Was it really okay to meekly obey the schemes of a nine-year-old?
Subaru watched the small back leading the way down the corridor, frustrated at his own inability to come up with a better plan.
As a branch family of the Mathers household—Roswaal's birth family—she shared many physical traits with Roswaal. Most notable were her deep indigo hair and blue eyes.
Her long braided hair was styled in a loop around her head, and Subaru—who had no idea what this hairstyle was called—had taken to secretly referring to her as "Braidy" in his own mind.
She was a girl whose sharp intelligence belied her nine years of age—quick-witted and resourceful, true to the Roswaal bloodline. But what truly showed off her "Roswaal heritage" more than anything else was something else entirely.
"Emily, may I hold your hand?"
"Hm? Sure, Anner."
"Then I'll take you up on that. By the way, Emily—may I hug you?"
"Hm? Sure, Anner."
"Then I'll take you up on that. By the way, Emily—could you carry me just like this..."
"Alright, that's enough."
Subaru pulled Annerose away from
Emilia blinked in surprise, but Annerose merely brushed off her disappointment, then slapped her own shoulder—the one Subaru had touched—in exaggerated fashion.
"How terribly boorish of you, Subaru, to so unceremoniously pull apart two people yearning for each other's touch."
"And where exactly did you gather those statistics on yearning? All I saw was one girl going around polling every person she passed in the Miload household."
"The fact that you can't even overlook a child's innocent little pranks speaks volumes about your character, Subaru."
"If that's all it looked like to me, I wouldn't have said a word!"
Annerose tried to justify her behavior with an exaggeratedly calm posture. Yet even as she spoke, she was eyeing every opening to try and take Emilia's hand—she was not someone to let one's guard down around.
Annerose Miload, blood relative of Roswaal, displaying extraordinary qualities far beyond those of a typical nine-year-old.
Her most extreme trait—she adored Emilia far too much.
From the very day Annerose had arrived at the mansion and announced she intended to cause trouble, she had been showering Emilia with affection. Emilia, who was too naturally trusting to ever suspect anyone, seemed to think of it as endearing friendship—but Subaru knew better.
After all, she was Roswaal's relative. Even if the truth behind Roswaal's "demi-human fetish" had been overturned by his "obsession with
In fact, most of the servants working at the Miload estate were demi-humans. They had been gathered by Roswaal from various places—people who had experienced persecution. By Roswaal's will, the Miload household served as a kind of refuge for demi-humans with such pasts.
For Annerose, who had been born and raised in the Miload household, demi-humans were familiar presences. She harbored no prejudice toward Emilia for being a half-elf, but her level of familiarity had long since crossed the line.
To put it simply, Subaru was trying to keep Annerose from stealing Emilia away.
And Annerose was trying to prevent Subaru from monopolizing Emilia.
In other words, the two of them were rivals in love over Emilia.
Or at least— "Come on, Subaru. I don't know what's got you so worked up, but there's no reason to get angry at little Anner. You're being so immature."
"Worked up? That's pretty old-fashioned phrasing... Anyway, that's not the point, Emilia-tan. To be specific, the look in Annerose's eyes isn't the kind you can write off as just a little kid's expression..."
"Don't make excuses! I'm sorry, Anner. Subaru seems to be on edge in someone else's house..."
"Don't treat me like some restless pet you're boarding at a stranger's place!"
Because their stances toward Annerose were fundamentally different, Subaru and Emilia's arguments over how to deal with her never reached a conclusion.
Why couldn't Emilia notice Annerose's clingy, possessive gaze?
"It's probably one of those things where only someone with ulterior motives toward Emilia-tan can spot the same kind of ulterior motives in someone else...!"
"Emily. Subaru just confessed that he has a sexual interest in you. How disgusting."
"The way you say things is what's disgusting! Are you really nine years old?!"
Unlike
"Honestly, why can't you two just get along? It's sooooo strange..."
"Well, it's because both me and this kid both see Emilia-tan as..."
"Me as...?"
"—Mmph."
When Emilia tilted her head, Subaru couldn't bring himself to say the rest out loud.
Of course, it was an affection he had confessed many times over, but somehow the more he said it in front of others, the cheaper it felt. On top of blurting it out on impulse at a moment even he hadn't intended—it was cheap plus embarrassing.
