"-tan, wake up."
A soft familiar voice roused her, the sound of someone who gives her strength, she opened her sleepy eyes and saw Subaru sitting at the chair beside her bed, smiling at her.
She sat up groggily. "Good morning, Subaru. Did I wake up late again?"
"Just slightly later than normal." He replied.
Emilia's head slightly tilted due to the sleepiness. "But not late for breakfast, right?"
"Nope, breakfast still can be eaten."
"Mhm, I understand." Fighting against the desire to fall back into bed, she got up, walked to the bathroom and washed her face. With the water waking her up, she went back to her room and sat on her bed. Her hair facing Subaru who was patiently waiting for her.
"Subaru, would you please?"
"Of course! You don't have to say anything else!" With a grin, Subaru picked up a comb, a hairbrush and various other tools and started to groom her hair while happily humming.
Back when the events of the Sanctuary concluded, Subaru volunteered to be the one to take care of her hair, since Puck wasn't there to do it. It went on for weeks until Emilia learned to do it herself during her spare time, when she proudly showed Subaru she was capable of doing it by herself, she saw how crestfallen he looked. Emilia decided to allow him to continue to groom her hair, which instantly perked Subaru back up, and he smiled happily at her.
To this day, it is a tradition for Subaru to take care of her hair in the morning or whenever she needs it, and it was one Emilia had no intention of breaking. She realized just how much she enjoyed hearing Subaru hum, enjoying the music while she felt the love and care Subaru put into taking care of her hair. No matter how long time passed, Subaru would always put in the maximum amount of effort into it, and she appreciated every single time he did so.
"Alright, all done, Emilia-tan!" Subaru said happily. Emilia turned, seeing Subaru's proud expression with his arm crossed, showing just how satisfied he was with his job. Emilia didn't have to feel her hair to know he did a stellar job.
"Thank you, Subaru. Let me change and we can go eat breakfast."
Subaru nodded and left the room and closed the door behind him. Emilia changed into her usual wear and left her room. Standing there waiting patiently was Subaru. She smiled at him, "Let's go."
On the way to the dining room, Emilia had a light discussion with Subaru about what to do for the day, what time they should practice, and what time to end it. It was decided that the whole week would be dedicated to practicing her spell, unless something major happened that would put it on hold, anything minor can be thrown to Otto, who would take care of it, was what Subaru said.
"Don't bully Otto-kun too much, ok? He is constantly overworked, try not to push more onto him." Emilia lightly scolded Subaru, who exaggerated his reactions, pretending to be hurt.
"Emilia-tan! Otto will be fine, please show more concern my way!"
"Hmm? But I will always be concerned for you no matter what, you being safe brings me comfort." Without caring if Subaru was joking or not, Emilia replied back sincerely, which stunned Subaru as his face grew slightly red.
"..? What's wrong, Subaru?" Tilting her head, she looked at Subaru who stopped walking and was just staring at her.
Snapping out of his dazed state, Subaru shook his head and said, "Nothing, it's just…you truly are E M T."
Emilia pouted. "Geez, don't tease me when I am being serious."
Subaru waved his hand. "Sorry, sorry." He mumbled something under his breath and took in a deep breath. "Let's not keep the others waiting."
Emilia nodded, and they slightly picked up the pace to the dining room. The entire time, Subaru was meeker than usual, Emilia did not question it, as it happens from time to time.
Reaching the diner room and opening the doors, Otto, Ram, Fredrica, and Beatrice were sitting, waiting patiently for the duo to arrive.
"Good morning, Emilia-sama." Upon seeing her, The maids bowed, Otto smiled and nodded at her, while Beatrice simply looked at her in acknowledgement.
"Good morning, everyone! Sorry for the wait!" Emilia apologized, hurried walking to her seat with Subaru casually walking.
"You sure took your time, Barusu. Didn't you say you could wake up Emilia-sama on time? You kept us waiting, now Breakfast is cold." With her morning duties over, Ram went back to her usual routine, having her banter with Subaru.
