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Chapter 18: Season 2 Ep 2

"Could ya be even more of an annoyance right now?" Heinkel grumbled as his way to the room got blocked by a certain child whom he had been the kindest to so far. "Just let it go!"

"I'm not leaving you, Heinkel-sama." The boy spoke with as much heated a tone as he could muster.

A weak little thing with his eyes braving the tremble within them as he stood opposite the scruffy, unpleasant man. A man who was towering above him to get into the doorway, the boy blocked with his entire form.

"Spreadin' yer arms to grasp the doorframe won't stop me, kid." Heinkel sighed tiredly, wishing to make the boy listen to him. "Just let me get my booze, and I'll be able to be much more pleasant."

It was for the best. Who wanted to deal with a useless, worthless monster like him? Who wants to have him as a father or a son when he's just himself?

"Let me get some from the princess's room, and I'll be quiet–"

"YOU DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH ANYTHING!"

Heinkel's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden outburst coming from the most polite boy he's ever cared to acknowledge around him, Reinhard being a special exception.

"The hell? What's up with ya kid?" Heinkel's glare was more curious than standoffish, although he couldn't keep some heat from showing from his frustrations that the boy blocked his only source of alcohol. "Just let me get in!"

"NO!" Schult kept his grip hard, not believing his effort was futile in stopping the man from barging in. "I won't let you ignore what you need to do, Heinkel-sama!"

"I don't even know what makes you an expert in anything happenin' around us, kid!" Heinkel's voice lowered as he sighed once again. "This place is fucked up, and the people around us are not better at handling the fuckery than we are."

Heinkel's fists clenched in realization that he was just as powerless as the trembling child that was Schult before him. He had no competence to offer that wasn't beyond what the boy could do in the situation of the theater. No knowledge, no power over anyone either.

"Figures…" Heinkel muttered, looking at the wall with an empty, defeated expression. "Figures…" He repeated with a small glare emerging in his eyes, one that was more intense than the previous.

The boy continued to glare up at him with determination. With something akin to disappointment and the urging of doing something to fix himself and the world around them.

"Don't let that cloud hang over your head, Heinkel-sama!" Schult admonished childishly with his face forming a pout that honestly didn't terrify the man above. "I know you have a lot of things that hold you back. But please… Just try to help where you can."

"Help who?" Heinkel had to look at the boy with a ludicrous expression. "Did you not see how shitty these guys treated me? Not to mention the fact that they are all rooting for a fuckin' monster who's killing himself to get what he wants."

Schult didn't flinch at the harsh statement. The boy's eyes teared up as the memory played in their minds. Heinkel knew that Schult was used to a lot of darkness from the world around them, so watching the same suicide of that wannabe knight wasn't hitting him as hard as it should for a normal boy.

But the boy's eyes teared up nonetheless to show the heart of someone who's been hurt by what he's seen.

"What if Reinhard-sama were there to help?" The boy whispered to him with something akin to caution.

Heinkel knew why immediately as his fists tightened their grip, clenching like all of his muscles as he stiffened in place.

"Don't fuckin' start with that." Heinkel's words were cold. "Get outta the doorway before I push ya, brat."

Schult's glare intensified their determination, not threatened at all.

"Can't even get a child to fear you… How fucking pathetic is that?"

"I-If… I think you could talk to Reinhard-sama…" Schult's words trembled on his tongue far more than his body as he glared up at the man above him with all of his heart. "Then the Sword Saint could—"

"There's nothin' to that useless ass monster other than what you've seen, kid." Heinkel's words came out laced with poison. "Stop tryinna pin his ugly nature on me."

"Ugly nature?" Schult looked confused suddenly. "I wasn't talking about any of that, nor trying to say that Reinhard-sama was your fault."

"Then get the hell outta my way. I need that drink after being here for such a fuckin' long shitfest with things I don't want to think about or deal with." Heinkel made a step forward, not threatening, promising to stamp the boy away should he stay in place.

"But—" Schult's defiance brought a flare from Heinkel's crooked nose.

"Get the fuck outta the way, brat!" Heinkel's agitation reached its peaking point as he fully stepped to push the child out of his way.

"Heinkel-sama!" Schult tried to fight him off, but the small boy couldn't do much to an enraged alcoholic with many memories to be drowned at the bottom of a bottle.

With ease, the drunkard entered Priscilla's room. One of the many rooms that was filled with all sorts of drinks that she loved to taste in her leisure period of waiting.

The only thing is… Heinkel found Priscilla's room empty of any alcohol. The shelves had been emptied, and the room's supply of drinks seemed not to have replenished itself like he's been told it would.

This means one thing.

"Priscilla-sama knew you w-would come to her room for the alcohol supply." Schult's whimpering voice forced a most nasty glare on Heinkel's face as the man turned to aim it at the child behind him. "T-They were hidden away from you in another room. And Priscilla-sama never asked for a replenishing supply, so… The room never returns the drinks. Not until she wants new ones."

"Kid…" Heinkel's voice was desperate. Pleading even. "I just need… One of those bottles. I wanna get outta my own head, or else I'm clawing my fuckin' eyes outta my face."

"... I'm sorry." His voice trembled as it usually did, but this time in apology instead of determination. "I follow her command… And… I want this for you, too!" The boy braved the sheer miserable state of the man before him. "It burns me to hurt you this way, Heinkel-sama… But I know that my lady wants to help you! Isn't this why your own room doesn't allow you to summon drinks like all of the others? You're being told to get better by everyone who cares about you. This should—"

"You really think that bitch princess or anyone in that room cares about someone like me?" Heinkel asked this question in a most empty, pathetic way that forced the child to stop talking for a second. "Are you hitting your head on the floor too hard when ya prostrate to her feet? Are you just fuckin' with me to have some fun in this place?"

"I would never!" Schult gasped and gave Heinkel a look of genuine hurt. "How could you think that?"

"Then stop sayin' that bullshit about people carin'," Heinkel growled, though there was no heat in his voice anymore. There was nothing to feel right now. Not after his quest failed and he had to deal with everything he had been ignoring for so long. "Fuck… Fuck this shit…"

"I care." Schult's tears didn't run down his cheek, but Heinkel could glimpse them at the corners.

"That's on you, kid," Heinkel said with a hollow expression. "Get the fuck outta here."

Schult didn't seem like he wanted to do so, but he shook his little head and trembled out of the room through the door he's been blocking for so long.

Slowly… Heinkel turned back to the bed where he's been keeping the boy from getting closer.

"Ya fuckin' creep. The princess could easily sense ya if she were here." Heinkel growled as he kicked the bed's leg. "Get out of there and show yourself."

To his utter shock and dismay, Heinkel's senses weren't deafened because of all his drinking, and the feeling of danger coming out from the bed of Priscilla's room was indeed validated in the next moment.

The moment where a clown came out from under the bed with a most familiar smile that served to offset every nerve and anxiety Heinkel had when standing near this person.

"Now, n~oooo~w, Heinkel-kun. I never intended to be found by you of all people~."

"I don't think you know how relieved I fuckin' am to know this, you asshole." Heinkel glared daggers at Roswaal, hands clenching at his sides from the nervousness.

"Don't be so awfully fearful of little old me, I simply came with a gift for b~ooo~th of us to enjoy together!" Roswaal's grin never left his face as he went back down to lean under the bed and pull out something that made Heinkel's breathing stop for one second.

"Ah… You didn't come here for me, you said…" Heinkel said humorously with a shake of his head as Roswaal pulled out a bottle from underneath Priscilla's bed. "Absolute wash…"

The man who held the only source of alcohol in the theater for a drunk like Heinkel waved the bottle in his hand.

And proceeded to give Heinkel a toothy, ugly smile that showed nothing but an eerie intention from the clown-dressed man.

"Now then, Heinkel-kun. I w~aaa~s waiting with all patience for you to be here since I could see your current… master's has been occupied by Al-kun."

"What the fuck do ya want?" Heinkel asked in a groan of contempt as Roswaal gave him a tilt of the head.

"Nothing short of a miracle from you, dear." Roswaal's whisper was nothing short of shuddering for every hair on Heinkel's body.

"..." Heinkel's eyes remained glued on the bottle in Roswaal's grasp, looking at it with a glare of hatred that could burn. "What is it that ya need?"

Roswaal's lips curled wider as the two men conversed alone.

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"Where the hell is he?" Otto muttered as he ran through the entire hallway with each door from their camp members opening and closing as they kept checking and rechecking everywhere allowed for the Emilia camp to use, apart from the other rooms pertaining to their rival camps. "Garf-san! Did you find–"

"As my cap'n would eloquently tell ya," the tiger cut him off with a disgruntled look, "Nah."

"..." Otto forced air out of his nose to take a moment from that stupid response. "We need to find him!" Otto growled as his eyes stilled on the pink-haired maid who walked up to them. "Ram-san."

"Leave Ram's body from your perverse eyes, disgusting."

"I'm not going to let up just because of your personality!" Otto exclaimed against her coldness to him as she crossed her arms. "Where is Margrave-san?!"

"I would like to know the same thing–" Ram was cut off by the blonde standing beside Otto.

Garfiel scoffed with a disbelieving glance aimed at the maid. "Ain't it kinda stupid to expect us to believe that?"

"What would that entail exactly, Garf?" She narrowed her eyes at him, returning the feeling of mistrust with her own aggressive nature. "If you've got something on your mind, say it like a man."

"Gladly, mine amazin's self wouldn't be any less," Garfiel sighed and put a hand on his hip as he looked into her eyes. "Ya could know somethin' we don't. Cap'n's boutta enter the Sanctuary knowin' nothin'."

Otto stiffened at the tiger's side, glancing at the ground away from the two for a moment.

"Barusu will defeat all of the obstacles regardless of what happens to him." Ram's answer was spoken far too quickly with a heat that brought no reaction from the blonde boy.

"You truly hide your feelings well when it comes to someone that isn't your sister, Ram-san," Otto grumbled tiredly from Garfiel's side, earning a small humph from the woman before them.

"It is not based on my feelings. This is simply a fact." Ram pierced the two with her gaze. "Barusu will save everyone, regardless of what happens to him."

"And you expect to watch him get to that point without an issue?" Otto glared at her, this time mustering enough courage to really give the maid the fire she always extinguished with her cruel words.

Ram moved to reply to him, "I—"

Before she could, Otto's foot moved forward to take her space and force her back where she was.

"Are you going to watch him die without a care again?" Otto's eyes pierced her right back this time, and Ram could swear she could remember a fire that scared her during her childhood burning within Otto's blue eyes.

"Again?" Ram showed Otto something that she couldn't believe he was enlisting out of her. "You believe me so heartless to watch that blade against his throat without a care?"

Even Garfiel looked on with something akin to awe as the usually stoic and sassy maid softened her eyes enough to show a face of distraught surprise. As if the very thought coming out of them was blasphemous.

"Where is that asshole then?" Otto pressed on, not caring for the guard that Ram had let down, face determined.

"... He didn't say anything to me," Ram spoke emptily without looking at the merchant's eyes. "And if it comes to what happened in the Sanctuary… What I knew was enough to make me betray my master's wishes and help Barusu beat him."

Garfiel's eyes took their turn to look at the ground at the mention of his home.

"And you knew nothing about Natsuki-san's ability to–"

"Stop it." Ram brought her face upward to give the boy her firmest glare, which ended up trembling on her usually composed expression. "Stop trying to make it as if I enjoy taking part in killing that stupid Barusu. Stop looking at me like I'm the only one to blame for his… Just stop." Her voice was low, shuddering once she stopped speaking to take a breath.

The blonde tiger looked at the maid with wide open eyes as if he was seeing her for the first time in his life. She brought out a side of vulnerability and hurt that could only bring a grimace of guilt for his earlier thoughts about her involvement.

"You expect me to believe that you are taking blame for Natsuki-san's pain and suffering?" Otto, standing beside him, didn't feel the same sympathy as he bore his blue eyes onto her with cruel pragmatism.

"I don't have to expect anything from the likes of you, Suwen!" Ram hissed in a whisper, glaring at him and regaining her earlier fire. Garfiel grimaced, fully realizing that the maid didn't appreciate Otto's reaction to her letting out her feelings. "If you didn't remove it from your disgustingly small brain, I KILLED HIM WHEN HE WAS CRYING FOR MERCY!"

"... And yet," Otto muttered, looking at her with that same stone-like expression, "you still dare to fall for the one who caused every death… Including yours."

Garfiel moved as soon as Otto's lips stopped moving.

"HEY!" He growled as he held on to the girl with all his strength, as Ram grabbed for Otto's throat. The merchant had the decency to step back so she couldn't reach him.

"... Hrgh!" Ram was pushed back, letting the tiger fully bring her out of her rage so she could stop struggling against his grasp. She looked at the minister, the one she would always abuse with words second to Subaru daily.

She looked with nothing short of hate.

"Can you tell me who you would pick…" Otto seemed not to be done with her, earning a glare from the tiger standing between them.

"Bro, th's shit's gettin' too deep, man. Stop." Garfiel says firmly, but was promptly ignored as the arena around the two he was standing between refused to register him or his words.

"Between Natsuki-san's freedom and your master's plans. Choose." Otto didn't blink once, asking her soul with his blue eyes as he stared into her red ones with razor focus.

"Have you no mind in that bug-infested body?" Ram gave an honest, shocked reaction, eyes widened in genuine bafflement. "You truly have nothing to offer us except for drinking expenses, don't you? No wonder you had to betray him when you had the chance–"

"OI SHUT THA' SHIT RIGHT NOW!" Garfiel glared at her with such anger and disbelief. "How could ya use that against Ottobro after th' shit he's gone through?"

The words had already affected their target before Garfiel's attempt to stop them. As Otto found his arm shaking and his eyes went unfocused from the crimson red of the maid he was pressing. His breath caught a signal to exit his lungs at a much faster capacity, regulating his effort to start hyperventilating to make up for each exit.

"Hey! Hey! Man, come on!" Garfiel tried to hold his friend's shoulder, looking at him with concern. "Ottobro?"

Otto didn't respond. He couldn't, as he trembled with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. The sweat running down his brow forced him to put a hand on his face so he could wipe and bring more clarity to his vision from… the tears that suddenly showed because of the memory.

"I… pushed him off of that carriage…" His breathing got even heavier as his eyes refused to blink or move his vision from the carpeted ground of the theater's hall. "Because I'm a coward with nothing to show for my underhanded ways." He forced through at the first sign of control over his own lungs.

"H-Hold on from sayin' such bullshit, bro–" Garfiel was shoved aside by him as Otto managed to glare at the maid standing over them.

Ram turned her face away, not wishing to show him any emotion that he could mistake for guilt at what she had said to cause him such an attack.

"What causes you not to make the choice, Ram-san?" Otto asked her, regaining his footing. "If I were a coward, what are you?"

"Nothing like you," Ram was swift to reply, with her face pointed far from the merchant. "I am not ashamed of my choices that made Barusu save my sister. I regret not saving him, however… I regret not helping him sooner…"

Out of respect for her words, Garfiel pressed a hand on Otto's shoulder to stop him from interrupting, really firmly. Harsh firm.

Ram turned away from them both, aiming to walk to her room after such a heated argument, but not before leaving them a few words.

"To answer your brain-dead question," she scoffed, "I have chosen between the two already. You are about to see it for yourself, each time Barusu needs my help for what's coming next." With that, she walked away.

Leaving Otto to glare at her back while Garfiel glanced away from the two to a deep frown aimed at the wall next to him.

"... What the heck 's yer problem, man?"

Otto didn't reply as he shook off Garfiel's arm. Glaring at the ground, Otto's hands rose to brush his gray hair due to frustration.

"She doesn't even know how much worse this gets for Natsuki-san when we see what happened next!" His voice was filled with despair as his blue eyes filled with anxiety and concern.

"Man… Don't beat yerself up 'bout what the other camp people." Garfiel gave his friend a pitying glance, showing that he understood what had been bothering Otto from the get-go. "Ya're gonna get fucked if ya overthink what everyone will do."

Otto shook his head and walked forward, already planning on starting to look for Roswaal somewhere else.

Garfiel frowned deeper as he watched his friend's back grow distant. His fist clenched tightly at the memory of the Sanctuary.

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There is a room in the theater occupied by the Hoshin Company that was usually a place of calculated whispers and the sound of abacuses clicking in minds. Still, for the moment, it was a pile of vibrating fur and happy squeals.

"Hetaro! Hetaro! You're back! You're totally back!"

Mimi Pearlbaton was practically vibrating, her small body launched like a projectile into her brother's chest. She rubbed her cheek against his with enough friction to start a small fire, purring so loudly it rivaled a ground dragon's engine.

"Mimi... can't... breathe..." Hetaro wheezed, his face blue, though a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Let him go, Mimi, you're crushing him," Tivey sighed, though he was clinging just as tightly to Hetaro's left arm, refusing to let go. "But... yeah. We missed you a lot. It was annoying having Mimi scream about you every five minutes."

"I didn't mean to be far away from you guys!" Hetaro defended himself weakly as the siblings formed a knot of orange and white fur. "I cannot even remember why or what happened… But what we've seen… I need some answers."

"Too much to explain, little guy," a booming voice laughed. Ricardo scooped all three of the triplets up in his massive arms, lifting them off the ground in a crushing group hug. "Gahaha! But it don't matter now! The set is complete again! Felt quiet without the brains of the operation!"

"Captain... my ribs..." Hetaro squeaked.

Standing slightly apart from the pile of demi-humans, Julius Juukulius watched with a warmth in his eyes that softened his usually composed features. He reached out, gently patting Hetaro on the head once Ricardo finally set them down.

"It is good to have you with us, Hetaro," Julius said softly. "Truly. This place... it has been heavy. Your presence lightens the load considerably."

"Julius-san?" Hetaro blinked, adjusting his robes, which had gone askew. He looked at the Finest of Knights and saw a weariness there that hadn't been present before. "... I notice a lot in your eyes."

"We are watching a tragedy. I'm bound to put things aside or in the depths of my own mind so I can retain conduct and appearance," Julius said, his gaze involuntarily flicking toward the door, imagining himself looking where Subaru slept.

"Leave the explainin' for later, Julius," a melodic, slightly accented voice cut in.

Anastasia Hoshin sat with her legs crossed, her fox fur scarf draped elegantly over her shoulders. She was smiling at the reunion, but her teal eyes were sharp, darting across the room with the precision of a merchant appraising a high-stakes deal.

She tapped her fan against her chin. "Glad ta have ya back, Hetaro. But we got business ta discuss while everyone else is cryin'."

The atmosphere in the group shifted instantly. Ricardo set the kids down, and Julius straightened his posture.

"You are referring to the Margrave," Julius stated, not asking.

"I am," Anastasia's smile dropped, replaced by a cold, calculating look. She gestured vaguely toward the other side of the theater, where the Emilia Camp was in disarray. "We just watched Natsuki-kun fight a whale, fight a cult, and die over and over ta save that domain."

Hetaro's eyes widened with immediate interest, looking around him to see any reaction to the things she was saying.

She leaned forward, lowering her voice.

"And where were the guards? Where was the private army?"

"There were none," Tivey adjusted his monocle, falling into his role as the officer. "The village was undefended. If not for Subaru and the Karsten alliance, they would have been wiped out."

"Exactly," Anastasia narrowed her eyes. "Roswaal L. Mathers. Court Mage. Powerful enough ta turn the weather. And yet, his domain, the place housin' a Royal Candidate, was left wide open for the Witch's Cult? Just when he 'conveniently' went away ta sanctuary?"

She scoffed, a sound of pure disbelief.

"I don't buy it. I don't buy it for a second. That clown is hidin' something massive. He let those attacks happen. Or worse... he wanted 'em to."

Julius gripped where the hilt of his sword would've been, his knuckles turning white. "To endanger his own liege... and to force Subaru into such a corner that he had to rely on Return by Death repeatedly... it is unconscionable."

"It's bad management, is what it is," Anastasia corrected, though her anger matched his. "Natsuki-kun is an asset. A brilliant, terrifying, unpredictable asset. And Roswaal is grindin' him into dust."

She then shifted her gaze to the door, her camp members wondering what she was thinking.

"And now we got parents involved," Anastasia mused. "That changes the board."

"How so?" Ricardo asked, crossing his arms.

"Parents make people emotional. Unpredictable," Anastasia explained. "But they also anchor people. Natsuki-kun was floatin' without a rope, doin' whatever crazy thing came ta mind. Now? His leash is gonna get pulled."

She looked at Julius. "Keep an eye on 'em, Julius. The father... he's got a look in his eye. He ain't just a bystander. And if Natsuki-kun breaks away from Roswaal because of this... I want us ta be the first place he looks."

"You wish to recruit him? The father?" Julius asked.

"I wish ta stop watchin' a good merchant get robbed by a bad partner," Anastasia said simply, her eyes flashing with greedy benevolence. "And I wanna know what Roswaal is hidin'. Hetaro, Tivey, Mimi, keep your ears open. Anything that clown or his maids say, I wanna know."

"Yes, Lady Anastasia!" The triplets chirped in unison, though Hetaro still looked confused.

"Good," Anastasia leaned back, her gaze lingering on the door and then back with predatory intent. "Because if he thinks he can play games with the Witch's Cult while we're all watchin'... he's gonna find me there waitin' to be trouble for 'em."

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"Nothing, Rem?" Emilia asked from her place, sitting in Roswaal's room, as the maid walked in.

Rem shook her head in response, giving a look of slight disappointment. "I couldn't find Roswaal-sama at all. He's not in anyone's room."

Emilia looked back at the space they were in with a small pout. "He hasn't come to check this room either… This is soooo frustrating!"

The maid found it adorable how the young lady could act so childishly after what they'd seen. Unfortunately for Rem, her feelings suddenly turned sour once she remembered the last session and what had happened to her.

"... You have an awful look on your face, you know," Emilia mumbled with a slightly more noticeable frown.

"I do apologize for that, Emilia-sama," Rem muttered with her hands gripped in front of her midsection.

"There's no use blaming yourself for it, Rem." The half-elf said with a thin-lipped expression. "Subaru… He's the one who picked up the blad–"

Rem immediately began walking out of the room.

Emilia reached a hand out to stop the maid. "I-It's not as if any of us wanted him to do that! I will punish him a lot when he wakes up for giving away— for taking his own life like that."

Rem's feet stopped in place as she heard the emotion start to break the half-elf's tone. She turned to face Emilia with a cold glance.

"... I'd like not to speak about this, Emilia-sama." Rem's eyes told the half-elf a different story from the words.

"Reaaally?" Emilia tilted her head with a look that said she was unconvinced. "You're not a very good liar when it comes to Subaru… hm."

"..." Rem didn't say anything, merely glared at the ground with empty eyes.

Emilia stood from her seat and walked over to the maid, placing a soft hand on her shoulder. "Does it have to do with anything regarding Subaru's parents?" At her question, Emilia noticed Rem's shoulder tense slightly beneath her touch. "I see…"

"Emilia-sama, please." Rem worded pleadingly, her voice too soft, it broke. "Rem doesn't need to say anything about what her heart feels for Subaru-kun… Not so soon after what I've witnessed."

The half-elf couldn't help but look at the maid with a mix of trepidation. "It's obvious… I won't try to make you talk when the wound is deep, but… What says you won't keep hurting over the wrong reason, Rem?"

"What wrong reason is there?" Rem sucked a breath, stepping away from the half-elf's hand, trying to be polite, trying to be an adult. "I… I sacrificed everything… Put the images of my ideal future in front of everyone's eyes… And for that… His parents had to watch him… H-He…"

"Since the moment we entered this room to look for Roswaal… You've been trying not to cry, Rem." Emilia's voice was far too cutting for someone as kind as she was. "I think even someone as clueless as me can see it…"

The maid's hands were shaking from how much she's turned them into fists, pushing herself to stare away so her lips can hide their tremble from Emilia's eyes.

Yet Emilia saw everything all the same.

"Do you… Not see that he cared for you?" Emilia asked with her hand on the broken jewel near her chest. "Shouldn't this be enough?"

"Enough…?" Rem's eyes widen with confusion, turning to stare at the half-elf princess. "What?"

Emilia didn't flinch from the look of near outrage on Rem's expression. Matter of fact, the half-elf tilted her head as if to show how casual she was in saying those words.

"Subaru killed himself to make you whole again," she said it so smoothly, so openly, without a single care, as if she had… "Shouldn't you feel happy that he feels like that about you?"

"Emilia-sama," Rem had to swallow before continuing, her heartbeat felt within her own throat from the suffocation. "W-Why does it sound like you're… In acceptance that he died?"

The maid faced Emilia in shock, tension rising to its highest point between the two girls as if time itself had no attention upon them.

"What do you mean, Rem?" Emilia frowned, deepening the tilt of her head, so childlike as if she seriously couldn't comprehend the question. "Of course I do care. He's done too much for me not to feel extraordinary amounts of hurt when I see him go through all of this alone…"

Rem's breathing stopped when Emilia's eyes met hers after a moment of contemplation from the half-elf.

"After talking with Subaru's mother… Seeing how much his parents have missed him… And knowing about what might happen in the Sanctuary that we don't know of yet… I reeeeally feel happy that Subaru is willing to go through what he has for us."

"Are you saying… You're glad he's killing himself to… To Return?" Rem's voice was laced with what could be disbelief and contempt at equal volumes. "How could you… To say such a thing!"

Emilia's reply to Rem's outrage was a sheepish, easy smile that showed hints of embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I seem selfish… No, it's reeeeally selfish for me to say things like that, I know."

"Show some damn guilt!" Rem's glare was heating more and more, finding enough disgust within her to tread with hostility towards the half-elf openly. "What the hell has gotten into you?!"

"I am guilty about a lot when it comes to Subaru." Emilia's voice didn't rise, nor did she show any hesitation from her demeanor. "Buuuut… I can't let my guilt stop me from seeing how much he's given to be beside me."

Rem's feet froze in place, as Emilia's smile turned into a small, sad grin.

"He's a reeeal dunderhead when it comes to these things… But I have to accept that he will be hurt, and it's probably Roswaal's fault too. There's a lot I don't know… And a lot I didn't before seeing what happens to Subaru when he Returns By Death—"

"Don't." Rem cut her off, eyes widened, staring at the wall beyond Emilia in a daunting reaction to something forbidden in the maid's mind. "Don't speak of this power so casually. He's DYING—"

"And he will continue to." Emilia's words were far colder than the half-elf intended, but Rem was shocked to the core as she looked at Emilia directly now. "It's just a matter of fact, Rem."

Concern was the only thing on Emilia's face as she walked forward to wrap an arm around Rem's shoulder, not knowing the maid was too shocked to tense back from her hug.

"We have to accept this fact… Because his parents are now with us." Emilia brushed a hair away from Rem's face, giving the maid a kind look, filled with determination. "I want to be… I want to be strong, just like Naoko-sama asked me to be."

"..."

With those words, almost like a promise, Emilia lets out a small sigh and moves away from the maid, bringing a decrease to the tension in the room.

Rem stayed where she was, frozen and looking at the half-elf with a frozen expression.

"Shouldn't this be the case for all of us?" Emilia turned to the door of the room, aiming her voice at the person standing in the doorway for an unspecified amount of time, "Crusch-sama?"

The Duchess, standing in the doorway and looking into the room, couldn't reply to Emilia's words… For she also had the same shocked expression as Rem. But that only lasted for a moment as the lady steeled herself immediately.

"I wish to give you my apologies, Emilia-sama. It seems you've grown stronger than anyone realized…" Crusch gave a small nod to the half-elf before walking away, glancing for a moment toward Rem with a hint of unreadable emotion in her eyes.

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"You shouldn't talk like that."

Emerald eyes belonging to a girl with blue hair widened with curiosity, "Hm? You talking to me, mister?"

"My name is Schult… You could do well to remember it since we are the same age and… We can be friends in this place, Meili-chan."

"Friends?" Meili seemed to stare at him with a bit of wonder before her usual grin came back to hide her emotions. "Mmm… Are you sure you wanna be friends with someone that everyone else dislikes? It feels like there's no one here who likes me~."

Schult bristled at the way she was swaying herself and kicking her feet, as if she didn't care about what she was saying. "I-I'm sure that you're not as hated as you think… I don't even know what you've done, but I heard that you were a prisoner in the Roswaal mansion?"

"Yep! I was indeed a prisoner." Meili didn't give any emotion to that fact. Schult tried to read any signs of trauma or abuse, but this girl seemed to be the opposite of a traumatic patient.

"At least it doesn't seem like the Mathers or Emilia-sama's camp are abusive toward their prisoners…" Schult's whisper made Meili tilt her head in sudden thought.

"Hmm… Hey, Rosie hair-chan—"

"It's Schult."

"Do you know when Onii-san wakes up?" Meili pointed toward the front of the theater, where Subaru and his parents were. "I don't think I understood veeeery well what was wrong with him."

"Oh… Are you worried about Subaru-sama?" Schult looked surprised by this. "Did you just… Scoff at the fact that he… He could die?" The little boy swallowed and looked at the floor for a moment, trying to steel himself through the various horrors he'd witnessed Subaru go through.

"Um…" Meili seemed to be pausing due to not knowing what to say, not because the topic was heavy for her personally. "I mean, I felt sad for Onii-san? It must suck not being able to die and leave everything behind. He's reeeeally unlucky."

"That's not what I'd say is so bad about his curse," Schult glared at Meili a little bit, noticing just how offhandedly casual she was about the true nature of Subaru's power. "Death is still terrible, and he's gone through it many times."

"So there were other times, Onii-san died and came back from?" Meili's eyes were unblinking as she looked on at Subaru's head from the back seat where she was sitting.

Schult flinched, remembering that Meili only had the chance to see the latest death of the half-elf's knight, not the horror of what was done to him by the Witch's Cult and the White Whale.

"Depending on what the others were telling me… There have been many more times, even before me and Heinkel-sama were forced into this place." Schult shivered when he looked at Subaru. "He's gone through all of that…"

"Interesting." Meili's only reaction was a few blinks of something dark behind the gaze she was giving Subaru. Something that Schult didn't understand or expect from someone as young as Meili. "Onii-san reeeeally is a cheater."

"Cheater?" Schult whispered in confusion, trying to understand the girl, but she ignored his need for elaboration and jumped out of her seat.

"Hey, Rosie-chan!" She called out to him with a usual grin that made him feel used already before doing anything.

"It's… Schult." He corrected tiredly, but didn't deny her obvious claim of his attention. Something pulled him to hear her out.

Meili herself held her hands behind her back and twirled in place, looking every bit as unbothered as ever. "Since we are frieeeends~" she stopped and looked at him with an excited smile. "Mind showing Meili-chan where we can get some snacks? Please?"

Schult didn't need much convincing as he gave up the moment she smiled at him. "I guess… No one has shown you the rooms of this place yet. So I would need to help show you around." Whatever he could tell himself as he walked past her with as much grace as he knew his Priscilla-sama demanded from him at all times.

Meili happily let him pass her seat and walked behind him with a rather amused grin, hands still behind her back.

However, their excursion was cut short before they could even reach the aisle. A small figure stepped out from the shadows of the row ahead, blocking their path.

Schult stopped abruptly, adjusting his posture. "Oh, hello there. You are the maid from the Margrave's manor, correct? Petra-chan, was it?"

Petra Leyte did not answer him. She did not even look at him. Her eyes were fixed solely on Meili.

Meili tilted her head and gave her friend a small grin, noticing all the differences she'd noted during her first few moments in the theater.

Petra looked different. The bright, energetic village girl who had blushed at Subaru's antics was gone. In her place was a child who looked like she hadn't slept in weeks. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, crumpling the fabric of her apron. There was a haunting hollowness in her gaze, and though Meili didn't care to know it, it was the look of someone who had seen their hero die, and die, and die.

"Don't go any further," Petra whispered. Her voice trembled, not with shyness, but with a suppressed, terrifying anger.

Meili blinked, tilting her head to the other side. "Oh? Petra-chan? Do you want snacks too? We can—"

"Don't call me that," Petra snapped. The sudden sharpness of her tone made Schult recoil. "And don't call him 'Onii-san.'"

Meili's smile didn't falter, but the corners of her eyes tightened imperceptibly. "Ehhh? But Onii-san is Onii-san. We played together. Remember? At the mansion?"

"I remember," Petra said, her voice cracking. She took a shaky step forward. "I remember the mabeasts. I remember the curses. We watched it. We watched the village get attacked."

Schult looked between them, sensing the air turn frigid. "Um, perhaps we should calm down—"

"She did it," Petra said, pointing a shaking finger at Meili. She looked at Schult, her eyes wide and wet with unshed tears. "She was the one with the puppy. She was the one who controlled the beasts that bit him. She's the reason he was cursed. She's the reason he had to… to run into the forest and bleed."

Schult froze, his eyes snapping to the blue-haired girl beside him. "Meili-chan? Is… is that true?"

Meili let out a dramatic sigh, rocking back on her heels. "That was ages ago. Besides, I was just doing my job. And look! Onii-san is fine now. Well… mostly."

"He's not fine!" Petra screamed, the sound echoing slightly in the quiet theater. "He just killed himself! We just watched him cut his own throat because he was so sad, and you… you're laughing? You're asking for snacks?"

Petra's breathing was ragged. She looked at Meili, searching for the friend she thought she had made during Meili's time as a 'prisoner' working as a maid. She searched for the girl she had taught to clean windows.

"I thought we were friends," Petra whispered, the fight draining out of her, leaving only the hurt. "When you were at the mansion. I thought you were just a girl like me. But you're not. You're one of them. You're one of the monsters that hurts him."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Meili stopped rocking. Her hands, hidden behind her back, clenched tight enough for her nails to dig into her palms. For a split second, the mask of the uncaring assassin slipped. A flash of genuine hurt crossed her face, the realization that the only person her age who had treated her normally now looked at her with pure revulsion.

"Friends…" Meili tested the word on her tongue, her voice devoid of its usual sing-song lilt.

She looked at Petra and saw the wall that had slammed down between them. It wasn't just suspicion, it was the absolute rejection of Meili's humanity. To Petra, Meili was no longer a girl. She was just another knife in Subaru's back.

Meili's grin returned, but it was thinner now. Sharper. Brittle.

"Well, that's a shame," Meili said with a hollow chuckle. "I guess I'm just a monster then. Monsters get hungry too, you know?"

She stepped around Petra, purposefully bumping her shoulder against the maid's. Petra didn't flinch; she just stood there, staring at the floor, shaking.

