Chapter 146: Return to the Main Story, Viewing Begins

"Hah—!"

Natsuki Subaru bolted upright on the open ground, gasping in huge, ragged breaths like a man torn out of a nightmare.

"Was I dreaming about the Witch of Envy? No — it was Emilia, definitely Emilia. But that voice in my ear, the one I know so well…"

He swallowed hard, and it took a long while before his mind settled back into place.

Only when he turned his head to look around did he realize he was still inside that pure-white, cage-like mysterious space.

So I'm back?

And why does this place look so much like that white room in the dream, the one where Emilia was locked away?

Subaru's face darkened. Everything he had seen in that dream, he had lived through himself —

The pain. The despair. The thrashing of a drowning man, and the ugly, wailing, tear-streaked mess he had made of himself while he thrashed.

What in the world was that?!

Then, as if struck by a sudden certainty, a shiver ran the length of his body and he slowly lowered his head.

There in his hands, resting open across his crossed legs, lay a strange, heavy book.

It looked less like one book than several bound together into a single volume — bizarre beyond words.

Subaru lifted it, turned it left and right, but no matter how many pages he flipped through, not a single word appeared on any of them.

He shut it, and only then saw the title on the cover.

Slowly, he read it aloud:

"Natsuki Subaru?"

His own name? But what was that supposed to mean?

Before he could work it out, the strange bound volume scattered on the wind and was gone.

— — —

"All three of them on the screen are so pitiful. If only things had never turned out this way…"

Anastasia covered her face, aching with sympathy for those three wretched souls, grief welling up in her.

"Sister…"

Rem turned at the sound and looked at Ram sitting beside her, worry filling her eyes.

Ram had only returned after the entire viewing had ended, and she still hadn't shaken off the shadow of being abandoned so abruptly by Natsuki Subaru.

She bit down on her thumb, her gaze fierce and fixated, her mind tearing furiously back through everything that had happened.

Having tried to change things and reaped the consequences herself, her considerable intelligence was beginning to retake the high ground.

Why had Barusu left her behind?

In the end, it wasn't Barusu's fault. If anyone was to blame, it was her — she had rushed it.

She had wanted to apologize, wanted to make amends, and never once considered how the other party felt. Wasn't that exactly what she'd accused Emilia of, not long ago — thinking only of herself?

The color drained from Ram's face, and her expression turned uncertain, unsettled.

As for Reinhard, outwardly he betrayed nothing, but inside a storm was breaking against the rocks.

What did they mean, the Royal Capital was gone again?

What exactly had he been protecting all this time?

This was no joke. Reinhard's reaction this time was genuine. He already carried the memory of the Arrogance line, of Natsuki Subaru setting the Royal Capital ablaze, and watching Emilia move to destroy the Royal Capital too had left him with something very close to PTSD.

And both destructions of the Royal Capital shared a startling similarity, a single common thread — Natsuki Subaru.

Reinhard thought back to just before he had been brought into this viewing space. He and Subaru had parted ways only a short while ago.

He had assumed that Subaru, returning to Roswaal's domain alongside Lady Emilia, who valued him so highly, was headed for an easy and blessed life — that a long-held wish had finally come true.

What he had never imagined was that one small Roswaal Manor could contain so many monsters wearing human faces.

If not for a knight's discipline and his own temperament, he might well have flown straight to Roswaal Manor the instant the viewing ended.

And demanded of the people there: just what do you all intend to do to my friend Natsuki Subaru, damn it!?

Rein descends from the heavens, Wrath bared and terrible!

Of course, it wouldn't be quite that dramatic.

And of course, Reinhard had genuinely resolved to do it.

The moment this viewing was over, he would go straight there and protect Subaru — fulfilling the promise he had made at the very beginning.

Though in that case, he would have to bring Lady Felt along as well.

Keeping two people entirely safe at once might prove slightly difficult for him.

But this time he would meet every possible threat to Subaru and Felt with everything he had.

[This entire tragedy sprang from Rem's death, and from the collapse of Natsuki Subaru's spirit.

When his conviction to save everyone was worn down to nothing, the one who should have become a hero walked instead down the road to becoming a tyrant king…]

[But what if, back then, Natsuki Subaru had not chosen to run? What if he had remembered the hidden gentleness of the twin sisters?

What if he had chosen to take his own life, and the will to save everyone had kindled in him once more — where would the story have gone then?]

[Returning formally to the main line of the story. The viewing begins!]

"Remembering the twins' gentleness, resolving to save everyone…"

Tears shimmered in Rem's eyes. She pressed a hand over her mouth, and within moments she was crying too hard to speak.

Even after she had treated him like that, he still decided to save her?

"So Subaru has been Rem's hero since long, long ago!"

She laughed through her tears, quite suddenly. She hadn't meant to smile, but the moment she thought of Subaru, something inside her brimmed full.

She loved his face. His sleeping face. The way he walked, and the gentle look that surfaced in his eyes now and then.

The confession she had once left unspoken on that rooftop had finally become real to her.

Perhaps in that so-called main line, she truly had said those words to Subaru, and given him courage.

The Rem of that world must have become the pillar holding up his heart. The thought made her a little bashful.

Still, it was fine even if she had never said them.

Rem lowered her eyes, and her gaze softened.

There was plenty of time ahead. She would tell her beloved, a little at a time.

["Found you at last. You certainly led Betty on a search, I suppose."]

As his eyes opened by degrees and his senses returned, that familiar voice — Betty's voice — reached Natsuki Subaru's ear.

"Why?"

The question came out blankly. Wasn't she supposed to be honoring the contract between them, standing against Roswaal?

"Why did you come? I—"

He started to say something more, but Betty cut him off.

That was because Betty had the distinct feeling that this troublesome man in front of her was about to say something mortifying and awkward.

So she stated her purpose bluntly and drew the line where she wanted it:

"Keeping you safe is the contract we made."

"That is all there is to it. Hmph!"

Her face stayed calm, as though she were merely reciting a fact — but that habitual little flourish at the end gave away rather more of what she was thinking.

"The escort agreement should've ended this morning."

Subaru dropped his head without thinking, dodging her eyes.

Scene after scene of Rem torturing him to death flashed through him again, and the trust in others that had long been hanging by a thread drove him to argue, to shy away from anyone's kindness.

"You've got it wrong, I suppose. Betty never named any expiration date."

At that, Subaru's head snapped up. He stared at the girl before him, mouth hanging open.

Was this a word game?

But who plays word games in order to bind themselves to a promise that works against them?

In other words — then that meant —

Subaru's eyes went wide as he gazed at the tiny girl standing there, and the answer rose to the surface all on its own.

This was the gentleness that belonged to Betty alone.

____

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