"Well, I did try to wake her up, but she told me another five minutes and-"
"You continued to let her sleep as long as she repeated it…" Ram sighed. "As expected, it was a mistake to rely on you to wake her up."
"There is no mistake. And besides, Emilia-tan was a lot more tired than usual." Subaru turned to face Emilia, and Ram, seemingly understanding this, looked at Emilia too. "Emilia-sama, did you work late into the night again?"
"I did work into the night, but it wasn't too late, I made sure of it!"
Ram looked unconvinced by it while Subaru didn't seem to care about it, Emilia pouted slightly, but Frederica giggled.
"Now, now, at least Emilia-sama is here, let us eat breakfast before it truly gets cold."
With everyone in agreement, they started eating breakfast. Luckily, It was still warm, and it was delicious as always, Frederica was a good cook.
"Emilia-sama, I heard that you are creating your own original spell?" Wiping his mouth of food stains, Otto asked Emilia, who nodded.
Otto put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. He didn't say anything for a while.
"Is there something wrong, Otto-kun? Will training be a problem for us…?" Emilia was excited in creating her spell, but if this meant trouble for Otto since she would take time away from doing her job as a royal candidate, she would stop her pursuit of her spell creation and focus on her work.
Otto looked up, surprised. "Ah, there wouldn't be any problem. If anything, having an original spell is actually better for us. It shows the world how proficient you are as a magic user, and it also proves that you are a force to be reckoned with." Otto continued, smiling at Emilia. "I fully support you, Emilia-sama. Just remember to take care of yourself."
Feeling encouraged, she returned the smile and replied back, "Thank you, Otto-kun. I will make sure to master it so we won't be looked down upon."
"I have no doubt you will, Emilia-sama."
Emilia was glad to have such trust put into her, such absolute trust. Once again she reaffirmed her determination to not let her camp down.
Satisfied by this, Emilia ate her food with more gusto, oblivious to Subaru throwing daggers at Otto, who shrugged at him. He put his hand up and Subaru grumbly ate his food.
Due to the sudden increase in his eating speed, Emilia turned to him. "Is there something wrong, Subaru?"
"Nothing, it's just…I felt my role was stolen by Otto." He grumbled.
Emilia, not understanding this, tilted her head. "What do you mean? Otto-kun wouldn't be with me the entire day like you are."
"That's no-"
"Besides, I cannot do this without you." Emilia smiled at Subaru. "You are the person I rely on the most to help me finish it."
Subaru, hearing this jaw went slack, and then his facial expression slowly morphed from being upset, to flabbergasted then to happiness, his smile went from ear to ear and he looked at Otto smugly.
"Hear that Ottoooo?! It is ME she relies on to finish!" Proudly exclaiming it, Otto simply gave a defeated smile and answered back with, "Yes, yes, Natsuki-san."
Emilia simply giggled at the events going on before her eyes, Otto always looking defeated, but having a smile on his face, Ram and Frederica simply watching over them, Beatrice sighing, and Subaru being loud and noisy, but that's what Emilia likes.
Soon, breakfast was over, and Subaru told Emilia to wait for him at their training spot while he went to take something. She sat on the floor, tucking her legs into a side sitting position and looked out in the courtyard, the sunlight beaming onto their garden and the wind lightly blowing at them. She was mindlessly enjoying the breeze and warmth until she heard a clunk beside her.
She turned around and saw Subaru holding multiple swords of different sizes and lengths, with Beatrice next to him holding some short swords. They plopped it down on the floor and heaved a sigh of refreshness.
"Whew, that was tough. Thank you, Beako!" Whipping his sweat off, Subaru pat Beatrice with his other hand, with Beatrice having no intention of stopping.
"Gah, next time let's just use Murak on the swords to make it easier next time, in fact."
