"——Madeline?"
Spotting Madeline Eschart striding boldly through the fortress,
Upon hearing the call, the girl stopped in her tracks and turned her black-horned head toward Emilia, twisting her cute face into an expression like she had just bitten into something awful.
At that reaction, Emilia gestured with her hands to show that no one else was around.
"You don't have to make that face. It's just me here."
"...That's not even a little bit comforting, nya. The dragon is making this face because it's you, nya."
"Huh, really? Why?"
"You——you rained snow all over the place, you fought the dragon and
Madeline's golden eyes sharpened as her voice boomed louder. Listening to Madeline's biting words, Emilia went "I see..." and nodded to herself, recalling the nature of their relationship.
Indeed, Emilia had clashed with Madeline twice already—once during the siege of the imperial capital and again in the decisive battle. During the fight against the "Great Calamity," both of them had been in the imperial capital, but they happened not to meet there. Come to think of it, this was the first time they had spoken calmly, face to face.
"So the last time was when I froze you solid, wasn't it?"
"——! So it really was you, nya! I couldn't move at all, I was so cold I almost——what a terrible person, nya!"
"S-sorry. I meant to thaw you out properly afterward, but you ran off with Mezoreia before I could..."
"Don't blame that on the dragon, nya, human!"
Madeline bared her sharp teeth, looking ready to sink them right into her. Emilia was a little startled by her vigor, but at the same time she felt relieved.
She had heard that Madeline had once become an ally of Mezoreia and the "Great Calamity."
"But in the end, you fought on our side, didn't you? Garfiel told me."
"...That tiger-man beastkin, nya?"
"Yes, my reliable ally—like a little brother, actually. He's super strong, you know."
"————"
Puffing out her chest proudly, Emilia watched Madeline fall silent with a troubled expression. She wasn't doubting whether Emilia was lying—it was a silence loaded with something else entirely.
Something closer to embarrassment, perhaps. Or frustration.
"——So, Madeline, you're going to stay here as one of the Empire's 'Generals,' right?"
"——Are you complaining about that, nya?" "No, not at all. I just heard that Mezoreia, who was with you, went back home. So I was wondering why you didn't do the same."
Breaking eye contact with Madeline, Emilia gazed at the sky beyond the fortress walls.
The rare dragonkin Madeline, and the "Cloud Dragon" Mezoreia—Emilia didn't know the full details of their relationship. But if they truly cherished each other, then perhaps their bond was something akin to that between a spirit and a spirit arts user.
If that were the case, then Mezoreia was to Madeline what
"I've tasted that same feeling myself. In my case, I wasn't even given a choice about whether to go with them or not... So the fact that you chose to stay on your own, Madeline, I think that makes you super brave."
"Of course it does, nya. ——Don't lump humans and dragons together, nya."
"Maybe. But maybe not, either. You're a dragonkin, sure—but does being tough enough to endure the pain of being separated from someone important really make you heartless? Is that how it works?"
"What a horrible woman, nya...!"
Hearing herself called that with a bitter expression, Emilia clutched her chest and went "Oof."
She had never been called a horrible woman before, and the sting of it was surprisingly fresh. Lately, people had been calling her "half-demon" less and less, and honestly, even when they did, it no longer hurt. The only one who had ever called her "half-demon" with such brazen boldness was no longer anywhere to be found.
"————"
"Don't go getting all quiet on me, nya. That's disrespectful in front of a dragon, you."
"Mm, you're right. Sorry for spacing out."
"Nn—!"
Pulled out of her reverie, Emilia apologized, and Madeline's face flushed red.
For a while, she tried to say something with that reddened face still on, but she let out a long breath, inhaled, and then cast a sharp glare back at Emilia.
"Talking with humans is exhausting, nya, but you're especially draining."
"That's probably because I make people nervous when they talk to me. Subaru told me that before."
It was frustrating that Emilia herself couldn't do anything about what Subaru had told her. Apparently, she had a tendency to make the person she was facing tense up. Subaru would smooth it over with excuses like "E.M.T." and whatnot, but the real reason was probably her status as a Royal Selection candidate, or the fact that she was a half-elf.
