In that instant, all that dominated Subaru's mind was complete emptiness.
He couldn't even muster a desperate plea to deny the scene before him. Nothing came—simply, Subaru's thoughts were entirely blanketed by a white expanse.
A stillness as though his throat had frozen, his breathing been forgotten, and even his heart had ceased its beating. What broke through it all was the sensation of a single bead of sweat tracing down his forehead, brushing against his skin.
The feeling of that drop falling from the tip of his chin to the ground pulled Subaru's consciousness back from the void.
But facing reality meant confronting the person standing before him—the person he had desperately wanted to believe wasn't there.
—Bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.
After the emptiness, what flooded his mind was a stream of frantic, tangled mutterings thrown into chaos by panic and confusion.
He couldn't think straight. Was the person standing before him truly the
"Maybe she's actually a triplet or something..."
Even if that were the case, Subaru himself knew better than anyone that it would be of no comfort at all.
Rem watched as Subaru's fighting spirit evaporated, then gently brushed her short blue hair with her free hand.
"If you don't resist, I'll make it quick and painless for you."
"You think there's some guy out there who'd respond to that offer with 'Sure, sounds great, please go ahead'? Seriously?"
"My apologies. You're right—you are precisely that kind of person."
She gave a small, polite bow—an act so at odds with the atmosphere of this scene that one might mistake it for a moment inside the mansion. Her mannerisms were no different from usual.
And that was precisely what made the crude weapon clutched in her hand feel so alien.
"A girl wielding a heavy weapon is definitely romantic in theory, but..."
An iron ball on a chain lined with spikes—a lethal striking weapon designed to mince anyone it hit squarely. Whoever had chosen this for her had to have a truly twisted sense of taste.
Subaru had once experienced its power firsthand. He had died because of it. He'd seen with his own eyes how she wielded it at will.
He swallowed hard, turning his anxiety into another bead of sweat on his forehead, and forced words out.
"Why are you doing this...—wait, am I allowed to use the cliché line?"
"It's quite simple. Suspects are to be punished. A maid's creed."
"Don't you have anything about 'love thy neighbor'?"
"Both of Rem's hands are rather full at the moment."
She had no intention of playing along with his stalling. Rem's gaze never wavered from Subaru as she answered.
He couldn't read her next move. But of one thing he was absolutely certain.
If he moved now, he would die without question.
Having died five times over, Subaru's instincts were screaming that alert at full volume.
The standoff was lopsided—one side had him cornered completely. Subaru spun his mind desperately, trying to squeeze out even a sliver of information.
He had to avoid triggering Rem's wrath, pique her interest, and drag out a conversation. By telling himself this, Subaru tried to look away—at least for a moment—from the devastating truth bearing down on him.
Because if he faced it head-on, there was no way he could keep from crumbling to his knees.
"—Does
The name that slipped from his lips was that of Rem's twin sister.
Cold, sharp-tongued, terrible attitude, and a maid's abilities that didn't hold a candle to her younger sister's—by every measure, she was the worst. But to Subaru, she was the one he'd spent the most days with at the Roswaal mansion.
If even that girl, with whom he'd traded verbal jabs and somehow enjoyed it, had turned against him—the mere thought made his body tremble. But— "I intend to finish this before my sister sees."
Rem's answer was, in fact, precisely the answer Subaru had been hoping for.
The situation was still dire, but at the last second, he'd been spared from plunging to rock bottom emotionally.
He let out a long breath, then startled at realizing it had come from relief.
In a situation this desperate, finding a sliver of optimism—just how deeply steeped in complacent thinking was he?
Subaru raised his face and locked eyes directly with Rem. As he stared her down, watching her brow furrow ever so slightly— "So you're acting on your own? This isn't on Roswaal's orders?"
"Anyone who could stand in the way of Roswaal-sama's fulfillment of his deepest wish, I will eliminate with my own hands. You simply happen to be one of those people."
"You can't even discipline your own pet? Think about the poor passerby who gets bitten, won't you? Huh?"
"I will not tolerate insults toward Roswaal-sama."
Subaru had tried to probe Rem's true feelings with a light taunt—her response was a crack across his face.
The impact sent his vision reeling. He touched his stinging cheek and found it drenched in fresh blood.