"No can do, Beako. We need to save our mana for our spell, it's good to train our body right now too!" Flexing his arm, Beatrice looked up at him with narrowed eyes.
"Training can only improve Betty so much, in fact. Betty is perfect already."
"Is that so?"
"That is so, I suppose."
Subaru put a hand on his hips and grinned "It's sad, but I am happy you will always stay as cute as you are!"
Beatrice gave a smug look "That is to be expected, in fact."
Emilia, observing the conversation between the two, smiled. "You two get along reaaaaally well, don't you? I also think Beatrice is cute."
Spreading both of his arms out, Subaru exclaimed loudly. "You are also unmatched in cuteness! My Emilia-tan and my Beako would be the victors in a cuteness competition in the whole world!"
"I don't think there is any competition like that." Emilia smiled. "But thank you, Subaru."
"Ahhh! There will be one day! Perhaps I should talk to Anatasia about making a Miss Universe competition, that can earn her money and then the world can see more of Emilia-tan's cuteness and then more people would support her… Argh, but I don't get to keep it to myself!" Seemingly in battle with himself, Subaru, once again, with his Subaru-ness, started to ramble without being concerned if others understood it or not.
Emilia herself wasn't concerned by it, if anything, she found it relaxing, Subaru being like this means everything was going fine and he was in a good mood, even though most of what he said flew over her head.
"Sorry, I don't understand what you are saying, but thank you. I can tell you are thinking of me."
Subaru rubbed his nose. "Don't mention it. Besides, it's my job as your knight to always think of you."
Emilia nodded, even though she knew it, for Subaru to openly express it confidently, warmed her heart, her cheek tinged red ever so slightly.
"That's true, I am proud to have you as my knight. I wouldn't have anyone else." Speaking honestly from her heart, she poured her gratitude to Subaru.
"..." Subaru stood there, flabbergasted, his cheeks tinted rosy red.
"Eh? What's wrong, Subaru? You look reaaaally red. Do you have a fever?" Emilia worriedly asked.
Subaru shook his head. "It's nothing, it's just… I didn't expect you to say something like that…"
Emilia tilted her head. "Something like what? Proud of you being my knight? But I reaaally am!"
Subaru groaned even more and Emilia was confused. Subaru didn't seem to be groaning in pain, so she wasn't particularly worried, she turned to Beatrice who had a bored expression on her face.
"Beatrice, why is Subaru groaning so much?"
"So Betty wasn't forgotten by the two people stuck in their own world, I suppose." Beatrice huffed lightly, and then continued talking "Subaru is simply embarrassed, in fact."
"Beako?!"
"He didn't expect you to say those kinds of words, Subaru is very happy to hear them of course."
Subaru hid his face in his hand, while making noises of embarrassment while Emilia simply giggled, it was rare to see Subaru so embarrassed.
"Enough flirting, I suppose. We have our task at hand."
"Ah, sorry! We got distracted, let's begin now, then." Apologetically, Emilia responded to Beatrice.
Subaru took a deep breath and started speaking. "So yesterday, Emilia-tan's sword weight was very off, right? Today's job is to…" He picked up a sword and passed it to Emilia. "Try out different kinds of swords, so you can understand how they work."
Emilia nodded, she turned her gaze to the short swords that Beatrice brought. "What about those?"
"In case the normal one is too hard, the short ones can be used to practice first."
"I understand." Looking at the sword in her hand, she lightly swung it around, feeling its weight, where it was heavy at, everything about it. After a few test runs of experimenting with the sword, Emilia started conjuring her ice sword again. After a few seconds, the sword was made, and the moment it rested on her hand, she knew it was off, the hilt was too heavy.
She frowned, she swung it a few times and then dispersed the sword, the ice turning into mana and slowly disappearing into the sky, she did it again, but mistakes happened again.
The blade? Heavy.
The crossguard? Heavy.
Overall? Too light.
Too heavy.
Hilt too light.