"So I try to relax the muscles in my cheeks as much as I can, to keep that from happening."
She couldn't change her position as a Royal Selection candidate, her half-elf heritage, or the silver hair and violet-blue eyes that reminded people of the "
Testing this out, Emilia asked, "How about this?" and showed Madeline. Madeline let out another long sigh.
"When I talk to you, I start to feel like staying in this empire was a mistake, nya."
"Um, it'll be fine? We're leaving the empire in a few days, so..."
"That's not——the point——whether you're here or not——!" Emilia stared wide-eyed as Madeline cut her off in short, sharp shouts. Then, placing a hand on her hip, Madeline glanced outside the fortress, much as Emilia had done earlier.
"This country is what Baruroy gave his life to protect, nya."
"——Yes."
At Madeline's whispered words, Emilia gave a small nod.
She had heard about Baruroy and what that named corpse soldier had done—that when the sky had been engulfed in that tremendous light, he had been among the clouds above the imperial capital.
Emilia had been fighting
"I wish I could say thank you. It's a shame I can't."
"Don't flirt with the dragon's beloved, nya."
"Flirt...?"
"The dragon's beloved fulfilled his duty—without gratitude or anything of the sort, nya. ...Right to the very end, he never dragged the dragon into doing things his way, nya."
Listening to Madeline's thin, lonely voice, Emilia narrowed her violet-blue eyes.
The heavy, somber feelings packed into that small body—Emilia felt she understood them. Or rather, she did understand them.
Because Subaru, too, had a habit of making all sorts of decisions on his own without consulting her.
"But it's not because he thinks I'm useless or doesn't care about me. It's precisely because he cares about me that it's so terribly difficult to deal with."
"You..."
"I know he cares about me. And that makes it hard to be angry—it's a little unfair, really."
If he didn't care, if he thought she was useless or disliked her, she could try to change that by working harder. But when someone already thought highly of you, trying to change that dynamic was incredibly hard.
"So, yeah—unfair. What are we supposed to do about it, I wonder?"
"...Unfair?"
Picking up on Emilia's words, Madeline lowered her head as if deep in thought.
Though she didn't know Baruroy well, Emilia somehow felt that the frustration Madeline harbored toward him was close to what she herself felt toward Subaru.
But even if the source of their troubles was similar, the answer Madeline had arrived at was far from anything Emilia could relate to.
Because—— "——I can't stay in this country that Priscilla protected."
Putting her life on the line—and if anyone had done just that, it was Priscilla. Even after several days had passed, Emilia still had no real sense that her "friend" was gone.
"————"
They should have been able to call each other friends. That wish was cut short before it could be fulfilled, and so now Emilia could only say it one-sidedly, on her own.
But what she missed most—what lingered with bitter, lingering regret—was the brief conversation she had shared with Priscilla just before she vanished, when she had appeared where Emilia and Anastasia were talking.
She kept thinking about it, over and over. That gentle, tender exchange—she wished it could have continued so much longer, so much more deeply, and she tortured herself with the dream of all the time they might have had together, if things had been different.
And as Emilia gazed at the end of that vanished dream—— "——Huh?"
Suddenly her arm was pulled, and Emilia was yanked forward without any chance to brace herself. She nearly toppled over, but her head came to rest, soft and gentle, against Madeline's shoulder.
Between the two of them with their height difference, it looked as though Emilia was leaning her head on Madeline's shoulder. Just a little more to the side, and Madeline's horn would have been right in Emilia's face.
"Um, Madeline? You scared me..."
She was about to chide Madeline, saying this wasn't something they should be doing.
But—— "Don't cry, nya."
"————"
At those words, Emilia blinked—and then she noticed the droplets seeping into the shoulder she was resting her head on. For an instant, she couldn't understand what it was, but Madeline's words brought comprehension in their wake. ——Tears.
They were tears shed for a purpose, and for someone, that much was perfectly clear.
