"..."

Kenichi couldn't answer , what was the correct answer ? Was there an even correct answer ? He wanted to jump up , shout "Of course not !" smile and reassured his wife but he couldn't , the Subaru that he knew was someone stuck in a rut , not going to school for reasons he didn't want to pry into and was generally depressed. He didn't know the reason , he didn't want to force it , he wanted to wait for the day that Subaru would come up and ask them for help for anything but that day would never come as he disappeared, however knowing his son was here now and was constantly accomplishing feats that sounded unreal, the feeling of incompetence was growing within him as more thoughts pour into him , was he really better off without them ? Were they the one holding him back ? Was the way they treated him wrong ? all these questions constantly got into his head , he knew it was unhealthy to be thinking this way, but there was no one to stop him from drowning in these pessimistic thoughts.

Kenichi took a deep breath and answered his wife.

"I dont know…."

"..."

'But….we..can find out…when we see him….for now…we should be thankful he is alive and well , soon we will meet him and our family will be together again."

If he ever wants to see us , these words were not said , there was no evidence or anything that suggested that subaru would hate both them or even reject them, For all he knew , Subaru would be grateful to find them after 2 years , maybe even rushing in to hug the both of them, but at the same time, because of the state that the parents were left in for 2 years, the only thoughts that could come to them were all negative and it was slowly spiraling out of control the more they think about it.

Kenichi cleared his throat and shook his head. There was an easier way to confirm this and it simply involved the person outside , there was fear that whatever he wanted to ask could backfire , but regardless , getting an answer was better than constantly drowning in their own personal thoughts.

"Julius-kun , can you come in please? We have something we want to ask you"

"Understood"

The door opened and he entered , he looked at them and narrowed his eyes. Whatever talk the couple had obviously didn't help them with anything as they looked more depressed then when he first spotted them, he sat down and looked at them.

"Please ask anything , i will answer to the best of my abilities"

"...has Subaru talked about us…his parents before ?"

"..?"

It was certainly a question that he didn't expect them to ask but given the emotions that the couple were going through…there has to be a reason for it but he knew better than to pry into family matters he had no understanding of.

"Subaru….rarely talks about his parents"

The couple shoulders slump and look down as if it confirms them something , but Julius continued speaking

"But, there…was once where i asked him about his parents on the way back from Vollachia, he glared at me and tried to make me drop the topic, but Rem-sama was curious about his parents as well, so she showed her curiosity and Subaru gave in instantly, considering it was Rem-Sama who asked, what he told us was that he really loved and respected the both of you, considered his parents to have his utmost respect that he could give, he mentioned that he wanted to see the 2 of you again but couldn't,he would say anymore than that and the conversation died after that."

Hearing what was said, the couple felt like they were liberated, their chest felt light, head clear,the fact that Subaru STILL loved them , and respected them, wanted to meet them and hearing that they were the person who he respected the most, just melted the feelings of insecurity in the both of them , it blew away every sense of doubt that subaru loved them, they started crying, but this time with tears of happiness , the couple hugged each other and continued crying, Julius just smiled , patiently waiting for them to finish.

After what felt like using up 2 years worth of tears , the couple calmed down and wiped away any remaining tears that were left. They felt refreshed, renewed and ready to see him again , although it would take awhile, they wanted to see him, they wanted to hear from him personally , to feel the warmth of their son again and finally get to be a family again, although in a new world.

"Sorry for the unseemly act Julius-kun, it just feels…rewarding, you really have saved us in a way you wont know"

Naoko smiled happily , her hand holding onto her husband's tightly. Naoko felt like she could finally look forward, the happiness she was feeling was one of old times, when Subaru was still with them , eating lunch and dinner with them. The once simple times that were long gone were now something she could look forward to for the future.

"Please, do really think nothing of it , anything that i can help you with is just repaying my debt to Subaru , continue to ask me and i will do anything in my power to help you"

"...we didn't ask, but what has Subaru done specially for you ? We know that you said you own him a great debt, but what kind of debt ?"