Over and over and over again she tried. Yet the failures did not deter her like they did on the first day. She could feel she was getting there, and so, once again, she was absorbed into her training.
What felt like seconds passed until someone tapped her shoulder, and she was broken out of her training trance. She saw Frederica beside her, smiling at her.
"Emilia-sama, it is time for lunch."
"Eh? It's already lunch time?"
Frederica nodded, Emilia looked around and didn't see Subaru and Beatrice anywhere.
"If you are looking for Subaru-sama and Beatrice-sama, they are currently resting near their training spot."
"Where is it at?"
Frederica shook her head. "I am sorry, Emilia-sama. Subaru-sama told me to keep it a secret until he is ready to show you what he can do."
"Is that so?" Emilia was slightly disappointed that she couldn't see Subaru's practice. He had seen hers, so she felt like she should be able to see his as well. But she knew Subaru wanted to surprise her, so she relented.
Following Frederica to the dining room, she waited patiently for Subaru and Beatrice to arrive. The door creaked open, announcing their arrival. Emilia casually turned her head and instantly got worried, the spirit knight and his great spirit were plodding into the room. Subaru and Beatrice looked quite tired as they sat down on their seats with a thump.
Frederica sternly looked at Subaru, who gave her an apologetic look. "Yes, I know Frederica. I won't train anymore today."
Hearing that, she sighed and gave a defeated smile. "Well, as long as you understand, Subaru-sama, Beatrice-sama."
"This careless endeavor made by Betty will not happen again, in fact." Angrily mumbling to herself, Beatrice put her head on the table to rest.
"Urgh… it's not your fault Beako, this is mine too." Subaru mumbled as he leaned back on the chair, his head resting on the headrest.
"Regardless, let's not do this again, I suppose."
Emilia got up, went over to Subaru and Beako and asked, "Are you two alright?"
Subaru looked at Emilia with slightly dead looking eyes. "Mana exhaustion."
Mana exhaustion? Emilia remembered Subaru getting mana exhaustion once, but that was when he first tried magic and had no idea how to control it, but with Beatrice around… She turned to look at her.
"We were progressing quite well, the theory stage is done, in fact. The practical was… more fun than Betty could have imagined, so we kept trying and Betty got carried away by the mood and… this is what happened, I suppose."
Emilia put her hands on her hips. "Geez, I knew Subaru would overwork, but Beatrice too?" She looked at Frederica. "Frederica, can you get some Bocco fruit?"
"Please don't." Subaru interrupted. "This is a mistake we have to suffer the consequences for so we don't… make it again."
"Are you sure, Subaru?" Emilia worriedly furrowed her eyebrow, but Subaru replied back with a weak smile. "Yeah, this is our punishment… For not being careful… Right, Beako?"
"Betty thinks this is a big punishment… But yes, it's so we don't make the same mistake again, in fact."
With the both of them agreeing to not eat the fruit, Emilia sighed. "Then after lunch, I will take care of the both of you."
Subaru's eyes widened. "Emilia-tan..?"
"You need someone to take care of the both of you, right? Frederica and Ram have their duties, Otto-kun has work, and I do not think you want Roswaal to take care of you."
"Bu… but your training…"
"It's fine, there is always the next day. Your health is more important."
"Guh." A look of guilt appeared on Subaru's face. Seeing that expression, Emilia lightly smiled. "Just be careful next time, ok?"
Subaru and Beatrice nodded at her request, satisfying Emilia. For the rest of lunch, Ram made fun of Subaru when she entered the dining room. Emilia was feeding Beatrice with Subaru looking at Beatrice with narrowed eyes, Beatrice ignored it. When asked, Subaru would grumble but wouldn't say anything about it.
Lunch ended as noisy as it started. Emilia carried Subaru and Beatrice both in a princess carry, causing Subaru to blush deeply, though she didn't understand why, she just ignored his self mumbling and put him down in his room.
"Are you going to stay the whole day?"
