"Your repeated concern for our household is deeply appreciated."
"No, no—this is simply the natural thing to do. There's no need to thank me."
Offering those words with exaggerated humility, Subaru frantically waved
Beatrice shot him a sidelong glare, but he supposed his tension was already being transmitted through his heartbeat against her back. With a resigned sigh, she resigned herself to continuing her role as his puppet.
—Fresh off the climactic meeting with Fiore, whose actions had thrown the Royal Selection into a maelstrom of chaos, Subaru and his companions had rushed straight from the
As one would expect, proper manners dictated arranging an appointment before visiting. Yet his visit had been so socially inept as to skip even that step—and yet they had been welcomed without hesitation.
Escorted to the receiving room by Wilhelm, Subaru and the others took their seats on the long sofa—four of them in a row, with Beatrice on Subaru's lap—awaiting the moment of her appearance with bated breath.
Noticing how Subaru could barely sit still, Wilhelm bowed deeply.
"I must ask for your patience while we prepare Lady Crusch. My sincerest apologies."
"No, no—we're the ones who barged in unannounced. Really, just not being turned away is more than we could ask for."
"Turned away? Why, Lady Crusch was overjoyed to hear that you and Lady
"No, no, no—on that front, the opposite might be more accurate. If I see Crusch-san awake and well, I might just start crying, so…"
As embarrassing as it was, that was no joke—there was a genuine possibility of exactly that, and he wanted both Wilhelm and Emilia to brace themselves for it.
For now, all he could do was restrain his impatience, bobbing Beatrice's arm up and down in time with his "no"s.
"Hey! No matter how you slice it, you're waving Betty's hands around way too much! My shoulders and arms are getting sore already!"
"Gu—sorry, sorry, my bad. I just can't calm down. Because…"
Beatrice, who had been faithfully serving as his emotional stabilizer, finally reached her breaking point and let out a shout. Subaru poked her cheek while he paused for a beat, his words catching in his throat.
He was impatient, yes. Anxious, sure. But it was worth the wait.
"Because Crusch-san…"
"—Yes. Without a doubt."
Wilhelm nodded with equal gravitas at Subaru's sigh brimming with emotion. —No, not equal; that was far too modest. Wilhelm's relief was many times, dozens of times, greater than Subaru's. The recovery of the person he had sworn to serve—that was an event of that magnitude.
"I've said it before, but Wilhelm-san, I'm truly glad it worked out."
It was Emilia, seated beside Subaru, who formally acknowledged Wilhelm's efforts once more.
Having been present at the church when Fiore used its divine miracle to heal Crusch, Emilia had already thanked Wilhelm and the others on the day itself. Even so, Crusch's consciousness had yet to return, so with the opportunity to speak with the now-awakened Crusch before her, Emilia's violet eyes sparkled with anticipation.
"My, my—between the two of them, I worry about someone going overboard.
"That's right. When it crosses the line, leave it to me. I've been getting a bit more accustomed to handling the iron ball and its weight."
With Subaru and Emilia both restless, Beatrice and Rem—the two keeping their composure as visitors—were a reassuring presence as they prepared for the critical moment. The faint jingle of chains when Rem shifted ever so slightly was equal parts alarming and stimulating.
When asking Rem for backup, Subaru figured he would need to steel himself considerably too.
"Oh, right—speaking of backup, where's
Noticing that a certain face that should have been here was nowhere to be found, Subaru voiced his confusion.
Wilhelm, Subaru, and the others were all overjoyed at Crusch's recovery. But no one would feel that joy more acutely than Crusch's first knight himself.
Of course, the fact that Crusch's salvation had come through the Divine Dragon Church would have been painfully ironic for him as a healing mage. But there was no doubt in Subaru's mind that Ferris was the kind of person who could rejoice in Crusch's safety above and beyond his own sense of helplessness and self-reproach.
However— "—"
"—? Wilhelm-san?"
Wilhelm's expression stiffened for an instant, prompting Subaru to furrow his brow in puzzlement. But Wilhelm quickly composed himself with an "excuse me" and explained: "As for Ferris… he has actually been feeling somewhat unwell. Right after Lady Crusch's condition, it seems all the strain he had been carrying finally caught up with him all at once."
"Oh no, that happened after all that? …I'm worried about Ferris. Even though Crusch-san finally woke up, if he collapsed, he'd just blame himself."