From the corner of his vision, he caught Annerose smiling with a look of triumphant glee.
"Well then, I believe that's enough teasing Subaru for now. While we've been chatting, we've arrived at my room—shall we continue the conversation inside?"
Annerose said this to the red-faced Subaru standing before Emilia's innocent eyes.
When he realized it, they had already reached the end of the corridor. True to the girl's word, they stood before an over-decorated door. Annerose's private quarters—Emilia seemed to have been invited there many times, but this was Subaru's first visit.
Annerose took Emilia's hand and tried to guide her inside with a natural motion. But Subaru put a stop to it.
"Hold on. Something feels off about your room, so I'm going in first."
"Fine. Go ahead, then. Do as you please."
Annerose seemed mildly amused by his initial hesitation, but she yielded without a second thought. Subaru gripped the doorknob and entered the room, more nervous than he cared to admit.
And— "We have been expecting you, Natsuki-sama. Tea and refreshments have been prepared. Please, take a seat and make yourself comfortable. May you enjoy pleasant conversation."
He was greeted by
Subaru froze in shock and turned to look behind him. Annerose wore an expression that said this was only natural.
"Wait, Clind? Didn't you just go to the dining hall with Beatrice and Petra?"
"You are correct, Emilia-sama. That is what I was doing. However, midway through, the young lady appeared to have decided she wanted to hold a tea party in her room, so I—this Clind—came ahead to prepare. In great haste."
"So that's what Anner told you."
"Yes. The young lady appeared to have 'thought' so. Your perceptiveness is remarkable."
Emilia peeked out from beside the frozen Subaru and exchanged these words with Clind inside. But something felt slightly off about the exchange.
He could have sworn Clind said "thought" rather than "was told."
"Trying to rationalize Clind's deviance with logic will only drive you mad. It's much easier on the mind to simply accept that he is what he is."
"I always endeavor to go one step beyond simply coming when called. That is my grand objective."
Could such a goal really be achieved through mere determination?
Not that he wasn't skeptical, but since both Annerose and Emilia were taking their seats without a care, Subaru joined the tea party, scratching his head in puzzlement.
"Well then, Clind's tea preparations are complete, so let us continue our earlier discussion."
"The relationship restoration between Frederica and Garfiel, right? Matchmaker."
"Hey Clind, are you one of those butlers who's secretly multiple people?"
"If anyone fits that description, it would be Ryuzu-sama alone. Second brew."
He had apparently concluded that his involvement would only stall the conversation. Having prepared tea and sweets for everyone, Clind straightened his posture at the edge of the room and froze like a statue.
His gaze was fixed on Annerose, but his young mistress brushed it off with practiced ease as she said, "Just as Clind mentioned, the early repair of the sibling bond between Frederica and Garfiel is our common objective—wouldn't you agree?"
"Yes, exactly. We've been racking our brains trying to figure something out, but nothing clever has come to mind. We're completely at our wit's end."
"A flustered Emily is rather cute, isn't it? —So, you went around asking everyone in the mansion for advice, and when you hit a dead end, you came to me?"
"Don't just slide your true intentions in like subliminal messaging."
Annerose's blank expression let Subaru's retort blow past her like a summer breeze.
In any case, she seemed to already be aware of their current situation, which saved them the trouble of explaining.
"Still, what's gotten into you, wanting those two to reconcile? Everyone else keeps saying 'time will fix it, time will fix it.'"
"Isn't it true that the more accustomed people are to giving up or waiting, the more they lean that way? The ones you two consulted—no offense, but they were predominantly the type to do just that."
"You're awfully blunt, you know that? ...Well, I asked Otto too."
"Then I shall add 'people unfamiliar with success' to the evaluation."
"That's harsh!"
Poor Otto—despite only having known Annerose for about a week, he had already left this kind of impression on her.
As for the similar impression Subaru himself held—some things were better left unsaid.
"I won't deny that time can heal. The ten-year rift between those two... given enough time, it will surely mend. But ten years is far too long. Ten years is about how long it took for my father and mother to share a kiss."
"Huh?"
Midway through a remark that was far too mature for a nine-year-old, she had suddenly arrived at a conclusion that was peak nine-year-old.
