging Reinhard's stare.

"Subaru-sama…"

"And, even Emilia has no idea that I'm a candidate, right?" He continued.

"…"

"So, therefore, the only thing that would happen if I go meet her right now... would just be a man thanking a woman for her precious help, am I wrong?"

"…You are not," Reinhard said with a sigh of defeat, realizing that Subaru was right and wouldn't back down.

"Then nothing is stopping us! Let's go!" Subaru urged in triumph.

"Very well…" Reinhard replied. "However…" The knight wasn't able to finish as the boy ran out.

"What was that, I suppose?" As Beatrice snorted in amusement, Emilia could only flush and put a hand on her face in frustration.

"Why is he so adamant… Oh wait.." Shaking her head, the tired half-elf squinted her eyes on the sleeping boy with a look of annoyance and sadness.

"He wants to meet ya, big sis. Don't insult his stubbornness," Felt made Emilia smile softly with these words.

"Natsuki is still coming to the mansion then?" Crusch sounded bewildered as the possibility really sounded off with all the obstacles this universe had placed on Subaru.

"Don't you think it would be interesting to see what would happen with this version of Subaru in the mansion, nyan?" Felix tried asking his previous master but he only got ignored as Crusch lifted her head and stared towards the huddled trembling Rem.

"Ya think she would look happy ta meet 'em in that world at least," Anasatasia snorted at Rem's form and looked away towards the screen.

Crusch noticed this and frowned as she too looked away from the maid and towards something else.

"Why would you let him get away with that?"

Reinhard could only sweat in embarrassment as he was berated by an outraged looking Julius.

"Hey, hey, fella! Calm down! Cap'n isn't that easy to stop once anyone comes between him and princess," the blonde boy sitting beside Reinhard had a smug smirk on as he waved his hands in front of Julius in a way to calm things down.

"It was a clever way to go about things however..." Otto mused from Reinhard's other side, not at all caring for the scene caused by Julius' outrage.

"You are his knight! Loophole or not, you might've jeopardized Natsuki's entire position right now!"

"Is he wrong though?"

Alerted by the voice coming from behind him, Julius turned around to the helmeted man up above who spoke with a neutral or rather, uncaring voice.

"What do you mean?" Mimi questioned, wanting more details about his remark.

"I mean, was Subaru wrong in what he said? He's not a candidate in the eyes of the Kingdom if the Kingdom doesn't know, right?"

"It doesn't change anything about a knight's duty towards his candidate!"

"But that's the thing. If Subaru isn't a candidate recognized by the kingdom...Can we really call him a royal contender yet? If not, then the Kingdom's rules about the candidacy don't apply to him...Or am I just speaking bullshit?" Al shrugged, making several people in the room think.

"That is true…" Felix murmured in his corner, trying to remember the rules of the royal candidacy.

"Indeed." quiet until now, Roswaal found it appropriate to voice his opinion now, "The rules of the candidacy only appllyyyyy for the recognized candidate of the throne. In other words, to those recognized by the great council of wise men."

After hearing the words of the Margrave, everyone turned to the screen once more, looking at Subaru with great surprise. To find such an undeniable loophole this fast…

"It just shows how much he wanted to meet Emilia-sama!" The little maid near Frederica exclaimed in glee, not hiding the relief she had to see that Subaru would probably come to her village in this reality.

"This is ridiculous. Even if Subaru was not an official yet, even if he was not recognized by our kingdom, the fact that Reinhard was too easy to persuade still stands. If he is unable to prevent his master fro-"

All it took for Julius to back off from the nervous worried redhead was a bored wave from Otto.

"You're causing a scene by defending another candidate to the throne from another world… What happened to a knight's loyalty?"

At the smug questioner from the merchant boy, Julius gave a dignified glare, "Never question my loyalty again."

Although the knight was dead serious and his tone showed no small part of a joke, Otto simply smiled wide as he pointed to something behind the knight.

"Oh~ Julius-kun… How could ya betray us like this?"

A rich accented voice was heard from behind the knight causing him to turn immediately to the dramatically fallen Anastasia as she held her forearm on her head and faked a crying expression.

"Never, milady!"

"Ya need to stop bein' serious all the time, the newbie merchant guy over here was jokin' with ya."

Anastasia shook her head as all laughed at Julius' immediate panic at his lady's really ameture acting job.

He was left to sit down with his cheeks red in shame.

Otto enjoyed this.

"Uuh..."

Subaru and Reinhard were now sitting in a dragon carriage, making their way to the place where Emilia was on a road leading towards the north of the capital. Of course, due to his position of knight of the kingdom, Reinhard already knew where she resided.

Both were sitting in front of the other. Reinhard in his military uniform and Subaru...

"Was the outfit really necessary? I look ridiculous!" he exclaimed as he uneasily stretched his collar.

"Please don't say that, this outfit is designed to match the best of your image, Subaru-sama!" Reinhard replied with a smile.

"...I'm really not used to this."

"Woah woah woah!" Garfiel stood up in awe, "Capn' looks so class!"

"Curse you, Natsuki-san…" Otto gritted his teeth to this sight in jealousy, "curse you…"

Many were those who looked to the screen with wide eyes of surprise. Natsuki Subaru, whom they all got used to see with his usual tracksuit or servant attire...Was now wearing an outfit worthy of a first class noble of the Kingdom. And it suited him so perfectly, none would have managed to believe he'd be coming from a common family at first glance. Not even Priscilla.

"He really looks good…" Anastasia whispered with stars in her eyes, "Far, far better…"

"I agree that Natsuki Subaru looks way more...Good looking than I thought." Crusch commented with a hand on her chin, nodding her head to the choice of clothing.

"So he can actually look less disgusting if he tries…" at the back of the theatre, the crimson princess observed behind her fan, "There is still work to do, however."

"That gotta be this one at work again." The little blonde voiced with a smile. Her comment wasn't a criticism, she too, thought that these clothes suited Subaru a lot.

"Mh?" Emilia hummed in curiosity, her cheeks red at the sight of her knight in such clothing.

"Reinhard has a blessing for clothes." Felt chuckled with a shake of her head, "he'll always pick the clothes that will suit you best."

"What?!" Otto exclaimed in sheer confusion, looking between Garfiel who harbored a similar expression to his, and Reinhard.

"Just how many blessings to ya have man?!" the blond tiger exclaimed in awe...And a bit of jealousy.

Indeed, Subaru was wearing a black suit in 3 pieces with gold boutons and shoulder ornaments, along with half a cape going down his left arm.

Honestly, he did look more handsome in this. After all, Reinhard's sense of fashion was in a completely higher league. But previously living a life of a shut-in, these kinds of extravagant clothes were something he never thought he would wear one day.

Since he didn't want to hurt Reinhard's feelings regarding the fact that it was him who picked up these clothes(after making them), Subaru decided to bear with it and sighed as he turned his eyes to the window of the carriage, admiring the view of a more rural Lugunica.

"So, where is Emilia living actually?" Subaru asked, trying to get Reinhard to speak.

"Emilia is living in the mansion of Sir Roswaal Mathers, which is her sponsor for the race of the throne. Sir Roswaal is from one of the most powerful families of the kingdom."

"Like yours?"

"You could say that, yes. The Mathers family are the greatest mages of the kingdom since generations."

"Roswaal himself closed his eyes with a faint sigh as he heard the Sword Saint's comment. Was it disappointment? Was it upsetness…? Or was he simply tired?

Tired of hearing this statement? Or...Tired of being remembered for the truth of his crimes.

"Since generations…" Beatrice narrowed her eyes, holding the hand of her contractor, "Is it really the correct term, I suppose."

"Beatrice…?"

The little spirit didn't answer to the half-elf calling her name. For a reason or another. Emilia simply turned back to the screen.

Just over her row, an old man closed his eyes as memories of his past came to him upon hearing his grandson's statement. He, too, met with a member of the Mathers' family. And this is why he was able to confidently agree with the Sword Saint on screen.

"So, she is a candidate for the throne along with me...How many other candidates are there?"

"There are three other candidates along with you and Emilia-sama. Crusch Karsten from the Karsten house, Anastasia Hoshin from the Hoshin trading company of Kararagi, and Priscilla Barielle from the Barielle noble house."

"I see…Wait, there's something off here!" Subaru's eyes widened in horror as he noticed a detail so shocking he had to keep his jaw from hanging by shouting his next question at the knight beside him, "How come they're all girls there except me?!"

"In comes the gold of all questions, eh?" Anastasia sounded bemused as that question was something on their minds as well.

Crusch and Priscilla ended up looking quite upset by the boy's comment as if he was offended by their gender being the grand most in the race.

"Naw come to think of it… Why is it that all runners were chosen to be girls?" Felt sounded her confusion as the thought suddenly struck her.

Emilia looked to be in thought of this as well.

"Whateve' the reason fer tha' is. I'm sure Cap'n will beat these all ta' the ground! Heck, it might be easier fer 'em!"

"Garf! Apologise right away!" Frederica shouted in outrage towards her proud looking brother, surprising him.

"Hm? Why?" Garfiel looked back to see what his sister was about but before he could, he realized that he was subject to the heated glares of almost every single candidate in the room, even Emilia and Felt.

"Wh-What do ya wan'?!" Garfiel bared his teeth as he prepared his hands in front of him at the women that were staring death into his soul.

"Worthless mutt," Priscilla clicked her teeth in disgust and fanned herself to continue watching the screen without acknowledging the sexist in the room.

Anastasia shook her head and ruffled her scarf in frustration.

"Mind your manners, Shield of the Sanctuary," Crusch firmly warned as she turned away, sounding disappointed.

"Garfiel-kun..." Emilia growled in anger and disappointment before Felt turned her away from the boy and towards the screen again.

Garfiel looked dead set confused as he just became the number one enemy of every powerful woman in the room.

"Congratulations," Otto laughed at Garfiel and his predicament before turning away himself.

"Shit! What did I do?!"

Reinhard could only shrug with an innocent face.

"I am unfortunately unable to answer this, Subaru-sama. The candidates are designed by the dragon stones is all we know. Those the dragon himself deem worthy of contracting with him."

"The dragon…" Subaru wondered, picking up his insignia from his pocket.

As he held the golden jewel in doubt, the ruby in its core began to shine slightly, as if it would remind him of his candidacy.

Several people let out a gasp as they saw the jewel shine in the black-haired boy's hand. Especially those in the Emilia-camp.

"How come we never noticed this…" Otto wondered to himself.

"I mean…We couldn' really notice at all. Capn' never picked up an insignia in front of us." Garfiel replied to him, still eyes wide to the jewel in Subaru's hand.

"It is not like he could have ever touched an insignia again anyways." The Duchess spoke for both of them to hear, "An insignia must always remain within reach of its candidate. It is not an item which you could just let laying around anywhere."

"As simple as it is, Subaru just couldn't touch an insignia again." Caressing his hand, Emilia whispered to herself as she looked at her knight, "how would you have reacted if you ever knew this?"

"Hm. I wonder what that dragon wants from me though…So far, I'm fairly sure I've never met him." He questioned, rubbing the bright jewel of his insignia.

"Very few ever had this honor, Subaru-sama." Reinhard answered. "The great dragons watch over our kingdom far over the great waterfall. But his will is somehow linked to these royal stones, passed down in the royal family."

Subaru raised his eyebrows as he picked on the last words of the sword Saint, realizing there were obvious questions he forgot to ask.

"If there is a candidacy to elect a new king…"

"Ah…" Reinhard said in a low voice, with a clear glint of remorse behind it.

"I am sorry. I should have informed you beforehand." He sighed with a tired smile. "The candidacy… began after the royal family of Lugunica went extinct."

"Extinct?"

"I'm guessing we will have to hear that story again," Al sighed in boredom, unaware how affected this scene was for many in the room.

"It's not to be helped. The royal family is the heart and soul of this conflict to begin with," Julius sounded court yet dead serious.

Crusch and Felix especially, closed their eyes in grievance at the rememberance of a person in the late royal family they cherished so much. Someone who died unfairly, someone who's life was robbed in front of their very eyes.

Someone who was the reason why they standed before the throne as candidate and knight.

This is why more than anyone else, The Duchess and her knight were those who gritted their teeth and clenched their fists the most to Aldebaran's attitude. Still they kept their anger and thoughts to themselves. What changes would that bring anyways?

Al noticed many people in the crowd showing signs of sadness and or anger. The one-armed knight assumed the position of being wrong yet again and not listening to his lady's orders.

He should've kept his mouth shut.

Reinhard nodded his head. "An unknown disease appeared within the walls of the royal palace. Killing all of the members of the royal family one by one. A disease so powerful, not even the best healers of the kingdom managed to cure it."

"I-I see… "

After this, a moment of silence fell inside the carriage, with both men left in their own thoughts. One reminding of his past, and the other wondering about the future.

"Then for the candidates, I already know Emilia…But the others…" He thought with a hand on his chin, breaking the silence as he raised his eyes towards his knight. "Let's start with Lady Karsten."

Several eyes turned to the Duchess in question as she widened her eyes, now having her entire attention focused on the screen.

"They're about to discuss Crusch-sama?" Felix wondered, glancing at his lady.

"How this is about to be interesting," Anastasia giggled as she rubbed her hands, seeing how the Duchess seated near stared at the screen, "Are ya that eager to hear what will be said of you?"

"I believe anyone would be." the verdant-haired candidate answered, not giving the purple-haired merchant much more attention than she would deserve.

Anastasia herself just turned back to the screen with a smile, silently acknowledging the Duchess' words, and expecting to hear about herself too from the Sword Saint.

"Crusch Karsten is the Duchess of the Karsten house, she's part of one of the noblest families in the entire kingdom, the closest to the royal family. From the few times I had the chance to see her in action, she is very competent in what she does."

"I see…What about Anastasia Hoshin?" Subaru continued, asking for the discussion to continue.

"Miss Hoshin is at the head of the Hoshin trading company, merchants so to speak. She comes from the western country of Kararagi…Unfortunately, I know very little about her for that reason." Reinhard said with a smile.

"Hm…So she's not a noble from Lugunica…So far she seems to be the only one in the same case as me, even though I'm nowhere near at the head of a company." Subaru thought out loud. "What about the last one?"

"Priscilla Barielle…" Reinhard continued, sighing tiredly.

"Oooh…" Subaru laughed nervously, "Why do I have a bad feeling?"

