"He took down the White Whale, and furthermore repelled the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishop who was targeting the mansion. He allied himself with the candidate, Lady Crusch, and achieved success in both of the aforementioned battles--Hmmm."
As his weight on the bed unconsciously increased, Roswaal touched his chin and closed his eyes. He spoke of the many events that had occurred during Roswaal's absence, which Subaru had recounted during the night in order to settle things.
I think he consciously controlled his bad habit of going off topic, and gave an objective explanation of the content, avoiding as much boasting and hardship as possible. Then, he reflected on his own actions,
"…To be honest, your performance makes me doubt whether you're talking nonsense. Since when have you started acting like a character in an adventure drama, Barusu?"
"It kind of annoys me when you say that, but… even I think my performance is a little questionable. Whether you evaluate it in my own or in the eyes of others, this is a pretty incredible level of contribution, right?"
The result was such that even Kongming might have run away barefoot. Ram spoke in a quiet, sarcastic manner, but with a voice that acknowledged the impressiveness of his achievement, which made Kongming even more determined.
Subaru: "It's nothing short of an unexpected result. I didn't expect that he'd come this far… well, no one could have predicted that."
It seems that he had finished digesting these surprises inside himself, as Roswaal pulled his chin back and spoke words of praise. With a rare serious expression on his face, he gazed at Subaru, who was sitting in a chair in front of the bed, with eyes of different colors,
「Well, let me convey my gratitude once again. Thank you for protecting my territory and its people. And also, as someone who has supported Emilia-sama, I am eternally grateful.」
"Oh, right. I see. When you say it so formally, I feel a bit intimidated. It's not like it's that bad..."
"It seems that Barusu does not understand the depth of Roswaal-sama's words of gratitude."
Subaru tried to stop Roswaal as he politely expressed his gratitude, but Ram stepped forward and interrupted him. Looking down at Subaru with the same clear gaze as always,
"It is not normally permitted to interrupt a superior, or even to cast a negative response to an expression of gratitude. Especially since Lord Roswaal holds the position of Margrave, and is an important figure who bears the full authority of the Kingdom of Lugnica. --His words of gratitude carry a much greater weight than Barusu thought."
"――――"
"Due to your position, Lord Roswaal, you cannot simply bow your head or express gratitude to those below you. Please be more aware of this."
Ram spoke out, cutting off Subaru's naive thoughts with a stern voice. Subaru lowered his eyes, unable to think of a response. "No way, no way," Roswaal said, gently raising his hand as if to mediate.
"What Ram said is a bit of an exaggeration. My words are not worth that much."
"Lord Roswaal."
In response to Ram's concerned response, Roswaal nodded and continued, "But..."
"Putting aside the gratitude I feel from my position, the magnitude of what Subaru has accomplished is clear to everyone. And I can easily imagine the disappointment and complaints that will be directed towards me if I don't give him a reward that matches it."
"...So what are you going to do about it?"
"A fitting reward. Subaru, do you remember what happened in the Royal Selection Hall?"
Seeing Subaru choking, Roswaal's eyes narrowed.
As his gaze pierced Subaru's mind, a horrible memory flashed through his mind that even now burned with shame and self-mockery. His declaration, that reckless remark, everything had been the nonsense of a foolish boy who knew nothing, didn't know himself, and misunderstood what was important.
But, even soーー,
"I remember. There's no way I could forget. ... I think I shouldn't forget."
"In that case, I would like to reward you for your achievements in this way. I will make the words I spoke to you there genuine. Once you leave here safely, I will appoint you as a knight."
Subaru looked up. For a moment he couldn't comprehend the meaning of what had been said, and blinked in agitation. Roswaal nodded,
"There is no way that someone who participated in the subjugation of the White Whale alongside the Duke, and achieved the feat of slaying one of the Witch Cult's Sin Archbishops, should remain unknown. Your name, the name of "Knight" Natsuki Subaru, should be spoken of throughout the country as an honorable one, and with praise. ―If that happens, no one will be able to laugh at the words you spoke in that hall ever again."
