"Why did you come back?"
With an intensely serious expression,
Subaru saw his own face reflected in her amethyst-bright eyes—those eyes that held a stillness as though they had captured the surface of a lake entire, their light piercing straight through to lay bare whatever lay inside.
Naturally, a full-body shiver of raw emotion swept through him.
Whether that was rooted in positive or negative feelings drawn from her penetrating stare, Subaru couldn't tell in this moment.
But there was one answer he held—the only answer that mattered to that question.
"Why did you come back?"
The question repeated.
Cast at him once more as he remained silent, it carried no impatience, no urgency—it was a gently pressing inquiry. Subaru swallowed, running his tongue lightly across his dry lips.
Then, after closing his eyes briefly— "Hey."
"......"
Silence came back. But it was not the silence of withholding an answer—it was the silence of urging him to say what lay beyond his opening word. Knowing that, Subaru didn't hesitate, and gave shape to his next words.
They faced each other, both tangled in complicated feelings, yet still afforded the chance to speak—so: "After all that wild chaos just a while ago, maintaining this atmosphere is pretty rough, isn't it?"
"...That's really hard to swallow coming from you, Subaru."
At Subaru's broken composure, Emilia let out a deep, deep sigh, and—utterly, utterly powerless, resigned—her lips parted into a faint smile.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ —Subaru's "lucky pervert" moment, courtesy of
With Ram's further assistance afterward, Subaru was dumped into the garden and kept giggling until Ram had to haul him back up, earning a deeply unsettling impression from her in the process. That spectacle, in turn, eventually circled back to Emilia's ears— "Did you hit your head hard anywhere? You were upside down, so did you strain your neck? Ah, there's dirt all the way inside your ears... Why are your clothes this covered in blood and mud? Are you okay? You're not hurt, right? Here—if you're hurt, take them off quickly..."
"W-wait... no, we can't—there are people around and it's still lunch, so you can't just strip me down..."
"I knew it—you hit your head too many times..."
"I've always been like this! Thanks for worrying but that look in your eyes is killing me!"
Warding off Emilia's fretful, reaching hands, Subaru shook his head, twisted his neck to dislodge the dirt from his ears, lightly brushed off the grime on his clothes, and then—just to prove he was in one piece—performed a set of leg raises on the spot before re-entering the guest room.
Inside, seated across a small round table with a tea set between them, were the two heroes of the recent commotion: Puck and Ram, sipping tea together.
"Quite the fine brew, isn't it?"
"Oh my, no. I could never hope to receive praise from the Great Spirit himself."
"What're you two being all chummy about, drinking tea together like that?"
Shouldering his way into their typical exchange of pleasantries, Subaru planted his hands on the table and glared at them both. But neither paid him any mind, calmly sipping their tea as if he weren't there. The sight of Puck's tiny专用cup was particularly surreal.
He swallowed hard and let the tea go down. After a steadying breath, the two looked up at him in unison.
"Thanks to Ram's little blunder, something quite entertaining was witnessed. You should settle things amicably and call it even."
"Why are you acting all superior? Are you royalty or something?"
"I'd be grateful if you simply thanked me for my mercy in letting you keep the head on your shoulders. When I think of the unspeakable embarrassment for
"And you—weren't you the one who tried to erase your own head!? How often does anyone die from a 'lucky pervert' incident!?"
The world was wide—maybe somewhere, someone really had died that way. Then again, even Subaru, holder of an unprecedented consecutive death record, wanted no part of that particular cause of death.
Anyway, through all of that— "If you're not hurt, that's what matters. There's... a lot we need to talk about, but..."
As Subaru grimaced at the unrepentant pair's responses, Emilia walked past his side and murmured in a quiet voice.
Silver hair trailed with her steps, glinting as it arced when she turned. Eyes captivated by that shimmer, Subaru watched as she sank onto the edge of the bed, then gazed up at him intently— "Why did you come back?"
—And so she circled back to the very first question.
Having replayed the entire sequence in his mind, Subaru found it genuinely hard to stay serious.
He hadn't intended to make light of things, but the situation had ended up that way regardless. He scratched his head, while Emilia—pouting with her lips pushed out— "It's all Ram and Puck's fault. It wasn't supposed to be like this... It shouldn't have been like this. Honestly."
