Chapter 32 32: “Rem's Forced Kiss”

Natsuki Subaru had just rounded the corner.

When he suddenly heard it — a faint sound, not far ahead, like a stifled moan of pain, barely audible.

It pierced the corridor's silence like a needle.

"That sound… I know that sound!"

Natsuki Subaru froze mid-step, his heart seized by an invisible hand, lurching into a sudden sprint.

Through the countless memories of his loops, the image of a blue-haired girl flooded his mind.

Scenes of her flashed through him one after another, rapid and relentless.

"Rem…?"

He murmured her name, and when he considered his current situation, a wry smile tugged at his lips despite himself.

This was not a good situation.

Because no matter how close he and Rem had been across all those memories — right now, everything was back to zero.

Rem would be watching him as a suspicious stranger. If she caught even the slightest hint of a threat, she would come after him — out of her instinct to protect her sister and Emilia.

At least it wasn't the middle of the night. Running into Rem inside Roswaal's manor during the day was still perfectly safe… probably.

Subaru rubbed his temples, forcing down the horrifying memories of being killed by Rem in the dead of night.

What was he even worrying about? This time he hadn't even used Return by Death — there was no reason for Rem to be hostile to him right from the start!

With that thought settling him, he got his bearings back, rounded the corner quickly, and looked toward the source of the sound.

There was Rem — blue-haired, in her maid uniform — slumped on the floor for reasons unknown, both hands pressed to her head, fingers buried deep in her hair, knuckles white from the force of her grip.

She was biting down on her lower lip. Cold sweat beaded at her temples. Her whole body trembled. She looked like her head was being split in two.

"Rem!"

Subaru didn't hesitate for a second. He rushed forward and dropped to one knee at her side.

He reached out, carefully steadying her slight shoulders, his voice urgent and unsteady.

"Are you okay? Rem! Where does it hurt?"

With Subaru's arms supporting her and his voice calling to her, Rem's rapid, ragged breathing seemed to ease — just a little.

Her tightly shut eyes slowly opened. But the blue irises that were usually so clear and sharp were fogged over now, glazed and unfocused.

Her gaze lingered on Subaru's anxious face for a moment, as if she was trying to place him.

Then the tension drained from her body all at once, as though the sight of him was enough to make her feel safe.

"…It's… Subaru."

Her voice was soft — drifting, like someone talking in their sleep.

Like someone just waking from a morning dream, she languidly pulled herself upright — and then fell straight into Natsuki Subaru's arms.

She wrapped both arms around his waist, the kind of embrace that belonged only between lovers, and gently nuzzled against his warm chest.

"What… is going on right now?"

Warmth and softness in his arms, utterly without warning — Subaru went rigid on the spot, both hands instinctively shooting up into the air while his mind raced at full throttle.

Rem — docile as a little cat — nestled against him with her eyes half-closed, and after a good long while, some of her senses seemed to return.

Only then did she lift her head slightly and look around.

Taking in the familiar wall panels and décor of the corridor, the blankness in her eyes slowly gave way to something more complicated — the dawning clarity of someone waking from a dream.

"This is… Roswaal's manor?!"

"I can't believe it — I dreamed about this time again."

She murmured to herself, a faint and barely perceptible exhaustion and relief woven through her voice.

Rem — or perhaps she ought to be called Natsuki Rem now — let out a quiet sigh.

From that day — the turning point of fate —

She had been on a rooftop in the Royal Capital, abandoned and decrepit, and she had not been able to bear watching the hero in her heart — Natsuki Subaru — continue to sink into pain and despair.

And so she had agreed to his plea that they run away together.

And so the two of them had run.

Left the Kingdom of Lugnica. Left her sister Ram behind. Left Lady Emilia behind…

In the end, the two of them had settled in a small country to the north, married, and had children.

After the wedding, she had given Subaru a son and a daughter. She had taken his family name and become Natsuki Rem — and it seemed, on the surface, that she had at last come to live the quiet life she had once dreamed of.

She should have been happy. But whenever she woke in the small hours of the night —

Natsuki Rem would dream of her sister, covered in blood, and of Lady Emilia, both of them demanding to know why she had run, why she had left them to their fate.

And she would dream of Subaru — still a boy — the Subaru who might have become the hero everyone needed, burning bright with possibility.

Not… the middle-aged man he had become. The one who, in places where she and their children couldn't see, so often wore an expression of quiet defeat and exhaustion.

(Natsuki) Rem stared at Subaru, her gaze filled with guilt and love in equal measure.

"Even if this is only a dream right now — Subaru, I still want to say it —"

"I'm sorry! If I could do it all over again, I would want the happiness to reach more than just myself."

"My sister — and Lady Emilia — I want everyone to be happy too."

Rem murmured the words, reluctant to wake from this dream, and let her gaze sweep slowly around her one last time.

Finally, her eyes — gentle as still water — came to rest, unhurried, on Natsuki Subaru's face.

The feelings welling up inside her moved her hands before she could think; they reached up and cupped both sides of his face.

And before Subaru could even register what Rem was about to do —

The distance between them had already closed.

Subaru's pupils contracted sharply. His entire field of vision narrowed to the small face in front of him — Rem, eyes shut, so close she filled the world.

Time seemed to freeze.

Every thought he had ground to a halt. His body went as stiff as stone.

The next instant — something impossibly soft settled silently over his lips.

The air turned thick. Every sound in the world disappeared.

All that remained was the violent hammering of Natsuki Subaru's heart, and Rem's breathing — thin as a sigh, and yet carrying something unmistakably like pleasure.

"Mm… ❤️…"

After a long, long moment, Rem — having finally fulfilled a dream she had nurtured since her days at the manor — drew back a little.

She turned her face to the side, flustered, inadvertently showing Subaru the blush spreading from the tips of her ears all the way to her cheeks — the flush that could only belong to a young girl.

"Rem, what was that…"

Subaru asked, voice shaking, stunned speechless.

Rem looked at the dopey expression on his face and couldn't help covering her mouth to hide a laugh.

Hm, Subaru's reaction was so real — this dream really was…

The haze that had been clouding Rem's mind a moment ago had been thoroughly blown away by what just happened, and her senses came rushing back — which was when she realized something was very wrong.

Wait — was this actually a dream?

Right at that moment, a flood of impossibly vivid memories from the past surged into her mind without any warning, and she began to doubt.

It was less that these memories had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and more that her original memories — spanning from the day of her birth all the way to this very moment — had been reinforced somehow, sharpened, so that countless details she had long since forgotten could now be recalled with effortless clarity.

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