"Yeah, you're right. Wilhelm-san, is Ferris really in bad shape?"
"No—he should recover with rest. For now, though, I would ask that you refrain from visiting him. I believe he himself would not wish to intrude upon the feelings of those who came to see Lady Crusch."
"I don't think it would be intruding at all… but fine, understood. We'll visit another time then."
It was adding insult to injury, but hearing Wilhelm's proposal, Emilia nodded, and Subaru agreed in kind.
They would be staying in the
Catching sight of the figure who opened the receiving room door, Subaru involuntarily rose to his feet.
Standing at the room's entrance was a woman of slender, willowy build with long green hair—a figure draped in dark nightwear with a pink shawl draped over her shoulders. The beautiful woman was none other than
"—"
The last time he had seen her, Crusch had been struggling to breathe, too weak even to sit up in bed. To see her standing on her own two feet and appearing before them like this—joy beyond expectation and deep emotion welled up inside him.
Yet half of her face, as she offered a fragile smile upon seeing Subaru, was still wrapped in bandages covering her left eye, and that was what inevitably drew his gaze first— "Please, do not worry. These bandages are only because my left eye is still slightly impaired. The vast majority of the affliction… no—all of the affliction has been removed."
"Ah…"
"So please, don't make such a face."
At her words, Subaru realized that he, who had come to visit, had ended up making her worry instead.
He was surprised that the bandages still covered her face, but what truly merited attention was the fact that Crusch had come to meet them on her own feet.
Her illness had been so severe that the feat now seemed almost impossible.
"—"
"—Subaru?"
Seeing Subaru suddenly fall silent, Crusch—who had been smiling—narrowed her amber eye. Being gazed upon by that single eye, Subaru chose his words carefully.
After all, one wrong word, one wrong breath, and his composure might shatter into tears.
"…Hey, Crusch-san. There's so much I want to say—honestly, so much—and most of it would be apologies or 'I'm sorry' or words like that. But—"
"Yes."
"Now that I'm face to face with you like this, all that comes out is 'I'm glad' and 'what a relief'—that kind of thing. I'm truly, truly relieved…"
He had prepared dozens of model responses befitting a proper visitor beforehand.
On the way here, during the wait—he had frantically simulated the perfect words for this visit in his head, convinced he had selected the very best answer.
And yet, every last one of them vanished the moment he actually met Crusch. What came out instead was the immature, scatterbrained relief of a child—nothing more.
"—"
At the feeble words wrung from Subaru's self-acknowledged helplessness, Crusch's eyes went wide for a moment. But she quickly restored her soft smile to her lips and said: "It puts my mind at ease to hear you say that. I had been showing you my unsightly side time and again, so I was starting to wonder if you might have grown tired of me."
"No way! Not at all—not even close! Besides, making you stand around talking when you've just recovered is a bad idea. Here, please—have a seat."
"Fufu, then I shall do so."
As Subaru, flustered, pulled himself together and offered the chair opposite him, Crusch smiled behind her hand and accepted the escort. Somehow, Subaru had ended up orchestrating the whole thing—but this was her home, so it was only natural to be laughed at.
Feeling thoroughly awkward, Subaru watched as Crusch took her seat with Wilhelm's help, then cast a resentful glance at Emilia and the others beside him.
"Am I the only one flapping around here? Isn't that unfair? Why am I being made to dance like this?"
"Because you're the one who worried about Crusch-san the most, right? So I thought you'd want to speak with her first."
"I'm not really in a position to impose myself here. Besides, there was the matter with Beako."
"Beako's matter—huh? Wait, why is Beako on Rem's lap? Weren't you sitting on mine?"
"I was, but you flung me off when you jumped up! If Rem hadn't caught me, I'd be flat on my face in the middle of the room right now!"
"R-Right, sorry about that. I literally didn't have eyes for you…"
"That's a terrible way to phrase it!"
Puffing out her cheeks, Beatrice clung to Rem with stubborn pride. Subaru entrusted her to Rem, who was prepared to receive the embrace, and reflected that he really had been far too oblivious to his surroundings.
Then, watching this exchange, Crusch let out a soft "fufu," her smile deepening. Noting Crusch's reaction, Emilia narrowed her violet eyes and said: "Sorry for the commotion when you're supposed to be resting."
"No—I don't dislike the liveliness. And the fact that you came to visit right after hearing the news… it made me happy."
