Hey, everyone! Sorry that this chapter took so long!

Originally, this chapter was a lot longer, but I decided to split it in two. Next chapter will have what was cut out of this one. I just hope this isn't too much of a slow burn for you all.

Also, in case anyone was worried that this story was dead before it even got off the ground, I just want to say I don't plan to just drop this. If I can't continue with it for some reason I'll say so, but I don't want this story to just... die. I can't promise that delays between chapters like this one won't happen, but I'll do however much I can to get future chapters out. I'm also prone to mistakes, so if there's any grammatical or spelling errors feel free to let me know. Heck, any criticism that can improve my writing I'll take!

With that all said, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3: The Silver-Haired Quarter-Elf

The sun was starting to set as the Roswaal mansion's occupants all gathered into the foyer.

Once Ram and Rem had returned from their grocery run, Petra relayed to the twins a message from Subaru. He said there was something urgent to discuss with everyone, and although he stressed it wasn't an emergency, he still wanted everyone to be present.

Ram nonetheless felt a little put off by this unexpected development. Frederica and Petra had taken initiative and were nearly done preparing dinner when Ram and Rem returned, so she had no excuse to not attend. It was only at Rem's insistence that the pink-haired maid was there.

"This had better be good, Barusu," Ram said as she crossed her arms.

"Well, it depends on your definition of good," Subaru said, sounding like he wanted to laugh. "I mean, I think it's good, but I'm still not too sure."

"If Barusu thinks it's good, then it's hardly anything worth discussing."

"Sister," Rem said, "Subaru-kun wouldn't call for this meeting if it wasn't of the utmost importance."

"Yet he is deliberately dragging his feet in disclosing the matter."

"Could you be any more impatient, I wonder!?" Beatrice, who was standing at Subaru's side, voiced her irritation at the maid's attitude towards her contractor. Ram only replied with a huff.

Although Ram's eyes were trained on Subaru, her attention was on who was to his side: a child with a hood over their head. Ironically, the slightly dirtied identity-concealing cloak the child wore was too conspicuous for anyone to ignore.

She, and the rest of the mansion's residents, immediately suspected that Subaru's announcement had something to do with the mysterious child's presence.

"I, uh, don't really know how to lead into this." Subaru gave the child a pat on the back. "Go on. Don't be shy."

The cloaked child bit their lip and looked up to Subaru. Subaru gave them a reassuring grin, or at least what he hoped came across as one. The child nodded and stepped forward, pulling down their hood.

Everyone who hadn't met the child beforehand was stunned silent. The striking resemblance between the boy, the Royal Candidate, and her knight was immediately apparent. Emilia, who gasped at the sight, was the most surprised.

"My name is Tonnura Natsuki." The boy gave a small bow after his introduction. "It's nice to meet you all… I guess?"

For a good minute, no one did anything but stare at the boy. He clenched his fists and swallowed, fighting back his nervousness.

"D-did I mess up…?", he whispered to himself.

"Nah. I don't think I could have done any better."

Tonnura flinched a little when Subaru suddenly spoke. The black-haired knight put a hand on Tonnura's head and ruffled his silver hair. Tonnura felt embarrassed by the gesture, but also comforted knowing that Subaru was there for him.

"Was there any easy way to introduce him, I wonder?"

"Well, maybe if a certain maid hadn't rushed me-"

"Barusu."

Both knight and child righted their postures at the stern voice.

"I misjudged you. I didn't think you would ever engage in kidnapping."

"Seriously!? That's your takeaway from this!?" Subaru shouted in indignation.

"Given your lack of an explanation, it's the only logical conclusion."

"Don't look so satisfied with that!" Subaru took his hand off of Tonnura's head and pointed at Ram as he shouted at her.

"He looks just like a mini Cap'n," Garfiel muttered.

"Indeed he does, excluding the hair, of course," Otto chimed in. "Although with that attire he looks like a noble's son."

"Tonnura Natsuki, was it?" Although Roswaal was just as surprised as everyone else, he also found the situation to be comical in a way. "Does that mean this child is a relative of yours, Subaru?"

"See!? Roswaal gets it! I don't like that he gets it, but he does!" Subaru heaved a weary sigh and continued.

"But yeah, apparently we're related. He said he's… my and Emilia's son."