"Coming, Rosie-chan?" Meili called out over her shoulder, not looking back.

Schult stood paralyzed. He looked at Petra, seeing the tears finally spill down her cheeks, the way she looked like she was carrying a burden far too heavy for her small shoulders. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to tell her it would be alright.

But he looked at Meili's retreating back, a small, lonely figure strutting away as if she owned the world, and felt a chill run down his spine.

"I… forgive me," Schult whispered to Petra, bowing his head in shame.

He hurried after Meili, leaving Petra alone in the dark, clutching her apron as she looked down at the ground. She turned to make sure Meili never goes near the front seats where Subaru was.

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The massive screen loomed over them without a sign of the answers Naoko or Kenichi wanted.

One by one, the members of the Emilia Camp stood up. They muttered about finding Roswaal, about needing answers, but their voices sounded distant, like they were speaking from underwater.

Kenichi didn't move.

Beside him, Naoko sat frozen. Her hands were white-knuckled, gripping Subaru's sleeping form as if the gravity of the world was trying to pull him away from her. She didn't speak. She didn't look at her husband. The silence between them was a physical weight, a wall built of shock and terrifying realization.

They had just watched their son kill himself. He had done it without hesitation. He had done it to save a girl they had never met. And then, he had come back.

He's used to this, Kenichi thought, a cold sweat sticking his shirt to his back. My boy… he's used to dying.

He felt like a stranger in his own son's life. The people around them, the half-elf, the spirit, the maids, the green-haired girl, the boys, they were all moving with a purpose, frantic but knowledgeable.

They knew the stakes. They knew the magic. Kenichi and Naoko knew nothing. They were just the parents who had been left behind, and now that they were here, they were still behind.

"... I wanna go ask someone about something," Kenichi told his wife for the first time since the screen above them had shut down.

"I'm staying," Naoko whispered, her voice cracking. It wasn't a question.

Kenichi nodded stiffly. "Yeah. Don't let go of him."

He needed air. Or perhaps, he just needed to look at someone who wasn't looking at his son with pity. He stood up, his legs feeling heavy, and scanned the room. His eyes landed on a splash of orange and crimson in the upper rows.

Priscilla Barielle.

The haughty woman sat fanning herself, looking bored, though her eyes were sharp. Kenichi remembered the brief interaction earlier. She had been the only one to speak to him directly, even if it was with disdain. In a room full of people crying over his son, she was the only one who seemed… grounded.

He walked up the stairs.

Al, the helmeted man leaning against the wall near her, stiffened as Kenichi approached. "Whoa, pop. You sure you want to be up here? Princess isn't exactly in the mood for—"

"Silence, Al," Priscilla commanded, snapping her fan shut. She turned her fiery gaze toward Kenichi. " The mongrel approaches. Have you come to wail about your spawn's misfortune? Go weep with the others. Your presence bores me."

Kenichi didn't flinch. He didn't bow. He just stood there, hands in his tracksuit pockets, looking at her with an intensity that matched her own.

"Hm… You're angry," Kenichi said simply.

Priscilla's eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"You're angry," Kenichi repeated, tilting his head. The goofy, over-the-top persona he usually wore was gone, replaced by the terrifying charisma that Subaru had inherited but not yet mastered. "You saw what he did... You saw the mess down there… But I only see you looking down at my son's death as if it were a waste."

Priscilla scoffed, opening her fan to cover the lower half of her face. "You presume to know my mind? Arrogance suits a king, commoner, but on you, it is merely grotesque."

"I'm a dad," Kenichi said, stepping closer. The aura radiating off him was strange, it wasn't mana, and it wasn't bloodlust. It was a sheer, unyielding weight of presence. "And I know when someone is putting up a front. You act like you don't care, but you're the only one here actually watching him and thinking practically about everything."

Al watched from the side, his jaw practically hitting the inside of his helmet. This guy… this random dad from Japan was staring down the Sun Princess. And he wasn't losing.

"You hold yourself as the world belongs to you," Kenichi continued, his voice dropping an octave, smooth and knowing. "But you're frustrated. You look at my son, and you don't see a tragedy, you see a misplaced asset."

Priscilla lowered her fan. The air around her shimmered with heat, but Kenichi didn't even blink. He leaned in, his eyes locking with her crimson ones.

"You're a good person, aren't you?"

Al choked on air. "Dude—"

Priscilla froze. Her expression didn't break, but for a microsecond, the absolute certainty in her eyes faltered. She looked at this man, this man who wore ridiculous clothes and had just watched his son slit his own throat, and she saw a terrifying amount of clarity. He wasn't afraid of her.

It was infuriating. It was... impressive.

"You… are a fool," Priscilla said, but the venom was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating tone.

"Maybe," Kenichi shrugged, the tension instantly evaporating as he gave her a small, tired smile. "But I'm… Not going to get anything out of you, am I? Sorry for the intrusion, I would've thought this was going to be more productive but… Yeah. Sorry."

He turned to leave, his shoulders slumping slightly as the weight of his grief returned. He had said his piece. He had confirmed that not everyone here was lost in despair.

"Wait."

Kenichi stopped.

Priscilla didn't look at him. She turned her head sharply to the side, staring at the blank screen, her fan gripping tight in her hand. She took a breath, composing herself from the sheer absurdity of the interaction.

"That camp," she spoke, her voice low and imperious. "The Half-Devil's camp. They are a sinking ship. They rely on his death to propel them forward, and they weep while he bleeds."

Kenichi remained silent, listening.

"When you finally realize that they are incapable of protecting what is yours," Priscilla said, her voice hard as iron. "When you lose faith in their ability to keep him whole..."

She gestured vaguely to the space beside her, a sanctuary offered by a queen to a peasant.

"Bring him here."

Kenichi looked at her back. He looked at Al, who gave him a subtle, stunned thumbs-up.

"Bring him here," Priscilla commanded again, refusing to look into his eyes, refusing to acknowledge the weird respect that had just formed in the air between them. "I do not tolerate waste. And leaving him there is a waste."

Kenichi stared at her for a long moment. "I'll keep that in mind," he said softly.

He walked back down the stairs to the darkness where his wife and son waited, leaving the Sun Princess alone with her thoughts.

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The theater was too quiet. It was a silence that rang in Naoko Natsuki's ears, louder than the screaming she had just heard from the screen.

She sat curled in on herself, her hands trembling as they smoothed the hair of the boy sleeping in her lap. Her boy. He looked so peaceful now, his chest rising and falling in a rhythm that she found herself matching, just to remind herself that he was alive. But every time she blinked, she saw it. The broken blade. The blood. The way he had looked at that blue-haired girl with such absolute, crushing devastation before ending it all.

"He's heavier than he looks, isn't he?"

Naoko flinched, her head snapping up.

Standing in the aisle next to her was a small, blonde girl with a snaggletooth and a mischievous spark in her eyes that seemed dampened by the room's mood. Behind her stood the tall, red-haired knight, Reinhard, looking like he wished he could be anywhere else but intruding on this moment.

"I... excuse me?" Naoko's voice was hoarse.

"Big Bro," the girl, Felt, said, nodding toward Subaru. She hitched up her dress and sat down on the empty seat in front of Naoko, turning around to face her, draping her arms over the backrest. "He carries the weight of the world, so I figure he's gotta be heavy physically, too."

Naoko looked down at her son. "He's... he's just my Subaru."

"He's a lot more than that to the rest of us, lady," Felt said, her voice surprisingly soft. "I'm Felt. And the stiff behind me is Reinhard."

Reinhard bowed slightly, his expression pained. "My apologies for the intrusion, Mrs. Natsuki. Lady Felt insisted on checking on you."

"Checking on me?" Naoko blinked, her mayonnaise-colored eyes confused. "Why? I don't... I don't know any of you. I don't know this world. I just saw my son kill himself, and I don't understand why." Tears pricked her eyes again. "I don't understand why he had to be the one to do that."

Felt's expression tightened. She glanced at the dark screen, then back to Naoko.

"Because he's the only one with the guts to do it," Felt said firmly. "Look, I know what you just saw. It's messed up. It's the worst thing I've ever seen, and I grew up in the slums."

Felt leaned in closer, dropping her voice.

"But you need to know something. Big Bro... Subaru... he's a hero. A real one. Not the shiny, fake kind like people tell about themselves."

Naoko sniffled, wiping her eyes. "A hero?"

"He saved me," Felt said, ticking a finger. "He saved Big Sis many times. He saved village children. He led the charge against a whale the size of a mountain that had been terrorizing the world for 400 years. He doesn't have magic, he doesn't have a sword, but he stands in front of monsters and spits in their faces."

Naoko's breath hitched. She looked at Subaru's sleeping face, the face that used to make silly expressions just to get out of doing dishes. "He did all that?"

"He did," Felt confirmed. "You should be proud. Scared, yeah. But proud."

Then, Felt's eyes narrowed slightly, shifting toward the front of the room where the doorway was to everyone's rooms.

"The problem is," Felt muttered, "he cares too much about people who don't pull their weight."

"Lady Felt," Reinhard warned softly.

Felt ignored him. "I'm just saying. That blue-haired maid? She's the reason he did... that just now. Big Bro is constantly throwing himself into the grinder for her."

Naoko frowned, her maternal instinct flaring up despite her confusion. "That girl... She was crying. She looked devastated. And… Subaru loves her. I can tell. If he loves them, they must be good people."

"Being good people doesn't keep him alive, lady," Felt countered, her voice sharp but not unkind. "Being good doesn't stop him from picking up a blade and sliding it across his neck because he thinks he failed them."

Naoko recoiled as if slapped.

Felt sighed, softening her expression immediately. "Look, I'm not saying they're villains. I'm saying your son is fiercely loyal, and sometimes, that loyalty gets him hurt. I just want you to see that. You're his mom. You're the only one who can look at him and not see a knight or a servant, but just... him."

"Why are you telling me this?" Naoko asked, clutching Subaru's tracksuit tighter.

Felt looked away, her eyes shadowing. She was street-smart. She had an instinct for danger, and looking at the title of the next arc, looking at the sheer despair in that last loop... she knew it was going to get worse.

"Because the show ain't over," Felt whispered. "And it's gonna get uglier. You need to know that he's amazing, so when you see the bad stuff... you don't break. He needs you not to break."

Naoko stared at the small girl, seeing the hardness of the world in her eyes, but also a genuine care for Subaru.

"..." Her only reply was to glance at her son once more, unable to give a dignified response to so many unknown things happening to the one she loves most after her husband.

A few rows away, nestled in the shadows, a small girl in a frilly dress sat on the floor.

Beatrice stroked the coarse scales of the large black ground dragon sleeping beside her. Patrasche let out a low, rumbling snore, dreaming of running.

Beatrice's blue eyes with their butterfly-patterned pupils were fixed on Felt and Naoko. She had heard every word. She heard the praise, she heard the subtle manipulation, and she heard the shade thrown at her contractor's chosen camp.

"Hmph," Beatrice huffed quietly, scratching Patrasche behind the ear bone. "The thief girl is clumsy with her words, in fact."

She glared at Felt's back.

"Trying to poach Betty's contractor through his mother... how underhanded," she muttered, her voice barely audible. "Talking as if she could protect him better. As if anyone cares for him as Betty does."

She wanted to march over there. She wanted to tell the thief to keep her distance, to tell the mother that Betty was the one who would protect him from now on.

But then she looked at Naoko's hand. The way the mother's fingers trembled as they brushed Subaru's bangs from his forehead. The desperate, terrifying love radiating from the woman.

Beatrice looked down at her own small hands, then back to the mother.

"But..." Beatrice sighed, looking away and leaning her head against Patrasche's flank. "She is his mother, I suppose. She has the right to hold him for a little longer."

She closed her eyes, deciding to let the thief speak her nonsense. For now, Beatrice would simply wait. When he woke up, he would need Betty. Until then, she would guard them from the shadows, unnoticed and silent.

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Kenichi sat down heavily beside his wife. The soft contours of the seat creaked, a sound that seemed too loud in the oppressive silence. He didn't put his arm around her immediately; he just leaned forward, elbows on his knees, staring at his own clasped hands.

"The lady in the red dress," Kenichi started, his voice rough. "She thinks we're wasting our time crying."

Naoko didn't look up from Subaru's face. Her fingers were still tracing the line of his jaw, as if checking for the scar that had just been slashed across his throat on the screen.

" The little girl... Felt," Naoko whispered, her voice steady but fragile. "She told me he's a hero. She told me he saved people. Lots of people."

Kenichi let out a breath that was half-laugh, half-sob. "What a kid we have… Always playing hero to someone… Even when he was tiny, he was leading other outcasts into some trouble."

"But I don't know him, Kenichi," Naoko turned to him then, her eyes swimming with tears. "I look at him, and I see my Subaru. But then... I look at the screen, and I see a man who slits his own throat to save a girl we've never met. I just heard that he led people against a magical whale of some sort… saved a village... I don't know that Subaru."

Kenichi finally looked at her. The "Cool Dad" mask was gone. There was no pose, no catchphrase. Just a father who felt terrifyingly small.

"I don't know him either," Kenichi admitted, the confession hanging heavy between them. "I thought... I thought he was just running away because he thought lowly of himself. But he's not running anymore, Naoko. He's running towards things that would make grown men wet themselves."

He reached out, covering Naoko's hand with his own, where it rested on Subaru's chest.

"We missed it," Kenichi said quietly. "We missed him growing up. We missed the pain that forged him into... this. And that kills me. God, it kills me. But we're here now."

Naoko squeezed his hand, her grip surprisingly strong. "Felt told me not to break. She said he needs me to be strong." Her eyes watered even more. "What if he dies again? What do I do then?"

"We watch," Kenichi nodded, a newfound resolve hardening his features. "We watch. We learn. And when he wakes up... we don't try to be the parents he left behind. We are the parents he needs now."

He fell silent, letting the vow settle.

His gaze drifted downward, past his son's sleeping form, and settled on the dark, massive shape curled a few meters away from Subaru's legs.

In the chaos of the viewing and the shock of his arrival, he hadn't fully processed it. The loyal ground dragon who had carried his son through whale hunts and cultist attacks.

"She must've carried him through a lot of troubling adventures while he was on his own in this world…" He whispered to his wife as he looked at the sleeping dragoness.

"Do you think we can get Otto-sama to translate what she says if we go speak with her again?" Naoko found herself giving a small smile while looking at the large creature. Feeling nothing but love and gratitude for the scaled princess.

"She hasn't moved," Kenichi murmured, sliding off his seat to walk towards Patrasche and kneel on the floor near her.

The dragon was massive. Her jet-black scales seemed to absorb the dim light of the theater. She was curled protectively around herself, her large head resting on the floor.

"That little girl...," Naoko whispered, glancing toward the shadows where Beatrice had disappeared to talk with Frederica. "She was petting her earlier."

Kenichi reached out slowly. He expected the heat of a living animal, the rise and fall of breathing.

His hand touched the scales. They were cool. Hard as steel.

"Hey there, girl," Kenichi whispered.

There was no reaction. No twitch of an ear, no shift in weight.

He frowned, pressing his hand flatter against the dragon's snout. He could feel a faint, very faint, vibration of life deep within.

"What's wrong, Kenichi?" His wife called from behind him, noticing his troubled expression.

"Something's not right with her…" He muttered back, looking at Patrasche's body all over once more.

Kenichi looked away from the dragon when he heard footsteps behind him. He looked to find the beautiful green-haired lady from before standing over him, her amber eyes piercing the situation.

"Seems like you're troubled, Natsuki-sama?" Crusch speaks pointedly, realizing things are more serious in this room without her. "I apologize for leaving you alone without company. I thought it might be best if you and your wife had a moment with your son after what you've revealed about his absence from your lives."

Kenichi found the urge to grin at her politeness, fighting the urge to joke about her company being way too stiff for any of his jokes to land anyway. But he only shook his head.

"It's alright. I don't expect you to waste your time on my wife and me when you're aiming for my son's heart." Kenichi brought a hand to Patrasche's scaly head, waiting for a flustered reaction from the woman standing above him.

"..."

"..."

"This is the moment you start saying 'wha? I would never feel such a thing for someone like him!' and have a deep red blush." Kenichi said in a deadpanned tone at Crusch's acceptance of his words.

"But what you spoke was the truth." Crusch's arms crossed with a tilt of her head that showed confusion and a little bit of amusement.

"Now you're gonna make me blush," Kenichi sighed tiredly, but had an impossible grin of enjoyment hidden from Crusch. "My son's a fuckin' king." He whispered proudly while tapping the dragon in front of him more.

"Is it normal for her to sleep so soundly like this, by the way?" Kenichi asked, finally opening the topic of his worry as he rubbed at Patrasche even more.

Crusch found herself staring down at the ground dragon with a hint of curiosity. "Usually. But the circumstances of her sleeping arrangement wouldn't make her feel safe enough to be in such a blissful state."

"I don't think this is blissful at all." Kenichi frowned, suddenly feeling more worried for no apparent reason. "I can't shake the feeling that things are about to turn bad… Or worse."

Before Crusch could reply to that, having settled her expression on a resolved one, a new group entered the theater room, having been absent since the start of the break.

Anastasia and her camp members waved towards Kenichi and Crusch, with the merchant queen giving the Duchess a particular wink with hidden meaning as they passed them to their seats. Hetaro now occupies the middle of the seat where both his siblings sat down on either side of him once more.

Right behind, Emilia and Rem walked out with Emilia waving a hand to Naoko and giving the mother a pleasant smile.

"I apologize, Naoko-san. I had to help my friends with something urgent." Emilia gave a deep bow to show respect, which flustered the normal woman.

"No need for that, Emilia-sama. You're a princess, so don't show me such courtesy or else people will think less of you!" Naoko waved her hands around a little bit.

Rem settled in the seat behind Subaru directly, having the blessing of not being noticed by anyone other than Felix and Wilhelm, who'd just come back from a tea break and had to scooch so Rem could enter the row.

"So many snacks~!" Meili giggled while carrying a lot of what seemed to be candy and chips with her. "I never thought I could taste so many odd flavors that make my mouth happy! Come, come, Rosie-chan! I wanna have all of it in the seat right next to me!" She was talking to the boy walking behind her, carrying a bigger pile of goods. He seemed more strained than excited to eat, though.

"... S-Some of those are for me too! Don't be selfish!" They both passed by Petra and Frederica as Meili blew a small raspberry.

"Wha! That's really childish!" Schult argued while walking with her to the upper row, where his lady and Al were still waiting.

Petra was glaring towards Meili with such heat that it was best for anyone other than the cold-hearted assassin child to avoid it.

Heinkel slowly trickled into the room with Ram right beside him, having no words between each other as they didn't know or care, in Ram's case, about anyone in this theater other than a handful of people. They both had to walk together towards the back rows, where Priscilla and Al were, though.

Ram gave a small wave to her sister, and a sincere smile, earning a wave back from Rem, but it was dimmed by the distance between the sisters after the break had made them split to look for one distinct man.

The heavy double doors of the theater didn't just open; they were slammed wide with enough force to rattle the hinges.

Before anyone could react, a tall, spindly figure in ridiculous clown makeup was shoved violently into the room. Roswaal L. Mathers stumbled, his heels clicking frantically against the floor to find purchase, but he never got the chance to straighten up.

"Gotcha, ya slippery bastard!"

A golden blur launched itself from the doorway. Garfiel Tinsel, teeth bared and eyes wild with predatory fury, tackled the Margrave. The impact was heavy, sending Roswaal crashing to the carpeted floor. In a split second, Garfiel had him pinned, one hand gripping Roswaal's collar, the other raised as a fist trembling with the urge to strike.

"I've been waitin' for ya to show yer face!" Garfiel snarled, his voice a low, animalistic rumble that vibrated through the silent theater. "Think ya can just hide away while we watch the Cap'n bleed out on screen? Huh?"

Beneath him, Roswaal didn't struggle. He didn't even blink. He simply lay there, pinned like a butterfly to a board, a slow, infuriating smile spreading across his painted lips.

"My, my~," Roswaal drawled, his voice gratingly calm. "Such a waaaarm welcome. I wasn't aware the sanctuary's shield had such… poor manners."

"Shut it!" Garfiel tightened his grip, bunching the fabric of Roswaal's shirt.

"Garfiel-san! Stop it! Get off him immediately!"

Otto rushed in from the hallway, looking frantic. He grabbed Garfiel's shoulder, trying to haul the heavy demi-human off the Margrave. "We are in public! Everyone is watching! Do not make this worse than it already is!"

Otto's eyes darted nervously to the side. He saw it clearly. Anastasia Hoshin was leaning forward in her seat, her scarf lowered, her eyes gleaming with calculation as she watched the internal collapse of her rival's camp. She was practically mentally writing down the headline within Otto's head.

"I don't care who's watchin'!" Garfiel roared, resisting Otto's pull. "This clown knows somethin'! He ain't surprised by none of this!"

"Garfiel-san, please!" Otto pleaded, sweating profusely.

"Excuse me."

The voice was firm, cutting through the chaos. Otto froze as a man in a tracksuit stepped up beside him. Kenichi looked down at the scene, the snarling boy, the pinned clown, and the panicked merchant.

"What is going on here?" Kenichi asked, his gaze hard as he looked at Otto. "Why are you guys attacking this man? What did he do?"

Otto opened his mouth, stammering. How could he explain? "Mr. Natsuki, it's… It's complicated. Please, step back, this is an internal matter—"

"It doesn't look internal," Kenichi countered, gesturing to Roswaal. "It looks like a brawl."

Throughout the exchange, Roswaal remained perfectly still. He looked up at Kenichi, the father of the boy he was trying to break, and his mismatched eyes glinted with amusement. He said nothing. He offered no defense, no explanation. He simply let his silence act as a vacuum, sucking the air out of the room and forcing everyone else to fill it with their own fears, accusations, and confusion.

He knew that by saying nothing, he made everyone else look unstable while he remained the victim.

Garfiel growled, realizing the game Roswaal was playing, but too angry to stop. Otto looked like he was about to faint. Kenichi's suspicion was shifting from Garfiel to the smiling man on the floor.

The tension was a taut wire, ready to snap.

And then, the world turned white.

SNAP.

A blinding, piercing white light erupted from the massive screen, flooding the theater. It was so intense that Garfiel recoiled, covering his eyes and releasing Roswaal. Otto stumbled back. Kenichi shielded his face with his arm.

Every conversation died instantly. The room was washed in absolute, sterile silence.

As the spots cleared from their vision, the cast looked up. The darkness of the screen was gone. In its place was a stark, bright white background, resembling a presentation slide.

Slowly, text began to fade in. It wasn't a title. It wasn't a scene description.

It was a single, simple image composed of text characters.

:)

The smiley face stared down at them, mocking, ominous, and terrifyingly cheerful.

"What the heck?" Felt raised a brow at the screen, showing many people's confusion with her eloquent wording. "The fuck's that creepy move about? Where the hell have ya been?"

"..." Reinhard found himself glaring up at the screen without an explanation for his sudden hostility. "Felt-sama… Something is deeply off about this." Rem and Felix gave Reinhard a surprised glance.

As soon as he said that, the text on the screen began to change for everyone.

"It's saying something else, I suppose." Beatrice pointed out, for those not paying attention, though that was useless since everyone in the room was looking up at the changing text.

"I am not your usual keeper."

"What?" Petra's eyes widened in shock, worry beginning to fill her heart. "What happened to Warden-sama?"

"He's left us in this place without sayin' anythin'?!" Ricardo said with astonishment. "No way he'd leave like that!"

"Who is it that you represent?" Julius cut through the confusion in the room as people began whispering amongst each other. His glare on the screen showed his mistrust, as expected from a protector of the capital.

"Slowly but surely, you will all begin to see the truth you seek."

As the text changed silently, many in the crowd started glaring, including Felix and Priscilla alongside Heinkel.

Meili was humming to herself while tasting another treat as the situation began escalating, though her eye was on the screen out of interest.

"Where is the Warden?" Crunch's voice was aggressive, everything about her stance was. She stepped front and center with a glare as sharp as her blade.

"If our capturer has been changed, then we deserve to know what will become of our prison." Crunch's glare changed nothing as the words began to change once more.

"Your Warden was a means to an end. This place is no prison. It's merely the manifestation of my hatred towards all of you."

"Hatred?" Rem whispered with a glance at Felix and Wilhelm.

"That's kinda foreboding for us…" Al muttered in his helmet, feeling the dread everyone else was feeling. Though he still moved himself to sit next to his lady.

Prisiclla herself seemed more amused as she smiled up at the screen. "So the dog's been vanquished from his post… Terrific consequence."

"W-What happened to him?" Petra asked, bringing attention to her from Priscilla's red irises. The little maid stood in her seat, glaring up at the white screen. "Tell us what happened to Warden-sama!"

"Usefulness ended. Contract terminated. Life disposed."

"Life…?!" Petra had a hand to her mouth in horror as many held shocked expressions.

"... His usefulness ended?" Reinhard held a look of absolute disturbance, feeling the true meaning of helplessness for the first time in his life at such news. "You were powerful enough to dispose of a man who's been keeping all of us here for the longest time…"

Before the Sword Saint could finish his thought, Felix was immediately heated to ask in his stead.

"Who are ya, nya?"

"Why do you hate us?" Frederica threw her question right behind Felix's, looking up with worry etched on her face. "We haven't done anything to you… Have we?"

"Just like your Warden. You all have been used as a means to an end."

The words hung there, cold and impersonal. Before anyone could try to register what the meaning behind the words on the screen above was, a dry laugh caught people's attention from the floor of the theater.

"A few more answers like this and you'll l~ooo~se the room," Roswaal spoke through Garfiel's grip, which tightened to shut him up. "The previous owner of this prison was f~aaa~r more charismatic."

"Shut yer trap!" Garfiel growled with his teeth bared, saliva flecking onto the clown's makeup. "Mine amazin' selfs tempted t' end 't all 'ere and now! Fuckin' help me fulfill my dreams and push it, ya damn clown! I beg ya!"

"Hey, that's enough!" Kenichi immediately threw his hands on Garfiel's shoulder to pull him away, acting on pure instinct to stop a murder in front of his eyes. He yanked, expecting the boy to budge, only to be shocked at the iron feel of Garfiel's arm. It was like grabbing a steel girder bolted to the floor. "The hell?! This guy's seriously strong!"

"Garfiel-san!" Otto shouted, rushing forward, now frustrated beyond belief at how much was going wrong within the theater.

"Roswaal L. Mathers is not to be harmed within the walls of my hatred."

The text flashed red for a microsecond.

Suddenly, an invisible force slammed into the blonde demi-human. There was no sound of impact, just the violent displacement of air as Garfiel was thrown far away from Roswaal's body. He flew through the air, crashing down on top of Otto next to the sleeping Patrasche in a tangle of limbs and groans.

"Da fuck?!" Garfiel immediately scrambled to stand up, shaking his head to clear the ringing. Frederica ran to help Otto to his feet, checking him for injuries while shooting a worried look at her brother.

Garfiel ignored her, glaring up at the screen with veins popping in his neck. "Whacha doin'?! Ya protectin' this fuckin' clown now?! 's tha' yer way of sayin' that he's yer partner?!"

Roswaal coughed, adjusting his collar as he began to rise to his feet. An expression of pure surprise was apparent on his face for the first time since he had seen Subaru's last death. He dusted off his clothes, looking up at the text, wondering the same thing as Garfiel, the same thing as everyone in the theater. He had assumed this entity was hostile to him, saving him didn't fit the script.

"Why protect the Margrave suddenly?" Julius asked within the quiet, voicing what Garfiel already had. This time, he was more composed, his hand resting on the armrest as if it was the pummel of his sword, his golden eyes far more piercing. "His reaction doesn't show any signs of him being an accomplice… So what use is he for you?"

The screen flickered, the letters rearranging themselves slowly, deliberately.

"He will be useful for the two to make their choice."

"Two?" Anastasia hummed to herself, tapping her chin with her fan. She looked around the theater, eyes analyzing everyone she could without turning fully to look in the row behind her, where Priscilla's camp with Meili and Ram sat.

Emilia, who had been standing protectively near the front, felt a chill run down her spine. Her violet eyes glanced at Naoko and Kenichi for a moment, the only two people here who didn't belong to this world, the only two who were completely out of place.

"Is it… Subaru's parents?" Emilia asked softly.

Her question made the theater raise eyebrows and hitch a few breaths in surprise.

"It would make sense…" Tivey muttered as he furiously noted everything down in his notebook. "They are the variables. The anomalies."

Kenichi felt the blood drain from his face. He looked back to where his wife was sitting. Naoko was shrinking into her seat, holding on to their Subaru as she looked back at him with a terrified, wide-eyed expression. They were just people. They were just a dad who worked and a mom who liked to sleep in. They weren't mages. They weren't knights.

"Us?" Kenichi whispered, his voice trembling. "What kind of choice?"

The screen didn't answer his question directly. instead, the text grew larger, looming over them like a judge's gavel.

"Their choice… Is the only reason you all remain alive within my hatred. Because they must make the choice. The right choice."

The air in the room grew heavy, suffocating. Naoko clutched Subaru tighter, burying her face in his tracksuit, terrified that this choice would mean losing him again. Kenichi stood paralyzed, realizing that whatever game this entity was playing, the pieces were him and his wife.

"The one that will free me from my hell."

The word "Hell" lingered on the screen, burning itself into the retinas of everyone present.

"Hell?" Beatrice murmured, her voice carrying easily in the dead silence. She tugged at one of her drills, her butterfly eyes narrowing at the screen. "You trapped us in a pocket dimension, forced us to watch many things from the past, and stripped away our abilities, in fact. You hold power that rivals the Witch of Envy... yet you claim to be the one suffering?"

"It doesn't add up," Crusch whispered, clutching the stump of her arm. "If it has the power to keep us here, what could possibly torment it? And what do... they have to do with it?"

She gestured with her chin toward the parents behind her. Kenichi and Naoko looked like deer caught in headlights. They were shrinking under the collective gaze of the theater.

"We don't know anything," Naoko stammered, shaking her head rapidly. "We're just... we're just from Japan. We don't know about magic or dragons or... hells."

"Precisely," Priscilla covered her face with her fan, though her eyes were cold and calculating. "The Entity chooses the ignorant to make a decision that affects the enlightened. It is a farce. A comedy written by a madman."

"Ehh? That's not fair!"

The childish whine cut through the thick tension like a knife. Meili raised her hand high in the air, kicking her legs back and forth in her seat as if she were in a classroom asking to answer a question.

"Why do they get to pick?" Meili pouted, looking at the screen with genuine annoyance. "I wanna pick! I'm really good at choosing, you know? I chose the puppy that bit Onii-san, and I chose which path to take to ambush the villagers... picking is fun!"

Petra looked at Meili with renewed horror, but the assassin ignored her.

"If I pick, can I leave?" Meili continued, tilting her head. "I'm getting kind of bored. There aren't any dolls, and everyone is being all gloom-and-doom. Let me pick! Pick me, pick me!"

Beatrice glared daggers at the assassin sitting in the back after hearing those last two words.

Schult tugged on Meili's sleeve, looking terrified. "Meili-chan, please... you shouldn't provoke it..."

"Hmph," Meili crossed her arms, sinking back into her chair. "Fine. Be boring."

The screen did not acknowledge the girl. The white light didn't flicker. The text simply dissolved, replaced by new words that scrolled slowly, inevitably, like a tombstone being engraved in real-time.

"Your questions are irrelevant. Your boredom is irrelevant."

The text paused, letting the dismissal sink in before continuing.

"You ask of the world outside. You ask of your future."

"Soon, you will see what has become of your precious kingdoms. You will witness the silence that has fallen over your lands."

Emilia's hands flew to her mouth. "Silence...?"

"There is no future for you outside of my hatred. The world you fight for is already ash. The timelines are severed. The loops are closed."

A collective gasp ran through the room. Roswaal's eyes narrowed into slits. If the world was ash, his tome, his goal, his desire to revive her... it was all moot.

"But here... within these walls... time stands still."

The text grew larger, softer, almost seductive in its promise.

"If the Father and Mother choose correctly... if they make the choice that ends the cycle..."

"Then you will all remain here. Safe. Protected. Unharmed."

"Forever."

"Forever?" Kenichi whispered the word, feeling the weight of it crush his chest. An eternity in a movie theater? An eternity of watching his son suffer on screen, but never losing him in reality?

"That's not safety," Reinhard spoke up, his voice ringing with the clarity of the Sword Saint. "That is a prison. To deny the future is to deny life itself."

"Better a prison than a grave, pal," Al muttered from behind his helmet, though he didn't sound convinced.

Panic began to bubble up again. Voices rose. Anastasia demanding clarification on her business assets, Garfiel shouting about freedom, Emilia pleading for the safety of the citizens, while Felt was trying to get any news about Rom or the rest of her camp.

"Wait! You can't just say that and stop!" Otto yelled, taking a step toward the screen. "What happened to the world? What do you mean ash?!"

The screen ignored them all.

The text vanished.

The blinding white background remained for a heartbeat longer, and then, slowly, the two dots and the curved line reappeared.

:)

It was a smile that promised nothing but the end.

The smile lingered for a second, mocking their confusion, before the screen abruptly cut to black. The white light died, plunging them back into the darkness of the theater.

Then, the flicker of the window whirred to life.

Images began to flash rapidly, fragments of a snowy landscape, a mansion with many doors, and the cold, blue eyes of a woman who waited in the library.

The next viewing had begun.

Season 2 Episode 2

Begin.

The Karsten estate is shown in the first scene, bathed in a fresh morning glow, in contrast to the darkness of the last episode. The vast lands were lush with green grass, and the front yard had fewer carriages.

But the serenity didn't last more than a few seconds. A small hand raised into the air, trembling slightly but decisive. The image on the screen froze on the peaceful scenery.

Hetaro stood in his seat, his hand still raised in the gesture he had seen the others use countless times. The small demi-human looked around him, trying to make sense of the chaos.

"Please," Hetaro spoke, his voice not loud, but cutting through the noise with the sharp clarity of a bell. "Everyone... please, take your seats."

"Hetaro?" Mimi blinked, looking at her brother.

"We cannot fight a voice that has no body," Hetaro reasoned, "I don't even think calling it a voice is right since it didn't speak to us. And panicking won't help Natsuki-san."

He looked directly at Kenichi and Naoko.

"If the entity says we need to see this... then we need to see this. We need to understand what happened to the outside world."

His words acted as a bucket of cold water on the heated arguments.