"Subaru…saved my life…in more ways than you can imagine , allow me to tell the story of what happened in these past 2 years."

Julius then explained how there was this cult called the witch cult who were terrorizing the world for 400 years now , and leading the witch cult, are the archbishop of sins , these people were extremely dangerous and were top priority to either kill or escape depending on the situation. The one Julius focused on talking about was the archbishop of gluttony , who ate his name.

"..eat your [name] ? sorry but what does that mean ?"

"To put it shorty, whenever someone has their [name] eaten, everyone will lose their memory of said person , they have the ability to eat [memories] as well , whoever has their memory eaten , would have amnesia and would not remember anything"

"...what happens when both are eaten ?"

"The person that has both eaten gets turned into what we call a sleeping beauty , they sleep..till the their end and no one remembers them"

The couple were in shock, to be forgotten by the world , to forget everything or both…that magic or whatever it was, was extremely vile.

"Sorry, please continue"

Julius nodded

"While my name was eaten….there was only 1 person who could remember me…"

He didn't continue but look at the couple with a glint in his eyes

There was just silence while the couple just tilt their head , confused as to why Julius just kept quiet , until a thought came to Kenichi mind

"...Subaru…?"

Julius smiled , confirming that Subaru was the only who remembered him and was the person to vouched for him for his place in this world , the one to make sure that he could carry on as Anatasia's knight and the one that allowed him to still stay together with the rest of the people he knew , the feelings of gratitude was something he could never repay back to him.

"Was there any reason why Subaru could remember your name ?"

"No…as far as i am aware , even Subaru himself do not know why he can remember my name or anyone's name who has been eaten..we just treat it as it is because…it is Subaru after all"

While confused about what Julius meant at the end of his sentence , they decided not to dwell and carry on.

"Carrying on , during the conquest of the pleiades tower, he was the key person to solve every puzzle and any difficulty we had in said tower, to put it lightly, we could never conquer the tower without him and it was thanks to him…I could overcome certain..issues of mine that I was going through during that period. That is just what he has personally done for me, for what he has for the kingdom as whole…no, the world,one day isn't enough and I prefer to leave it to someone who is part of his camp to explain his achievements more, although ferris has already told you the outline for it"

Julius finished, the couple were intrigued with whatever Julius had told them, was he being humble when he said Subaru was that important in the conquest ? If they were to take him at face-value and whatever Ferris has told them with him being a hero and slayer , does that mean Subaru has gotten some powers when he was transported here ?

"Julius-kun , does Subaru have any special powers ? to achieve whatever he has, it seems that he has some strong special powers right ? like shooting giant fireballs of magic ? being a master swordsman ?"

Julius chucked , leaving the couple puzzled.

"My apologies ... .yes i do agree that whoever hears about his achievement and does not know him would think he has some amazing abilities…he does have unique…techniques he uses but not whatever you have asked."

"Subaru is frail, rash, easily prone to anger, loudmouthed, too trusting, too forgiving, too nice, too greedy, quite prideful at times and a handful to handle"

His face turned from one from smiling to one that was serious, his toned switch to a respectful one , one that can be heard as speaking of someone of higher regard.

"But…he has courage like no other, his frailness does not stop him from being on the frontlines and from being the first to go , as long as he knows he can do it, he will do it. His humble nature is frankly.. concerning at times, he does not have a high opinion of himself and always downplay his achievement , but that humbleness of his is what allowed him to constantly gather allies around him, prideful at times he may be, he will always bow his head desperately as many times as he needs in order to achieve his goals of saving people. Although loudmouthed, he always knew what to say at the most perilous of times , giving courage and confidence to people, his greed knew no bounds when it comes to saving people or having people around him , but he was selfless as well , he would give everything to his friends and ask nothing in return , his trust in others were to a fault , but it was this same trust that people would not want to betray and it continues and loops, whoever fought with Subaru knew he trust them and they trusted him, he is truly one of the greatest knight to exist and-"

Julius, realizing what he was saying, snapped out of it and cough into his hand, his cheeks were slightly flushed, he wanted to say he did have some abilities , but his main power was gathering people around him but he went on this huge tangent on felt embarrassed saying all of these in front of his parents.