"I thought we could become friends."
"————"
"With Anastasia-san, and I got along well with
"————"
"I thought I could grow to love Priscilla. I wanted to love her."
Like chasing after a teardrop that had already fallen, words and feelings came tumbling out of her in a rush.
Priscilla—always poised and dignified, sometimes wickedly mean, putting on airs as if she knew everything for reasons Emilia could never grasp, yet all the while harboring a truly kind heart.
Emilia had wanted to cherish all of her—every good side and every bad side, every face she showed. She had wanted to take her time, to nurture that feeling over many long years.
Was it regret? Was it grief? As those emotions spilled from Emilia—— "The dragon will——"
"Huh?"
"The dragon will protect it, nya."
Madeline placed a hand on the head of the one crying against her shoulder and spoke those words. Hearing them, Emilia—her eyes glistening with tears—looked up in surprise.
They were in such close proximity that they could barely see each other's faces—just the edges, pressed near together. Emilia was crying, but what kind of face Madeline wore, she couldn't tell.
Without showing that face, Madeline continued.
"The Empire is what Baruroy protected, nya. The dragon has its reasons to guard this place, nya. ——The reason for your tears died for this country too, nya. So then..."
"...So then?"
"The dragon will protect it together with you, nya. Unlike some humans, that much is a trivial thing for a dragon, nya."
Emilia had always believed that when it came to important words, looking someone in the eyes mattered. That it was an indispensable promise you kept when speaking about the things that mattered most.
But in this moment, she realized she was glad that neither of them could see the other's face—her own tear-streaked one, or Madeline's, which had spoken those words so boldly.
Even words that were terribly important and dear—some things you simply couldn't say if you were looking at the other person's face.
And there were surely words you could only say because you weren't looking, and Madeline's words now felt like exactly that kind.
"——Mm. Thank you so, so much."
"Just something that came up along the nya. Not doing it to be thanked, nya."
"I know. But I want to say it. Thank you, Madeline."
At Emilia's repeated gratitude, she heard Madeline snort.
Whether it was genuine annoyance or just a way of hiding her embarrassment, Emilia couldn't tell without seeing her face. There was a certain charm even in that—not being able to see the other's face during a conversation.
She had the opportunity to cherish something so trivially precious.
And—— "——Oh! Look, Madeline!"
"Guah!?"
Just then, as she held those deep, precious feelings close to her heart— In the passage directly across the fortress, Emilia spotted a small figure walking along. So startled that she grabbed one of Madeline's horns and turned her in the same direction— Ignoring Madeline's groan of pain, Emilia's attention was drawn completely to the figure. ——A small boy with peach-colored hair. It was Schult, Priscilla's attendant.
"Schult..."
The moment she saw him, a pain squeezed Emilia's chest.
Priscilla's death had shaken Emilia to her core, destroying all the plans she had imagined for their future. But for those who had been devoted to Priscilla, the grief they bore was incomparably greater.
She knew full well that comparing grief and misfortune only led to more loneliness.
"——Ah!"
"Ah! You—!"
The instant the thought struck, Emilia kicked off the ground and broke into a run toward the passage where Schult had appeared. Madeline's startled voice called after her, but she didn't stop.
Bursting through the fortress at full speed, Emilia rounded the corner into the opposite corridor.
"Schult!"
"—Lady Emilia, is that you?"
At Emilia's rushing voice, the small, thin shoulders trembled, and Schult turned around.
Standing face to face with the young boy, Emilia caught her breath. His fluffy peach hair and neat clothing were still in order. But the redness around his eyes, the exhaustion in his face, the pallor of his complexion—none of those could be hidden.
Still, the fact that he had come outside, rather than sobbing alone in his room— "You... you came outside. That's wonderful..."
She hesitated whether to follow that up with "magnificent" or "brave."
She had rushed over on instinct, but now she couldn't find the right words at all. What Schult needed right now—comfort? Encouragement? Or— "There is no need for you to apologize, Lady Emilia."