"The little guy has sound logic…" Al's voice sounded through everyone's thoughts, he shuffled into his seat beside his princess. "Ain't gonna change anything… Again."

"Whomever replaced the Warden-sama must be building up to a point." Tivey spoke from beside Hetaro, sitting down and nodding his head. "I don't even think the 'choices' of the parents were presented clearly, I mean… What are they choosing from?"

Slowly, the fight drained out of the room, replaced by a heavy, suffocating resignation.

The shuffling of feet began.

Kenichi took a deep breath, his chest heaving as if he had just run a marathon. He looked at the frozen screen, then he turned to his wife.

"Naoko," he whispered, guiding himself back to the front row. He softly held her hand as he took his seat beside her. He glanced to his wife's side, where Subaru was laid down sleeping. "What has he gotten himself into… Who are all these… These things that keep wanting something from us just to get him out of here?"

"... Subaru…" Naoko couldn't speak to her husband's rambling, seeing the pain on his face made her want to look to her son's unmoving one. Maybe it was because he was still asleep or maybe she was hoping the answer might come to her from him. She was stupid like that.

"Honey… Please…"

Emilia wiped her face, composing herself with a visible effort. She walked to the front row, her movements stiff. She sat down on the other side of Subaru, his right side, close enough that her shoulder brushed against his arm. She needed that contact. She needed to know he was real.

"Move 't," Garfiel grunted, practically dragging a shell-shocked Otto with him. They took the seats next to Emilia. Garfiel crossed his arms, glaring at the screen as if daring it to hurt them again, while Otto pulled out his green hat and wrung it in his hands, his face pale.

"The world outside… We can't even tell if anyone's alive out there?" Frederica smoothed her skirt and walked gracefully over to where Petra was sitting. "Are you wondering what may have happened to your parents, Petra-chan?"

The little maid was still staring at the floor, traumatized by the news of what happened to the Warden. But the worry of what may have happened to her home set her heart ablaze even more. "I…" The little girl hugged her legs and put her face into her knees.

Frederica sat down beside her, offering no words, just a warm, reassuring presence.

On Petra's other side, Wilhelm van Astrea sat like a statue, his eyes closed, radiating a silent, mournful strength. "It's a matter of time before things are explained to us about our loved ones," he said to the maids on his right. "Do not fret too much. We wouldn't want Subaru-dono to comment on any wrinkles if your youthful face keeps frowning, Petra-chan."

The little maid felt a little warm in the face at that grandfatherly comment from the old knight.

Crusch Karsten walked slowly to the second row, moving to sit right behind Emilia's seat. She looked to her left on the second row, Rem was sitting there to be behind Subaru. To the left of the Duchess, Felix was sitting next to her, his head in his hands, his ears flattened against his skull.

Crusch sat down between them. She placed her remaining hand gently on Felix's head.

"Ferris," she whispered.

"Crusch-sama…" Felix choked out, not looking up. "Is the world really… We didn't get the maids out of the estate before leaving for the Watergate City."

"We are watching to learn how to change that," Crusch said firmly, though her eyes were sad. She patted him, then turned her gaze to the screen, ready to face what's ahead. "We need to be strong for whatever comes next."

Roswaal dusted off his clown suit, his expression unreadable. He ignored the glares from the Anastasia camp and the hostility from Garfiel. As he moved through, the man tried his best not to look at the parents or Emilia, they haven't even given him a glance, too busy with Subaru and their own worries to notice the heat within his eyes. He walked to the furthest row, where Ram was waiting.

He sat down, crossing his long legs elegantly.

"Roswaal-sama," Ram spoke softly, her eyes fixed on his profile. "Are you injured?"

"Physically? N~ooo~," Roswaal drawled, though the usual lilt in his voice sounded hollow, like a wind blowing through a ruin.

"The entity..." Ram hesitated. "How come it offers you protection..."

Roswaal's yellow eye narrowed. His mismatched gaze bored into the back of Subaru's head in the front row.

"Safety… That's what it said it would offer everyone in here." Roswaal whispered, the word tasting like ash in his mouth. "You really think I'd work with something that offers such a hollow existence to so many lost souls?"

Ram's eyes narrowed on him without a hint of hesitation. "Is it not within the realm of what we're about to witness in the Sanctuary? Are you really not working with that Entity to gain—"

He cuts her off immediately. "Stagnation. A bird in a cage is what it's offering me, Ram." He clenched his fist on the armrest, his nails digging into the velvet. "I do not want safety," he hissed, his voice dropping to a terrifyingly low register that only Ram could hear. "I want results. I want her back. If the world is ash, then I will burn the ash until nothing remains but my desire. I will not accept a 'forever' that is not of my own making."

He leaned back, his face returning to its mask of indifference.

Ram was the only one willing to offer her master a small look of pity. "Yet… You're still stuck in the same state regardless… For her."

Roswaal refused to say anything in reply.

Seeing that everyone was seated, Hetaro let out a long breath he had been holding. He sat down between his siblings.

"Okay," Hetaro whispered.

He lowered his hand.

The screen resumed, the peaceful wind of the Karsten estate blowing through the speakers, carrying with it the promise of a new, terrible beginning.

Crusch is shown standing in her military uniform but without her hat as she faces Subaru and Emilia in front of Patrasche.

"Emilia-sama and Natsuki Subaru-sama," she begins softly and shyly. "I would gladly host you two at my home for as long as you need."

Emilia smiled beside Subaru and replied to both of them. "We appreciate that, but we do want to get the villagers back home."

"..." Emilia's eyes seemed to close in a flinch. "I can't believe I had this many chances to stop us from going…"

Felt noticed this part and looked beside her to stare at Subaru for a moment. "Suppose I shouldn't be feelin' that bad when even Big Sis screwed up a chance to stop ya…"

"That's different, Felt-sama." Reinhard shook his head, noticing the same thing as his lady. "They have a duty to the villagers. It's not like they could leave them be without making sure they returned home safely after both the Whale and the Witch's Cult."

"I know, ya stiff stick." Felt rolled her eyes, crossing her arms. "Can't help ya be human if ya don't see that I'm shedding off the blame with whatever I can manifest."

"That's delusional…" Reinhard's genuine bafflement made Felt snort, having to cover her mouth to hide it. "... Are you okay with what we've heard about the outside…? About Rom-sama?"

"It's not something I can control… And whatever happens, that old man won't die on me this easy." Felt grumbled, leaning her head on Reinhard as she stared above at the screen. "Come on… You're the hero who will save everyone, right? Why don't ya have faith in our world like Big Bro?"

"Like… Subaru." Reinhard muttered under his breath, giving the screen a tired look once he caught the smile on Subaru's face. "I see…"

"We'll come back after we take them all home," Subaru said with a bright smile. "And talk to her sponsor, Roswaal."

Garfiel growled at the screen, not liking the mention of the magician.

"Calm down, man." Otto sighed, bringing his hat back on his head after he'd fixed it up from his earlier reaction. "This animosity won't serve us… Not until we actually see what happened to Natsuki-san…"

The blonde boy simply glared at his knees, having a hint of something else in his eyes that Otto noticed.

"Are you… Worried, Garfiel-san?" Otto asked, but all he got was a grunt in response. "Worried about what?"

Garfiel didn't respond, merely ignoring the merchant to look at the screen.

"Very well." Crusch smiled back at him. "When you do, I hope I can finally repay my great debt to you."

"Feels almost sacriligious to have you watch this, nya~," Felix whispered under his breath, leaning into his lady's touch as she kept her hand on his head. Crusch never put her hands on him in public like this; it wasn't until recently, because of their many differences in the theater, that she started to show him a different treatment than before. "Watching you when you lost all of the progress that led to us being this close… It feels like a stab to the heart every time, Crusch-sama."

The Duchess rubbed on his head more with affection and grace. Giving him a small glance that was filled with love. "You're a good boy, Ferris."

His breathing hitched at her words. His heart exploded into a million after being acknowledged by his lady in such a way.

Subaru seemed humbled by this. "It's not that big a deal. You helped us out, too. We even got a reward. Right, Patrasche?" He rubbed the neck of the reptile standing by his side.

"Kyaaaa ngggh!" She adorably moaned, moving her head down to rub her cheek with his.

"Argh! OW!" Subaru screamed and jumped away from her, holding onto his cheek.

"Are you all right, Subaru?" Emilia asked with concern.

"Those scales hurt more than I expected!" He shouted while rubbing his cheek. "Now I know how daikon radish feels when it's being grated!"

After a moment of Patrasche looking at him in silence, Emilia and Crusch decided to be his biggest ops as they gave small giggles of amusement at his pain.

"Hmph."

Beatrice crossed her arms, glaring at the screen with a look of supreme dissatisfaction. She glanced down at the sleeping Patrasche near the front row, then back at Subaru.

"Betty's contractor is truly a fool, in fact," she grumbled, though her hand twitched as if she wanted to heal the scrape on the screen. "Allowing himself to be injured by a lizard's affection... he has no sense of self-preservation. And that dragon needs to learn to control her strength. If she grates his face off, Betty will have to fix it."

"Oh, come on, Beatrice," Emilia smiled, a genuine, soft expression that she hadn't worn in hours. She leaned back, watching herself and Crusch laugh on screen. "It was... really fun. Just for a moment. Subaru was making those silly faces, and Crusch-sama was smiling... it felt like we were just normal friends."

She let out a small sigh, her eyes lingering on the giggling Crusch. "I didn't know we could laugh like that. I'm glad we did."

"I feel a bit left out, honestly," Anastasia chimed in from the Hoshin section, fanning herself with a wistful expression. "The Iron Duchess and the Half-Elf Princess sharin' a laugh over a boy and his dragon? Makes for a pretty picture."

She looked at Julius, her eyes dimming slightly. "We shoulda been there, Julius. Sends the wrong message, lettin' the alliance split up like that without a proper send-off."

"My deepest apologies, Lady Anastasia," Julius bowed his head, his expression pained. "I should have insisted on escorting them. Had I been there... had I been by his side..."

He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to. The knowledge that Subaru was heading into an ambush alone weighed heavily on the Knight of Spirits.

"So," a casual voice broke the somber mood of the knights.

Kenichi leaned over the back of his chair, looking directly at Crusch. "Duchess-san. Quick question."

Crusch blinked, surprised by the sudden informality. "Yes, Natsuki-sama?"

"My boy's ride," Kenichi pointed a thumb at the screen, and then down at the sleeping dragon. "She seems to be almost as smitten with this kid as you are. Did he win her heart in a staring contest? Because seeing her try to grate his face off... that looks like true love to me."

Crusch allowed a small, genuine smile to grace her lips, the tension in her shoulders easing at Kenichi's charismatic energy. "He earned her, Natsuki-sama. Patrasche is of the Diana lineage. She is proud and typically refuses riders. But she chose your son."

"Chose him, huh?" Kenichi grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "She expresses it violently. Just like his mother."

"Kenichi!" Naoko slapped his arm lightly, though she looked pleased by the comparison.

Naoko then turned her attention to the young man in green sitting near them. She pointed a worried finger at the massive black dragon curling around the seats.

"Um... Mr. Merchant?" Naoko asked softly. "Is she... okay? She hasn't moved at all for a while."

Otto Suwen looked down from the screen to the dragon but his eyes narrowed slightly. He looked exhausted. The weight of the "World of Ash" revelation was pressing down on him, making the concern over a sleeping dragon feel trivial.

"She is fine, Mrs. Natsuki," Otto said with a polite but strained shrug. "Patrasche-san is fiercely loyal. She wouldn't hurt him intentionally."

He rubbed his temples, his voice dropping to a murmur.

"Honestly, a dragon with rough scales is the least of our problems right now. If the text was true... if our world is gone... then whether she wakes up or not might not even matter."

He realized he was being too grim and quickly forced a small, merchant-style smile. "But do not worry. She is just sleeping. Like the rest of us wish we could."

Naoko had a small frown in response, but she continued to watch.

"Subaru-kyun, I've secured Rem-chan," Felix called from within the carriage that was attached to Patrasche. "Be sure to keep her still!"

"Oh." Subaru looked at the healer with surprise. "Yeah!"

Rem found herself flinching because of how offhandedly they were all talking about her. Her arms were gripping her dressing far tighter than usual, wanting more than anything to reach out and wrap around the boy infront of her, had it not been for his mother, who held on to his arm.

"You'll need your rest when you get back to the mansion, too," Felix advised while jumping down from the carriage and standing infront of Subaru with a hand on his hip.

"Me?" Subaru asked while looking at Felix.

Felix could only blink in surprise as he noticed Subaru's mother turn back to him. Stars in her eyes as she gave him a small smile of gratitude.

"Thank you very much for telling him that, dear boy."

"Honey," Kenichi admonished her, "he's a doctor… I think…"

"Oh!" Naoko's eyes widened as she turned back to Felix with a bow this time. "Thank you again, dear boy-sama."

Kenichi had to face palm and laugh into his hand at his wife's airheadedness. While Felix was stammering out "it's okays!" and "my pleasures" with hands waving in a flustered manner, not knowing what to say.

"Y-You shouldn't forget that I've been pretty nasty towards your son, nya… I am not someone who deserves your trust or gratitude, ma'am."

"That's nonsense." Naoko made the healer freeze all of his motions, striking him with a sincere glance without anything except pureness in those sharp eyes of hers. "Our boy needs all the friends who can call him out on his recklessness. I can't believe he found someone with the same taste in dressing as he is. Don't break such a bond without a good reason."

"Watching me try to cut your son loose and leave him on his own during the last alliance meeting we watched wasn't enough of a good reason, nya?!" Felix was stunned, his words coming out without thinking, as if the mere presence of Naoko in his life was making him show a desperate side of himself that he'd only shown once in this theater, when he was at the shoes of Priscilla Barielle.

"Um… I forgot about that… You were right when you said you were being nasty, that's for sure… Actually, I kinda wanna slap you a bit after you reminded me of that… Woooow… You suck, Felix-sama." Naoko's airheadedness caused Felix to flinch in hurt, while Kenichi had to laugh beside her.

Even Beatrice and Emilia held small smiles while Crusch gave Felix a small nudge of pity with her shoulder.

"Ferri-chan deeply apologizes again…" The catboy sighed tiredly, showing remorse as he bowed to her. "..."

Naoko's hand reached his head before he could blink, comfortably patting him.

"It's alright." The kind woman gave a warm smile. "You're a good boy."

Felix felt his breathing stop once again at the second time this was being told to him. For a moment, he couldn't feel happier as he felt Crusch flick his ear to give him more physical affection than she ever did during his years with her. It was overwhelming him.

He wanted to thank them all for this feeling of fulfillment and belonging.

"You've been working your gate over time since you were going up against Sloth." Felix began explaining in his professional tone. "I did clean up all the toxins in your gate, but you need to let it rest for two months."

"Two months, huh?" Subaru muttered to himself. "Well, surely all this crazy stuff can't keep happening for that long… Wait, did I just set a flag?!"

"Gate? Toxins?" Naoko tilted her head, clutching Subaru's arm a little tighter. "Is he sick? Is a gate… like an organ? I didn't know humans had gates."

"It sounds dangerous," Kenichi frowned, the humor leaving his face. "If he's got toxins inside him from working too hard… that's not good. Is it like lactic acid buildup?"

"It is far more serious than muscle fatigue, in fact."

The small voice came from the seat next to Emilia's right. Beatrice smoothed her dress, looking down at the parents with a mix of superiority and begrudging helpfulness.

"A 'Gate' is the door through which mana enters and exits the body," Beatrice explained, holding up a small finger. "Betty's contractor used his gate recklessly against the Archbishop of Sloth. Mana poisoning can lead to the gate collapsing. If that happens, he can no longer use magic on his own."

Kenichi's eyes widened, and he whistled low. "Whoa. So he literally blew a fuse? And you know all this? You're pretty smart for a little lady."

"Betty is a Great Spirit, not a human child," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Knowledge of this caliber is breathing to me."

"So," Kenichi leaned in, a teasing grin forming on his face. "You know exactly what's wrong with him, and you're always hanging around him… seems to me like you spend a lot of time looking after my helpless son. You're his little guardian angel, aren't you?"

Beatrice's pale cheeks flushed a faint pink. She turned her head away sharply, her drills bouncing. "Betty is merely… ensuring her contractor does not die foolishly! It is a contractual obligation, nothing more, in fact!"

"Hehe," Naoko giggled, covering her mouth. Her mood growing a little more relaxed. "Look at that reaction, Kenichi. She's just like him."

Kenichi laughed, scratching his nose. "Yeah…" he looked at his son, bypassing Naoko's body to wipe a finger on his son's cheek. Emilia was staring at the father's actions because of how close she was to Subaru's other side.

"I don't even know how any of these people got to know the real you before we did, kiddo." Kenichi's tone was sad but he kept a small grin on his face while speaking to his son.

While the Natsuki family shared a lighthearted moment, a much darker mood settled over the seats next to them, specifically on Kenichi's left.

Garfiel Tinsel stared at the screen, his jaw clenched so hard a vein throbbed in his temple.

"Two months…" Garfiel growled under his breath, his hands gripping his knees until the fabric of his pants strained. "Cap'n didn't even get t' two weeks before I…"

He looked down at his own hands, the hands that, in the near future on screen, would force Subaru to use magic he shouldn't use.

The hands that would force Subaru to shatter that very gate just to save Garfiel from his own stubbornness.

"It wasn't your fault, Garfiel-san," Otto whispered, noticing the boy's distress. He nudged Garfiel's arm with his elbow. "We were all cornered. He made the choice to break it because he wanted to save you. Don't disrespect his resolve by sulking about it now."

"I ain't sulkin'," Garfiel snapped quietly, though the guilt in his eyes remained. "Just… pisses me off. I broke 'em. The Cap'n's broken because 'f me."

Otto frowned deeply at this, his gaze lingering on Garfiel more and more. "I notice a lot about you than you know, Garfiel-san."

Before Garfiel could ask about the meaning of this, a voice intervened.

"You look troubled."

The voice came from behind them. Julius leaned forward from the row back, his golden eyes sharp and filled with concern. He had been watching the exchange, sensing the shift in atmosphere between the merchant and the shield.

"Subaru's gate," Julius whispered, lowering his voice so as not to disturb the parents. "Felix's warning was severe. Yet, seeing your reactions… am I to assume he does not heed this advice?"

Julius's gaze drifted to the sleeping Subaru. He wanted to know. He felt a need to understand the scars his friend bore, especially the ones Julius wasn't there to prevent.

"What happened in the Sanctuary?" Julius asked earnestly. "How bad does it get?"

Garfiel opened his mouth to answer, perhaps to confess, but Otto cut in.

The merchant shook his head slowly, his expression weary.

"It is pointless to explain it now, Julius-san," Otto said, gesturing vaguely at the giant screen. "We are watching history. You will see exactly how… stubborn Natsuki-san can be when he wants to save a hard-headed idiot."

He glanced at Garfiel, who looked away, ashamed.

"And you will see exactly what it cost him," Otto finished, turning back to the front. "Just… prepare yourself. It's not a pretty sight."

Julius lingered for a moment, looking at the back of their heads, before slowly leaning back into his seat. He gripped his armrest like it was his sword hilt, dread pooling in his stomach.

Felix smiled at him beside Crusch and cheerfully said. "All right, it's time for you to get going." He turned and smiled at his lady. "Go on, Crusch-sama. Give them a few parting words."

Crusch turned back to the half-elf and her knight with a kind smile. "Emilia-sama, I wish you good health." She offered her hand in kindness. "I look forward to seeing you again very soon."

Emilia hesitantly accepted the hand with her own, smiling at Crusch after a second of silence. "You, too, Crusch-san. Please be well. Next time, I won't just be the one who always needs saving. I'll become someone who can help others."

"You sound like a really lovely girl, Emilia-sama." Naoko's voice rang out in the theater, making Emilia look from the screen to the mother in surprise.
"Hm?" Emilia tilted her head, "why say that suddenly? I… I didn't know what I was saying back then."

"Why sound like you're undeserving of such praise?" Naoko gave her a smile of support. "Aren't you the one who hugged my boy and supported him when he needed it?"

Emilia's eyes dimmed when she looked from the mother to the sleeping knight next to her. Inbetween them both, he slept without knowledge of what they had both seen, and Emilia has seen far more than Naoko did to the point her words were hollowed in the half-elf's heart.

"I'm going to be strong for Subaru… I have no reason to doubt that he will need me but…" Emilia paused as the mother waited with patience of saints, looking at Emilia with confusion. "But I wish I could've been more aware… More strong sometimes."

"..." Naoko let her mouth open but no sound came in reply, a look of contemplation took over. "You sound… Tired, Emilia-sama."

"... Mhm." Emilia nodded her head but seemed to gain a small grin on her lips that surprised the mother of the boy between them. "Who could say my tiredness isn't an open door for me to be better?" Emilia's voice sounded hopeful, but her hand was shaking on Subaru's which was deeply noticed by Naoko.

"Better for what, Emilia-sama?" Naoko asked softly.

The half-elf closed her eyes, keeping her sheepish grin, and her hesitant hold on Subaru's hand. "Better… So he doesn't have to hold a knife… Ever again…"

Naoko's heartbeat slowed and her breathing seemed to halt. The mother looked at Emilia, frozen like a statue, unable to speak from what emotions swam within her.

But before the mother could dig more into this, Emilia had turned her head to look at Subaru with a certain uneven expression, like she couldn't decide whether there needs to be guilt or happiness that she's with him at this moment.

"You really go out of your way to put pressure on yourself… Just like he does." Naoko's whisper wasn't heard as Emilia turned back to watch the screen, her eyes looked at herself with a bit of annoyance. Possibly cursing her youth for not being ready enough once again.

All Naoko knew was that Subaru's clearly meant a lot to this girl, and that made her happy.

Crusch's smile widened at the confidence and determination displayed by the half-elf. She turned back to Subaru with an elegant look. "Natsuki Subaru-sama, I wish you all the best in the future, too."

The boy looked surprised by her attention to him and even stared at her outstretched hand for a moment before blushing.

He tapped the palm of her hand softly, not accepting to shake it.

The scene moved to Otto as he happily drove the ground dragons by their ropes. The entire staff of the Karsten estate bowed in respect to the venturing caravan of carriages led by Subaru's group. Crusch was in the middle with her head rising to show her smile.

"I know we will meet again, " she whispered, hopeful and excited about what was to come.

"Thank you, Crusch-san," Emilia whispered, her voice barely audible. She turned slightly in her seat to look back at the Duchess. "You... you were always so kind to us. Even when... even when everything was falling apart." Emilia's violet eyes were filled with tired gratitude. Her lips gave an easy smile to the Duchess behind her.

"We were allies, Emilia," Crusch replied, her voice steady, though her eyes were fixed on the screen. "It was the least I could do."

"We are allies, Crusch-san," Emilia frowned and corrected the duchess firmly, looking back at the screen when she noticed that the green-haired lady wasn't looking at her.

As Crusch watched herself, or rather, the version of herself that existed in that moment, a frown creased her forehead. She brought her hand up to her temple, massaging it as a wave of dizziness washed over her.

"Crusch-sama?" Felix leaned in instantly, his hand hovering near her shoulder. "Is it the headache again?"

Crusch lowered her hand, looking at her reflection in the knight's worried eyes. "It is… I'll be fine, Ferris."

"Ya doin' alright?" Felt questioned the lady since she was close and could notice the expression on Crusch's face. Emilia seemed to notice that Felt moved to interact with Crusch on her own and frowned to herself a bit.

While Emilia was unable to look back at Crusch, the duchess seemed to noticed Emilia's reaction and sighed.

"My apologies, Emilia, Felt… I… I have been dealing with these headaches ever since the White Whale was shown to us."

"What would cause them?" Frederica, who was sitting in the same row as Crusch with Wilhelm and Felix by Crusch's side looked on with intrigue. "I can make you some special tea from my room. The Warden-sama had been generous to me."

Petra flinched beside her at the mention of the Warden and brought the question of what had happened to him and who replaced him back into everyone's minds.

Crusch however gave a small smile to the maid with an apologetic grace about her that made Felix frown.

She looked back at the screen, where her on-screen self was smiling a shy, fragile smile.

"That woman..." Crusch murmured, "I remember being her. I remember the confusion. The fear. The feeling that the world was a puzzle I had forgotten how to solve."

"When the Warden had brought us here, he had restored my lady's memories." Wilhelm explained to the maids, Felt, Emilia, and now the parents who were listening in since the screen was paused for this conversation. "But he hadn't erased the time she spent without them."

This revelation made Emilia and Felt widen their eyes in surprise, even Rem and Anastasia both looked at Crusch with expressions of intrigue.

"I never had time to reconcile them," Crusch admitted, her voice tight. "We were thrown into this theater... forced to watch Natsuki Subaru's suffering... I feel as though I am two ghosts haunting one body."

She looked down at her hand, a hand that had been cut off once before she saw complete darkness that her old self never woke up from, return via Felix's effort but phantom pains from the amputation still lingered in her mind.

"Greed and Gluttony will pay, Crusch-sama…" Felix growled under his breath, looking at Reinhard with a determined expression, taking the Sword Saint off guard for a moment but it took the knight a moment to understand the meaning of Felix's gaze.

"It will not be anyone's responsibility except mine," Reinhard nodded his head with firm resolution.

"Don't go 'round promisin' shit ya can't do on yer own, dickhead." Felt slammed a fist on Reinhard's chest, annoyed by him taking it on his shoulders.

"At least you were awake," a soft voice spoke from Crusch's other side.

Rem was looking at her, her blue eyes filled with a profound, melancholic understanding.

"Rem..." Crusch softened.

"You had to live as a stranger," Rem whispered, clutching her maid skirt. "But you walked around with the people you love… You talked to them everyday about everything you had experienced before to experience something new. You were there… In their hearts and minds… They remembered you…"

Rem looked at the screen, knowing that in that if it wasn't for the theater, her body would be lying cold and silent in a room back at the mansion.

"I was just... gone," Rem said, her voice trembling. "For everyone else, life moved on. If it wasn't for Subaru-kun… I would've been wasting away in a room somewhere where my sister couldn't find me because she didn't even know I exist."

Crusch's expression shifted from internal conflict to empathy. She reached out, placing her hand over Rem's.

"We were both violated," Crusch stated firmly. "Gluttony... he's done us a cruelty that far more innocent than either of us were subject to."

"It's scary, isn't it?" Rem looked up, a tear tracking down her cheek. "To look at yourself and wonder which parts are real and which parts were eaten?"

"It is terrifying," Crusch agreed. She squeezed Rem's hand. "But we are here now. Whatever this place is... whatever 'Hell' keeps us here… With everything that happens on the outside of this prison… The same person who promised to save you is still here for you, remembering who you are."

She glanced at the sleeping Subaru in the front row.

"We remember the man who tried to kill himself because he couldn't bear a world where we were lost," Crusch said, her voice gaining a sliver of its old steel. "We share that burden, Rem. And we will share the strength to carry it."

Rem nodded, wiping her tear away and leaning slightly against the Duchess's shoulder. It was a quiet moment of solidarity between two women who had been erased by the world, finding comfort in the fact that, in this dark room at least, they were still whole.

Felix watched them, biting his lip to keep from sobbing, vowing silently to protect them both from whatever "Choice" lay ahead.

Wilhelm found the strength to give his lady a small, silent nod of approval, even if she couldn't see it. "That is wonderfully correct of you, Crusch-sama." He spoke softly, vocalizing his support of her choice of words.

It earned small smiles from Frederica and even Reinhard. Emilia and Felt seemed to share a small glance toward each other, Felt gave the half-elf a small shrug with an encouraging nod toward Crusch.

Emilia understood it to be that she hadn't done anything wrong with the way she dealt with Crusch, and she should lose her frown and be happy with the aftermath of Rem's conversation with the duchess.

The scene changes on the carriages as they continue to ride through the sunrise in the pathways of Lugunica. Rem's sleeping body is shown, covered by a blanket, with the sunlight covering her face.

Subaru covers the window with a curtain to keep the sunlight away, frowning at Rem.

Ram found herself giving a small smile of gratitude herself to Subaru for doing that small move for her sister. "Barusu's earned a week worth of his onee-san's favorite soup for that."

Naoko seemed to beam with pride at the way Subaru seemed to care for his friend. "That's the thoughtful boy I raised. I truly did magnificent."

Kenichi had to bristle at this. "Watch how you word things honey… It makes it seem like I didn't have a hand in how he treats girls at all!"

"I never saw you tucking me in like that," Naoko spoke so innocently that it forced the burn to be at it's greatest once the words reached Kenichi's ears.

"I DO SO ALL THE TIME!" He had to defend his honor as Beatrice, Emilia, and Crusch looked at him with expressions of disapproval. "YOU'RE MAKING ME SOUND LIKE I'M A TRASH HUSBAND!"

Naoko had to put her lips on Subaru's shoulder to stop herself from giggling.

"That woman seems to forget her worry fast, in fact." Beatrice scoffed from Emilia's side, sitting between Emilia and Felt as she looked at the way Subaru treated Rem with a soft smile. "Betty's contractor should make his mother happy with his actions, however. Betty approves."

Emilia found the urge to forget what happened with Crusch and give the small girl at her side an amused glance. The mood lifting slightly due to Naoko's airheadedness moving them through the motions.

"See that, Rem-chan?" Felix hesitated, not knowing if he should be the one to say this, but Crusch gave him a hint of her approval to continue through her glance alone. "He… He's always there for ya, nya…"

Rem gave the healer a look of surprise at first, before she replaced it with a small smile of understanding that felt hard to maintain after seeing herself in such a condition, having that talk with Crusch and Felt… The maid didn't know what to do with her emotions.

"I'd say ya enjoy 't, maid-san." Anastasia muttered from Rem's left side, finally giving the maid verbal attention instead of watching from afar. "Ya got 'em wrapped 'round your finger. A gal's bound ta love such a sight if she was obsessed with someone like Natsuki-kun~."

Rem's blush was furious as Anastasia's grin became clear beneath her scarf. Crusch didn't envy Rem in the slightest, remembering the small connection she's built with the merchant queen herself in past viewings. Oh well, Rem was all alone.

He slowly stepped away from the window and sat down in one of the seats.

The one that was right next to Emilia.

"Right." He said simply, without anything else.

Emilia blinked at him, seemingly bothered by something. "You know, Subaru, you always sit beside me as if it's the obvious choice." She said in a wondering tone, making him open his eyes to glance at her.

"Oh, is there something weird about that?" He asked, making Emilia shake her head.

"No. I felt a little uncomfortable at first," she opened her eyes with a wilful look at her feet. "But now it feels strange if you don't, so it's fine."

Subaru's face grew a large grin and a blush as he held his fists in excitement. "My painstaking efforts have finally been rewarded!" He stood up with a shout aimed at the ceiling of the carriage as Emilia watched him silently. "I'm so moved!"

"You're teasing me again." Emilia snorted while shaking her head at him.

Emilia watched the scene with a warmth spreading through her chest. She shifted in her seat, leaning slightly closer to the sleeping Subaru, her shoulder pressing firmly against his.

"I wish I knew you weren't teasing," Emilia whispered softly, looking at his sleeping face with a gentle, affectionate smile. "It really does feel strange when you aren't close, Subaru. It feels... cold."

She rested her cheek against his shoulder for a brief moment, ignoring the looks from the others. She wanted him to know, even in his sleep, that his "painstaking efforts" had worked far better than he realized.

"Well, ain't that just precious," Anastasia sighed, shaking her head. The merchant queen had the softest of smiles, enjoying the small moment. "That boy has the subtlety of a fireworks display. He really doesn't know how ta play hard ta get."

"That is his charm, isn't it?" Julius offered an offhanded comment, a small, genuine smirk playing on his lips. "He lacks all decorum and grace in his courtship, yet he somehow stumbles into success through sheer, obstinate volume."

"Subaru's doing he's best, leave him alone…" Petra held a small miffed look, but kept her negative emotions as she looked at Julius, one of the people she disliked the most in the theater.

Julius was surprised at the sudden shot from the very end of his row where Petra was sitting. He seemed to be contemplating what to do but shook his head.

"He certainly is proud," Otto sighed, shaking his head, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen just a fraction. "At least he's consistent."

"... Cap'n's loud and proud." Garfiel, though his smirk was absent and his mood still was forced into anticipation and worry, was giving a nod of support.

From the back row, Al leaned his helmet against the chair, watching his "bro" celebrate on screen.

"Pal really is lucky, isn't he?" Al muttered, his voice carrying a strange, heavy weight that only he understood. "To stumble through hell and still have the heart to cheer about a seat... And it doesn't seem like the pretty lady minds in her own right… Lucky."

"Gahaha! You can say that again!" Ricardo slapped his knee, completely missing the dark undertone of Al's comment. "Kid's got game! Look at 'em, celebratin' like he just won the lottery just 'cause the girl didn't kick 'em out!"

"Betty's contractor is truly pathetic," Beatrice deadpanned, her eyelids drooping as she looked at Subaru's fist-pumping form on screen. "Wagging his tail like a puppy just because he was allowed on the furniture. Have some dignity, in fact."

She sighed, though she still walked out of her seat to adjust the jacket on the real Subaru, ensuring he was warm, before walking past Emilia to sit back down again. The parents watched the small girl with sheer fascination and amusement.

"He's got no poker face," Kenichi commented with a shake of his head, though he was grinning. "Zero chill. That's my boy."

"He really likes her," Naoko whispered, smiling at the screen. "He looks so happy just to sit there. It's nice to see him smile like that... especially after everything else."

Kenichi dropped his shoulder on hers for a second, giving his wife a grin that showed off his charm, yet his wife could read the worry hidden behind those eyes far better than anyone who's been charmed by a Natsuki in her town.

"I…" Naoko's eyes faltered down, sighing as she kept it together and owned the smile she's been carrying to help the girls around Subaru feel better this whole time. "I'll try, honey…"

Kenichi's hand found hers and gave a firm yet gentle squeeze, his grin growing warmer as the couple leaned toward one another. Naoko kept a hand on her son throughout the interaction, making sure he was involved.

She looked over towards Rem with a sad smile. "I know you're still worried about Rem. There's no need for you to hide that."

Subaru looked taken aback by her insight as she smiled at him.

"She's important to you, isn't she?" Emilia asked softly.

Rem sat up straighter, her breath hitching in her throat.

