Chapter 16

Capital of Lugnica

Walking along with Subaru, Rem and Emilia, Itsuki was once again deep in his own thoughts. It had been a day since his talk with Roswaal and it was all he could think about. The way Roswaal spoke to him, the threat to keep quiet along with the knowledge that he will kill those closest to him just to force Subaru to loop. Thankfully, Itsuki was pretty sure Roswaal had no idea how Subaru was looping. As long as it remained that way, then Subaru was at least safe from Roswaal. He wouldn't dare kill Subaru unless one hundred percent certain it was how he was looping. However, a more important matter was at hand to be dealt with.

The Royal Selection.

It was the sole reason the four of them were in Lugnica to begin with. The canditates had been summoned to the capital to participate in the selection of the new king. Even though it was important to Emilia, Itsuki just couldn't keep his focus.

Touching the bandage that was covering the cut Roswaal gave him, Itsuki was beyond terrified of Roswaal's power.

"Rem." Emilia said suddenly, turning to face her.

"Yes, miss Emilia?"

"Would you and Itsuki be so kind as to make sure our room is set for our stay in the capital?" Emilia asked. "I'm afraid I have business to attend to and won't return until later."

"Of course." Rem said as she respectfully bowed her head. "We will see to it at once."

Stopping in place as Subaru and Emilia continued walking, Rem turned to face Itsuki.

"Follow me."

A few minutes later

Walking mostly in silence, Rem kept taking second glances at Itsuki.

"How did you get that cut on your cheek again?" Rem asked.

"Training incident." Itsuki told her.

"I see." Rem said softly. "Would you like for me to heal it for you?"

"No. No, I'm good." Itsuki told her. "It'll heal on it's own."

"Are you sure?" Rem asked. "It wouldn't even be a problem for me."

"It's fine, really." Itsuki told her.

Sighing, Rem looked away. "Very well."

The cut still stung slightly, but Itsuki didn't want it gone just yet. He wanted the cut to remain as both punishment and a reminder. Punishment for fucking up and getting Rem and Emilia killed. And a reminder to be wary of Roswaal's power.

Arriving outside of the building the four would be staying, Rem went ahead and walked in with Itsuki following close behind. Approaching the front desk, Rem went ahead and signed in under Emilia's name as the maid of the household with Itsuki being a butler. Once done, Itsuki and Rem went to the room and walked inside.

Upon entering, Itsuki was taken back by the massive room. It was unlike any the boy had seen in a hotel back home. It was luxurious.

"Itsuki, you look shocked." Rem said.

"No. Just amazed." he replied as he slowly walked about the room. "I've never seen a room like this where I come from."

"It is rather impressive." Rem said as she also looked around. "However, there are things I wanted to discuss with you."

"Huh?"

"I never got the chance to take you up on your promise, remember?" Rem asked. "You said that we would talk late into the night and into the next day. But because of your wounds, I wanted to wait until you were fully healed to ask." walking over to the table that sat in the center of the room, Rem sat down, prompting Itsuki to do the same.

Sitting across from Rem, Itsuki waited quietly for the first question.

"I want you to be one hundred percent honest with me about everything." Rem said.

"I will be. Promise."

"Okay." Rem gave another of her beautiful smiles. "I don't believe you to be part of the Witch Cult, but I still have my doubts about it from time to time. Are you truly not affiliated with them?"

"I've never even seen a Witch Cultist in person." Itsuki replied. "But I promise you, I'm not one of them."

Rem smiled.

"I figured as much, but I wanted to be sure. I hope I didn't offend you." Rem said.

"You didn't." Itsuki told her.

"Good." Rem smiled once more. "You ran into miss Emilia here in Lugnica. Did you purposefully get her to interact with you?"

"No. It was coincidental." Itsuki replied.

As the night drew on, Rem's interrogation turned into her getting to know him. The sun was no longer in the sky, coating Lugnica in a gentle darkness.

"What's your family like?"