"Pardon me , what i was trying to say is-"

"It's ok Julius-kun we understand , you really like Subaru right ?"

"...i wont say that i like him…but as a fellow knight..he has done his job well and his achievements are nothing to scoff at"

The parents smiled widely , they knew that Julius was being dishonest and they didnt want to push it, but more importantly they were extremely happy, pride welling up in their chest, his achievement was one thing, but hearing someone speak of Subaru so highly with respect brought such warmth to them and it was coming from this serious , stoic looking knight.

Before Julius could continue saying anything , the door to their room was open and a smooth , sweet sounding voice was heard.

"Julius? I heard from Ferris that you had some reeaallly important thing to tell me ?"

Entering the room , a young woman with long silver hair with pointed ears, her primary white outfit with purple sub colors made her stand out easily , the woman then turned to the couple , her large purple eyes widening in surprise.

"Ahhh ! sorry i didnt know u were busy, sorry for interrupting Julius"

"Please do not apologize Emilia-sama, in fact, you came at a good timing, the important thing i wanted to tell you is something to do with the couple in front of us"

Emilia tilted her head

"Who are they, Julius ?"

"Subaru's parents"

Emilia froze on the spot , and slowly turned to the parents. Julius stood up and moved to the corner of the room and sat down , wishing not to interrupt them.

This was a reaction that the couple were somewhat used to now, this happened at the receptionist at the inn. But then, what name did Julius call her ? Emilia ? this person was the one that Subaru is serving right ? Before they could ask, Emilia sat in front of them in a seiza position and bowed her head.

"Uhm..hello father, mother, my name is Emilia , just Emilia, it's good to finally meet the both of you"

"…Father..?"

"Mother ?"

There was this silence as the couple contemplated what Emilia had called them, this was the person that Subaru was serving right ? and Subaru was, what was understood,in love with her, so the reason why she called them mother and father, was it because..?

"Ahh ! Sorry, did I call you that wrongly ? Subaru always told me that on the off chance, that I somehow meet you , calling you father and mother would make the both of you happy"

Emilia interrupted with their thoughts , she looked at them, wondering if she said anything wrong.

Naoko smiled and put a hand on her cheek

"No, no, nothing is wrong, it is just hearing such a cute girl calling us father and mother feels good, but did you not think it is weird for you to call us father and mother just because Subaru told you too ?"

"Ah, maybe..? But if it makes Subaru happy, I will be happy too, so it's fine."

Emilia said, smiling happily.

This reply instantly made the couple warm up to Emilia quickly, there was this feeling of comfort just from that reply alone and this made them want to know more about her.

"We heard from Julius-kun that Subaru is your knight ?"

Emilia nodded.

"What made you choose him to be your knight ? Was it because of his achievements ? How did you meet him ? How do you feel about him ? Is he doing good as a knight ? Is he troubling you constantly?"

Naoko was badgering Emilia with questions while Emilia looked troubled, not knowing when to jump in to answer, Kenichi put a hand on Naoko Shoulder with a huge grin on his face.

"Now now dear, if you keep badgering her like that , she wouldn't have a chance to answer any of that"

"Ahhh right sorry dear, I got too excited, after all, this is the person who Subaru loves right ?"

Hearing that, Emilia's cheeks flustered and she looked down slightly and Julius chucked.

Seeing this reaction just brought more joy for the both of them, maybe..their son has gotten someone ? but since he was serving her, does this not complicate things ? is it alright for a knight to date someone he is serving ? so many questions but they needed to take this step by step.

"Sorry Emilia-chan , let's take this one question at a time ok ? Why did you choose Subaru as your knight ?"

"Why…? Uhm…because he is Subaru."

