The great hall — a place he had once set foot in before — had transformed into something entirely different from Subaru's memory.
Red carpets stretched across the floor, lined with countless candelabras. The flickering crimson flames amplified the room's grandeur, naturally straightening the spines of all who stood assembled.
Lined up neatly against the walls were nearly every person connected to the mansion. Not only the principal figures but even the Miload household's attendants had been given seats — probably just to fill out the numbers.
Then again, if only Subaru's associates were gathered, it would inevitably become nothing more than a gathering of family. He could understand the need for events like this to be witnessed by many eyes.
That said, was it really alright to have the Ryuzu clones assembled as well?
The Ryuzu beside him tilted her chin as if to say "don't worry about it," but worry he did. Even knowing they'd do nothing unless instructed, the anxiety that these children — essentially toddlers — might cause some kind of incident lingered.
He supposed everyone around him harbored similar anxiety about Subaru himself.
If he looked at each attendee one by one, there were plenty of things to comment on.
In particular, it was amusing how every last one of his associates was formally dressed in impeccable attire.
Whether it was the unfazed Roswaal or Annarose, those were one thing, but Otto and Garfiel wore their outfits with visible discomfort that put Subaru to shame. Garfiel's grimace at the tightness around his neck was one thing, but Otto's comical obliviousness to how poorly he carried himself really stood out — what a piece of work. Was this meant to be funny?
The servants were in their usual attire, which for Frederica and Klint meant formal wear.
There, seated in a chair, was the blue-haired girl.
Of course, she was not awake. She remained asleep. Still, the thoughtfulness of having brought her here with Ram at her side was irritating in its own way. Subaru glared at Ram, who looked back with a smug expression — and yes, that too was irritating.
If his gaze traveled further, there was Petra, looking radiant in her finery.
Young as she was, Petra had been elevated by her dress to a radiance that put her on par with
Beatrice beside her was in her usual outfit, though her expression as she looked Subaru's way seemed somewhat softer than usual. The slight blush on her cheeks reminded Subaru of the incident in the waiting room, and he felt a twinge of embarrassment himself.
And directly ahead — "—"
The silver-haired girl stood there waiting for Subaru.
Her silver hair shimmered like moonlight, her amethyst eyes now set with jeweled accents. Her expression, composed to a degree that made one tremble, had her lips pressed tight — it was clear she was nervous before this important ceremony.
Her attire amplified the purity Subaru normally felt from her to an overwhelming degree. The sacred quality of her shrine-maiden-like ornamentation, and the nobility framed in gold, burned the sanctity and solemnity of this ceremony painfully into the consciousness of anyone who beheld her.
The moment his eyes found her, the vaguely unsettled feeling he'd carried until then stilled in an instant.
The emotions that had seemed to well up from the depths of his heart left no trace behind, and every existence other than Emilia vanished from the periphery of his awareness.
This was by no means because he held any disrespect for the attendees watching the ceremony.
It was simply that he now understood clearly in his heart what he needed to do in this ceremonial space, whom he needed to look at, and where his own heart belonged.
Even without those things being put into words.
"—"
Without instruction from anyone, Subaru was drawn forward as if guided.
Across the long-pile carpet without a sound, the weight of the knight's sword at his hip now forgotten, he moved with a feverish single-mindedness yet a heart as calm as a still sea — toward Emilia.
The storm of gazes directed at him failed to sway even the slightest part of his heart.
Nothing could stir Subaru's heart now except the every movement of Emilia before him.
He approached Emilia's front, drawing close enough to reach out and touch.
Standing on a slightly elevated dais, Emilia held her beautiful cheeks rigid — a beauty so intense it made one tremble. Before that sight, Subaru knelt.
One knee to the ground, head bowed.
The ceremonial etiquette Garfiel had explained to him in words moved his body with startling smoothness. Eyes closed, he felt the heat of gazes pouring down from above.
Within a sensation that made him forget to breathe, Subaru raised his face, skin tingling with a pleasant tension, and removed the knight's sword from his hip.
He lifted the heavy blade reverently, drawing it horizontally across his chest.