The empty-handed youngster barked that he would be of some help to Emilia.
The young dreamer is repeatedly crushed by reality, falls into despair, sinks into madness, is driven by a desire for revenge and despises everything, but is saved by love - and now he is here.
All of that time was proven to be worth it by the word "honor" that Roswaal spoke of.
--And Rem's achievements, now no longer residing in anyone else's mind, only in Subaru's mind.
"...Thank you, I'll take it. If it helps give meaning to that battle then."
"It is an achievement to be proud of, and I will not let anyone make a fool of you. You have earned the right to stand proudly beside Lady Emilia. Through your own efforts."
"...It's not just my power."
Subaru muttered to himself what Roswaal had said. Seeing as Roswaal had not heard him and furrowed his brow slightly, Subaru closed his eyes once and took a deep breath. Then he opened his eyes and shrugged his shoulders frivolously,
"That was a serious exchange, dude. If you keep going out of character for too long, it'll be embarrassing when you go back to normal, so let's keep it light. My face is already getting hot."
"...That's true. Oh dear, I've just been acting uncharacteristically and my shoulders are all stiff. With our relationship, it's not like we should be having a serious discussion."
Subaru's expression relaxed as Roswaal's also relaxed, dispelling the mood from earlier. Ram, watching the exchange between Subaru and his master, let out a small sigh and continued, "Well then,"
"Next, Balusu has something he would like to ask Roswaal-sama, right? To that end, please keep Emilia-sama away from the discussion."
Subaru: "Your sharpness is sure to help speed up the conversation… I don't mean to treat Emilia-tan as a nuisance, but it seemed like Roz-chan would be tight-lipped when she was around."
Subaru gave a wry smile at Ram's astute observation. Seeing that smile, Ram suddenly looked over to where Emilia had been standing a moment ago, and after confirming once again that there was now a deserted space there,
"So, I had Lewes-sama accompany us on our inspection of the Sanctuary… right? When Emilia-sama heard that Barusu would be staying behind, she seemed quite uneasy, though?"
Subaru: "I'm happy that you rely on me, but when I think about the future, I don't want to just rush ahead with my immediate desires. Otto will probably join us along the way, so I'm worried that Emilia-tan will be left all alone… What if that bastard Otto starts messing with Emilia-tan? Emilia-tan is so cute, I'm getting worried."
Subaru: "I don't think it's good to make yourself uneasy while you're talking. Anyway, your thoughts are not wrong. —In truth, I would never say anything I didn't want Lady Emilia to hear."
Subaru's heart was shaken by unnecessary worries. Roswaal shook his head in front of Subaru, and brazenly revealed his secretive nature. Subaru closed one eye at him, and with a "I thought so" thought on his tongue,
Subaru: "You're intentionally limiting the information you give to Emilia-tan. …What on earth were you thinking, doing something like that?"
"Don't you think it's necessary to be selective about the information you take in? As a candidate for the throne, Lady Emilia's importance is far greater than mine. However, her knowledge has not yet reached the refined level that would accompany a qualification. Forcing too much on someone who is still in the process of learning would only lead to overload…"
Subaru: "That's a slogan that could be uttered by someone who can provide Emilia-tan with an environment in which she can learn freely. It doesn't make sense for someone who knows information that could put her in a difficult position if she doesn't share it. It's not a good thing for you, either."
Subaru quietly pursues Roswaal, who knows the truth but speaks only superficially to cover it up. Subaru pretends to be calm, but Roswaal closes one eye and stares back in silence.
Roswaal often stares at Subaru with one eye - his left, yellow eye. Subaru flinches at his gaze, which makes him feel uneasy for no reason. As if he has read Subaru's discomfort, Roswaal laughs,
"Well, I certainly knew that I'd be asked about it in detail eventually. That's why, this time, I had fully prepared myself."
