Chapter 56 56: “Purge King and Ram”

Rem reacted first. She set down the teacup at once, her body instinctively stepping half a pace forward to place herself between Natsuki Subaru and Ram.

Her expression was confused, her voice uncertain but threaded with a quiet tension as she spoke:

"Lady Ram — what is it? So suddenly."

At that, Betty — still settled in Natsuki Subaru's lap — opened her eyes. Her little brow drew into a displeased frown.

Like a small creature whose territory had just been invaded, she fixed Ram with an unapologetic glare:

"Insolent maid. Betty and Subaru are eating. Your interruption is an affront to Kass'im!"

Emilia, for her part, looked suddenly at a loss. She set down the silver fork, her fingers fidgeting with the hem of the ill-fitting maid uniform as she tugged it self-consciously.

The shame of being seen like this by someone she knew crept up her neck and bloomed across her cheeks.

What on earth had gotten into Ram this early in the morning?

Natsuki Subaru scratched his head, genuinely puzzled.

Rem was his future wife — having her serve him tea was perfectly natural. Emilia was here as punishment for what had happened that morning. So what was he supposed to have Ram doing, exactly?

There were already enough people here. There wasn't room to squeeze in any more.

Besides — he felt a little guilty facing Ram right now.

There was last night, when he'd refused to let her teach him to read. And then this morning, when Ram had walked in to find Emilia lying in his bed. He was honestly dreading the moment Ram decided to bring any of that up to Rem.

Thinking of that, Natsuki Subaru flashed a placating smile and quickly said:

"No need, no need — Ram, you just do whatever you were doing. Don't worry about us."

"Tch."

At those words, Ram's expression darkened.

Again. Again it was the same thing.

No matter what Barusu did, he always found a way to shut her out.

The thought stirred something surprisingly close to hurt inside her.

Why did Barusu always push her away? Did he really find her that tiresome?

Ram bit down on her lip without thinking.

And then her gaze landed on Rem — on the way her little sister had unconsciously shifted forward in that small, protective gesture — and something inside Ram simply snapped.

Why was it that everyone, one by one, was leaving her behind? Leaving her alone?

Whether in the memories of the past… or right here, right now!

Ram drew a sharp breath. The chill in her pink irises hardened until it was almost something solid.

"Rem!"

Her voice shot up, ragged at the edges with a fury she could no longer contain.

"Can you still not see this man for what he really is?! He—"

"Lady Ram!"

Rem's voice rang out at almost the same instant — rare for her, carrying a sharp, urgent edge that cut cleanly through Ram's words before they could leave her mouth.

Her deep blue eyes met Ram's directly, holding them with an unwavering, unbudging resolve — and beneath it, just barely visible, a thread of silent pleading.

As twin oni sisters who, in some sense, shared a deeper understanding than words could carry, Ram could feel exactly what Rem was thinking in that moment.

When her pink eyes collided with Rem's gaze — Rem's fierce, desperate emotion slammed straight into her chest.

And so Ram stopped herself. Bit down hard on the words that had been surging up.

That rush of feeling Rem had sent her was like cold water thrown over her head — the boiling heat in Ram's mind went out all at once.

The thought of her sister — of protecting her — crashed down in an instant and buried every trace of fury and resentment.

— What was she doing?

Was she really here for Rem's sake?

Or… was she just throwing a tantrum because her own emotions had gotten away from her?

Ram's heart dropped.

There were a hundred gentler, more effective ways to help Rem. Countless of them.

So why had she chosen the one way that was the most explosive — the one most likely to hurt Rem in the process?

Then a thought broke into her mind without warning — terrifying, unfamiliar:

Was she… paying far too much attention to Barusu?

— Paying attention to Barusu?

The thought was so absurd that Ram nearly laughed out loud with scorn.

That stupid, lazy, shameless Barusu? Her? Care about him? Impossible.

But the denial had barely risen before the cold weight of reality came crashing down to contradict it.

Ram's thoughts drifted — slipping, without her meaning them to, toward something she hadn't wanted to face.

The nightmare that had clung to her ever since she was reborn — the one she could never shake free of:

Rem would leave her. Completely. Before long.

In the world she herself had helped bring to ruin — she had lost the only sister she had.

Rem had died — struck down by some unknown curse.

And so, as the one true outsider within the manor — and a man who reeked of the witch's scent that only a member of the Witch Cult could carry — Natsuki Subaru had become the only suspect in her eyes.

Ram's heart had been filled to overflowing with a grief that tore her apart and a hatred that had nowhere to go. In the end, only one thought remained in her mind: killing Natsuki Subaru — the murderer who had taken her sister from her.

Rem was the most important person in her life. Whoever harmed her — Ram would kill them, no matter what. Because that was the only thing she still had the power to do.

And so Ram had abandoned Rem's body, not yet laid to rest, and given chase — running Natsuki Subaru down without stopping, without relenting.

On and on. Without end. Until the pursuit had carried her into a field of snow.

She had caught him again there — seized him by the throat and squeezed with everything she had, desperate to end the life of this man she had condemned.

But she had failed.

Long ago, when she was small — when the Witch Cult had attacked and she had thrown herself in front of Rem to protect her — they had cut off the horn atop her head. The horn that was the source of an oni's power.

Without her horn, she could not draw in magical energy from the world around her. Instead, she burned through the reserves within her body without cease.

When those reserves drew close to nothing, the sustained weakness would eventually kill her.

She had always relied on Roswaal to replenish her magical energy.

But in pursuit of Natsuki Subaru — having left the manor behind — she grew weaker with every passing moment.

And so, at the final instant — just as she was on the verge of killing him — her strength gave out completely.

Perhaps she would just die here, she had thought. Go and find Rem.

That was what Ram had told herself, lying in the snow, too weak to move.

But Natsuki Subaru — that man — had come back to himself, and then he had saved her.

The man she despised. The man she had wanted dead. He had put her on his back and walked toward the city, searching for something that could keep her alive.

When he learned the reason for her weakness, he began gathering mana gems with frantic desperation — pouring them into her, one after another — just to keep her breathing.

And then, in time, that man had begun building his own power base.

But his mind had broken somewhere along the way, and he had stopped trusting anyone.

There were times he would flip a coin to decide whether someone was lying — and whether his own people deserved to go on living.

The world had come to fear him, and given him a name: the Purge King.

As for her — he had locked her away in a hidden chamber behind his bedroom.

And that imprisonment had lasted… three years.

Over those three years, he had spent a fortune in mana gems to keep her alive, and periodically attended to her needs with his own hands.

They had spoken honestly to each other. Every secret between them had long since dissolved. There was nothing left to hide.

But as payment for her betrayal, she remained bound in heavy iron chains — unable to leave that chamber, not ever.

Yet within those three years, through the idle conversations that passed between them, she had come to learn the truth of how her sister Rem had died.

It had nothing to do with Natsuki Subaru. Rem had been killed as the result of a scheme laid by someone else entirely.

Which meant—

Everything she had done had been misdirected rage.

And the consequences of that misdirected rage were not something she could atone for even if she spent her entire life trying.

Because of her — the color had drained out of that man's world. He had come to believe that human hearts were unknowable, that everyone changed, that no one could be trusted ever again.

A woman like her, Ram — someone who had been laughing and bickering with him in easy companionship one moment — had turned on him without warning the very next, and hunted him to the last dregs of her life without ever letting go.

And so, there in that field of snow — that man's mind had shattered completely. The light that wanted to keep living had gone out of his eyes for good.

Ram had only to look at him to understand that.

____

👻🔥Whant more?: Walnut-chan🔥👻

🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats

Let's reach these milestones together:

🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all readers