Chapter 61 61: Isn't one enough? Do you still want Ram?

After sealing his promise with Emilia, the great stone that had been weighing on Natsuki Subaru's heart finally dropped away completely.

It was as though a thousand pounds had been lifted off his shoulders — he even felt lighter on his feet as he made his way back to his room.

Subaru humbled along, humming a little tune, and before long found himself standing at his bedroom door.

He pushed the inward-opening door open without a second thought and walked right in, not even bothering to check whether it had swung shut behind him.

He hadn't taken two steps before he heard it — a dull, heavy thud from the door behind him.

It didn't sound like the wind. It sounded much more like someone had been standing just inside the door, waiting — and the moment he stepped through, they'd shoved it firmly shut.

Subaru's feet froze mid-step. He stood rooted to the spot, unable to move forward or back.

Cold sweat broke out all over him. His mind kicked into overdrive.

Who — who was trying to do him in this time?!

He'd just said goodnight to Emilia. Rem and Ram had gone back to their room together. Roswaal wasn't at the manor. It couldn't be his adorable Betty — hah, did whoever it was really think he couldn't figure it out?

Subaru gradually calmed himself down and let out a scornful little laugh.

He'd already noticed, back in the Slums when they parted ways, that the look Elsa had been giving him was off.

He just hadn't expected her to come after him this fast.

I mean, fine, show up if you want — but did you have to make it this creepy about it?

Having reasoned it through, Subaru suppressed the flicker of panic in his chest and slowly turned his head back, eyes carrying a glint of wary suspicion.

But what first burst into his field of vision was an unmistakable flash of vivid pink.

Wait. That's wrong.

Subaru's heart lurched.

When he looked properly, he found that the person who had been hiding behind his door, waiting to slam it shut the moment he came in, wasn't Elsa at all.

It was Ram.

Subaru instinctively swallowed, his eyes fixed on Ram who was standing barely a foot away, blocking the door, and when he spoke there was a distinct edge of unease in his voice.

"Ram — didn't you go back with Rem?"

"Coming to find me now… is something the matter?"

He forced out a couple of awkward laughs, but Ram said nothing — just pressed her lips together and stared at him in silence.

Subaru felt his composure slipping. His eyes darted around the room, sneaking a sidelong glance toward the window.

His thinking: if Ram decided to come at him, at least he could make a break for it through the window.

But then—

That one glance made his heart sink completely.

The window was already smothered behind thick, heavy curtains, sealed from edge to edge.

And even through the narrow sliver of gap the curtains hadn't covered — he could see that the window itself had been, at some point, sealed airtight with a soundproofing material unique to this world.

The moment he registered that, Subaru felt a cold jolt run through him.

Ram had come fully prepared. She had made absolutely certain that not even a cry for help could make it out of this room.

Subaru felt a wave of despair wash over him. In that moment, he genuinely thought he'd rather be dealing with Elsa.

"Smack!"

A crisp, sharp slap rang out — and then Subaru felt a sting flare across his right cheek.

Not hard enough to really hurt, but more than insulting enough to stun him completely.

Subaru lifted his head in disbelief, staring at Ram's ice-cold eyes, his voice thick with bafflement.

"Why did you just hit me out of nowhere too?"

Ram's slap reminded him of what had just happened in the corridor — when Emilia had pinched his left cheek for no apparent reason.

And now Ram had gone and hit his right.

It was almost uncanny, like she had somehow known his left cheek was already sore, and had aimed for the right just to make them match.

"Because you were just thinking about another woman. A woman who is neither Lady Emilia nor Rem!"

Ram's expression remained as cool as ever, but her eyes held absolute certainty — and a trace of contempt too faint to see unless you were looking for it.

Subaru was thoroughly annoyed, but he pushed back anyway.

"How could you possibly tell that?"

"Your eyes gave you away."

Ram answered without a moment's hesitation, completely unbothered.

The words had barely left her mouth before she smoothed every expression off her face, brought both hands behind her back, and gave her fingers a practiced twist — the door lock clicked shut behind her.

Catching Subaru's bewildered look, Ram let out a slow breath and spoke.

"I… want to talk to you about Rem."

"Rem?"

Subaru's face went serious in an instant. He leaned half a step forward, pressing her urgently.

"What's happened with Rem? Has something gone wrong?"