"I'm glad to hear that. …Ah, but I'm going to keep you from overexerting yourself."
Concerned for Crusch's health, Emilia tacked on one last remark in her characteristic fashion.
One could see the care and intentionality behind those words—a glimpse of Emilia's visible growth, even in a moment like this.
Of course, it was unwise to take Crusch's words entirely at face value, but— "How are you feeling?"
"I'm doing much better. It will take some time to regain my full stamina, but I believe there are no major issues."
Adjusting the shawl draped over her shoulder, Crusch answered. Still recovering, her complexion was a shade pale, but her responses were composed, and the sharpness of her intellect was undiminished.
Her gait appeared proper as well, and aside from the bandages over her left eye, it seemed no traces of that day remained on her. All in all, it was a relief.
However— "I have been briefed on what transpired while I was unconscious. …I heard about Lady Priscilla's passing."
If her keen mind was as intact as ever, then she fully understood that this was not a situation where one could simply celebrate her physical recovery.
"—"
Though he knew this was a topic that could not be avoided, Subaru and the others stiffened when Crusch herself was the one to bring it up—one that seemed too soon to raise.
They had wanted to congratulate Crusch on her recovery and save the deeper discussion of the Royal Selection for another occasion—but that comfort was clearly not what she wanted.
"To the best of my recollection, I barely exchanged words with Lady Priscilla. But she, too, had her own convictions, and her participation in the Battle of
"—Yes, I think the same thing. For Priscilla's sake, we can't stay down forever—that's what I believe."
"Yes. I'm relieved. Lady Emilia, I'm glad we share the same sentiment."
Crusch let out a breath of relief before Emilia's nodding figure and lifted a teacup to her lips. Wetting her tongue and lips, she fixed them with the gleam of her single amber eye and continued: "I believe we can agree that what should be of primary importance now is the stability of the kingdom. The
"Mm, I understand that. The Royal Selection is meant to determine the kingdom's future—not to deal with the Witch Cult. Right?"
"Yes, precisely. Of course, addressing those cultists is a challenge that those in power must undertake, but placing it above all else is playing right into their hands. We must remember the Royal Selection's true calling."
"If that's the case,
"Furthermore," Crusch cut in, leaning forward slightly. For an instant, Emilia felt as though a bared blade had been pointed at her, and her eyes widened just a little.
Crusch paid no heed to that reaction and pressed on, her amber eye glowing brighter: "I heard you have opened the path to the 'Sage' Tower… the
"Crusch-san…"
"The critical 'Divine Dragon Ceremony'… the deadline for the vote that will decide the next king is now less than a year and a half away. From here on, the merits and demerits of each faction's platform will face ever greater scrutiny. You must watch the faces of those around you more carefully, and listen to their voices more attentively than before."
"Wait, Crusch-san—I do want to talk. But don't push yourself so hard. Right now—"
"—I—"
"—!"
At the instant Emilia tried to stem the torrent of Crusch's words with emotion, a sharp voice sliced through the receiving room.
The teacup in Crusch's hand was roughly returned to its saucer with a clatter, tea splashing across it. Wilhelm swiftly drew Crusch's hand aside and draped a handkerchief over his master's tea-dampened fingers, then pulled the cup behind her.
During all of this, the passive Crusch did not once look away from Subaru and the others.
Without breaking her gaze, her thin lips trembled: "Am I… wrong…?"
"—"
The composed, intellectually assured tone she had carried moments before had crumbled, and her question was drenched in tears.
In truth, no tears actually welled in Crusch's eyes. But her voice was weeping. The chasm between her rationality and her emotion sliced into Subaru's chest with searing pain.
He understood.
Crusch was brilliant—possessed of extraordinary insight and a tireless work ethic who had faced countless responsibilities and challenges. Whether Subaru chose his words carefully or not was irrelevant.
She knew that the way she had been saved was unworthy of the king she had aspired to become.
"…What a ridiculous thing to say."
Reflecting on the conviction that had crystallized within him, Subaru clenched his back teeth.
He could only call it absurd—truly absurd. To say the manner of salvation was wrong was, essentially, to say it would have been better if Crusch were still suffering under Sloth's malice. What utter nonsense.
Why should a person as noble as Crusch have her dreams and aspirations severed by the despicable acts of the Witch Cult?
It was unjust suffering. It was the height of absurdity, devoid of any reason to be endured.
