8
It was a faltering performance. Even if a listener was inclined to be generous, it could not be called impressive.
“It looks like this is actually broadcasting, then. First of all, let me apologize for surprising you. I imagine a lot of you were worried or steeling yourself wondering what you would be told next. But please don’t worry. I’m not a member of the Witch Cult.”
Even though it would have been fine to lie, it was brutally honest even where it did not need to be, not even hiding the sort of thing that would cause the people listening to feel more anxious. And yet, at the very end of it all, it said, as if to kick away everyone’s unease—
“—But even so. Even with all that, I can’t run away from this. So I’m going to fight. That’s the sort of person I am.”
It was a shock and almost certainly exactly what Emilia wanted most in that moment. It was the thing that the people of the city most wanted in that moment.
“I want to believe. I’m weak. And pathetic. But I haven’t given up yet. Please let me believe that I’m not the only weakling who doesn’t know how to give up.”
Ahhh, it really is not fair at all.
Trembling and meandering but obviously his best effort, it made anyone listening almost want to cry. It almost felt like the speaker’s pulse could be heard through his voice, even though that was obviously impossible. It nearly brought tears to her eyes.
“Or am I really the only one?”
—No, no you’re not.
“Am I the only one who can still keep going…who still wants to fight?”
—No, I’m okay. I can keep going.
“I’m not, right?”
—No, you’re not. Absolutely, from the bottom of my heart, you’re not alone.
“You can still fight, right? You won’t let the weakness consume you, right?”
—I can hear your voice, so I’m okay. It’s fine. I’m not scared of anything.
“—I am Subaru Natsuki, the spirit user who defeated the Witch Cult Archbishop of Sloth.”
Just hearing that alone was enough to blow away all the cold despair encroaching on Emilia’s heart.
Even though just a little while earlier it had felt like she had fallen into an inescapable dark abyss. Even though she had been unable to move forward or backward, cursing her own powerlessness. Just hearing that voice had relieved her. Had satisfied her.
Because he had said it. Emilia’s knight had said it.
“—Just leave everything else to me!”
He had said to leave it to him. So no matter how dark things might seem, he would blow it all away. No matter how impossible or absurd, he would overcome all the odds. There was no doubt he would succeed.
That was why—
“…That voice just now…”
“—That was my knight. He’s always really trying his best.”
The broadcast ended as suddenly as it had begun, leaving a stunned #184 in turmoil. And standing before her, Emilia held her hand to her heart and smiled softly.
“ ”
Looking into Emilia’s eyes, #184 opened her own eyes wide, and she was at a loss for words. It was because of how Emilia looked as she spoke about her knight, but Emilia did not realize it. She then looked #184 in the eye as she continued.
“I won’t run. I won’t disappear and leave you all here.”
“—! Why?”
“You shared your painful past with me, as well as what you’re feeling now. But as scared as you must have been, you still tried to help me.”
Even if it was only once, even if she felt broken down and lost, she had fought back; she had conquered her fear even if only for an instant. So Emilia would do the same—she would do her best not to bend or break.
“I want you and everyone else to be able to find happiness. A wedding is a ceremony to bring happiness to two people who love each other very much. The bride has to be happy, too.”
When she thought of marriage, she imagined a scene of blissful happiness between two people who adored each other. In the back of her mind, she saw the image of Fortuna and Geuse—they had not been married, so they never became husband and wife, but that was what Emilia wished for them. For their sakes, Emilia dearly wanted them to have been able to be married. Their relationship, the way they loved each other—that was surely what a proper marriage should be like.
“I know people who loved each other but weren’t able to get married. And to this day, it makes my heart hurt to think of them.”
That was why—
“—I can’t stand the idea of a marriage that isn’t happy. I don’t want that sort of relationship for anyone.”
Just thinking of it made her stomach roil. She hated the very idea of it. Emilia fundamentally refused to give in to something like that, so she would not give up on the city or on #184 or any of the women here. She would carry them all in her own hands. And if that was not enough, she would borrow someone else’s hands, too—someone like her knight.
“Th-that is a lovely thought, but…as I said before, if there were anything to be done, it would be for you to escape alone.”
“Alone…? No, that isn’t what we should do at all.”
Emilia shook her head, gently rejecting #184’s statement.
#184 had revealed she was alone in the world, with no one left to turn to—but that wasn’t true. Not any longer. It was none other than Emilia’s knight who had revealed that when his voice could be heard all throughout the city.
But she had no intention of just leaving everything to him.
“I was never alone. That was dangerous; I almost forgot that.”
“What are you planning?”
Even though she was insistent that it was none of her concern, #184 was still asking what Emilia’s plan was. Seeing her riled emotions, her frozen emotions stirring into life, Emilia could not help an odd feeling that that was the same sort of thing Subaru saw.
To #184’s shock, her response was—“We’re going to hold a wedding ceremony.”
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