"Ready...?"
Subaru: "I'm prepared to answer Subaru's questions, even if I avoid them a little. Even if I tried to run away, I'd be in such a bad state of injury, so I think this is just the right amount."
He laughed heartily and spoke while lightly hitting his thigh on the bed.
Subaru was so surprised at how quickly she gave up that his throat choked for a moment,
"...What kind of wind is this?"
"It's a bit sad that you have so little trust in me. Though, considering the relationship between you and me up until now, I suppose it's inevitable that you would feel that way."
"I know it's bad to be so cautious, but after what's happened up until now, you're being a bit too secretive… I guess I can trust you this time."
"of course"
Roswaal nodded to Subaru, who looked at him suspiciously, and lightly spread his arms,
"The achievements you have made over the past few days have proven enough to open my closed heart. You can relax. With this, I can trust you, and allow you into my heart—as an accomplice—whaaat?"
"Wait. I have the feeling that I'm being forced to carry a heavy cross. You don't need to open up that much, let's just touch each other."
"Oh my, how cold of you to be so rude when we're having so much fun."
"Well, it's just that it's too heavy to suddenly offer everything to me like that..."
As the conversation turned to the differences in the way men and women think about love when they first started dating, Subaru cleared his throat, gathered his thoughts, and prefaced his statement with, "For now,"
Subaru: "Putting aside the issue of accomplices and such, let me hear what I want to know for now. —That's why I'm restricting the information I give to Emilia-tan. Let's start with that."
"――――"
Subaru glared at Roswaal, who had one eye closed, once again.
Roswaal's selection of information to provide to Emilia - the impact it had, even including what happened in the previous loop, was immeasurable.
If she had been aware that her origins - being a Half-Elf - were information that would incite the Witch Cult, more effective measures might have been taken against Petelgeuse's attacks on Aram Village and Roswaal Mansion.
On the other hand, this would also affect Subaru's actions as he rushed around for that purpose, and ultimately even the pros and cons of Rem's situation――
"Answer me, Roswaal. You want Emilia-tan to become king, and it would be just as troubling for you if she dropped out along the way. So why do you go out of your way to conceal information that puts Emilia-tan at a disadvantage? It doesn't make sense."
Subaru: "To that question, I will answer like this. — Everything you have pointed out is correct, and that is why I am limiting the information I give to Emilia-sama."
"…!? I don't understand. You're hiding information that would put Emilia at a disadvantage if she didn't know it, and then you're saying that's necessary to win the royal selection?"
"Yes. I think it was worth it, don't you?"
Subaru's thoughts were thrown off by Roswaal's response, and he furrowed his brow in confusion. Subaru's reaction made Roswaal's bed creak,
"Subaru, what you're trying to say is essentially this, isn't it? Upon hearing the news of Emilia-sama's participation in the Royal Selection, there was a possibility that the Witch Cult would make a move. In fact, the Witch Cult did make a move, and attacked my territory. I knew that this could happen, and I should have been able to prepare some kind of countermeasure in case it did happen."
"...Y-yes. That's right. Everyone would think that, it's obvious. I didn't know, but around here the connection between the Witch Cult and Half-Elfs is common knowledge, right? In fact, you must have known too. If that's the case, then why did you not prepare anything... No, before that, why did you leave the mansion and lock yourself in the 'Sanctuary'?"
"I was under house arrest in the Sanctuary, and I deliberately left the mansion for days..."
"That sophistry won't work. The reason you were injured and placed under house arrest was because you challenged the tomb to vent the frustration of the residents of Aram. In other words, I drove people out of the village as a measure against the Witch Cult… but it was your own decision not to return before that."
"It's worth arguing with someone who is logically angry. This is actually a good trend."
When Subaru protested against that simple excuse, Roswaal shrugged nonchalantly, as if he hadn't thought he could fool him. Subaru wasn't pleased with this and took a step forward, but...
"... Ram."