Emilia answered , there were alot of things that she could answer, because he was someone she trusted, because he always tried his best for her, because without him, she wouldn't be standing here, but in this moment when asked by his parents why, that's the only thing she could say, much to Kenichi confusion but Naoko seem to understand something.

"Ahh..because he is Subaru right ?"

"Yes..because he is Subaru"

This conversation left Kenichi confused and Julius raising an eyebrow, he had an idea but he preferred not to say anything.

"Emilia-chan, sorry but can..you explain what you mean ?"

"Uhmm…."

Emilia looked troubled at Kenichi's question, for some reason she had trouble formulating an answer even though it was in all of her head.

Naoko held Kenichi's hand and she helped Emilia by saying.

"Because…he is just that important to you, correct ?"

Emilia smiled and nodded multiple times, happy that Subaru's mother understood her.

"Yes, Subaru is a reaallllyyy important person to me"

"...how did you get that from what she said ?"

"because it is the same way i feel about you dear, if someone asked me why i married you , the only reason i need is because..its you"

This answer left Kenichi smiling and he squeezed Naoko's hand. This does mean that Emilia has some feelings for their son right ? He wanted to ask her straight if she and Subaru are dating but refrained and let Naoko continue asking her questions since she was the one that could understand Emila answers easily from that short conversation.

"Sorry Emilia-chan, but why is he that important to you ?"

This question though, was something Emilia could answer easily, the answer she wanted to say regarding his Knighthood was used to answer this instead

"Because he believes in me, because he cares for me, because he stays by my side when i need him, because he is always there to support me, because he is always the first one to help me, Because he is the person to cheer me up when i need it,because i know he will always save me when i am in danger,because Subaru says…he says he loves me for who i am"

Finishing that sentence , Emilia's ears reddened and she had this peaceful , lovely smile on her face, her eyes although looking at the couple, it was obvious to the both of them that she was thinking of Subaru, that she was seeing him in his mind and imagining him when she was speaking.

Naoko lean forward and grabbed her hand softly, jotting her to pay attention again.

"Emilia-chan"

"Ye-yes ?"

"Are you and Subaru a couple ?"

"N-no….not..yet"

Emilia looked at Naoko, slightly afraid. Naoko, not understanding why, did not push this fear forward as a question but continued asking, in hopes of getting an answer.

"Yet..?"

"Yes ... .uhm..it is because even though Subaru told me he loves me,i have not given him an answer, i know he is patiently waiting for me to answer him and i know it is not fair for me to keep him waiting even though he said he is ok with waiting as long as i need…but"

"But…?"

"I…didnt understand how to love someone for a reaalllyyy long time , it is only…recently that someone happened that i realized my feelings for him was…love…but because of things going around..i have not told him that i love him…"

"I see…do you plan on telling him that anytime soon ?"

"Ye-yes…this trip was meant for him to celebrate his birthday and i pla-planned on telling him that I lo-love him…"

"I understand , well then you have my blessing"

Emilia looked confused.

"Even though I am a silver-haired half elf ?"

Naoko tilted her head, confused on why Emilia was confused.

"Emilia-sama , if i may interrupt, like Subaru, they came from the beyond the great waterfall, so they do not anything about our world and do not know about your blight"

"Eh ? Why ? what's the reason ?"

Julius looked at Emilia , hinting that if she wished , he would explain everything , but Emilia shook her head and smiled.

"Don't worry Julius , Subaru accepted me for who i am so i am not afraid to explain why"

Julius nodded , looking content

Emilia then explained why silver haired- half elfs are hated , how she looked like the witch Satella , the witch that destroyed half the world 400 years ago and how until now, that was this fear of people that look like her and currently , the only person to look like her was Emilia.

"I see…you have my blessings Emilia-chan"

"Eh ?"

"I understand what you are afraid of now, however Subaru still loves you despite all of this right ?"

"Yes.."

"As a parent, it is my role to support my son's love life , besides…the reason you are afraid isn't because we will reject you, but because you think we will scold Subaru for picking you right ?"