"——Ah."
"Because Lady Emilia kept her promise."
At Schult's words, spoken with downcast eyes and a slight lowering of his gaze, Emilia regretted her own hesitation.
Schult had seen right through her wavering, her hesitation to apologize. ——Before the battle against the "Great Calamity," Emilia had made a promise to Schult: that she would bring Priscilla back and reunite them.
She had failed to keep it. Priscilla herself was the one who had accomplished that, in the end.
But she mustn't apologize for it. If she did, everything Schult had striven for, every word Priscilla had spoken to him—all of it would become a lie.
"Th-that's nothing to mope over."
"...Utakata-chan, you were with Schult?"
Suddenly, Emilia noticed a face popping up beside her, peering in from below—it was Utakata, a girl around Schult's age. An important friend of his, she hadn't gone off with the other "Children of Shudrak" but had stayed by Schult's side instead.
At Emilia's words, Utakata gave a small nod.
"Miya and Tou are busy. Sue and Aa are struggling too. Being with Shuu—that's what Uya's for."
"Right. Thank you for not leaving Schult alone."
"I'll accept that thanks, ya."
Utakata thrust a fist toward her. Sensing the same gesture in her as Subaru, Emilia tapped her own fist lightly against it.
Then, turning back to Schult once more— "You don't still need to stay in your room and rest, do you?"
"...No, I've rested enough already. Originally, I was small and weak and didn't do much work at all... so now, I want to do as much as I can."
"Shuu works real hard. If he does that, Poo's soul can rest easy too."
"That is correct."
"————"
Hearing Utakata say that so naturally, and Schult nod in agreement, surprised Emilia.
And then Utakata tilted her head at her and said, "What's wrong?"
"Life cycles—prey, humans, enemies, allies, all the same. That's how we see things. My mama, Shuu's Poo, they cycle. They surely cycle."
"...Spinning around and around—then what happens?"
"They're born again. Maybe different, as prey or human or enemy or ally, maybe all different. But that's how it is."
The souls of the dead cycle, and return.
It was a way of thinking that didn't quite click for Emilia. Still, it felt better than the belief that when someone died, everything simply ended.
When a person died, the od that had dwelled in their body slipped away and dissolved entirely into the mana of the world. Even if that was what really happened, if something of the shape—or the person—remained within that dissolution...
"——Is that what the 'Book of the Dead' is?"
Murmuring this, Emilia remembered that she herself had experienced tangible proof of what Utakata described.
Inside the
"————"
For the first time, Emilia felt a fierce attachment to the Book of the Dead.
Not the same attachment she had felt back in the tower, when she had once lost Subaru's "memories"—this was attachment in its truest, original sense, directed at the Book of the Dead itself.
Emilia, too, had people she could never forget—whom she had lost.
But her parting with Fortuna and the others, though sad, had reached its resolution.
What drove Emilia's attachment now was a grief she had not yet overcome.
If only she could—if only she could know what Priscilla had been thinking in her final moments, whether she had wanted to see the same thing Emilia had seen beyond that brief exchange. ——If she hadn't spoken with Madeline.
If she hadn't had that time to struggle together with someone over how to settle the grief of parting with Priscilla—grief that she could not digest—then surely— "I was picked up by Priscilla-sama. Priscilla-sama chose me."
"Schult..."
Before the silent Emilia, Schult clenched his cheeks with effort, slowly raising his downcast face, and spoke with halting but unmistakable warmth.
The boy's round eyes glistened, but he pressed on.
"Priscilla-sama loved beautiful things and amazing things. That Priscilla-sama chose me... If I turned out to be worthless, I would be tarnishing Priscilla-sama's name...!"
"————"
"That—I cannot allow."
At those words, spoken with all the force he could muster, Emilia's eyes went wide.
It might have been a trick of the light, a momentary trick of her imagination. But for just an instant—a heartbeat—she felt as though a brilliant radiance had blazed to life within the boy who spoke those words.
It was the same radiance she had felt from the flame-like presence of Priscilla when she was alive.