Bathed in the brilliant red glow of the candelabra flames, the blade shone — and the eyes of Subaru and Emilia, different in color, lit with the same radiance.
"—"
As he committed the beauty of the unsheathed sword to memory, Subaru gently offered it toward Emilia.
Seeing the knight's sword raised before her, Emilia's lips trembled with some unnamed emotion.
But she caught the words that threatened to spill in that instant with her self-restraint, and held back the wave of emotion that threatened to sweep her away.
Then, her outstretched white fingertips touched the knight's sword, and she lifted it — heavier than she had anticipated — its tip slowly rising toward the ceiling.
The beauty of Emilia wielding the sword — Subaru crushed the selfish desire to see it, and once again lowered his head, closing both eyes.
What he offered before Emilia was the sword, the pride of a knight, and his body and neck — symbols of the knight himself.
"—"
A knight's life and body, dedicated to their liege.
At the sight of Subaru thus, Emilia's lips and eyes trembled once more. But this time, the hesitation lasted only a heartbeat. Her pressed-together lips, her eyes looking straight ahead — there was no longer any wavering.
The descending tip came to rest on Subaru's left shoulder.
The flat of the blade lay upon his shoulder, and Subaru nearly groaned at its weight. The pressure pressing down was not physical — it was entirely spiritual.
And yet, the sensation that struck Subaru might well have been the very "pride" that any knight ought to carry.
In this moment,
The tip that had touched his left shoulder now moved to his right.
He felt the same weight, but the cold of the blade through his formal attire did not fade this time.
Of course. This was the most important moment of the ceremony — and it was only now, in this form, that it truly came to pass.
"—"
"—"
Silence fell over the great hall.
No — silence had already filled the hall. But the silence before had been the quiet of barely contained excitement, brimming with restless fervor.
However, this moment's silence was of a different heat entirely.
It was true silence, arriving after leaving behind all excitement and frenzy.
It descended equally upon the hearts of Emilia, Subaru, and every single attendee who watched over them.
The right to break this silence had been granted to only one person in this place.
"—To the sun that gazes upon a dazzling world. To the stars that watch over a world falling into slumber. To the wind, the water, the earth, the light — to the spirits that fill all things."
The silence was broken.
Emilia's lips wove the ceremonial invocation like a song.
"—To the great world that accepted you, nurtured you, and sent you forth."
He trembled. His heart trembled.
His teeth began to chatter — what was it in Subaru's heart that he could not hold back?
Even chasing his own tangled feelings was agonizing.
Right now, he simply wanted to drown in the bell-like voice she spoke with.
"—To that pride that upheld you, that forged you, that built you."
He could feel the heat of the gazes bearing down on him from directly ahead intensifying.
A passion that felt as if it might burn him from the inside out.
His heart played a fevered cacophony — a wild urge to cry out — as Subaru simply waited for the moment of the question.
"—May you have a way of being that brings no shame before all who watch over you, the world that nurtures you, and the pride that supports you. May you face no fear, no trembling, no doubt, and simply be as your heart desires."
The invocation ended.
The question was coming.
The ceremonial etiquette ended here. Subaru did not know the answer to this final question either.
But — "—And so, as your heart wills it — along with everything and everyone that surrounds you — will you swear, from this moment onward, to protect this body of mine?"
It was his heart that knew what to say in answer to Emilia's question.
"To the sun, the stars, the world, the pride — and to—"
He would speak of his resolve and gratitude for everything the invocation had named, and for being here in this moment.
And before voicing his vow, Subaru had to conjure in his mind the person to whom he owed his unvarnished gratitude.
And so, naturally, his lips formed the words.
"—I swear upon my father, my mother, upon them both."
"—"
"I will protect you. I will grant your wishes. —My name is Natsuki Subaru."
He raised his face.
The sword still hovered beside his right cheek. But its gleam no longer reached his eyes.
Now, all he could see were the deep violet eyes gazing back at him.
"Emilia. —I am your knight, and yours alone."
"—Yes."
The answer in response to the words he had spoken.
Emilia's eyes brimmed with an irrepressible wave of emotion.
But she barely managed to hold it back, and withdrew the sword tip that had rested on Subaru's shoulder.