"Lady Barielle is…Quite the character." Reinhard answered with an uneasy smile. "She became the baroness of the Barielle lands after marrying Sir Leip who sadly passed away, which made her the heir of another noble family of the kingdom."

"A baroness…Is her house as powerful as the Karsten house?" The candidate asked in curiosity.

"Not at all." Reinhard continued. "The Karsten house took over the crest of the Lugunican Lion. A gift of the royal family, to show their trust towards them. The Barielle barony is also close to the royal family, but nowhere near as powerful."

"Hm…And Emilia?"

Reinhard simply shook his head.

"Miss Emilia doesn't seem to be coming from any known house in the kingdom. The fact that she does not bear any family name tells as much." He explained.

"Then how did she even join the selection?"

"Sir Roswaal Mathers, of course." The sword saint continued. "He offered to be Emilia-sama's sponsor for the throne. While she might not have any notorious background, Sir Roswaal's support is more than enough."

"So, she's just a nobody who got the support of an ultra-powerful house…" The nervous black-haired boy chuckled as he rubbed his forehead in relief. "Yeah, she is in the exact same case as me."

Even more, relief washed over Subaru as his worries about being inadequate and unprepared were somewhat placated by these facts from the mighty capable knight beside him.

"Man, I can't get over how much of a circus our kingdom's election sounds like when they point out the details like this..." Otto whined into his hands as he realized how badly his own camp's leader was comparable to a simple clueless kid from another world.

"Maaan, he really has good instinct if he reacted that way when you were mentioned, eh, princess?" Al teased as Prisciall ignored him.

"Mineself expects the lowlifes to shudder as such at the mere mention of mine name. Nothing new," Priscilla waved her fan as if to say she wasn't bothered by the topic.

"Good. Seems the deals I made really did keep any info from reaching even the Saint," Anastasia applauded silently as to not bring suspicion on herself.

Crusch just gave a simple nod at the adequate description the knight gave, uncaring towards the compliment.

"I hadn't realized it… But… Hopeless isn't what I should feel when I think about you competing against me… Right, Subaru?" Emilia sounded a bit uncomfortable yet enlightened as the scene seemed to have shown her something surprising.

"You're just too similar to him, I suppose. Yet, you are far from being as cabeable," Emilia received the spirit girl's abuse with a surprising graceful smile.

"You don't hurt me when there is no malice in your words, Betty-chan~"

"Hm..." Beatrice's eyes narrowed at the brightened girl beside her contractor.

Her changes are worrying, in fact.

'Man… I'm so glad Reinhard knows this information or else I would've stayed feeling panicked and deficient about my own campaign… or whatever the name of this election's parties are.'

As he thought this, a striking question popped in his head that set his curiosity aflame; he couldn't help but ask it out loud, "So you met all the candidates?"

"Aside from you, Lady Emilia and Lady Crusch, I did not meet any other," Reinhard replied. "What I told you is merely the basics I heard from other royal knights. Or rather, the 'neutral' basics about them."

"Neutral?" Subaru laughed, before quickly understanding what I meant. "O-oh…Some are harsh uh…"

"Ah, no." The Sword Saint chuckled. "This is not what I meant."

Subaru tilted his head in confusion.

"Two of my friends are the personal knights of other candidates." He admitted, shaking his head. "Whenever I hear them speak about their ladies… Well, let us just say that their opinions are very biased."

"Lover's bias and even the dense redhead can see it, haha!" Al laughed while pointing at a location best suited to aim at both, Felix and Julius who felt personally called out as they both glared at Reinhard from where they sat.

Reinhard gave an innocent shrug.

"What I said was the truth!/Nyan!" Both yelled at the same time as Ricardo and the twins laughed over their voices.

"Bias or not, just because you didn't hear the bad stuff doesn't mean they aren't being said somewhere," Otto cut in seriously with his face one of contemplation.

Emilia could only carass the soft hand that was in her lap in silence as she pursed her lips. She knew exactly that the boy was mentioning her.

No one here was talked about as badly as she was.

"Ya need to have some damn pride already," Felt snorted while shaking her head at Emilia. The little blonde was seemingly more agitated and troubled by the minute as she saw how completely removed she was from this reality. Everyone was being mentioned and talked about even that little crimson god-complex having domme at the top of the theater. But Felt was forgotten and erased completely?

And on top of that, people here seemed so okay with it?

Her own 'knight' was also angry with her for a stupid ass reason too so don't get her started on friendship or whatever.

Having Emilia being an insecure little girl was just calling for Felt's nastiness to come out. She's seen more than her share in the slums. Emilia was not special.

"Well, can you blame them? They won't serve the candidate if she's not someone they would believe in I guess." Subaru thought with pensive eyes. "Or is it not how it works?"

"It is," Reinhard confirmed. "For a candidate to have a knight, this one must pledge an Oath to her."

The Emilia-camp all remembered the day of Subaru's knighting upon hearing the Sword Saint. The day he pledged himself to Emilia via that grandiose promise from both of them, that still to this day, filled the silver-haired candidate with pride.

"Like that awkward speech you made earlier?" Subaru laughed, mocking his friend who simply became red in embarrassment.

"T-This was nothing but the procedure a knight has to follow…" The knight said in a failed attempt to justify himself.

"It was so damn cool man, don't ya worry!" Garfiel exclaimed as tapped the back of the Sword Saint.

"I have to admit that your pledge was worthy of the one of a knight." Julius nodded at the remembrance of it, even if it was towards a different candidate.

"I don't remember him doing a pledge like that for me though…" Felt whispered, more to herself than anyone else, as she couldn't help but notice every difference between this reality and hers.

The knight couldn't hear her, but he could almost read what she was thinking.

Reinhard bit his lip at the fact.

As Subaru laughed loudly at his friend's antics, a thought suddenly came to his mind.

"So…Do all candidates have a knight?" He questioned.

Reinhard shook his head "Only Lady Karsten, Lady Hoshin, and of course you, in my knowledge."

"So Lady Barielle and Emilia don't…Do you know why?" The male candidate-to-be asked wearily, feeling a bit relieved for some reason that Emilia didn't have a knight… yet.

"It might either be because they don't feel a need to, or because no knight pledged their loyalty to them," Reinhard explained.

"Don't look so down, Emilia-sama!" Petra showed that she was intelligent enough to realize the effect of that sentence on the most abused of the candidates.

Of course even the little one could tell that Emilia's heartache at the fact that she won't get the knight to stand by her side.

Emilia did not acknowledge that from the little maid. She simply caressed the hand of the one knight she got.

"I honestly pity your other self," Beatrice commented offhandedly without malice.

"Yeah… Me too," Emilia whispered back, eyes dim and a frown on her lips.

"What about you?" Subaru innocently asked.

"Me?"

"I mean. Now I guess you are the knight of a candidate but… Why didn't you try to pledge an oath to another candidate before me?"

"I was… Not in a position to do so." The knight admitted, "I have been tasked by the great council to search for the fifth candidate of the throne."

Subaru raised his eyebrow in surprise "And to become the candidate's knight?"

Reinhard stayed silent for a moment, before shaking his head with a warm smile.

"No. I was only tasked to find you. My pledge towards you…Was from my own will."

"Not that I dislike it but… Why me?" He said as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "I mean...I'm nothing but a rookie here."

"I am certainly unable to answer this question, Subaru-sama."

Priscilla snorted to this answer she found pitiful and useless.

"Princess?" Al questioned. He waited for her to throw an insult, or an unnecessary remark like she used to do.

And he was not disappointed.

"Knights and their loyalty… Truly as fake as their titles, hmmm," Al can only stare in silence at the musing fiery-haired princess.

"Are you going to dwell on it for long?" Julius asked of the redhead before him, not expecting an answer but just showing that the almighty Sword Saint was an easy read at this moment in time.

Reinhard was showing too much of his anger and his newly acquired friends can read him like a fiddle.

"This me… What is wrong with him?… Tck!" The sword saint was more frustrated at the actions taken by his counter self. It truly made him feel sick with how completely deleted Felt has become from his life in this reality.

Reinhard was only thinking about how void Felt's existence felt.

Subaru was quick to raise his eyes towards his friend, taken aback by these sudden words.

"I believe calling it intuition or instinct would be the best way to describe it." Reinhard said gleefully.

"...I see." Subaru smiled in relief. "Thank you, Reinhard."

"Intuition...Or instinct? What is the meaning of this, Reinhard?" Julius questioned his friend once more, frowning in confusion to his words, "Did you decide to oath Subaru as your master out of the blue?!"

Reinhard simply stayed silent, his face hanging low.

"Why are ya even mad about t's?! Is 't bad that he decided to become capn's knight because he felt like 't?!" Garfiel roared back to Julius.

"You don't understand a thing, do you?" With a stern voice, Julius looked down on the sanctuary's shield with narrowed eyes, "Reinhard's feelings should be seen through! This viewing is only sitting contradictions to his character and hindering the relationship with his liege. Reinhard must see how wrong his other self is in that reality."

"Speak for ya'reself!" Garfiel replied, bumping his chest with his fist, "The Sword Saint got all rights to follow Cap'n' if he thinks that's what he gotta do!"

"In what right are you claiming this?" Julius demanded with fierce opposition in his eyes to the blonde warrior.

"Because this is exactly what I did!" He shot back with a confident smirk, "I followed cap'n' cause I knew it was what I had to do. And ya can be sure as hell I never regretted tha' decision!"

Both Julius and Garfiel showed different sides of one proverbial coin.

Help Reinhard's feelings about the choice he made.

And yet… Their opposition in tactics and personality only caused a greater rift to come.

"Stop."

Both boys looked at the speaker as they demanded their silence.

"Stop your stupidity and look around you already," Otto seethed as his blue eyes looked fiery at the two.

"..." "..."

"Reinhard-sama can choose for himself already. He doesn't need you two to justify his other self's actions for him. It's the same reason he's having a spat with Felt-sama right now! Don't make him feel the same way with us right after he came here to get away from that."

Both young men looked quite taken aback by this left field explanation. But as they realized the truth behind it, and the legitimacy it held when they turned towards the Sword Saint in front of them...They could only accept it, and quietly regain their seat.

As the two settled with their heads down in shame, Otto seemed content to turn back around and face the screen again, his heart collided loudly against his chest and it caused his ears to burn.

But deep within that echoe of his pained ears, he can hear something from the redhead sitting beside him.

"You really think what I'm having with lady Felt is a spat?"

Otto stared at the nervous, upset Reinhard with a look of pure confidence, "Yeah… You don't think Felt-sama is going to condemn you for another Reinhard's actions do you?"

"... But this reality is still about us..." The knight whispered while rubbing his brow in frustration.

Otto simply snorted, "Yeah but at the same time it isn't. It's just a you in another world in another time that has different circumstances happening to him and molding his decision. I frankly think it's quite too much of an effort for you to take this viewing so seriously, Reinhard-san."

"...!"

"..."

"D-Did you just-"

"Yes. Yes I used your words against you."

Reinhard laughed at the absurd smirk Otto gave him. Genuinely the merchant boy's silver tongue was wasted on this theater.

Garfiel and Julius seethed in their failure while Otto did their job for them.

Felix was looking at the group with a look of sadness in his eyes as he felt so far removed from them.

The sword Saint only smiled back.

The candidate then leaned back in his chair. Thinking out loud.

"Crusch Karsten is a born noble from the closest house of the royal family, Priscilla Barielle is a noble who married into a baron's family, Anastasia Hoshin is a foreigner who owns a company, Emilia is a beauty having the sponsor of one of the most powerful houses of the kingdom, and then there's me, a complete nobody absolutely clueless of this kingdom and anything related to it, who literally got here yesterday…Damn, I'm starting off really bad aren't I?" Subaru said as he mocked his own situation.

"I mean, said like that…" Al snorted behind his helmet, "At least he isn't denying it."

His princess however...Didn't seem to be wanting to comment that statement in any way or another. She kept her ruby irises stuck to the screen, observing, thinking...She didn't look like she was just watching Subaru's useless adventure as she was ready to throw some snarky comments here and there, no…

Somehow, Priscilla Barielle...Really seemed to be intrigued by this reality.

"...What is this reality hiding that you already perceived…" Al wondered, only to be met with silence once again.

Reinhard simply laughed gently alongside him.

Subaru then lost himself in his thoughts, heaving a faint sigh, still looking at the window about the whole situation that appeared more complex than anything now that he had an overview of it.

"The competition will be fierce then...I suppose I deserved it for getting too full of myself this morning..." He commented, remembering his thoughts about getting summoned to become the king.

But then he grinned, seeing his reflection in the glass of the window.

"Though it's not like I dislike challenges…" He confidently said, turning to his side to meet with Reinhard.

"Well, at least he got the will to participate," Anastasia commented as she rubbed her scarf, "Thou' I can't see anythin' goin' in his way other than the Sword Saint fer now…"

"It's only the beginning," Crusch replied to her, shaking her head to Anastasia's comment, "You really seem to be underestimating Natsuki Subaru's abilities. After all we saw, Anastasia, you should know yourself that he is no mere opponent joining this race."

"I also know this is not my reality," The merchant-queen waved off, not liking the tone she was speaking with, "what tells you right now that this Natsuki-kun will be anywhere near the one of our reality?"

"..."

"Seems like you should try to see more perspective than what's in front of you sometimes, 'Duchess'."

"Don't treat Subaru's deaths as if they were what made him so strong..."

To their surprise, Emilia's cold voice stepped in as if to replace Crusch's silence.

"..." Ana's eyes met with Emilia's as the silver-haired girl turned to face the merchant queen with a glare of passion.

"Don't make Subaru out to be weaker than us just because he hadn't faced death to the level of ours yet! He's always been strong!"

"... Don't lose more sweat trying, Emilia-sama~" Anastasia condescended over Emilia's faith in the boy, "I already know what makes 'em remarkable and can see how dangerous he is as an opponent… But so far… All he's been doin' was suck up to ya and make his position as a candidate weaker."

Emilia and Crusch's eyes were wide immediately as the meaning hit them.

"Oh… That's true..." Felt slammed a hand on her forehead as she was hit with the surprise as well.

All the girls can think of when Anastasia's sentence hit was how true it was… Subaru has been doing nothing about his candidacy since he found out about it. He's just concerned with his 'trophy' wife too much to care.

"Oh no..." Emilia turned around in her seat with a look of frustration. Realizing how problematic this Subaru truly was.

Anastasia simply gave her fur a flick with a smile of satisfaction and victory.