——And in that moment, Emilia understood: this was the instant that had defined Schult's life.
From here on, countless hardships would rain down upon him. But Schult would never again be broken, never again lose heart.
The reason was simple. He had decided—decided to keep the blazing flame he had witnessed up close alive within his own chest, as his kindling, so that his vitality would never be extinguished.
"There's still so much I can't do on my own, and I study hard every day, but all I do is come up short."
"Lady Emilia?"
"Now and surely for a long time to come, I'll keep having everyone around me fill in my shortcomings, support me, and help me—and I know full well how shameless it is for someone like me to say this. But let me say it."
"————"
"From here on, I'm going to be a source of strength for you, Schult. I swear, I will be."
Placing a hand over her chest, Emilia looked straight at the short boy and declared it without wavering.
This was not about whether keeping her promise to bring Priscilla back was right or wrong, nor out of pity for a boy who had been left adrift by the loss of someone precious. She swept all of those reasons aside. This was Emilia's own resolve.
It was the expression of a wish to support Schult—his attitude, his way of being.
"...Thank you very much, Lady Emilia."
After taking a long moment to absorb Emilia's words, Schult's lips relaxed ever so slightly, and he answered.
Hearing that reply, Emilia thought she had made a reckless promise and would have to apologize to Roswaal and Otto later—but she felt glad she had said it.
"Thank you for saying that. I should let some other people know about this too... Does Al—does Reinhard's father happen to be around?"
The truth was, with Priscilla gone, the future of the Baruiel territory in the
Al in particular—he had witnessed Priscilla's disappearance, just as Subaru had.
"——Subaru."
The fact that she herself was barely holding it together, and yet Emilia said Subaru's name, filled her with frustration.
Before Emilia's group had reunited in the empire, Subaru and
Ideally, she would have wanted to be by their side, even if it meant bearing her own pain and sorrow in silence.
"But I've finally gathered my courage, so once I'm done talking about things here..."
She could go speak with Subaru, with Rem, with the others who carried grief in their hearts.
Resolving to do this, Emilia watched as Schult continued with "Um—"— "Al-sama has been shut in his room this entire time. Heinkel-sama is just now going to fetch some water..."
As Schult said this, he glanced at Utakata beside him. She was holding an empty water bottle—she had apparently planned to fill it and head to Heinkel.
Emilia had inadvertently kept them for a long chat, and she was about to excuse herself and let them go about their original errand when— "——U-ah."
Suddenly, a low, groaning voice echoed from deeper in the corridor. Emilia looked up and, in disbelief, locked eyes with the most unexpected person.
There stood the very man who had just been mentioned— "Heinkel! You came outside?!"
Schult raised his voice, calling out to Heinkel—a man with disheveled red hair and an unkempt beard. He had presumably not had a chance to clean himself up since then, and he looked even more haggard than he had when the battle against the "Great Calamity" ended.
The dark circles under his eyes were terrible—he clearly hadn't been able to sleep. But those sunken blue eyes glared with an unsettling intensity—at—no, at Emilia.
"I'll bring some water right away..."
"H-Heinkel!"
As Schult spoke, he bravely tried to support Heinkel's swaying body. But Heinkel paid him no heed, calling out Emilia's name.
Frowning at his behavior, Emilia nodded and said— "Hei, your complexion is terrible. Like Schult said, drink some water and rest, alright? If you haven't been eating, I can bring you something..."
"No, no, that doesn't matter at all... Well, it does matter, but—Lady Emilia, there is something I want to discuss!"
"——!"
As Emilia reached out to place a hand on his shoulder to calm him, Heinkel grabbed her hand. The strength of his grip startled her, and he brought his face close to hers.
Then, with the same blue eyes as Reinhard, flickering wildly— "Would you... please, let me serve you, Lady Emilia? I swear it—I swear I will be of use in the Royal Selection...!"
"What—what are you talking about? Suddenly, like this... You're Priscilla's attendant, aren't you?"