Moments ago, she had been fighting a familiar, twisting knot in her chest. Watching Subaru cheer about sitting next to Emilia, seeing his face light up with that goofy, unadulterated joy… it had hurt. It was a quiet, suffocating pain, the realization that the world, and Subaru's happiness, continued perfectly fine without her. She had looked down at her lap, her blue bangs shadowing her eyes, feeling like an intruder in their love story.

But then, Emilia spoke her name.

Rem's head snapped up. Her blue eyes widened, round with genuine surprise.

"Emilia-sama...?" Rem whispered.

She watched the silver-haired half-elf on the screen. There was no malice in her voice, no possessiveness, no desire to monopolize Subaru's heart. Instead, there was only a gentle understanding.

"..." Emilia, the one in the theater sitting next to Subaru's right side, was looking at the scene with a bit of recollection, giving a small nod to herself.

"Nice one, Big Sis," Felt smirked toward Emilia, showing the half-elf a proud expression, which Emilia was grateful for.

She isn't trying to replace me, Rem realized, her lips parting slightly. She isn't trying to make him forget.

The jealousy that had been bubbling in Rem's stomach evaporated, replaced by a sudden, intense warmth. She leaned forward in her seat, clutching the armrests, her gaze glued to the screen. To hear her name spoken with such care by the woman Subaru loved... to hear Emilia acknowledge that Rem was important... it made her existence feel real again.

"She... she knew," Rem murmured, her voice trembling with emotion. "Even then. She knew I was in his heart."

Next to her, Crusch glanced at the maid, seeing the mix of relief and gratitude washing over her face.

"You are not easily forgotten, Rem," Crusch said softly. "Even by your rivals."

Rem shook her head slowly, a small, watery smile forming on her lips as she watched the screen. "Yes… I suppose that's why Subaru-kun was enthralled by her… She is... she is kind."

Rem looked over at the real Emilia in the front row, seeing the back of her silver head leaning against Subaru. For the first time, the pang of envy was gone, replaced by a silent respect. If Subaru had to love someone else, Rem was glad it was someone who understood that his heart was big enough for both of them.

Subaru held his hands to his chest with a most serious expression. "She is! Super important! As important to me as you are!"

"You're being very selfish," Emilia said with her smile still in place. "Are you aware of that?"

Subaru sat himself down as they looked at each other within the carriage. "Sure, I am. Frankly, I feel like such scum, I wish I could die. But it's the absolute truth."

Seeing him blush and look so desperate in front of her, Emilia could only frown.

In the back of the theater, a low, melodic chuckle slithered through the air.

"My, my... to look a woman in the eyes and tell her something like that... that is a special kind of madness, isn't it?" Roswaal rested his chin on his gloved hand, his yellow eye gleaming with a mix of disdain and morbid fascination. "It is not love that drives him there. It is greed," he murmured, his voice dipping into a dangerous register. "To refuse to sacrifice one for the other... to demand a world where he keeps everything his hands can hold... that selfishness is possibly the most terrifying thing I have ever witnessed. It defies the very nature of equivalent exchange."

"Hah."

A rough, gravelly grunt answered him from the seat over. Heinkel sat slouched, looking disheveled as always, scratching his stubble.

"Kid's got balls, I'll give him that," Heinkel spat, staring at the screen with a cynical glare. "Most men spend their lives tryin' to keep one woman happy and failin' miserable. This brat? He looks at the world and says 'I'll take the lot.'"

Heinkel turned his head, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Roswaal. Aiming a cold and hateful glare that hinted at a history yet to be fully aired between them both.

"Better than a man who picks one goal and burns the rest of the world to get it, eh, Mathers?" Heinkel challenged, his voice dripping with venom. "The kid's greed might be safer than your… dedication."

Ram's eyes widened yet they stayed on the screen, the conversation between the two men held a greater meaning with those words coming from Heinkel of all people.

Heinkel shouldn't be someone who knows anything about Roswaal's goal or what the lord was willing to do to the world.

Roswaal didn't flinch, merely smiling that hollow clown smile. "We shall s~eee~ which path reaches the finish line, Heinkel-dono."

Ram's jaw was open in realization at her master's body language with that reply… Roswaal was indeed plotting something. "Master…" Her grip on her dress was tight, but Roswaal didn't respond.

While the cynical adults debated the morality of greed, the Natsuki parents were having a frantic family conference in the front row.

"Whoa, this damn fool." Kenichi sighed and shook his head. "Did he just say what I think he said? 'Just as important as you'? That's... that's a confession of two-timing! To her face! For the second time!"

Kenichi looked at Naoko, expecting shock. "Naoko! Our son is trying to build a harem! In a moving carriage!"

"Mhm!" Naoko clapped her hands together, her face blushing with delight. "See? Rem-chan and Emilia-chan are both special! Subaru has always had so much love to give. One person just isn't enough to hold it all!"

Kenichi stared at his wife, dumbfounded. "You... you accepted that way too fast! You're already planning double weddings, aren't you?"

"Well, why not?" Naoko tilted her head, smiling brightly. "If both girls are happy, and Subaru-kun is happy, then it's fine! Besides, it seems like hard work. He'll need lots of mayonnaise to keep his energy up."

Kenichi sighed, dragging a hand down his face, though a proud smirk was fighting its way onto his lips. "Man... the audacity. And don't forget the Duchess from earlier. And the Dragon."

He counted on his fingers.

"My boy didn't get summoned to another world to be a hero. He got summoned to be a chick magnet." Kenichi's forehead was sweating.

"He is very popular!" Naoko beamed, looking lovingly at her sleeping son, who was currently juggling the hearts of some of the most powerful women in the room. "Good job, Subaru!"

Said women were all either blushing furiously, (Rem) or not really understanding what the parents were whispering about, (Emilia).

"Hmph! Betty's contractor only ever needs her, in fact!" Beatrice said calmly, clearly without any jealousy within her.

Crusch gave the spirit a small smirk of irony. Considering Crusch was the only one not mentioned by Subaru's mother as 'special' for Subaru's heart… The Duchess could feel a little bit of what the spirit was feeling.

Not that she was a childish person who felt hurt because she wasn't being mentioned by name in such important conversations. She was refined and a leader.

But she did feel thankful to Kenichi for mentioning her though. Totally her favorite between the parents so far.

"Subaru…" She whispered, letting a moment of silence fall between them as they looked at one another.

Tension.

"Did you just say my name?" He who must be bullied by the heavens themselves decided to open the carriage window at the front and lean his head in.

The two looked at Otto with startled faces before Subaru changed his expression to an easy smirk.

"No, we didn't. Wait, have you been here all this time?" Subaru said slyly.

"Of course, I've been here!" Otto exclaimed from his seat outside the carriage. "Why do you think I decided to work with you?!"

"I'm just kidding. You want to negotiate with Roswaal in person. I haven't forgotten that." Subaru turned his smirk into a smile.

"I'm begging you! My whole life is riding on this!" Otto desperately pleaded. (PLEASE I NEED THIS, MY DRAGON KINDA HOMELESS)

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Subaru stood up and walked to the window Otto had opened. "Time to say goodbye to you for now."

"Oh, wai—" Otto was cut off as Subaru slammed the window shut in his face.

He glanced back at Emilia with a smile, having her look back at him with a frozen expression.

That expression melted as Emilia fell into a fit of giggles, making Subaru laugh with her.

"Bwahahaha! Look at his face!" Mimi erupted into laughter, pointing a small finger at the screen where Otto's oblivious face had just ruined the romantic atmosphere. Beside her, Hetaro and Tivey were giggling uncontrollably into their hands.

"Talk about bad timing!" Ricardo roared, slapping his knee. "The kid's got a talent for killin' the mood, I'll give 'im that! Just when it was gettin' good, too!"

In the front row, the real Otto groaned, burying his face in his green hat. He slid down in his seat until he was practically horizontal.

"I want to disappear," Otto mumbled miserably. "Why? Why did I have to check on them right then? I look like such a fool."

"Ya really did stick yer nose in it, bro," Garfiel snorted, though he patted Otto's shoulder sympathetically.

"I was nervous!" Otto defended himself, looking frantically between Garfiel and Julius. "You have to understand! I was driving a carriage towards the domain of a powerful Mage to ask for a trade deal that could make or break my entire career! I didn't know if Natsuki-san was actually going to vouch for me or if I was driving into a trap! I just needed reassurance!"

"Your anxiety is understandable, Otto-san," Julius said with a polite, strained smile, trying not to laugh. "Though your timing remains… historically unfortunate."

"I'm sorry, Otto-kun," Emilia turned to him, waving her hand with a bright, innocent smile. "I don't know why you're apologizing so much. You didn't ruin anything! It was nice to know you were driving us safely."

Otto stared at her, then slumped further. "Her kindness hurts more than the insults…"

"Hmph. Barusu's friends are all equally incompetent," Ram's voice cut through the air from the back row, sharp and cold. "Only a merchant of the lowest caliber would interrupt a conversation between his betters."

"Nyahaha! Don't be so mean,!" Felix laughed openly, wiping a tear from his eye. "Though it was a catastrophic mood killer! Even I felt the cringe from here!"

"Booooo!"

A loud jeer came from the back rows. Meili had her hands cupped around her mouth, booing the merchant on screen.

"Meili-chan?" Schult blinked, looking at the assassin. "Do you… were you invested in the love story? Did you want them to kiss?"

Meili stopped booing and looked at Schult with a flat, deadpan expression. Then, she snorted.

"Ewww, no. Kissing is gross," Meili said, rolling her eyes. "I'm booing because the merchant looks miserable. Look at him panic! It's hilarious! I just want to make him feel worse!"

She turned back to the screen. "Boooo! You ruined the moment really bad, Merchant-san~!"

Otto whimpered.

Heinkel Astrea watched the scene, but he wasn't laughing. He stared at the flustered, pathetic young man on the screen, a man desperate for approval, terrified of the future, and stumbling through life with zero grace.

Heinkel winced, a physical cringe rippling through his body. It was like looking in a funhouse mirror. The desperation… the sweating… the need to be useful to someone more powerful.

"Pathetic," Heinkel muttered, his voice rough. "Just… pathetic."

But the venom in his voice was directed inward, loathing the familiarity of the sight.

From her high seat, Priscilla Barielle lowered her fan just an inch. Her crimson eyes drifted from the screen to the slouched form of Heinkel, sitting to her left instead of his usual seat to her right. She watched the way his jaw tightened, the way he avoided looking at Roswaal in the back row.

She saw the strings of a puppet that had been cut, only to be tangled in a new web.

She said nothing. Her gaze lingered on Heinkel's self-loathing for a long, calculating moment, before she snapped her fan shut and looked away, the secrets of the Astrea and Mathers dynamic filed away for her future amusement.

After containing herself and covering her mouth to stop the giggles, Emilia smiled at Subaru confidently. "I'm sure you'll find a way to get her back."

"Emilia-tan…" Subaru was surprised by her determination, so he smiled uneasily.

"Also, I think you and I are the same in the sense that we act for our own selfish reasons," Emiila whispered with a sad smile aimed at the floor of the carriage. "I realize that I'm participating in the royal selection for selfish reasons, too."

"Selfish?" Subaru mutters, looking at her for more information.

"I'm sorry… I can't explain it very well." Emilia closes her eyes with a guilty expression. "I don't want to hide anything from you, but I'm not sure how to put it into words."

In the theater, the air shifted. The word "selfish" hung heavy, and eyes began to drift toward the front row.

It wasn't hostile, exactly, but it was heavy with scrutiny. Anastasia's calculating gaze, Crusch's honest curiosity, and the silent assessment of the knights all bore down on the silver-haired half-elf.

Why was she running? What was the secret she couldn't put into words?

Emilia felt the weight of their stares physically, like a cold draft on her neck. She shifted slightly, and her eyes met Naoko's.

The mother wasn't judging. Her eyes were wide, filled with a simple, confused curiosity. Why does this girl want to rule a country? What is she hiding from my son?

Emilia swallowed hard. She remembered that moment in the carriage. She remembered the mental blocks, the frozen memories, the contract with Puck that bound her tongue. Even now, with some memories returned, the entirety of her past was a tangled web of tragedy and ice.

I didn't tell him because I didn't understand it myself, Emilia thought, a pang of guilt striking her heart. And because of that... because of my secrets... he got hurt.

But she didn't look away. She didn't apologize to the room.

Instead, Emilia let out a soft sigh, keeping her secrets close to her chest. She straightened her back, refusing to shrink under the pressure. Then, with a deliberate movement, she leaned her weight fully against Subaru's shoulder. She felt the warmth of his arm, the steady rise and fall of his breathing.

I won't let the guilt eat me, she decided silently. Not while he's here.

"We can talk everything out after we join up with Roswaal." Subaru makes her look up at him with surprise. He had a bright smile on his face, aimed to cheer her up. "He might know something about what happened to Rem, too!"

Emilia slowly smiles again, giving him a nod. "Right!"

"Tch. Look at 'em all, starin' like a pack of vultures."

The rough voice cut through the tension from the middle rows. Heinkel spoke as he looked around the theater with a sneer, his bloodshot eyes lingering on the other Royal Candidates.

"She says she's selfish, and suddenly everyone's clutching their pearls?" Heinkel barked a harsh laugh. "Don't make me vomit. Every single one of you sitting in those fancy seats is in it for something selfish."

He pointed a shaking finger at Anastasia. "Greed." He shifted it to Crusch. "Pride." He jerked his chin toward Priscilla. "Arrogance." And finally, toward Felt. "I don't fuckin' know, ya clearly got a grudge or somethin' against this country."

"Selfishness is the entry fee for the damn crown," Heinkel grumbled, slouching back down. "So don't look at the Half-Elf like she's some special kind of sinner just because she admits it. She's just honest enough to say it out loud."

The room went quiet. It was a crude, blunt defense, but it struck a chord of undeniable truth.

In the row ahead, Reinhard van Astrea turned to look at his father. His blue eyes, usually so guarded when facing Heinkel, softened. A small, genuine smile of hope graced the Sword Saint's lips—a glimpse of the man his father used to be, the Deputy Commander who stood for fairness.

Heinkel saw the smile. His face twisted into a scowl of pure repulsion.

"Don't look at me like that," Heinkel hissed, turning his head away. "I ain't defendin' her for justice. I'm just sick of the hypocrisy."

"Heinkel-sama is so cool!"

From the right of Priscilla and Al, Schult beamed, his face lighting up like a miniature sun. The little boy clasped his hands together, looking at the drunkard with sparkling eyes full of admiration. "You are very wise, Heinkel-sama! You see the truth in people's hearts!"

Heinkel looked at the radiant child, then at his smiling son, and looked like he had just bitten into a lemon.

"Ugh," Heinkel groaned, sliding further down until his chin hit his chest. "It's too damn bright in here. Someone dim the lights."

"Man, just take the admiration from these kids… Though it feels weird to call the Sword Saint a kid… And I don't like Schult-kun being one of those kids either." Al rubbed the back of his helmet, "Hey… Wouldn't it be better if you just die man?" He honestly said that so casually that a normal person would shudder.

Priscilla, sitting between the two men, found herself greatly amused to the point she gave a small snort at Heinkel's words.

The scene changes to show the sun setting with the ground dragons slowly reaching a village within a dense forest.

Otto could be heard shouting from the front carriage. "You two, we'll be reaching our destination soon!"

The carriages stop in the village center of Alram. Most of the villagers inside had already begun getting out and looking for their loved ones.

Inside of the theater, Petra looked at her village with such emotion. Raging between grief, sadness, happiness, and more.

"I missed seeing it like this… After everything that would've happened without Subaru being there…" Her heart burned at the memories of the villagers dead bodies and the burning buildings after the explosions… When she thought about the memories where there was a lot of snow on top of those buildings… Petra could not help but shed a small tear of pure celebration.

Frederica patted her head, giving her a small smile. But also one of excitement, knowing what would find Subaru in the mansion since she was there.

"Enjoy his good work, Petra-chan. We've watched how much he's suffered for this." She whispered to the little maid which Petra nodded.

Petra looked around with a concerned gaze, finding the village was still empty except for the population that went with her to the capital.

"No one's here." She whined worriedly as a man with a red scarf ran up to her and her friends from a house in the village.

"No one around here, either."

"What? Why?" Many of the kids exclaimed together with worry.

Subaru and Emilia frowned at the sight.

The atmosphere grew heavy. The momentary levity of the romance scene was crushed under the weight of recognition.

"And so it begins," Ram whispered from the back row, her eyes narrowing. "The road to the Sanctuary."

"Shouldn't have brought them t' us," Garfiel grunted, his arms crossed tight over his chest. He stared at the empty village on the screen, knowing exactly why the other half of the population wasn't there to greet them. "Goddamn 't…"

Otto gave Garfiel the smallest of frowns, noticing Julius' eyes glance at them for a second behind them.

"This is… troubling," Crusch noted, leaning forward slightly. "The evacuation plan was for half to the Capital, half to the Sanctuary. By the time Natsuki-sama returned, the Sanctuary group should have been reinstated. The fact that the village is empty implies a complete communication breakdown."

"It implies that the situation had already spiraled out of control before Subaru even arrived," Julius added, his analytical gaze sweeping over the screen. "The Emilia Camp has had every single step attacked or go in the opposite direction."

While the adults analyzed the logistics, a silent, venomous war was taking place in the second row.

As the mood on the screen shifted to tension, Petra's silent but sweet celebration slowly morphed into a realization. She looked up at the screen, wiping away her tear. She saw herself standing in the empty square. She saw the unguarded houses. And she realized, with a jolt of cold terror, why the next few days had been so dangerous.

She slowly turned her head, fixing a glare of pure accusation on the blue-haired girl a row back.

Meili felt the gaze. She stopped swinging her legs and met Petra's eyes. A slow, cat-like grin spread across her face.

"Oh? You figured it out, Petra-chan?" Meili whispered, loud enough for Petra to hear but quiet enough to stay under the chatter of the knights.

Meili leaned her chin on her palm, looking at the empty village on screen with nostalgic amusement.

"It was sooo easy," Meili held her hands out in a small sheepish manner. "Please don't hold it against me, Petra-chan!"

Petra flinched, the memory of the mansion attack, the fire, the blood, flashing in her mind.

"You… you used the emptiness," Petra hissed, tears pricking her eyes again. "You knew we were alone."

"It's an assassin's job to know where the cracks in the wall are," Meili shrugged, unbothered. "And your home was wide open… Sorry."

"Is there no regret?" Petra looked at Meili with a shocked expression. "Why don't you even show a hint of remorse for your actions?!"

Meili looked honestly confused by this. "Hm? But… Petra-chan… No one's really died from the people you like, no? Onii-san managed to stop me and Elsa."

Petra's eyes widened even more, like the saucers she organized at the mansion. "He stopped you… He…"

"Is something wrong?" Schult asked, not knowing what to do but speak as he saw Petra's degrading expression while Meili stared at the little maid with her head tilted in confusion.

"It was honestly a little frustrating… But after what I saw Onee-san do with that knife earlier?" Meili's gaze goes to the ceiling in childish thought, making Petra's breathing stop in realization. "Hmmm I think I know why Elsa lost to someone as weak as Onii-san. He was cheating afterall~."

"That's enough, Meili-san." Schult glared at the assassin girl, to which Meili simply shrugged.

"I'm just happy, Petra-san is talking to Meili-chan again~!" She pouted but gave Petra a hopeful glance.

"... Shut up." Petra's cold words seeped from the little maid's lips without hesitation. Throughout this whole interaction, Petra's been watching Meili's eyes. Seeing the assassin realize the truth about Return By Death, and realizing that Meili didn't at all care that Subaru died by suicide in the last viewing, nor did she care that he might've died to protect the village and mansion from whatever Roswaal-sama was planning.

"You're a monster… You… I hate you…" Petra's words flowed on their own, her eyes teared up in betrayal at Meili's cruellness.
Meili seemed to frown in confusion by this reaction from Petra. "Um… I…"

"Why are you acting like you're bewildered?" Petra gives a growl, hating the look of innocent hurt in Meili's eyes. As if the assassin couldn't understand why Petra would say those things. "You murderer."

Meili couldn't say anything against the sheer poison in Petra's words. Just sat there and looked bothered by the way Petra was treating her.

"You never had a problem with me before now…" Meili muttered with a small pout. Which angered Petra even more to the point she was clenching her fists.

"You're not even angry at what I'm saying… You just don't like that I'm treating you different?" Petra growled the question with her teeth clenched.

Meili gave the maid a small shrug, though genuinely looking confused.

"Petra-san?" Schult called out, seeing the future escalation between the two as Petra's glare intensified at Meili's nonchalance.

"If you know what's best for you…" Petra glared at Schult, scoffing at the existence of Meili itself as she turned around. "Stay away from this monster."

Schult gave a deep frown in reply, glancing at Meili, who shrugged and appointed an angry pout on her face like a child who's been reprimanded.

"So mean~!"

In the other side of the second row from Petra, sitting between his siblings, Hetaro was talking.

"If the villagers aren't back," Hetaro spoke to his lady and his siblings, his voice low. "It means that Natsuki-san's camp was ambushed themselves like we were when Gluttony and Greed attacked us on the way back."

He looked at Subaru on the screen, then at the sleeping boy in the front row.

"We heard rumors about the Sanctuary," Tivey sighed from his brother's side, analyzing the faces of the Emilia camp for a moment. "Anticipated trouble but the word from that maid-san made it clear that Roswaal-sama would be responsible for his half of the refugees… looks like we're finally going to see just how deep that rabbit hole goes."

Hetaro gave a small frown at this second indication that Roswaal wasn't a trust worthy person. "I'm feeling a lot more fortunate being with my lady everytime I look at Emilia-sama's camp."

Anastasia gave a deeply pleased hum at his words, winking to give him extra treats later.

"So Ram and the others haven't returned from the Sanctuary?" Emilia whispered to Subaru with a frown.

He also frowned at the ground while expressing his concern, putting a hand on his hip. "Seems that way. By the way, Emilia-tan, do you know where the Sanctuary is?"

At this, Emilia shows complete panic, holding her hands up to her chest. "Huh? I thought you knew where it was."

Subaru had to step back while blinking. "Huh?"

Both looked at each other in the realization of their predicament.

Subaru's parents both looked at each other with a little bit of worry. Seeing things not going according to their son's plans always made them concerned as parents, but they were even more afraid since the circumstances were this special.

"Even though he's not alone in this other world that he's been taken to… I can't help but be in disbelief that people trust him with directions." Kenichi muttered, "he is worse than you are, honey."

"Hey, that's really uncalled for." Emilia frowned at the husband's words, not wanting Naoko to be slandered in such a way.

"No no, he's right. I wouldn't be able to reach home many times if it wasn't for Subaru being a little bit better at socializing with other people while he's with me to ask them for directions." Naoko, godbless her, had the most innocent expression while Kenichi simply held out his head at his wife as if to say 'See?' while raising an eyebrow at Emilia.

The half-elf blushed a bit and turned her head slowly. "A-Apologies." She gave Subaru's hand a small squeeze, trying to punish him for…

She remembered suddenly. That Subaru wasn't lost because he's bad with directions. He didn't have the location of the Sanctuary… Because he was led there alongside her.

Emilia's frown returned full force and her focuse increased suddenly. Remembering and recalling every detail she could to understand what was happening now that things are a lot more clear. "If there's even the slightest of difference… If you do one thing out of my memories… I know what to prepare you parents for, Subaru."

She squeezed his arm even more, finding strength that wasn't there for her before.

Subaru crossed his arms and looked down in thought. "I know I'm late in asking, but what kind of place is the Sanctuary, anyway?"

"I'm not sure, either." Emilia looks away while showing nervousness. "Roswaal only said it was like a secret base… and…"

"And?" Subaru urged for more information.

"Uh… Nothing, never mind." Emilia smiled with unease while shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I should've asked."

"No, no! Even if we were in a hurry to get to safety, I'm the one who was way too careless!" He waved his arms around.

He looked at the villagers and found them all glancing at him with worry, so he replaced his expression with a smile and made his voice louder so they could hear.

"We'll just have to head to the mansion for now." He looked at Emilia with a smile. "Maybe we'll find some clues there. Otto, come with us!"

"What? To the mansion?" Otto looked shocked by the invite.

"A 'secret base' indeed," Anastasia murmured, tapping her scarf and bringing herself forward, a look of interest filling her face. "I've had my network scour the maps for this 'Sanctuary' ever since the rumors started flowin'. Nothin'. Not a whisper on trade routes, not a mark on the royal cartography, at least before they suddenly appeared t' push their votes for Emilia-sama's camp."

"It is disturbing," Reinhard agreed, his brow furrowed. "A location within the Kingdom that is completely off the grid? Even the Astrea family records hold no mention of such a place. For a Royal Candidate to be residing there... it presents a significant security blind spot."

Heinkel had to huff in absolute annoyance. "Do ya have them archives memorized or somethin'? This place's never brought up in daily convos for you to research it so much."

"I actually do have the records memorized just in case there was need for information." Reinhard immediately replied to his father with a hint of excitement to show him how diligent he is.

It only served to annoy Heinkel even more.

"It was designed to be found only by those invited, or those with... specific bloodlines," Julius noted, his gaze drifting toward the clown in the back row. "The secrecy alone suggests it was never meant for the public eye."

In the back row, Roswaal let out a long, audible sigh. It wasn't a sigh of worry, but of boredom.

"Secrets exposed one by one..." Roswaal drawled, leaning his head back. "How t~eee~dious."

"You do not seem perturbed, Clown," Priscilla observed from her seat, her fan covering the lower half of her face, though her eyes mocked him. "Your little hidden garden is about to be laid bare for all to see. I expected more resistance from a man who hoards secrets like a dragon hoards gold."

Roswaal smirked, shrugging his shoulders. "Why should I care? The Sanctuary has already served its purpose. Once Natsuki-kun and I concluded our... disagreement... and he liberated the place, it became n~ooo~thing more than a historical footnote."

"Don't talk about 't like 't's some disposable trash," Garfiel growled, twisting in his seat to glare at the Margrave. "That place is my home. 't's where my family 's. 't ain't jus' some 'purpose' for your schemes."

"And let us be accurate, in fact," Beatrice's voice cut in sharply. She smoothed her dress, looking at Roswaal with disdain. "You speak as if he was the sole reason for its liberation. While Betty's contractor was the catalyst... it was the Half-Elf who freed the Sanctuary."

Beatrice looked at the screen, where Emilia was currently panicking about her lack of knowledge.

"She carried the burden of the trials," Beatrice stated firmly. "She offset the destiny you tried to force upon my contractor. Do not erase her effort just to stroke your own obsession with him, I suppose."

Roswaal merely chuckled, not denying it, which only infuriated Garfiel more.

A few rows forward, Ram turned her head slightly. She wasn't looking at Roswaal or Garfiel. Her pink eyes locked onto the merchant sitting in the front row.

Otto felt the gaze and looked back.

Ram didn't speak. She simply raised an eyebrow and gave him a curt, significant nod toward the screen. The message was clear, harkening back to a conversation they'd had minutes ago in the theater.

Otto narrowed his eyes, scowling back at her. He remembered her insults. He remembered her telling him that she was the one who kept Subaru on track when he faltered.

She's so smug, Otto thought, crossing his arms. She's telling me 'I told you so' before the scene even happens.

He gritted his teeth and turned back to the screen, dreading the fact that Ram was probably right, and that he would never hear the end of it.

Anastasia held the eyes of Julius, Tivey and Hetaro for a moment, making the boys recognize what she was talking about as everyone in the theater watched how hostile the Emilia camp was toward their sponsor.

Even Kenichi was staring blankly toward the lord sitting in the last row, locking eyes with Roswaal for a moment.

"Do you… have an issue with my son, good sir?" Kenichi's tone was calmer than what Roswaal would've expected for a father.

"Many." Roswaal's smile returned with all honest amusement as he looked at the parent's eyes. "But rest assured, it's only because Subaru-kun has my f~uuu~ture in his hands. I would never want him harmed."

"That's such fuckin' bullshit!" Garfiel's fire burned through the theater via his voice as he glared up at the clown.

But before anyone else could talk, Hetaro began the viewing once again, forcing people to look at him.

"We need to continue… sir." Hetaro said firmly, glancing at Kenichi.

The father looked at Hetaro with a raised eyebrow, before glancing back up at Roswaal. He had a look of thoughtfulness on his face for a second.

"Hm… You're a really shitty friend… Aren't you?"

Roswaal's smile widened at the corners. "Shitty but de~aaa~r to the heart. Trust me." He winked which made Kenichi shiver on the spot, turning away from the stand off to continue watching with an uncomfortable expression.

"Jeez that's creepy."

To those who were too busy watching the seen for it's tension, they wouldn't have noticed Roswaal was actually attempting to add some humor at a really wrong time, which caused him to look down after Kenichi reacted this way.

Roswaal frowned in sadness that his joke wasn't recieved well, obviously melodramatically because he wanted to give nothing away.

Which led to Ram glaring at him with a deadpanned glare, while he looked down at the floor and closed his eyes in a self satisfying melo drama of his own making for the shits and giggles.

From the side of them both, Al was watching with his own deadpanned expression underneath his helmet. "This shit's gotta be studied in every mental ward, pal."

The scene changes to show the vast, beautiful building that was adorned by the color of the sunset.

"Don't be so scared after we've come this far." Subaru teases as they drive into the main yard of the estate. "Take the carriage and the ground dragons around back, okay?"

"All right…" Otto sighed tiredly.

While Otto took the carts and dragons into the backyard of the mansion, Subaru and Emilia stepped closer to the front door, looking up at the mansion.

Subaru had Rem carried on his back.

"We're back, Rem," Subaru said softly, walking up the front steps with Emilia.

"Are you alright?" Emilia asked while stepping on the steps.

"Yeah." He replied. "Come to think of it, I don't remember locking the door when we left. You think we got robbed?"

"Beatrice stayed here, so I don't think we need to worry." Emilia seems to have more cheer in her voice. "Maybe she'll come get the door for us if we knock."

Subaru snorted, stopping at the door with Emilia. "She might come flying through it, looking for Puck."

Rem stared at the image of herself, limp, unresponsive, a dead weight on the back of the boy she loved. Her hands, resting on her lap, clenched into fists so tight her knuckles turned white. A chaotic storm of emotions raged behind her eyes.

"Useless," Rem hissed under her breath, a tear of pure frustration leaking out. "Look at me. I am nothing but baggage… I can't even speak to him!"

But then, she saw the way Subaru adjusted his grip on her legs. She saw the gentle way he turned his head to check on her, even though she couldn't respond.

"But..." Rem's voice wavered, the rage melting into a heartbreaking softness. "... Subaru-kun… I…"

"Can't ya see that Cap'n's carryin' ya?" Garfiel's voice surprised Rem as he glanced at her from the side, never stopping his angered look, nor relaxing because he knew what was about to come. He was still the only one able to recognize that Rem would react to that little scene.

"Even if ya have a thousand pep talks from tha' Duchess and the princess… Ya will never accept bein' useless, I know ya well, Rem."

She pressed her hand over her heart, feeling the conflicting burn of self-hatred and being overwhelmingly loved. "I don't deserve him. But I love him so much it hurts."

"And he said he loves ya… Cap'n's not gonna let ya go." Garfiel's gaze hardened on Rem to a point she felt like she was stuck solid from the sheer amount of resolve in the blonde boy's eyes alone.

"Garf…?" Rem looked at him with an inquiring look.

"Cap'n's gonna go through hell to get ya back… And I've never seen somethin' as scary as tha'... What's gonna happen… Mine amazing self's…"

Rem looked at the struggling tiger with even more confusion. As if he was trying to spill out something holding on to his very soul but he hesitated, struggled to speak it. Something that Rem never thought she would see from the blonde warrior she met sparsely in the Sanctuary trips with her master and her sister.

"..." Julius and Otto were glancing at each other as Garfiel growled and looked away from the maid. Julius was a lot more inquiring but Otto didn't give the knight anything to go off of as he gazed at the blonde boy sitting next to them.

"You're an idiot, Garfiel-san."

"I'm tryinna make 'er feel better, Ottobro!" Garfiel's fists slammed on his thighs with a furious blush of embarrassment taking his face for conquest.

"That's right." Emilia looked at her green jewel. "Puck? Puuuck?" She called in a soft voice but received no answer. "Huh? He's not responding. Maybe he's asleep."

The sound of her own voice calling that name made the real Emilia flinch.

She looked at the screen, at the innocent trust in her past self's eyes.

A cold, visceral wave of disgust washed over her.

Liar, Emilia thought, her violet eyes hardening into chips of ice.

She remembered the viewings. She remembered the massive beast in the snow. She remembered the sound of Subaru shattering into pieces of ice.

You killed him, she thought, the realization settling in her gut like a stone. You claimed to be my father, to protect me... but you killed the one person trying to save me. Over and over.

Her mind raced, connecting dots she hadn't dared to touch before.

Did you know? Emilia wondered, her fingernails digging into her palms. Did you know about his power? Did you kill him to force him to restart? Or were you just a monster throwing a tantrum because I died?

And then, the Sanctuary. The place where he abandoned her. The place where he broke their contract and left her alone in that room when she needed him most.

"Maybe he's asleep," the on-screen Emilia said cheerfully.

"I wish you had stayed asleep," the real Emilia whispered, her voice trembling with suppressed anger. "You left me. You hurt him. And you lied about everything."

She felt a desire she had never felt toward her 'father' before. She didn't want his comfort. She wanted answers. And then, she wanted to punish him.

"Kenichi," Naoko whispered, leaning over to her husband while keeping an eye on the tense atmosphere. "That little girl... the one in the dress... they left her alone in that huge place?"

"Seems like it," Kenichi frowned, looking confused. "Remember when she kept saying she's a spirit of some sort? Maybe she has magic like that um… That gluttony guy with the chains… Or the blande looking bastard who attacked the Duchess-san."

Naoko looked around. She wanted to ask someone—maybe the nice merchant boy or the scary knight, but everyone was leaning forward, their eyes glued to the screen with intense, almost fearful anticipation.

"They're all so scared," Naoko murmured. "Something bad is going to happen in that big mansion, isn't it?"

Kenichi didn't answer. He just watched his son reach for the doorknob, feeling a dad's instinct overtake him. "I don't know, Naoko… This is crazy…"

"How about in here?" Subaru looked back at the door of the mansion. He knocked, still carrying Rem on his back.

"Yes, one moment, please." A voice spoke from the inside, surprising Emilia and Subaru.

"Ah…!" Otto's eyes widened in the theater and he had a slight smile on his face. "Frederica-san's first introduction! I forgot it would be at this moment in time after I was made to put the dragon's in the stables."