Priscilla laughed loudly in her seat in approval of the westerner.

"I am truly glad for you to take it this way, Subaru-sama." Reinhard answered. "However, there is one more thing. I must warn you before we get there that Sir Roswaal is...Quite the extravagant character."

"PFFFFFFFFFFFFF." Ricardo tried to muffle his laugh at the sight of even someone like the Sword Saint thinking this way towards the clown in the back row.

He was not the only one for sure.

"Extravagant? In what way?"

"...You'll see." The sword saint waved off, avoiding any elaboration.

"You know that you're just creeping me out right now?"

"I can't wait for that now." Al laughed as he looked at Ricardo.

"Even the Sword Saint acknowledges it!" Mimi exclaimed in laughter, "We can't do anything at this point!"

Roswaal only sighed with a tired smile.

"Don't have anyyyyy sense of fashion after aaaaaaall."

At some point, the carriage started to come out of the woods to get on the road that led to a village. His curiosity peaked; Subaru looked by the window to inspect it.

It was a rather big village with multiple houses, a market in what looked like a central plaza, and children playing all around who immediately started to approach the carriage as soon as they saw it.

"Do you know that village?" He asked his friend, eyes not leaving the sight.

"I believe it is called 'Arlam', there might be more than a hundred people living here." The knight answered, inspecting the outside as well.

Subaru smiled and asked Reinhard to stop the ride before they both got down to meet the children getting near them.

"He's still going out of his way to play with the village kids?" Oddly, Felix looked a bit too startled at this scene, not understanding the need for Subaru to do such a thing.

But while he was almost thrust into an overthinking confusion, all of the knights and women around him were giving the boy smiles of warmth.

"He's truly remarkable… He doesn't see himself above such things though he's dressed in full as a person of higher class," Frederica showed a smile full of respect as she said this.

Her brother laughed from his seat, "I dou't he would act like 't even 'f he tried! Hahaha!"

But out of everyone, none were happier at this scene than Petra and the twin maids sitting above. For different reasons, of course.

"He's going to save them!" Petra had tears of happiness in her eyes as her heart seemed to have been washed in relief, "He's gonna be there to save us again! Yes!" The mature little girl whispered again with her hands on her heart.

First a little scared because of their fancy-looking clothes, they quickly gained confidence as Subaru was really good with kids. Even Reinhard was impressed at how quickly he befriended them.

Lucas, Mildo, Meina, Dain, Cayn, Petra, and Meili, he memorized all their names in a flash and was already speaking as he knew them for a long while, and surprisingly, they loved that. He was so kind and funny to them.

"So the mabeast girl has been perched in the village even before Natsuki's arrival to the mansion… " Julius noted as people started noticing the presence of the beast user girl among the children.

"This assassin was targeting Emilia as if they knew the first attempt in the capital would end in failure, it could be an attempt sent out from a different person," Crusch theorized in seriousness.

"It could be that the same person who bought out the Bowel Hunter wanted extra assurance to make sure the job is done," Julius replied.

"Or… It could've been the assassins were sent out against both Emilia-sama and Roswaal-sama at the same time," Wilhelm finally voiced his thoughts, making people widen their eyes at the dangerous possibility of a camp-wide assassin attack.

"..."

And they called me eccentric…

Roswaal seemed to be content with sitting in silence. The only emotion behind his gloved-hands his chin rested on, was a frown.

Emilia frowned deeply as well, she would've turned around to inspect a certain someone's look herself but she didn't want to show how much she knew. She had a suspect as to who sent one of these attacks.

"Subaru-kuyn is going to have to get involved in this attack again… At least he wouldn't lose a life because Reinhard's there, nyan!" Felix sighed in relief.

"Your clothes are soooo good looking! Where did you get them?!" Asked the little brunette named Petra, her blue irises shining with wonder at the older boy's fancy outfit.

"My friend over there made them for me in a matter of time…I guess you could call it 'the secret sewing technique of the master swordsmen line'." Subaru chuckled at the girl lightheartedly.

"Please Subaru-sama-Wait... there's no such technique!" Reinhard exclaimed in bewilderment as his previous humble rejection of the kind words was suddenly turned into horror that he may have missed a valued skill of the sword.

"What was that?" Otto laughed to the Sword Saint by his side, "You seem to be really distressed on screen!"

"It has to be 'the secret technique of the master swordsmen line', it's so powerful the Sword Saint himself was startled by it." Frederica giggled with a hand elegantly covering her mouth, as Reinhard laughed alongside Garfiel and Otto.

"Mh…"

"Wilhelm-dono?" Noticing the pleased yet faint humming from the sword demon, Crusch turned towards him.

"This is much better scenery." He whispered for Crusch to hear, how slowly turned towards the same direction as him, noticing the redhead finally smiling after such long moments of silence.

"It is indeed." She replied with a smile of her own.

His worry was quenched once Subaru mounted with a hand on his stomach as giggles came out of his mouth.

Every one of the kids started giggling happily, believing what Subaru was chuckling about deserved them to follow with their own laughter. Not to mention the look on Reinhard's face when he thought he'd missed a sword skill for a moment. Dain and Cayn approached him while Subaru was talking with Petra.

"Say, say! Are you a knight? Your sword looks so cool!" Dain said in awe.

"Yeah, it's big and shiny! Can you show it to us?!" Cayn continued, jumping in place.

Reinhard smiled while putting a knee down to be at their level.

"Unfortunately, I cannot, this sword won't be drawn unless needed. May it be to face a threat to our beloved kingdom or a dangerous foe." He gently explained.

Both brothers, along with slight disappointment, were absolutely taken by the sword saint's words. He had such a cool way to express himself and his smile was so bright it could almost blind them!

"Of course Reinhard-sama would be good with kids as well," Otto shook his head and found it appropriate to nudge the hero in the arm playfully.

The redhead chuckled slightly while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. Reinhard seemed happy for his other self. He seemed to have a good handle on the situation.

"I'm sure you will try your best to save those kids and our friend… Right?" The redhead was unironically asking his counterpart on the screen with a hidden desperate face.

"If only they respected Natsuki-dono like they did Reinhard."

Reinhard glanced with eyes wide at his grandfather. The old man seemed to have kept to himself in his corner beside Crusch all this time since the battle of the Whale. But it still shakes the knight's entire core when his grandparent showed signs of familial familiarity with him.

It felt so warm and passionate it seemed wrong from his grandfather, Wilhelm.

Shortly after, the village chief went to meet them, absolutely astonished to see the sword saint and a noble in his village. He wanted to prepare something but Subaru and Reinhard quickly refused, saying they were just here to meet with the Margrave that supported the village.

After having a good time in their company, Subaru and Reinhard returned to their carriage in direction of the Mathers estate. Inside, Subaru felt...A glare on him coming from the crowd. He didn't know why, but he was feeling that something was pressuring him. When he turned to Reinhard, he found his friend looking at the window as well with his eyes narrowed towards someone.

"Reinhard?" Subaru inquired.

"I think...We should stay on guard." He answered with caution.

Subaru acknowledged Reinhard's words with a nod as the carriage started moving.

"Hmm," Priscilla narrowed her eyes suddenly and seemed agitated by something.

"What's going on?" Al whispered as soon as he noticed.

"That..." Priscilla shook her head and hid her lips behind her fan.

Her knight seemed to have read the lady's mind, "Ah, you mean how much more perceptive Pal is in this reality than in ours?"

"... He seems more… Aware of himself..." Priscilla noted in a low tone as her speculating eyes watched the screen.

Al shrugged, relaxing that she wasn't alarmed at anything dangerous and just a difference in Subaru's personality.

After a little while, they finally saw Roswaal's manor. A big domain, perhaps bigger than the Astrea's. with perfectly cut bushes right at the entrance, going all the way to the door. Actually, everything just seemed perfectly clean and neat, Subaru started to wonder about the numbers of servants you would need to take care of that.

The dragon carriage stopped not far from the entrance alley, allowing Reinhard and Subaru to take their time before reaching the door.

"So here's the place...Quite noble as well, isn't as impressive as yours but, noble anyway." He commented as he had a better look.

Reinhard smiled while opening the carriage's door.

"Shall we go?"

Subaru steeled himself as he stepped out of the carriage, followed by his friend as they walked towards the entrance.

"Oh boy, now that I think about it I'm super nervous! Do I look okay? Tell me I don't have a hair sticking out of my nose or something..." Subaru asked as he touched his face and hair.

"Don't worry, even the kids told it to you at the village, all the boys glared at you with jealousy when Petra-chan complimented you," Reinhard chuckled.

"We're talking about a kid Reinhard, that's a lot different from a grown maiden don't you think?!"

"... Hm," Beatrice had the decency to flinch at the remark that was to surely break the poor girl's heart. The spirit seemed guilty for her words and actions taken on the little maid sitting behind her now.

Frederica had this same thought as well but when she looked at the little girl beside her, she would've thought she was looking at a very angry grown woman from the heated glare Petra was sending towards the screen.

It wasn't adorable or cute… It was actually a quite serious look.

As they were approaching the front door, it opened to let 2 nearly identical women in maid outfits go out and meet with the young men approaching the mansion.

They both bowed down in respect before the duo.

"Greetings, head maid of the Mather's mansion, Rem, at your service."

"Greetings, maid of the Mather's mansion, Ram, at your service."

"How may I help you?" Both said in synchronization.

Subaru looked at them both in awe with stars in his eyes, admiring their figures in the notorious black and white uniform.

"Oh damn...Twin maids?! This fantasy world is really the best!" He exclaimed with a nod.

"Didn't he… Didn't he have two twin servants already in the Astrea mansion?" Tivey asked in confusion, his twin looked surprised as she noticed her brother was correct.

"He's not talking about the two being twins… It's about more than tha'! Hahaha!" Ricardo ruffled the two's hair as he howled in laughter.

"They shouldn't even have his joking remarks..." Emilia seemed to whisper darkly under her breath, something Beatrice could only glare at her in annoyance for.

She really resembles her too when she's jealous, I suppose.

"Sister, sister, it looks like this man is looking at you with filthy eyes," The blue-haired maid said in a nearly innocent voice.

"Rem, Rem, how terrible, this man might be assaulting you in his vile mind." Her sister continued.

"Uh?! I just got here and I'm already labeled as a psycho pervert?! I don't know if I should be proud or scared of my own self right now." He questioned in fake worry.

Obviously, Subaru was joking. It was as clear as day, everyone knew it but still, his behavior only made him and Reinhard snort.

The pink-haired maid looked at him with an indifferent look or rather, a very disappointed and pitiful one like she looked at the most disgusting and pathetic thing she had ever seen.

The blue-haired one though...Looked scary. Her eyes were cold and along with a dead-serious expression, even Reinhard had some chills down his spine.

Both the sword saint and the candidate looked at each other, confused by the situation. They weren't speaking but they understood each other perfectly 'What the hell do we do now?'

"So her answer to you was true… You were definitely right to knock that blue-haired bitch a few pegs, big sis," Felt looked enraged as she remembered the answer Rem had given which drove Emilia to the extreme of humiliating her in front of everyone.

"Man this is the first meeting and Natsuki-san is already having a similar interaction with them, this is really interesting!" Otto sounded excited for some reason as the implication finally sat upon his mind once he saw how ridiculously similar this first meeting between Kingbaru and the twins was to his own Subaru. And yet it somehow seemed so different as well which fascinated the merchant boy to no end.

"Ya just noticed dis now?!" Garfiel laughed at Otto's stupidity.

"He is right, however. It would be impossible for this Subaru to die with the Sword Saint-sama protecting him… How would he save the village and Rem and Ram then?" Frederica seemed more interested in the futuristic events and how paralleled they would be to what happened in their world.

Until a soft voice pulled them out of their mutual thoughts.

"Ram, Rem, who is thi-"

When she went down the stairs to see what was happening at the door, she immediately smiled and rushed towards it with an expression that could be interpreted as relief and joy.

"Subaru!" She exclaimed with a bright voice.

If they were a little bit more intimate than they are at the moment, she would certainly throw herself in his arms right now. That's what he thought and that would be a dream allowing him to die happy. Unfortunately, the little interactions they had together consisting of a short talk before getting his wound open wide, only allowed her to grab him by the arms with a smile.

"I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Well…It's mostly thanks to you, so of course, I would come to see you to express my gratitude."

Emilia smiled wide, she stepped back a bit to have a better look at Subaru and chuckled while putting her fist before her mouth to elegantly cover it.

"Well, it looks like you dropped your unusual attire for another even more extravagant one. It does really suit you though!" She complimented him.

Reinhard quickly took the opportunity to smug and turn towards Subaru, along with a wink.

"Well, I wore it just for you, Emilia-tan!" He said as he gave her a thumbs up.

"Eh? Tan?" She repeated as she noticed the little add-on to her name.

"You could say it's an honorific from my homeland, for the special people you are close with." He answered with a wink.

Hearing her be qualified as 'close' with someone, Emilia couldn't help but blush slightly and glance away in embarrassment. The twins behind the half-elf looked indifferent to this adorable moment.

The uniformed grand knight standing beside Subaru, however, looked to be jealou-

"C-come on...Don't stay here! Please Come in!" Emilia said quickly yet adorably urging them to follow her inside of the mansion.

Crusch found herself frowning in disappointment at the scene,

"There hasn't been that much of a difference in Emilia-sama's interaction with this Subaru from ours… That's… "

"Kinda underwhelming..." Otto said while rubbing his head in bewilderment.

"Oh shush… It's more than perfect," Emilia spoke up with a wide smile on her face as she genuinely felt like rooting for her counterpart.

It seemed that this idea she was afraid of had more to show her than just fears and sorrows.

It was showing her how equal this Subaru looked like alongside her.

"I really can't stand how this happened in another world but not to us before you suffered through all of these hells, Subaru..." Emilia whispered with her smile dimming.

Both of them happily obliged the invitation...Under the glare of an already tired Ram and indifferent Rem.

"Sister..."

"Calm down, Rem… We'll find a way out of this… Just calm down and remember how much Barusu loves you."

"I can't sister… I'm so worried for him…"

"Shhhh~"

The inside of the Mathers mansion was just like the exterior would suggest it would be, a fancy place with a lot of useless decorations just to show how rich you were, that was Subaru's way of describing it at the very least.

It was spacious and well kept at the front of the mansion, stylish and actually quite pretty.

"You really live in a great place too…But man, everything is so neat! I suppose you have a real army to clean that up!" Subaru exclaimed to the silent princess while staring at a few paintings they were walking by.

