Chapter 132: He... really loves me!

The story on the screen continued to unfold.

[The Great Spirit of the manor's Forbidden Archive, Betty's concealment magic—the 'Door Crossing.'

It possessed extremely powerful stealth, yet it also carried a fatal flaw.

That flaw was this: as long as the door linking the Forbidden Archive to the manor could no longer be chosen, then this Door Crossing would naturally collapse on its own.

The only one who happened to know this secret was the little cat spirit who shared the closest bond with Betty—the one she called big brother—Puck.

And it was precisely Puck who, in this very moment, froze door after door within the manor, severing every possibility of their connection to the Forbidden Archive, leaving only a single door.

A single door that would guide Betty toward her doom.

The Phantom God of Civil War—the name was truly well-deserved!

Yet Betty would not resent Puck for this, because she understood that everything Puck did was only for Emilia's sake. For that, he was willing to do anything—even to be ordered around, even to be used.

And now, trapped within the Forbidden Archive, she too had no other choice.

So all she could do was come before the door of the Forbidden Archive, lips pressed tightly together, and with feelings in her heart she could not clearly name, she turned the handle and opened the door—]

"Big brother..."

Outside the screen, watching the brother she regarded as family betray her so effortlessly, Betty couldn't help but fall into a daze.

Though the narration on the screen described how deeply she had understood Puck at the time,

facing the betrayal of someone she trusted, her heart still couldn't help but feel a needle-like sting.

"Ahaha, I'm sorry, Betty."

Watching his shameful history of playing the mole and leading the way get dug up and publicly executed, Puck let out two dry chuckles and scratched his little cat head, speaking sheepishly.

"By that point I was probably already in the shape of little Subaru, you know. And you know how overbearing Subaru can be sometimes, right?"

Puck blinked his eyes innocently, deliberately putting on a cute act.

"So I don't really count as a mole, you see. I was just doing things for Subaru. You can understand me, can't you~"

Hearing this, Betty's expression darkened. For some reason, an urge to beat up this big brother of hers suddenly welled up in her heart.

Couldn't he just apologize properly? Why did he have to talk in such a slippery, manipulative way?

Come to think of it, for Great Spirits like them, there didn't seem to be any gender at all. She called him big brother simply because she felt Puck was reliable.

So why did Puck always insist on calling himself Emilia's old father?

Betty seemed to sense something. She glanced at Puck with a trace of suspicion, but she made no sound and instead chose to keep watching the film.

Because right now she could barely look after herself—she had no time to ponder such trivial matters.

[The instant she opened the door before her,

Betty arrived at the room Puck had chosen for her—the first-floor dining room.

The first thing to enter her field of vision was a rectangular dining table, and seated at the far end of the long table was a black-haired young man.

"Yo, Beatrice!"

As if he had long anticipated the exact moment she would open the door, the very instant she did, a man's familiar voice rang out at once from the other side of the dining table in greeting.

That voice was low and weary, laced with the faint excitement of reuniting with an old acquaintance after a long parting.

"Are you... Natsuki Subaru?"

Even Betty, who prided herself on having witnessed countless grand spectacles and being able to remain calm at all times, couldn't help but freeze upon seeing that black-haired young man.

Even her questioning tone unconsciously faltered, unable to be certain.

Since the day she helped Natsuki Subaru escape the manor, a very long time had passed, hadn't it?

Though to Betty it had been no more than the blink of an eye, for the black-haired young man before her, what kind of painful, tormented span of time had it been?

So much so that such an enormous change had come over him?

Such questions couldn't help but surge up in Betty's heart.

She gazed at the other side of the dining table.

Natsuki Subaru sat with both hands crossed and resting against his chin, seated upright in the chair at the far end. At this moment he seemed to radiate an oppressive presence.

The gloomy, cold countenance he now wore stood in stark contrast to the frank, even innocent face she remembered.

There were charcoal-black circles around his eyes, and his gaunt cheeks and the exposed skin of his fingers were as pale as a corpse's.

If she had to describe him in a single word, it would be—sickly.

His hair was disheveled and unkempt, as though he had utterly stopped bothering to tend to it, and his eyes brimmed almost to overflowing with hatred for this world.

Beyond that, the chatterbox habit that had once so annoyed her, and the cheerful, easygoing nature of the black-haired young man, had vanished without a trace.

Gazing at this boy before her, who watched her with a smile carrying a faint hint of death, Betty felt sorrow and pity surge up uncontrollably in her heart.

Yet Natsuki Subaru seemed utterly indifferent to it.

The two of them faced each other across the dining table. The distance between them was not far, yet they stood on two opposing sides.]

"Subaru, how did he end up like this? Just how much suffering did he endure over these past two years?"

Outside the screen, Betty bit down hard on her lip and widened her eyes, unwilling to let a single detail of Subaru's appearance escape her.

At the same time, she secretly regretted in her heart—why hadn't the version of herself on the screen been by Subaru's side during these two years?

Had it been her, she would never have let Subaru become the pitiable figure he was now!

Because she understood just how fragile a thing human life truly was.

Just like little grasses and little flowers, it needed to be carefully nurtured at all times, or else it would quickly wither.

Subaru, as the contract partner she had chosen, was a human, and his lifespan was inherently limited.

And now, seeing Subaru in this self-abandoned state—in which even death seemed like a kind of release—she felt a pang of heartache.

Every single second she spent with Subaru, she cherished beyond measure.

And so she swore that in reality, she would absolutely protect Subaru, and never let his spirit wither prematurely as it had on the screen!

We have to... walk to the very end together, Subaru!

Betty made this silent promise in her heart.

"Good heavens, Subaru's face is so thin, his complexion so awful, his hair such a mess—has he been living properly lately?"

On the other side, Anastasia let out an exaggerated cry of alarm.

In her original world, her encounter with Natsuki Subaru had been intensely romantic, and after marrying Natsuki Subaru and becoming his queen, she had always been the one who was doted upon.

As a result, she had long since lost the shrewd, calculating edge she'd originally possessed, and in its place had emerged her originally innocent nature.

And so, when she saw her husband Natsuki Subaru turned into what he was on the screen, she cried out in alarm and felt genuine worry from the bottom of her heart.

"Subaru's past was really this hard, yet when we were together, most of the time I was the one who needed looking after, and he always endured my willful ways!"

"He... he really does love me so much!"

Anastasia pressed a hand lightly to her mouth, moved, her eyes brimming with love that surged like a rising tide.

Beside Anastasia, Felt kept both hands pressed flat against her legs, meticulously maintaining a seated posture full of etiquette and elegance.

It wasn't that she was putting on a mature act—after so many years of marriage, she had already grown a great deal compared to the past.

____

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