"Ya gotta big smile when talkin' bout my Big Sis, Ottobro." Garfiel's eyes were narrowed, glancing at Otto with mistrust that made the merchant boy gulp and struggle to keep his hat stable on his head as he stuttered excuses.

Julius was merely looking at Otto with an unimpressed gaze but a smile nonetheless. "Just like Subaru in more ways than one. I can see why you're friends."

The door opened, revealing a blonde-haired maid who was bowing her head with grace and holding her skirt in a gesture of respect.

"Welcome home, Emilia-sama. I have awaited your return." The maid spoke with a smile.

"Frederica?" Emilia sounds startled by the appearance.

The maid's head rose to meet their eyes, but there was a focus on the sharp razor blade teeth in her mouth. "Yes, it is I, Frederi—"

Her soft-voiced introduction was cut with Subaru screaming at the top of his lungs from Emilia's side.

"Those teeth are scary!"

The screen immediately cuts to show Subaru sitting on his knees in an apologetic posture while Emilia pinches his ear disapprovingly.

The oppressive cloud of dread that had gathered over the Sanctuary talk, and Puck's betrayal popped like a soap bubble.

"You idiot!" Kenichi's anxious glare dropped immediately along with his head as he face palmed, though his face was split into a wide, boisterous grin. "Who says that to a lady?! You don't look at a girl's smile and scream!" Kenichi tried to clench his teeth to stop the laughter, slapping his thigh.

"Bad Subaru-kun!" Naoko giggled, covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes crinkling with mirth. She looked at the screen where Emilia was punishing him and nodded approvingly. "Good job, Emilia-sama! Pinch him harder! He needs to learn some manners!" Naoko cheered.

"I... I am used to it," the real Frederica said from the second row, though she covered her mouth to hide a small, amused smile. She watched the parents scolding their son on her behalf and felt a strange warmth in her chest. "Subaru-sama is... expressive. It was quite the shock for him."

"Expressive 's one word f'r 't," Garfiel snorted, grinning as he watched his sister's introduction. "Cap'n looked like he saw a mabeast. Serves 'em right gettin' pinched."

"Natsuk-san's 'no filter' policy as he calls it…" Otto chuckled, the tension in his shoulders finally dropping.

"It is a refreshing change of pace," Julius noted with a small smile. "To see that even amidst what happened with Rem-san and Crusch-sama, Natsuki Subaru remains... consistently himself."

"Not to mention all the stuff the guy's dealin' with alone because of Return By Death." Anastasia was amused at how Rem and Crusch bristled when she mentioned the power by name so casually.

"My words are sincere by the way," she said while holding on to her scarf.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Frederica Baumann. I was employed here in the past." The blonde maid, now inside with Subaru and Emilia, bowed her head to them again and introduced herself with a smile.

Subaru's eyes opened in remembrance as Emilia let go of his ear. "Now that you mention it, I was told there was another maid who quit just before I came here…"

"I merely took my leave for personal reasons," Frederica said with a smile. "Then I returned at Ram's request and found the mansion empty. Fortunately, a letter I found in the master's office gave me an idea as to what had happened."

"A letter?" Emilia asked softly.

Anastasia stopped the hold on her scarf with her eyes glancing immediately to Frederica with a hint of a questioning gaze.

The blonde maid didn't respond if she noticed the gaze on her. But it was safe to assume that the only people who've taken interest with this letter were keeping to themselves as many weren't questioning the contents of it at this point in time.

The merchant queen seemed to nod to herself after recieving no attention from the blonde maid, giving a mental note to this moment in her head as she continued watching with the others.

Subaru had a more serious expression on his face. "And why did Ram ask you to come back?"

Frederica employed the same serious face as she answered. "When I returned, the kitchen and the trees in the garden were in a desolate state. It was quite awful."

Flashbacks to how the place looked before fill the screen before moving on to Subaru's distraught face.

"That's a pretty serious reason!" Subaru shouted, with Ram's disgruntled face shown over his panicked one.

From his side, Emilia looked a bit more discontent with the answer. "It's strange, though. Ram has always worked hard for us while you were away, so why, in just the past few days…"

Emilia's eyes widened as she let out a small gasp of realization.

Subaru spoke from her side to answer her thoughts.

"With Rem gone, Ram couldn't handle the mansion herself, so she asked Frederica to help?" Subaru wondered with a sad look.

"Wait a minute," Kenichi blinked, looking at the smug pink-haired maid in the back row. "So, without Rem… the pink one is completely useless at housework?"

"She can't cook? Or clean?" Naoko looked scandalized. "But she wears the uniform so confidently! I thought she was the head maid!"

"Ram specializes in other areas," Ram stated from the back, not looking the least bit ashamed. She inspected her fingernails casually. "Barusu should be grateful. My incompetence merely highlights the necessity of others. It is a form of leadership."

"That's just laziness, Ram!" Garfiel shouted, shaking his head. "Without Rem, tha' place falls apart in a day! I told ya you needed Big Sis!"

"It is tragic, yet… telling," Julius noted, looking at the screen with a mix of amusement and sorrow. "The world has forgotten Rem-san due to Gluttony. Ram-san does not remember her sister. Yet, the absence of Rem's labor is so profound that the mansion literally ceased to function. Rem-san was doing the work of two people."

"Three people, probably," Otto muttered. "Considering Natsuki-san was also 'helping'."

Rem, sitting in the audience, felt a strange mix of emotions. On one hand, seeing the mansion fall into disarray was horrifying to her maid sensibilities. On the other hand…

"Sister really… needs me, doesn't she?" Rem whispered, a small, sad smile touching her lips. "She can't even boil water without burning the pot."

"It proves your worth, Rem-sama," Wilhelm said gently. "You were the pillar holding that household together."

However, while the others focused on the domestic crisis, the political minds in the room latched onto a different detail.

"A letter," Crusch Karsten repeated, her eyes narrowing as she looked at the real Frederica in the second row. "Roswaal left a letter explaining the situation? That is remarkably… convenient."

"Isn't it just?" Anastasia \chimed in, her voice light but her eyes sharp as tacks. She looked over her shoulder at Frederica once again, delighted to have more people with her on this. "Considering the Margrave was supposedly besieged and fleein' to Sanctuary, he sure had time to write detailed instructions for a maid he hadn't employed in months."

Anastasia tapped her finger against her cheek, a knowing glint in her teal eyes.

"It almost sounds like he knew things would happen way before they did. Or maybe… someone else helped coordinate things?"

Frederica met Anastasia's gaze. Her expression remained perfectly professional, the mask of a head maid firmly in place.

"The Master is a man of foresight, Lady Anastasia," Frederica replied smoothly. "He prepares for many eventualities."

"Foresight. Right," Anastasia chuckled, the sound dry. She remembered the secret correspondence, the agreement struck in the shadows of the theater lost on everyone. "Well, good help is hard ta find. Glad he found it in time."

She winked at Frederica.

Frederica didn't wink back, but a subtle tension passed between them.

"He planned it," Crusch murmured to herself, missing the silent exchange but catching the implication. "The Margrave had anticipated that he'd arrive later with his half of the village before the first ones sent from my estate, and staged Frederica's return to guide Subaru exactly where he wanted him. To the Sanctuary."

Crusch glared up at the screen with reading eyes. "Every step Emilia and Subaru will take… that man has already paved the road."

"Roswaal-sama…?" Rem's frown deepened, but not due to grief as she watched what Crusch and Anastasia were saying and found herself staring at Emilia or even Beatrice to read any denial against these words about her lord.

But even the girls infront of her were refusing to protect Roswaal from the accusations thrown on him by Crusch and Anastasia.

"..." She held the front of her dress out of habit and nervousness, not liking what this might mean for her sister. "Since the beginning… With everyone accusing him of something unknown to me as a person who wasn't present during the events at the Sanctuary… I… Subaru-kun…" Rem spoke to herself with a bit of a hopeless look, not knowing what to do or think at the many implications that might be thrown on Roswaal and Subaru alike.

"Would you mind explaining to me who this girl who bears a striking resemblance to Ram is?" Frederica asked the two while looking at the sleeping girl placed on the couch with a neat pillow and blanket to accommodate her sleep.

Subaru had a depressed smile on his face as he answered. "She's Ram's younger sister, Rem. She's a really nice girl. She's kind, strong, and a super-hard worker. Even I could tell that she and Ram were really close."

Emilia and Frederica look at him as he compliments and praises Rem with all his heart.

"I'm sure you were a good friend to her, too. You… probably don't remember, though, right?" Subaru asked with an uneasy smile.

Frederica put a hand on her chin with a troubled gaze. "Unfortunately, no. I wonder how the master and Ram will react when they return…"

"I can't even guess what Roswaal will do." Subaru looked at the ground again. "And… I don't want to imagine how Ram will react."

Frederica lowered her head. She turned in her seat to face the blue-haired maid sitting in the same row as her.

"I am truly sorry, Rem-san," Frederica said, her voice heavy with regret. "To look at a fellow servant, someone who I apparently mentored, and see only a stranger… it is a shameful feeling. You were right there, yet I could not offer you even a word of recognition."

Rem, who'd been suffering this entire viewing and gotten support from people within the theater one by one couldn't help but ignore her small meltdown about what was happening with her lord, and shook her head gently. "Please, do not apologize, Frederica-sama. You were a victim of that curse just as much as I was. It… it makes me happy to know that, even without memories, you treated Subaru-kun kindly."

"He made sure we knew you," Emilia spoke up softly.

Rem blinked, turning her eyes to the half-elf.

Emilia wasn't looking at the screen; she was looking at Rem with a warm, resolute expression. "Subaru never stopped talking about you. He made sure that even if our memories were gone, your place in the mansion wasn't. He forced us to see you."

Rem felt a lump form in her throat. She looked at Emilia, the woman she considered her rival, and saw only support.

Why? Rem wondered, her chest tightening. Why is she so good? It would be easier if she were selfish. But she shares his burden… and she shares his care for me.

"Thank you, Emilia-sama," Rem whispered, lowering her gaze to hide her watery eyes.

"Man…" Kenichi exhaled a long, shaky breath, leaning back in his chair. "Look at him."

He looked at his son on the screen, the tired eyes, the forced cheerfulness. "Look at his eyes," Kenichi said, his voice quiet and sad. "He's sitting there, telling people about a girl who practically doesn't exist to them. And he's doing it with a smile."

"He's a little bit more heroic when talking about Rem-san this time though," Naoko agreed. "But it's so lonely, isn't it? To be the only one who remembers?" She turned her head toward the small, drill-haired spirit sitting nearby.

"Beatrice-chan?" Naoko asked. "Why is it only Subaru? Is it… is it because he loves her so much? Does his love keep her memories safe?"

It was a mother's question, rooted in the belief that love conquers all.

Beatrice looked at Naoko, then at the screen. She tugged at her corkscrew curl.

"It is not a fairy tale, in fact," Beatrice said, her voice unusually somber. "Affection has no bearing on the Authority of Gluttony. If love were enough, the sister would remember. If love were enough, the Duchess would remember her knight and duty."

Felix looked a bit wilted at that fact about Crusch's love not influencing a cure for her memory wipe, but a pat on his back from Wilhelm and a small flick from Crusch on his ear forced him to be surprised by the sudden read on his inner thoughts.

Crusch gave him a small accepting smile, telling him that she was past that point of her life and working through it with him.

With him.

Felix blinked in surprise.

Beatrice narrowed her butterfly-patterned eyes at Subaru.

"Betty's contractor is… an anomaly. He stands outside the logic of this world. He remembers because he is him. That is the only reason, I suppose."

"I see," Naoko murmured, looking back at her son with renewed heartache. "So he really is all alone in there."

"Must be nice, though," a playful, chilling voice drifted from the middle rows.

Meili swung her legs, resting her cheek on her hand as she watched the tragedy unfold.

"Just imagine," Meili mused, a grin on her face. "You do something really bad like, break a vase, or kill a target, or burn down a villageand then poof! Gluttony-sama eats you, and no one remembers you did it!"

She giggled. "If I got eaten, I wouldn't have to worry about anyone holding a grudge. Sounds convenient to me~."

Petra turned to glare at her, horrified by the casual disregard for human life, but Meili just winked. She didn't care about the tragedy of the lost maid. To her, erased memories were just another tool in a cruel world.

"That kid's a problem," Tivey muttered to himself before being bonked on his head by Mimi.

"She's the same age as ya! Who ya callin' kid?!" Mimi laughed while Tivey glared at her and Hetaro put himself between them.

"Think that girl's gonna be of any use, boss?" Ricrado muttered to Anastasia, eyeing Meili discreetly with a small grin. "She's got a lotta difference between 'er and how people are seeing things 'ere."

Anastasia herself never looked at Meili or cared to glance at the assassin in the back row. "She's gonna a significant source of information, for sure. Afterall… That dark network is one that's very well known to my people and the company but…"

"You wanna know why that dark network took an interest in bro over there?" Ricardo eyed her knowingly.

"And Meili-chan's addition to the theater itself means that she's not someone to be sidelined… Don't you think so, Crusch-san?" Anastasia glanced to the green-haired girl who's been listening to the hushed conversation as Rem was watching between them.

With Rem and Crusch looking at her, Anastasia gave a small glance towards Meili for the first time.

"She was the same one who sent the dogs, is she not?" Anastasia noticed the immediately terror flashing in Rem's eyes. The maid's shoulders tensed and her grip on the maid uniform clenched harder than before at the very foul memories playing within her head. Anastasia snorted, feeling that it was deserved for a moment, remembering the torture Subaru went through.

"I don't believe your topic is meant to bring such darkness into Rem's heart, so please make sure to remember exactly how much she's sacrificed to sit here between the both of us, Anastasia." Crusch's voice was firm, exasperated if you look at her face within the moment, and her gloved hand did wonders for Rem as it patted the maid's shoulder.

"However… I believe I understand the point you're trying to say," Crusch looked at Anastasia with a look of firm acceptance. "Whomever is connected to that little assassin, was a threat to the Emilia camp since before Subaru entered the picture… Before his abduction by the Witch from his world…"

The duchess couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. But she spoke them with clarity.

"Such an insane circumstance set that we've been dealt… But yes, that is indeed why Meili-chan should be questioned… I do wonder why the Emilia-camp never thought t' give the girl to the royal selection council." Anastasia's eyes held a deep message that Rem couldn't understand but Crusch could without a doubt.

"..." The duchess moved her eyes to glance toward the rows behind, not as much as she would have to turn her head fully behind her to stare at Roswaal, but mostly to look in the general direction of the rows where he was.

Anastasia's smile widened at the corners just a little bit, as her message was conveyed with success.

"I see…" Crusch muttered to herself, not bringing more attention to the rows behind as she turned her head back to the screen, letting go of Rem.

"Ya hidin' somethin', Crusch-san~, hm?" Anastasia's sing-song voice was sharp in its accusation. Immediately reading the quick reaction from the Duchess as a sign that she was keeping something to her chest.

Crusch shook her head, toying with the small hat on her head. "More a hunch than anything concrete. Truthfully I've had this idea and warned Emilia about it after the very first viewings."

"There hasn't been many viewings for this current 'arc' as it keeps sayin'." Anastasia narrowed her eyes, trying to remember when Crusch and Emilia would've talked about this.

"I meant the first viewings. As in when Subaru had… been taken from his world and ended up saving Emilia and Felt…"

"That early?!" Anastasia blinked, looking at the contemplating Crusch with her mouth open.

But the Duchess only gave a small nod and looked back up to watch the screen once more. "... Those seem to be a world away now…" She commented under her breath, glaring at the room's ceiling for a second, the spot where Roswaal once tried to shoot his magic and melted the decorative engravings of the walls above them but was returned via the magic of the room.

"Hey, Frederica, have you heard anything from Roswaal?" Emilia tries to keep Subaru's attention away from his own thoughts and talks for him to the maid.

"Sadly, I have no way of knowing all that goes on in the master's mind. I believe there are only two people in this world he trusts enough for that."

"Two?" Subaru sounded interested as she continued to explain.

"Ram and the great spirit of the mansion's forbidden library."

Subaru raised an eyebrow at this. "Great spirit of the forbidden library?"

"I refer to Beatrice-sama," Frederica spoke with respect.

Kenichi blinked, leaning forward to get a better look at the small girl in the frilly dress sitting a few seats away near the ground dragon.

"Great Spirit?" Kenichi whispered to Naoko. "I mean, I heard her call herself that earlier which was cute… but hearing the maid say it with that much respect… it hits different. She acts like just a regular kid with a bad attitude."

"And that Clown guy trusts her," Naoko moved her hand to remove some dust off his shoulder while he rubbed his chin.

"Frederica-san said he only trusts two people. The pink maid and the drill-loli. That's a pretty exclusive club."

Beatrice, sensing their gaze and hearing their whispers, huffed audibly. She crossed her arms, lifting her chin with an air of supreme arrogance.

"Of course he trusts Betty, in fact," she stated, though her voice held a trace of bitterness she tried to hide. "Betty was charged with the library long before that clown painted his face. My existence is far beyond the comprehension of commoners."

She said it proudly, but her eyes flickered toward the screen, then to the back row where Roswaal sat.

Trust, she thought, catching his eyes as she spoke to herself while glaring at him. Is it trust? Or is it just relying on a tool that cannot leave its box?

In the back row, Roswaal watched Beatrice with a satisfied curl of his lips.

Frederica was performing flawlessly. She was dropping the breadcrumbs exactly as he had instructed in the letter. Mentioning Beatrice was the key to getting Subaru to visit the library, which was the key to the next step of his gospel.

"Splendid," Roswaal murmured under his breath, barely audible even to Ram. "Seeing it from this perspective instead of hearing about it is truly a pleasing pr~ooo~cess." He leaned back, his yellow eye gleaming.

"I cannot help but find deep excitement to see you go through every step… To see where that one imperfect cog was… To see who it was… Who's the one that made you stronger than me." Roswaal's face had contorted to something inhuman with rage unseen in the theater for all of it's viewings but he immediately turned into his smiling eccentric self as he leaned back to watch.

Beatrice had went back before any of his thoughts conveyed on his face, of course. So she didn't see that dangerous distorition of a human being dancing in the abyss of his miserable existence. (I cooked with this line gang)

The scene changed to show Subaru walking with his hands in his pockets inside the mansion halls.

Naoko was admiring the hallways with widened eyes. "Woah… That's how rich royalty must live like~... Is that where Subaru's been staying?"

While Emilia was nodding, looking curious herself to what Subaru was doing. "Mhm… This used to be the mansion where Subaru and I lived with everyone else."

"Used…?" Kenichi seemed interested by the wording but Emilia was already looking at the screen since she wanted to know what was going on with Subaru when she wasn't there. He let it be and shrugged but noticed someone glaring at his wife from behind.

A polite disgruntled glare that customers would have when the product would fail.

"Um… Naoko-sama?" Felix grumbled under his breath. "The Karsten estate was just as impressive as this one. And you've seen it before… Without this much awe…"

Crusch blinked in surprised and looked at Felix. "That isn't… Important, Ferris."

Naoko was shaking her head from the front, "but this mansion is far more impressive!"

"Honey…" Kenichi coughed as he noticed Crusch's eye give a twitch, her expression masked with stone for an expression unlike her knight.

"Oh! No offense… Um… Crusch-sama? That was your name right?" Naoko bowed with sincere gratitude, which Crusch waved off with a small smile that didn't reach her eyes.

When Naoko stopped bowing and looked up, she saw Rem who was sitting next to Crusch and Anastasia, right behind her sleeping son.

"Rem-san…? Are you okay?" Naoko asked her question immediately when she noticed the strange look on the maid's face.

Rem kept her eyes on the screen, to the hall where Subaru was walking through. Her heart clenching with deep unimagined negativity. "I-I'm fine… Ma'am."

The reply didn't reach anyone's ears except for the two girls on either side of Rem along with Naoko.

Neither Anastasia nor Crusch intervened on the maid's conversation with Subaru's worried mother. Looking on with grim reluctance not to say anything.

As the mother of Subaru looked at Rem, the maid's eyes widened, with the hallway of the mansion looming on the large screen above, painting a world above the innocent worry Naoko was shedding for Rem.

The same world showing the hall where her morning star flew so lethaly to end the life of someone Naoko cares about most.

"I-I'm fine… Naoko-sama…" Rem's breathing grew heavier, but the mother didn't turn around until a small tap from her husband took her attention away from the maid for a moment.

Crusch looked away, trying not to stare at the girl next to her, knowing exactly what was going on in Rem's head. "Even without my divine blessing, I can see the air around you being untruthful, Rem."

Rem had to hold her dress tightly as to not lunge toward Subaru and take him into a hug that could crush his ribs. "I… I…"

The image of his eyeball rolling across the carpet with his blood splatters covering the screen played in her mind over Naoko's head.

"..." Rem's breathing stopped for a moment, and it felt like everyone would just sit there all around her, not knowing that she had just forgetting how to breath like them. Not knowing that they all would lose her.

Not knowing if it would matter for her to just disappear and let the conciousness take her.

"A heck, stop that." A smack sounded as Anastasia's glove cracked Rem on the back of her head, making the maid flinch forward and hold the spot in pain.

"Anastasia-sama…?" Rem found herself breathing once again, but confusion painted her face far more than any emotion, other than a little bit of gratitude.

The merchant queen looked more annoyed by Rem's existence, wiping her glove on Rem's shoulder and glaring at her slightly.

"...Get yer shit togethah, gal." Anastasia scoffs and looks away, not wanting to receive a word of thanks from the maid as Rem was left to her own devices.

Rem held a hand to her chest, seeing that Kenichi's eye was on her from the side, and that even Emilia was looking at her with a bit of worry, which made the maid feel more and more self conscious.

"..." She stayed quiet and looked up, waiting for the screen to play something else so that Naoko won't be sitting close to a memory where Rem knows she could shatter how these parents will look at her.

He stopped suddenly, eyes widening as he turned to a room's door beside him within the long hallway.

He opens it with a determined expression, revealing a vast library of books that never ends and a small girl sitting on her stool, reading a book.

Beatrice's eyes widened as her back straightened. "I see… It was here, I suppose." She sighed to herself, bringing a sad glint to her eye.

"Ah! He did say he was talking to you before coming to us in the lounge room… I was reeeeally wondering what your talk was about…" Emilia's eyes sparkled with curiosity, realizing that an advantage of the viewings was also seeing moments she wasn't involved with.

"That library once again." Tivey sighed between his siblings, finding the extent to which this amount of knowledge stretch a bit of a ludicrous tease. Something Julius agreed with and Hetaro was more confused about since he didn't know the significance of the library.

Subaru's face earned a grin as he looked at the girl. "Hey, Beako! Long time no see!"

"Now I see why the mansion suddenly seemed so noisy," Beatrice grumbled at him.

"Everyone's been worried about you. You should apologize, even if it has to wait until later." Subaru tells her as he settles into the library by leaning on a bookshelf next to her stool.

"Apologize? Betty? I fail to comprehend why I must apologize, and to whom, I suppose." She said while keeping her eyes on her book.

"Okay," Kenichi admitted, holding his hands up in defeat. "I take it back. I thought my son taught her the attitude. I thought it was a bit, you know? It's like… father-daughter comedy routine."

He shook his head, looking at the Great Spirit's dismissive posture.

"But that... that is pure, unadulterated Tsundere energy. That's organic. You can't teach that level of 'I'm ignoring you but I'm happy you're here.' She's the natural-born Queen of it."

"It's amazing," Naoko whispered, though her eyes were drawn to the background rather than the girl. "That library... it's beautiful, but it feels so... endless. It's like a castle tower in a storybook where the princess is locked away… So scaryyyy!"

Beatrice, hearing the parents' commentary, felt a surge of bitterness rise in her throat.

Majestic? she thought, looking at the endless shelves on the screen with cold distaste. It is a cage. It is a tomb of dust and silence where Betty waited for four hundred years.

She hated that room. Seeing it now, seeing herself sitting there waiting for "That Person" while Subaru stood right in front of her... it made her sick.

"It is not majestic," Beatrice muttered under her breath, turning her eyes away from the library and focusing solely on Subaru's face. "It is just a room of dead words, in fact."

"Hey..." Felt leaned forward from her seat, her red eyes narrowing as she recalled the viewings from Arc 3. "The last time we saw these two togetha in a room... it didn't end well, did it?"

"We have not seen the great spirit-sama since the viewing of the Witch's Cult attack," Tivey adjusted his monocle, while Hetaro looked at him confused.

"What happened?"

"She threw him out," Felt said bluntly, her voice carrying over the quiet murmurs. "Big Bro… Was tryin' t' do somethin' stupid with Big sis." She reminded everyone of the moment Subaru's will crumbled and he wanted to run away with Emilia, leading to his desperation to speak to Emilia and break the taboo on his power which would kill her.

Felt shivered, "He was desperate. And she just... pushed him through a some rift or portal or whatever."

The memory hit the cast like a physical blow.

They remembered Subaru begging for help. They remembered Beatrice forcibly ejecting him from the sleeping quarters as he held on to Emilia's corpse on the floor… telling him to go die where she couldn't see it.

And they remembered where he landed.

He landed in the clearing of the forest with snow beginning to fall. Right next to an ambush by Petelgeuse. And then... Puck came. How he turned into a giant beast, one that rose from the blizzard that began, and froze Subaru solid, shattering his body into ice crystals while he laughed himself to death.

"That's right..." Tivey whispered, his face paling which his brother noticed and glared at. "Her rejection... it led directly to his execution by the Great Spirit of the End."

Hetaro's glare was removed immediately, replaced with shock at the implication from Tivey.

Kenichi and Naoko froze. They caught fragments of the conversation. Threw him out? Execution?

"Wait," Kenichi turned around, looking at Beatrice with sudden concern. "What are they talking about? You... you threw him out of… where? How could someone as small as you even…?"

Beatrice stiffened. Panic flared in her chest.

She could handle the knights judging her. She could handle the Emilia camp knowing her sins. But the parents? The mother who had looked at her with kindness? The father who joked with her?

She could not bear for them to know she had sent their son to his death.

"Silence!"

Beatrice slammed her small hand against the armrest of her chair. A pulse of mana, harmless but heavy, rippled through the air, effectively shutting everyone up.

"That timeline is gone, in fact!" Beatrice shouted, her voice trembling with a mix of anger and desperation. "Betty... Betty does not wish to discuss dead loops! Watch the screen! Do not speak of things you do not understand!"

She glared at Felt, her eyes wide and pleading silently, Don't tell them. Please.

Felt saw the look, the raw fear in the spirit's eyes, and snapped her mouth shut, looking away.

Kenichi looked at the trembling girl, then at his wife. He sensed the sudden wall that had gone up. He didn't push. He just turned back to the screen, though the worry in his eyes deepened. Naoko held a deeply uncomfortable glance toward her son, her heart clenching with worry.

Subaru moved from his bookshelf with a smile. "I could go apologize for you if you want. I'll tell them you were thanking me with tears and snot streaming down your face."

She looked up with a glare of annoyance at him. "Don't make up stories! I haven't shed tears in a very long time, I suppose."

Subaru looked away from her with a small smirk. "It never hurts to have a good wail every once in a while."

"Those words carry deep meaning, coming from a man who bawled in the lap of the woman he loves." She bit back with a small smile, making him blush.

"Would you just forget about that already?"

"Could you please get to the point, I suppose? You weakling." Beatrice looked at him with annoyance, which made him sigh.

Beatrice flinched visibly as the word "weakling" left her on-screen self's mouth. She tugged hard on her twin drills, looking down at her lap with a flushed, uncomfortable expression.

"Betty... Betty spoke in ignorance," Beatrice muttered, her voice quiet but carrying a distinct note of prideful correction. She refused to look at the parents or the knights. "Calling him a 'weakling'... that was a miscalculation of his character. He is... persistent. Annoyingly so. But not weak."

She huffed, crossing her arms. "Consider that a retraction, in fact."

"Um," Kenichi couldn't shake off the awkwardness from the tension that followed the previous pausing of the screen. He couldn't help but glance at his wife for a moment before shaking his head and sighing. "I guess ya wanna get some time with us to trust us with whatever happened between you and Subaru, Beatrice-chan?"

The spirit girl didn't show anything on her face, looking at the man with an empty expression. "... It would be preferred, in fact."

"I see," He laughed to himself, feeling a bit of a sting at the cold way the little girl seemed to close herself off. "I see why he wants to bother you so much…" Kenichi's whisper could be hear by all in the theater, even Priscilla raised her eyebrow at the sheer grim pride Kenichi expressed with his voice.

"Oh well," he shook his head, bringing a tired smile to the little girl sitting in the same row as him. "don't worry about it, Beako-chan," Kenichi waved his hand, though his eyes were serious. "We know you two have a... complicated dynamic. But what was that about him crying?"

Beatrice found herself bristling at the fact that Subaru's father used his nickname for her.

"Subaru cried?" Naoko asked, looking between Beatrice and Emilia. "He usually tries so hard to be cool in front of girls. For him to cry like that... did something terrible happen?"

Beatrice opened her mouth to speak, to perhaps explain the curse, the deaths, the overwhelming weight of the loops that had crushed him until he broke. But then, she stopped.

Her eyes flickered to the front row. She saw Emilia stiffen slightly.

Beatrice remembered that moment, or at least, she knew of it. The lap pillow. The moment Subaru broke down and confessed his self-hatred. That was a sacred space between the Contractor and the Half-Elf.

"It is not Betty's place to air his laundry," Beatrice said firmly, lifting her chin. "If you wish to know why he shed tears, ask the woman whose lap was soaked. Betty merely observed it from afar."

Naoko looked at Emilia, who offered a small, sad smile, confirming that it was a story for another time. While Kenichi looked at Crusch, thinking it was she who was the woman being talked about. Alas, Crusch merely offered him a sheepish grin, or what could be considered sheepish to the steel-resolved valkyrie.

"Yeah… How well do you know what Roswaal's thinking?" Subaru's question seemed to catch her interest as she raised her eyebrow.

"Someone told me that you know how Roswaal thinks." Subaru walked to stand before her.

"Who said— Ah." Beatrice voiced softly in realization. "It must have been the half-beast girl who just came back. There is a bit of accuracy to what she told you, I suppose." Beatrice points at Subaru with a glare. "But my connection with Roswaal has nothing to do with the current circumstances."

"Wow~,"Meili was leaning over the back of her chair, staring at the screen with wide, amused eyes. "You were sooooo mean to him back then, Little Spirit-chan!" Meili giggled, poking fun at the Great Spirit. "Look at that glare!'You weakling,' she says it so funny!"

Meili grinned, looking at Beatrice who was giving Meili a look of complete disgust.

"It's weird," Meili commented, resting her chin on her hands. "When I was in the dungeon, all I ever saw was you stuck to Onii-san's hip like a burr. You followed him everywhere while holding his hand~!"

She pointed at the screen, giving a childish curious look and glanced at Beatrice again.

"Does this mean he made friends with you before I came with Elsa-san? It's kinda funny watching you pretend you don't care, knowing how clingy you get later."

"S-Silence, you insolent child!" Beatrice sputtered, her face turning a deep shade of red. "Betty is not clingy! Betty is merely... monitoring her contractor's vitals! It is efficient!"

"Uh-huh," Meili smirked. "Whatever you say. But I kinda like Mean Beatrice. She knows how to put Onii-san in his place."

"Hmph!" Beatrice turned her head away sharply, though her hand unconsciously tightened where Subaru's sleeve would be had Emilia not occupied the current seat on his right, proving Meili's point entirely.

Petra glared where she was looking, knowing that Meili only did that to bother everyone in the room since she was bored, but not wanting to give the assassin any attention and wanting the viewing to be unpaused.

Schult was sighing at Meili's antics but he didn't notice that the assassin girl was leaning back in her seat with a small look of disappointment.

"... Hmm… She didn't like my compliment? How does Petra-chan do it?" Meili sounded… genuine. Confused and really frustrated that her attempt to do something nice failed. Her eyes traveled to where Petra was sitting and found herself pouting at the unfairness of her attempt not even getting a reaction at least.

"This stinks…" She grumbled, letting her small legs fold so she can hug them while glaring up at the screen.

"But you stayed here at the mansion by yourself, even with no countermeasures in place." Subaru didn't look deterred as he looked at her sternly.

"I'm capable of protecting myself." Beatrice lowered her hand, keeping her glare on him. "That's why I stayed, I suppose. Roswaal has nothing to do with that. That said, I don't believe he had anything on his mind at all, I suppose."

Subaru hummed and looked up in thought. "Were you and I and everyone else just giving him too much credit, thinking he wouldn't go up against the Witch's Cult with no plan?"

"Oh, my~. To think my Subaru-kun has such little fa~iii~th in me," Roswaal crooned, though a smirk played on his lips. "Am I truly seen as a fool who stumbled into a victory? How drea~aa~dfully embarrassing."

"Embarrassing ain't the word I'd use," Heinkel spat from his seat, not bothering to look back at the clown. "More like did nothin' and fucked everyone in your estate."

"You speak out of turn, Heinkel Astrea," Ram's voice was instantaneous and freezing. She turned in her seat, glaring daggers at the Deputy Commander. "Your opinion is as worthless as your reputation. Do not presume to judge Master Roswaal's intellect based on ramblings."

"Hah? Since when do you decide who talks, maid?"

The sharp retort didn't come from Heinkel. It came from the front.

Felt stood up on her chair, turning around to face the back row. Her red eyes were fierce, and for the first time, she wasn't looking at Heinkel with disgust. She was looking at him with… solidarity?

"The old man's right!" Felt yelled, pointing a finger at Ram. "Don't talk down to him just because you're blindly loyal to that creep! We all saw what happened! That damn clown left them to die! If the old man wants to call him out, let him call him out!"

The room went silent. Reinhard looked at his lady, then at his father, his eyes widening in surprise. Heinkel stopped glaring. He looked at the street urchin who claimed to be a candidate, then looked back at Ram.

A nasty, triumphant smirk curled Heinkel's lip.

"Hear that, maid?" Heinkel jeered, leaning back with a newfound arrogance. "Even the gutter rat sees it. Your master is naked, and you're the only one pretending he's wearing clothes."

Ram's expression tightened into a mask of pure fury, but she said nothing, outvoted by the sheer volume of disdain directed at her master.

Amidst the shouting and the political potshots, a small hand reached out in the front row.