An uncomfortable silence once again filled the room. Everyone who hadn't already met the silver-haired boy stared at Subaru as if he just confessed to being a Sin Archbishop. If anything, Ram would have preferred that to Subaru's actual answer; it would give her an excuse to slap him at least.

"From the future."

Subaru's follow-up response did nothing to improve the pink-haired maid's mood.

"I think you blew it," Tonnura said flatly.

"Come on, is that what you say to the guy who just backed you up!?"

Subaru's little outburst thankfully burst a hole in the thick tension that was building up in the hall.

Subaru hardly noticed that a certain blue-haired maid had approached him. She put a hand on Subaru's forehead with a concerned look in her eyes.

"Umm, Rem?"

"You don't have a fever," Rem said as she pulled her hand back. "Subaru-kun, did you perhaps fall and hit your head?"

"No, but that boy fell on Subaru-sama's head," Petra snidely muttered, earning a disapproving look from Frederica. It was obvious that the mansion's sudden visitor hadn't left a good first impression on the junior maid.

After what felt like an eternity, Emilia slowly approached the boy and kneeled down. She took in his short silver hair and slightly pointed ears; she unconsciously touched her own. But what caught her attention the most was…

"Your eyes…" Tonnura's eyes were the same color as hers, but mean looking like Subaru's. They reminded her all too much of the woman who was like a mother to her, sending a pang of nostalgia through her chest.

"There scary like Dad's. Sorry."

"Don't apologize for that! You'll make me feel bad!"

Emilia giggled at the two's banter.

"You said your name is Tonnura, right?"

"Mhm."

"It's nice to meet you." Emilia gave a bright smile.

Tonnura's eyes widened slightly. He reached out and hugged Emilia, who hugged him back.

"I'm sorry," Emilia finally said, pulling herself out of the hug to look the boy in the eye. "You being my future son is… really farfetched for me. How exactly did you get here?"

"Well, Barusu? Explain yourself immediately so we can return this child before nightfall."

"We already went over this, I didn't take him from anywhere! He fell out of the sky!" Subaru protested, pointing a finger upward.

"The sky?" Emilia tilted her head to the side in thought. She gasped when she had a thought. "Did the stork drop him!?"

"Emilia-sama," Frederica said with a sigh, "Children don't come from storks. Nor do they come from kisses or anything so outlandish."

"Then where do they come from!?" Emilia quickly stood up and turned to face Frederica. The blond maid struggled to maintain eye contact when her emerald eyes met Emilia's.

"W-well, they…"

"Whenever it's brought up, everyone always changes the subject, so of course I don't know! You won't let me read about it, either!"

Frederica knew that Subaru was reluctant to share that kind of knowledge with Emilia, even if she had initially objected. If Emilia were to become Lugunica's sovereign someday, she would need to know how to produce heirs.

But now the blond maid was able to sympathize with Subaru in that regard. She hadn't been at this much a loss since she first became a maid.

"Frederica nee-sama?"

Petra tugged on the side of Frederica's skirt to get her attention.

"I want to know where they come from too!" The girl clenched her fists in front of her chest, eyes filled with determination.

"Not you too, Petra…"

Frederica was hesitating under Emilia and Petra's curious yet fierce looks. She knew how adamant Petra could be when she set her mind on something, so she couldn't just say that her junior should wait until she's older or ask her parents and let the subject quietly die. And if Petra gave her the sad puppy-dog eyes, her defences would completely and most-assuredly crumble.

"Well, when a mom and dad love each other a lot…"

Thankfully for her, the burden was shifted from her to Tonnura, who spoke with a finger raised.

However, Subaru wasn't having any of that.

"Hold it! Hold it!" Subaru quickly put a hand over the boy's mouth, earning him a glare. "You don't need to say any of that stuff! How do you even know about that, anyway!?"

Tonnura pushed Subaru's hand away so he could speak. It was a light shove for Tonnura, but Subaru felt a surprising amount of strength behind it.

"I asked you, Mom and Big Sis before, but you just said to wait until I'm older. So I asked one of the maids about it."

"You have maids?" Emilia asked.

"They told me babies come from a mom and dad who love each other a lot."