"Well...You're right." Emilia answered with a low voice, her beautiful eyes dimming slightly. "That place is really big but as irrational as it may seem, there's only four of us here."

"Isn't it a bit exaggerated?" The purple-haired candidate wondered with a raised brow, "Now that Natsuki-kun is making me realize it, what is the point of having such a huge domain if it is to house so few people."

"I believe they simply do not see a need to it, Anastasia-sama." Her knight tried to find a justification, "Plus, regarding the maid's Oni origin, taking care of this mansion shouldn't be too much of a task."

"Mh...I suppose ya're right." Anastasia sighed in a tired tone.

The remembrance of the maids didn't give her pleasant memories. And truth be told, she had a bad feeling at the simple fact of seeing Subaru at this mansion again, even if Reinhard was by his side.

Subaru noticed the bit of sadness in Emilia's voice. He realized how hard that should be. She was basically the only one resident along with the master who probably had his own business to deal with and the twins who most probably were working all day to take care of the entire estate by themselves, along with her schedule working spirit not showing off much...She had to feel so alone.

"Eh, so it's only you two who take care of all that? Jeez, that's some pressure!" He directed towards the maids, in an attempt to divert the conversation and to make the pretty elf from feeling her loneliness while he was here.

The twins simply nodded at him without really answering him. He understood that they didn't like him very much, he was a bit confused about the reason, but he didn't want to meddle. He was here for Emilia, not for them.

Instead, the maids turned toward Emilia. The look on their faces showed that they were looking for an explanation. Far from discussing their lady's orders but rather to understand the situation in which they were right now.

"Ah! Yes, Ram, Rem, do you remember the person I told you about who saved me yesterday? It's him! His friend is the kingdom's Sword Saint," Emilia explained to them.

The maids looked at them again and then at each other as they bowed down together. They had such flawless sync that one could be afraid at how they seemed to both think the same thing at the same time...

"In the name of Lord Roswaal Mathers, we thank you for protecting our lady from the harm that could have been brought upon her by our negligence."

"This is…" Otto stuttered, trying to find the words to describe the feeling running through his mind.

"Yeah, I got ya," Garfiel continued for him, crossing his arms, "Ram and Rem are more stiff than anythin' 'ere."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Felt asked them in curiosity.

"Well, I suppose it is even more strange for me to see this since I joined the camp after Natsuki-san's arrival…" Shaking his head, the green merchant let his friend explain at his place.

"Basically, Ram and Rem were just like identical dolls before cap'n came around," He sighed as he pointed the screen, "just like 'ere."

"..."

"What is it, I suppose?" Noticing the shiver of the half-elf, the little spirit inquired her, "You seem disheartened."

"Because...I liked it. When Rem and Ram became more lively at the beginning, I also realized it was thanks to Subaru. And I liked it." Emilia explained in a hushed tone, "I liked how I could finally interact with them. How I could finally...Have people to talk to, have friends…"

Beatrice kept listening to her, eyes towards the screen.

"Subaru reaaaaaally brought us nothing but goodness...He made my life, our lives better…" The half-elf tone suddenly became darker, as she held on her knight's hand, "Only to be thanked this way…"

It wasn't difficult for Beatrice to realize she was referring to how the maids treated her contractor. And it angered her. It angered her so much, just the mere thought of her contractor screaming in agony during his torture was enough for her to have nothing but one desire to turn them both into crystal statues…

But she also knew that she had no right to.

She had no right to be angry...And no right to blame them for their behaviour.

Since herself was no different.

"So big bro took out the 'bamboo stick' out of their bums uh…" Felt chuckled on her own joke, as Garfiel and Otto choked on their breath when they heard her.

"Felt-sama…" Reinhard whispered with a broken smile, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Where's this guy by the way?" Garfiel commented off-handedly.

"I have no idea...He has been silent since it started." Reinhard replied to him, also wondering where the warden was.

Their voices ringing at the same time, Subaru stood for a moment in awe before the perfect voice synchronization the maids performed. Indeed, they seemed to think alike.

"N-no probs! Saving such a beauty, the pleasure's all mine!" He exclaimed.

Emilia's smile was sad but still visible as she felt a bit relieved to see this side of Subaru shine once more without any pretense of hidden rage or suffering. And of course the compliment pleased her more than anything.

"You're not beating around the bush when it comes to words aren't you Subaru?" A voice rang in the air.

And immediately, her smile turned to a dead thin lipped expression.

"Oh… I forgotten Bubby was still here, I suppose..." Beatrice seemed to be heartbroken and a little angry once she saw the spirit.

Popping out of a green crystal at the neck of Emilia, a little cat spirit appeared just in front of the half-elf.

"Puck! Good to see you're doing well!" He said as he grabbed the cat's paw as if to shake it.

"Same goes for me! You know Lia was very worried about you since the Sword Saint took you away! Seeing you here certainly took a lift-off her stomach!"

"Puck?!" The half-elf exclaimed; her red cheeks most apparent on her face.

"Really?! What a failure!" He exclaimed. "I have no shame at all! Making someone so wonderful worry about me… I should commit seppuku to keep at least a little of my honor!"

Emilia blushed even more, adorably looking away while squeaking for a second. Reinhard couldn't help but let out a small chuckle under his breath.

"I don't really think it's possible to keep something you never had," Ram commented.

"Indeed, It would only stain a poor innocent blade with dirty blood." Her sister continued.

"Even when he was coming with someone as the Sword Saint with him you still found it appropriate to berate him?" Tivey sighed in disappointment, "Big boss bro really has it hard…"

"Tch. Wouldn't expect anything good out of these cunts." Felt grumbled in her seat. The mere thought of seeing any of the maids near Subaru sickening her to the core.

Up above, Aldebaran whistled in surprise, turning to the twins not far from him.

"This one was a bit harsh guys, seppuku ain't fun." He chuckled under his helmet. He was only met by a heated glare from the pink-haired oni.

"..." Priscilla glanced to her jester with confused eyes, her fan hiding her face.

"Princess?" Al questioned, wondering why she had such a stare.

"What is this?" She questioned, "What is a 'seppuku'?"

"Uh…" Aldeberan sounded surprised, "Basically, it's a way to kill yourself."

"Seppuku is more than that," Ricardo continued for him, "ya kill yarself by keeping yar honor."

"Yeah, that too. By suicide you keep your honor."

"I see." Now understanding what it referenced, Priscilla turned back to the screen, and kept watching.

Hearing this much made her remember about her country of origin, along with the morales that were instored in it. Strangely, she acknowledged that something like Sepukku would integrate well in the empire. If she liked it or not, was another matter.

"Hold on, how come you know about this?" Otto realized in surprise as he heard the dogman explaining it, "hearing him, I thought it was something proper to Natsuki-san's world!"

"Uh...It's a known thing in kararagi." Ricardo thought out loud as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Kararagi…?" Crusch picked up, remembering the explanation Aldebaran gave not so long ago, "The western country which resembles Natsuki Subaru's homeland?"

"Oh…"

"That's true…"

"Yeah that explains a lot." Anastasia sighed with a faint smile, "this is really becoming all the more intriguing…"

"Anastasia-sama?" Noticing the pensive tone of her voice, Julius inquired about her.

"Don't ya think it's all oddly adding up sometimes?" She wondered as she rubbed her scarf, "Hoshin-sama...And Natsuki-kun…I wonder if there's more to see."

"You believe these two would be linked?" He asked with widened eyes.

"Well, there's so many similarities...At this point it would be foolish to not at least consider it, don't ya think?" She replied with a smile, hiding the fact that...She hoped there was.

For someone like Anastasia, having someone related to her idol would mean the entire world. She already thought of Subaru as an amazing source of information, ideas and more...But if this showed to be a reality in the near future…

This would give her all the more of a reason to bring him to her camp.

"...Indeed." Her knight answered, nodding his head as he slowly turned back to the viewing.

"Did I do something so bad to you two for treating me in such a way!?" He instantly shot back.

Emilia gained a bit of her composure back and started to lean towards the maids with her finger up.

"Don't take it to heart, Subaru! And you, don't tease him too much! He is our guest and my benefactor!" She ordered, defending the black-haired boy.

"Yes, Emilia-Sama. We apologize."

"Good!" She said with a satisfied expression, turning towards the pair of young men with another kind smile. "Have you guys eaten yet? Would you have lunch with us?"

Emilia was speaking with a slightly excited tone, so faint it could normally be hard to notice, yet there was one man who did.

"Thank you Emilia-sama, but we at-"

Reinhard got startled by Subaru's tap on his back, allowing him to speak instead of his friend.

"We'd love to! Man, I'm starving!" Subaru continued in place of the knight.

"Yes, Subaru-sama insisted on seeing you right away after his awakening after all..." Reinhard grinned and cleared his throat, 'correcting' himself.

Subaru's smile suddenly disappeared, replaced by a cracked one as he felt his face heat up in shame, turning to his friend with such an expression that Reinhard found it rough to contain his laugh.

But after seeing Emilia's reaction, which was an equally shy and cute face, he simply took a breath and lifted his thumb up to Reinhard while holding his nose.

"Nice." He whispered.

"T-then please, come this way!" She said, telling them to follow.

"You seem to be integrating pretty well with the lil' captain, Saint guy!" Ricardo laughed and nodded in delight at Reinhard's interactions with his master.

Julius glared at the dogman, thinking that this statement would make Reinhard either jealous or angry at his counterpart because of how easily he replaced Felt.

But the elegant knight only saw a smile on Reinhard's face. The redhead was staring between the screen and the near blonde girl sitting in the front row.

Felt… Was laughing at the scene?

"A-Alright… Yeah, maybe it's a good thin' ye're with big bro here. This is comedy gold!"

Reinhard's smile was wide for the first time in a while.

"But it is quite surreal though… Now that we are seeing these play out just like we remembered them, we notice all of the differences between our realities. And how similar both of them actually are except for key differences," Anastasia looked more fascinated and curious than Otto previously with a widened grin on her face as she noticed all of the little details playing around the screen.

Emilia cheerfully led the way, followed by the maids and the duo.

Up the stairs, Subaru was inspecting the corridor during their way to the dining room. He already had a pretty defined idea of what the interior could look like, but it was still impressive. How come such a manor with so many rooms only has 4 residents?

His curiosity taking the edge of him, he decided to go towards a door to see what the room looked like.

Emilia's , as well as of the candidates and knights including the crimson baroness in the back, all widened their eyes in shock as they fell into deja vu.

"Don't tell me… He can still do that after all?!" Roswaal whispered, eyes wide in horror.

"What is happening?" Petra asked innocently as she remained confused.

Only Beatrice's smug voice rang out to answer her, "It's fate showing this Betty her destiny, in fact," the blonde spirit spoke about her counterpart in a pleased tone as she watched the show and enjoyed it.

He opened the door to meet a giant library, along with a little girl with drill twin tails, sitting on a stool.

"Hmpf! Quite the shameless man you are to enter a room without knocking, I suppose!" The little girl spoke out loud.

"H-He did it here again?!" Julius sounded kind of offended more than shocked as Subaru showed his spirit affinity's prowess once more.

"Hmph! How insolent of you to assume that just because this Subaru owns another mansion it would mean he'd be away from Betty, I suppose."

"M-My apologies, Great Spirit-sama..."

"So… He might contract with Beatrice-sama in this reality as well? With Reinhard-sama serving him? Jeez..." Otto was beginning to feel kind of useless and troubled by this event… Wait… would that mean he won't be serving Emilia in this world or not?

"This is quite troubling..." Crusch found herself muttering into her gloved palm which she had rested her chin on.

"Doesn't mean he'll be closer to them enough for a link to be established. So far, we've only seen him interacting with them for a day, nothin' is sayin' he will come back again." Anastasia sounded stubborn as she pointed these out.

"Sheesh, just chill. They are only getting to know each other, you guys weren't the ones who got erased from their own lives out here, y'know?" Felt muttered in bemusement at the ridiculous display they were showing.

"Felt-sama..." Reinhard whispered in bewilderment…

"She doesn't sound that mad anymore," Otto said, shrugging.

"Yeah… I guess you're correct," Reinhard couldn't help but beam.

Emilia, the maids, and Reinhard, all scouted closer to Subaru.

"A-A cute drill loli?! I thought you said you were only 4 in this mansion?!" He said as he turned towards Emilia.

Beatrice looked at him, visibly on edge after getting called by that word, which she didn't know the meaning of, though she was sure it didn't have a positive connotation.

Ram and Rem were slightly impressed while Emilia looked at him with surprise and shock.

"Well, Beatrice is the great spirit that lives in the library but...None of us can open the right door! The emplacement changes every time and she rarely comes out so...How did you find it?"

"Ah, I get it!" Subaru chuckled with an assured look on his face. "If it's a puzzle then I'm rather the lucky guesser to solve them quickly. Call it fate..."

Subaru closed the door and went forward a little bit until reaching another, completely random one and opening it, to the library again.

"Or luck, I'll get it!" He finished with a satisfied grin.

Everyone was genuinely out of words. Even Ram didn't know how to react as it seemed easy for that man who came from nowhere to find the library's emplacement that easily.

"I'm surprised there is a great spirit here..." Reinhard said in a low voice towards the pink-haired maid.

"Beatrice-sama has been tasked to watch over the library in the Mathers estate for a long time now." She explained without bothering to turn towards him. "She lives in her library and protects the mansion occasionally."

Subaru widened his eyes in surprise as he overheard her speak, the thought of a girl staying alone in a room while they would all leave together, seemed wrong for him.

"Anyway, we're on our way to get lunch, why won't you come with us?" Subaru decided to invite her, trying to get her to join them.

"Hmpf! A great spirit like Betty has no need to share anything wit-"

"Hey there Beatrice! You look well!" The cat spirit floating over Emilia's shoulder cut her off with a cheerful flare in his tone.

"Bubby! I missed you!" She exclaimed, jumping from her seat to go towards Puck.

Subaru recoiled in confusion as he saw the little girl jumping towards the cat spirit with a face of pure bliss, her tone of voice considerably changing.

"Well...You could say that Puck is the only one she acknowledges..."

"I see, she is not the social type uh? Well, even if the path is hard there's always a way…" He thought out loud as he winked to the half-elf. "Watch this."

Subaru smiled at Emilia as he cleared his throat.

"So like I said, why won't you come with us and enjoy some company rather than staying in here alone?" He spoke out to her.