Beatrice didn't look at the screen. She didn't look at Roswaal. She tugged gently on the sleeve of Emilia's dress.

Emilia looked down, meeting the Great Spirit's gaze. "Beatrice?"

"I remember what comes next in this conversation, I suppose." Beatrice found herself warning Emilia. "What comes next won't be pretty for either of us, in fact."

The half-elf bit her lip in anticipation. Not knowing what was spoken between the spirit and her contractor, but the need to know what she was being warned about, won over her worry.

His eyes widened suddenly, and he reached for his pocket. "Oh, that's right. Take a look at this." Subaru hands Beatrice a book with a black cover.

She takes a moment to observe the cover before her eyes widen with a sudden worry.

"A Gospel…" She looked up at Subaru with a demanding expression. "Why do you, of all people, have one of those?!"

"Glad that shit's gone." Garfiel breathed with a small look of satisfaction.

Otto held on to his coat a little tighter, eyes down. "Yeah… Glad."

Subaru raised the book and answered her completely seriously. "I took it off the enemy after a battle. It belonged to the guy in charge of the witch cultists who surrounded the mansion."

Beatrice looked down with a trembling expression that was uncharacteristic of her stoic attitude. "And what became of him?" She whispered.

"He's dead," Subaru answered softly, matching the emotion she was displaying out of respect.

A scene played over them of Subaru holding the book with the bloody page he wrote on as Petelguese was caught by the wheel of the carriage trying to reach for it and Subaru.

"I killed him." He affirmed to Beatrice.

"Ugh…"

Hetaro was the first to look away, covering his mouth as the sound of the crushing bones echoed through the theater's speakers.

"That was… incredibly violent," the small vice-captain whispered, his face pale. "That's really how Sloth was vanquished afterall?"

Beside him, Tivey adjusted his glasses, looking equally green. "The Archbishop of Sloth died as he lived… Worthless."

In the front row, Kenichi stared at the screen, his hands gripping the armrests until his knuckles turned white.

"That thing…" Kenichi murmured. "That was a monster that Subaru faced? Tell me that's a vision."

"Subaru was being followed by… It looked like it wanted to hurt him," Naoko whispered, her voice trembling not with fear of her son, but with a terrifying awe.

Three rows back, Meili stopped swinging her legs. Her jaw actually dropped, just a fraction.

She stared at the back of Subaru's head in the front row, then at the screen where the "green man" had been turned into roadkill.

"No way…" Meili whispered, her assassin's composure cracking. "Onii-san killed the Bishop? That Bishop?"

She knew Petelguese. In the underworld, the Sin Archbishops were calamities. Living natural disasters. Even Elsa was wary of them.

Meili had always thought of Subaru as someone silly, a lucky boy who played with things hero all the time to amuse her whenever he would frequent the basement prison cell she was in.

She wasn't paying attention when the last viewing also showed Subaru battling Petelguese.

While the others reacted to the victory, two people reacted to the loss.

Emilia flinched as the wheel crushed the body on screen. A sharp pain shot through her heart, a memory of a kind man who used to bring her juice, a man who cried tears of joy just to see her grow.

"Geuse…" Emilia whispered, closing her eyes.

She knew he had been corrupted. She knew he had become a monster. But seeing his end, seeing the final, pathetic desperation of the man who was once her father figure, hurt here no matter how many times she watches it.

Beside the sleeping Patrasche, Beatrice looked down at her lap. She clutched the fabric of her dress.

"You rest now, I suppose," Beatrice murmured, her voice barely audible. "You waited too long. Goodbye… Geuse."

In the very back row, Roswaal closed his eyes, losing his smile as he gave the same nod when he first saw this death of Petelguese.

"Move to a better destiny, old friend." He looked away until the screen unpaused to remove the image of the battle between Subaru and the Archbishop.

Beatrice only looked down with sadness in her voice as she whispered. "Then you've left me behind, too, I suppose… Geuse."

Subaru raised an eyebrow. "Who's that?"

"None of your concern." She glares at him. "Anyway, if you killed Sloth, a Sin Archbishop, what happened to his Witch Factor?"

"Which… Factor?" Subaru looked confused by what she was saying.

"You don't know what it is? You really don't?" Beatrice looked startled by him. "If that's the case, then why did you bother to kill Sloth? And what is Roswaal…"

"I told you, remember? Roswaal is at the Sanctuary! I'm the one who wants to know what he's thinking!" Subaru stepped closer to her as she looked away from him for a moment.

Beatrice looks back at him, giving him a simple, stoic answer. "All the answers you seek lie in the Sanctuary, I suppose."

"Ho?" Priscilla leaned forward, her red eyes narrowing on the small spirit. "To speak the name of a calamity with such familiarity… and a nickname, no less. You were not merely acquainted with the Archbishop of Sloth. You held affection for him."

"It seems the little lady had a role to play after all," Anastasia Hoshin muttered, her mind working through Roswaal's scheme. "Frederica-chan points him to the library. Beatrice-sama points him to the Sanctuary. Like a game and Natsuki-kun is being moved exactly where the Margrave wants."

"Wait, never mind the location," Otto interrupted, leaning over the back of his chair to look at the knights. "Did anyone hear what she asked? 'Witch Factor'? What in the world is that? Natsuki-san has it?"

Julius and Reinhard exchanged a look.

"I have heard the term only in the vaguest of legends," Reinhard admitted, his expression grave. "It is said to be the source of the Archbishops' Authorities. But for it to be something that can be… obtained? Or transferred?"

"If Subaru has absorbed such a thing unknowingly…" Julius gripped his arm chair. "That would explain the miasma."

While the men worried about the metaphysics, the emotional fallout was happening in the front rows.

Emilia stared at the screen, her mouth slightly open. She looked at Beatrice, realizing with a jolt that the Spirit was part of the plan to send Subaru to the Sanctuary.

You sent him there, Emilia thought, hurt flashing in her eyes. You knew he was walking into a trap, and you just pointed the way.

"Beatrice-chan," Naoko spoke up, her voice gentle but probing. "Why are you being so secretive with him? You look like you want to tell him. You look like you're hurting. Why not just explain it to him instead of speaking in riddles?"

"I…" Beatrice faltered, shrinking under the mother's gaze.

"And who is 'Geuse'?"

The voice was cold. Rem stood up from her seat, her blue eyes burning with a rare fury directed at the Great Spirit.

"You speak of the leader of the Witch's Cult," Rem said, her voice trembling. "The man who tortured Subaru-kun. The man who twisted my body and limbs. You call that monster by a friend's name?"

Beatrice flinched. She looked around the room. She saw the suspicion in the knights, the confusion in the parents, and the anger in the maid.

She looked at Emilia, silently begging for support. You know him, Beatrice's eyes pleaded. You know he wasn't always like that. Tell them.

But Emilia looked away.

The half-elf bit her lip, staring at her lap. She couldn't do it. She couldn't admit that she, too, had loved the man who became Petelguese. She couldn't admit her connection to the Cult in front of everyone.

Beatrice felt the betrayal keenly. She was alone.

"He was not always a madman," Beatrice said quietly, her voice sounding small in the large room. "Before he was Sloth… before the madness took him… he was a kind man. He was Betty's friend. He brought me joy in a lonely world."

She looked Rem in the eye, her expression sorrowful but firm.

"The thing you fought was a monster, in fact. But the man I mourn… was not."

Rem stared at her, the anger warring with confusion, before she slowly sat back down, unable to reconcile the monster she knew with the grief on the spirit's face.

"What?"

"Roswaal's intentions, the meaning of the Gospel, answers about the Witch Factor… They're all there. If you want them, go there." Beatrice told him to answer his curiosities. "The half-beast girl can lead you there, I suppose."

"Hang on a second! What's up with you?" Subaru demanded with a panicked look. "Why are you suddenly willing to talk to me? Also, why do I have to go to the Sanctuary when you—"

"I will not tell you," Beatrice said coldly. "Betty has the right to refuse to tell you."

Her expression morphed into one of anger as the magic around her flared to the point that her hair was moving unnaturally.

Subaru grunted as the aura around Beatrice began pressing his body away.

"I showed you the path that leads to your answers. Do not expect me to indulge you any further, I suppose!" Beatrice shouted over the moving magic, giving him a glare that trembled on her face.

"Beako… Beatrice!" Subaru cried as he fought with the overflowing mana, looking at her with worry.

"I am not a tool here for your convenience!" Beatrice screamed with her glare falling into a look of misery, increasing the mana output a hundredfold, making Subaru fly towards the door of the library.

Otto is shown wiping his hand with a handkerchief, humming to himself peacefully in a hallway.

Subaru flew out of a door that had opened behind him and landed right on Otto's back as they crashed into each other.

"Wh-Why did you fly into me just as I was leaving the bathroom?!" Otto whined in pain as Subaru got his bearings together, still pressed against him.

Subaru's mind was elsewhere as he glared at the ground, muttering to himself. "Why did you look like you were about to cry again?"

The comical crash into Otto did nothing to alleviate the tension radiating from the gathered cast.

"What a suspicious set of actions, nya," Felix murmured, his tail flicking in agitation. He turned his gaze to the small spirit. "Ferri-chan has a bad feeling about this." He gave the spirit a mistrustful look.

Beatrice said nothing. She stared resolutely at the floor, refusing to acknowledge the healer.

Rem, sitting nearby, didn't bother asking questions. She simply glared at the back of the spirit's head. To Rem, Beatrice was now an accomplice to the man who had tortured Subaru. Knowing "Geuse" was a sin Rem wasn't ready to forgive.

"I can't believe it…" Ricardo rubbed the back of his neck, his wolf-like ears flattened. "We always thought the Archbishops were just… born monsters. Like demons or mabeasts in human skin. But you're tellin' me they were normal? That they had friends? That they were… good?"

"That is the most terrifying aspect, isn't it?" Reinhard said, his voice grave. He looked at his hands, perhaps thinking of the people he had cut down. "It implies that the madness of the Witch's Cult is not inherent… but acquired. That a good man can be corrupted so thoroughly he becomes… that."

"Beatrice-sama," Julius spoke up, his tone urgent. He leaned forward, the Knight of Spirits trying to appeal to her nature. "Please. This information—the nature of the Witch Factors, the corruption of the Archbishops—this is vital intelligence. If we understand how they are made, we might understand how to stop them. You have a duty to the world to explain what a 'Witch Factor' truly is."

"Duty…" Beatrice whispered the word with disdain, but she didn't elaborate.

"Did the 'witch factor' make him like that?"

The quiet question came from Hetaro, looking at Beatrice with a sharp, analytical gaze.

"You asked Natsuki-san about the Factor," Hetaro continued, his voice echoing in the quiet room. "You asked what happened to it. Did that thing… Did the Witch Factor turn your friend Geuse into Petelguese?"

The room froze. It was the question everyone was thinking but hadn't voiced.

Beatrice's shoulders trembled. She bit her lip, forcing herself to look away from Hetaro, away from Julius, away from everyone. She couldn't tell them.

"I… I have nothing to say to you," she choked out, retreating into her shell.

"Who cares about the green guy?" Meili seemed interested again as she looked down at Beatrice with curiosity. "I wanna know the reason behind why spirit-san seemed to cry? Onii-san noticed it too."

She tilted her head, glancing at Subaru on the screen and then Beatrice.

"You looked super disappointed, Beatrice-chan. You were waiting for Onii-san to say something, weren't you?"

Beatrice froze. Her breath hitched.

"You asked him who he was," Meili continued, tilting her head more. "Hmmm and showed him that book!"

"Hah!" Priscilla snapped her fan open, hiding a smirk of genuine amusement. "The mongrel strikes true. Well spotted, little killer. The Spirit reeks of desperation. She begs for a savior, yet rejects the only one who knocks, simply because he does not read from her script." Priscilla cast a scornful look at Beatrice.

"Pathetic." The crimson baroness spat while crossing her legs.

Beatrice gripped her dress so hard the fabric threatened to tear. She wanted to scream. She wanted to deny it. But she couldn't.

From the front row, Naoko looked back. She didn't understand anything being said. But she just saw a little girl shaking, surrounded by adults demanding answers she was too hurt to give.

"Leave her alone," Naoko whispered to herself, looking at Beatrice with profound pity. She wanted to reach out, to offer a hug, but the wall of mana and emotional distance was too high.

In the back row, Roswaal watched the dissection of his "sister" with a cold stare.

He saw her pain. He saw the way the assassin's words cut her to the bone. Coming close to the truth of what Beatrice wanted during that moment before she threw Subaru out of the library.

If I had known it would hurt you this much… Roswaal thought, his gaze unyielding. Would I stop teacher's plans?

…No. I would have done it anyway.

He closed his eyes.

Your suffering is a necessary variable, Beatrice. If your heart must break to push Subaru-kun to the finish line… then I'd have let it shatter a million times.

His gloved hand was gripped so hard that the fabric of the glove began creaking in a high pitched frequency.

"Excuse me! Could you please get off of—" Otto's plea was cut short as the scene changed to someone pouring tea.

"So you really are allowed to enter Beatrice-sama's forbidden library?" Frederica said with an impressed smile.

Frederica's eyes moved from the screen to the intense scene at the middle of the front row, where Beatrice was still receiving much tension from people like Rem and Felix. The maid's frown was more aimed at the people around Beatrice than anything said in the viewing itself.

"With everything that's awaiting Subaru-sama… I never thought that something that intense had occurred between him and Beatrice-sama… I was more amazed by his feat of finding the library…"

"Isn't it another reason why he should be thanked?"

Frederica turned to the speaker, raising her eyebrow.

"Petra-chan?"

The small maid gave the older maid a small nod of affirmation. "No matter how crappy Beatrice-chan was when dealing with him… He still did what he did to come and save her from the mansion burning down."

Frederica's eyes widened. "It's not lost on me, Petra-chan. You are saying that he saved her no matter what happens between them?"

There was a small grin on Petra's face as she looked back at the screen. A grin that was tired, exhausted, but filled with a little deviousness. "Can't you see, senpai? Beatrice-chan's never been more happy than when she was out of that library."

The elder maid couldn't but gape in realization to that statement, clear as day between Beatrice's mood on screen and the person Frederica has interacted with for a year straight everytime she would see Beatrice with Subaru on the training grounds or the parkour course.

"What? You thought I wouldn't be?" Subaru glanced at her as she set a teacup for him.

"Yes, but Emilia-sama has told me what a reliable person you are, and she was quite thorough in explaining why, so half of me had high hopes that you would be."

"Huh?" Subaru leaned forward with sudden interest.

Emilia, who was sipping her tea, looked up open-eyed with embarrassment at being mentioned so suddenly. "Hey! Frederica!"

Subaru turned to Emilia with a goofy look. "What? What did you tell her?"

"It's not like that!" Emilia blushed and looked at him pleadingly. "I did tell her about you, but she's exaggerating!"

Otto, who was sitting next to Subaru, had a smile on his face as he interjected. "No, I heard what you said, too. It had me think there must be more to Natuski-san than meets the eye."

Emilia closed her eyes in embarrassment. "Not you, too, Otto-kun!"

Subaru clenched his fists in pain. "Why wasn't I around to hear all this?!"

"I could never say it in front of you." Emilia looked at him tiredly before turning quickly to Frederica. "Now, Frederica, back to what you were saying!"

"..." Al watched with his fingers tapping over and over on the armrest he was leaning on. "Got all of this and you still went to her, pal?" His whisper wasn't said in the usual aloof tone that carried all of his conversations.

"What would cause mine divine self to hear anguish in your tone, Aldebaran, hm?" Priscilla raised her eyebrow to her knight, who'd simply look away with a shrug from the princes.

"Just being jealous of his life, I guess… You ever wonder that maybe I would've loved to have what he has before I had met with you?" Al casually laid out a deepness to himself that would never come out in any other circumstance, yet Priscilla simply scoffed at him for.

"Why waste mine time with such arbitrations? Mine divine self is all you have and that is all you shall ever need, for the world serves mine will and you serving was simply meant to be." Priscilla narrowed her eyes on him, bringing her fan to cover her lips. "Or is there more to the low dog who's come to know the heel of mine shoes better than his mother's face?"

"... That's harsh, princess… You don't have to be so angry with me for thinking about such fantasies. But… You're right. I am with you… That's more than enough."

"Splendid." Priscilla scoffed once again, turning back to the screen with her eyes scanning every piece introducing themselves to the game she's noticed. From the two men on either side of her, to the clown which is taking more of her attention even though she's more focused on Subaru and what his parents will do to save him.

"How interesting thine game is… Dog." She spoke confidently with a smirk of thrill. Her eyes settled to look at the ceiling, slowly showing that she understood one clear thing from the beginning.

"If such a low grovelling commoner like that Warden can die that easily, it would've been simple for mineself to finish the deed long ago, hmph."

The mischievous maid nodded her head. "Yes, of course. I know. Let us talk it over so you don't find yourself at a dead end."

"Dead end? What do you mean?" Subaru asked.

"Even if you were able to see Beatrice, whether or not she'd answer your question was another matter. Both you and Beatrice can be very stubborn, you know." Emilia looked down with a frown.

Subaru had a defeated smile on his face as he admitted. "That description is way too cute, but you're right. So what?"

Beatrice didn't know what she was bracing herself for, but she waited nonetheless. She never expected him to go in an extreme direction such as curse her name or complain to Emilia about her. But she still held reservations about what Subaru's reaction was to being thrown out of her library without any answers the first time he came to her. And then the second time. And the third. And over and over, she had thrown him out of many doors and windows in the mansion just because he kept coming back.

But he didn't. He called her "stubborn." He called the description "cute."

He does not hate Betty, she realized, a small, fragile warmth blooming in her chest to combat the cold gazes of the others behind her, mainly Rem. Even after I pushed him away… even after I refused him… he still speaks of me with warmth.

She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, hiding her face from Meili's prying eyes. "He is the stubborn one, in fact," she whispered to no one, her voice trembling less than before. "To treat a spirit who hurt him with such levity… he is truly a fool."

While the spirit found comfort, the parents were still reeling from the physical reality of the previous scene.

"Naoko," Kenichi whispered, leaning close to his wife while keeping a wary eye on the drill-haired girl. "Did you see how far he flew? That wasn't just a shove. That was like… a cannon blast."

"I know," Naoko replied, her voice hushed. "She looks so small, like a doll. But she just waved her hand and Subaru went flying through a door. We really can't treat her like a normal child, can we?"

Kenichi shook his head, a drop of sweat rolling down his temple. "I wonder what would happen to make her so close that she would stay by our son's side… It's obvious that she's a different person, remember when we met her a few hours ago?"

"Yes, after Patrasche-chan freed us from that terrible room…" Naoko spoke thoughtfully, "the way she speaks now is so much more lively… more hopeful somehow?"

"Mhm, I noticed that too." Kenichi sighed, stretching back into his seat as things continued to weigh on him. "How come there's nothing simply being given to us, huh? It's been a year since we've seen this son of ours and yet it feels more exhausting now…"

"There's a lot I want to talk to Roswaal about, too." Emilia continued. "So I asked Frederica to tell me where the Sanctuary is."

Emilia's eyes dim and her expressions turns gloomy from her anticipating one. "How come I didn't know anything at all…" Her eyes closed in a moment of self introspection as she recognized the familiar pattern where she was left behind when it came to knowledge.

"Havin' info always helps a gal out," Anastasia said this in a small hum. Bringing Emilia's gaze back to the row behind her. "Ya gotta be smart and consume as much as ya can or else the winds will roll ya over and present ya on a plate for all to enjoy~."

"Anastasia-san…?" Emiila seemed curious why the merchant Queen was talking to her.

But the merchant queen simply rolled her eyes and huffed with annoyance, "I see that the lesson ain't enterin' that brain of yours… Shame."

Emilia looked a bit hurt by the sheer dismissiveness from the merchant rival but couldn't do more when Anastasia looked up to the screen.

The half-elf bit her lip and moved her hand back to touch Subaru's sleeping one, familiarly squeezing it.

Subaru looked away for a moment, remembering what Beatrice had told him. "So you're going to tell us where it is, Frederica?"

"I was no match for Emilia-sama's persistence, even though I have been told not to disclose any more than necessary." Frederica turned to Subaru with a guilty smile. "But I would like to ask for a bit of time to prepare. Shall we say two days?"

"Prepare?" Subaru turned to her with a raised brow. "Oh, that's right. We'd all be leaving the mansion, so that's—" He leaned back with his hands behind his head, but he was interrupted.

"No, I will be staying in the mansion. I cannot accompany you."

"What?" Subaru looked at her with surprise. "You're not going with us? How are we supposed to get there, then?"

"Hehehe…" Otto laughs obnoxiously beside Subaru, earning the eyes of everyone in the room. "You're rather slow on the uptake, Natsuki-san."

Otto had to wince at this. "Oh~... I remember this moment with me too…" He turned to the parents and Emilia who all looked at him with curiosity, sweating nervously once he realized that the screen had paused because of him.

"Ah… Sorry for what um… You're about to see." Otto rubbed the back of his head and gave them a shy look. But he felt Emilia's gaze intensify on him suddenly, making him wince.

Did Emilia-sama remember what he did in that moment? Of course she would… She's not an idoit.

But her hardened eyes turned wide with recognition suddenly, not with anger like he'd expected.

"Oh… This silly moment." Emilia had replaced the previous negativity from her interaction with Anastasia prior with a small grin, seeing Otto's anxious face. "I see…"

Otto only blinked with confusion, not knowing what to read from the half-elf lady as the screen above them began to play.

Subaru looked from Otto to the two smiling ladies with him, understanding them immediately. "Oh! So, Otto's gonna get us to the Sanctuary?" He looked back at the self-satisfied Otto with a grin. "Because he thinks cooperating with Emilia in any way possible will give Roswaal, her backer, a better impression of him?"

"No, er…" Otto put his hands out in defense as Subaru let Emilia look at him with surprise.

"Otto-kun, is that true?" She asked him in a betrayed tone.

Otto had to put his hands on each side of his head to cover his ears. "Emilia-sama's pure, innocent eyes are killing me! I'm sorry! That's exactly right!"

Emilia managed to let a chuckle past her lips, even with how chained she felt from her self blame. Especially when others like Felt, Mimi, and Ricardo were chuckling freely at Otto's predicaments.

"You really are a light in Subaru's life, Otto-san." Naoko commented while giggling into her hand.

Otto's lips thinned at the mother's words, his hands clenching slightly while Garfiel patted his shoulder with a slight grin. "It's ok, Ottobro! Ya wouldn't have been there with Cap'n if ya didn't answer such selfish trader instinct."

His fists clenched even more at this in outrage. "It wasn't selfish! I had to survive an oil market collapse or else my career as a merchant was—"

"It's alright, Otto." Julius cuts him off with an infuriating expression of mock understanding. "We all must do what we can. Even if some of us need to act like the devil himself to get what we want."

"Indeed." More shock filled Otto's face as Anastasia herself seemed to nod along her knight's exaggeration with a stone face. "I respect those who do what they must, so good for ya, minister-kun." Anastasia gave him a look of respect.

A mocking respect. Which ended up making Otto huff and turn away from the three traitors.

Emilia and Naoko had to giggle with each other as they watched the interaction from the side.

"The way you wear your ulterior motive on your sleeve makes you all the more likable, Otto," Subaru said mischievously from the side as the merchant trembled before Emilia's gaze.

"That's not exactly comforting coming from you!" Otto cried out with tears in his eyes after being exposed.

"I appreciate your help." Subaru turned away from Otto and looked at Frederica. "On that note, you can tell the three of us about the Sanctuary."

Frederica bowed and answered with a soft voice. "Very well." She rose with a serious and firm expression. "What I am about to tell you is the undisclosed location of the Sanctuary of Clemaldy and how to enter it. And there is one name you must not forget as you travel there."

"Beware of the one by the name of 'Garfiel'. At the Sanctuary, he will be the one with whom you must exercise the most care." Following her warning, the others looked at her with nervous expressions until the scene showed the mansion's outer walls under the night sky.

A dozen heads turned simultaneously to look at the golden-haired boy sitting in the row behind Emilia.

"Seems like your muscles are famous, guy," Kenichi glanced at Garfiel with a wry smile. "Ain't she your sister? I mean, you look tough, sure. But 'exercise the most care'? She made you sound like a final boss."

"How'd ya know that she's my sister?" Garfiel grumbled, seemingly annoyed by what was being protrayed on the screen.

Kenichi and Naoko blinked, glancing toward one another then to Garfiel with frowns of confusion. "Are you kidding…?" Naoko asked hesitantly, not knowing if Garfiel was serious. "Um…"

"Ya look exactly like 'er, ya doofus!" Felt glared at Garfiel with annoyance written on her face. "Can ya honestly be more dumb?!"

"OI! HAVE SOME RESPECT, MINE AMAZING SELFS DIDN'T DO SHIT TO GET THIS TYPE 'F TREATMENT!" Garfiel growled, losing all his seriousness when opposed with Felt's sharp tongue and deadpanned glare.

"Always the hot head," Ram shook her head, putting her chin on her knuckle while closing her leg.

Rem was staring at Garfiel from her seat, eyes wondering more on the boy's shoulders, seeing the tension within them, and realizing that she's never truly gave much thought about Garfiel or the Sanctuary when it came to the years she's been with Roswaal's care.

She looked back to Frederica's seat, trying to speak with the older maid, but she found the mentor talking with Petra instead.

"Are you happier… With Big Bro Garfiel living with us?" Petra asked Frederica from the side, surprising the elder maid with the sudden conversation.

"Petra-chan? What do you mean? Why ask this?" Frederica frowned at the sudden glare Petra was giving her.

"... Why warn others about your own brother in this way?" Petra held a harsh gaze on her mentor, one that had a hint of wanting to understand. But all of the judgement in the world.

"I see… I'm sorry, Petra-chan." In realization, Frederica chuckled and patted the younger girl's head. "You'll be able to see why that warning was needed. Though it means nothing about how much I care for my little brother. Trust me."

Petra blinked under the hand of her mentor, giving her a small nod but politely moving her head away from the hand patting it.

"Seeing when the kid held down that clown lord," Heinkel Astrea grunted, eyeing the boy with a mix of appraisal and wariness. "If the maid, his own sister, is warning people about him, it means he wasn't exactly rolling out the red carpet. You were a real headache for them, weren't you, kid?"

"Garfiel-san is… an obstacle?" Schult gasped, his small hands covering his mouth. "But he is sitting right there! He is friends with Subaru-sama now!"

"I mean…" Al snorted at Schult's words. "If you were here from the start… You'd know that there are far worse people who sit right next to Pal."

Schult frowned at Al and looked around the room with confusion.

"It complicates things," Tivey adjusted his monocle, looking between Frederica and Garfiel. "For a sister to warn against her brother… It suggests that the Sanctuary is not just a location, but a conflict zone. And that hotheaded blonde-sama shall be a complication."

Mimi glared at her brother with her tiny hands moving toward anything she can get to smack him. "Don't judge 'em based off nothin' like that!"

Hearing how people were talking about him, Garfiel sat up straighter, puffing out his chest. A grin, sharp and feral, stretched across his face as he basked in the sudden attention.

"Heh! Did ya hear that?!" Garfiel boasted, slapping his knee. "My amazin' self is so dangerous I need a warnin' label! That's right! I ain't just some small fry. When I'm guardin' something, not even a fly gets past without payin' the toll! That's pure aura right there!" He laughed, a loud, barking sound that echoed in the theater.

"Least he's gonna be happy… Hope Subaru befriended you for your muscles and not your brains, big guy…" Kenichi sweated, looking between Naoko and the scene the blonde boy was causing with a nervous grin. "But damn, that fire's akin to one of my gym buddies. Never thought these would be the type of kids Subaru hangs with…"

"I think he's a good boy," Naoko whispers to her husband with a small smile. "His heart is so wide open, it's honestly cute."

But as the laughter died down, and the screen showed the dark, foreboding night sky, the grin slipped from Garfiel's face like oil sliding off glass.

His shoulders slumped. The bravado evaporated, replaced by the crushing weight of memory.

'Exercise the most care,' Big sis said… Garfiel thought, his stomach churning.

He looked down at his hands, hands that, in the coming scenes, would be covered in blood. His own, and his friends'.

"...Damn it." Garfiel whispered, his voice losing all its roughness. "Cap'n… What the fuck am I supposed t' feel with your power hidin' even more terrible shit than I know 'bout."

Otto, sitting next to him, noticed the sudden dimming of his friend's spirit. He saw the way Garfiel curled in on himself.

"Hey," Otto murmured, nudging Garfiel's boot with his own. "You… You're really bad at hiding your worry from your face, Garfiel-san."

Otto offered a small, knowing smile.

"If you weren't such a stubborn obstacle, Natsuki-san wouldn't have had to try so hard to save you. Being difficult is just part of your charm, isn't it?"

Garfiel looked at Otto, then let out a shaky breath, forcing a weak smirk back onto his face. "Shut it, bro. I ain't stubborn. I'm just… far too ."

But his eyes remained glued to the screen, filled with dread for the violence he knew was coming.

Another scene replaced the old one, showing Subaru standing over Rem's bed with sunlight entering the room through the windows, showing that it's morning.

"Rem…" Subaru called softly, looking at her sleeping face. He had a charming smile as he spoke with calm and compassion. "We're leaving now. I told Frederica to take good care of you. Be good and wait here for me, okay?"

The collective heart of the audience seemed to skip a beat.

"Oh my goodness…" Naoko brought both hands to her cheeks, her eyes shimmering with delight. She leaned heavily into Kenichi.

"Kenichi, look at him…" Naoko squealed quietly. "I always knew our Subaru was a hopeless romantic but didn't meet the right girl for him… Seeing him all grown up like this and treating the people around him so responsibly… I don't know if I should be proud or sad I'm not apart of it all."

"Yeah," Kenichi rubbed his nose, hiding a proud grin behind his hand. "He's… changed a lot," Kenichi murmured. "That's the face of a man making a commitment. Good on him for it."

"It is… unfair," Anastasia sighed, fanning herself with a wistful expression. "To have a man look at ya like that while you're sleepin'… makes a girl jealous, no?"

"Indeed," Crusch Karsten agreed, her eyes soft as she watched the interaction. "Many knights pledge loyalty with their swords, but few possess that kind of quiet, unwavering dedication in their hearts. Natsuki-sama really is a remarkable man."

But the most profound reaction came from the blue-haired maid herself.

Rem sat frozen, her breath caught in her throat. She watched the way Subaru looked at her sleeping form—not with pity, not with annoyance at her condition, but with pure, undiluted love.

Tears welled up in her large blue eyes, spilling over onto her cheeks without her even realizing it.

"He told me to wait," Rem whispered, her voice trembling. "He told me to be good."

She felt a warmth spread through her chest that chased away the cold feeling of being "useless" she had felt earlier.

"He loves me," she choked out, a sob of happiness escaping her lips. "Even like that… he loves me."

Ram, sitting behind her, watched her sister cry. She looked at the screen, at the boy she usually treated with disdain. She saw the care he took with her sister, the respect he showed even when no one was watching.

Ram closed her eyes and let out a small, resigned huff.

"Hmph. At least he knows how to treat sister properly," Ram said, though her voice lacked its usual bite. In fact, Ram was giving Subaru a smile of gratitude. "Stop crying, Rem. It's unsightly. Barusu is merely doing the bare minimum expected of a manservant."

"No, Sister," Rem shook her head, smiling through her tears. "He is doing much more than that."

Emilia watched them from the front row, a tender smile on her face. She felt no jealousy, only a deep sense of peace seeing the two of them like that.

"Such a caring dunderhead," Emilia gave a small chuckle, one full of emotion. "Idiot."

He received no answer as he turned around and walked out of the room. Once he stepped out of Rem's room, he was surprised by the sight of a new, smaller maid standing in front of him.

"You ready?" Petra asked cutely as he closed the door and put a hand on his hip.

Subaru smiled down at her. "Sure am, new recruit. I see you're rocking the uniform already."

Petra gave a happy twirl. "Sure am!" she giggled happily as she stopped and bowed her head in a maid's gesture. "Did you say goodbye to Rem-san?"

"Yeah, something like that." Subaru looked behind at the door with a smile. "We're not planning to stay out there long, but I wanted to see her first." He turned to her with a guilty expression. "Could you take care of Rem for me while I'm gone, Petra?"

"Understood, Subaru-sama!" Petra smiled brightly.

"Still, we started advertising to hire a new maid two days ago, and this is your first day actually being in the mansion. I'm impressed you found the place without getting lost." Subaru is shown walking with Petra by his side through the mansion hallways. "And I really admire your decision to leave your parents at such a young age."

"I'm twelve years old! I'm old enough to be a working grown-up! I mean… An Adult!" She childishly pouted and looked at him. "You need to treat me like an adult, too, Subaru-sama!"

"Get better at speaking politely and get Frederica to fully initiate you, and I'll think about it," Subaru said smoothly, earning a nod of affirmation from her.

"Yeah, I mean… Yes, sir!"

Kenichi choked on his own spit.

"Twelve?!" Kenichi shouted, his eyes popping out of his head. He looked from the screen to the girl sitting in the second row. "You're a sixth grader! In my world, you'd still be worrying about multiplication tables and recess! What are you doing working a full-time job in a mansion?!"

"You're working far away from your parents?!" Naoko covered her mouth, looking at Petra with maternal worry.

Petra turned in her seat to face them. She stood up, smoothing her dress with a dignity that belied her age.

"It is not strange here," Petra said firmly, addressing Subaru's parents. "In our village, you start helping out as soon as you can walk. Twelve is plenty old enough to make decisions."

She looked at the screen, watching herself walk beside her hero.

"Besides… I didn't want to just be the girl who got saved," Petra admitted, her voice softening. "Subaru-sama saved me from mabeasts... He saved the whole village. I… I wanted to be useful to him. I wanted to be where he was, so I could help him back."

Naoko's expression melted. "Oh… you really admire him, don't you?"

"He is my hero," Petra said simply, blushing slightly.

Naoko looked at Subaru with surprise, holding her chest with a slightly proud but confused expression. "He's really helped save that many… While he was with you?"

"With me?" Petra tilted her head, confused by the meaning. "I'm sorry, Naoko-sama… I… don't understand."

The mother only shook her head turning around from Petra after giving a comforting motherly smile. "I apologize, it's just me being an airhead."

Petra frowned with a bit of hesitation filling her when she wanted to inquire more, but she slumps into her seat, accepting that she won't get more out of that conversation.