"Of course, just in case you need anything, I will be here."
Subaru, with a mixed expression on his face, apologized "Emilia-tan… I am so-" but was cut short by Emilia shaking her head.
She looked at Subaru expectantly, he raised an eyebrow at first and then softly laughed. He looked into Emilia's eyes and answered with a soft voice. "...Thank you, Emilia-tan. Thank you for taking care of us."
Emilia was satisfied. She nodded and replied back. "You are welcome."
What was seconds felt like hours as neither of them wanted to break eye contact. It was completely silent, yet it was so warm, so full of life, Emilia didn't want it to end.
"Please flirt outside, not here, in fact." A voice came from Subaru's bed, lying down glaring at them, was Beatrice.
Broken out of their trace, Subaru rubbed his head and made his way to the bed, he laid down and he held Beatrice's hand, beginning the mana recharge for Beatrice, soon, they fell asleep quietly.
Emilia was sitting on a chair in his room, warmly looking over them. She quietly moved near the bed, studying Subaru's sleeping expression. She had seen him sleep once, back on his first day of work when he cried on her lap. Back then, Emilia assumed he was a kid and that he was stressed out due to the environment around him. Never had she thought that that kid was an adult, and more importantly, became her beloved knight standing by her side at all times.
Subaru was quietly breathing through his mouth, just like he had on the day he slept on her lap. Emilia smiled, she leaned over and softly poked his cheeks, making Subaru lightly groan. His softer features came to full front once he kept quiet and closed his eyes, which he rarely did.
Emilia, enjoying what she was doing, continued to poke his cheeks every so often, enjoying the rare quiet Subaru that rarely made an appearance. After a few poking sessions, she held off, she didn't want to wake him up and disturb his sleep, so she reluctantly went back and sat on her chair, enjoying the warm sun that poured through the open window.
While Emilia was happy enough to look over them, she wanted to try to progress her training too, but she couldn't afford to do her sword creation because it would be too noisy. She racked her head for ideas, looking around the room for spacing and anything she could do, but anything she did would create noise pollution and potentially wake them up.
Glancing around, she spotted a pen on the table and decided to create it to play with it. Within seconds, an ice pen, the exact same shape and size was in the palm of Emilia's hand, she swirled it around mindlessly, the weight feeling as how a pen would.
Why can I create a perfect pen so easily?
Was the thought running in Emilia's head, she pouted lightly, and then created more pens to play with.
This was exactly like the fork was, she dispersed the rest of the ice pen, and then created a plate, a fork, a knife, and a spoon, the usual dining set. She carefully picked them up and tested them, the mana in them was strong enough to not make them break, the weight was perfect. It looked amazing too.
Emilia folded her arms, her head running with theories. Was it due to size? Was it due to overall shape? Was it due to shape?
None of them were the reason, Emilia herself knew the answer even before the question was in her head, her instincts said so as much.
She started brainstorming, and then she realized one thing they all had in common.
Familiarity.
She was familiar with all of these objects that she used in her everyday life, but not a sword, if she familiarized with the weapon, then she could master it.
Feeling motivated, she pumped herself up and decided the next course of action once Subaru was awake. For now, she decided to rest and enjoy the calm day.
Hours passed as Emilia simply played with whatever she could create, and when she took a break, she would read the numerous books that Beatrice brought into the room. The setting sun announced the arrival of nightfall and soon, the sky was painted by stars, the luna light beautifully shone and painted Subaru's room with its color.
Subaru's bed rustled and she could hear the two of them stirring, she closed the book she was reading and looked towards the bed. Subaru was slowly getting up and following him was Beatrice.
They both yawned and with sleepy eyes, turned to look at the night sky and then to Emilia who was sweetly smiling at them. It was very cute with how in sync they were.
"Good evening." She greeted.
The sleepy duo were looking at her, taking a moment to process what they were seeing and hearing.
"Emilia…tan?" Subaru croaked, his hair messy, his voice hoarse.