"So they gave you the stock G-rated answer?" Subaru groaned in embarrassment. "That aside, don't pretend like you know something when you don't! No son of mine will be a know-nothing know-it-all!

"Hey, if anyone here's a know-nothing know-it-all, it's-"

Before supposed father and son could continue their bickering, a sound between a whine and a gurgle filled the main hall. Everyone turned to the source, who could only stand there wide-eyed.

The quarter-elf boy quickly turned away from everyone and pulled his hood over his head. Subaru didn't need to see his face to know how red it must have been.

"It is rather late, isn't it?" Emilia looked outside to see the sun setting.

"Dinner shall be ready shortly. If you will please excuse us," Frederica said rather quickly with a bow. She and the three other maids left the main hall. Frederica was silently thankful that her prayer had been answered and the subject had been dropped. Petra looked like she wanted to say more but kept her piece. Ram followed along, just glad that she didn't have to be there any longer.

As for Rem…

Rem took one last glance at Subaru, Emilia, and the boy claiming to be their son before catching up to her sister.

Everyone sans the maids was now seated at the dinner table. Tonnura and Subaru, who had Beatrice take her place on his lap, flanked Emilia on both sides. Garfiel and Otto took their seats across from them, and Roswaal took his seat at the head of the table.

Everyone had something they wanted to say, but were unsure of how they should broach the subject. Before long, awkward silence once again accompanied everyone.

Subaru looked past Emilia over to Tonnura. Despite probably being the hungriest person there, he wasn't greedily shoveling as much food as he could into his mouth. He was carefully placing what he wanted onto his plate, cutting up what was too big, and chewing quietly and thoroughly. He would occasionally drink from the cup of tea next to his plate.

Tonnura felt Subaru's eyes trained on him. Once the quarter-elf swallowed what he was chewing, he spoke.

"Is something wrong?"

The boy's words drew the attention of everyone in the dining room. In that silence, his voice was like a thunderclap.

"No, I just wasn't expecting you to eat so… refined, I guess. When I was your age, I would just start chowing down if I was hungry."

"I might be hungry, but you and Mom didn't raise me to eat like a slob." The boy took another sip of his tea. "Besides, no one likes to see a messy eater." He took a furtive glance at a certain auburn-haired maid standing to the side.

Though Petra didn't seem to notice the boy's glance, Subaru did. His body lightly shook as he contained his laughter.

Of course his own son would want to look good in front of a girl.

"Was something he said funny, I wonder?"

"No, just thinking something about apples and trees."

"Apples? Don't you mean appas?" Emilia asked.

"If I may?" Otto interjected with his hand raised. "I think it's imperative that we continue our conversation from earlier."

"Wouldn't you already know where babies come from, though?" Tonnura asked.

"You know which conversation I mean! The one about you being Emilia-sama and Natsuki-san's son!" Otto gave an exasperated sigh. With the level of teasing he was receiving, Otto was all but convinced that the boy was Subaru's son.

However, Otto refused to let his own sentiments cloud his judgment. He couldn't see the circumstances about Tonnura's abrupt appearance as anything but suspicious.

"Indeed. I must admit I too aaaam rather curious." Roswaal leaned forward in his seat at the head of the table. He rested his elbows on the table and crossed his hands.

"Even with the greatest magic, travelling baaaackwards in time is impossible. And yet…" Tonnura tensed up under the magician's inquisitive gaze. "You claim to be the future son of Emilia-sama and her truuuusted knight. Do you have any prooooof to support such a claim?"

Though Roswaal's words weren't directed at him, Subaru felt like he was their focal point. Roswaal was the only person who knew of Subaru's time-looping ability, although the mechanism behind it eluded him.

Subaru didn't care for Roswaal, but he had to admit the court magician had a point. Tonnura showed up and claimed to be the future descendant of a Royal Selection Candidate, so the burden of proof fell on him. Despite Subaru's personal feelings, the quarter-elf boy's physical similarities to Emilia and himself weren't enough to substantiate his claim. And Roswaal's tone indicated he saw this as merely a jest by either Subaru or an impish child.

"I believe him."

Subaru was surprised that the gruff Garfiel, of all people present, was the first one to defend the boy's claims.

"He smells like Cap'n and Princess. You can't copy that kinda thing unless you've been around 'em for a long time. But Mini-Cap'n only just got here, right? Tha's proof enough for me." Garfiel then took a bite out of a large cut of meat.