And so what if she had been saved by someone's kindness? Thank you for saving me. I will treasure this gratitude and continue to do my best from here on. —Was that not enough?
"—You're not wrong."
There was a feeling surging up alongside the anger that churned within him—anger he could do nothing about.
Spurred on by it, Subaru found himself on his feet once again, seizing the hands of Crusch across the low table with both of his own.
On Crusch's pale fingers, where the handkerchief had fallen, there was no trace of those ugly, black markings. These were her hands in their natural state—hands that no one had any right to defile.
"Subaru… sama."
"You're not wrong. Not at all. Let's do the Royal Selection properly. Let's talk it through, think it through, and compete like we're supposed to. I'll do whatever it takes."
He knew this would invite another rebuke—another scolding for making promises so freely.
She was his rival's camp. Having the powerful Crusch drop out of the Royal Selection would be a tremendous relief for Emilia's faction—everyone would think so.
"But that's not right. That can't be it. The reason all of us decided we wanted our own person to be king—the Royal Selection that came from that—isn't supposed to end that way."
"—"
"So, Crusch-san—you're not wrong."
He wasn't even confident that the sentence had connected properly with its "so."
But at Subaru's impassioned outburst, Crusch was slightly overwhelmed—yet somewhere within her, something tightly wound seemed to release, and she let out a breath.
"Oh, Subaru—you went and said everything in a rush, so there's almost nothing left for me to say. That's unfair."
Noting the shift in Crusch's demeanor, Emilia pouted from her seat on the sofa and chided Subaru for his behavior.
Having leaped ahead so enthusiastically on his own, Subaru felt his ears burning.
Thinking better of it, he hurried to return to his seat, but— "—Subaru. Your hand…"
"Huh? My hand?"
At Crusch's prompt, Subaru looked down at the hand that had been holding hers.
He braced for a reprimand about his flagrant breach of etiquette, but that wasn't what Crusch's amber eye was focused on. What concerned her was not Subaru's rudeness, but— "Your hand… it has become the same as my body. Don't tell me your hand also… the power of the Divine Dragon Church?"
"Ah, no—mine is from something far more violent. An 'exploded' sort of result, really. I don't even know the exact method, so it's quietly terrifying."
In truth, Subaru's hand had since returned to its original skin tone, but the process had been rather violent and not something anyone would want to replicate.
To put it bluntly, it had been burned, blown off, and regrown. —His feet were in the same state, though he had zero desire to test whether burning, blowing off, and regrowing was repeatable.
"—I…"
"—"
As Subaru flexed his fingers, recalling that extreme treatment, he thought he caught a faint whisper, and his breath hitched.
He blinked and looked at Crusch. Surely not—surely he had imagined it.
"Crusch-san, first just rest your body. After that, like Subaru said before, I intend to do everything in my power."
"…You may come to regret it, you know?"
"The me of today is better than the old me at distinguishing between regrets worth having and regrets that aren't."
But the unease and suspicion that had flickered in Subaru's mind were swept aside by the conversation exchanged between Emilia and Crusch across his head—a conversation befitting fellow Royal Selection candidates.
In truth, Subaru's and Emilia's proposal was nothing short of sending salt to the enemy. Even if they avoided this and defeated Crusch, there would be no genuine joy in it.
Therefore, this proposal and declaration of resolve was entirely in line with the wishes of Emilia's camp.
"—Haa."
Having exchanged those words, Crusch released a sigh tinged with fatigue.
Still weakened from recovery and having experienced an emotional episode, her stamina had been pushed to its limit.
"Perhaps we should be going soon, Emilia-san."
"Yes. You must be exhausted, and yet you still met with us—thank you so much."
"Not at all—I'm the one who regrets not being able to offer better hospitality. Wilhelm, would you see them out?"
At Rem's gentle nudge, Emilia moved to bring the meeting to a close. Crusch smiled and addressed Wilhelm beside her. Wilhelm bowed in acceptance and saw to the preparations for their departure, while Crusch herself rose to see them off.
And then— "Thank you truly, for today. I was glad to see you all."
"—"
Apologizing for the discourtesy of seeing them off from where she stood, Crusch offered her farewell.
In that instant, Subaru hesitated, on the verge of saying something— "—Subaru-sama, allow me to see you out."
As though sensing his intent, Wilhelm interjected and cut him off.
"I owe you my deepest apologies for earlier."