The iron ball was still chained to the wall—she had used the chain like a whip, lashing it across Subaru's face. His cheek was split in a jagged line matching the chain's pattern, and blood streaming from his forehead dripped into his left eye, stinging fiercely.
One wisecrack, and that was the damage. But the exchange had yielded something of value.
At the very least, her loyalty to Roswaal appeared to be genuine. And that she believed Subaru's elimination served Roswaal's interests—that was probably true as well.
Subaru's departure from the Roswaal mansion would be disadvantageous to Roswaal, who was supporting
In short, the heart of it was— "Oh, so that's how it is. —You really couldn't trust me that much, huh?"
"Yes."
The unhesitating nod sent a sharp blade driving into Subaru's chest. That answer conjured the worst kinds of imaginations, and having them confirmed would change the color of every scene from the days he'd spent here thus far.
And so, Subaru did not voice the suspicion taking root in his heart.
He simply twisted his mouth into a self-mocking smirk at his own idiocy.
"Serves me right. Thinking I was doing so well—what a fool."
"...My sister is—"
"I don't wanna hear it! —Take this!"
He shouted, and in the instant Rem hesitated just barely, Subaru thrust the portable device he'd been concealing behind his back forward—immediately after, a white light tore through the darkened forest, creating a momentary pause in Rem's movements.
"Hraagh—!"
"—!"
He burst forward, driving his shoulder into her small body with a tackle that sent her flying.
Whatever the mechanism, Rem wielded her brutal weapon with impossible strength—but in a simple collision, Subaru had the advantage in size and weight.
His all-out charge sent her small frame tumbling backward, losing balance and crashing to the ground. Without sparing a glance, Subaru sprinted past.
Gasping, forcing air into his lungs, he ran both his thoughts and his feet.
If this truly was Rem acting alone, there was still a plan to save his life. If he could race back to the mansion and negotiate directly with the master herself, there had to be a chance.
But if Roswaal's stance was the same as Rem's, then he'd be doing nothing less than escaping from a lion's den only to charge into a wolf's cage.
"But... if it's Emilia... then..."
The girl who shone brighter than anyone else in his memory—that silver-haired girl—there would be no doubt left.
If it was her, if it was her, if it was her— —But she was a candidate in the Royal Selection herself. If anything, Subaru's existence might be the most inconvenient thing for her.
"———!?"
A sudden surge of doubt welling up from within. He realized it was his own voice—dark and cold—and the realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
Without question, he—himself, in his own voice—had doubted Emilia's heart.
That straightforward, hardworking girl who never hesitated to sacrifice herself for others—he, who knew all of that, had doubted her.
Change the circumstances, and the thinking changes too.
Just as Rem was doing right now—how could he guarantee that the others in that mansion weren't after his life?
The real mistake had been not suspecting an inside job from the second death onward. The incidents happened within the mansion. Of course it would be easier for someone on the inside.
Blinded by surface-level relationships, he'd looked the other way—and this was the result.
Pathetically fleeing through the mountains, with not a single viable strategy coming to mind.
—And here he'd said he was going to focus on gathering intelligence this time.
When a threat arrived in an unexpected form right before his eyes, all he could do was spit out his lifeblood and cling to survival.
He'd been arrogant. He'd been naive. He'd been shallow.
Gasping for breath, stumbling down the slope like he was rolling, Subaru's mind was filled not with solutions for breaking through this situation, but with nothing but regret.
"What am I... even living for...?"
Tears spilled out, blurring his vision.
His footing faltered, and when the trees suddenly opened up, Subaru saw the night sky pressing down from above.
And then— "—Huh?"
A blade of wind from extreme altitude flashed—and blew away everything below Subaru's right knee.
Watching the tip of his right leg bounce high from the momentum, Subaru's body lurched violently off balance. His running momentum carried him sideways, and he slammed into the ground. The impact re-opened the wound on his cheek, his shoulder crashed hard into a tree trunk with a dull thud, and pain like electrodes being driven directly into his brain surged through him. And above all— "AAAAGH! My—my leg!!"
There was no pain. That, paradoxically, was the most terrifying sensation.
His right leg was gone from the knee down. The severed pieces had been flung somewhere into the undergrowth. The wound displayed pink flesh in vivid detail, and blood gushed forth as though it had only just realized what had happened. The pain, too, arrived late, flooding his nerves.
"——————————————————!!"
He clawed at the ground, howling a wordless scream of agony.