Emilia nodded silently.

Naoko sigh and smiled bitterly , This girl in front of her was too nice , she was afraid Subaru would get scolded by them and would have a rift in the family because of the difference in opinion , the fact she didn't considering herself getting scorn is a problem , is a problem in itself , but it seems that way because she was getting hated from who knows how long ago.

Naoko squeezed Emilia's hand.

"Emilia-chan, Subaru already knows whatever you have told us right ?"

She nodded

"Well then it's all fine isn't it dad?"

"Yes mum, but it's quick fast eh ? meeting our daughter in law"

"Eh ?"

"Correct dad ~ , who knew that Subaru could get such a beautiful girl right ?"

"Eh ? beaut-"

"I cant wait to hold our grandchildren right mum ?"

"Uhm"

"Ahahhaha , we should be considered lucky to have a beautiful daughter and a grandchild in a few years maybe ?"

"Grandch-"

"Not now mum , we need to consider the wedding first"

"..."

"Ah ! But is there even a concept of a wedding here ? there should be, right ?"

As the conversation between the Natsuki couple continued by themselves blissfully , Emilia was extremely beef red while Julius was laughing quietly to himself in the corner. The couple were operating at their own pace and this threw Emilia off guard, this conversation style reminded her of the Subaru in some ways and it calmed her down abit, even though what they were talking about was embarrassing , she felt somewhat at peace also. She looked up abit studied Subaru's parents. He had his mother's eyes and she really liked it. The aura she was giving off felt like mother Fortuna and felt nostalgic to her. Subaru had his father's hair and seemingly his personality as well , although Subaru's felt a lot more boisterous. While inside her own little world thinking of Subaru the couple seem to stop talking and were smiling at her warmly. Realizing this , she asked.

"Uhm..is there something on my face ?"

"You were thinking of Subaru right ?"

"Eh..? How did you know ?"

Emilia didn't know she could get more and more red but it did, she was surprised that mother could easily read her.

"Because you looked like a girl in love thinking of the person she loved"

"Ahh..ok.."

Emilia looked down, she never really felt this embarrassed before, the few times she did was when Subaru was saying he wanted to marry her or wanted to kiss her more again.

Naoko and Kenichi were smiling , the more they interacted , the more they really liked Emilia , she might be royal but she was extremely adorable, and they more or less accepted her in the Natsuki family, they were also really glad Subaru managed to find a good hearted person who seem to really love him back.

"Well…we are jumping too quickly, we want to hear stories, firstly how did you meet Subaru ?"

Emilia explained how she met him, how he found something important that she lost , how he saved her and how he protected him from getting her stomach getting cut open. She then explain how he got injured from that act , her bringing him to the mansion she lived in and him choosing to work in the mansion as a reward.

"Wait, you said Subaru found the thing you lost, right ? how did he know about it ?"

"Well…..i do not know also"

"What ?"

"Yes..i never did ask about to this day..i don't see a point in it now"

"What if Subaru was a person trying to take advantage of you with that Elsa person?"

"...i was considering that , but he was fighting reaaallllyyy hard to win and…i knew he wasn't reaalllyy a bad person when he asked for his reward for saving me"

"Reward ? What did he ask for ?"

Emilia smiled happily , thinking back on that moment. She didn't know just how important that one person could become in her life and how much her life could change so much for the better.

"My name"

"...your name ?"

"Yes..just my name , it was that moment i knew…he was just a nice person"

Kenichi started laughing out loud , fighting off an assassin , and doing everything for that just to earn a cute girl's name, even if he wasn't that happy about him being in danger , he was glad that his son was straight-forwarded in his request , that simple request probably did more for him that he could ever imagine. Julius on the outside was stoic , but his ears looked slightly opened bigger, but he was interested in how Subaru started off and ended up where he did.