As they were escorted from the receiving room to the mansion's entrance, Wilhelm spoke up from the point. Hearing his words, Subaru—who had been holding Beatrice's hand—widened his eyes, thinking "I knew it."
"I did notice you stopped me at the end. …But honestly, I'm not sure myself what I was trying to say back there."
"Even so, it was an unforgivable breach to interrupt a guest's words. It was solely out of concern for Lady Crusch's well-being, but I humbly apologize for the rudeness."
"…Wilhelm-san, you noticed too, didn't you? Crusch-san's state."
"Of course—she is far from her usual self and will need more time to rest. But even if her body and spirits have recovered…"
Wilhelm lowered his eyes and said nothing more. But what he left unsaid, Subaru could roughly guess.
No one had said it outright in that room. But Crusch herself had felt it most keenly—that was why such raw emotion had spilled forth.
And— "Ferris must be frustrated too. Right now, he'd want nothing more than to be by Crusch-san's side supporting her, yet his body won't cooperate."
Glancing back toward the direction of the receiving room, Emilia murmured worriedly. At her words, a faint sound caught in Wilhelm's throat.
Then, without breaking stride, he spoke in a solemn voice: "Earlier, I told you a lie."
"Eh? A lie?"
"Yes. —About Ferris."
At the words and the name, Subaru and the others exchanged glances.
A lie concerning Ferris—that was what Wilhelm had said. According to his explanation, Ferris was unwell and resting—but— "No, that doesn't add up. Ferris doesn't normally get sick, does he?"
"Well, he's not… you know… Reinhardt-san or anything."
"Of course, Reinhardt is off the charts, but Ferris is extraordinary in his own right."
Reinhardt, the walking impossibility who could carry a dragon carriage and sprint with it, was one thing—but Ferris was a healing mage. Not just any healer, but the bearer of the "Blue" title, said to be the strongest in the kingdom.
Subaru had once witnessed Ferris returning nonchalantly from the scene of a
He was the quintessential super-healer of manga and anime fame—that was Ferris.
Of course, there had been instances of mana depletion and moments where he poured everything into Crusch, so it was hard to say those feats applied universally.
"As you have correctly deduced, Ferris is not resting. Right now, he is not in this mansion."
"Not in the mansion? That means…"
"—At the Royal Spirit Garden, I believe."
Rather than answering the question that had unexpectedly surfaced, Wilhelm offered only that terse reply and guided Subaru and the others to the mansion's entrance.
The Royal Spirit Garden—by name alone, it seemed a place of clear purpose.
But Wilhelm's true intention in revealing that location to them was— "No matter how much shame I must bear, I am a retainer of Lady Crusch. I cannot act against my lord's wishes. —Please, hear me out."
With a deep bow, Wilhelm sent them on their way.
The anguish etched into his weathered face conveyed that this was a problem the "Sword Devil" could not solve with his blade—yet he wished desperately, even through bitterness, to find a resolution.
△▼△▼△▼△ —The Royal Spirit Garden lay at the very heart of the Noble District within the Royal Capital of Lugunica.
As its name and the impression it conveyed suggested, the grounds were a garden of spirits—a cemetery where tombstones stood in solemn rows, a final resting place for souls to find peace.
"You know about the
"Yeah. I can't believe I never visited—that was pretty callous of me. I didn't bring flowers today, so next time I come, I'll make sure to be prepared."
"That's right. We should offer plenty of thanks and words of 'well done.'"
Passing through the gate of black iron, not a speck of rust on its surface, they found before them a promenade of geometrically patterned cobblestones flanked on both sides by rows of grave markers. Not a single tombstone could be called a simple stone slab.
Some were crowned with sculpted effigies of knights, showcasing their martial valor in life; others bore elaborate carvings that told the history of noble families, fashioned into small shrine-like structures. Banners bearing family crests rippled in the wind, and colorful bouquets left by mourners provided the only splash of vitality in the otherwise gray world of stone.
"As expected of nobles—even their gravestones are showy. …Once you strip away the grandeur, it's not unlike the cemeteries from Western movies and foreign dramas."
Well-tended grass and a cobblestone path radiated outward from a gentle hill. For Subaru, with no Japanese-style tombstones, wooden memorial tablets, or shrines and temples in sight, it was a cool, lonely space where the wind blew through.
"Now that you mention it, I've never really thought about it—do they cremate the dead here? Or bury them?"