"I humbly apologize, Lady Emilia. If your anger has not yet subsided, I am prepared to accept any reprimand or punishment. —From Barusu."
"Can you at least acknowledge for once that you were part of the problem!?"
"Ram on top, Barusu on the bottom—that's how it's always been."
"B-bully! She's a bully! I've never seen a maid so far removed from obedience flaunting such bullying behavior!"
Her refined manner and perfect appearance made Ram's brazenness all the more shocking to behold after so long. As Subaru found himself in a conversation that seemed to have made zero progress since the days he'd left her behind, Ram narrowed her eyes and studied him carefully.
"W-what...?"
"You do look a little less anxious than before. Just barely—a hair better."
"......!"
At her utterly unsparing words of concern, Subaru couldn't help catching his breath.
In truth, until just now his limbs had been heavy as lead-filled sacks, and before the reunion with Emilia, his heart had been squeezed tighter by anxiety than buoyed by anticipation.
But now, that restlessness and fear had eased to some degree, and the thirst that had been parching his tongue no longer burned.
He realized it was Ram's doing—her way of understanding his feelings and easing them—and an intensely complicated gratitude enveloped him. Hence: "You're way too hard to read, honestly. You worry me sometimes."
"A woman must always keep a man off-balance with unsolvable riddles. If he solved them too easily and grew bored, he'd wander off somewhere in no time."
"You just said something that sounded profound to dodge the question, didn't you? Don't go getting all impressed. —I am grateful, though."
"Lady Emilia. Please thank Ram on my behalf for just now letting Barusu get an eyeful of you changing. He's the lowest of perverts, this man."
"I didn't pull off anything that advanced! You're definitely still the same as before, aren't you!?"
His gratitude forgotten, Subaru raised his voice in protest, while Ram covered her ears and pretended not to hear. Her brazenness in maintaining her usual routine was beyond even Subaru's ability to respond to.
But watching the two of them go back and forth— "Ahaha."
"Oh—"
Emilia, one hand over her mouth, couldn't contain the laugh that spilled out. She'd been trying hard to hold it in, but when Subaru noticed and raised an eyebrow, she seemed to give that up too— "I mean, you two are just clowning around like that... it's making me feel stupid for trying so hard to stay serious."
"So what? It's better to laugh and talk than to sit there fuming. A lot happened, but no matter what, laughing together is always better. If that's what it takes, I'll put on as much of a fool's act as you want. Right, Ram?"
"Hmph."
"Oh, you're not playing along!?"
Seeing Emilia respond that way made Subaru genuinely happy. His mood lifted, words tumbled out faster than he could stop them, Ram watched him with a withering look, Subaru reacted to that, which made Emilia's smile widen even further—a loop repeating itself.
"You two really haven't changed at all. I feel like... it's been so long since I've laughed like this."
"That's right. It's been quite some time since Ram has seen Lady Emilia like this as well."
As Emilia wiped away tears at the corners of her eyes with a fingertip, Ram gave a slight bow and spoke quietly.
Emilia's expression stiffened for just a moment at those words. Ram, having witnessed that, looked as though she'd accomplished what she set out to do— "Barusu. I'm leaving the rest of you to handle. Do it well."
"Wait, what about you? What about this weird atmosphere?"
"I created a comfortable environment for you, didn't I? The rest is your job. Ram has many preparations to make—she's quite busy. Because of that reason you brought with you, Barusu."
That quiet, steady gaze she fixed on him left Subaru with no recourse but silence.
Confirming he had no rebuttal, Ram gave Emilia a deep bow— "Lady Emilia, Ram has matters to attend to and must excuse herself. The situation, Barusu will explain from his own mouth... Any decisions and instructions will follow Lady Emilia's judgment."
"Ram... but I—"
"Whatever Lady Emilia decides, Ram will comply. That is Master Roswaal's order."
Interrupting Emilia's hesitation, Ram delivered those words flatly and left the room. In the final instant before the door closed, her gaze toward Subaru was razor-sharp—and it planted the distinct feeling that he'd been made to work hard right up to the bitter end. At least, that was how it felt.
Looking at the table, he found that Puck's figure had vanished without him noticing—whether the spirit had slipped into Emilia's hair, or dissipated into mana and taken his leave from this place, at least formally speaking, this room now held just two people.
Subaru and Emilia. Alone together.
"It's been so, so long since I've talked with you like this, Subaru."