The sword was turned about, and Emilia offered the knight's sword to Subaru.
He received it reverently with both hands raised, and the knight's sword was once more returned to its sheath.
Restoring the knight's sword to his hip, Subaru looked up at Emilia from where he still knelt.
When Emilia gave a slight nod of her chin, Subaru stood.
And then — "I know this is after the fact, but Emilia-tan, that outfit? Super hot-cute."
"Dummy."
—The solemn atmosphere of the ceremony shattered as Emilia stuck out her tongue, face flushed red.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * The tables that had been carried into the great hall now displayed a colorful array of dishes.
In this standing reception, regardless of rank or station, those who had attended the knighting ceremony moments ago now mingled, creating something that looked like a small social gathering.
"Meanwhile I just spent what might be the most nerve-wracking stretch of my life, and here you all are, living it up."
Subaru stood on the terrace, gazing at the reception from a distance while bathing in the night breeze.
He had brought out a plate of food and a drink from the table, setting them on a nearby railing, but the amount was unchanged from before.
He could neither eat nor drink.
The flushed sensation from the neck up still hadn't faded.
His stomach kept clamoring with hunger, and yet for some reason his chest was so full that food simply wouldn't go down.
"—"
In the corner of his vision, Petra had emerged before the hall in her dress and was performing a little dance. It was the kind of dance showcased at the village festivals in Arlam, but Petra had added her own arrangement, and her own dignified composure made it entirely at par with anything you'd see in a noble estate.
Being pulled along by her, with a red face and clumsy steps, was Beatrice. She was doing her utmost to maintain her expressionless, emotionless facade, but Subaru didn't miss how her ears and the bridge of her nose were trembling uncontrollably.
As usual, Beatrice — who couldn't stand up to Petra — had been swept along.
Chuckling at the sight, Subaru picked up the glass beside him. He had enough composure to at least moisten his tongue, though he still couldn't bring himself to reach for the meat pie — a collaborative creation of Garfiel and Frederica.
"—Subaru, so this is where you were."
The voice called to him as he leaned against the railing, tilting his head back to gaze at the sky. Looking down, standing before him was the moon fairy whose beauty only increased under the moonlight.
"Well, actually, it's Emilia-tan. I thought you were an angel."
"Saying strange things again. Could it be you're drunk?"
"I'm a minor, so I don't drink. If I'm drunk at all, it's on the atmosphere and myself."
"See? You're definitely drunk."
Emilia giggled, and Subaru furrowed his brow at her unusual demeanor.
And then he noticed the fair skin visible through her pristine dress — the back of her neck and cheeks tinged with a faint blush — and he understood Emilia's behavior.
"Well, well, Emilia-tan. Before we even get to whether I'm drunk or not, it looks like you're the one who's been drinking."
"I haven't! They were distributing those sweet fruit beverages, that's all. I never get weird when I drink alcohol."
"'Never get weird,' she says. Adorable."
Pouting with her lips, Emilia had completely lost sight of the solemnity of the ceremony.
In other words, all that remained was an utterly adorable girl.
"Hey, Subaru. Why are you out here all by yourself?"
"Hmm — like I said before. I'm drunk on the atmosphere and myself."
It was a lighthearted answer, but it wasn't exactly off the mark.
The truth was, unable to expel the feelings welling in his chest, he had been standing here alone in the night breeze — wallowing, for lack of a better word.
Of course, he couldn't bring himself to confess that to anyone.
"Are you maybe… regretting something?"
"That's the one thing I absolutely am not. Don't be like that, Emilia."
"Yeah, that was my bad. Sorry. But I'm happy."
With her cheeks flushed from the drink, Emilia took one step closer to Subaru.
Standing beside him at the railing, Emilia lined up alongside. Their shoulders nearly touched, and despite it being only through clothing, Subaru's body ran hot.
"Subaru. About the knighting ceremony — I'm sorry for springing it on you so suddenly. I'd been preparing for it all along, so I thought you knew."
"No — maybe I was the idiot for not noticing. Come to think of it, Emilia-tan kept asking me 'Subaru, have you been practicing?' regularly, and I was brushing it off every time."
Emilia had assumed Subaru knew and had been carefully checking on his progress.