"Lord Roswaal is injured. Even so, it would be enough for him to incinerate Barusu with just a single fingertip... but I will not tolerate any acts of violence in front of Ram."
"Do you really accept it? You were treated like a sacrificial pawn just like everyone else. You knew those ridiculous people were coming to the village, and you ran away from the scene of their attack by yourself. Can't you forgive them?"
"There is no such thing as forgiving or not forgiving. Ram will tolerate everything that Roswaal-sama has done. No matter how she is treated, no matter how she is discarded, it is the same."
"You――!!"
Subaru's throat was filled with rage at Ram's loyalty, which he could not comprehend.
And yet, the reason he didn't resort to violence immediately was because somewhere deep within Subaru's reason he had calmly decided that he was no match for either of the two men before him, or perhaps――
"...Even Rem sacrificed herself for something so incomprehensible."
"--? I don't know who you are talking about, but other people's names are of no concern to Ram. To Ram, Roswaal-sama is everything, and everything else is trivial."
Subaru's pleading, so wrung out, did not resonate even a little with Ram's heart.
He knew it. There was no point in telling her this, since she had forgotten about Rem's existence. And at the same time, he understood something.
From the beginning, he thought he understood Ram's abnormal loyalty to Roswaal.
But that stubbornness contains a different kind of madness to the Ram Subaru has known up until now, and the main cause of this is, of course, his forgetting of Rem's existence.
Subaru doesn't know the details of what happened in their past, but piecing together the fragmentary information Rem has told him, he learns that Ram and Rem were sisters with a codependent relationship.
Feelings of guilt and inferiority towards her sister - Rem was torn between these two, her complexes growing and her dependency on her sister deepening. Her instability was obvious and not noticeable, but glimpses of it were also apparent in Ram, who was facing her sister.
Just as most of Rem's world was made up of Ram, Ram's world was also made up of just the two of them - Rem and Roswaal. Having resolved one of her complexes, Rem had begun to welcome various elements into her narrow world, including Subaru, and was on the verge of changing. However, Ram's world remained as narrow as ever.
Having literally forgotten the existence that made up half of that vessel, Ram's world now consists of only Roswaal.
This was the reason behind his extreme, almost extreme display of loyalty to Roswaal.
"Ram didn't really provoke Subaru-kun that much. And Subaru-kun had no intention of being violent towards me. He just stepped forward a little."
"If that is what you say, Lord Roswaal."
"That's right. It's fine. Right, Subaru-kun? You may look angry, but you're not raging. You wouldn't lose your cool and start punching someone, and that's not the kind of choice you'd make to dismiss a discussion."
"What do you mean...?"
「It's simple. If it was you before, you would have exploded at some point in the conversation, started yelling and ruining the whole discussion. But instead of doing that, you can continue the discussion while suppressing your anger... that means you've become an adult.」
As Roswaal lightly claps and showers him with superficial praise, Subaru feels a burning passion in his chest, wanting to scream out loud, but knowing that doing so would only play into his opponent's hands, he holds himself back, and with a deep breath he pushes back the waves of rage.
--Realizing that this very action confirmed Roswaal's words earlier, he couldn't help but feel annoyed with himself.
"Well, it would be childish to bully a young person any more. Now that you've shown signs of growth, I should show some adult qualities from my side."
「...Please do so. Anyway, give me a clear answer to my earlier question. Don't dodge the question, just answer it. Why did you hide the Witch Cult from Emilia? Why did you leave the mansion when you knew the Witch Cult was coming, even though you were the greatest force!」
"Both questions can be answered with one answer. I did them in order to avoid confrontation with the Witch Cult."
"teeth--?"
The calm and orderly reply made Subaru slow to comprehend.
I chew it, swallow it, let the words sink in,
"I don't understand. So that you don't fight the Witch Cult... for what reason? It's not like you have a physiological aversion to them or anything like that, is it!? If you... if you were there, wouldn't you have caught all those guys in one fell swoop? Even if you were the victim..."