Unable to find the opening to speak, Subaru had been enduring a brief silence when Emilia broke it with that line.
Still seated on the bed, she looked up at Subaru with eyes that were calm—the fierce blaze of that time entirely absent.
First, that initial awkwardness was something he felt he could overcome in light of that fact. Or rather, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been allowed to overcome it, rather than conquering it on his own.
"Yeah. A day apart from Emilia-tan feels like a thousand years. The Emilia-ase in my body has been depleting day by day—I thought I might suffocate from deficiency."
"Emilia-ase" was Subaru's slang for the Emilia-reserve built up in his system through conversation, staring, and breathing in her lingering scent.
When the deficiency hit terminal levels, the side effects included spiraling into self-destructive despair—so replenishment was a matter of urgency.
"Is that the reason you came back?"
"Mmm, partly, but it's not just that."
Lightly tossed off, Emilia's response was toneless.
Subaru took that as a turning point and considered, with a remarkably composed heart, what needed to be said—the reconciliation of that crossing they'd missed at that place and time.
"Wanting to see Emilia-tan is the biggest reason, but of course there are other reasons too. The next most important one is that—I wanted to be useful to you."
"......!"
Emilia sucked in a breath. Subaru saw her hand clench the sheets on the bed. Her expression went rigid, and deep agitation spread through those amethyst eyes.
But she quickly buried that shock beneath a facade of composure, pasting on a smile that even Subaru could tell was skin-deep— "What are you... even saying? Useful? There's nothing... nothing at all you need to worry about, Subaru."
"You're terrible at hiding things, Emilia-tan. I came all the way here through the village, you know? I've got a pretty good idea of what's been going on."
"...Yes. You're right."
At Subaru's pointed observation, Emilia's smile drained of strength.
Still, she managed to keep her chin from dropping, refusing to look away from Subaru—that alone made her admirable. People beaten down by their own helplessness quickly surrender their will and let their gaze fall. She simply would not allow herself that.
"Listen, Subaru. I'm... well, a half-elf."
"Yeah, I know. I was there at the royal selection ceremony, and I've had chances to hear things from various people. I probably know more about it than you think."
Closing the distance, Subaru moved to Emilia's side on the bed. Then, kneeling to match her eye level, he looked straight into those amethyst eyes, letting his own reflection fill them.
"I'm not planning to hold it against you for being a half-elf. Comparing yourself to others and listing the differences—there's no point in that. And I don't want to think being different is something bad and put myself down for it. That's how I feel about my own blood."
"Yeah. I think that's incredibly noble."
"But... it seems like it's not that simple for the people around me. A half-elf existing alone is enough to make many people feel uneasy or afraid."
Quietly, holding her emotions in check as much as possible, Emilia spoke evenly. Listening to her, Subaru fought desperately to keep the overwhelming surge of tender aching in his chest from showing on his face.
The way she wrestled with the world around her—the lamentations of her own fragile heart within it—the beauty and dignity and heartbreakingly fragile grace of that struggle was something to behold.
"Ram told me. There's a strange atmosphere in the forest. The minor spirits have been terrified every morning, sensing something abominable. Something terrible is going to happen—something you'd want to look away from."
"......"
"That's the situation right now. It's dangerous to come back here, Subaru—even for you. So if possible, I want us to leave the mansion right away... Your treatment, it's probably still halfway through, isn't it? So—"
"And what about you if I leave, Emilia-tan? You're the one in danger, and the villagers too, right? What kind of man would I be to hear that and go off somewhere?"
But Subaru shook his head in firm refusal of her plea. Hearing that, Emilia bit her lip faintly, then—"Um"—letting a slight hesitation flavor her words— "Of course, I plan to leave the mansion as soon as I'm ready too. I need to rendezvous with Roswaal, and there are so many things to figure out. The villagers will come with me. I talked to the village about it, and..."
"They wouldn't listen, did they? That preamble just now—that's what you meant, isn't it? Stumbling over your words like that... that's not like you, Emilia-tan."
"Ah..."
Realizing how disjointed her own words had been, Emilia closed her mouth awkwardly.
Her attitude struck Subaru as painfully raw—not a shred of happiness in it, but something entirely different. He tilted his head toward the door that led to the village— "I've made preparations for you and the villagers to escape."
"...What?"