When Subaru groaned, unable to keep up with this abrupt shift, Clind—on the other side of Annerose—pressed a finger to his lips in a "quiet please" gesture.
He couldn't quite grasp it, but perhaps her knowledge in that particular area was age-appropriate after all. He'd rather not go into details here—not when Emilia was laboring under the same misunderstanding.
"What was that strange groan just now, Subaru?"
"It was nothing. Just a little phlegm and melancholy tangling up in my throat."
"I see. Adolescence must be difficult indeed. ...In any case, I have no intention of making those two wait that long."
"We feel the same way, but do you have some kind of plan, Anner?"
"What did you think, Emily?"
A question returned as a question. Emilia furrowed her graceful brows at Annerose's query, then pressed a finger to her lip and said, "Well, let me see..."
"I think they both definitely want to reconcile. Garfiel seems to be trying to make time to talk on his own, and even though Frederica seems uncomfortable, I don't think she doesn't want to talk."
"Yes, quite. And then?"
"So, wouldn't it be simple if we just locked them in the same room?"
"Emilia-tan, that's actually pretty violent!"
To be fair, Subaru had been thinking the exact same thing, but hearing it come from Emilia's mouth was still quite surprising. For the record, he agreed with the idea but had a slightly more twisted version of his own. The problem was, the twist was the whole problem.
"Even if you lock them in the same room, if those two cooperate, they could brute-force their way out of most rooms. I'd also prefer not to have the mansion half-destroyed in the process. We're already squatting here as a replacement for our own wrecked home—we're not trying to set a speed record for demolishing this one in a week."
"Then what would you suggest, Subaru? Should I trap them in an ice room I create?"
"We don't need to push it to that extreme of a 'family love revival through survival' scenario! How about this—give them a common objective and then put them in the same room!"
"A common objective...?"
Emilia tilted her head with a blank expression.
Subaru had managed to talk her out of the violence, but his own idea had actually stalled at exactly the same point.
He had gotten as far as "give them a common objective," but couldn't connect that to an actual plan. Should he throw some monster at them that could only be defeated if they teamed up?
Where on earth was he going to find a conveniently placed monster-hunting event?
"Actually, I had been thinking the very same thing as Subaru."
"Huh? Is there a request to hunt a cyclops or chimera or something?"
"It would appear not."
Under Annerose's withering glare, Subaru stuck out his tongue and slapped his head in apology.
The nine-year-old let out a small sigh, then blushed slightly at the sight of Emilia's expectant, shining eyes as she said, "On the point of giving them a shared objective, our thinking is the same. However, the difference in information I have about those two, versus what Emily has, is likely what separates our ideas."
"The information you each have about those two...?"
"The one you and your friends know better between the two is Garfiel, isn't it? But I've known Frederica for over eight years now. Ever since I first became aware of the world, I've been dealing with that fang-covered face of hers."
"I see." Subaru grasped roughly what Annerose was trying to say.
Annerose, it seemed, could use Frederica to establish common ground with Garfiel—filling in the gap in their shared objective that Subaru hadn't been able to bridge.
"Is that reliable?"
"If I can recruit collaborators. The rest is straightforward—Frederica won't be a problem, but Garfiel might be."
"Garfiel?"
"If Garfiel is the way I've observed him to be these past few days, I think it will proceed without issue."
"On the point of Garfiel being natural, I don't think there's any issue."
"Then it should be fine. The remaining question is the collaborator... could we ask Ryuzu-san—their family member—to help?"
"Ryuzu?"
If you were to name someone with deep ties to those two, she would be the first person to come to mind.
Whether the not-quite-cooperative Ryuzu would go along with it was the only unknown. Either way, Annerose didn't seem to share that concern—she lightly beckoned the butler behind her.
"Clind."
"Yes. If we delay dinner preparations in the kitchen, we can have approximately two free hours available. My suggestion."
"Very well, then. See to it that the dinner staff is informed."
"Understood. Promptly. Expeditiously."
The two of them swiftly reached their decision, and Clind departed the room as silently as he had appeared.
Annerose smiled at the stunned Subaru and Emilia over the rim of her teacup as she said, "Now then, shall we move quickly to settle this matter? After all, there are still others who need our help—others waiting to be looked after."