"Cremation, most likely. When a living creature loses its life, its soul—the Od—departs from the body. A body without its Od simply crumbles and decays into an unsightly mess. So before that happens, it is perhaps fitting to signal that the body, too, has fulfilled its role, much like the Od."
"I see—so it's not about disease prevention, but rather the very mechanism of existence."
Thanks to Beatrice's immediate answer, the logic made sense.
No wonder, then, that during the "Great Calamity" in Volachia, many of the zombies that rose again had been in states of rot with missing limbs—far from complete. In those cases, the bodies had been reconstructed from earth and clay based on the form of the souls used to reanimate them.
That was why those zombies had returned to the living world bearing the exact appearance they had in life.
"That makes the place where the soul ends up—the Cradle of Od Laguna or whatever—pretty precious, huh? Like the River Sanzu or the Far Edge of Time or something."
"Don't go saying such awful things all of a sudden! The Cradle of Od Laguna is not something to joke about—ever. It's said that if you so much as meet its gaze, it steals away your sanity."
"No, I'm not joking—it's genuinely… but that was all just Rui talking on her own, so who knows how reliable it really is?"
Warning Subaru with a stern look, Beatrice caused him to recall that pure-white space where he had spent an intense time, for better or worse.
The self-proclaimed gatekeeper, Louis Arneb, had called it the "Corridor of Memories," but while it certainly seemed to be that sort of place, its exact nature remained unclear. Louis's consciousness had since vanished, and with her rebirth as
"If I really had to say, I could try finding Rui's book again and peer inside at the risk of something terrible happening…"
"—Excuse me, I know you're in the middle of a conversation, but may I interrupt?"
"Hm?"
"You came here looking for someone, didn't you? Was it Ferris-san?"
At Rem's question—his sleeve tugged gently—Subaru turned around.
Rem, her eyes filled with deep puzzlement, naturally did not know what Ferris was like. Having been brought to the cemetery on those terms, she was understandably at a loss.
"Ah, sorry! So, the person we're looking for has cat ears—or something close to it. And a tail. And is pretty cute, so you'd recognize them on sight."
"…Could I get a bit more to work with?"
"I feel like I gave pretty good hints… oh, and when I say cute, it's not the same kind of cute as Beako—more like the Petra-or-Meili kind of cute. About as tall as me."
"Ah, I see—those are indeed different varieties of cute."
Holding Beatrice up before her face and studying her features closely, Rem nodded as though satisfied by Subaru's description. Beatrice herself looked deeply skeptical of Rem's conclusion, but being unaware of the nuances of one's own charm was, in a way, a charming quality.
Cuteness came in many forms—beauty that leaned cute, cuteness that leaned beautiful, and everything in between. Still, even if they now shared an understanding of Ferris's characteristics— "What did Wilhelm-san's attitude mean, I wonder? I'm worried."
"—He knows where Ferris is, and wants us to go find him ourselves."
"Mm, you're right. It's nice that he trusts us and asks for our help, but I got the feeling that both Crusch-san and Wilhelm-san don't show that side of themselves very readily."
Subaru agreed with Emilia's instinct.
What he could gather was that some problem had arisen within Crusch's camp, and for its resolution, Wilhelm could not act on his own.
The catalyst for that problem was something Subaru could imagine. But even so, the bonds within Crusch's camp were strong—indeed, among all the Royal Selection candidates, their bond was the longest-standing and the most unyielding.
That depth of feeling had not faded even with Crusch's loss of memory—at least, that was what Subaru had felt and believed.
However— "—"
Staring fixedly down at his right hand, Subaru glared at his own lifeline. What flashed through his mind was the moment he had so rudely taken Crusch's hand, only to have her look at his in return.
She had seen his hand, learned that it had been freed from those black markings, and upon learning it was not from the power of the Divine Dragon Church— '—That's not fair.' She had whispered in a voice so faint it might have vanished.
"I didn't mishear… did I?"
He desperately hoped so, but Subaru did not have ears—or self-awareness—that generous. Those words had unmistakably escaped Crusch's lips—a dark, honest sentiment.
Honestly, it had stung. But if he wished to deny Crusch even the right to say such things aloud, that would be nothing short of pure arrogance. Above all, Subaru understood with searing clarity why Crusch would let those words slip.
"…There's no way I can bring that up with Crusch-san."