Only Subaru had failed to notice, cobbling together half-hearted excuses each time, not understanding what Emilia was really saying, and earnestly studying other things instead.
And as for the ceremony's content — "That Roswaal bastard. Actually, most things lately are his fault. I don't know if his goal is to humiliate me, but he's really been pushing his luck recently."
"Roswaal's always been like that, hasn't he? But I do feel like he's been picking at you more than before. Maybe he wants your attention."
"That's a terrifying thought, Emilia-tan."
He really wanted to avoid a scenario where Roswaal became even more beyond saving.
When Subaru made a sour face at an answer that might not have been entirely a joke, Emilia laughed and waved her hand casually.
"I'm sure Roswaal just doesn't know how to act either, since his scheming just got exposed. I bet he'll settle back to normal before long."
"He settling back to 'normal' with no reflection doesn't sit right with me, but… well, I guess it's better than him changing so drastically that I don't know how to deal with him."
Better, not best. It felt like settling for a passive option, but for now, he'd take it.
As their conversation reached a natural pause, Emilia tilted the glass beside Subaru. She'd been holding it from the start, and if his guess was right, it was fruit wine.
He had a sinking feeling Emilia's tipsiness was advancing, and he was caught in a strange emotional tug between concern and curiosity.
"Hey, Subaru."
"Hm? What? Getting warm from the drink and want to take your clothes off? Can't do that here. Alright, let's find somewhere else. Let's do that."
"Sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about. It's not that."
At Subaru's wild leap into fantasy, Emilia gave him a slightly stern look. He shrank under her gaze and ducked his head. She jerked her chin toward the great hall, visible from the terrace.
"Everyone looks like they're having fun."
"Yeah — they do. For a noble estate, with servants and all, it's a pretty warm and intimate affair. For a small-town, common-sense kind of guy like me, it's an ideal sight."
"Mm, I think so too. It's a really… really wonderful view."
Subaru noticed from the corner of his eye how Emilia's deep violet eyes carried a mixture of tenderness and wistful longing.
What Emilia saw through those eyes, and what Subaru saw, were probably slightly different. Emilia was likely seeing in this scene a peaceful time free of class divisions or racial barriers.
It was a perspective completely different from Subaru's, which only skimmed the surface.
They were looking at the same thing, yet thinking different things.
And Subaru didn't think that having those differences was a bad thing.
"What's wrong, Subaru? You have such a gentle expression."
"Dunno. Maybe I'm just happy that I can see the same thing as Emilia-tan and think it's wonderful."
"Really? Mm — if Subaru feels the same way, then I'm happy too."
"I don't know about that. It might be different. And different is fine — I think that too."
For a brief moment, Emilia's gaze drifted toward Subaru. Feeling it, he kept his eyes forward, lips just slightly curved into a soft smile.
Seeing that smile, Emilia nodded in understanding.
Something ineffable had passed between them, and in that instant, it was enough.
"Ah, that Otto guy. He's really letting loose — it's not like he can hold his liquor."
In the center of the great hall, Otto — having been goaded by Garfiel — filled a glass to the brim with expensive-looking liquor and gulped it down in one shot. The glass was slammed onto the table, and Otto was met with applause from the surrounding crowd for his magnificent feat.
But the next instant, Otto's face turned beet red from the neck up, and in the same motion, went completely blue. A traffic-light color change — and immediately afterward, Garfiel hoisted Otto over his shoulder and hurriedly dashed out of the great hall.
"He's headed for the toilet, I imagine."
"Is Otto-kun going to be alright? Just now, he reacted like a stray dog that ate poisonous mushrooms in the forest…"
"A person doesn't truly become an adult until they've pushed themselves to the limit and gotten destroyed first, Emilia-tan."
"Is that so?"
"Nah, I don't know either."
I'm a minor, after all.
And the liquor Otto had drunk and immediately reacted to — just how fine a vintage was it? He couldn't imagine this banquet being stocked with cheap, mass-produced swill.
When Subaru glanced over, the sharp-eyed Roswaal noticed his gaze and raised his glass. Today too, the clown-makeup'd border lord effortlessly drank down the same liquor that had made Otto's head spin. Was it a matter of composure, or simply experience?