"Good evening… Emilia." Beatrice replied, she got up and left the room, presumably to the toilet to wash up, leaving Subaru and Emilia alone.
Subaru scratched his head and tried to tidy up his messy hair. "Uhm…were you here the entire time?"
Emilia nodded.
"Thank you." he sheepishly said quietly.
"You are welcome. You look better, I will get Frederica to bring dinner to you." She stood up and dusted off her skirt, walking towards the door, she was stopped by Subaru.
"Emilia-tan!" she heard Subaru calling out.
She turned to him and tilted her head. "Have you eaten?"
"Not yet, I was here the entire time."
Subaru looked slightly guilty and then shook his head. "Want to eat dinner together?"
"Oh, that was my intention from the start, I got things to tell you!"
"Oh… Oh, I see! Got it!"
Seemingly satisfied, Emilia left and went to find Frederica, and together, they brought dinner to Subaru's room. Subaru brought his table in the center of the room so they could eat together, even though those eating dinner were only a few of them, it was lively. Emilia was excitedly telling Subaru what she learned about her creation spell, what are the conditions she found out, and how to get better at it. Subaru, who was eagerly listening to it, was wowed by what she learned and clapped for her, showering her with constant, over the top praise. Beatrice, who was beside Subaru, was impressed too, giving her compliments to Emilia.
Emilia, who heard all of this, was very proud of herself. Afterwards, she told her knight her plans for the coming days. Subaru, who heard about it, went into thinking.
"I think it's fine if you want to do that, but it's just the timeframe I am worried about."
"I think a few days would be enough right?"
Subaru frowned. "But that's for a single weapon, right?"
Ah, Emilia thought.
She knew what Subaru was saying, she remembered Subaru asking to create armor and a lance, the spell was meant to be versatile, creating anything she needs in any situation. She put a hand on her chin, emulating Subaru's thinking pose.
She could try handling multiple weapons at once, but then, she wouldn't be able to familiarize herself very easily with the weapon.
Subaru and Emilia went into silence, thinking about what to do.
"Betty thinks you two are overthinking it, in fact." Beatrice spoke up, interrupting the two of them, the duo turned their eyes to her.
"Just take a step, one at a time. While Subaru's worries are in the right place, we wouldn't know how Emilia's theory would turn out, I suppose." Hearing what Beatrice said stopped Emilia from overthinking. It was true, she had no idea how long it would take or if her method would even work.
"Beatrice, you reaaaaaally are amazing aren't you?" Emilia spoke sincerely, truly grateful for Beatrice's calm demeanor and logical thinking.
"Singing Betty's praises will not make Betty happy, I suppose." Was what Beatrice said, but her cheeks turned slightly red. Emilia started giggling and Beatrice glared at her.
"What is so funny, in fact?!"
"You are so cute Beatrice!" Emilia exclaimed.
Beatrice puffed her cheeks in retaliation, "Don't tease Betty, I suppose!"
Emilia waved her hands. "No, I am not!"
"Grrrrrrrr."
And thus, Emilia's night was spent talking with Subaru and Beatrice, laughter filled the room, along with cute angry noises from Beatrice, Subaru's teasing, Emilia being surprised at Subaru and Beatrice's knowledge, Subaru blushing from time to time at what Emilia would say, Beatrice getting tired being in the middle of her contractor and her contractor's master being in their own world. Just the three of them enjoying each other's companionship.
Hours passed, and soon, it was time to sleep. The three of them cleared the dishes and went back to their respective rooms, saying their good nights and such. Emilia changed into her nightgown and laid on her bed, instantly closing her eyes. She forgot to do any night training due to the fun she had preoccupying her mind.
All the conversation and laughter she made replayed in her mind and she smiled uncontrollably. Snuggling with an extra pillow to hug, her entire body relaxed, her mind filled with happiness.
I want to do this again..
Was what she felt before she drifted fully into sleep.