Emilia continued her story , explaining how he protected the village but finding out the barrier protecting it was broken and him and rem saved the children , she was hesitant on explaining the fight between her and Subaru at the capital , but she did tell them that Subaru and her had a fight , the parents did narrow their eyes at it , but they saw how Emilia looked depressed when speaking of it, so they didn't push for more.

Emilia then smiled , explaining how even though she pushed him away , he came back to save her and save the villagers , and when she asked him why..he said it was because he loved her , and that's why he did what he did.

"He confessed to you right there ?!"

"..I guess he did…?."

"Did you reject him at that point ?"

"...i..didn't give him an answer, Subaru told me that he was willing to wait as long as he needs to..for me to give him a an answer"

The couple looked at each other in surprise , it was a rather mature answer and it also shows how much Subaru loved Emilia , from what they know , it was a short time that Subaru knew Emilia yet he had done so much for her because he loved her that much and yet he was willing to wait as long as he needed for her , it was quite unexpected from him.

Emilia spoke of the sanctuary , how Subaru gave her courage to go through with the trial.

She wanted to say he kissed her but ever since realizing her love for Subaru, she started to get embarrassed and hot in her head whenever she thought of how intimate she usually gets with Subaru , such as holding his hands or hugging his arm. It used to not bother her, but whenever she tries it now, her heart just starts racing so she tried refraining from it, but because she doesn't do it, she can tell Subaru felt abit hurt since she usually does it frequently. he was probably misunderstanding her feelings, probably feeling she wanted to avoid him and the last thing she wanted was for Subaru to feel hurt, so whenever now she wanted to holds or hug his arm , she would have to steel her heart so she could do it .Even though she was Embarrassed of doing it, holding his hand also gave her extremely happiness , so she was really conflicted whenever she did it.

She carried on, saying he managed to save everyone by defeating the white rabbit and he got officially appointed as her knight a few days later.

"Ahhh that was a sweet story to hear, so our son tried his best and really did become your knight huh "

"Yes…he reaaallly tried his best"

"..I know there is more, but there is one thing I wanted to know, how did you know you fell in love with him ?"

Emilia eyed Julius abit , giving him a hint. Julius, understanding this, stood up and opened the room door and bowed to all of them.

"Kenichi-Sama , Naoko-Sama, Emilia-Sama, please call for me if there is anything you need"

The 3 of them nodded and be left the room , closing the door behind him

"…I..I..uhm..it's a story that look placed..around half a year ago, after he came back fro-"

Kenichi's stomach rumbled.

"AHAHAHAH , sorry sorry , it's just it's been quite a long time since we last ate"

He looked outside the window and saw the sun starting to set , he was so engrossed with the stories told that he didn't realize it was evening soon.

"Can we continue after dinner, Emilia-chan , of course you are welcome to join us as well"

"Eh ? Can I ?"

"Of course , of course ! If you are going to be our daughter in law , eating with us is going to be quite common"

"I….I understand.."

"…we have no money though…. I know it's not good to ask for a favor quickly so soon after meeting you but.."

" Ah it's alright , this inn serves food as well , Julius , can we get dinner ? You can join us as well !"

"Understood Emilia-sama , however I will refrain from eating with you, I think you need time to get along well with your in-laws , so perhaps next time"

"Ahhh ! Julius, please don't tease me"

A light laugher came from behind the doors.

"my apologizes, Emilia-Sama , now If you would excuse me"

Footsteps disappeared , while waiting for dinner , and the Natsuki parents continued to talk casually , learning more about her and enjoying her companion more.

Dinner soon arrived and the couple thoroughly enjoyed it , even though they were in another world , the food tasted like Japanese food , the comfort they had felt like they were on holiday, they felt blessed also , to be having such a cute girl as their very likely future daughter brought joy to them. Now it was only Subaru left and they feel complete. Perhaps they could even live here without regrets , as long as they had their family back together again.

"Emilia-chan sorry we can't wait any longer , we want to know when did you fall in with Subaru !"

"I..I understand"

Emilia took a deep breath and then started.