"Hmpf! Betty doesn't need the consideration of such a rude man, I suppose!" Beatrice spat out.

Emilia winced a bit to hear her speak and behave like this. She really wished she could have more interactions with the little spirit. Sometimes, she thought it could be really beneficial for both of them, to earn a friend and ease this feeling of loneliness.

Right now, she was already set to turn back and go towards the dining room without her again, even though she was glad that Subaru tried to bring her out…Until she realized that Subaru didn't seem to be done just yet.

"Eh, I didn't say me though~." Subaru replied with confidence.

Beatrice turned towards him once again with a raised eyebrow.

"I said us. Which also includes Puck." He winked, catching the spirit off guard as she turned towards the grey cat.

"Come on Betty, come with us!" Puck urged her.

"Yes! If you ask, of course, I will Bubby!" She happily replied.

Subaru honestly felt jealous of that discrimination she was performing on him, Emilia chuckled as she realized it right away.

"The same technique as before~," Mimi giggled happily as she teased Beatrice once again for how naive she was.

The Spirit did not enlighten them with a reaction, instead settling on glancing a bit to look at the silent half-elf sitting beside her.

"Why do you look ashamed, I wonder?"

Flinching at the rigid tone Beatrice used, Emilia simply shook her head and softly grasped her knight's hand.

"It's just… I don't want those thoughts of mine to be-"

"You don't have anything to be ashamed of you stupid girl."

"...?!"

Emilia was stared down by a cold, annoyed Beatrice, frankly she was intimidated.

"Stop being so eclipsed on yourself all the time. It's annoying, I suppose," Beatrice sounded as if she was giving her advice instead of insulting her in a brutal manner.

"..."

As Emilia sat in bewildered silence, the spirit could only look away from her and on to the screen without a care.

As she went out to join the group, she threw a glare at Subaru and Reinhard, especially at his sword.

"So you're Reid's descendant…" She said as she inspected the red-haired knight.

"Oh? This is actually a real difference in the interactions now~" Anastasia perked up along with most of the cast to watch this.

Reinhard seemed more nervous than curious as he realized that meeting the great spirit might reveal a few things about himself that weren't complimentary.

Reinhard nodded as he bowed in front of Beatrice, showing the utmost respect he could as a knight, in front of a great spirit.

"Hm. At least, it looks like your behavior is much more appropriate to the title you hold." She waved off, nodding to his proper etiquette.

Reinhard couldn't help but look down in shame, Subaru noticed it and felt a little bad for him. Just what was the reason for his friend to frown like that?

" Hum… Who's Reid ?" the black-haired boy inquired to both of them, making Reinhard stay silent.

Beatrice looked back to Subaru, ready to bitterly answer the one she judged as nothing but an annoying pest.

However before that, like an urge she couldn't control, the great spirit's eyes turned towards the knight in question, noticing the feeling of guilt and distaste reflected by his eyes, and all of a sudden, she froze in place. The memories of another man with dazzling red hair appearing in her mind, the last visions of a person long gone, of another time, nearly from another life… Someone she cherished, someone who smiled at her, oddly similar to the young sword Saint standing before her.

"Beatrice? " Puck called, noticing the unusual look in her eyes.

"It is nothing, I suppose." She answered, her voice having lost all cheer she would normally have when addressing her brother.

Subaru and Emilia threw a glance at each other upon seeing the sudden change in the little girl's attitude.

Reinhard however, thinking she did so for his sake, only gave a slight bow of his head as thanks. Smiling for the great spirit's decision to not reveal anything related to his ancestor.

"Somthin' wron' Rein?"

Reinhard's head rose immediately as Felt called on him with disinterest. It seems the lady was quite mad at him but she kept that to herself and acted as if she was bored and wanted something to play with.

But he knew that she was only comforting him. He was the one frowning deeply.

"N-Nothing at all, Felt-sama."

At this, Felt snorted, "Yeah, 'nothin''. How 'bout you tell your friends beside you instead then? I mean no one here believes that lie, Rein."

Surprised by how friendly his lady was, Reinhard didn't let the meaning of her words fly as he realized that almost all of the knights and Otto seemed to be staring at him.

"Ah... "

"You don't have to tell us," Julius seemed tortured as he said this to his friend, "No matter how much I would love to learn about the Astrea ancestor, this seems to be a family matter first and foremost."

"Thank you, Julius."

Again… It was pure torture.

"Ah, so you still hurt for the select few like him, Beatrice-chan?" Roswaal whispered in a nostalgic tone, his smile was one of sadness yet pride as he remembered a time where Beatrice wasn't completely changed by her years of isolation and despair.

Something else he was guilty of to be sure. But something he must atone for to both Subaru and the redheaded swordsman, Tosca Astrea.

"What was happening here?" Crusch asked of the spirit in curiosity as both, she and the rest couldn't understand what had prompted this reaction of the girl.

"Nothing to concern you all, in fact," Beatrice immediately shut herself from the curious gazes and hardened her stare into the screen.

"Of course this interaction would spell nothing but trouble for Betty, I suppose... " The drill haired girl muttered under her breath as she closed her tired eyes for a moment.

The same memories were shared from her counterpart to her own self. She also thought about that young man that crossed the world for her.

"I miss you… Tosca..."

Beatrice didn't stop Emilia's arms from taking her off of Subaru and right on Emilia's lap. She was comforted in the half-elf's arms… She felt safe.

"Shhh… " Emilia soothed the spirit by rubbing her back and hugging her tightly.

"I got you, Betty… I got you..."

The spirit let herself be consumed by Emilia's soothing tone.

They all returned to their walk towards the dining room with Emilia and Subaru at the front, speaking of his awakening at her request, Beatrice and Puck enjoying each other's company, and finally the twins and Reinhard.

"Is Sir Roswaal present at the moment?" He asked the maids.

"Our Lord departed this morning, but he should be here in a minute for lunch, Reinhard-Sama." Rem answered him.

"Mh...Let's see how it goes here…" Roswaal thought to himself, leaning forward as he was curious to see his first interaction with Subaru in this world.

Others however, mostly those seated by the half-elf, were not that keen on seeing it happen.

Reinhard nodded as he thanked the maid for her answer, thinking about the situation coming ahead. Surely Lord Roswaal wasn't a fool, he would certainly understand that there would be more to Subaru than just someone wanting to express his gratitude, especially if someone like the Sword Saint himself would be by his side.

Arriving at the room, Subaru wasn't impressed by the luxury of it anymore. He already had his fill of rich-people-furniture at the Astrea's mansion, thus they all took a seat while the maids took their leave to bring the food.

A short moment later, a man entered the room. Someone wearing rather eccentric clothes and clown-like makeup. In Subaru's mind, there was no doubt: he was a jester to entertain people while they ate but seeing Reinhard standing up to show his respect, he instinctively did the same.

"Well that's less embarassing than last time." Al laughed, remembering the time Subaru took Roswaal as a jester in his reality.

"Booooo!"

"That sucks!"

Ricardo laughed at the twins showing their dissatisfaction to the scene before them. They both wanted to see the same thing happen and see the difference.

And of course, laugh at Subaru's foolishness.

"My, my...If it isn't the greeeaaaaat Sword Saint aaaaaaand?" The clown spoke.

"It's Subaru! He is the man who helped me about my little misadventure yesterday!" Emilia answered with a bright voice.

Roswaal narrowed his eyes towards the black-haired boy and stepped towards him with a large smile on his face.

"How marveeeeeelous! I must say I was quite saddened to not meet Emilia-sama benefaaaaaaaactor when she told me that she couldn't bring him here after the Sword Saint's request."

"What the hell is wrong with his way of spea-Wait.."

"I'm sorry, what? The Sword Saint's request?" Subaru replied, turning towards his friend with a coldened narrowed gaze.

"Oh shit!" Ricardo laughed once more as Reinhard himself began sweating. Felt found herself also smirking viciously as this might be the first time her big bro teaches Rein a lesson.

Reinhard himself seemed to be nervous more than anything, but still not to the level of his counterpart.

"You took him away from spending a night with his love~" Mimi teased from above.

Emilia was embarrassed by all of this, to say the least. She kept her hold on Beatrice comfortable though. The spirit had taken to fully embracing Emilia's lap as her new seat now. Emilia had to say that she enjoyed having her and Beatrice being so close together.

Reinhard quickly looked away while sweating, he knew that Subaru wouldn't be pleased to know that he took him away from Emilia. However, after thinking about it he wasn't mad at all. Wouldn't that be inappropriate for two candidates to be at the same place? Or maybe he wouldn't be a candidate at all without Reinhard...

"As I said, all the pleasure is mine! Emilia-tan is so pretty, it would have been a crime to not help her!" Subaru proudly exclaimed, making the half-elf look away in embarrassment.

Emilia's lips perked up at this scene. She took that compliment with stride since it was coming from her knight again. Gracefully ignoring the boy squad to her left as they laughed at her embarrassed counterpart.

"Barusu seems really self assured here… " Ram sounded tired as she spoke. Her shock wasn't hidden at how well this Subaru has presented himself.

Her sister nodded, Rem's tears now gone but her state being that of a totally broken girl with no hope in her eyes. All she can think about was anything to make her situation with Emilia end in a better way than now.

"I can't help but want to see how he would deal with me… Would he punish me? Would he kill me?"

"Sister… "

Ram's eyes watered as she witnessed Rem's complete degradation as a person with hopes and dreams and into this bubbling mess.

Roswaal was honestly pleased to see so many people around him while eating, as even Beatrice was out of her library. He even found that situation to be rather more...Interesting because all these people were unique, even though from anyone else's point of view, he was the most unique of all.

"Weeeeeeelll even though I do recognize Subaru-kun's will of meeting Emilia-sama, I must ask what the honor for me is to receive the Sword Saint himself?" Roswaal inquired, wishing to know more about his guests.

"I am merely here as an escort for Subaru-sama." The charming knight replied distantly.

"Oh? An escort?" Roswaal repeated with curiosity.

Subaru threw a quick glance to Reinhard with alerted eyes, trying to warn him about not revealing anything that would put them in trouble.

"Oh? You are going to keep it a secret then?" Otto intelligently noted exactly what the knight's counterpart was doing on the screen. Only to receive a nod from Reinhard.

"It's for the better, of course. The law must not be broken or else Subaru loses his runningship."

"Don't look so nervous now," Julius teased begrudgingly as he knew that Reinhard was more worried about not stopping Subaru from coming here than anything right now.

The redhead simply glared at him.

"Y-yes." Reinhard continued. "As a guest of the Astrea house, it is only natural that I would accompany him."

"You…Did say there was something about Subaru you needed to confirm though." Emilia reminded him a bit hesitantly. "This is why you insisted on housing him, after all…"

"A threat." Subaru continued, discreetly nodding to Reinhard so he could hold over the conversation himself.

"What?" The half-elf replied in surprise.

"Well, think about it Emilia-tan! You're a candidate for the throne and suddenly a guy that comes from nowhere accosts you and helps you! This is totally suspicious! Honestly, Reinhard did nothing but his job as a knight here!" Subaru explained.

"I have to say this is some good thinking." Nodding to his explanation, she turned towards Reinhard, "How come you didn't even think of this in the first place?"

"Crusch-sama…?" Felix wanted to intervene, not liking how his lady was in her turn, berating the sword saint.

"It is a genuine question, Reinhard-dono. As a royal knight of the kingdom, how come you let such an irregular man with this kind of sensible information get close to a royal candidate?"

While several people, including the old sword demon, felt a bit disheartened by the strict tone with which the Duchess addressed to the Sword Saint, they all acknowledged nonetheless that it remained a question that deserved answers, especially for someone holding a title like Reinhard.

"Crusch-sama! I insisted myself to bring Subaru with me!" Emilia replied to her, trying to argue in favor of the redhead.

"Even then, Emilia-sama. Your protection should remain a priority…"

"What's the point in asking that anyway?!" To Reinhard's surprise, it was now Felt who stood in his defense.

"In our reality, Rein was too busy trying to kidnap me! He was focused on our situation, and after all big bro did to protect us from the other freak, I don't see why he'd have seen him as a bad guy! If he really just wanted big sis dead, he could've just let that black-clothed bitch do her job!"

"Again. There was no confirmation about Subaru-dono's identity or purpose." Not baking down on her stand, Crusch Karsten replied with a strict, nearly commanding tone.

"Why should we even care?! It just looks like you're trying to get a shot against him! It has already passed and we know big bro is a good guy, there's no point in telling Rein what he should have done!"

"Felt-sama." Although glad that his lady would stand for him, Reinhard found it appropriate to cut the discussion now before this pointless argument went further.

"Subaru already showed a will to protect not only Emilia-sama, but Felt-sama and Rom-sama as well in the loothouse, Crusch-sama." Reinhard explained, "I have sensed since the beginning, since our first meeting, that no ill thoughts ran through his mind. Seeing his will during the fight against Elsa…"

Turning towards the screen once more with a confident expression, Reinhard nodded to his own thoughts towards the black-haired boy.

"Only gave further evidence that he was no threat. Simply...A good person, genuinely trying to do what he believed to be the right thing."

And to his explanation, Crusch simply smiled, and brought her eyes back to the screen as well. Seemingly satisfied with what she heard as a justification.

Needless to say, Reinhard also managed to receive smiles from far more people in the room. From his new friends by his side, to Emilia and Beatrice...To Felt herself.

"Ya're damn right." She whispered to herself, "Good Job Rein…"

"I see…Wait, Subaru!" Emilia exclaimed. "How do you know I am…-"

"I told him," Reinhard replied for his friend. "When I…'questioned' Subaru-sama, he asked about your situation."

"Nice assist Reinhard!" Subaru praised internally, winking to his friend.

"How did they get such good synergy in such a short time…" Al thought out loud, dumbfounded.

"I know right?!" Otto shouted back in surprise, "they only know each other for a day!"

Somehow...This made Reinhard's heart warm up. As a smile unconsciously formed on his lips.

"Is that so…" Emilia concluded.

"So, you two just decided to bother this place for no reason at all aside from giving thanks, I suppose?" Beatrice said in a disinterested tone.

"Beatrice!" Emilia retorted, turning towards both Subaru and Reinhard.

"I'm sorry! Please don't take her words to heart, Beatrice is just…Not used to this."

"I am certainly more used to meeting people than you, in fact!" Yelled the little blonde.

"You seem so silly here, hehe!"

"Speak for yourself, I suppose."