"…Hey, Subaru. There's something I want to talk to you about."
"What a coincidence. There's something I want to hear from you, Emilia-tan."
As if slicing through a silence that had gently descended, Emilia whispered — so only Subaru could hear. He tilted his chin down and, still leaning against the railing, shifted his body to face her.
At the same moment, Emilia turned to face him — and at a distance close enough to feel each other's breath, Subaru instinctively pulled back. But — "Don't run away."
Emilia's hand caught him as he tried to retreat.
The step he should have taken back became half a step forward instead, closing the distance between them. Subaru's chest, jutting forward, met Emilia's forehead with a light bump from her momentum.
He tried to pull back in a hurry, but Emilia had grabbed the hem of his formal jacket and would not allow it.
"W-Emilia-tan? I'm happy with this position, but it's a bit nerve-wracking for a conversation…"
"I'm nervous too — this is the first time I've had a talk this important with anyone. We're probably in the same boat."
"I-I think I'm winning that one, actually…"
He tried to deflect with a strained, self-deprecating smile, but he couldn't push away the Emilia gazing up at him.
Feeling the heat of Emilia's body, Subaru did his best to at least dispel his own rigid tension, shifting awkwardly to shield Emilia from the view of the great hall.
With them side by side like this, it would be obvious they were practically embracing. But if they shifted position just slightly, from the great hall it would look as though Subaru was simply leaning on the railing, gazing up at the night sky composing poetry.
"The rear is clear now. Tell me anything."
"…Then, a story for my knight — an important one. About why I was invited by Roswaal and joined the royal selection. That… story."
"—"
This was the part that Emilia had never told Subaru before.
And it surely connected to the "trials" of the tomb she had struggled to overcome time and again — the scenes of her past.
Holding his breath, Subaru looked down at Emilia in his arms.
Their gazes met. Seeing himself reflected in Emilia's eyes as she looked up at him, Subaru steeled himself and gave a slow nod.
"In Elior Great Forest, there originally lived together with me and my mother… before everything froze. Other elves, just like us."
The story she told haltingly was a tale painted with gentle memories and sorrowful feelings.
Though she stumbled here and there, Emilia conveyed her clumsy tale of the past to Subaru from the bottom of her heart.
Emilia, who didn't know her parents.
Even within a restricted world, Emilia had spent her days surrounded by kindness and tenderness.
And all of it was destroyed — on the day the Elior Great Forest froze.
The Witch Cult's atrocity. The witch calling herself
"Puck told me he'd been waiting for me, that he'd been searching for me. After that, he stayed by my side, true to his word to protect me. Even now, he's waiting to be woken inside this magic mineral stone. …That much I know."
"You can't exactly talk with Puck, can you?"
"He's still asleep. But that's not because Puck is refusing our contract. I think it's because this mineral stone isn't capable of functioning as a vessel for an awakened Puck. It needs to be a higher-quality, colorless magic mineral. If we find a vessel like that, and there's just a trigger… he'll definitely show his face again."
At the base of Emilia's neck hung a blue mineral stone shaped into a pendant.
It was a fragment of the massive mineral stone that had sealed Lyra Meijer, but it was insufficient for containing Puck. It never conveyed the sleeping spirit's will to them.
It was as though its assistance during the fight with Garfiel had truly been its final act of meddling.
"Got it about Puck. But the royal selection—"
"Puck and I spent all our time together in the frozen forest. We'd sometimes show up in the village nearby, but I don't think we were exactly welcomed."
How vast the gap was that Emilia's "not exactly" described was beyond imagination. And Emilia herself probably didn't want to speak of that divide.
"When Roswaal came… maybe it hadn't even been a year yet. But he showed up suddenly, and both Puck and I were really, really surprised."
"Well, if a guy wearing all that makeup suddenly appeared, I think I'd be surprised too."
"That too, but it was because he was inside a forest that nobody was supposed to be able to enter. He greeted me in the square like it was the most natural thing — with his usual dopey tone, 'Welcome baaack…' and all."
"That's… got to be something."
He could only imagine how shocking that must have been.