"I see. If I were here, I'm sure the damage from this incident could have been greatly reduced. I believe I have a good understanding of my own abilities, and I am aware that I am one of the top ten most powerful people in this country. I can state with certainty that if I were here, the Witch Cult's attack would have been easily repelled."
"You knew that, so why――!"
"That's why."
Roswaal pointed his finger at Subaru, who was spitting, to stop him, then he pointed his finger at the ceiling,
Subaru: "If I were to succeed, it wouldn't be credited to either Lady Emilia or you, right? Even if I make a name for myself, it won't be helped."
"――――Eh?"
Subaru honestly couldn't understand what he had been told.
Praying that Roswaal would continue, assuming it was just a joke or light-hearted remark, Subaru paused and waited for Roswaal to say the next thing.
However, seeing Subaru's silence, Roswaal tilted his head,
"There's no denying it. It's a disaster that's obviously going to happen. Why wouldn't we take advantage of it?"
"You... what are you talking about? Do you even know what you're talking about...?"
"--? I'm not sure what the problem is, Subaru-kun. I think. Are you wanting to talk about the damage sustained when you went to Aram Village, or the damage sustained by the mercenary group and Crusch-sama's private soldiers who lent their strength to repel the Witch Cult… or could something have been done about the damage sustained there?"
Reading Subaru's trembling voice, Roswaal states it as if it were the obvious thing to say.
This time, Subaru felt his heart tremble with fear.
Previously, when he had spoken with Puck, the spirit had said in front of the sleeping Rem, "Thanks to this child, Lea was saved," enraging Subaru.
That incident made Subaru keenly aware of the huge, indescribable gap between his own sensibilities and those of the spirits. Conversely, the anger he felt at the time was accompanied by an understanding that they were fundamentally different entities.
But Roswaal doesn't have that. He understands the source of Subaru's anger, and what Subaru wants to say - and yet, he is capable of making such cold-hearted judgments.
But that is,
"In hindsight, right? I sort of understand what you're trying to say. I can understand that who takes command of the Witch Cult's attack and who takes credit for it will have a significant impact on the royal selection. … And if Roswaal were to do that, then the desired effect wouldn't be achieved. But!"
Baring his teeth, Subaru swung his arms wildly,
"How many people do you think died because you were away and didn't report anything?! It's true that there wasn't any major damage. But it's not zero. People died. Not just us, but the Witch Cult people too…"
"No matter where I am, the way we deal with the Witch Cults won't change. We'll just turn them all to ashes. I'll accept criticism for the losses caused to those who are on our side, but isn't it unreasonable to harbor resentment towards those who are against us?"
"--But even so, I wish we had been more gentle... No, that's not it! It's all about hindsight! It certainly went well. There was little damage, the enemy was completely wiped out. Emilia-tan is safe, and the people of Aram Village were safely evacuated. ...But all of that was just by chance. If it were true--"
If that were true, the villagers, the mansion, and Emilia would have died before Subaru did anything.
"They were supposed to be dead. Things wouldn't have gone smoothly like this time... They were all cruelly tortured, made to suffer... They were killed."
Covering his face, Subaru desperately tried to stifle the tears that were threatening to burst out in his voice.
Behind his closed eyes, the image that Subaru had once witnessed, an unforgettable scene of hell, came to mind.
A burning village. Corpses scattered here and there. The remains of children. And Rem's body, abandoned in the mansion's garden. A world frozen and coming to an end.
--All of this was a world that could not have been overturned if Subaru had not been able to "Return by Death."
"If you had been there, none of that would have happened. You knew, and you turned a blind eye to their deaths. You killed those people so many times..."
"Don't get it wrong. It was the Witch Cult that attacked, not me. And the Witch Cult's attack was prevented by your own hands, so there were no victims as you speak of. —You're just repeating nonsense."
"--I see."
Subaru slumped his shoulders and responded in a low voice to Roswaal's cold words.