"My...family?" Itsuki repeated the question. "I... don't have any ties to my family. They sort of disowned me."

"That's horrible."

"I don't blame them." Itsuki continued. "I... got myself into an accident that..." Itsuki closed his eyes. "caused a lot of grief in my family. They all blamed me, and they were right to do so. I wasn't paying attention and... it happened so fast..."

Noticing his discomfort as he recalled the memory, Rem reached out and gently grabbed hold of his right hand.

"Itsuki, I-"

The door to the room suddenly opened as Emilia and Subaru walked in.

"What?!" Subaru shouted as he stepped foot inside. "You want me to stay here tomorrow?!"

"That was our agreement from the very beginning." Emilia said.

"Well that was the plan, but we never got in touch with Reinhard. If we go to the castle together tomorrow, we might run into him."

"There's no need. I will be sure to ask about Felt." Emilia said.

"I really think I should go in person to-"

"Subaru." Itsuki said, getting his attention.

"What?" he turned to look at Itsuki.

"Listen to Emilia. This is extremely important, and she can't have any distractions. Just stay behind for one day."

"Thank you, Itsuki." Emilia said before looking to Subaru. "If I allow you to come with, you'll just push yourself again and I can't allow that."

"I get what you're saying but-"

Itsuki reached out and grabbed Subaru's shoulder.

"Listen to her, man."

"You're the last person who should be saying anything, Itsuki."

"I get you're still pissed at me, but I'm not the one making the request." Itsuki told him. "If you truly care about Emilia, then you would respect her wishes."

Subaru opened his mouth to respond only to quickly shut it.

"I guess you're right." Subaru sighed.

"Stay with these two until it's over, alright?" Emilia said. Approaching Subaru, Emilia reached out and grabbed his right hand. "Give me a reason to trust you."

Minutes later

With a bottle of wine in hand, Rem and Itsuki decided to share a drink while they talked. After all, neither one of them wanted to have their throat parched as they conversed.

"Do you have any siblings?" Rem asked.

"I do but we didn't exactly leave off on the best of terms." Itsuki replied. "I have two older sisters, two older brothers and I... had... a younger sister... what about you? Any siblings other than Ram?" Itsuki quickly changed the subject.

"No. It's always been just us." Rem replied. "After our village was destroyed, we've only ever had each other and Lord Roswaal."

Pouring himself a drink, Itsuki filled up Rem's cup as well before placing the bottle on the table.

"So Roswaal was part of your lives from an early age?"

"Yes. He's cared for us ever since." Rem said.

Sharing a drink, the two continued to talk.

Learning more about each other, Itsuki was slowly finding himself growing more and more fond of the demon girl before him. And Rem felt the same way towards Itsuki, growing even more fond of him as she learned about his interests and favorites as well as his personal history.

Hours later

Having finished the bottle of wine, Itsuki and Rem fell asleep in their chairs, having gotten tipsy and passed out after feeling the room begin to spin.

Coming to, Itsuki rubbed his forehead as he slowly tried to stand, only to knock over the empty wine bottle. Hearing it clatter to the floor woke up Rem. Quickly sitting up in her chair, Rem rubbed her slightly red face.

"Mm." she groaned as she tried to stand.

Getting up from his chair, Itsuki found himself quickly recovering from his dizziness. However, Rem tripped over her own foot and fell directly into Itsuki who quickly caught her and helped her stand.

"You okay?" Itsuki asked.

"Yes." Rem held her head as she slowly stood on her own. "Just need a second to gather myself."

Once the two got their footing, Itsuki walked into the other room to see Subaru wasn't there.

"Where's-"

Before Itsuki could finish his sentence, the door opened as Emilia helped Subaru walk into the room, battered, bruised and barely standing even with Emilia's help.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"He did something he wasn't supposed to and one of the knights present disciplined him." Emilia replied as she led Subaru to one of the rooms. "He's on the verge on passing out. Rem, would you heal him for me and let me know when he's okay enough to speak? I have a few words I need to exchange with him."

End of chapter 16