He pressed the wound, thrashed his body, slammed his free right arm against the ground, punched a tree, and his fingernails tore away— the searing heat made his consciousness boil.
He suffered, suffered, suffered, and suffered through.
Pain ground his nerves like a rasp, a sensation of being destroyed—his brain itself planed down. With every second, blood was lost at a terrifying rate, and that meant the very source of Subaru's life was vanishing.
And then— "Ah, I've finally caught up."
Rem appeared, her maid uniform's skirt swaying, dragging her weapon behind her.
She looked at Subaru rolling on the ground, took in the absence of his right leg, pondered for a moment, then nodded.
"It must hurt. It must be awful. Please... wait just a moment."
She crouched and extended her white palm toward his wound.
His throat was already raw from voiceless screaming, and the pain had drained every last bit of his strength—there was no will left to move.
Subaru shifted his clouded vision and silently watched Rem's movements. Then— "Mana of water, grant this one healing."
She murmured, and a soft, pale light suddenly emanated from her palm.
The light drifted over Subaru's right leg, slowly covering the severed surface, and with that gentle glow began to mend both the pain and the sense of loss.
A tingling sensation—almost like an itch—carried the unmistakable sign of healing. Subaru dragged his consciousness back from the brink and stared at Rem in disbelief.
The pain hadn't vanished entirely, but the shock overriding it was far greater.
At this point, he couldn't understand why Rem would heal him. Meeting his gaze, the faintest trace of a smile crossed Rem's face.
He clung to that tiny, desperate sliver of hope— "You went through the trouble of surviving—I can't have you dying on me so easily. I still have questions to ask."
Her follow-up words shattered that fragile, foolish optimism.
Rem drew back her arm. The chain rattled, and the iron ball came flying.
It struck the ground right beside Subaru's upper body. Seen up close, the weapon was even more crude, more粗暴, a device designed with singular purpose: to end lives.
Rem had deliberately brought the iron ball into his line of sight. Her intention was perfectly clear.
A simple show of force to make him understand: your life is in my hands.
Seeing the resignation settle in Subaru's eyes, Rem prefaced with "Then"— "I'll ask you now. Are you aligned with one of the candidates who oppose Emilia-sama?"
"...My heart is always on Emilia-tan's side."
The instant he said it, the slack chain lashed violently across his upper body.
The undergarments he'd already torn on branches during his flight ripped apart, and beneath them, matching gashes were carved into his skin. Subaru's screams echoed through the forest.
"Who hired you? For how much?"
"Emilia-tan's smile—priceless."
A snap of her wrist delivered the same treatment. He felt her strike the exact same spot with pinpoint accuracy, and through his screams of pain, he praised her skill.
After that, similar questions met similar answers.
For each exchange, the chain sang, followed by a chorus of groans and screams.
Every time his consciousness was about to be blown away, Rem personally healed him with restoration magic, trapping Subaru in an endless loop of healing and violence.
His spirit was worn to nothing, his consciousness flickering in and out repeatedly. And yet, his heart alone never broke beneath Rem's blows.
Perhaps tiring of Subaru's stubborn refusal to yield, Rem suddenly looked up at the sky and murmured— "I should head back soon. Dinner preparations will be delayed."
"...Dinner, huh. What's... on the menu today...?"
"Yes. How about minced meat wrapped in pie?"
Rem rattled her chain ostentatiously, reminding him of the iron ball's presence. Subaru could barely manage: "I'll pass on being served at dinner."
The fact that Subaru kept cracking jokes right to the end finally drew a sigh of emotion from Rem. Then she fell silent, and with eyes more devoid of emotion than ever, she looked down at Subaru— "—Are you connected to the
An unfamiliar term hit him, and Subaru furrowed his brow in confusion.
What did that phrase relate to in the context of this situation? Unable to read Rem's true intent, he held off on answering. To that, Rem said— "Answer me. You're 'one who has been bewitched by the
"...Bewitched by... the Witch?"
"Don't play dumb!"
Her voice rose as though overcome with fury, and Rem's gaze sharpened as it bore into Subaru. It was the first time—across every scene from their very first meeting to this battle over his life—that Rem had let her emotions show.
The normally composed white face was tinged with a flush of anger, and Rem glared down at Subaru with what could only be called murderous intent.
Targeted by a killing intent he had no reason to deserve, Subaru weakly shook his head.