He wouldn't bother commenting on Roswaal's terrible personality now, but thinking of how Emilia and Puck must have felt in that moment, the surprise was understandable.
"Puck got so, so angry… From morning to evening, he fought with Roswaal almost nonstop. Come to think of it, it's a good thing Roswaal didn't get frozen too."
"He might have a cute smile, but I don't think that's a laughing matter."
"Is that so? Anyway, while Puck and Roswaal were fighting, they shared their demands with each other, and only then did they finally come to a discussion…"
"Roswaal offered to melt the forest's ice as a condition for recruiting Emilia-tan… right?"
Subaru jumped ahead to the conclusion, and Emilia's eyes went wide.
He gave a small, rueful laugh at her reaction.
"You could tell from the flow of the story. I've caught little bits about that kind of thing before, too. But still…"
Back then and now, Emilia's understanding must have shifted in some way.
Previously, Emilia had said the freezing of Elior Great Forest was beyond her power — that even with Puck's help, she hadn't been able to melt the ice.
However — "If the person who froze the forest was the old Emilia-tan, then couldn't you melt the ice with your own hands?"
"…Yeah, I've thought about that too. But I don't think I can."
"Why not?"
"I just can't seem to produce the same amount of power as the me from my memories, no matter what I do."
Anxious yet somehow certain, Emilia's words drew Subaru's brow together.
The Emilia of her memories — if what she said was true, her power had been overwhelmingly beyond mortal comprehension. Even the witch calling herself Pandora hadn't been able to find an opening to counterattack before that force.
And yet that power was gone from the awakened Emilia — from the Emilia who had regained her memories? What did that mean?
"But you fought the
"Without relying on Puck or the minor spirits, I can use magic now. But that's all. I can't pull out that power."
"—"
As though lamenting her own powerlessness, Emilia clenched both fists, then shook her head weakly.
At the expression on her face — shamed by her own inadequacy — Subaru suddenly felt ashamed of his own disappointment.
It was Emilia herself who was grieving over her present state. The idea that knowing this, Subaru would somehow blame her was completely unacceptable.
Besides, Subaru didn't want Emilia to be strong in the first place.
"Okay, self-blame ends here. Let's get back on track. So Emilia-tan can't melt the ice — I'll accept that for now. Then how can Roswaal?"
"…………"
"If even you and Puck can't do it, then in the extreme case, Roswaal shouldn't be able to either. No matter how incredible Roswaal is as a mage, he doesn't have ten or twenty times your power. So how—"
"It's not that Roswaal himself has the power to melt the ice. He simply knew it was possible to melt it… and told me about it."
"The possibility of melting the ice?"
A power capable of melting a forest that even the Great Spirit's power, or the greatest mage's power, or the
"A dragon's blood."
"—"
"The blood of a dragon — the bloodletting that bestows abundance upon the earth and heals land where the natural order has been disrupted. With that power, the forest's ice can surely be melted."
"Emilia, but that would mean…"
It meant killing the dragon, didn't it?
The existence of the Dragon that had watched over the
For an instant, the worst possible scenario flashed through Subaru's mind. But — "No, Subaru. The dragon's blood — even a single drop would be enough. Apparently, when a famine struck Lugunica in the past, the land was restored with dragon's blood. I verified it by checking the historical records myself, so I'm certain."
"What… oh man, I panicked for a second. Because if you killed the dragon…"
The "Witch," sealed away by the dragon's power — would she be set free?
"—"
As though anxiety had wound itself around his chest, Subaru forgot to breathe.
The witches he had encountered at
Nor had he forgotten the resolve he'd felt in that final instant of parting.
But she was an existence that should not be unleashed.
She was an existence that must never be released into this world.
The fact that his instincts screamed this was an undeniable truth.
"The royal family of Lugunica has the opportunity to speak with the Dragon when they swear their covenant. Apparently, a droplet of blood granted by the divine dragon
"And that's why you're entering the royal selection…"
"…I told you before, didn't I? That I entered the royal selection for an incredibly selfish reason. That's the selfish reason I just told you."
Her words carried a smile, but it was a smile that seemed to be the reverse of her anxiety.
