INTERLUDE
A BRIEF MOMENT IN A DRAGON CARRIAGE
With a rattling sound, the dragon carriage quietly advanced along the highway.
Protected by the blessing, Subaru was truly able to enjoy a tranquil journey in a dragon carriage for the first time.
Subaru’s dragon carriage experiences had always been messy, so it was the first time he was able to travel in such peace and quiet. The first “peaceful” journey to the royal capital had been ruined by Subaru’s selfish excesses, so it didn’t count.
And amid this first experience—
“Hey, Petra…aren’t you kinda…close?”
“Isn’t this fine, Subaru? After all, Big Sis has been hogging you the whole time until now.”
Subaru strained a smile as Petra said that to him and looked up with big, round eyes. She was sitting to Subaru’s left and had been nuzzled against him, never leaving his side, since they’d set out again.
“Er, that’s not true, Petra. Earlier, Subaru and I had…yes, we had something really important to talk about, so…”
“Pfft. Just so you know, Big Sis, I am definitely not losing to you!”
A red-faced Emilia tried to make excuses, but Petra didn’t heed her one bit. But they weren’t acting like they seriously scorned each other; if anything, they looked like they’d been teasing each other forever, which brought a big grin to Subaru’s lips.
“Emilia-tan, you’re talking with a child. You need to laugh and let these things slide with a smile on your face.”
“I will not. Even with a child, I cannot behave in such an off-the-cuff manner.”
“No one uses off-the-cuff anymore…”
“Grrr, playing that game again…!”
Emilia’s lips tensed in displeasure, and Petra, unhappy to be treated like a child, tugged on Subaru’s sleeve with a look of dissatisfaction. “Sorry, sorry,” begged Subaru, giving a little, pained smile as he apologized to both of them.
At present Subaru and the others were heading to the capital with the children in a carriage after they’d had to change from the one that had been booby-trapped. Other than Petra, the exhausted children were asleep, and to be blunt, their snores and Petra’s pressing up against Subaru were like his salvation.
After all, he couldn’t handle being alone with Emilia after what had happened earlier.
He’d confessed to her, making all kinds of embarrassing statements in the process. Now that he calmly thought back upon making all kinds of cool-sounding statements, like about patiently waiting for her answer, he was about ready to expect jets of fire to sprout from his face.
“Subaru, what is it? You’re making a strange face.”
“I was just thinking that Petra’s been a big help. I mean, she kept her promise not to leave Emilia-tan alone. She’s been a very good girl!”
“Eh-heh-heh-heh.”
As Petra looked up at him, Subaru gently stroked her hair and explained the second thing he was grateful to her for.
If, by some chance, Petra and the other children had let go of Emilia, she might have done something reckless and gotten herself hurt again. This had been avoided, and Subaru was able to see all his efforts come to fruition thanks to Petra and the other children around them.
Truly he had been blessed; perhaps too much, even.
“Once things calm down, there’s way too many people I need to thank…”
He owed Crusch’s followers a big thank-you, then another to the Anastasia faction for the aid of the Iron Fangs, and though it pained him, Julius’s assistance had been a godsend as well. Russel had helped out in regard to the White Whale, plus he still owed a debt to Otto for his aid at the very end. Subaru had a lot of things to do.
“There’s a mountain of stuff I’ve gotta think about, huh…?”
There was the issue of credit being due to the expeditionary force for taking down both the White Whale and Sloth, plus the alliance that had been struck with the Crusch camp. There was also the matter of pressing the absent Roswaal to take responsibility for compensating Earlham Village and dealing with various other matters that remained.
Many difficulties lay before Subaru—especially the talk that loomed largest on that mountain-like pile.
“Um, er, Emilia-tan… There’s…something really important I have to talk to you about.”
“Mmm, what is it?”
As Subaru gingerly brought the matter up, Emilia looked over to him with eyes full of trust. When Subaru gazed at those eyes and the emotions resting within, the task he had to carry out truly sunk in. At the same time, to be blunt, it frightened him to ponder whether the look in those eyes would change after he cleared the air.
Naturally, the matter he could not avoid telling Emilia about concerned another girl—Rem.
During the current loop, there was no one who’d aided Subaru as wholeheartedly as Rem. It was Rem’s deep love and devotion that had gently healed Subaru’s broken heart, allowing him to summon the will to rekindle the fight against fate every time he had to start over.
Had it not been for Rem, the Subaru sitting before Emilia would not have existed.
That was why Subaru harbored deep feelings for Rem that were special in their own way. Even if they were different from those he felt for Emilia, nothing else could compare to their strength and size.
Accordingly, Subaru settled on framing it around that—he knew full well that it was an awful way of thinking.
“This is really hard to say, but please, listen to me. Of course, I’m resigned to Ram kicking my ass when I tell her about this, but…I wanted to tell you first, Emilia-tan.”
“…Mm-hmm?”
Subaru’s odd, halting preamble left Emilia with a perplexed expression on her face. Seeing that nearly dulled his determination, but he hardened his resolve, feeling his courage bolstered by the battle with the Witch Cult.
He worked the wheels in his brain at maximum speed, multiplying everything by Return by Death to reach the most optimal way to explain—
“Actually, I wanted to talk about Rem. Where I’m concerned, Rem, um…well, you must have figured it out, right? I mean, well, she said a fair bit about it…”
Sweat oozed from Subaru’s brow as he desperately tried to find the next words. Now that he was faced with giving the most awful confession in history, his courage, resolve, and experiences from Return by Death all failed him.
With Subaru already devolving into rambling excuses, drenched with cold sweat as he found it hard to speak, Emilia raised a hand.
“Hold on a moment. Subaru, calm down. I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, and I know that you’re trying really, really hard, Subaru. Be a good boy and take it slow.”
“I’m not sure what to think about the good-boy part…! No, wait, I’m not being very manly here. Okay, I’ll just spit it out! See, Rem told me that she loves me just as much as I love you, Emilia, so…!”
He meant to build on the momentum from where he had just left off, but his words died out.
Having put his feelings into it with all his strength, he was sure that Emilia would be shocked at exactly what he was confessing to. The mere thought of how she might react terrified him. Very, very tenderly, he watched for her response.
“?”
However, Emilia’s reaction was completely different from what Subaru had expected.
Subaru’s words made Emilia’s brows draw up. She touched a finger to her lips as she silently sank into thought. Was she mulling over his words, her anger building toward Subaru? It didn’t seem like that at all.
“Subaru.”
“Yes?”
When Emilia called his name, Subaru looked straight her.
Emilia resolutely faced Subaru’s determined eyes head-on. However, her gaze also contained bewilderment, and Subaru couldn’t understand why.
Then, the next words she spoke were literally beyond Subaru’s comprehension—
“Who’s Rem?”
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