Emilia hugged Beatrice closer to her as she enjoyed the scene greatly. She assumed that Beatrice felt the same way because the little spirit had no trouble melting in the half-elf's arms and resting on her.

The two girls had easy smiles on their faces.

Waving the air with a grin to show there was nothing to worry about, Subaru turned towards Beatrice.

"You got a sharp tongue; I give you that. But you'll need more to cut through me. I'm so used to slurs and insults that I became bulletproof to such cheap stuff!" He said with a proud voice.

"Are you trying to brag about yourself getting insulted?" She answered in disgust. "What a gross individual you are."

"I too, believe this isn't something you should take pride in, Subaru-sama…" Reinhard tried to comment in vain.

"I don't take pride in getting insulted! Who does that?! I said that I was a hard nut to crack! Don't take words out of my mouth!" Subaru yelled back, trying to defend himself, but the only things he earned were giggles and deadpanned expressions.

"I'm already being treated as a joke here! Ahhhh!" Subaru whaled in his head, filled with despair at his ruined interaction cycle. But once he noticed the angelic innocent giggle coming from Emilia, he couldn't help but feel delighted with himself.

"Tch. Pathetic."

"Princess?"

"This side of him...Or rather, the past him…" Priscilla growled in disgust, "I really cannot stomach it."

"I mean...Is he really doing anything disgusting? He's literally just chill-"

Interrupted by a hit that sent him on the ground once more, Aldebaran grunted as he understood, again, that he should have kept his mouth shut.

"Man… She's so beautiful when she laughs like that…"

The boy seemed less despaired about his embarrassing moment as he continued to eat with the others.

Emilia's smile was wider than it had been for a long while.

"You seem to be doing better than before, Emilia-sama."

The half-elf nodded to the bewildered Duchess, "Mhm! A girl has to be all about the looks… Tehehe~"

Crusch blinked in surprise at this sudden change in attitude from the girl. Wasn't she standing with her that this viewing is a serious issue?

But then again… Crusch herself really started to wither on her position of opposing the Warden's plea to watch this.

:::::::::::::::::::::

After getting stuffed by the generous food table, everyone went to their rooms for a bit of rest since the lord and the two guests had just arrived from their own long journeys. Subaru and Reinhard were sent to a guest room reserved in the enormous mansion.

Unsurprisingly to anyone that knew him, the black-haired candidate-in-secret was unsatisfied with being cooped up in a room again after his long nap in Astrea's mansion. So the boy had set out on 'exploring' the big mansion on his own, definitely not hoping to run into a silver-haired goddess that walked on the same ground he di-

Subaru walked through the mansion's hallways while enjoying how manly he was for being single.

Until he finally stopped in front of a door that he felt a sudden urge towards.

"Yo Beatrice! Have a moment?" Subaru gleefully called as he entered, already used to the feeling of catching the grand library and the girl protecting it.

"Certainly not for the likes of you I suppose!" The blonde spirit shot back instantly.

"Great! Actually, I have a rather difficult question to ask, and since you seem to be the kind of girl who knows everything...Maybe because you live in a library?" He questioned, more to himself than to her.

"Does he ever change that attitude of his? Good grief," Beatrice shook her head but smiled nonetheless.

"It's comforting that he's not changed in a different reality… But also… kinda underwhelming?" Frederica looked nervous to say this as she rubbed her thumbs together.

"Yeah I agree," Otto sounded tired but he still showed how underwhelming this has been for them.

Frederica smiled at the merchant boy with happiness. Her point was understood and that's what mattered to her. She couldn't help but feel delighted with the look of relief on him when she showed disinterest that he shared with her. It's as if they were both waiting on one another to voice their thoughts.

But they forgot that there was a person smarter than both of them in the room, "Frederica-sama, this is different from what happened with us!"

Otto and Frederica both looked at Petra in surprise from their respective seats, "This version of Subaru is already asking for Beatrice-sama's help on their second meeting."

"Oh yeah… That's true," Ricardo showed support for the little girl as he found himself agreeing with her.

Both, merchant and maid seemed to be struck as Petra pointed them to their answer.

The little village girl seemed innocently unaware how powerful her moment was and just continued to watch.

"Even if Betty would be knowledgeable enough to answer you, why would I do that for someone like you, I suppose?"

Subaru simply clicked his tongue as he made a confident expression, pointing at the little girl with his finger.

"Well, it's a win-win situation! Remember what I did earlier to make you have some quality time with Puck? You help me and I'll create some other occasions too! Everyone will be happy." He told her with a wink.

"…"

Beatrice felt cornered, she was ready to throw him out with a blast of magic out of her library, but to think he would be able to do that for her...

"Speak, I suppose." She said as she closed the book on her lap.

"What would the question be, I suppose? He knows nothing of the upcoming attack or the maids coming after him, in fact," Beatrice didn't mince words as the way he tricked her the same way as with her reality annoyed her. Much more, this version of her contractor was starting to bug her the wrong way because of how confident and all over more assured he was. Her own contractor had to suffer in unimaginable ways to reach the level of confidence this version of him has… And yet this reality offered this Subaru everything on a golden platter since the beginning.

Apart from the first few deaths of course.

"Nice! Well, my question might startle you a bit but I think that for now, you might be the most qualified person I would know of, with who I could talk about this." He gently told her as he took a seat as well. "So keep it for yourself, alright?"

"What in the world is he about to say…?" Crusch wondered out loud, not hiding the bit of excitement in her voice to know.

Indeed, before his visit, Subaru had some discussions with Roswaal, to know more about him or this mansion since he was Emilia's sponsor. Roswaal explained who he was and spoke about his residents too, including the 400 years old spirit of the library.

"I have to say that you might have picked my curiosity now, I suppose." She sighed with narrowed eyes, ready to hear what he had to say.

"All right...Well, I'm coming from another world, Beatrice." He admitted to her.

Beatrice raised her eyebrows in surprise, failing to understand the meaning of the boy's words immediately.

"Not just a country far away from here." He continued, noticing her demand to speak more. "But literally from another world. With other continents…Other countries, cities and civilization..."

"..."

"What the hell?!" Otto shouted in shock as everyone around him was stunned into silence.

"Th-This Subaru really seems bullheaded uh…" Crusch stuttered in surprise by how instant the boy took to using Beatrice's knowledge.

"He already trusted Beatrice enough for that?" Emilia showed how bewildered she was by the sudden jump in trust from Subaru to Beatrice in this reality.

"I like it… I like it alot… The boy clearly sees an advantage and puts it to good use," Priscilla had a big smile as she nodded her head at the scene.

"You're looking a bit too proud there princes-"

"Next time you speak, you'll be spending time below my shoes."

Needless to say, the one-armed man never looked at her after that.

"Are you trying to explain that you might come from a place situated over the great waterfall, I suppose?" Beatrice asked him with a severe tone.

"…Yes and no." He answered in a serious and doubtful voice.

"You don't make any sense, I suppose."

"I'm trying to explain!" He replied again, trying to find the correct words.

Beatrice wordlessly gazed upon him as she put a book back on the shelf to her side.

"Then explain. With clear words, I suppose." She urged him.

"I never heard of this place in my life…Lugunica that is. I never knew about its existence, the same goes for the other countries here. And magic as well." He finally told her.

"Magic as well?" She repeated, trying to reach a book as she stood on the tip of her toes.

Seeing her struggle, Subaru stood up and walked towards her to grab the book and hand it to her.

"Yes. To put it simply, magic doesn't exist in my world." He explained. "And never existed as far as I know."

"This is impossible, in fact." She coldly answered. "Mana is the essence of life itself."

"It's true though!" He exclaimed to her, visibly upset for her refusal to listen.

"People can't shoot ice with their hands, they can't move so fast they become invisible to the eyesight, they can't blast an entire house with a sword! And…" Subaru hesitated a bit before speaking, an expression of pain on his face.

"And?" Beatrice said with a raised eyebrow.

His hesitation became greater with the little spirit's demand to continue his words. It wasn't a question of revealing his power. More about revealing what he lived, something he didn't want to share.

"Ah… I thought Subaru might be trying to ask if the great spirit knew of a way back to his home world..." Crusch fell into silence as she realized the truth behind this visit.

"You and the baroness seem to finally hit the same wavelength as me~," Anastasia bragged, as Priscilla huffed and waved her fan cautiously.

"... He's asking about Return by Death, isn't he." Emilia said coldly, her expression hidden behind Beatrice's twin-tails.

"He already trusts a random spirit more than you… Such a weak destiny you two have," Priscilla seemed content to happily sway her fan and mock Emilia from above with her usual malice.

"Just quit it, I suppose. You just told us how impressed you are that he's using Betty's knowledge to learn more about his predicament, stop trying to press unneeded buttons."

"Betty-chan?" Emilia whispered into the girl's head as she curved and hugged her tight.

Beatrice simply huffed in anger, "That Subaru is only using Betty. Don't make him seem better than my- our Betty's Subaru, in fact."

"Y-Yeah… Our Subaru." Emilia nodded her head and kept her face hidden from everyone as she calmed down.

But something about Beatrice made him feel like she would be understanding of his words. Maybe with her knowledge, she could help him to find a way with that power. To control it, to take advantage of it…

Taking a deep breath, Subaru raised his head towards the little girl "And they can't return when they d-"

However, as the words were going out of his mouth, his heart began to beat so slowly he could hear it echoing between those walls when everything seemed to be frozen in time. Only his gaze and his consciousness seemed to be able to interact as his body was paralyzed.

Out of fear, instinct, or some unknown force, he couldn't find out. But the point was that his whole body was impossible to move no matter how much force he was exerting.

In front of him, Beatrice, motionless, stood with a staring gaze.

And as he sought to approach her by all possible means, chills began to grow throughout his body ... A feeling of fear growing and taking possession of his very mind, until that shadow taking the form of a hooked hand slowly approached him, piercing his back and slowly caressing his heart...

"ARGH!" He yelled as he fell to his knees, holding a hand to his chest between heavy panting.

"What is it, I suppose?!" Beatrice yelled, her steps stopping as she put a hand on her nose.

"The witch's scent…?"

"Beatrice…" He painfully called as he looked up to her. "Are you okay?! Did you…Did you see that?"

The spirit narrowed her eyes in clear suspicion, throwing a glance around her to see if there was anything relating to his words.

"…"

"It's still taking effect on him here," Reinhard muttered in disappointment and anger, feeling protective.

"That was to be expected… It also seems to be his first time discovering the punishment of the Witch," Julius noted in a serious tone.

But even when her suspicions were heavily raised towards someone reeking of the scent like him…She couldn't help but take pity on the black-haired boy who was in clear pain.

Seeing him still on his knees trying to breathe, she turned towards the short table on her side, grabbing a cup in which she poured some tea.

"Here, I suppose." She said as she handed the cup to him. "Drink."

Subaru looked up to her with teary eyes, still breathing so heavily that his voice became hoarse.

"Thank you…" He said in a low voice before taking the cup and gulping the cup in one go.

"I wasn't hurt or anything…But I definitely felt my heart getting grabbed…And the fear taking me over…" he thought to himself as he brought the cup away from his lips and gazed at its emptiness. "That hand…It came to me when I was about to speak about return by death…"

"So." She said in a stern tone. "What was that, I suppose?"

Seemingly calmed down, Subaru looked back at her with thoughtful eyes.

"…I don't know." He admitted. "I just…Suddenly felt a heartache. Sorry about that, I didn't want to scare you."

Beatrice only narrowed her eyes in suspicion once more, carefully looking upon the young boy who stood up and walked past her.

"Sorry for disturbing you…We'll talk about this another time." He said without turning back. "Thank you for your time."

Beatrice kept gazing towards him until he closed the door of her library, the previous events replaying in her head, as the scent of the witch still tickling her nose.

"Consider yourself lucky that you were by the Sword Saint's side, I suppose." She said as she looked at her hand.

"Does this mean…" Otto gulped in fear, scared of knowing what Beatrice meant with these few words.

"I would have neutralized him, I suppose." Without beating around the bush, Beatrice didn't hesitate to lay out her counterparts' intentions, "Someone bearing the scent of the witch would have been too suspicious to be allowed to roam free."

"So Reinhard-sama's presence managed to convince you to avoid this measure…?" Bewildered, Crusch voiced her thoughts.

"I mean, the Sword Saint ain't just nobody. I guess the spirit knew that if he was a witch cultist, he wouldn't be around." Ricardo commented on his own, finding his explanation to be enough.

"Otherwise…" She sighed as she took her seat back, gazing at the empty cup she previously handed to him.

"Another world…" She whispered, her eyes wandering to another black book on her side.

"..."

At the sight of the tome of wisdom...Roswaal only remained silent. And so did Beatrice.

"I still wonder...Why did you leave me...Mother."

"What kind of fool is that boy, I suppose…"

"Damn it…" He cursed between gritted teeth. "What the hell was that…?"

Walking in the corridors of the mansion, Subaru made his way back to his room, a hand on his heart in remembrance of what he just lived.

"So I got that special power…And when I try to speak about it, I get attacked uh…" He wondered as a painful smile formed on his face. "What sort of cliché trope is that?"

"This Subaru seems to be taking it with stride," Tivey said in thought.

"Yeah, don't forget tha' Cap'n had ta deal with death first before tryin' out to speak abou' this thing," Garfiel gruffly retorted in frustration.

However, as he walked alone, the sound of footsteps coming from behind him alerted him to stop his berating and turn around in fear…To meet with the blue-haired maid.

"O-oh…" Subaru said with a relieved sigh. "It's just you Rem…Damn you scared me."

"No…!" Rem began to cry, held in the arms of her sister.

Emilia's eyes hardened once she heard the cry of the girl behind her, her blood boiled. She didn't get to cry over Subaru when she's trying to kill him!

"Absolute animal..." Priscilla insulted the look Rem had on the screen with her nose scrunched in disgust.

"Don't talk about my sister like that!" Ram, agitated and tired of her sister's self withering state deteriorating before her eyes, shouted towards the crimson countess.

But before Priscilla could finally unleash some pent up anger on the insolent girl, a voice came to defend Priscilla.

"Ram… Sit down and face the screen, please." Emilia coldly ordered without remorse.

"..."

"She said nothing but the truth about your sister. Sit down." Emilia ordered once again, this time more seething than cold as Ram and Priscilla were shocked to silence.

Rem just couldn't help but pull her sister down into her seat and grip on the sleeves to her uniform in distress.