"In the capital, I went around asking everyone I could. Got several merchant dragon carriages gathered up. More than enough to carry every villager out. There are seats for you and Ram too. Couldn't manage first class—went for comfort over class."
Emilia's eyes spun as she struggled to keep up with Subaru's rapid-fire words. He pressed on, showing both the urgency of the situation and his own reliability— "The shady black-coated bastards lurking in the forest—most of them were taken out thanks to the reliable allies I brought from the capital. The ones that are left, we'll mop up properly after everyone's been evacuated. I'll make it all work."
"W-wait a moment... Subaru, why did you—"
"A lot of people warned me, lectured me, made me reflect, taught me things, asked me to rely on them, supported me, believed in me, made me believe, made me want to believe—that kind of thing. They all helped me get here."
It was an answer that wasn't really an answer, and Emilia couldn't find words to follow.
But it was every bit Subaru's honest feeling. After parting with Emilia and remaining in the capital, the things given to him in those days—words could never capture it all. Things had been taken from him too, but he'd come back to reclaim them. And the gifts he'd received along the way were far greater, in his eyes, than what had been lost.
"I... said terrible things to you, Subaru."
"It's fine. Saying I don't care would be a massive lie, and to be honest there were times when I was tormented so badly I thought I was having nightmares—spiraling into depression with nothing but negative thoughts—"
"I really am sorry, Subaru..."
"If I took that gracefully, I'd have no pride left. Ah, but look—we're here now, so don't worry about it. I'm going to keep worrying about it, though, so I never forget how stupid I was."
Emilia's eyes went wide at his words. Subaru nodded back—his mind vividly recalling every detail of that scene, those hours in the royal castle.
Forgetting was impossible. Forgetting was not allowed. That humiliation, that rejection he'd brought upon himself.
The foolishness of being so selfishly, obstinately wrong that he'd made Emilia say things no one should ever have to say.
That was precisely why— "Right now, I want to help you. I've made preparations for that. I can't say everything's perfect, but I've done everything within my limited power. So please—take my hand."
"But I... I can't afford to be so weak..."
"It's okay to be weak, Emilia-tan."
She hesitated to take his extended hand, and Subaru smiled at her with that same irresponsible grin.
Her position, her role, her future—all demanded that she be strong. And that was probably right. Having seen the nobility of Crusch, the tenacity of Anastasia, and the arrogant self-assurance of Priscilla in the capital, he recognized those as kingly qualities.
But still, he thought this: "I'm incredibly weak and helpless too, but a lot of people reached out their hands to me, and I somehow made it this far. I figure from here on out, I'll keep borrowing hands from others and muddling through—that's pure reliance on others, sure. But I don't plan to just keep borrowing. What I borrow, I'll return—and I'll use the hands that pulled me forward to pull someone else along."
"Oh..."
"So for now, isn't it okay to just be the one getting pulled? Even if you're weak now, someday you can be strong. For now, sitting side by side with someone watching your back—this is just about right."
There was no need for her to be complete from the start.
The idea that a king should be strong, noble, and more righteous than anyone else—that was a child's fantasy. But he understood that everyone harbored that childish dream of what a king should be.
And so she, who aspired to be king, could not be forgiven for her weakness by anyone.
—But is being weak really so terrible? Subaru thought.
Even while weak, one can walk forward, keeping one's eyes on the sky. And if that's so, isn't it fine to walk alongside someone who believes the same?
"A lot of people took my hand and led me here. I'd like to be the one who can lead you by yours."
"Subaru..."
"So take my hand, Emilia-tan. If you can accept that someone exists who wants to walk beside you—not in front, not behind, but to the side—watching you walk the path to becoming king."
Hesitantly, he saw her hand reaching out, and the corner of his mouth quirked upward.
Unable to wait even a moment longer, the instant their fingertips touched he gripped tight. Pulling her arm as she let out a small sound, Subaru rose to his feet.
Hands clasped together, the two stood and gazed at each other from impossibly close.
His heart was pounding. Emotions were about to burst. Hiding that tempest, Subaru twisted his mouth into a mischievous, bratty grin— "Feel a little easier about standing on your own two feet?"
"...You're such an idiot, Subaru."
At his question, Emilia lowered her eyes and murmured in a small voice.
Subaru's smile vanished—he worried he'd said something wrong— "Such an idiot. Seriously, such an idiot. Idiot, idiot, idiot."