Tonnura looked a little relieved at what Garfiel said, but quickly looked aghast. He turned to Emilia and put a hand over his mouth, as if telling her a secret.

"He didn't just say I stink, did he?"

"Eh? No, of course not. I'm sure that's not what Garfiel meant."

Tonnura let out a relieved sigh.

"He means that, well…" Subaru tried to find the right words. "Everyone has a special scent that they have. And since you're my and Emilia's son, you have a bit of both of ours."

"So you're saying I do stink?" Tonnura asked as he crinkled his nose. He probably didn't like that Subaru had overheard what he whispered to Emilia.

"What part of what I said made you think that?"

"Why would I want to smell like an old man?"

"So I'm the problem here!?"

"Can we stop talking about who does or doesn't stink!? It's revolting, I suppose!" Beatrice complained as she flapped her arms, nearly bopping Subaru in the chin. She crossed her arms then shot a glare at Tonnura. "And Betty's contractor doesn't stink, in fact!"

Petra and Rem silently nodded in agreement, while Ram fought the unprofessional urge to put a hand to her face. Tonnura looked like he was about to retort, but Emilia loudly clapped her hands together.

"Beatrice-chan is right. Let's not discuss that at the dinner table, please," she said with a disapproving voice. She then turned to the quarter-elf. "Now, back to Otto's question. We still haven't heard how you got here. Could you please tell us?"

"Sorry, but I don't have any idea how I got… sent back in time."

"What about what you were doing right before you came here?" Subaru asked. "That might give us a lead".

"Oh, I can do that," Tonnura said before taking a sip of his tea. "It was after lunch and I was playing in the yard. I didn't have any lessons today…or, would that be yesterday…?" The boy paused to ponder over the terminology before he shook his head and continued.

"Anyways, I felt sleepy like I usually do after lunch, so I took a nap. When I woke up, I was in the middle of the woods. I kept looking around to see where I was until I found this place."

"The woods?" Emilia gasped at a realization. "Did you run into any mabeasts!?"

"Yeah, but I dealt with them. You and Dad taught me how to defend myself if bad guys come after me." The boy flexed one of his arms with a hand on his bicep. Subaru could see a hint of pride in the boy's eyes.

"You dealt with 'em? What, did you punch 'em out or somethin'?" Garfiel asked.

"An El Shamak was enough for them. I won't fight those things unless I have to. One time, I punched a mabeast too hard and it blew up. It was gross."

Everyone was surprised at how blasé Tonnura made such a grizzly act sound. Garfiel, though, was impressed that someone so small could make a monster "blow up" with a single punch.

"It was smart to not engage them, I suppose. The woods outside Costuul are a veritable breeding ground for those things." Beatrice grimaced at the mention of how prolific mabeasts were if left unchecked. "They think only of sating their appetites. Where there is one, more will surely follow, in fact. Even if many of them die against potential prey, they'll still try anyways."

"Strength in numbers doesn't always make up for brains, I guess," Subaru muttered.

"I didn't really think about that. I just don't like getting my clothes dirty. And Petra nee-sama let me have it about how blood and guts are really hard to clean off."

Petra grimaced in disgust at the thought of having to clean anything of that sort.

"Petra nee-sama?"

"That's right, he did mention maids before," Otto muttered to himself. "I assume that Petra-san is one of those maids under Em- your family's employ?"

"Yeah, she's the best maid we have at the castle." Tonnura took another sip of his tea.

Most everyone's eyes were now laser-focused on the quarter-elf. Roswaal merely narrowed his eyes.

"When you say 'castle'," Roswaal said, foregoing his usual drawling speech pattern, "surely you don't mean the Royal Palace of Lugunica?"

Tonnura picked up on the change in atmosphere and looked nervous. He took a deep breath then exhaled slowly.

"Yes, I do."

"And, if you're Emilia-sama's child, then…" The implications were starting to dawn on Otto, as it did everyone else.

"I… won the Selection?"

