Chapter 93: The Essence of Return by Death Exposed

Julius looked at the two sisters Rem and Ram, then glanced pensively at Garfiel and his sister, before turning directly toward his liege Anastasia and dropping to one knee to pledge his loyalty.

"Lady Anastasia, no matter what command you hand down, I will carry it out with unwavering resolve."

"As expected of my finest knight!"

Anastasia laughed happily, and a long-absent glint flashed through her narrowed eyes.

"Thank you for those words, Julius—after all, I can be quite willful, you know."

Whether by coincidence or not, Anastasia had said something similar to what Ram had said.

"How wonderful—it ended with reconciliation in the end. The wind told me that Rem wasn't lying. What an incredible bond of feeling."

Crusch folded her arms across her chest, a moved smile surfacing on her face.

At this moment, Wilhelm, who had watched Julius pledge his loyalty, found himself in an awkward spot.

First he glanced at his own liege—wonderful, Crusch didn't recognize him at all, much less pay him any mind.

Then he looked at the other side, at Ferris, whose entire being was steeped in a gloomy aura, blankly staring at Natsuki Subaru's corpse on the screen, lost in who-knew-what thoughts.

Seeing this state of affairs, Wilhelm felt the difficulties of life keenly. Just as he was about to heave a sigh, he inadvertently caught sight of Priscilla directly across from him—equally alone—seeming to stare at him.

Priscilla's mind at this moment was still lingering in that just-passed atmosphere thick with deep bonds all around her, and she felt extremely ill at ease.

So she subconsciously shifted her gaze away; she didn't want to look at any of these people.

She hadn't expected that, having only just moved her gaze and zoned out for a while, she would hear the old man across from her—who had originally worn a stern face—call out loudly.

"Lady Priscilla, although my liege has lost her memory, I am still a retainer of Lady Crusch. I am not entirely alone, so there's no need to pity me!"

The moment these words came out, everyone subconsciously turned their attention onto Priscilla.

Coming to think of it, that did indeed seem to be the case.

Elsa and Meili were as close as sisters; among the five royal candidates, every camp had at least one liege and one retainer.

Everyone's gazes turned subtle all at once—after all, looked at this way, Priscilla appeared utterly out of place among those around her.

Inexplicably, it was a bit pitiful.

Priscilla, however, didn't think so in her heart, and the fan in her hand was nearly crushed to pieces from anger.

What a pack of... insolent rabble!

Priscilla tossed her head and, out of sight and out of mind, fixed her gaze on the screen.

Rather than look at these people, she might as well watch how her husband would turn defeat into victory afterward.

After all, her husband was born with the potential to become a king.

[In the very next instant after dying, Natsuki Subaru jolted awake on the bed.

Still shaken to his core, he stared at whatever fell within his line of sight, his eyes unfocused, not yet roused from the agony of having just suffered a double blow to both body and soul.

"Guest, are you awake?"

The next second, the familiar greeting of the maid Rem came to his ears.

"Guest, are you up?"

Ram's voice followed close behind.

Natsuki Subaru gasped in great gulps of air and shifted his gaze onto Rem and Ram standing before the bed, layered afterimages seeming to appear before his eyes.

The terror of having just been killed by Rem and Ram surged into his heart in an instant.

An indescribable panic, along with the incomprehension and fury of being betrayed, welled up in his heart, as though the blood throughout his entire body had been dammed up.

"Aaah!"

Unable to vent the emotions filling his chest, Natsuki Subaru could only clutch his head desperately, let out a wretched scream, and faint once more.]

"Subaru!"

"Barusu!"

Outside the screen, Rem and Ram cried out in alarm, their hands tightly crossed and clasped together, as though by doing so they could share with each other some of the unease within.

This time Subaru already knew that it was we who killed him—so how will Subaru treat us now?

Rem bit down hard on her lip, and as she thought it through she even closed her eyes nervously.

She was afraid she would see scenes she didn't want to see.

Subaru being cold toward her, shouting at her to get lost, and the like...

On the other side, Ram's heart clenched as she watched the scene on the screen.

This scene, this reaction of Barusu's... was actually identical, down to the smallest detail, to her memory of the first time she met Barusu at the manor.

The cycle, Return by Death... could it be that this time, it was...

Ram's eyes widened slightly, staring at the screen without blinking, not letting a single detail slip past.

["Rem and Ram are both very worried about you. Did something happen?"

After waking once more, Natsuki Subaru saw Emilia, who had pulled up a chair and sat before his bed, looking at him with a concerned gaze.

"Nothing happened between me and those two."

Natsuki Subaru gave a self-mocking laugh. The words he spoke both exonerated Rem and Ram and, at the same time, vented the resentment of his previous loop in a self-abandoning sort of way.

After a spell of dejection, Natsuki Subaru truly couldn't bear to keep fighting alone any longer, and wanted to seek help from Emilia.

But the prerequisite for doing so was that he first had to confess to her the truth of "Return by Death."

He already... didn't want to fight alone anymore!

"Is Subaru finally going to think of seeking help from others? Speaking from the heart, there's no shame in seeking help from others in a situation like that."

Felt let out a sigh, recalling at the same time her own past crisis in the Slums.

It was precisely under Subaru's cover that she escaped from Elsa's hands to seek aid, which was what drew in Reinhard's help.

"But Lady Felt, regrettably, if Mr. Natsuki had smoothly gotten the words out, then it would be impossible for all of us seated here to be unaware of this matter of Return by Death."

Otto's expression turned solemn. After making a bow to Felt, he spoke in a heavy tone.

"That... is indeed something I failed to consider."

After being reminded like this, Felt realized this point too.

So, what exactly had happened?

She returned her gaze to the screen.

["Emilia, I've experienced death many times by now..."

Before the words "return by" could be spoken, Natsuki Subaru—who had solemnly prepared to tell his secret—sensed that something was wrong.

His mouth wouldn't move, and neither would his body.

No, not just him—even Emilia had stopped moving as well!

Natsuki Subaru stared ahead in terror, not knowing what was happening.

And it was at this moment—

From the black shadows surging in from all directions and wrapping around him, an invisible hand reached out, passed through his chest, stretched toward his heart, and then... gave it a vicious squeeze, as though laden with warning!

The next moment, time began to flow once more.

Natsuki Subaru was instantly drenched in sweat, gasping in great gulps of air.

But no matter what he did, he could not ease that... lingering, ever-present terror in his heart!]

"This is... the Witch of Envy!"

Upon seeing that pair of unseeable hands in the picture, Reinhard spoke with certainty.

Faintly, a nameless sense of familiarity toward this power rose in his heart, yet he couldn't recall it—as though he had forgotten something.

"The Witch of Envy!"

"The Witch of Envy, Satella, the queen of the legendary Castle of Shadows, who drank dry all things of the world!"

At the same time, in the spectator area, whether they harbored some slight conjecture in their hearts or were utterly at a loss, everyone broke into an uproar in an instant.

"This hand... is very similar to the ability of the Witch Cult's Archbishop of Sloth. Back then I only managed to see those unseeable hands spreading out from his body by borrowing Subaru's eyes."

Julius pressed his hand to his chin in a thinking pose and said in disbelief.

"So this really is that Witch of Envy who was supposed to be sealed away! And Subaru's ability of Return by Death... comes from her?!"

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