"I will be of use! I will be a deterrent! To win the Royal Selection, there is someone you simply must force to withdraw, isn't there? As long as that person stands in the way, no one stands a chance of winning. But if I'm here, even Reinhard won't be able to——"
"——!"
Heinkel's desperate, almost maniacal manner left Emilia speechless.
She had been thinking lately that one of her strengths was her ability to move quickly to solve problems before overthinking things—but Heinkel's obsessive pitch silenced her.
It was too fierce, too shamelessly self-serving—and if this was Heinkel's way of confronting Priscilla's absence, then...
"I am... so deeply saddened..."
"I know! But it's the truth! I can't beat Reinhard—not without me. That's why Priscilla-san took me in. Yes—Priscilla-san's acceptance of me is proof. Lady Emilia! Together, let us avenge Priscilla-san's unfulfilled will!"
"————"
If even a fragment of genuine mourning for Priscilla had been in his words, Emilia would have listened.
But she couldn't feel any such sentiment in Heinkel's appeal. If it had been there, he would have been able to see the pain on Schult's face.
And so, Emilia pressed her lips together—— "You've gone far enou—"
"Shut it, nya."
The next instant, a devastating punch cut through the air in front of Emilia. Heinkel's jaw, which had been right before her eyes, was struck ferociously from below. He let out a brief "guh," his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed flat on the spot.
The force behind it was enough to have separated a normal person's head from their body.
"M-Madeline!?"
"There are some truly pathetic specimens around here, nya. Don't you go feeling sorry for this one, nya."
Shaking off the hand she'd used to strike Heinkel, Madeline spat the words out bitterly.
After Emilia had dashed to Schult's side, Madeline had followed at her own pace and been watching the situation in silence—but it seemed her patience had finally run out.
"Heinkel! Heinkel! Are you alright!?"
"Don't fuss over him, nya. The dragon was angry enough to mean it, but even going full strength, this human won't die. Just knocked him out cold, nya."
Madeline spoke to Schult, who had rushed over to the fallen Heinkel's side with a worried expression. But even so, with that kind of power, his concern was only natural.
Of course, Emilia understood perfectly well why Madeline had done what she did.
"Madeline, I..."
"The dragon is protecting the Empire, nya. But that doesn't mean it intends to protect everything else as well, nya. Take this useless human and get him out of here, nya. There won't be a next time, nya."
"...Mm, understood."
Emilia recognized that Madeline's cold, suppressed anger was her way of reaching a resolution. And then, crouching beside Schult, Emilia looked down at the unconscious Heinkel.
She gently held her hand over him—the man who had taken such a devastating blow to the jaw.
"I'm not very good at this, but before we get to the healing room, I'll at least do some first aid..."
She activated healing magic, worrying about whether Heinkel would suffer any aftereffects from Madeline's strike. Beside her, Schult watched over Heinkel with concern.
"Um, Lady Emilia... Heinkel was, well, very tired."
"Schult..."
"Heinkel is grieving for Priscilla too, you know. He had a promise with Priscilla, and he's just been overwhelmed by it all..."
"Mm. It's okay. It'll be okay."
"...Yes."
Schult lowered his head, and Emilia smiled at him as warmly as she could manage. If it could serve as even a small comfort or encouragement to him, that would be enough.
As Emilia continued healing Heinkel, Utakata watched with wide, round eyes from behind, the water bottle balanced on top of her head.
"Lady Emi, you're awesome."
The words slipped out of Utakata, casual and unthinking—and Emilia caught her breath.
Coming from a young girl, with no flattery or calculation behind them, just an honest, offhand remark—that was what made Emilia realize something.
She was no longer merely one among those who grieved Priscilla's death. She had earned the right to stand beside those who grieved.
And that was something she had wanted desperately—so desperately that if she thought of Subaru and Rem, her hands practically reached out of her throat to grasp it—— "——Priscilla's otokonasu."
It was the end of a time when she could simply think about her terribly mean friend—and that realization made her body tremble from the inside out, so achingly lonely, so heartbreakingly fleeting.