Chapter 34 34: “Incompetent Wife, Rem”

"A dream?"

Hearing Rem say she had been lost in a very long dream, Natsuki Subaru murmured the words back to himself.

Then he caught it — the subtle shift in her tone, the change behind her eyes.

That calm, that gentleness — it was nothing like the girl who had just lost all composure and kissed him. And yet, strangely, both versions seemed to coexist within her now, perfectly at peace with each other. What on earth was going on…?

"Mm."

Rem gave a soft sound of acknowledgment, offering no further explanation.

She kept her expression neutral, but inside, her mind was turning over something that had caught her off guard — the way Subaru had just addressed her.

— He said "Rem" just now, didn't he?

Whenever something anomalous about Subaru was involved, her thinking sharpened to a razor's edge.

In only a matter of seconds, Rem dredged up from memory the hazy impression of Subaru sprinting toward her in a panic just moments ago.

Subaru had seen her collapsed on the floor — and shouted her name. "Rem!"

Yes. Even with a torrent of memories crashing through her mind all at once, she hadn't misheard. She was certain.

Which meant there was a problem — and stepping outside her own perspective made it glaring.

Subaru and she were strangers. They had never met, never spoken a single word to each other before today.

And yet — whether it was that first rushed greeting, or the name that had slipped from his lips in stunned shock after the kiss — Subaru had called her by her name, correctly, both times.

So… could it be that Subaru had also been reborn?

A powerful surge welled up inside Rem — the desperate urge to throw herself at him right then and there, to be recognized by her husband, by the person she loved most in the world.

But reason pulled her back from the edge.

Rem drew in a slow breath and forced down the feeling that had nearly burst straight through her chest.

She had only just returned to this point in time. Many of her memories hadn't even been sorted through yet.

It was entirely possible this was nothing more than some strange coincidence born from the circumstances of her rebirth.

And Rem couldn't afford to gamble on that kind of uncertainty.

Not only might she frighten the Subaru standing before her now — she could expose her own secret, and drag in consequences she couldn't begin to predict.

Rem's gaze refocused on the face of the boy in front of her — familiar and foreign at once.

The uncertainty of his identity filled her chest with a tangle of contradictions.

If her memory was right, the Subaru of this time was utterly smitten with Lady Emilia — so much so that he'd made a fool of himself over it more than once.

The thought made Rem's heart sink, little by little.

If Subaru knowing her name really was just a coincidence…

Then was she supposed to stand by and watch the man she loved — her dearest husband — fawn over another woman right in front of her?

The thought drifted through Rem's mind, hollow and distant.

...

A moment later, Rem drew in a deep breath, wrestled her churning emotions back under control, and straightened her spine. The bearing of a maid returned to her like a second skin.

"It's time for breakfast."

Rem looked toward the far end of the corridor.

"We should head to the dining room, Subaru."

Her voice was composed — she sounded once again like the Rem who was supposed to regard him with cool wariness. The Rem who kept her distance from suspicious strangers.

And yet — the casual intimacy of calling Natsuki Subaru by his given name — that, she made no effort to hide or walk back.

Subaru watched her, and once again that familiar sense of unreality washed over him.

Rem's strangeness, Betty's explosive reaction… it was like a massive whirlpool lurking just beneath a calm surface.

Could it be that Rem and Betty — had they also come here from some other world of possibility?

Subaru couldn't help but wonder, because their bizarre behavior mirrored Emilia's and Elsa's far too closely.

He could only wonder — what kind of story had each of them lived through?

As the thought ran through his mind, an image suddenly surfaced in his head without warning — the Royal Capital in flames, and himself, laughing wildly, robed as the Archbishop of Pride.

No, no, no — that world where he'd joined the Witch Cult was a total outlier. Definitely a one-off!

Subaru shook his head firmly and scattered the image from his mind.

Then he gave Rem a quick nod, his voice still a little strained:

"…Right. Let's go."

The two of them set off down the long corridor, side by side in silence, one a half-step ahead of the other.

The morning light was just as bright as ever, dust still drifting lazily through the sunbeams — but the atmosphere was nothing like when Subaru had first stepped out of his room.

Rem walked ahead by half a pace, her steps unhurried and steady, yet her silhouette carried a weight that was hard to name — something resolute and heavy all at once.

Subaru followed behind, his gaze resting on her slender back with an unreadable expression.

The scenes from moments ago replayed over and over in his mind — that kiss, the impossible softness of it, Betty's furious scolding, and the way Rem had composed herself so completely it was like meeting a different person.

The dining room ahead felt less like a destination and more like the entrance to yet another unknown mystery.

...

With Rem leading the way and Subaru close behind, the two of them made their way to the dining room entrance.

Rounding the corner, Subaru glanced through the half-open double doors into the room beyond.

The rectangular dining table was impressively grand — the chairs spaced at just the right intervals to strike a balance between dignified formality and a certain coolness of distance.

Atop the table, elegantly crafted candelabras stood quietly, waiting to be lit.

On either side of the unlit fireplace, tall windows were set into the walls, letting in the soft morning light, which fell across the floorboards in shifting, dappled patterns.

At that same moment, Subaru noticed Emilia's figure — she was walking just a few steps ahead of them.

"Emilia-tan!"

Subaru immediately broke into a grin and called out to her.

Emilia heard him, stopped, and turned around, a warm smile spreading across her face:

"Oh! Subaru — and Rem too, you're both here."

"Hey hey, good morning, Subaru! And good morning to you too, Rem!"

Puck popped out from somewhere in Emilia's pinned-up hair, struck a jaunty little pose, and tossed a greeting at both of them.

Rem caught the exchange, her eyes flashing briefly, and she gave a graceful, composed bow. "Lady Emilia, Lord Puck — good morning to you both."

The next instant, Rem's clear gaze swept naturally around the space near Emilia — unhurried, as though simply taking in her surroundings, yet with just a hint of something urgent beneath it:

"Um, Lady Emilia — have you happened to see my sister?"

Emilia shook her head gently:

"Ram? I'm sorry, I didn't run into her on the way — at this hour, she's probably already inside the dining room getting things ready?"

"I see… thank you for letting me know."

A faint trace of wistfulness flickered through Rem's voice, but she gathered herself quickly.

The three of them fell naturally into step together and walked into the dining room.

As they pushed open the door and stepped inside, they discovered that two people were already there waiting.

Ram stood poised and unhurried beside a high-backed chair, her hands folded neatly in front of her, her pink eyes resting calmly on the doorway — as though she had long since expected their arrival.

And not far from her, Beatrice — small, exquisitely doll-like, and unmistakably herself —

— was perched primly on the tall chair made specially to her measurements, her tiny legs dangling in the air, swinging gently back and forth.

Her pink-gold spiral curls caught the light from the nearby windows and shimmered softly.

At the sound of movement by the door, she gave the barest lift of her gaze — a single, disinterested glance — then lowered her eyes again to the magic tome she happened to have in her hands.

She was the picture of indifference toward the new arrivals, acknowledging them only with a faint, barely audible hum through her nose.

Clearly, both Ram and Betty had been waiting here for quite some time already.

____

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