Chapter 58 58: “Spirit Arts Natsuki Subaru (Betty Enhanced Edition)”

"Ah — I'm here to help, obviously. It'd be too much work for just Ram and Rem to handle all the ingredients, right?"

Natsuki Subaru scratched the back of his head and blurted out the excuse on the spot.

"Besides, I've been freeloading here long enough. Let me pull my weight!"

"Lady Ram, Lady Ram — Subaru is actually really good at prepping ingredients."

Rem could see that Natsuki Subaru had already found his excuse to stay, so she chimed in to back him up with a pleading look.

"With three of us working together, cooking might go quite a bit faster."

"So please — let Subaru stay and help?"

With both of them saying so, and with Natsuki Subaru looking up at her with that openly hopeful expression, the ice in Ram's face softened considerably.

"Hmph… if Barusu has nothing better to do, then fine — stay and help."

Ram turned her head away, faintly embarrassed.

She had been the one to lose her temper just minutes ago — and now here she was, being coaxed back by Barusu and her little sister Rem.

So… for Rem's sake, she supposed she could afford to be just the tiniest bit nicer to Barusu. Just this once.

Scratch, scratch.

Natsuki Subaru rolled up his sleeves and moved to Ram's side like he'd done it a hundred times before, picked up a potato, and started peeling — his hands moving with practiced, effortless speed.

"Subaru's amazing — those peeling skills are way better than I expected."

Rem rolled up her own sleeves and was heading to her station when she caught a glimpse of Natsuki Subaru's technique. She paused to compliment him, genuinely impressed.

"Ah, it's nothing, really."

Natsuki Subaru said with a self-deprecating shrug.

Honestly, there wasn't much to brag about — it was purely the result of having died so many times in this manor that he'd peeled potatoes until the motion was burned into muscle memory.

"This is just a cheap parlor trick. Ram's got me beat by miles!"

With that, Natsuki Subaru flashed Ram a bright, cheerful grin:

"The way Ram peels potato skins is so elegant — it looks like you're painting a picture."

Ram cast a languid sidelong glance in his direction.

She caught Natsuki Subaru's smile and, in spite of herself, gave him a prim little glare.

"Hmph… smooth talker. There's a lot of work ahead — you'd better be ready for it today, Barusu."

On the surface, Ram looked thoroughly unbothered, as if his flattery had slid right off her.

In reality, the moment she saw Natsuki Subaru's smile, her heart gave a traitorous little lurch — several of them, in quick succession.

"Got it — leave everything to me!"

Natsuki Subaru thumped his chest with a devil-may-care confidence.

Seeing him looking so full of energy, Ram felt the corner of her mouth curl up in a small, involuntary smile.

But in the very next instant — the moment Ram's attention drifted.

Something strange happened. Her right hand went suddenly, inexplicably weak — sensation draining from it in an instant.

The kitchen knife she'd been holding slipped from her grip, dragged by its own weight. The blade caught her palm on the way down, and then it clattered against the floor with a sharp ring.

"Ram!"

"Lady Ram!"

Natsuki Subaru and Rem cried out at the same moment, both of them already moving, rushing to Ram's side.

Ram pressed her hand over the bleeding wound, her eyes cast downward, her pink hair falling forward to hide her expression.

"I'm fine… I lost focus for a second. I just didn't have a good grip on the knife."

Ram raised her head and spoke in an even tone.

"Lady Ram — have you been…?"

Rem stared at her sister for a long moment, then said in a stunned voice.

"That's enough, Rem. I'll deal with it tonight."

Ram silenced her with a sharp look, cutting off whatever she'd been about to say.

Then Ram turned to Natsuki Subaru — who was clearly confused and on the verge of asking something — and gave a small, dismissive curl of her lip.

"Don't worry about it, Barusu."

"Now that Ram is injured, at least I have a perfectly legitimate excuse to slack off for a while."

Natsuki Subaru's brow furrowed sharply.

"But that's not the point right now!"

The sudden outburst made Ram flinch — her whole body giving a startled jolt.

She stared blankly as Natsuki Subaru came storming toward her.

Wait — what was he doing?

Why had Barusu suddenly gotten so angry? Should she apologize immediately?

Faced with him bearing down on her, Ram instinctively threw both hands up in a flustered little guard.

But Natsuki Subaru slowed his pace well before he reached her.

As Ram's hands came up, he reached out and gently caught the one that was injured.

Then, he brought her wounded palm up close and studied it carefully.

Ram craned her neck curiously, wondering what on earth he was up to.

And then — Natsuki Subaru moved.

He laid his own palm flat against hers.

As he murmured a quiet incantation, a soft aquamarine light bloomed across his hand.

As the one on the receiving end, Ram felt it most clearly of all.

The moment Natsuki Subaru's Healing Magic took hold, the wound in her palm was enveloped in a warm, gentle sensation — like being wrapped in something soothing and wet.

Slowly, moment by moment, the cut grew smaller — and then it was simply gone, sealed without a trace.

Ram stared in a daze at Natsuki Subaru, who was focused entirely on treating her, and felt something complicated stir in her chest.

"That's… water-attribute Healing Magic?"

Rem, who had been standing nearby, only snapped back to herself once the treatment was done, and gasped.

"And that presence… that's Lady Beatrice's presence?"

Rem stared at Natsuki Subaru in disbelief.

As far as her memory went, there had been no moment where Subaru had formed a contract with Lady Beatrice.

And even if he had formed one — Subaru should have been the one supplying mana, not the other way around.

So how was he channeling Lady Beatrice's magic himself?

She had known since their time in the Royal Capital — Natsuki Subaru's only affinity was shadow-attribute. He could only cast the shadow-attribute spell "Miasma Fog."

And yet now…

Facing Rem's probing stare, Natsuki Subaru gave a thumbs-up and grinned.

"That's right — I've made a contract with Beako!"

"I wasn't trying to hide it from you. As for why I can cast Healing Magic — well, the contract Beako and I have this time around is a little different from the usual kind."

"Long story short: until a certain critical moment arrives, I can freely use any magic Beako knows and borrow her mana whenever I need it."

"Idiot Barusu — even so, you can't possibly be borrowing it that casually. There's no need to waste it on me."

Ram felt a quiet warmth moving through her, but her pride refused to let her say thank you out loud.

"Waste? Are you serious? Using it on Ram is about the least wasteful thing I can think of."

Natsuki Subaru scratched his head and laughed — a little sheepishly, a little dumbly — then seemed to remember something and added:

"That said — I healed the wound with magic, but I'm still not practiced enough to guarantee it's completely healed."

"So just to be safe, Ram should rest for the day."

"As for Ram's share of the work — hand it over to me."

Ram turned it over in her mind, and in the end, didn't refuse.

She spoke, her voice carrying just a trace of hesitation:

"Fine… but with just an idiot like Barusu, nothing will get done right. Ram will stay here to supervise and direct."

"I am deeply and sincerely grateful, Lady Ram!"

Natsuki Subaru accepted with a goofy grin and his signature theatrical flair.

Ram couldn't hold it in — a small, helpless laugh escaped her. Pfft.

It was the first time Ram had smiled since the incident at the dining table that morning.

Seeing it, Rem and Natsuki Subaru both found smiles of their own breaking through as well.

And so — what followed was this:

Rem cooked with her usual practiced ease, while Natsuki Subaru worked under Ram's exacting supervision, swiftly and efficiently prepping each ingredient and passing it along to Rem.

As they cooked, the three of them fell into easy chatter and good-natured bickering, and the atmosphere in the kitchen grew warmer and warmer.

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