Ram lowered her gaze, unable to hold steady against the burning intensity in Subaru's eyes.

She hesitated for a moment — and then, as though having made up her mind, raised her voice and cried out.

"Barusu… I'm begging you! Can't you just leave Rem alone — stop toying with her feelings!"

Ram's fists clenched tight at her sides, her voice urgent and raw.

"Just now, I used my Clairvoyance. I saw you invite Lady Emilia on a date."

"I also watched — from beginning to end — just how close the two of you are."

"This morning I saw Lady Emilia lying in your bed and thought it was some kind of misunderstanding — but now it's obvious. It was no misunderstanding at all!"

Subaru's face went awkward.

In that moment he felt as though he were standing stripped bare in front of Ram — his private desire to keep both Emilia and Rem, laid completely exposed.

He opened his mouth, trying to find some explanation, but Ram gave him no chance.

"Rem is too pure-hearted. She hasn't fallen in too deep yet — please, just let her go!"

"You already have Lady Emilia, don't you? Barusu!"

Her words landed, and Ram looked up — her pink eyes brimming with something desperate, fixed on Subaru, waiting for his answer.

But Subaru could only stand there, swallowing a mouthful of bitter misery with nowhere to put it.

How was he supposed to explain this to Ram?

He hadn't just misled Rem once — in another life he'd gone on to marry her, and together they'd had a son and a daughter.

As for Emilia — her situation mirrored Rem's exactly. She too carried memories of another possible world, another possible timeline.

If he came right out and said he was giving up on Emilia, God only knew what terrible thing might follow.

He couldn't picture the specifics. But the deep, instinctive dread coiled in his gut made it utterly impossible to say the words.

Subaru genuinely had no idea how to say it in a way Ram would believe.

The one thing that wasn't in question: he could not let go of either Rem or Emilia. Not one of them.

"So that's how it is."

Ram saw the pained look on Subaru's face — the silence that went on far too long — and took it for a refusal.

She stumbled back two steps, a bitter smile tugging at the corner of her mouth, her voice carrying the faintest edge of self-mockery.

"I understand… Barusu."

"So having Lady Emilia alone still isn't enough for you."

Ram went quiet for a few seconds. Then, as if arriving at some difficult decision, she drew a slow, deep breath and spoke.

"Then — what if you added Ram to that?"

The fists clenched at her chest tightened, then loosened — and at last she seemed to reach some kind of resolution.

"…What?"

Subaru was utterly lost. He stared in bewilderment as Ram turned and walked toward the large bed in the center of the room.

He didn't understand what Ram meant by her words, and he didn't understand what she was trying to do now either — all he could do was stand there and watch in silence.

In his field of vision:

Ram walked calmly to the large bed facing the doorway.

She bent forward slightly. One hand reached down and slipped off a neat little round-toed shoe, freeing a slender foot that still radiated warmth into the air.

Her two beautiful feet, sheathed in white stockings, stepped directly onto the silken-covered bed.

She didn't spare a thought for whether the covers might get dirty — she simply stepped up, and stood squarely in the center of the mattress.

Then Ram turned around, facing Subaru, and dipped into a slow, deliberate bow — her tone so respectful it bordered on reverent.

"What Ram means is: she is willing to become Barusu's own personal attendant. To serve you as master. To remain by your side."

…Ah. You want to become my maid too?

Subaru's mind was a complete blank. A dozen questions spun wildly through his head.

What was happening? How had it come to this?

Ram saw Subaru standing in stunned silence and let out a resigned sigh, her tone carrying a note of weary understanding.

"Well… Ram has a fairly good idea of just how insatiably greedy a person Barusu is."

"And just saying it out loud doesn't carry much weight, does it? So then — how about this."

Ram knelt down with a perfectly composed expression, bringing her eyes level with Subaru's gaze.

At the same moment, her hands began to move — quietly, methodically removing the pieces that marked her as a maid, one by one.

First she untied the white neck piece that wrapped around her throat and covered her collarbone.

Then she slid off the shoulder ornaments and sleeve cuffs trimmed with white lace.

Finally she reached around behind her back, loosened the slender ties there, and laid the black-and-white maid's skirt at the edge of the bed.

Each piece bearing the mark of her station, she folded neatly and set in order before her — as though gravely surrendering the symbols of who she was, offering herself to Subaru's gaze without holding anything back.

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