"That's too many! Well, the being-an-idiot part, I'm fully self-aware, yes, sorry—"
"I've been thinking about things, you know. That I have to become king, and there are so many things I need to learn and do for that. That I can't be selfish, that relying on others isn't good—I was thinking about all of it, all at once."
Emilia planted her free hand on her hip and directed her voice at the shrinking Subaru.
Listening, Subaru clutched his head with his free hand, enduring the sudden Emilia-tempest that had erupted before him.
"The villagers won't listen, Ram does what I tell her but won't give me any real input, Puck is... useless for that sort of thing, Roswaal wandered off somewhere... I had to think about everything by myself, the whole time."
At precisely that critical moment, neither Subaru nor Rem had been by her side.
If he'd been there, he could have done something about the psychological weight she'd borne.
"I even started thinking—what if I just pretended to be a wicked mage and rained ice on the village, forcing everyone to evacuate whether they wanted to or not."
"That's... probably best left unexecuted. Let's keep it cool, yeah?"
"And then Subaru came back right before I could! That alone was enough to turn my whole head upside down, and now that same Subaru starts laying out all these things... honestly, it's overwhelming."
A small, breathy sigh escaped her, and silence settled over the room.
Unsettled, Subaru couldn't read Emilia's feelings and floundered. His earlier outbursts had been too grandiose—he was starting to wish he could punch his past self, but it was too late for that.
If he could, he'd rewind time, prepare a more perfect speech, and try again. But that wasn't how it worked.
"Subaru, you're making a hundred different faces."
"That's not really a phrase people use these days... I guess this kind of back-and-for-for is pretty nostalgic too."
He pressed his hand to his face to settle his expression, and looked at Emilia.
Just then, she looked up at him too. Their eyes met, and time stopped.
Unable to move, Subaru saw that Emilia's expression was gentle. She parted her lips slightly— "I think I said terrible things. But I don't think I said anything wrong."
"Yeah... I think that's right. I don't think my feelings back then were wrong either. The methods, the expressions, the process, and the result—those were all wrong. But the feelings weren't."
"Isn't that basically everything, though?"
"I'm deeply reflecting on it! But I still believe my feelings weren't wrong. Even now."
There he would not lie.
Watching Subaru hold his ground with that stubbornness, Emilia laughed softly. Then— "You're still holding my hand. Your hand is... really warm, Subaru."
"Right now my face and ears are probably just as bad... You're not going to tell me to let go?"
"You grabbed it so firmly and pulled me up—I can't exactly just walk away."
She lifted their joined hands and swayed them beside her face.
A smile overlapped that gesture, and a profoundly warm pulse spread through Subaru's chest.
"Will you help me again, Subaru?"
"If you'll still allow me to."
At Subaru's answer, Emilia closed her eyes.
As though sinking his words into her body, searching within herself for the reply that lived there.
Then she opened her eyes, fixing Subaru with a steady amethyst gaze— "Tell me. About all the people and things you prepared, Subaru."
"Yeah. And if you think it's amazing, you can praise me all you want."
"Don't get carried away."
With her free hand, she lightly bonked him on the head.
It didn't hurt, but the fact that she reached out to him of her own accord filled him with such happiness that tears threatened to brim at the corners of his eyes. Subaru turned his face away to hide them.
"All right, let's bring Ram in and talk about everything. Honestly, there's so much I want to say it'd take forever—but let's save that for after we get through this immediate crisis."
"Mm, understood. I'm dying of curiosity, but let's do it that way for now."
Drawing Emilia by the hand, pleased that she didn't resist, Subaru walked toward the door.
They needed to meet up with Ram, who had left ahead of them, and help with the preparations for evacuating supplies from the mansion. The villagers' evacuation was probably being managed smoothly by Julius and Wilhelm.
The lingering question of Subaru's own heart, and the matter of facing Emilia head-on—while the complete answer remained deferred, at least a provisional one had been reached.
With the sensation of a weight lifted from his shoulders, he was suddenly tugged by the hand.
"Subaru, there's one thing I need to say right now."
"Hm?"
Pulled to a halt by Emilia, Subaru stopped and turned around.
And to his questioning look, Emilia paused for a single breath—then broke into a radiant, flower-blooming smile— "Welcome back."
—For that smile, he knew with absolute certainty, was the reason he'd come back.