Subaru already knew of Tonnura's status, but hearing it again from Emilia's mouth still took him aback. Frederica and Garfiel's moths were slightly agape from surprise. Rem and Ram acted as professional as ever and remained stone-faced, each for their own reasons. Petra already heard this along with Subaru and Beatrice when Tonnura showed up, but even still didn't seem all that impressed. Otto seemed the most surprised, standing up from his seat with wide eyes and hunched over the table. Roswaal's expression hadn't changed in the slightest, but Subaru didn't doubt that he was shocked to some degree.

"Emilia, are you alright?"

"Eh?"

The girl next to Subaru had become deathly quiet. No doubt there was a lot she was processing. Tonnura also seemed troubled by how quiet the half-elf had become.

"I know that… it's a lot to take in," Tonnura said slowly. "If I were in your shoes, I wouldn't believe me either."

"Oh, it's not that! It's just…" Emilia sounded flustered, struggling to find the right words to say. "First my future son somehow arrives here, then it turns out I'm the next queen of Lugunica? It's all really overwhelming."

"Isn't this a good thing, though?"

Everyone looked towards Garfiel.

"Think about it. If everythin' Mini Cap'n says is true, that he's from the future and that Princess becomes th' next queen... Doesn't that mean, even if things go wrong, she'll still win?"

"You have a point," Otto said. "But even still, there's no telling what could go wrong in the next year. I want to say we can take it easy; it would make my role much easier. But I don't want us to get in a spot of trouble we can't get out of because we decided to slack off."

Subaru thought that both Garfiel and Otto had a point. On the one hand, Tonnura's presence meant that Emilia becoming queen wasn't impossible. And Subaru knew he could do with taking it easy, especially knowing that everything would work out.

But he remembered something from his time with the Witch of Greed. How she said she would bring him to his desired future no matter what, even though that meant people would be hurt, or even sacrificed, to make that happen.

Subaru had to make sure that that wouldn't come to pass.

"Hey, Tonnura?" Subaru suddenly spoke out to the boy.

"Huh?"

"So far you've only mentioned me, Emilia-tan, and Petra. Is there anyone else here you recognize?"

Tonnura swallowed what he had been eating and nodded.

"Well, Frederica nee-sama and Uncle Garf come over sometimes. I see Uncle Otto too, but he's usually too busy to talk. Oh, and Big Sis is here too."

The boy leaned over the table to look at the blond spirit drinking tea on her contractor's lap. It took her a second to realize the boy was referring to her.

"You called Betty that before, I suppose. What makes you think you can call her that?"

"I guess to you, Beako is like an older sister, huh?"

"She isn't like a big sister. She is my big sister."

"W-what do you mean by that!? It's impossible for a Great Spirit such as Betty to be your sibling, I suppose!"

"But you don't need to be blood-related to be a family, Beatrice-chan."

Beatrice indignantly grumbled at Emilia's words while red in the face. Subaru laughed a little and started to pet her head.

"That's right. It doesn't matter to Mom, Dad, or me that you're a Great Spirit and we're not. You're still my big sister Beatrice Natsuki."

"Eh!?" Beatrice let out a little squeak.

Everyone was surprised that Subaru, or rather Tonnura's father, had given his contracted spirit his surname. Subaru thought it sounded odd when the boy had said it, but the more he thought about it, the more it felt… right.

Beatrice was like the little sister Subaru never had, so letting her carry the Natsuki family name and literally become a part of his family made sense to him.

Tonnura looked over to the head of the table, trying not to look Roswaal in his mismatched eyes. He then looked at Ram and Rem for a few seconds, trying not to be rude for staring.

"I'm sorry," the quarter-elf finally said. "I don't know who you are. Maybe I saw you before, but I can't remember."

"So Ram and Rem don't work at the castle? When you said you had maids, I just assumed…" Subaru was disheartened that Rem wasn't there in the castle with him.

Roswaal and Ram weren't terribly surprised at not being recognized. But Rem couldn't help but feel a chilling sense of dread at the thought of hearing any more about the silver-haired boy's future.

"From the sound of it, it seems like you don't interact with anyone besides me, Subaru, and Beatrice-chan," Emilia said. "It sounds rather lonely. Do you have any younger siblings?"

"Not right now, but I'm going to have a little sister soon!" Tonnura said proudly with a big smile.

"Ooh, a little sister?" Emilia brought her hands together and smiled excitedly. "Do you know what her name will be?"

"Chochorina."