In truth, Emilia's eyes, looking up at Subaru from within his chest, shimmered faintly with fear.
Wondering what Subaru would say, what he would think of her resolve — she looked afraid.
If she was worried to that degree, then it meant Subaru had become someone important enough in Emilia's heart that she couldn't afford to lose him.
"It's fine, Emilia-tan. That's not going to make me disillusioned or anything."
"…Subaru."
"Selfish or not, you're not talking about lining your own pockets. If there's a legitimate means of helping the people you want to help, and you're pursuing a proper position to do so through honest methods rather than resorting to theft or villainy, then there's nothing to criticize."
He smiled to reassure her. But Emilia's expression still hadn't cleared.
Subaru understood. The words Emilia wanted to hear weren't the ones he'd just given.
If he was going to reach her true heart — the heart that was reaching out — "Emilia-tan, are you feeling discouraged because you think your motivation falls short compared to the other candidates?"
"—!"
"That's what they call 'the grass is always greener.' Sure, Crusch had both a noble personality and a noble cause, but think about Anastasia or Priscilla. Those weren't exactly something to praise."
Greed and self-interest — those were the reasons those two candidates had entered the royal selection.
Subaru hadn't been there, but had
Emilia's desire to help others didn't fall short of any of theirs.
"And no matter how you felt at the start, that can't still be exactly the same now, right?"
"…How do you know that?"
"Just now, you were looking at the great hall with such a gentle expression. I could tell from that."
What had unfolded in the Miload household's great hall was a scene where humans and demi-humans, nobles and commoners, masters and servants, all mingled without barriers of class or race.
Subaru called it ideal, and Emilia received it with eyes full of longing.
Subaru had no doubt about what kind of flame now burned in Emilia's heart.
"If seeing that scene is your goal, then I'll help too. I think it's a wonderful thing. And if it gives you one more reason to keep fighting, then I won't let anyone stand in your way."
"Really… you'll help me?"
"Just now — what do you think I swore to you? There's no need to look so uncertain. I want you to rely on me before anyone else. I'll help with whatever I can, and if there's something I don't understand, we'll figure it out together."
"—"
Emilia caught her breath. Her eyes trembled more than they ever had before.
Her trembling lips could not form clear words for what she wanted to say.
"—Yeah."
And so Emilia simply murmured that single word.
And she smiled.
That, Subaru thought, was more than enough.
"Alright — doubts cleared."
Saying so, Subaru drained the glass on the railing in one gulp. Then he grabbed the meat pie, now completely cold, and shoved it into his mouth.
Even cold, the flavor was undiminished — and the flaky texture of the pie crumbled delightfully on his tongue. As expected of Garfiel's self-proclaimed masterpiece.
"Subaru, if you eat that fast you're going to choke."
"If you say 'ahh' for me, Emilia-tan, I'll eat it one bite at a time and savor it."
"…I feel like I did that for you once before when you were tired…"
At Emilia's reply, Subaru let out a wry smile and took her hand, leading her toward the great hall.
Emilia glanced up at the sky once more, then followed Subaru's escort as they entered the great hall together.
The banquet was still ongoing, and the return of its guests of honor brought the heat right back with them.
Garfiel had returned with the thoroughly intoxicated Otto slung over his shoulder — and when Otto attempted to drink further, he was struck from both front and back by Frederica and Ram respectively, collapsing in agony.
Petra and Beatrice's mismatched dance had reached its climax — sweat beading on Petra's brow, Beatrice's fighting spirit matching hers beat for beat.
Annarose glowered at the fact that Subaru had been with Emilia, and Klint poked her puffed-out cheek with his finger, drawing her ire.
Lyra and Roswaal stood side by side, clinking glasses to rekindle an old acquaintance, savoring their drinks.
"A lovely sight, isn't it, Emilia-tan?"
"Yes. This — this is surely my ideal vision. I won't forget."
True to those words, he would make it a night to remember.
First, a crash into the two dancing girls at the most prominent spot in the great hall.
He didn't know the first thing about steps or anything, but the joy of it — that much was surely universal.
With haphazard, improvised steps, the knight and the witch — the new master and servant — stepped forward amid confusion and laughter.