Chapter 149: Hey, how much of what big brother said before can Meili take seriously?

Every last person in the viewing seats sat stunned to the bone.

Julius covered the lower half of his face with his right hand, his brows knotted tight, and as the image of Natsuki Subaru diving headfirst into that field of jagged rock replayed in his mind, his expression twisted into something ghastly.

The old Sword Demon, Wilhelm, dragged the corners of his mouth down hard, so grim he looked ready to kill with a glance alone.

He wore the face of a man who had just lost his own grandson — though his grandson Reinhard was, of course, sitting right there, perfectly fine.

"Subaru, Subaru, Subaru! Don't die! Don't leave Betty all alone!"

Fat tears rolled down Betty's cheeks one after another until she was sobbing too hard to speak.

Seeing that horrifying maze of broken stone at the base of the cliff, only one thought filled her head.

How much pain must Subaru have been in?

Frederica's face was a tangle of horror and sorrow — and, underneath it, a thread of respect.

"That's the Cap'n I picked, all right. Doesn't flinch at death. That's what a real strong man looks like!"

A deep reverence flashed through Garfiel's eyes. He hadn't misjudged the man after all. This was someone worth following. He had guts, and then some.

"Everyone… this may be even worse than you're imagining."

Otto, silent for so long, spoke up, and every head in the room turned toward him.

"From what I could see — the height of that cliff, and those rough stone pillars at the bottom… they aren't blades, after all. Even taking both together, it's entirely possible a person wouldn't die right away."

Otto kept his head lowered, and the face hidden in shadow was terrible to look at. He had been the first to realize it, which meant he was the one it had struck hardest.

He said it aloud so that everyone here would hold Mr. Natsuki in greater respect — so they would understand what he had paid.

Today it might only have been for the people of the manor. But what about afterward?

Who among them could swear they had never once been pulled back from the edge of collapse by Mr. Natsuki?

That's right… Roswaal, get out here right now!

"No — no, surely not? The image went dark right away, so maybe nothing like that actually happened…"

Anastasia's eyes were wide, and she trembled as she spoke.

But the more she said it, the less she believed it, and her mind filled in the picture on its own: Natsuki Subaru sprawled in a bed of broken rock, flesh torn to pulp.

Every jutting spire of stone slick with blood — the marks left as momentum flung his body from one to the next on the way down…

"Hurgh—!"

Anastasia doubled over, eyes bulging, and vomited from sheer terror.

"Damn it…"

Crusch bit down on her thumb, her whole mind consumed with how to get Natsuki Subaru out of that manor. The place was nothing but suffering for him.

"This too is a road my husband must walk on his way to true strength."

The words came out calm enough, but the hand gripping Priscilla's fan tightened until the veins stood out.

"Subaru!"

"Subaru!"

"Barusu!"

Three cries, one after another, from Emilia, Rem and Ram.

For the ones it had actually happened to, the feeling was nothing like what the others felt. To know that someone would give up his very life for you — it soaked them through with something sweet.

And then Otto's words knocked them straight back out of the clouds.

How many times had Subaru already died for them?

How was anyone supposed to repay a feeling like that?

"Big brother's life sure is an eventful one, isn't it~"

Meili licked her lips with a soft, wet sound, then let out a light laugh.

It wasn't mockery. She truly did envy the way Natsuki Subaru lived.

To have a goal of your own and pour everything you had into it — when you put it like that, it sounded terribly romantic.

In her memory, she had known happiness once.

It had been a joyful stretch of time. All she'd had to do was work for Natsuki Subaru, kill whoever he told her to kill, and nothing else needed thinking about.

Giving everything for her big brother — that had been the way she'd found, back then, to live as herself.

Even at the very end, cut down by the Sword Saint and collapsing into her big brother's arms, she had never once regretted it.

It was only —

A shadow crept over Meili's eyes.

It was only, why was it that after they'd come back, her big brother remembered none of it?

He treated her like a stranger, and yet he looked at Elsa like someone he'd known for years.

So he was doing it on purpose, wasn't he? He was lying, wasn't he? He meant to throw Meili away, didn't he!?

"Say, big brother."

"All those promises you made back then to win Meili over — how many of them can Meili still take seriously now?"

"Big brother, big brother… even in this life, you're going to teach Meili how to go on li-ving, okay~"

Meili murmured it softly, as though she had settled on something.

"I'm back…"

Staring up at that familiar ceiling, Natsuki Subaru let out a slow breath, and the tension drained out of his body.

The gamble had paid off. He could still Return by Death after all.

No hitting some cap on the number of revivals, no rule saying suicide didn't count. Thank god for that.

"Sister, sister, it seems our guest hasn't quite finished waking up."

"Rem, Rem, the poor guest has gone soft in the head at such a young age."

Natsuki Subaru turned toward the voices and looked at the twin sisters standing by his bed, clinging to each other in the most adorable way imaginable.

For a moment his head swam. He pushed himself upright, meaning to say something, and a splitting headache stopped him cold.

"Is something wrong, guest? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Is something wrong, guest? Has your chronic condition flared up?"

Seeing Natsuki Subaru clutch his head like a man in pain, Rem and Ram both faltered, hurrying over to the bedside and leaning in with concern.

Well — if you subtracted the little barb Ram tacked onto the end every single time, it did count as concern.

"Give me your hands!"

With both sisters delivering themselves right to him, Natsuki Subaru's face turned serious. He seized their hands, shut his eyes, and concentrated.

He compared what he felt now against the memory of those two different small hands he had held in that dream.

"I knew it… I wasn't wrong!"

Natsuki Subaru opened his eyes slowly. He had his answer, and with the relief his features softened into a gentle smile for the two of them.

"No! Guest, everything you have done is wrong!"

"Guest, guest, your very existence is a mistake."

At that, Rem and Ram both snatched their hands back and retreated from the bed at speed, wearing the frightened faces of girls who had just met a pervert.

"Weird how getting insulted actually feels kind of nice?"

Natsuki Subaru was in far too good a mood to care. Even abuse from a pair of beautiful twin maids went down sweet.

"Sister, sister, could it be that the guest is one of those difficult people who enjoys being scolded?" Rem laced her fingers together with her sister Ram's, alarm written across her face.

Ram gripped her sister Rem's hands and answered with total conviction.

"Rem, Rem, it seems the guest is a colossal pervert who gets excited when he's insulted."

"All right, that's enough teasing. Grabbing your hands out of nowhere was my fault. Let's get along from here on, okay?"

Natsuki Subaru shrugged, climbed out of bed, walked over to the two sisters and held out his hand in invitation.

Staaare…

Rem and Ram both fixed their eyes on the hand Natsuki Subaru was offering, then on the sincerity in his gaze, and for a moment his solemn manner left them completely at a loss.

____

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