With that, she left Subaru and Emilia in an even deeper state of bewilderment.
The moment he stepped into the kitchen and spotted that "unfamiliar back," Garfiel realized he had walked into a trap and sighed.
"...Every damn one of 'em, always stickin' their noses where they don't belong."
He grumbled, though a faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Garfiel's nose was anything but ordinary. His sense of smell—unmatched by any normal person—had already detected this scent long before he entered the kitchen.
And yet, he had pretended not to notice—that was perhaps the last stubborn vestige of Garfiel's pride, or a man's petty vanity.
"Garf?"
The woman who turned around called to the head-scratching Garfiel in an "unfamiliar voice."
Standing before him was a woman with long, shimmering golden hair that swayed as she moved. She stood taller than Garfiel, and her build could only be described as robust. The rows of sharp fangs decorating her mouth, combined with her powerful frame, gave off an air that was somehow savage and violent.
If not for her gentle voice and the soft light in the eyes that gazed at him, this person would surely continue to be perpetually misunderstood by others as to her true nature.
Garfiel did not know why Frederica deliberately chose to use their father's surname, and he tried not to think about it too much.
He did, however, feel that the people who had orchestrated his current situation hadn't given much thought to the complicated feelings surrounding all that. Or maybe he was just overthinking it, and from the outside it was no big deal.
"Well, ain't this a rare spot to run into ya, sis."
"That's my line. You coming to a place like this, Garf... Dinner isn't ready yet, so there's nothing to nibble on."
"I ain't here to snack. Don't go treatin' me like a kid."
"It's your aversion to being treated like a child that makes you one. Besides, you're still at the age where you want to be pampered, Garf."
"Hey, I'm fourteen—that phase is long over! Who's a spoiled brat here!"
The words stung more than he would have liked, so Garfiel deliberately barked out his denial.
Frederica shook her head at his overreaction and returned her gaze to the back of the kitchen—to the workspace in front of her.
"I have work to do right now. Unlike you, Garf, I can't afford to just play around all day."
"It's not like I'm spendin' every day happily playin' around. And I ain't here to kill time, either. ...I figure I got the same goal as you, sis."
"As me?"
"Sounds like the person we each went to for help was different, though."
That was all it took for Frederica to understand the situation.
She murmured, "So that's what this is," in a tone of quiet comprehension.
"I did think it was strange. Annerose-sama suddenly came out with, 'If you don't eat the meat pie Frederica makes, you will die immediately.'"
"I think there's somethin' wrong with ya if ya fell for that one, sis."
"Garf, what did someone... no, what did grandmother tell you to come here?"
"She said if I didn't eat the meat pie I make, her dementia would get worse..."
"I also think something is wrong with Garf for believing that story."
Frederica's response left Garfiel at a loss for words.
Looking back on it, he supposed he couldn't help it—he had genuinely been worried.
"Ya may not understand, havin' dumped the old lady's care on others like that, sis. The old lady'll ask 'Is the food ready yet?' right after she just ate—it's not like that's unusual. Can ya really blame me for worryin'?"
In truth, this was a tragic misunderstanding that arose because the dominant personality Ryuzu did not inherit memories about whether meals had been eaten or not during a switch—but Garfiel never realized this, and Frederica, who heard about it secondhand, didn't either.
All it did was add to the siblings' shared concern about Ryuzu's mental state—someone they considered family.
However, Garfiel's words in that moment had struck a different, weaker part of Frederica's heart—in a way he had not intended, he had thrown the weight of their ten-year void right in her face.
"...Yes, you're right. For these past ten years, I never once returned to the
"Nah... I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I..."
"———"
Garfiel turned to face Frederica head-on once more.
Her face was still—as always—"unfamiliar" to him.
Ten years of separation. And yet, the image of his sister that Garfiel had carried in his mind for those ten years had never changed from the child she was a decade ago.
That was why, even now, reunited with the real person after all that time, he still couldn't accept the fact honestly. Surely the conditions were the same for Frederica. That was why his sister was looking at him with those same bewildered eyes.
But what caught his attention now was not just the confusion in his sister's eyes—it was the wave of emotion that accompanied it, just as strong.