Delusional words - if that was what he had decided, Subaru's words could not change it. Since he could not bring up "Return by Death", he could not realistically blame Roswaal for "something that did not happen".
Subaru was the only one who knew that hell, and it was also Subaru who had erased from Roswaal the responsibility for creating that hellish scene.
"…If I had remained a useless guy who couldn't do anything, what would you have done? I'm sure you want Emilia to become king too. The odds are so skewed that it's not even a viable bet…The chances of it ending here are much higher."
"But you overturned those odds. Are you dissatisfied?"
"I'm not happy. You don't seem like the kind of person who would entrust yourself to such uncertainties."
There are different types of people who gamble. There are those who rely only on luck in a battle where they don't know whether they will win or lose. There are those who make the best possible move and leave only the last bit to luck, so as not to be influenced by luck alone.
And they are people who prepare the whole plan from start to finish in advance and claim that fixing a match, where the winner is already decided, is gambling.
"You're not the type to make bets in the first place. How could you do that?"
"--I believed in you."
Subaru asks again, and Roswaal responds in a lower voice.
Hearing that answer, Subaru couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"So you're not going to answer seriously?"
"Whether you believe my story or not, I'm telling the truth, you know? I've decided that I won't deceive you here tonight. I'll say I can't say what I can't say, and I'll keep my mouth shut about things that are inconvenient. But I can at least swear that what I say is not a lie."
Roswaal spoke in a solemn tone to Subaru's words, which were colored with disappointment. But how much could he trust that? Subaru's favorability towards Roswaal had already plummeted across the board through their conversation so far, and he had no room to take it at face value.
Subaru's eyes grew sharper than ever, and Roswaal turned his head,
"I will say it once more. The reason I made the decision this time was because I believed in you. If you saw that Emilia-sama's situation was bad, you would work hard to make an alliance with Crusch-sama, and then I believed that you would do your best to repel the Witch Cult, and achieve great things."
"Even if that were true, how can you possibly make the decision to trust me?! What do you know about me?! After only knowing me for a month, do you think I look like a man capable of accomplishing something to the point that you would place your trust in me?"
Subaru stomps his foot on the floor in refutation of Roswaal's brazen, flowery rhetoric. He points his finger at him and shakes his head in denial of what he's just said.
"That can't be true. When I broke up with you, I was complete garbage. The only reason I became a bit better is because of what happened afterwards. And nothing of what happened afterwards remains anywhere except inside me. ーーWhat did you believe in about me!"
Roswaal closes one eye, his yellow eyes staring uncomfortably at Subaru.
To shake off her gaze, Subaru kicked the floor with all his might,
"That's not even worth discussing. As things stand now, you've just trusted some empty-headed, stupid brat to get everything done, and left your subjects and everything else behind while you played around. You're too playful to bet your own position and future on this, I'm at a loss for words!"
"...It looks like that's all for today's discussion."
In contrast to Subaru, who was clearly angry, Roswaal muttered sadly.
Hearing this murmur, Subaru exclaimed in his still-unceasing irritation, "Ah!"
"As long as you have no intention of talking properly, it's useless to say anything. No matter what you say after this discussion, I have no intention of believing you anymore."
Subaru: "I am truly sorry that your opinion of me has plummeted… I don't think there is any need to confirm, but I want to tell Lady Emilia about what happened tonight."
"There's no way I'd say anything. Whether I told him the whole story or embellished it, there's no benefit to be gained from talking about it. I've calculated that much, so I'm sure he just blurted it out."
Whatever Roswaal's true intentions may be, creating friction between him and Emilia would be undesirable in the ongoing royal selection process. Moreover, the current situation requires that Roswaal's camp, including the residents of Aram village, unite as one, with Emilia as their representative.
Even though it was annoying to go along with Roswaal's plans, Emilia's reputation would rise by taking on the Trials. --Everything would happen in his hands.