"That's pretty noble." A teasing voice drifted from behind Petra. Meili leaned forward, resting her chin on the back of Petra's chair. "Wouldn't it be a bit boring though? Playing a maid is hardly something that seems exciting to someone like Meili-chan…"

She didn't turn around, but her posture became rigid. "I am not playing," Petra said coldly. "And I know it's dangerous. That's why I need to be there. To protect what matters."

"Protect?" Meili giggled, as if she found the idea of a twelve-year-old protector hilarious. "With a broom? You're funny, Petra-chan. But you know… playing grown-up can get you hurt." Meili's voice dropped an octave, losing its playfulness for a split second, hinting at the violence she herself had inflicted on that very mansion.

Petra turned her head sharply, meeting the assassin's gaze with a glare that was far older than twelve.

"I know what you did," Petra whispered, the tension between them crackling like static electricity. "And I know why you attacked us. I'll keep saying it again and again, for a monster like you, Meili-chan."

Meili blinked, surprised by the steel in the village girl's eyes. She smirked, leaning back.

"Scary, scary~," Meili sang, though her eyes lingered on Petra with a new, calculating curiosity.

Subaru chuckled at her before stopping suddenly, something catching his attention. Petra stopped beside him and kept looking where he was staring.

Subaru opened the door he was staring at, revealing an empty room with no furniture except a chair and a desk. "I forgot what a pain she can be when she's serious about hiding."

"Is there really a mysterious room here?" Petra looked into the room beside him.

"Yeah… Beatrice." Subaru said with a smile, closing the door and looking at Petra with trust. "You know her, right? Take care of her for me, too. You might randomly encounter her when opening a door somewhere."

"Wait, Subaru-sama! Aren't you asking a bit much of me?" Petra pouted again, earning an uneasy frown from him.

"I know. Sorry. But you're the only one I can ask. I really am sorry."

The little maid seemed happy to have such a purpose in his eyes, her eyes glowing because of his trust, a red blush seeping over her cheeks.

"Oh, all right!" she gave a childish giggle. "If you insist, I'll just have to help you out!"

"Thanks. You're really a huge help." Subaru nodded, and they walked out of the mansion.

"Asking a kid to play guard dog for a Spirit..." The grumble came from the middle row. Heinkel took a long sigh wiping his mouth with a scowl out of habit. He stared at the retreating form of the little maid on the screen.

"It's reckless," Heinkel muttered, his voice raspy but audible. "... That sleeping gal won't be findin' much company in a child who doesn't even remember her name."

"But I… Did take care of Rem-sama when asked about it." Petra gave the man a slight look of offense and confusion.

"It ain't about you or what you did, kid. Don't be dumb," Heinkel growled, seeming to not want to look towards Petra if possible as he glared at the screen. "This fucking bullshit was already hard to deal with when we saw the attack that caused this 'sleeping beauty' disease… But I have to see people struck with the same— Fuck."

"Heinkel-sama?" Schult leaned to the edge of his seat beside Meili, looking at the man with worry. "Are you okay?"

Heinkel's arm was being pinched by none other than the lady sitting next to him, one that was giving him a small grin with fire filling the red eyes she stared into his soul with.

"Shhh~" Priscilla pinched tighter, making him squeal in his seat, unable to fight her fingers. "Not as of this moment of mine time."

Heinkel grit his teeth, unable to stop a tear from showing at the edge of his eye, before Priscilla finally let go of his hand, glaring at him with a huff and fanning herself.

Petra and Schult glanced at each other then at Heinkel, who was holding his hand and rubbing frantically at the sore spot.

"..." Petra particularly found the man's words telling that he was dealing with something that no one knew about. And she could understand that he was a lot more sympathetic to Rem's situation… For some reason. She could just tell from the way his frown seems so sad.

But seeing Priscilla pulling him by a metaphorical leash and keeping his agony inside of himself, Petra couldn't do much to hep or understand.

All she could do was offer him her prayers and support, or perhaps Petra already knew that no matter what happens… In this theater… All is revealed in the end.

She turned away from Heinkel and focused back on the screen again, enjoying the sight of Subaru smiling down at her on the screen.

She gave a smile back.

Outside, Subaru and Emilia get ready to enter the carriage, driven by Otto in the front seat.

"Take care of the mansion for us," Emilia tells the two maids.

"You can rely on me." Frederica bowed her head with Petra by her side. "Take care during your travels, Emilia-sama. And take this." She gives me a small blue jewel tied by a neck rope. "This will allow you to get past the barrier in the forest and enter the Sanctuary. From there, the ground dragons should take you to the location I described."

"So this stone is the requirement to get through the barrier?" Subaru looked as Frederica placed the crystal in Emilia's hand.

"You have the location and the qualification. Now you only need resolve and a strong will."

"Frederica…" Emilia whispered with wonder as the maid stepped away from her and faced her with a stern expression.

"Take good care of the Sanctuary. And do not forget what I said earlier."

Emilia nodded her head at the warning. "Okay. We'll watch out for Garfiel. I promise."

Emilia stared at the stone on the screen—the necklace that would hang heavy around her neck in the trials to come. Her violet eyes narrowed into a glare of pure distaste.

"That stone..." Emilia whispered, her hand instinctively going to her chest, remembering the feeling of mana violently reacting, the nausea, the sensation of her soul being rejected.

"This thing…" Otto hissed, his usual friendly demeanor gone. He adjusted his hat, looking at the screen with a scowl.

Behind them, Garfiel was practically vibrating with rage. He wasn't looking at the screen; he was burning a hole into the front of Roswaal's face.

"Ya bastard," Garfiel growled, his voice low and dangerous like a beast's growl. "Ya knew. Ya knew what tha' barrier does t' Half-Elves. And ya used my big sis to push 'em into the cage!" Garfiel slammed a fist into his palm. "She didn't know! Big Sis thought she was helpin'! Ya used her loyalty to hurt 'em!"

Roswaal didn't turn around. He merely tilted his head, a ghost of a smile playing on his painted lips, acknowledging the accusation without a shred of remorse.

While the Emilia camp stewed in anger, the strategists were dissecting the mechanics.

"A barrier that requires a physical token to pass?" Anastasia Hoshin mused, her eyes sharp. "Ain't that old magic. Expensive one at that…"

"It is a filtration system," Crusch Karsten observed. "If Emilia-sama needs a stone, but the others do not... the barrier is discriminatory."

"It rejects those of mixed blood, in fact," Beatrice spoke up, her voice devoid of emotion. She sat with her legs swinging slightly. "The Sanctuary was created by… someone powerful."

"Oh?" Felix perked up, his ears twitching. "So, someone like me, a full demi-human, could walk right in?"

"You would face no resistance, I suppose," Beatrice nodded. "The barrier cares nothing for you. It only hates the halfway point."

"Wait a second," Kenichi interrupted, leaning over the back of his chair with a worried frown. He pointed at the screen where Subaru was hopping into the carriage.

"Frederica gave the shiny rock to Emilia-sama. But she didn't give one to Subaru. If that barrier is dangerous... what happens to my boy when he tries to walk through it? Does he get zapped?"

"Yeah!" Naoko added, clutching her cheeks. "Is he going to face-plant into an invisible wall?"

Beatrice looked at the parents, her expression flattening into a deadpan stare.

"Nothing will happen to him, in fact," she said bluntly.

"Nothing?" Kenichi blinked.

"Your son is disappointingly, utterly human, in fact," Beatrice explained with a dry huff. "He has no special bloodline. No mix. No magic heritage. To the barrier, he is as significant as a common field mouse. He will walk right through without even noticing it exists."

"Oh," Kenichi sat back, looking strangely conflicted. "I'm relieved he's safe, but... being called a 'field mouse' kinda stings."

"He is my field mouse," Naoko said proudly. "And an invisible wall can't stop him!"

"It's not the wall that stops 'em," Garfiel muttered darkly from behind them. "It's what's waitin' on the other side."

"Aren't we being cooey with how sin~iii~ster you're making us sound, Garfiel-kun?" Roswaal smirked at the sheer rage Garfiel was sending him with his glare.

"YA SHUT YER FUCKIN' MOUTH! THERE WAS NO 'US' IN 'ERE!"

"You were just as much of a danger to him as anyone behind that barrier." Roswaal's expression was still that of a dark smile but his words were said in such a cold tone that it made people shiver.

Frederica frowned at her master, staying quiet after she saw Garfiel's face hide an emotion from everyone and turn away from the clown lord with a huff.

"Poor Garfiel-kun…" Rem whispered from Frederica's row, the maid able to hear her and nod along. "He seems to be in so much anger and pain… All because of Roswaal-sama?"

Rem's confusion wasn't answered by Frederica however, nor was it acknowledged by Emilia or Beatrice as they all wanted the viewing to go along.

"Um, Subaru-sama…" Petra spoke from Frederica's side, looking adorably nervous as she had his attention. She pulled up a white handkerchief to hide her face. "Would you please accept this?"

"Uh?" Subaru was confused by the gesture until Frederica began to explain.

"Lending a white handkerchief to a traveler, who later returns it stained and worn from the journey, is an old custom performed as a prayer for safe travels."

"Oh, it's one of those things?" Subaru said while turning back to Petra. "Okay, got it! Thanks, Petra. I promise I'll return it."

He let her wrap the cloth around his wrist and tie it in place, but after she was done, the little maid scampered to hide behind Frederica with a blush adorning her cheeks.

"What? What brought that reaction on?" Subaru looked offended by this. "This sudden rebellious phase is making me sad."

Frederica smiled and turned to them. "Now, you should hurry. The Lost Forest of Clemaldy grows more dangerous as night approaches."

Kenichi grinned at Petra on the screen. "That's the classic 'Come back to me' token! My son is collecting hearts like they're trading cards. Duchess-san, is that a common thing here? Tying a ribbon on your knight?"

Crusch smiled, finding the father's enthusiasm infectious. "It is a gesture of deep sincerity, Natsuki-sama. To entrust a token to a traveler is to say, 'My heart goes with you.' Your son has a natural talent for inspiring loyalty in those around him. Even the youngest among us wish to be his strength."

"He's a natural leader, huh?" Kenichi looked proud. "Or just naturally dense. Look at him, he thinks it's just a souvenir."

"Perhaps his density is part of his safety," Crusch chuckled softly. "If he realized the weight of every heart he carried, he might never be able to walk forward."

In the second row, the real Petra looked down at her own hands. She remembered that handkerchief. She remembered the magic she had clumsily stitched into it, a tiny, desperate prayer for his safety.

"It was just a piece of cloth," Petra whispered to herself, clasping her hands together. "But... I hope it helped. Even if just a tiny bit. I hope it kept the bad things away."

While the atmosphere around the Natsukis was warm, a confusing cold front was moving through the row behind them.

Rem had been listening to the conversations around her, Heinkel's insults, Garfiel's anger, Ram's resignation. She watched the screen where they were heading toward this "Sanctuary," a place everyone seemed to dread.

She turned to Emilia, her brow furrowed in genuine confusion.

"Emilia-sama," Rem whispered, keeping her voice low so Ram wouldn't interrupt. "I do not understand. Why is everyone speaking of the Master with such… hostility?"

Emilia froze, her tea cup halting halfway to her lips. She turned to look at Rem's innocent, puzzled blue eyes.

"Everyone is acting as if Roswaal-sama is the villain," Rem continued, glancing back at the clown in the back row. "They blame him for the Sanctuary. They say he had no plan. But… the Master is the borders' greatest mage. He is the camp's sponsor. Surely, he has a reason for his actions?"

"Rem…" Emilia started, her voice faltering. She looked at the screen, then back at the maid. "The Sanctuary… a lot happened there. Things that… changed how we see him."

"Changed how you see him?" Rem tilted her head.

"Roswaal… he isn't who we thought he was," Emilia said carefully, unable to bring herself to list the crimes, the hired assassins, the manipulation of Subaru's trauma, the disregard for Ram's life. "You'll see it on the screen. But… please, just prepare yourself. The Master you remember… he might not be the man you see in this next couple of viewings."

Rem looked at Emilia's pained expression, then back at the screen where the carriage was disappearing into the dark forest. The seed of doubt that had been planted within her heart now growing substantially.

The scene changes to show the carriage departing from the estate's main gardens, leaving behind Frederica and Petra bowing in respect.

"Safe travels," Frederica whispers as Petra begins to wave, having a white handkerchief of her own.

"Subaru-sama! You'd better protect the lady!"

Frederica took out a letter from the pocket of her maid's dress, looking at it with increasing worry. "I have done exactly as Master directed. Now everything depends on how Emilia-sama overcomes the Sanctuary. There is nothing we can do but pray."

The word hung in the air of the theater like a guillotine blade waiting to drop.

Overcomes.

"Since when do you have to 'overcome' a Sanctuary?" Felt sat up in her seat, her red eyes narrowed. "Ain't this supposed to be a safe place?"

"She is right," Crusch said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous octave. "The terminology implies a test being set up. For a sponsor to deliberately place such an obstacle in front of his own candidate during a Royal Selection… it borders on sabotage."

"It's worse than sabotage. It's a script." Anastasia Hoshin tapped her fan against her palm, her eyes cold and calculating. "All of this… To calculate Natsuki-kun's presence this much… Hm…" She was trying to decipher Roswaal's plans through her eye scanning alone.

"Excuse me, Margrave Mathers."

The polite but firm voice came from the Iron Fang section. Tivey, the bespectacled triplet, adjusted his glass, looking at the back row with genuine professional confusion.

"I manage the logistics for the Hoshin Company often," Tivey stated, his voice devoid of fear but full of incredulity. "Investing in a representative, Emilia-sama, and then deliberately throwing her into a situation she might not survive… that is terrible asset management. Why risk your primary investment? If she fails to 'overcome' this Sanctuary, you lose everything. What is the profit margin in destroying your own camp?"

"It doesn't make sense!" Hetaro added, shaking his head. "Unless the goal isn't the Royal Selection at all."

In the front row, the parents were gripping each other's hands.

"'Overcome'…" Naoko whispered, the color draining from her face. "Subaru… He thinks he's going to find help. But he's walking into a test?"

"It's a gauntlet," Kenichi corrected, his expression grim. He looked at the letter in Frederica's hand on the screen. "That guy… Roswaal. He's not a leader. He's acting like a game master."

Kenichi turned his head, casting a glare toward the back.

"You'd better hope my son is as good at games as I taught him to be... Because if you set him up to fail…"

In the back row, Roswaal simply crossed his legs, resting his chin on his fist. He ignored Tivey's logic and Kenichi's threat.

Overcome, Roswaal thought, a twisted hatred in his eyes. He didn't have the courtesy to overcome anything. That selfish little—

The scene changes to Patrasche dragging the carriage slowly through a dense jungle that blocks the sun with its leaves alone.

"Puck isn't showing up?" Subaru asked as he was shown sitting next to Emilia in the carriage.

"Yeah." She answered. "I've called out to him several times, and I can feel the link from our contract, but…"

"Has anything like this happened before?" Subaru asked her.

"Not very often, but there have been a few times when he didn't show up for a few days." Emilia's words force Subaru to look down and remember what Puck said to him before.

"I'm counting on you to take care of Lia."

"Couldn't have been…" Subaru muttered to himself, earning her attention.

Emilia stared at the screen, her violet eyes narrowing into a sharp, icy glare as the image of the small grey cat flashed in Subaru's memory.

She gripped the fabric of her skirt, her knuckles turning white.

She remembered the freezing cold of the previous viewings. She remembered the monster rising from the snow.

"You leave when I need you," Emilia whispered, a dark fury simmering behind her eyes. "And you come back only to kill the one person who actually stayed. You are the worst kind of liar, Puck."

Emilia seems to mistake his expression for worry as she smiles at him. "But I do have contracts with lesser spirits, too, and I can also fight with them." She summoned the small spirits, which manifested as glowing blue orbs around her finger. "No matter what happens, I'll protect you!"

Subaru quickly rose from his thinking posture to look at her gratefully. "Wow, you're so manly!"

"Hey!" Emilia cried with a smile as Subaru chuckled with her.

"Frederica did warn us that something might happen."

"Oh… Garfiel, right?" Emilia said, making him nod.

"Yeah. Roswaal did mention a few times that he was going to see him…" Subaru was cut off when Otto opened the front window to speak to them.

Garfiel let out a long, heavy sigh. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and burying his face in his hands. The bravado he had shown earlier during Frederica's warning had completely vanished.

"'ere 't comes," Garfiel groaned, his voice muffled by his palms. "..."

He dreaded it. He dreaded seeing himself attack the people he now called family. He dreaded showing the room just how hostile he had been to the man he now called Captain.

Next to him, Otto watched his friend crumble.

"You were protecting the barrier," Otto said softly. He reached out, patting Garfiel firmly on the back. "You didn't know us. You didn't know Natsuki-san. Don't be too hard on the 'you' of the past."

Garfiel peeked through his fingers, looking at the kind face of the merchant he had once treated so poorly.

"I tried to kill ya, Otto-bro," Garfiel mumbled miserably.

"You tried to intimidate us," Otto corrected with a small, forgiving smile. "There's a difference. Besides, we're sitting here together now, aren't we? Just watch it and learn from it."

Garfiel grunted, sitting back up but keeping his eyes low. "Yeah... guess so. Still gonna suck watching myself be a jerk."

"We've all been jerks in this theater, Garfiel-san," Otto chuckled. "You're in good company."

"Excuse me! We're in the forest!"

Subaru and Emilia opened the curtain of the carriage to look outside at the mystical trees that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"Woah… What a spot!" Kenichi looked on at the endless forest with wonder in his eyes. "I can't believe our son is going to such places so young…"

Naoko herself was nodding with what her husband said.

"The Lost Woods of Clemaldy. A special barrier there protects the Sanctuary." Frederica is shown explaining to the three of them about the woods in a flashback. "It makes outsiders lose their way, to prevent them from getting close. That is why they call it the 'Lost Woods. '"

"A barrier that distorts spatial orientation," Julius murmured, his eyes scanning the trees on screen. "That is high-level magic. To maintain such a spell over a forest of that size indefinitely… the mana cost would be astronomical. The Sanctuary is truly a fortress."

Beatrice felt a certain amount of pride when she heard this from the knight and noted the nods of agreement from Crusch and Felt together.

"Ain't that what I just said, Julius-kun?" Anastasia's eyes narrowed on her knight, making him bristle and bow in apology.

"So the Sanctuary is just ahead…" Subaru mutters while overlooking the greenery of the world outside the carriage. He noticed Emilia's hand gripping the headrest of her seat tightly.

"Emilia-tan, are you actually nervous?" Subaru's question makes her recoil with surprise.

"Huh? How could you tell?"

"I know everything about you. At least, that's what I'd like to say, but anyone could tell." He gave her a relaxed smile.

He started rubbing his cheeks frequently, gesturing for her to do the same. She starts imitating him before her eyes widen. "You're right!" She whispers with amazement.

"He reads her like a book," Naoko giggled softly, leaning her head on her hand. "Look at that. He didn't ask her to calm down; he just helped her relax physically. That's a good husband trick, Kenichi. Take notes."

"I'm taking notes, I'm taking notes," Kenichi grinned, though his eyes were warm.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." She says to him. "When I think that we're about to arrive at the Sanctuary, a village where only demihumans live…"

"No, I should apologize. I wasn't thinking that far ahead." Subaru closed his eyes with a guilty expression. "I guess there might be more half-elves like you there, huh?"

"I've never seen any half-elves other than myself." Emilia looks increasingly desperate at the floor of the carriage. "But just maybe, in the Sanctuary…"

Garfiel looked away from the screen, his jaw clenching. "..."

"Something wrong?" Julius asked, wondering why would that moment with Emilia's hopes to find kin bring such an expression on Garfiel.

"Just rememberin' mine amazing selfs family, 's all." The blonde's words were as cryptic as the cause for his glare against his feet.

Julius glanced at Otto, hoping for a better explanation than that.

The merchant was giving Garfiel a small frown as the screen above them played again.

"Garfiel-san's family in the Sanctuary are half-elfs themselves…" Otto left out the part about them all being clones of one half-elf.

Subaru's head turned to her, with a confident grin replacing his guilty expression. "Don't worry. I'll–"

But before he could finish his sentence, the blue crystal on Emilia's neck started to shine and illuminate the entire carriage.

"Emilia?!" Subaru leaned back as they both looked at her neck in shock.

She looked at him with increasing worry. "Uh… Is this…"

"I suddenly have a really bad feeling!" Subaru moved forward and took the blue crystal off her neck. "I'm borrowing this, Emilia!"

He opened the carriage window and was about to throw it out, but a loud thud forced his eyes to move back to Emilia.

She was sprawled on the floor of the moving carriage, unconscious.

"Emilia!" Subaru shouted, but the crystal in his hand began to shine much brighter to the point he couldn't ignore it.

"She collapsed!"

Naoko gasped, clutching Kenichi's arm. "Why did she fall? Is she sick? Did the crystal do that?"

"It's the barrier!" Beatrice spoke loud, trying to be commanding to offset the panic, sitting up straighter in her chair. Her eyes narrowed at the glowing light on the screen. "That crystal is merely activating the spell stuck within it. Because it has met the conditions to activate whatever magic spell was impude within it."

"Why would you give such a thing to Emilia-sama?" Crusch's eyes narrowed on Frederica.

"It's a trap," Felt hissed, slamming her fist on her armrest. "Shit!"

"Indeed," Roswaal murmured from the back, a small, satisfied smile playing on his lips as the chaos unfolded.

"The stage dem~aaa~nds an entrance, does it not? Separation is the first step of the trial. Good luck, Subaru-kun."

"Acting like this won't lead to you being beaten by Barusu" Ram spoke calmly, though her eyes remained sharp on the screen. "Roswaal-sama truly knows no shame."

"I'm just having a little f~uuu~n before things get serious!" Roswaal shrugged his hands in a 'what can you do' manner.

Before Ram could answer, the light on the screen flared white, swallowing Subaru whole.

He grunted as he closed his eyes from the deep light that was striking him through the crystal. Before long, the entire screen was white.

When he opened his eyes, Subaru found himself standing on the dirt, in the middle of the forest that the carriage was just driving through.

"Where… Am I?" He asked as he turned around and observed his surroundings.

He turned when there was rustling behind him, finding a small pink-haired girl with blue eyes standing on a tree root with her bare feet.

The reaction was immediate.

"He got teleported?" Kenichi didn't panic like the others, leaning forward in his chair and narrowing his eyes on everything he could read around his son. "Just like that? Where's the cart? Where's Emilia-sama?"

"The crystal..." Beatrice murmured, her eyes filling up with some emotion. "It reacted to the barrier and displaced him. He is inside the Sanctuary's perimeter now."

"... I never wondered what happened while I was unconscious briefly before meeting with Garf…" Emilia muttered, looking at the pointy-eared pink-haired girl.

"Who is the kid?" Al asked, tilting his helmet. "Another spirit? She looks kinda... empty."

But before anyone could speculate further, a sound tore through the theater, a sound like a weapon being drawn, though no steel was present.

CRASH.

A seat was kicked back with violent force.

Wilhelm van Astrea stood up. And him standing alone caused the sound of a blade to ring out.

The air in the room instantly grew heavy, suffocating, and cold. The "Sword Demon" had awakened, and for the first time in the viewing, his killing intent was not a simmer, but a roaring inferno directed solely at the screen.

"Grandfather?" Reinhard looked up, his eyes wide with shock. He had never seen Wilhelm lose his composure so instantly.

Wilhelm was shaking. His blue eyes were dilated, fixed on the small, pink-haired girl on the screen with a hatred that could strip flesh from bone.

"You..." Wilhelm snarled, his voice a low, guttural growl that made Crusch flinch. "Why is she here?"

"Wilhelm-dono?" Crusch stood up, reaching for his arm. "What is wrong? Do you know this child?"

"Child?" Wilhelm barked a harsh, terrifying laugh. He pointed a trembling finger at the girl on the screen.

"That is no child. That is a nightmare from the fires of the War."

His hand went to his hip, grasping for a sword that wasn't there.

"Sphinx," Wilhelm hissed the name like a curse. "The Witch of the Demi-Human War. The architect of the undead. Why does she live?! I saw her fall! Why is that monster standing before Natsuki Subaru?!"

The room fell into a terrified silence. The name "Sphinx" meant little to the younger generation like Petra or Meili and Schults, also outsiders like the Natsuki parents, but to the veterans, Ricardo, Crusch, and the older knights, it was a name written in blood in the history books.

"Sphinx?" Ricardo's ears perked up, his fur standing on end. "The Witch of the Leapers? You gotta be kiddin' me. That little girl is the one who raised the undead armies?"

"Impossible," Felix stammered, his tail puffed out. "She was defeated decades ago! She should be dead!"

Priscilla seemed annoyed by that statement as she glanced from Felix to the rest of her camp members like Al, Schult, and Heinkel. Those who were present once the zombies attacked her domain recently.

Wilhelm didn't hear them. He was locked in a memory of blood and fire. "If she breathes... she must be cut down. She is an abomination against life itself."

"Grandfather, calm down!" Reinhard stepped between his grandfather and the screen, raising his hands. "Look closely! Her aura feels different! She isn't attacking! Please, compose yourself!"

In the back row, Roswaal watched the Sword Demon's outrage with a calm, unimpressed expression. He knew the truth, that the girl on screen was Ryuzu Meyer (or rather, a copy), the template from which Sphinx was created.

"Oh, dea~aa~r," Roswaal murmured to Ram. "It seems old ghosts have a habit of haunting the Astrea family. How unfo~oo~rtunate that he cannot tell the original from the failed experiment."

Ram glanced at Wilhelm, then at the girl on screen. "This old man is senile. That is merely a puppet of the Sanctuary. Though... is the resemblance undeniable?"

Wilhelm's breathing was ragged. He slowly lowered his hand, though his eyes remained murderous.

"If she touches him," Wilhelm whispered, his voice trembling with suppressed rage, "if that thing lays a finger on Natsuki-dono... I will tear this screen apart to get to her."

"Excuse me sir… Are you really sure about what you're saying?" Naoko brought her hand up to her chest, giving a small look of fear from the old man. "Is Subaru going to be okay?"

Wilhelm looked down at the mother, his expression softening just a fraction, though the demon still lurked in his eyes. He slowly sat back down, his gaze never leaving the pink-haired girl.

"For his sake," Wilhelm muttered. "I pray he runs."

Garfiel stayed watching in his seat, glaring daggers at the old man without blinking. "The fuck… Witch? Ain't no way he's talking about old granny Shima and the others." He snorted with an urgency to cross his arms.

"Who are you?" Subaru asked with bewilderment, receiving nothing but silence from the girl. "Those ears…" He noticed how pointy the girl's ears were. "Are you an elf?"

The girl proceeded to run away from him deeper into the dense woods.

"No, wait! Wait a minute!" Subaru ran after the girl.

He was led to a large clearing with tree roots spreading all over a structure that seemed like the ruin of a holy site. Moss ran all over the clearing's concrete flooring and the walls that decorated the entrance to the ruin.

"Hey! Is anyone here?" Subaru shouted for anyone inside. "Is this the Sanctuary, Somebody answer me!"

He stepped forward toward the entrance of the ruin. It was a grand hallway with decorations filling the sides throughout. Like a tunnel with no light at the end, telling him a story about the place's history that was ignored for centuries.

In the theater, the tension was palpable. Wilhelm was still gripping his knees, his eyes fixed on the entrance where the "Sphinx" lookalike had vanished.

"She leads him to the dark," Wilhelm murmured, his voice tight. "That creature… she is luring him into a trap. Natsuki-dono must not enter."

"It really is suspicious," Crusch agreed, glancing back at Roswaal. "Margrave, you host the lookalike of a War Witch in your private lands? And she leads visitors into ruins? This 'Sanctuary' looks more like a tomb."

"It is a tomb," Emilia whispered, her eyes widening as she recognized the mossy stones.

She sat up straighter, her hands flying to her mouth.

"That's the trial grounds," Emilia said, her voice trembling. "That's where… that's where the Trials happen. But… I didn't know he went there first!"

"I remember 'em entering first… Mine amazin' selfs didn't know he went straight to the grave because of the crystal." Garfiel gawked at the screen, his jaw dropping. "Are we really gonna see… Cap'n doing the trail?"

"We never knew," Otto muttered, shaking his head. "When he met up with us later, he didn't mention this. He didn't say he went exploring ancient ruins while Emilia-sama was unconscious."

"He always does this," Beatrice huffed, though she looked at the dark tunnel with deep apprehension. "He wanders into the jaws of the most dangerous places without a shred of caution, in fact. That place… it is the resting place of Her."

"Her?" Kenichi asked, looking nervously at the dark tunnel. "Who is 'Her'? And why is my son walking into a horror movie set? I wish I could smack him on the head and tell him not to go in there… nothing good ever happens in a dark tunnel!"

While the parents panicked and the knights scrutinized the security threat, Roswaal was leaning forward, his heterochromatic eyes gleaming with a mix of surprise and delight.

He entered, Roswaal thought.

He knew the Tomb's mechanisms. He knew that it rejected those without the proper qualifications, usually violently. For Subaru to walk in so casually…

"Interesting," Roswaal purred, drawing a sharp look from Ram. "I assumed he stumbled upon the Tomb later. But to think the Guidance brought him there immediately… and the Tomb accepted him?"

Roswaal smiled, a chilling expression.

"It seems the Witch of Greed was far more interested in you than even I anticipated, Subaru-kun."

"What was that, Roswaal?" Emilia's glare seemed to ask, but Roswaal just waved a hand dismissively.

"Just observing history, Emilia-sama," Roswaal said smoothly. "It seems your knight was busy making friends in high places while you were napping."

"What tomb requires so many magical mechanisms…" Julius noted the name, his grip on his arm rests tightening. "If that is where the trial takes place… then Natsuki Subaru is walking into the heart of the Sanctuary's mystery before he even knows what the Sanctuary is."

"And he's doing it alone," Rem whispered, terrified for him. "The Sanctuary… Roswaal-sama's secret…" She glanced upward with a look of increasing interest.

"This is…" Subaru stopped and looked at the deep darkness inside the tunnel. Swallowing his fear and putting on a determined face, he walked forward, keeping his hand on the wall as he ventured deeper and deeper.

Meili, swinging her legs idly in her seat, rested her chin in her palm with a devious smirk. "Going into a dark, scary tunnel all alone? Onii-san really has a bad habit of walking into the mouths of beasts. I wonder what's going to eat him this time?"

Her casual disregard for his safety earned her a sharp glare from Petra, but the assassin merely giggled.

"..." Emilia found herself more and more curious to see what happens next, leading herself to sit on the edge of her seat. "... Would she talk to you in a much nicer way than she did with me?" Emilia whispered with an honest worried glance.

Suddenly, a loud female voice sounded over him. "I see."

Garfiel's eyes would widen to an impossible degree, feeling the familiar tension of deja vu. "Oi… No fuckin'... Cap'n's actually entering a trail tha' early?" He moved himself to the edge of the seat. "No fuckin' way! We get t' see 't?!"

Emilia nodded her head, also being the subject of the trails herself and increasingly curious what Subaru would see.

Beside her, Beatrice tensed for a different reason, as she couldn't believe what she was hearing all of a sudden. "Mother."

"Here we go, pal…" Al muttered with a sigh that showed his agitation suddenly.

Subaru stopped midway through the tunnel, grunting in surprise.

"So that is the root of your desire?" The voice said with amusement. "How very interesting."

When he turned to face the other end of the tunnel, the whole world shifted around Subaru.

He was suddenly standing in a world of grassy plains that stretched further than even the forest he was passing through with Emilia.

Naoko slammed her hands over her mouth, her eyes dilating in sheer terror. Beside her, Kenichi's face drained of all color, his grip on his armrest tightening until his knuckles turned white.

"No..." Naoko whimpered, trembling. "Not there. Kenichi, it's that place."

The rest of the cast looked toward the parents in confusion, but realization dawned quickly on those who were quick-witted.

"The teaser..." Otto whispered, a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. "The one we saw briefly... but the one his parents were forced to watch in that isolation room."

"This one is without the field of bodies," Julius finished grimly, his eyes snapping back to the screen. "In the future that never happened or has yet to happen this beautiful field was a mountain of corpses."

"Oh, did I startle you?" The female voice sounded apologetic, coming from behind him and making Subaru turn around.

At the top of the hill of grass, a brilliant woman dressed in black was sitting on a chair with a table in front of her and an umbrella over her head.

"It has been quite a while since I spoke with anyone, so perhaps I was too eager." She sounded amused once again as Subaru stared at her with a baffled expression.

She introduced herself as the wind swiped through the plains, making the grass blades ruffle against each other.

"My name is Echidna… Or perhaps you would know me better as the Witch of Greed?" Echidna said with an elegant smile that gave way to her curiosity to shine on her expression.

Title card:

The Next Location

Season 2 Episode 2. End.

The reveal hit the theater like a physical blow.

Al, hidden beneath his helmet, felt a twisted knot form in his gut. A low, distorted chuckle escaped him, unnoticed by most but chilling to himself. He stared at the white-haired woman, his creator. The irony was suffocating. She let him in, Al thought, his single visible eye narrowing in a mix of jealousy and dark humor. I am made from you, woven by your hands, yet you welcome Bro into your garden so easily? While I rot in the world you left behind? How cruel, Teacher.

Across the room, Roswaal didn't look awestruck. He looked revolted. His mismatched eyes narrowed, a sneer curling his lip as he looked at the woman on the screen.

"That is... not her," the Margrave hissed under his breath, his voice dripping with disdain. "A pale imitation. A ghost lingering in a dream. That thing is not my teacher." To him, this projected memory was an insult to the true Echidna he sought to revive.

Beatrice, however, could not summon disgust. Her small hands gripped her dress, her butterfly eyes widening until they were round saucers. Her breath hitched.

"Mother..."

It was a whisper, fragile and full of longing. Even if it was an imitation, even if it was a memory, seeing the face of the woman who had left her in the Library for four hundred years struck a chord of deep, agonizing nostalgia within the Great Spirit.

While the Emilia camp dealt with personal connections, the rest of the theater erupted in sheer disbelief.

Anastasia froze, her scarf-clutching hand pausing mid-air. "The Witch of... Greed?" She felt the scarf around her neck move, scruffle for a moment before settling down. "Echidna was her name…? Interesting…" The merchant queen had an impossibly large grin on her face, face practically bemeaing to spite the tension in the room as if a revelation was made to her.