Several people felt their heart skip a beat as they saw the blue-haired Oni in the corridors of the mansion once more.

"She won't hurt him this time!" Felt voiced out loud, "Rein is here!"

"That is true. I doubt anything happens to Subaru-dono with Reinhard-dono around." Crusch mused from her seat, trying to reassure herself over the boy's fate.

Rem did nothing but stare at him with a cold gaze.

"…Are you okay?" He questioned, not feeling comfortable with such silence.

"Don't tell me he worries for her, in fact…" Beatrice seethed in her seat, the mere thought disgusting her.

"Where are you headed right now?" She asked, tone cold… piercing.

"…To my room." He answered uneasily.

"Very well. I shall escort you. Please come this way." She said as she walked past him without bothering to look at him.

"I'm…Pretty sure that I can find my way myself, you know…" Subaru quietly resisted, the overwhelming dark aura making him distrustful of the girl.

"Yep, he's wary," Al commented as he felt the tension rising, "can't really blame him…"

"I insist."

Seeing the insistence of the maid, Subaru decided to comply, and follow her.

"You know…" He said to break the silence. "I don't know why you're this cold towards me but…We would certainly have more fun if we would at least try to be nice to each other."

"I have no obligations, nor any will to behave as such." Rem coldly answered. "This much enters the professionalism of a maid."

"Courtesy as well, Rem-san…" Frederica whispered as she held the little maid in her arms, ready to cover her eyes if needed, "You are clearly showing nothing but hostility."

"Really? Damn you talk about a waste." He sighed. "Maids were always the greatest example of elegance for me. You're kind of breaking that vision of mine."

Usually, this comment from Subaru would have brought a smile to the face of several people in this room. If only their minds weren't focused on the possibility of an imminent danger...

"I have little care about this."

"Cold." He commented off-handily. "Yeah, forget about it. There's no way you and I would ever get along."

"I believe so too." She said before stopping before the door of his room.

Rem felt like another part of her heart just shattered into pieces upon hearing these words. She almost felt like hearing was a torture...That breathing was nothing but a burden.

What was the point, after all? What was the point of living, if it was to see her hurting the love of her life? What was the point of smiling and laughing if she couldn't share it with her Subaru?

Once more, Rem was reminded of the hurtful reality she oh so believed to have finally escaped.

"Here you are. I believe this is where you will reside for tonight." Rem said as she designed the door.

"Is this where you wanted to do it to him, Rem?" Emilia spat out in disgust and unusual hostility. The thought of the maid's answer to her erlair question lingered on the half-elf's mind.

"... That is enough, I suppose… The girl does not deserve more reminders of her disgusting self, I suppose."

"She will kill him!"

"And she did, you forgave her."

"Not anymore."

"You and I are no better than her, we killed him as well, in fact."

Emilia seemingly lost her own breath as Beatrice's words stung deeply into her heart.

"..." Subaru kept looking at the blue-haired maid, expressionless, before entering his room. "Yeah, thanks."

Now alone in his room, Subaru took off his vest before walking closer to the window, observing the outside of the Roswaal manor under the moonlight.

"Why do I have a bad feeling with that Rem…" He thought to himself, before getting brought out of his thoughts by a knock on his door.

"He really seems more self-aware…" Otto whispered in a hushed tone, "How come…"

"I think...It's because he's not focused on big sis…"

Hearing this much made several eyes widen in shock.

"It's true...In his first days in the mansion, Subaru had nothing but Emilia-sama in mind!" Otto exclaimed, managing to make the half-elf tremble even more.

"Natsuki Subaru is more self aware because he is not blinded…" Crusch repeated as she clenched her fists, "He will most likely prevail here."

"Yes?"

The door then opened to a red-haired knight, holding several books in his hands.

"Eh, you're not wasting any time are you?" Subaru chuckled as he moved a chair for his friend.

"It would be unwelcome, what kind of ruler doesn't know how to read or write?" Reinhard commented as he put the books on the table. "But do not worry. I am confident that you will have no issues learning our language."

The next few hours they both spent together could be described as an entire session of Reinhard teaching Subaru about the basics of the alphabet of this world.

"I think it would be enough for now, you made impressive progress." The knight praised.

"Thanks!" the tired candidate-to-be answered as he leaned back on his chair. "But it's still a pain in the ass! I'm supposed to have passed these kinds of things since middle school."

"Ah… I kinda wanted to see the pink girl teachin' 'em… They were funnier together..." Mimi whined in disappointment at how boring this teaching session with Reinhard seemed without Ram.

Emilia kept silent as she was mourning over what Beatrice had said to her.

Reinhard was just nodding his head as he watched carefully to make sure his counterpart was adequate in helping Subaru learn efficiently.

He also felt a tight feeling around his chest. He was worried.

Ram didn't have anything to say either as she was busy comforting her own sister from the aftermath of the panic attack when she thought she was going to murder him.

But she did hear the small cat-eared girl.

Ram simply frowned deeper.

Subaru stretched his arms up while Reinhard was looking at the yard of the mansion by the window, thinking.

"You okay Reinhard? You seem on edge for a while now..." Subaru pointed out. "You're still worried about the village?

"If that wasn't enough, I feel that something is wrong within this mansion as well." The knight admitted, looking to his liege.

Subaru narrowed his eyes, he was not pleased to hear something like that, and after what he lived, he wondered if his experience had something to do with the sword saint's suspicion.

"First the village and now here..." Subaru thought out loud.

"Something on your mind?"

He stared at the book in his hands, trying to find some sort of a link between all the events he lived until now.

"You think the Bowel Hunter could have followed us?" He theorized. "She seemed angry when she left. And assured that she would come back."

"Unlikely, but not impossible, she already showed us that she had a good recovery. I wonder if she is even human..."

"Yeah, the feeling is mutual..."

"But I don't think it would be her, honestly, I would say to be more careful about the maids."

"Bullseye…"

"Yep…"

Otto and Garfiel kept watching with a heavy heart, exchanging words in a hushed tone, most certainly in a way to reassure themselves more than anything.

"Ram and Rem…?" Subaru said, visibly taken aback by the sword saint's suspicions. "I… know they have quite the antisocial and unfriendly personalities but could maids really be this much of a threat?"

"Even after having a bad feeling, he still doesn't see them as a menace," Priscilla sighed as she fanned herself in a frown, "this ignorance coupled with naivety is what makes him hindered."

"I don't believe they would be simple maids, Subaru-sama…" Reinhard continued. "But it would be unbecoming of me to make further assumptions without any evidence."

"As you said." He sighed tiredly. "Let's just stay on guard for now then."

"…If I may, Subaru-sama…I would rather us come back to the Astrea's domain, your safety is jeopardized here."

Eyes fixated towards the window, Subaru thought about his friend's words in silence, before taking his own decision.

"As is Emilia's." He said with determination. "I'm not going anywhere knowing there is a potential threat here that could bring harm upon her or the other residents."

"This is what I was talking about, I suppose," Emilia's eyes closed shut as Beatrice narrated over her.

"I don't want to hear it!"

"You need to see yourself for what you are to be able to use this confidence in a manner not shameful to my contractor, so no, in fact."

"She's the one murdering him!"

"You're the one hindering him, I suppose."

Emilia and Beatrice would've faced off had it not been for their seating positions with one of them sitting on the other's lap.

But their passion and hatred overflew any comfortable seating as they both went at it.

Reinhard was really taken by the bravery of his master but he still looked worried, bravery was a virtue worthy of a man and even more for a king...But would he really want to risk the life of his friend for bravery? Is a virtue worth...A life?

Subaru smiled and gave him a light punch to the arm.

"Get it together." He gently said. "We're both here and we have each other's back. We'll work this out, there's nothing we can't do if we trust each other."

"Subaru-dono…" Out of words, Wilhelm couldn't help but smile fondly at the nascent bond of friendship forming between his grandson and Subaru. at the

"He really has a dangerous way with words…" Crusch whispered, sharing the fond feeling of her old knight.

"Man…!" Otto didn't know if he felt jealousy or pride right now. But he couldn't help but smile at his friend on screen...Being himself.

"That's cap'n for ya." Whispering with stars in his eyes, Garfiel felt a slight relief hearing his boss' words.

Hearing this much, Reinhard began to smile unconsciously. Thinking that Subaru had a way to touch everyone's heart...He took a breath and began to bow when Subaru stopped him, raising his fist towards him. Reinhard looked intrigued but quickly understood.

He raised his fist as well and stuck it on Subaru's. He didn't know why but...He liked that.

"From where I'm coming from, this is something that you only do with the people with whom you have a strong bond. That's my way of saying that I trust you."

Reinhard was out of words. This little thing could be referred to as a handshake but unique to him and Subaru was truly wonderful to him. It was a thing unique to him and his friend, an ultimate proof of their mutual respect and trust. Reinhard never felt so happy to have met someone in his life, that's where he knew that for as long as he lived...He would follow this man, he would follow his friend and...his king.

"Reinhard..."

"I'm not replacing Felt-sama."

"That's not what I'm saying..." Julius spoke in a low voice as to make himself unheard, the red-haired man in front of him seemed content with watching the scene in a simplance of a smile and a sad frown.

"... Don't blame yourself if he dies at the end." Julius shot the point straight through, breaking Reinhard's gaze from the screen and making him face the floor.

"You and I both know what's happening… You can't save him," Julius patted Rienhard's shoulder, "Just keep thinking of Felt-sama."

"But… Subaru's my friend too..."

"You won't have both all the time… That's the thing I learned most from this reality."

Reinhard seemed content with his silence as Julius lifted his hand off of him and straightened back into his seat.

Otto and Garfiel kept their silence as they respected the two men's brotherhood and privacy.

"Then you have my word that I won't disappoint you." Reinhard confidently answered.

Reinhard only clenched his fists.

The moonlight fell on the grand margrave estate moments later, making the capable knight excuse himself to his young liege and backtrack towards his own given guest room to gain some long-awaited sleep. However, as he was preparing to get to bed, a weak knock rang against his door.

Surprised because of the time, it is with wary steps that Subaru approached the door of his bedroom until the voice of his guest was heard.

"Subaru? Sorry, are you asleep?" A low and feminine voice spoke.

"I...I'm here…?" Emiia gasped, wondering what this version of her was about to do with Subaru.

'Emilia?' Subaru thought to himself, as he opened the door to meet with the silver-haired royalty.

Mesmerized, Subaru didn't say a word. One could even say that he was bewitched, not able to avert his eyes from the beauty in front of him shining just like a lone star in a cloudless night sky. He was admiring her, and he could have certainly stayed like this for hours to come.

"Subaru…?" She called him, worried about his silence.

"Ah…" He let out a gasp as he got extirpated from his thoughts. "Sorry! I just...Well."

Emilia only answered by tilting her head, awaiting an explanation.

"Did anyone ever tell you how dangerously gorgeous you were? This hypnotism truly comes from another world…" He sighed with an honest smile.

"You are saying weird things again…" Emilia whispered with a pout on her face. "I would like you to speak clearly so I could at least understand what you're saying…"

"At least you're enjoying your Subaru… You aren't hurting him by your mere presence..."

Beatrice had to snort at the half-elf above her. She was so pathetic.

"Can't you see that she's worse than you are, I suppose?"

"...?"

"This girl is doing something disgusting to her Subaru..."

"What..." Emilia looked from Beatrice's golden hair towards the screen above, trying and looking for what this version of herself will do to Subaru.

"How's she using him?" Felt overhearing them, decided to ask while trying to keep her mind off of that scene with Reinhard and Subaru. She hated to admit it.. but they make a heavy combo.

"... I think you'll see it quickly, in fact." Beatrice just seethed in Emilia's lap.

Subaru narrowed his eyes to her suspiciously, he wanted to mock her a bit for not understanding that it was a compliment but, the expression on her face sending him a sense of deja vu, his memories were quick to remind him of one of his first loops.

'What are you thinking, calling me by the name of the witch?'

His face quickly took a darker expression, which didn't go unnoticed for the half-elf who worriedly called his name again.

Subaru raised his eyes to her once more, his brown irises staring deep into her amethyst eyes, and smiled.

"You are beautiful. And I wonder what gives me the honor of having such a sight for myself tonight?"

"Disgusting." With disappointment clear in her tone, Priscilla continued to fan herself and watch the viewing she knew she'd find uninteressting from this point ownards.

Even if she didn't respond, her immediate reaction of burying her face behind her hands was enough for Subaru to know that this time, she understood what he wanted to say.

'She isn't used to compliments isn't she…' He thought to himself.

"I-I would like it if you could stop mocking me…" Emilia whispered.

"I am not though. I believe in every word I say." He chuckled. "But anyway, what brings you here?"

"He's unusually very confident there…" Petra said in a low voice, "I remember that Subaru was all flustered the first time he was alone with Emilia-sama."

"The little one has a point…How come Subaru-dono changed this much?" Wilhelm wondered out loud, remembering the boy's reaction himself.

"Is it...Is it the candidacy?" Felt thought out loud, making several people turn towards her with gasps of realization.

"It might possibly be it...Subaru clearly knows that he's very important here...He's on the same level as Emilia-sama." Julius continued the thought, putting the pieces together.

"So the mere title of candidate brought him to be more confident around her? It takes very little to change a man uh…" Rubbing her scarf with a shake of her head, Anastasia sighed as a slight feeling of disappointment slipped out of her tongue.

"Ah, I…" She stuttered, looking like she searched for the words to speak; "I just wanted...To talk to you, I guess?"

"You guess?"

"I-I mean…!"

Subaru laughed faintly as he waved his hand before her, stepping aside to allow the princess to enter.

"Please, enter and take a seat." He invited her with a gentle voice.

Smiling to such kindness, Emilia happily obliged as she stepped inside and sat down on the bed, as Subaru took a seat at his desk.

However, the only thing that arose after this was an awkward silence. Emilia did want to see him and have a conversation, but just now she realized that she planned nothing but the first part of the plan.

Now, she was at loss for words and didn't know what to do to avoid looking more ridiculous than she already was.

"You're okay?" Subaru broke the silence, looking over the shy girl who didn't even dare to look in his direction.

He perfectly knew the situation she was in right now; as god only knows that he was there multiple times. But seeing her the more embarrassed only added to her cuteness, which was, unfortunately for her, something that Subaru couldn't get enough of.

"Y-yes! I'm okay! But, hum...You know...I…"

"You don't know what to talk about, right?" He jokingly pointed out, not wasting a second to tease the princess.