"I don't... know anything about that... besides, my family's always been... nonreligious..."
"You're still playing dumb. —Reeking of the Witch like that, and you have the nerve to claim you're uninvolved?"
Rem swung her arms in front of Subaru, twisting her lips into a shape of pure rage. That unprecedented display of emotion made Subaru feel as though he'd caught a glimpse of her true nature, and his eyes widened.
"Even if my sister and everyone else failed to notice, Rem alone can detect that stench! That foul odor, that lingering scent of the guilty—I feel nothing but disgust and contempt for it!"
In front of Subaru's silence, Rem bit her lip so hard it seemed her teeth would break.
"When I watched my sister talking with you, I felt like I was going to lose my mind from anxiety and rage. The one responsible for what happened to my sister, or someone connected to them... casually, brazenly... in the place that my sister and I hold so dear..."
Her disjointed words came out like accusations, and bitter breath poured over Subaru without mercy.
"Roswaal-sama told me to be hospitable, so I kept watch. ...But now even the act of observing you is painful. Even knowing that you're simply playing at being friendly with my sister under the pretense of her caring for you!"
As though expelling all the hatred she'd been bottling up, Rem unleashed her fury on Subaru, reclaiming the emotional intensity that she'd held in check until now.
She finished speaking, her shoulders trembling, her eyes burning with rage as she fixed Subaru with a glare. Then, suddenly, those eyes went wide with surprise.
Because— "...Why are you... crying?"
Before Rem, who had just spoken words of pure hatred, Subaru was quietly shedding tears.
"I knew... I figured... this was coming."
His throat hitched. The hot surge behind his eyes spilled over his lids and ran down his cheeks. Between sobs of unstoppable, torrential tears, Subaru managed in a broken voice— "This is what I've been getting, isn't it...? I knew... there had to be a catch behind the kindness. But... I didn't wanna... hear it."
The two of them had taught Subaru the basics of housework—something he couldn't do at all.
Ram had mocked him for not knowing how to put on a butler's uniform, while Rem gently scolded her sister and helped him get dressed.
When he'd been hopeless with a knife and couldn't even peel vegetables properly, Ram had somehow had the patience to teach him. Rem, too, had offered him portions of every dish she completed while he struggled in the kitchen.
"I haven't cut my hands peeling vegetables anymore. I learned that laundry needs different methods depending on the fabric. I'm still learning how to clean, but..."
Four days and four days—there wasn't much more progress to hope for in that span.
But he'd thought that if he could survive a few more four-day stretches, there would still be things he could learn in the days beyond.
"Reading and writing... the simple stuff, but I got the hang of it. I could read fairy tales, you know. Because of you two..."
"What are you... talking about?"
Rem's voice dropped, as though unsettled by Subaru's rambling. Subaru strained to look up at her eyes— "I'm telling you about... what you gave me..."
"I have no memory of such things."
"—Then why won't you remember?!"
The sudden explosion of emotion made Rem take an involuntary step backward.
Subaru pushed himself upright, scraping the ground with his off-balance upper body, and snarled with his teeth bared.
"Why does everyone keep leaving me behind...?! What did I do wrong...?! What do you want from me...?!"
He couldn't control his emotions. He knew it was nothing but venting, but his heart—his soul—refused to stop screaming.
Summoned to another world, treated unjustly, and yet he'd gritted his teeth and endured. But now he'd reached his limit.
"What did I do wrong...? What was so bad about me...? Why do you all hate me so much...?"
"—Rem is—"
"I... care about all of you—"
—The impact cut off whatever he would have said next.
The force of the blow tilted his body, and Subaru slowly toppled against the tree behind him.
A ragged, gurgling sound reached his ears, and Subaru's eyes drifted downward. He found the cause immediately.
His throat.
The right half of Subaru's throat had been gouged open by something, and from midway down his airway, blood and air bubbles were violently spewing out.
Before his eyes, he could see Rem's face—stunned as she stared at the wound.
That was the last thing he saw. His eyes lost their light and rolled back.
His voice couldn't continue. His consciousness shut off like a power switch.
Everything receded. There was no pain. Anger, sorrow—even emotion itself vanished somewhere.
And in the very end— "...My sister is too kind."
He thought he heard that one quiet, sorrowful voice—someone's voice—fading into nothing.