Crusch's stern composure cracked, her eyes darting between the screen and Emilia. "Impossible. History dictates that the Witch of Envy devoured the others. The other six Witches should be nothing more than ancient myths, lost to the Great Calamity."

"They are supposed to be dead!" Felt shouted, looking at Reinhard for confirmation, but even the Sword Saint looked grave.

The panic regarding the existence of a Witch was spreading like wildfire, voices rising in a cacophony of fear and confusion.

Snap.

The sharp sound of a folding fan closing cut through the noise, silencing the room instantly. All eyes turned toward the source. Priscilla Barielle sat comfortably, her legs crossed, looking down at the panicked masses with utter boredom.

"You lot truly are incapable of seeing the forest for the trees," Priscilla scoffed, her crimson eyes narrowing dangerously. "Cease your unsightly wailing over ghosts and legends. It is pathetic."

"But Priscilla-sama!" Schult stammered. "That is the Witch of Greed! A monster that rivals the—"

"Mine divine self heard her," Priscilla interrupted sharply, waving her fan dismissively. "But you are all focusing on the spectacle rather than the implication. The world turns in my favor because I observe what matters, while you fools are distracted by parlor tricks."

She stood up, the fiery orange of her dress rustling as she pointed her closed fan directly at the Emilia camp—specifically at Roswaal and Emilia.

"The real question," Priscilla announced, her voice ringing with absolute authority, "is not that the Witch exists. It is the nature of this so-called 'Sanctuary.'"

She began to pace slowly, her gaze sharp.

"We have been told that the Half-wit and the Clown were heading to a Sanctuary. A place of refuge. Yet, we now see that this land is protected by a barrier that rejects outsiders, and at its heart lies a tea party hosted by a long-dead Witch."

Priscilla stopped, turning to face the assembly with a cruel smirk.

"Do you not see the absurdity? Why is the domain of the Mathers family connected to the tomb of the Witch of Greed? Why is the half-wit camp seeking shelter in the grave of a monster?"

The room fell deadly silent. The implication hung heavy in the air.

"A magical barrier... A magical tomb..." Priscilla mused, tapping her fan against her chin. "It would seem that the candidate claiming to be the most virtuous is currently trespassing, or perhaps, colluding, within the domain of the very evils this Kingdom fears most. Explain yourselves, or are we to assume the Emilia camp is merely a front for Witch cultists?"

Roswaal remained silent, his smile tight, while Emilia shrank under the accusatory stares of the other Royal Candidates, realizing the political nightmare Priscilla had just effortlessly exposed.

"If you count Emilia-sama in that accusation, then you are an idiot," Crusch spoke with resolve.

"Ain't ya gonna take the hint to stop yapping so much?" Felt glared at Priscilla with her hands clenching. "Come on, after everything we've seen from Big Sis, ya can't blame anything on her."

Before anyone else could reply to the loud accusation put upon the Emilia camp, with all of the confusion that had filled the room, the panic that the revelation induced within them all, and the sheer thrill that some were receiving from the reactions…

Music began to play above them.

"The hell…?" Kenichi looked up with a raised brow and a small glare. "What's going on?" He asked innocently.

"No fuckin' way," Heinkel's jaw dropped in recognition. "Another one of these?"

Opening Theme 3: Realize

Echidna is shown with her face removed from view as she holds her hands together and unravels a collection of green butterflies, lightening the darkness around her.

"Teacher…" Roswaal breathed out, his voice dropping its usual affectation entirely. He leaned forward, his heterochromatic eyes locking onto the pale hands and the tea party setting.

"Those butterflies…" Beatrice shivered, clutching her dress. She recognized the mana signature, the feeling of the dream world. "Mother is weaving her web, I suppose."

The butterflies move throughout the dark space, illuminating many different faces.

There was the face of a blonde with blue eyes.

Then it was the face of a magenta-haired lady with pink eyes.

The brief face of someone masked with gray hair.

And a little girl with green hair. Followed by the shy face of a girl hiding behind her scarf.

"Who… who are these people?" Schult asked, feeling a primal sort of dread just looking at the flashes of these women. "They feel… dangerous."

"The Witches of Sin," Beatrice whispered, her face pale. "Minerva… Sekhmet… Typhon… Daphne… They are all there."

"The Witches?" Julius stiffened, his hand instinctively going to where his sword would've been again. He can't seem to stop doing that, but the urge to feel able to fight was a comforting thought right now. "We are looking at the faces of the calamities of history? Natsuki Subaru is going to face them?"

"He really meets everyone, doesn't he?" Otto gulped, looking at the terrifying array of figures. "I thought the Cult was bad enough, but the legends themselves?"

Emilia focused mostly on the blonde 'witch' with the blue eyes. The warmth within her chest made her less cold, even though she didn't even remember much from her trail.

The final shot of the darkness had the butterflies flying around Subaru as he glared towards the dark.

"Look at his eyes," Crusch noted, impressed. "He is surrounded by monsters and witches, yet he does not cower. He glares back. That is the look of a man who refuses to yield."

Heinkel scoffed, crossing his arms and sinking lower into his seat, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he stared at the boy's expression. "Are ya not gonna tire of this, ya little monster…" Heinkel grunted with distaste toward Subaru.

Naoko gripped her husband's sleeve, her fingers trembling. To her, the imagery was far more personal, far more terrifying.

"Kenichi... the butterflies..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "In stories... don't they say butterflies carry the souls of the departed?"

She looked at the screen, tears pricking her eyes. "Why are there so many around him? It looks like... it looks like he's standing on the border of the afterlife again."

Kenichi didn't answer immediately. He couldn't. He was fixated on his son's face, the glare. It wasn't the goofy, confident face Subaru used to make when striking a pose. It was the face of a man who had seen too much.

"He's not looking back at us," Kenichi managed to say, his voice thick with suppressed emotion. "He's staring that darkness down. He looks so... strong. But damn it, Naoko, a father doesn't want to see his son have to be that strong. He shouldn't have to look at the world like it's his enemy."

His foot is shown moving forward, and the background around him changes to that of Japan as he walks with his hands in his pockets.

His eyes move backward to the city, showing guilt and regret as the brief image of his parents is shown.

"That's…" Naoko's voice trembled, her hands flying to cover her mouth. "That's our neighborhood. That's the street to the convenience store."

She stared at the screen, at the fleeting image of herself and her husband.

"He's thinking about us," Naoko whispered, tears spilling over instantly. "He… he remembers us."

"Yeah," Kenichi choked out, his usual bravado completely shattered. He gripped the armrests, staring at his son's animated face. "But look at his eyes, Naoko. That isn't a 'see you later' look."

Kenichi felt a crack form in his heart. As a father, he knew that look. It was the look of a child who had broken a window, or failed a test, but multiplied by a million. It was the look of someone who knew they couldn't fix what they had broken.

"He's saying goodbye," Kenichi realized, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. "He's looking back at us… and he's apologizing. He doesn't think he's ever coming home."

The realization hit Naoko like a physical blow. She let out a soft, wounded sound, burying her face in Kenichi's shoulder.

"No…" she sobbed. "Don't say goodbye…! We're right here! Don't walk away!"

The agony of the parents rippled through the rest of the cast.

Emilia watched the scene, her heart twisting in her chest. She saw the modern city, the alien world that was Subaru's true home. And she saw the pain in his eyes as he turned his back on it.

He gave up his world, Emilia thought, a wave of guilt washing over her. He gave up his mother and father. He gave up everything familiar… for me? For this painful, dangerous life?

"I'm so sorry," Emilia whispered to the screen, and to the weeping parents in the front row. "I'm so sorry he's here. I'm so sorry he can't go back."

"It is the fate of the lost," Al murmured from his seat, his voice unusually somber. He tilted his helmet down, looking at his own gloved hand. "You look back once. You cry. And then you keep walking. Because if you stop to stare at what you lost, you'll never move again. Pal knows… he's stuck here."

"He carries such a heavy burden," Reinhard said softly, looking at the Natsukis with deep sympathy.

"Subaru-kun…" Rem looked at the crying parents, then at the determined, sad face of her hero on the screen. She wanted to tell them that he was loved here, that he had a family here too. But she knew, looking at Naoko's tears, that some voids could never be filled.

"He chose to walk forward," Wilhelm observed, his voice gravelly and respectful. "Even with his heart pulling him back… his feet moved forward. That is the walk of a man who has accepted his path, no matter how much it hurts."

Kenichi held his wife, watching his son walk away from them on the screen.

He continued walking in an alley, but at his feet, there was the corpse of his past self, bleeding out on the granite flooring.

The angle of the scene changed to show Subaru's foot moving, but behind him, his body was left disemboweled, with a woman standing over it, looking at his guts. The body of a giant bald man was shown next to the woman as well.

"No!" Naoko shrieked, burying her face in her hands instantly. "His stomach! Oh god, Kenichi, his stomach!"

Kenichi couldn't speak. He stared at the graphic image of his son's disembowelment, his complexion turning ash gray. The "fantasy adventure" veneer was ripped away, leaving only the raw, bloody meat of reality.

"That's…" Meili's eyes went wide. She stopped swinging her legs. She recognized the silhouette. She recognized the blade. "Elsa? Onee-san… she did that to him? She really gutted him like a fish?"

"That is absolutely foul," Heinkel grimaced, looking away and taking a heavy swig of his drink, his hand shaking slightly. "I've seen some shit, but seeing a kid cut open like livestock… By any shitty divine out there..."

His foot kept moving, ignoring the sight of a bloodied hand wearing his tracksuit and an eyeball that was disturbingly left on the floor, resembling his own eyes.

"Is that… his eye?" Hetaro felt bile rise in his throat. He adjusted his monocle, but his hand was trembling so hard he nearly dropped it. "He was dismembered? Piece by piece?"

"Subaru-kun…" Rem's breath hitched. She recognized the hall setting. She recognized the cruelty. A phantom pain shot through her own limbs as she realized this was the timeline where she had crushed him with her own morning star.

She covered her mouth to stifle a sob, her body shaking with a mix of rage and horror.

"It is a parade of atrocities," Julius whispered with a sharp glare. He watched the walking Subaru, the boy who kept moving forward despite leaving pieces of himself behind. "How does he still walk?... What the hell Natsuki–"

He kept moving forward, ignoring the large rocky spikes with another corpse that looked like him having itself impaled upon them.

Ram froze.

Her red eyes locked onto the screen. The cliff. The fall.

He jumped, Ram realized, her breath catching in her throat. In the loop where he saved us from the mabeasts… he threw himself off the cliff to restart. To save Rem. To save me.

"Barusu…" Ram whispered, her voice barely audible. For the first time, she looked at the boy in the front row with no trace of mockery. She looked at him with a chilling realization of the price he paid for her sister's life.

"Suicide," Anastasia Hoshin murmured, fanning herself rapidly to keep from fainting. "He chose that death. To fix things."

Naoko held on to her husband in horror and disbelief at the explanation. "Oh my god…"

His foot kept moving through a snowstorm that covered the trees and paths it stepped on, ignoring the frozen head of his corpse with tears still intact due to the ice that covered it.

"Puck…" Emilia flinched violently, shrinking into her seat.

She saw the ice. She saw the tears. She knew exactly who had frozen him.

"You killed him while he was crying," Emilia whispered, a fresh wave of hatred for the Great Spirit washing over her. "He was begging for help, and you froze his tears."

Beatrice looked down, gripping her dress. She said nothing. She couldn't defend her brother. The image of Subaru's frozen, severed head was a condemnation that no magic could erase.

"I can't look," Otto turned his head away, squeezing his eyes shut. "Natsuki-san… please, stop walking. It's too much."

His walk showed the rest of the corpse in the snowstorm, decapitated and kneeling in the middle of the Roswaal estate with Rem's corpse in its arms. Subaru continued walking without a change in expression.

"Subaru!"

Naoko screamed his name, a sound of pure maternal heartbreak. She reached out toward the screen as if to pull him away from the snow, from the bodies, from the hell he was walking through.

"Stop it, please," Petra wept, clinging to Frederica's arm. "Even without his head… he's holding Rem-san."

Schult buried his face in Priscilla's lap, shaking. "The world is too scary! Why is the world so mean to him?!"

The knights, Reinhard, Julius, and Felix, sat in a stunned, reverent silence. They were warriors. They knew death. But they had never seen a soldier walk through a gallery of his own corpses with such hollow determination.

"He ignores them," Reinhard said softly, his blue eyes filled with a sorrowful awe. "He does not look down. He cannot afford to look down. If he stops to mourn himself… he cannot save anyone else."

"He is the strongest man I have ever seen," Crusch said, her voice trembling but firm.

And in the front row, Subaru slept on, unaware that his nightmares were being etched into the souls of everyone who loved him.

His expression changed, however, when the sudden snowstorm stopped, and he was standing in a whitened space.

At his feet, in a pool of blood, Emilia's hand could be shown, motionless, lifeless.

The screen turns around Subaru's body as the space around him fills with the bodies of all the villagers, the maids, the candidates, and the ground dragons that he's ever met. Emilia's lying in the center with him standing over everything.

Subaru kneels with blood dripping out of his mouth as he cries over everyone's corpses.

Naoko didn't scream this time. The shock was too deep. She stared at her son, kneeling in the white void, blood dripping from his mouth as he wailed silently.

"He's all alone," Naoko whispered, her voice breaking into a thousand pieces. "Kenichi… he's the only one left alive."

Kenichi Natsuki stared at the screen. He saw the crushing weight of the responsibility. He saw his eighteen-year-old son holding the fate of an entire reality in his trembling hands.

"How?" Kenichi asked the darkness, tears streaming down his face. "How is he supposed to handle that? He's just a kid! He's my kid! We sent him out to buy snacks," Kenichi choked out, looking at his wife. "And he ended up carrying the weight of the world. I… I can't protect him from this. I can't do anything."

The two parents held each other, watching their son drown in a sea of blood and tears, realizing that the boy they raised had become a titan of suffering, and there was no way for them to reach him.

Emilia stared at her own dead hand on the screen. Then she looked at the pile. I am the center, she realized with sickening clarity. All of them… Petra, the villagers, the dragons… they are dead because they were near me. And Subaru is kneeling in our blood.

"We are all there," Ram whispered, looking at the bodies of the maids. For once, she had no insult. She only felt a cold chill at the realization that Subaru had mourned her death more times than she had blinked.

"Does he even remember?" Otto said, his voice trembling. "Every time we joke with him… he remembers seeing us like that? How does he look me in the eye and smile?"

Meili stared at the pile. She was a killer. She made piles like that. But seeing Subaru—the target—kneeling and crying over it… It confused her. "He doesn't run," Meili whispered to herself. "Most people run when they see that. Or they break. But he just… stays. He stays, and he hurts. Is that what 'saving' people feels like? It looks painful."

"I hate this kid so much…" Heinkel muttered, glaring away from the piles of bodies surrounding Subaru. "How can someone be a fraud when they go through this fuckin' hell… What the fuck, man?"

In the back row, the clown leaned forward, his eyes burning with a chaotic intensity. He ignored the deaths of the others. He focused solely on Subaru's despair. "Yes…" Roswaal hissed softly. "Cry, Subaru-kun. Despair. Look at the consequences of trying to save everyone." He smiled, a twisted, pedagogic expression. "You cannot save them all."

Regulus is shown flashing through with his eyes red. Ley gets his own snapshot after him, with Elsa replacing them while holding her blade.

A sharp, phantom pain shot through Crusch's shoulder. She gasped, gripping the empty space where her arm had once been cut, her breath hitching as the face of the man who had maimed her and erased her memories dominated the view.

"Greed..." Crusch hissed, her calm facade shattering. Beside her, Felix pinned his ears back against his skull, a low, feral growl vibrating in his throat at the sight of the Archbishop who had nearly destroyed his lady.

Emilia was glaring heatedly as the music escalated. Seeing Regulus and feeling a familiar hatred within her that was rare.

Ram clenched her fists so tightly her nails dug into her palms. The face of the monster who had stolen her sister, who had made the world forget Rem existed, ignited a cold, killing aura around the pink-haired maid.

Then, the blade shone. Elsa Granhiert appeared, replacing the Archbishops. She held her kukri lovingly, her eyes curved in delight.

Emilia flinched violently, her hand instinctively going to her stomach. Even though the wound had never happened in this timeline, the memory of her death in the Loot House—the searing pain of being sliced open- washed over her.

Garfiel's senses stopped at the sight, his breathing growing heavy as his glare was subdued by a look of fear for a moment.

"The Bowel Hunter," Felt whispered, her bravado vanishing. Her eyes were wide. "She's back? She's really coming back?"

Reinhard found himself glaring at Elsa himself; he was glaring at all of the villains who had appeared above Subaru's bleeding form so far, but Elsa in particular stung the knight of knights.

The final shot of red-eyed villains shows Meili as she stands with a hand on her hip. Before Elsa's face is in touch once more, grinning with sadistic intentions.

The theater turned cold. The tentative trust that some had begun to form with the blue-haired child evaporated in an instant.

Schult, who had been sitting near Meili, sharing candy and listening to her snarky commentary, recoiled as if burned. He scrambled back in his seat, his eyes wide with betrayal and fear.

"Meili-chan...?" Schult stammered, his voice trembling. "You... you are with them? With the monsters? You are... a bad person?"

The accusation from the innocent boy stung the room.

Meili, feeling the weight of the hostile glares from the Knights and the betrayal from Schult, rolled her eyes. She pointed at the screen with an annoyed huff.

"Oh, honestly," Meili complained, crossing her arms. "I really don't like how they placed me with that lot. That white haired boy is a windbag and Elsa is... well, Elsa." She looked at Schult, her expression unrepentant but defensive. "Don't look at me like that, Rosie-chan. I'm just doing a job. Grouping me in with the Archbishops over Onii-san's tragedy is just bad taste. I'm much cuter than they are."

Before anyone could scold her for her lack of empathy, the screen twisted again. Elsa grinned one last time, and then the focus snapped to Subaru.

No one noticed Meili's frown after all eyes were off of her.

Subaru clutches his chest as he continues crying and bleeding from his mouth. He leans forward from the pain, blood continuously dripping on the floor as the white world around him turns into a dark purple.

"Subaru!" Naoko screamed, reaching out to the screen as if she could wipe the blood from his chin.

Beatrice froze. She knew that color. She knew that pressure. "The Witch..." she whispered, terror seizing her heart.

Julius and Reinhard looked on helplessly. Seeing their friend—the man who usually stood tall with a defiant grin, reduced to a weeping, bleeding mess while surrounded by the colors of the Witch of Envy was a stark reminder of the curse he carried alone.

"He isn't being attacked," Wilhelm noted grimly, his seasoned eyes analyzing the lack of external wounds.

"..." Felix beside him gave no words, watching with the most pained expression he could muster.

Slowly, the blood drops begin to go backward, disappearing from the floor as a sharp, purple hand reaches for him behind his back.

The hand's shadows disappear, replaced by a white, kind-looking hand; another appears, and they both wrap around his shoulder blades, revealing a woman in full white hugging him from behind.

The collective breath of the audience hitched.

Emilia's eyes widened until they burned. Her hands flew to her mouth, trembling violently. She stared at the woman on the screen, the silver hair, the silhouette, the way the white fabric draped over her. It was like looking into a twisted mirror. A cold chill raced down her spine, freezing her in place, her heart hammering against her ribs not out of jealousy, but out of a primal, confused terror. Is that... me? her eyes seemed to scream, pleading with the screen to deny the resemblance.

Rem went rigid. Her blue eyes lost their light, dilating as she stared at the embrace. Her hands gripped the fabric of her skirt so tightly that the knuckles turned white, tearing the fabric. She recognized the aura, even without the scent. The visual confirmation of the Miasma that shrouded her hero. She saw the way the woman held him, possessive, encompassing, suffocating.

Naoko leaned forward, her brow furrowed in deep, agonizing distress. She didn't see a lover comforting her son. She saw a predator playing with its food. She saw the way Subaru's expression shifted, not to relief, but to a profound, unsettled disturbance. His eyes darted to the side, wide and haunted, realizing who, or what, was touching him. Naoko's hand found Kenichi's, squeezing it with a desperation that begged him to do something, anything, to pull their boy away from that woman.

Kenichi didn't squeeze back. He was frozen, his jaw set hard. He watched the woman's chin rest on Subaru's shoulder, the intimacy of the gesture sickeningly wrong against the backdrop of Subaru's fear.

Subaru's pained expression changes into a disturbed one as the woman in white leans her lips toward his ear.

Her lips move, indicating that she said something to him.

No sound came from the screen. The silence in the theater was deafening.

Beatrice curled in on herself, burying her face in her knees, refusing to look. Roswaal narrowed his mismatched eyes, leaning forward with a terrifying intensity, trying to read the lips of the Witch he had chased for centuries to exact revenge.

Julius and Reinhard sat like statues, their postures radiating helpless frustration, they were witnessing the root of Subaru's torment, the source of the shadows, and they could not step in to sever those pale arms.

The woman's lips moved. A secret was passed. A curse was whispered.

And in the reflection of Subaru's terrified eyes, the entire cast saw their own helplessness mirrored back at them.

"Oh my god," Subaru's mother could only whisper as she saw her son's despair clear on his face.

As the music begins the climax, Subaru is shown once again, kneeling alone, without the woman or the corpses. And his face changes to that of determination as he stands up from his kneeling position.

The audience leaned forward, praying for a run toward safety. "Grit yer teeth and run man!" Garfiel cheered with an increasingly agitated look on his face. "Come on Cap'n!"

He runs forward, gritting his teeth.

"Go!" Felt whispered, gripping her armrests. Showing that the adrenaline rush had gotten to her this much that she's openly showing her frustration at his situation. "Run, Big Bro!"

But a strike from above shoots his eye, and he is forced to fall as blood fills the screen.

A collective, sharp intake of breath sucked the air out of the room. Naoko flinched violently, her hand jerking up to cover her own eye. "NO! SUBARU!" She whaled, but Kenichi held on to her close.

Emilia's hand moved to grasp Subaru's sleeping one, her eyes unable to focus on the screen as she moved between it and Beatrice and Rem. Both girls are dealing with the sudden blood splatter.

Another Subaru is shown running in place of the first one as the other one falls because of the shot.

"Another?" Crusch's eyes narrowed, confusion battling horror. "He is… replacing himself?"

"What the hell is this?" Kenichi's cold voice filled the room, his anger rising now at the twisted scenes before him. "A music theme to my son's deaths? Are we fucking serious?!"

This Subaru is shot from the right side, making him fall quickly, with his blood highlighted in the dark purple world. Another Subaru quickly replaces him, but is shot in the chest.

Felix's ears pinned back against his skull. The speed was disorienting. There was no time to process the death before the next one began. His hands on his skirt as the feeling of being overwhelmed overtook the healer while watching Subaru's hell with his own eyes. None to filter his opinions through. None to taint it.

"Stop please stop…" He begged as he began hyperventilating in his seat. Feeling the massive amounts of guilt that've been inside of his heart for a long time now burst uncontrollably.

New Subaru. Shot in the chest.

Emilia's hand flew to her heart. The thud of the impact echoed in the silent theater. Three deaths in three seconds.

Another Subaru ignores the falling ones as he runs faster, but the shot makes him lose his arm and forces him to fall. Another Subaru jumped over him with his eyes glowing in anger as he yelled a the shooter,

"His arm!" Petra shrieked, burying her face in Federica's dress. Garfiel gritted his teeth so hard his jaw creaked, watching the Captain being whittled down like wood.

"He is using his own corpses as shields..." Wilhelm whispered, his old eyes wide with a mixture of military respect and absolute horror.

Only to be struck in the face, having his head blown to smithereens, and blood gushing out of his neck.

A strangled cry tore from Naoko's throat. Kenichi turned pale as a sheet. Beatrice squeezed her eyes shut, but the sound of wet, exploding flesh was inescapable.

"What the actual fuck…" Heinkel's jaw was on the floor, unable to show anything but pure astonishment. "Nah… Kid… Fuckin' stop, man."

Another Subaru lunges at this decapitated one, and his shoulder knocks him away from his path, painting half of his face red with the blood gushing out of its neck as he runs forward with an unhinged face.

Priscilla stopped fanning herself. Her crimson eyes widened… The sun princess actually had a slight blinking process to register all that she was seeing. "A madness beyond that of a pig… How interesting!"

"He looks... completely broken," Julius murmured, his knuckles white. "Just stop going forward…"

A flash of Roswaal, Rem, and Ram happily interacting in the front yard of the estate is shown, its colors brighter than that of Subaru's dark world.

The contrast struck them like a physical blow. Ram stared at her own smiling face on the screen, then at the blood-soaked boy making that smile possible. A wave of nausea hit her.

The screen moved back to Subaru as he rolled on the ground because of another shot, blood splattering everywhere, with the foot of a new Subaru coming forward and stepping over his rolling corpse.

Meili stopped moving entirely. Her small hands, which usually played with her braids or rested casually on the armrests, gripped the velvet fabric until her knuckles turned white. Her assassin's composure, usually so impenetrable, shattered. She stared at the new Subaru stepping over the dead Subaru.

He doesn't stop, Meili thought, a true, cold fear seeping into her marrow for the first time.

I kill people. That's what I do. When I kill them, they stop. They fall down, they bleed, and the job is done.

But him?

Her violet eyes trembled as she watched the loop. He dies. He bleeds. And then he just… walks over himself.

"It's useless," Meili whispered, her voice barely a breath. The playfulness was gone. The cruelty was gone. Left behind was the terrified realization of a child facing a monster she couldn't understand.

"I can't kill him," she realized, the words slipping out unconsciously. "Elsa can't kill him. The mabeasts can't kill him. He just… uses his own death as a stepping stone."

To an assassin, a target that treated death as a renewable resource was the ultimate nightmare. Meili looked at the sleeping boy in the front row not as a target, or a toy, or a brother figure, but as something ancient and terrifying.

"He's not human," she murmured, shivering.

Garfiel didn't say a word. He just stared at the screen, his teeth gritted so hard his jaw ached, seeing the sheer resolve it took to treat one's own life as currency.

In the silence, Al tipped his helmet lower.

Yeah, bro, Al thought, a dark solidarity in his heart. Don't look down. If you look at the body, you'll never take the next step.

There was a new flash to show the bright and happy faces of the villagers from Alram.

Petra's breathing became heavier than Felix as she moved from her seat to hug Frederica and close her eyes. The older maid held on to Petra and couldn't but feel responsible for every death she saw as she realized one important fact.

"What did I do…? I sent him to the Sanctuary…"

Otto looked away, unable to watch his friend explode again. The sound of rending flesh was becoming a rhythmic, sickening beat.

Another move back into the dark tunnel as Subaru's blood explodes on the screen.

This was the cause of a visceral reaction that made Kenichi and many more flinch so far that the seats they sat upon pushed back.

Ram's face is shown, smirking with satisfaction while holding some tatoes in a basket.

Ram covered her mouth. That smirk—so casual, so ignorant of the hell occurring parallel to it- felt like a sin.

The screen goes back on Subaru's knee as it gets shot, and blood gushes out of it.

Ricardo hissed, clutching his own knee instinctively. The relentless, mechanical nature of the violence was suffocating.

The screen shows a dark background with white letters saying something in Japanese.

"If it's…"

"Read it for us, I suppose!" Beatrice immediately tells the parents, not stopping the tears flowing down her cheeks. "Please!"

Naoko was more implored to do it as she heard more pleading from the triplets, Garfiel, and even Rem and Felt. Everyone who couldn't read Japanese.

It flashes to show his abdomen being shot and his body falling.

"Stop..." Emilia whimpered. "Please, just stop..."

Petra and the village kids are shown smiling towards the screen, with the sun reflecting their happiness. Patrasche and Otto, with his green dragon, are also shown expressing extreme happiness and contentment.

The screen showed more words.

"To save you…"

"Stop it…" Naoko Natsuki whispered, clutching her chest. The juxtaposition of the smiling children and her bleeding son made her physically ill. "Don't put those pictures together. Don't show me that his pain is the price for their smiles."

Beatrice is shown glaring with annoyance at the screen, with Puck grinning beside her.

Subaru's mouth is shown bleeding, and screaming as he continues to run forward.

More words were given.

"I don't care…"

Rem sat up straighter. She saw her own smile on the screen, bright, angelic, bathed in sunlight. It was the face of the girl Subaru loved. But then she saw his reaction: tearful, rage-filled eyes replacing her warmth.

He uses my memory to keep running, Rem realized, her heart aching with a bittersweet mixture of pride and devastation. I am his light, but the fuel he burns to reach me is his own life.

Rem's smile is shown, but the rest of her face is hidden underneath a large ray of sunlight and hope.

Subaru's tearful eyes replace the warmth of Rem's smile as he runs forward with rage clear in them.

"How many times…"

Emilia's beautiful smile appears as she stands beside Puck. Another smile with her wearing her hood.

And a third one that showed her in a field of roses.

The screen flashed the final words in deep, unsettling red.

Emilia watched her own face flash rapidly—smiling in the hood, smiling in the roses, smiling beside Puck. They were beautiful images, the kind a girl would cherish. But in this context, framed by Subaru's screams, they looked like a tally sheet of sins.

And then, the final, blood-red text stamped itself onto the retinas of everyone in the room.

"I die."

Subaru is then shown screaming as he reaches toward the end of the dark tunnel, showing a light at the end that his hand could almost touch.

The bluntness of the statement hit the theater like a physical shockwave. There was no poetry in it. No "Return by Death." Just the raw, first-person confession of a boy trapped in a slaughterhouse.

"Cap'n really said 't," Garfiel breathed, his hands trembling on his knees.

"How many times…" Julius whispered, staring at the screen with horrified fascination. "The question is not rhetorical. He is asking the world… when will it be enough?"

"It is never enough," Roswaal murmured from the back, his eyes gleaming in the dark. "As long as there is a 'you' to save, Subaru-kun will die. That is the contract he signed with his own soul."

As the final shot showed Subaru screaming, reaching desperately toward a blinding light at the end of the dark tunnel, the audience didn't feel hope. They felt the crushing weight of his exhaustion.

Kenichi Natsuki looked at his son's outstretched hand on the screen, a hand reaching for a future that seemed to retreat with every step.

"Grab it, Subaru," Kenichi whispered, tears streaming down his face, speaking for every person in the room. "Just grab the light and rest. Please… just rest."

The final scenes, as the music quickly reaches its end, are of Garfiel and Frederica standing in a dark dungeon with the shadows of bars and two large beasts covering them.

Garfiel clenched his jaw so hard a vein popped in his neck, hating the visual reminder of the "monster" blood he tried so hard to prove was strength, yet feared was a curse. Frederica simply lowered her eyes, her hands tightening in her lap, feeling the gazes of the others, realizing that the polite maid and the brash guardian were hiding fangs far sharper than they let on.

The green butterflies show the differences between the beast shadows of the two siblings before moving to show many clones of the pink-haired elf girl that Subaru had encountered in the forest.

Wilhelm's glare returned instantly, his blue eyes burning with a hatred that hadn't cooled. To the rest of the theater, it was a confusing image. Why were there so many clones of the girl Subaru met? But to Crusch and Anastasia, it screamed of a military threat. "An army of mana-users?" Anastasia whispered, her merchant mind racing with the terrifying implications of a cloning facility in the hands of a Margrave.

The butterflies move to show Roswaal, with his back turned to Puck and Beatrice, who both have expressions of sadness.

Beatrice stared at the screen, at her own sad face clutching the Gospel. It was a mirror of four hundred years of loneliness. She didn't say a word, but she shrank smaller in her seat, confirming to everyone, Naoko, Kenichi, and the Knights, that the Clown was indeed the source of her misery.

Beatrice's hand is on her gospel.

The scene moves with the butterflies through the teacup Echidna was drinking, revealing Peteleguese's unseen hand above it.

Rem let out a sharp gasp, recoiling. "The Cult…" Rem trembled, seeing the undeniable link between the Witch of Greed and the monster who tortured her.

"They are connected," Julius noted grimly, his eyes narrowing. "The Witches, the Archbishops, and this tea party… it is all one tangled web."

With the quick shot of a rabbit in the snow appearing before the final shot.

It was there for a split second, a white rabbit in the snow. To most, it was nothing. But to those with sharp instincts, Ricardo, Wilhelm, and Garfiel, a primal chill shot down their spines. It looked innocent, yet it triggered a fight-or-flight response that made the hairs on their arms stand up. "Bad omen," Ricardo muttered, his ears flattening. "That little thing... feels like death."

Garfiel began holding on to his chair harder with his foot tapping the ground faster and faster. His breathing is going heavy.

The final shot is of the butterflies flying towards their master as she turns around and grins in a neon green background.

Echidna.

Theme ends.

The name seemed to echo in the silence that followed the music's end.

Roswaal leaned forward, his composure cracking into a look of pure, fanatical adoration. He stared at the face of his teacher, his eyes wide and glistening. "Teacher…" he mouthed, ignoring the terrified looks from the rest of the cast.

"That's her," Kenichi swallowed hard, feeling a cold sweat on his back. He looked at the white-haired woman with the soulless eyes. "That's the Witch. That's the one messing with my son's head."

"She looks… evil," Naoko whispered, shivering. "She's smiling, but… It's not a nice smile. It's a hungry smile."

The screen faded to black, leaving the theater in a heavy, suffocating silence. The Opening was over, but the dread it had cultivated hung over them like a shroud. They weren't just watching an adventure anymore, they were watching a descent into a spider's web, with Echidna waiting at the center.

Next up, Episode 3… Arc 4's continuation…

I had deleted the chapter due to a lot of quality issues I've personally had with how it was written. I didn't have much heart into it and even began using AI to polish my already half-hearted reactions which caused a lot of issues with character placements, and emotional whiplash.

So, I took the chapter down after receiving many messages of support from the community. The love I've received from you all made me regain some of that spark I had to reread all of the chapter again and start editing the reactions part line by line.

I've removed a lot of the bad reactions and AI polish, and brought my best to write over them on my own.

I don't think I'll use AI again in the near future, a lot of fellow writers seem to be conflicted around using it and some use it supremely to polish their writing. I personally just want to write something good so whatever helps, helps.

Regardless, I always want to make you enjoy, and your support means everything.

Thank you to everyone leaving me comments and messages of love on all platforms. I read every single word, wallahi. And I don't reply because I just can't make the time.

I thank all those supporting me with donations too, because I'm still living on my own and without a job so these have helped a lot. Especially those who started giving me more commissions to write for them.

Godbless you all, and I hope you have a great new year.

See you next!