Chapter 61: Unable to Make a Promise
The door slowly opened, and the scenery inside was fully drawn into Subaru Natsuki's sight.
The room was filled with countless books, but for Subaru, his gaze was focused solely on Beatrice.
Standing at the doorway, Subaru's eyes met Beatrice's in midair.
Neither spoke until Subaru stepped into the library and closed the door behind him.
In the quiet library, Subaru's voice broke the silence.
"I'm late."
Beatrice stared blankly at Subaru.
When she heard those words, she felt as if she might cry.
She lowered her gaze to the book in her hand — it was still completely blank with no changes whatsoever.
"Too late. You broke your promise."
Saying this, Beatrice closed the book in her hand and placed it aside.
She looked up at Subaru.
Though her expression seemed displeased, the slight upward curve of her lips showed she was actually happy.
"Sorry, I was a bit arrogant."
Saying that, Subaru walked over and sat down beside Beatrice. After sitting, he turned his head upward and looked at her.
"Actually, I didn't really break my promise, right? You said I'd definitely come back alive, and I did. And for me, today is the tomorrow I mentioned."
Saying this, Subaru spread out his hands.
"Alright, I know that's just an excuse. So Beatrice, tell me, what's the punishment for breaking my promise?"
Beatrice looked at Subaru's expression, which was as if facing a formidable enemy. Tilting her head, she said,
"Hmm, Betty thought about it. Got it! As punishment for being late, today you have to understand the contents of all these books."
Subaru waved his hand, and books flew off the shelves, piling up in front of him one by one. His expression stiffened.
He thought the punishment would be something he could grit his teeth through.
He didn't expect it to be such a headache-inducing punishment.
Finishing reading all these books in one day was simply impossible!
Maybe she noticed Subaru's thoughts because Beatrice's voice entered his ears.
"Of course, if you can't finish today, then every day you have to spend time coming here to study and read the contents of the books aloud to Betty.
The punishment ends only after you've finished them all. Betty hates people who are late. This punishment is already Betty's great mercy."
After hearing Beatrice's words, Subaru sighed in relief.
He reached out, took a book, opened it, glanced inside, and said,
"Well then, please take care of me from now on. I'll be very annoying, you know, Beatrice."
"Hmph, if you're annoying, Betty won't hesitate to kick you out of the library."
"Yeah… then I'll do my best."
Beatrice watched Subaru quietly reading.
She jumped down from her chair and sat beside him.
Noticing this, Subaru placed the book in front of Beatrice and pointed at the words he couldn't understand.
One teaches, one learns.
The once quiet library somehow became lively.
As Beatrice taught Subaru, she suddenly realized that the person beside her had completely become part of her life without her noticing.
A touch of color entered her lonely life.
The quiet library no longer felt so painful. Time passed moment by moment.
The two, Subaru studying diligently and Beatrice teaching seriously, had completely lost track of how much time had passed.
"Here you are after all."
Hearing this, Beatrice and Subaru both looked up toward the doorway. Puck stood there, arms crossed, seriously watching them.
"Puck?"
"Brother?"
Seeing their synchronized reactions, Puck smiled.
"Good morning, Betty, Subaru."
Subaru put the book aside and stretched out his hand toward Puck.
Seeing this, Puck flew into Subaru's hand.
"Thanks, Puck. Because of you, I survived."
"Subaru, I'm really angry! We're friends, yet you went alone into the forest to fight a bunch of magical beasts. If it weren't for me, you'd probably be buried now."
"Yeah, I didn't want to go alone either. The problem is you weren't awake yet, so I had to leave early."
Puck looked at Subaru's embarrassed face and sighed, forgiving him.
"If something like this happens again, please don't fight alone, okay?"
"Yeah, but there probably won't be a next time, right? I'm not as unlucky as my best friend."
Puck nodded and looked at Beatrice.
"Betty, can I borrow Subaru for a bit? Of course, I'll stay here with you."
Hearing this, Beatrice shrugged nonchalantly.
"I don't care. He's not Betty's, so he can do whatever he wants. And staying here would just interrupt Betty and brother's time together."
"Beatrice-sensei, that's really heartless."
Subaru sighed, handed Puck to Beatrice, and stood up with a bitter expression.
"Alright, you two play. I'm going to look for Emilia."
"Subaru, how do you know Emilia's looking for you?"
Subaru looked at Puck and helplessly shrugged.
"I know myself pretty well. Twice I did something dangerous without telling anyone. Emilia's probably waiting outside to lecture me. So, I'll head out first."
After Subaru left the library, Puck and Beatrice nodded and watched him go.
Puck sighed helplessly looking at Beatrice's expression.
"Betty, Subaru's gone."
"He's gone, so what? Betty doesn't care about him anyway. Then brother, let's play together."
Puck nodded and started playing with Beatrice.
But while playing, Puck clearly noticed that Beatrice had changed slightly.
Even though Subaru had left, and Puck was there playing with Beatrice, her gaze kept drifting to the door and the pile of books beside the chair.
With complicated feelings in his heart, Puck began to feel annoyed at Subaru.
As an observer, he clearly knew that in just over a week since Subaru arrived at the mansion, he had worked his way into the hearts of many.
Emilia, Rem, Ram, Beatrice, and even Rozwell's attention. If it was the latter, it was no big deal, but the first four were a problem.
'Lia, you need to realize your feelings early!'
Meanwhile, in the corridor, Subaru knelt on the floor, listening to Emilia standing in front of him, nagging like a mother.
Time felt exceptionally agonizing.
This time, Emilia was very angry — so angry that Subaru didn't dare say much and just obediently listened to her lecture.
"Subaru! Are you listening?"
"Yes! I'm listening! I've deeply understood my mistakes! It definitely won't happen again… probably…"
"Good grief! What would I say to Reinhard and Rom if something happened to you? They trusted me to bring you back safely. If something happened, I wouldn't have the face to see them. You have to seriously reflect on this!"
"Hmm…"
"And next time, no more solo adventures! Do you even know what condition your body is in? How many injuries have you gotten since coming to the mansion? Don't you feel any remorse?!"
"I am seriously reflecting, but… sometimes it's unavoidable…"
"Then why not ask for help from the people here? Why not ask me? I would definitely help you! Ah… I mean, as a friend's help…"
Emilia's expression became somewhat flustered, and her tone changed.
Subaru, with his head bowed, heard it go in one ear and out the other, completely unaware.
It wasn't that Subaru didn't want to listen.
He knew she worried about him and was angry because of his actions.
He just understood that sometimes, there wasn't enough time to think through everything perfectly.
Therefore, he couldn't make any promises to Emilia.