Emilia only looked down in shame.

"There's nothing wrong with that." He said as he gently laughed. "Sometimes you just want to spend time with a friend to kill your loneliness."

Hearing this much, made Emilia widen her eyes towards him.

"I know." He said in a hushed tone. "It can happen to anyone, you're not an isolated case. Even though, regarding where you live, I understand it would be a tad worse for you. Especially since these two maids aren't helping at all."

"Ram and Rem aren't bad people, you know." She smiled as she shook her head. "The issue is certainly coming from me here."

"It's becoming a bit redundant at this point, it's like we're always reminded of the similarities between them." Otto pointed out with a tired smile.

"The same disease, in fact…" Beatrice shook her head, "the same disease…"

"And why would it?" He questioned with a curious expression. "I'm not the kind of guy who talks shit behind people's back, but seeing how they've been behaving with me and Reinhard, I really do think it's a "them" problem rather than a "you" problem."

Emilia's expression took more of a surprising shape as she stared at Subaru with wide eyes. She took a moment to realize that he was serious about what he just said. And somehow, clueless about what she meant by that.

"Subaru…" She said with a weak voice, clenching her nightgown. "Do you...Know who I am?"

"Mh?" He shut down his eyes to think. "A silver-haired beauty that runs for the kingdom's throne?"

"No…" She answered, too ashamed of what she was about to say to care for his little comment. "I am…"

"A half-elf." He cut her, gently gazing upon her.

"Oh…" Emilia whispered lightly almost like a feather's fall to the floor.

"What is it?" Felt asked in more depressed confusion.

"She's using him, in fact." Beatrice said with her arms crossed.

She can feel Emilia's grip on her tighten from disgust. Beatrice rubbed circles on the girl's hand.

Emilia did nothing but clench her robe harder.

"Yeah, I knew it." He simply answered. "This might explain why you're so cute, after all."

"Eh?" She gasped, looking at him in shock. "D-did you…"

"Were you waiting for me to say something else?" He questioned. "Admonish you for some reason, maybe?"

Even though she stayed silent, the look in her eyes was the sole thing Subaru needed to obtain his answer.

"Too bad." He told her. "Because I'm clueless as hell."

"What do you mean…?"

"That I know nothing about how and why half-elves would be discriminated against here." He admitted. "What I know though, is that I have no reason to hate them, nor do I have any reason to hate you, Emilia."

Roswaal was the first to show a reaction to this by moving a hand to his eyes and rubbing on them as he held an expression of pure sadness and tiredness.

"Let's go!" Garfiel shouted in excitement and agreement to Subaru's words.

"I doubt that's what a girl expects when she comes to comfort you, Natsuki-san..." Otto sighed as his jealousy showed again.

Frederica giggled at the merchant boy's reaction.

Petra just frowned in sadness and didn't say a thing.

But Emilia was the penultimate one as her reaction showed them all up in difference.

She was full on snarling with her teeth grounded at her other self.

If she entered this room with the feeling of not knowing how to react because of her eagerness, this was something far, far bigger that took place at the moment.

Emilia was a silver-haired half-elf. She was the very definition of what a devil could be.

No matter where she went and no matter what she did, this was something that would follow her everywhere. The looks people would give her, the words they would speak about her.

The doors closed to her, the children that were hiding away from her.

This was the quotidian she began to grow used to. The one of someone born to be hated.

While it was certainly a cruel and unhealthy thing to do, the silver-haired princess began to accept it. This wasn't something she could fight, this was her fate. She would always live to hear these words, nothing but these words. Attached to someone she never knew, someone she had no affiliation with.

Thus, there were things that she resolved to never be able to hear. She even started to doubt the existence of hope or kindness in people.

And if only that boy didn't appear out of nowhere to help her. If only she never met him, if only he didn't decide to meet her one more time.

Then maybe.

Maybe she would still be able to hold a straight face right now. Maybe she wouldn't be looking at him with a stream of tears running down her cheeks.

"Emilia…!" He exclaimed in worry as he rushed to her side, delicately putting his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry...Did I-"

And without letting him the time to speak further, the half-elf let her head fall forward against his chest, burying her face away from him.

"I'm sorry…" She said faintly. "But please, don't look at me right now.."

Even if usually he would be horribly embarrassed, the situation in itself only allowed him to smile in relief, to know that she wasn't hurt. To know those tears weren't because of pain.

"Of course." He answered.

After a moment, allowing Emilia to gain her composure back.

"H-hum...I'm…" She stuttered.

"It's fine." He reassured her. "No one will hear about what happened in this room."

Emilia looked up to him again, expressionless.

"You are...Really strange, Subaru…"

"I don't know how I'm supposed to take that but…" He laughed. "Sure."

"Mhmh…" She began to smile warmly. "It's not in a bad way...At least, not in my opinion."

She then stood up, noticing Subaru that it was time for her to leave.

"Thank you for this, Subaru." She gently told him.

"It was my pleasure." He answered in the same tone, smiling one last time as he carefully gazed upon the lady making her way in the dark hallway to gain her room.

As soon as the silver-haired lady left and closed his door, the boy's knees locked in place, waiting until it was sure that the half-elf was truly far away in the long hallways of the manor from his room.

Once a good chunk of time had passed, Subaru's knees wobbled him to rest on the floor of the room. A drunken smile of bliss and relief was plastered on his red face.

"She's using him to make herself feel better… Ain't that it?" Felt sat back in her seat now finally understanding.

Beatrice simply nodded her head with a bit of a glare of her own.

"Now you understand..."

"She's disgusting!" Emilia growled while holding on tightly to the little spirit. She couldn't look at herself from shame and disgust

"She's… you..." Felt sounded baffled.

"I'm not like this! I wouldn't use him like this! Last time I tried, he pulled me out of it himself and told me how wrong it was!" Emilia seemed to be growing angrier by the second.

"But… She's yo-"

"I'm not her!" Emilia burst out, surprising the blonde girl.

"... You don't seem to understand that you aren't special to this, Emilia."

The half-elf looked down on the little blonde in her lap. Beatrice had twisted her neck to stare Emilia in the eye.

"No matter what the screen shows next, you must accept that those people are not us anymore. They are another reality with their own circumstance just like we did. And you forgave her. For what she did."

"..."

"You can't punish her for the crime of another version of herself," Beatrice stared at Emilia.

"Don't you want to avenge him?!" Emilia stared back.

"Betty wants what her Subaru wants, I suppose… and that girl… Is one of his most important parts of his heart, unfortunately."

"..."

"Ya both are too wierd, sheesh..." Felt interjected in boredom, making both girl's look at her.

"I mean… Just talk to the girl? That always helps..."

The little blonde looked away from them as she realized what she had said…

"Ah, crap..."

"Ahhhh~... That's how it feels like to talk to a girl that's outta your league! What an intense girl Emilia-tan is!"

"He didn't change this much in the end." Crusch snorted to the sword demon who couldn't help but laugh too.

"It is not a bad thing, however." The old sword-demon replied.

Although the princess hadn't done anything intense or tiring in the slightest, Subaru's heartbeat hadn't let out any momentum ever since the casually clothed angel he called Emilia entered his room to speak with him.

"I do feel bad though… She wasn't here to just have a late-night chat..." The boy sighed, a little saddened, as he remembered the state this amazing woman was reduced to because of little words of comfort he gave. As if she was truly in need of such small things in her life.

"Even he realized it, in fact."

"I guess…" Felt murmured, not wanting to stir the knife in the wound more than it already was for the half-elf.

As if not being able to get comfort from her friends was something she had grown used to… A fact so horrible and twisted to the boy, it made him not want to think about it anymore.

"She deserves better than those damn twins… Don't they know how to lighten up even for a bit to make her smile? Emilia deserves some form of friendship from these cold robots at least!"

"Barusu…" Ram growled between her teeth. But to whom was her anger directed…? Was it to Subaru, for hurting her sister without even knowing it?

Or was it to herself, for making this a possibility to begin with?

As the clearly sleepy King-to-be had started dozing off on the ground of his room, his thoughts were centered all-around Emilia and her life in this mansion with the other residents.

He couldn't find anything pleasant to remember of any of them other than that Roswaal guy, and even then it's just a feeling screaming 'creep' about the man.

"Can't believe I thought up plans for evacuation in case something happened… Reinhard should just carry all of them while I save Emilia-tan once aga-..."

"Oh… SHIT!" The boy's shout instantly allowed his tired sleeping brain to register what he had forgotten since Emilia's visit.

"There might be an attack on the mansion! I still haven't warned Emilia and the others yet!" Cursing himself one final time for the love sickness that made him forget to warn the girl he cared for so much.

"Wait…!"

"What is he doing?!"

As the tension rose, all eyes fully widened as the people who expected this to happen already showed their respect for the death by keeping their heads low in the same manner, all those who doubted that the wrong end will happen became hopeless once again but didn't offer a useless plea for mercy, and those who denied and convinced themselves that this life might somehow be saved finally broke their delusion and realized what everyone understood.

This loop was way too fucking happy to not end with a death.

"I need to let her know!" His mind settled, Subaru steeled his muscles to stand up from the hard floor and take off out of his door and into the hallways of the mansion.

He needed to make sure Emilia was alerted of this invisible danger. Running through the darkened hallways, he shook off the feeling of the eerie horror vibe he would get whenever playing those western games in his old home. Subaru needed to rush before it was too late to alert Emilia.

Then in the middle of the process, he heard a sound. That was coming closer and closer from the depths of the darkened hall.

He didn't understand at first but quickly realized it could be what he feared.

Without any hesitation, taking his courage in his hands, he turned around quickly towards the sound and...

Black.

All black.

A body fell.

In the middle of a decently sized pool of blood.

And a chain slowly hitting the ground along with a hoarse and powerful heavy breathing. Like an animal looking down at his prey.

Not far from that, a door in the hallway opened abruptly with a crash. A man with dazzling red hair got out of it.

His vision was blurred but the body on the ground could still see it. In his indescribable agony, he recognized him. He raised his hand with the little strength he had left towards him and tried to call his name. And slowly...While the man was rushing towards him screaming something that he couldn't hear because of his smashed head...He closed the only eye he had left.

"R...ein..."

And by the moonlight's shining of his final scene, like a play playing before him, Subaru couldn't help but feel relief as the world cut to black.

No Reinhard.

No ominous breathing from an unknown assailant…

And no more brutal, cruel, god-breaking pain coming from his mutilated side and wounds.

For one second, the boy was happy in the darkness as relief washed over him…

A blurry image, a faint sound, a purple flash.

And Natsuki Subaru's eyes opened once more to a lit-up carriage with a refreshed Reinhard holding the door open for him and smiling charmingly. Not at all panicked or furious like he had been underneath the moonlight inside of the mansion's hallway before the dark overtook Subaru.

"Shall we go?"

Natsuki Subaru only stared at him with a haunted look full of despair.

Return by Death has been activated again. He'd died and lost all of his progress… again.

Subaru's eyes dimmed with tears for one moment. Reinhard's were filled with worry and urgent readiness to help.

And the entire world turned normally, uncaring for Natsuki Subaru's newly lost life in this new fantasy world of his.

Chapter 2 end.

As the screen turned black, one of those who kept his head towards the screen was no one else but the Sword Saint himself. Trembling, shaking...His teeth gritted in sheer anger as his mind slowly went blank to the unbearable agony that slowly rose within him. To know that even when he was there, even when he oathed another master...He still was unable to protect him.

So he stood there, paralyzed. Nearly broken inside…

As if Reinhard was the one on screen who rushed in despair towards the dying body of his friend calling his name one last time before giving his last breath.

As his heart felt the same pain, the same unfathomable, hurtful beating.

As he lived when his reason to live, in this reality faded away.

"I failed…" He murmured in agony, clenching his fist.

"I failed...I failed…"

As those around him couldn't do anything but listen...And grieve.

From the depth of the now dark room, no one spoke as the shocking end to an alternate reality they shouldn't have gotten attached to played a death so similar and yet so far removed from their heads. Most in the crowd finalized that they've become desensitized to what a death for Subaru brings to their hearts.

But the pain felt in one single heart from this crowd could melt a mountain of ice. The burning rage. The humiliating hopelessness.

"I'm so sorry… I'm so so sorry… I'm sorry..."

The pathetic nature of her greed to ask for forgiveness.

Rem prayed once again, that she was in a nightmare.

She wanted nothing more than for that coldness of Emilia's aura to fill her lungs again. Dying from Emilia's anger felt more righteous than watching her sin play in her own mind over and over.

But as the sin played, of her killing and butchering Subaru, of her torturing him.

Emilia refused to end her suffering and simply sat watching a dead screen.

"Please…."

"Shut it." Emilia whispered from the front row, heard by all even Rem as the maid drowned into her repeated vision and cried.

---

Reactionist: Jesus Christ this chapter has been a month in the making bruh. Why are you so slow Archer?

Archer: Bitch remind me who was the one always accepting to work on the doc just to run away at the last minute because *insert random Mulsim excuse here*

Reactionist: *insert muslim excuse* So many Ls it's a wonder how you didn't marry the letter off just because you can't accept you're gay.

one, you are muslim too dipshit.

two, rAnDoM. yeah. because my pc breaking apart, my mom making me walk all across 3 nigherhoods to get her something from a pharamacy, and my dog dying is random.

Archer: My man, who's the fucking dog? Your ninth sibling?

Reactionist: He was Richard Von Beirg the third. And you shall respect his white furry ass homie or I swear on god.

Archer: Oh yeah "white" uh, racism is still here I see. It's in your damn blood ain't it?

Reactionist: It ain't racism if the brown owns the white.

And just like this, we lost everyone reading. Fan fucking tastic Archer.

Archer: you know what's worse?

Reactionist: … -_- What?

Archer: Joseph used this as an opportunity to steal your blanket this time.

Reactionist: ….. Archer.

Archer: Uh uh?

Reactionist: The thing is… I'm not dumb… I replaced my blanket with yours the moment this chapter was being written.

Eat shit :)

Archer: Bitch! It was the special Lion King edition blanket!

Reactionist: I ain't losing the spongbob one! Friendship means jack shit around here homie! Peace!

Archer: We're not done! You stay here! JOSEEEEEEPH!

---

We don't care if it's cringe. We care that we laughed while writing that.

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And enjoy yourselves you wonderful bastards.

Also yes.

15 is coming. god fucking damnit.

(It's not. He's lying.)

... -_-