Crusch, at the center of the storm, who had only just recovered physically and now bore the potential for countless wounds to her heart. Could he really not ask her directly, and instead turn to her knight Ferris? Even then, he had no certainty.
But he knew that if he simply slunk back to his companions without doing anything, he would be left carrying this unresolvable torment indefinitely.
"Hmm, I don't see Ferris anywhere."
Lost in thought, Subaru and the others had circled the entire cemetery without realizing it.
The grounds were far from small, and as a cemetery serving the Noble District, many of the deceased here had held significant roles in the kingdom, receiving correspondingly meticulous care in death. The deeper one went into the cemetery, the grander and more carefully tended each grave marker became—and with fewer mourners venturing that far, faces were easier to spot. It seemed unlikely they had simply missed Ferris.
If only they knew who, specifically, he had come to the cemetery to visit— "I've looked around, but I don't see anyone matching the description you gave."
"To be precise, she isn't exactly a girl… but appearance doesn't matter here, so never mind."
"—? If there's anything else notable, perhaps that building?"
Slightly puzzled by Subaru's vague explanation, Rem pointed toward a structure at the center of the hill—a white edifice set against the backdrop of stone markers arranged in precise rows across the vast grounds. A mausoleum, in a word.
Cloaked in an atmosphere both solemn and sacred, surrounded by grave markers that seemed to bow before it like subjects sworn to their lord—the structure bore the unmistakable mark of a sanctuary for the chosen.
If this was the Royal Spirit Garden and this mausoleum held the specially honored dead— "—Looks like the resting place of royalty."
"So the members of the royal family who passed away are inside…?"
The royal family whose assassination had sparked the Royal Selection—those who had carried the venerable bloodline of the
"…I'm guessing we can't just casually pay our respects at the kings' graves?"
"You'd expect a royal mausoleum to be under heavy guard. There's no shortage of those who would misuse the ashes of the powerful. It's lamentable, really."
"But if we could at least ask who's inside… Ah, perfect timing."
The mausoleum was the only place they hadn't checked, but it wasn't exactly an easy place to enter.
Ferris could be in there, but their chances were lower. Still, having been entrusted by Wilhelm, Subaru didn't want to return empty-handed.
Just then, Emilia pointed sharply toward the entrance of the mausoleum. Sure enough, as she had indicated, a figure had just emerged from within.
It was a slender person dressed in a dark indigo tailcoat. Even with their back turned, the elegance of their movements conveyed a deep reverence and tenderness toward the mausoleum.
Since they were coming and going from the royal mausoleum, they must be an administrator of the cemetery or mausoleum, or something similar. Subaru hurried after Emilia's brisk pace.
"Excuse me—could we have a moment? We're looking for someone who might have gone inside the building you just left. Could you tell us if you saw them?"
Emilia addressed the figure without hesitation. Her boldness might have provoked suspicion, but there were guards posted at the cemetery's entrance, and identities had been verified at the gate—so no intruders were expected within.
Subaru hoped fervently that the person would understand their intent— "—Lady Emilia?"
The figure in the tailcoat turned around with surprise in their voice, eyes fixing on Emilia. Seeing the person face-on, Emilia let out a soft "eh" and stopped in her tracks.
And Subaru and the others, too, caught sight of the figure over the halted Emilia.
Standing there was— "…Geez, you caught me in an embarrassing spot. It was Wilhelm, wasn't it?"
With a wry smile that hovered somewhere between exasperation and self-mockery, Ferris—his slender frame now clearly clad in a men's tailcoat—shrugged at them.
"—"
Unable to help himself, Subaru was struck speechless by the sight of Ferris with his back to the mausoleum entrance.
There had been instances before where Ferris had worn this sort of attire—cross-dressing in what was effectively the Royal Knights' uniform. But that had been under the banner of a formal knight's uniform, and Subaru believed that even then, Ferris had added his own characteristic flair.
The tailcoat-clad Ferris before him, however, held none of that artistry or embellishment.
What that implied was— "…Ferris, what happened?"
"Don't look at me like it's the end of the world. It's no big deal for you guys. But—"
With a wry smile, his brow slightly downturned, Ferris tilted his head as though about to gesture—then stopped. The motion seemed almost like a farewell to those mannerisms.
As though confirming that impression, Ferris continued: What he said was— "—I was stripped of my position as Crusch-san's knight. So Felix is done—Ferris's over. I've gone back to being Felix Argaill."