Everyone in the room except Emilia and Tonnura made a face at the ridiculous-sounding name. Either Subaru hadn't offered any choices of his own or he was fine with whatever strange name Emilia came up with.

Even Subaru couldn't imagine the latter happening twice.

"A little sister, huh?" Subaru glanced in Rem's direction before refocusing on Tonnura. "And Emilia's also the mother?"

"Well, yeah. Who else would it be?" Tonnura asked, raising an eyebrow.

Subaru furrowed his brow slightly and Rem grabbed her apron. Tonnura didn't seem to know who Rem was, so of course he wouldn't know just how deep her feelings for Subaru were.

Before the room could become anymore tense, Subaru cleared his throat.

"Anyways, does that answer your question, Otto?"

"Yes it does, but it's led to so many others…" the merchant groaned. His main concern had been addressed, so he had no room complain.

"So, Tonnura, what are you going to do now?" Emilia asked.

"Actually… I want to ask for a favor."

All eyes were on Tonnura, who seemed to fidget in his seat.

"I haven't been born yet, so I don't have a home to go to right now. So… Could I please stay here? For a little while?"

Subaru and the others had been so swept up in trying to figure out the current circumstances that they completely overlooked that key detail.

Tonnura didn't have anywhere to go. If he hadn't arrived at the mansion, he would probably have spent the foreseeable future in the woods. Even though he scoffed at the idea of mabeasts giving him any trouble, they still outnumbered him greatly. It would only be a matter of time before they became a threat.

"I-if I need to, I can help out with chores around the mansion-"

"Tonnura, you don't need to do something like that," Emilia said, shaking her head.

"-Even though I've never done– huh?" Tonnura, who had started speaking in a panic, went quiet at what Emilia had said.

"Come on, isn't it kind of a given that you'd be staying here?" Subaru said with a sigh. "You don't have anywhere else to go, right? No way could I just throw you to the curb and hope for the best."

"Mm-hm, exactly." Emilia nodded her head and turned towards the head of the table. "Roswaal, is it alright for him to stay?"

"I do not miiiind taking on another guest," Roswaal finally said. "Does anyone have any objeeeections?"

"Hell no!" Garfiel quickly said.

"Garf." Frederica shot the blonde boy a stern look that made him grimace and look away.

"It's not even a bad word…" Garfiel muttered.

"If Subaru approves of him, then so does Betty, I suppose." Petra and Rem both nodded in agreement.

"It's Master Roswaal's decision, so it's not my place to object," Ram said.

"I also have no issue with Tonnura-sama staying here," Frederica said.

"If it's going to be like this, I can't really object, can I?" Otto sighed and rubbed his head in exasperation. He was still skeptical of the quarter-elf, but he also didn't feel comfortable with throwing a child out with nowhere to go.

"Then it's settled." Emilia clapped her hands together with a smile. "After dinner, you can pick a room to stay in. There are plenty to choose from, so you take your time."

"Thank you…" Tonnura looked down at his plate, a small smile on his face.

"But you can't pick Emilia-tan's room. That place is off limits."

"Wha- I wasn't going to!" The boy slammed his hands onto the table and sat up in his seat to glare at Subaru. Everyone felt the table tremble when it was struck.

"Don't be mean, Subaru." Emilia looked at her knight with a pout. Tonnura felt some satisfaction at having the half-elf stand up for him. "If Tonnura wants to share my room, then that's perfectly fine."

"I just said I wasn't-!" Tonnura went wide eyed and started to look a little red in the face, either from anger, embarrassment, or both. "Dang it, Dad, this is your fault!"

"Hey, you can't blame me for looking out for Emilia-tan!"

"Can too! You just admitted it!"

Garfiel noticed in his periphery that Otto was massaging his temples.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"I get the feeling things are about to become… more chaotic than usual," the merchant said with an exhausted sigh. He only got a laugh out of the demihuman for his troubles.

With Tonnura's introductions out of the way, and after both father and son got a scolding from Emilia, dinner proceeded without any issues.

Some still had lingering questions about the quarter-elf child's origins, but they figured they would be answered in time.

However, out of everyone in the room, there were two who had the most on their minds: A blue-haired maid who could only watch on as she felt her heart practically shatter, and her sister who could do nothing to stop it.