"Even after understanding everything and feeling unbearable anger towards me... you still can't turn the table over. Well, you're just as I expected you to be."
Roswaal's voice reached Subaru, who was grinding his teeth to endure his frustration. When Subaru looked up, Roswaal's expression twisted in a nasty way,
"You are truly worthy of being my accomplice."
"...You bastard, this isn't going to be a good death."
"I know that. I'm definitely going to hell. That's why I need to be as tyrannical as I can in this life before then."
Giving Roswaal a sharp glance as he spoke, Subaru turned his back without a word and stormed out of the room.
There was no point in continuing the conversation any further. Since he had no intention of telling her his true intentions, and since he couldn't tear down her expectations, it would only be a fruitless exchange.
However,
"--Don't think that everyone will dance to your will."
Clenching his fists, Subaru reaffirmed his resolve as he walked down the night street.
Tomorrow, Roswaal will have Emilia take the Trial, in an attempt to overturn the contempt for half-elves held by those in the Sanctuary and the people of Arlam village.
That man doesn't take into consideration the various burdens that may be placed on Emilia in the process. As a result, no matter how much Emilia is hurt, no matter how worn out her heart is, he will just smile and try to make things go his way.
"I won't let you do that. I will protect that girl… Emilia."
The qualifications to take on the Trials――if the dream he had at the tomb was not a dream, then Subaru should have been given them.
It may have been merely the witch's whim, but with this, she would thwart Roswaal's plot. She would put an end to all the pain and tears that might be born from that man's disregard for his allies.
"---That is what I must do in this Sanctuary."
A pale blue moon floats beyond the raised fist.
Clenching his fist tightly as if to grasp the object that was out of his reach, Subaru pictured the beloved silver girl and resolved to confront the clown's malicious scheme head on.
※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※※ ※
"--Are you sure?"
After everyone else had rudely left the room, Ram, who had been watching the exchange, asked quietly. Hearing this, her master shook his head helplessly and said,
"I expected that reaction," he said. "But even so, it's still pretty depressing to tear into the hearts of young people."
"There's no need to lie in front of Ram, you know?"
Subaru: "I'm glad you're concerned about me, but what I just said is what I really think. What, does it look like to you, Ram, that I'm happy to do that sort of thing?"
Ram silently looked away in response to her master, and smoothed out the bedsheets that had become disheveled during their previous exchange. As she did so, she felt a hard sensation on the side of her master's stomach with her fingertips, and as she pulled it out from the sheets,
"Lord Roswaal. This way."
"Ah, sorry sorry. If Subaru-kun had seen me, it would have been really complicated. But it would have been pretty disrespectful to put him under my butt or something. I have to be careful."
Taking it carefully, Roswaal strokes its surface lightly. "Anyway," he says, placing his fingers under his chin,
"We've confirmed Emilia-sama's qualifications, and Subaru-kun has also encouraged us. The 'Trial' will begin tomorrow night… what do you think will happen, Ram?"
"Even Ram can't fathom Lord Roswaal's thoughts... Lord Roswaal, don't you know what will happen?"
"It's not that useful. It's a little superior to the imperfect one the Witch Cult has, but it's nothing more than a fake that doesn't achieve what she wanted. I wonder how well my conversation with Subaru just now followed the description."
As Roswaal sighed in remorse, Ram raised her eyebrows slightly, then, timidly and hesitantly,
"So, what you said to Barusu earlier was..."
"Although I was acting to some extent… I think the majority of it was my true feelings. I mean, of course I knew that Subaru-kun would get angry. I knew that, but there were a few things I wanted to say to him too."
Roswaal waves his hand defensively at Ram, then adds, "Anyway..."
"I'd hate it if someone thought I was the only one who was upset when someone insulted the person I loved. That's childish and mean of me."
Roswaal laughs as he says this.
Held with great care in his arms was a black-bound book.
Roswaal's fingertips continue to slowly trace the book's binding.
Lovingly, lovingly, slowly, slowly