What, exactly, did his sister feel toward him?
"...Ah."
Her gaze turned away, and Garfiel suddenly let out a breath that escaped him.
And then, the answer dropped into his chest with a quiet thud.
He realized.
He had realized what the emotion passing through Frederica's eyes was the same as.
It was the same emotion Ryuzu had sometimes shown when he was at the Sanctuary. And it was surely the same as what he had seen reflected in his own eyes on the water's surface.
If that was the case, then it was loneliness. And woven into it was guilt.
"Come to think of it... yeah, that's right."
In Garfiel's mind, he had always believed the events of ten years ago were settled.
In the tomb, Garfiel had recalled the scene he had seen as a child—the moment of parting with his mother. Understanding the feelings she had left behind, he had believed the matter was settled.
He had also believed he shared that moment of closure with his sister.
But he was wrong.
What had happened in that tomb was a matter between the tomb and Garfiel alone.
The mother's feelings and the wordless emotions toward his sister—those were things Garfiel had merely confirmed for himself. His sister, far away in distant lands, had neither learned of them nor felt them.
That was why Frederica still gazed at Garfiel with the expression of someone who had never found closure ten years ago, wearing the face of someone who didn't know what to say.
That was why his sister, despite having grown so much since a decade ago, still had the same eyes.
"Sis."
"—!"
"Sorry. I never told you nothin'. But it's alright. I'm alright now. I think I understand—about Mom, and about you, sis."
"Garf..."
Frederica's eyes wavered, brimming with powerful emotion.
Searching for the right words, Garfiel felt frustrated with his own inability to express himself as he tried to find some way to convey what he truly felt.
He scoured his mind, rifling through every book he had ever read, searching for the words he needed to say.
"When you left the Sanctuary... and how you never once came back to see me after that... I know. I can't say I fully understand, but I've tried. So... y'know, that's—"
"Mother... have you come to forgive her?"
"—There ain't nothin' to forgive."
A slight smile softened his mouth as Garfiel shook his head at Frederica's words.
That was right. There was nothing to forgive.
The love and hatred Garfiel had harbored in his heart for so long had been entirely misplaced. He hadn't known the truth, hadn't understood his own heart, and had simply been throwing his anger at the darkness of his own ignorance—throwing a childish tantrum.
Once he knew the truth, it was nothing.
There was nothing he needed to forgive, and nothing he needed to resent.
"I know now that Mom loved me... loved us."
"———"
"So if you've been avoidin' me because of what happened back then, it's a waste of time. That stuff don't matter to me no more. I'd rather talk about somethin' better with ya, sis."
His tone and manner of speech returning to normal, Garfiel rubbed his slightly reddened nose with a finger.
At Garfiel's words and demeanor, Frederica let out a deep, long breath. Then, with her finger, she caught the faint droplets forming at the corners of her eyes and said, "Garf... you've grown, haven't you?"
"Are ya mockin' me?! Compared to you, I ain't gotten big at all! What happened to you?! How'd you get so... guwah!?"
"Even if we're family, how dare you say that to a lady, you idiot Garf."
He was grabbed by the foot and yanked hard to the ground, hitting the back of his head.
Lying on his back, staring at the ceiling with spinning vision, Garfiel saw Frederica looking down at him. Her expression had already returned to a smile.
"Come on, get up."
"Yer the one who flipped me, and then ya tell me to get up like that?!"
Garfiel took the offered hand and got to his feet.
He brushed himself off lightly, then peered at the counter where Frederica had been working. "So?"
"How far did ya get with the meat pie, sis?"
"I've only just finished prepping the ingredients and started chopping them lightly. As for you, Garf—you sure do remember how to make the only dish you ever ate as a child."
"That meddlesome ol' broad made sure to leave behind the recipe so's I could make it even after she was gone. Here, I'll knead the dough."
"Then I'll handle the filling."
Standing before the ingredients, Garfiel wrapped a towel around his head and got ready. In the meantime, Frederica brought out Garfiel's share of the cooking utensils, handing them over with a practiced, seamless flow.
And so, the siblings began working side by side—as though the ten-year rift had never existed, two familiar people performing a familiar task, doing what came as naturally as breathing.