Shiro turned around.
The speaker was a cute young girl.
She stood a little over 150 centimeters tall and wore a maid outfit mainly black with white accents, leaving her slender pale shoulders exposed.
Her short pink bob was decorated with a white lace headpiece, while her bangs naturally fell over her left eye.
Her doll-like face was so delicate that it was nearly impossible to read her emotions.
At this moment, the girl was staring at them coldly.
Or more precisely—At Emilia.
"Ram was just wondering whether Lady Emilia had gotten dragged into trouble after disappearing for so long."
"Then I immediately saw that frightening commotion over here."
"Could Lady Emilia explain to Ram what exactly happened?"
Despite being an attendant assigned to Emilia by someone else, the maid calling herself Ram showed almost no awareness of her status as a servant.
She complained to Emilia without the slightest restraint.
"Sorry, Ram."
However, Ram was not the only one lacking awareness of her position.
Emilia herself did not seem particularly conscious of being a candidate for the throne either.
Faced with her attendant's complaints, she actually lowered herself and apologized sincerely.
"I only wanted to look around for a little while."
"But before I knew it, I couldn't find the way back..."
She pursed her lips and lowered her gaze, looking pitiful.
Despite appearing to be a teenage girl, she now resembled a playful child waiting to be scolded by an adult.
Seeing this, Ram could only sigh helplessly.
"I hope Lady Emilia will pay a little more attention to her position in the future."
"If something happened to you here in the royal capital, Lord Roswaal would blame Ram as well."
Only after Emilia repeatedly promised that she would not do it again did Ram turn toward the two people standing behind her.
"And these two are?"
Ram's gaze was filled with vigilance.
The timing was simply too sensitive.
Anyone suddenly appearing beside Emilia could be approaching her with ulterior motives.
Even if Emilia herself did not care much about such things, Ram, as her attendant, had to guard against the possibility.
"Oh, right! I almost forgot to introduce you."
"This is Torajirou Shiro."
"He helped me recover my insignia earlier."
"If it weren't for him, I would've been in serious danger."
Emilia introduced Shiro to Ram.
Unfortunately—Her explanation had the exact opposite effect.
The moment Ram heard that Shiro had done Emilia a favor, the wariness in her expression deepened even further.
Without drawing attention to herself, she shifted half a step to the right and positioned herself between Emilia and Shiro.
From there, even if Shiro and Subaru suddenly attacked, Ram would have enough time to shield Emilia behind herself.
Shiro naturally noticed the subtle movement.
But he said nothing.
After all, even an ordinary person would think twice about the motives of a stranger who suddenly appeared beside someone close to them.
Emilia was one of the Dragon Maidens.
Ram had even more reason to be cautious.
Only time could prove that Shiro's involvement in Emilia's affairs had genuinely been an accident.
Besides—Compared to him, the maid named Ram was obviously in a much worse condition.
Shiro's gaze settled on her forehead.
It was like a water-filled balloon that someone had pierced with a needle.
Magic was constantly leaking out of Ram through her forehead.
If this continued, then even without using magic, the mana within her body would eventually fail to keep up with the constant loss.
When that happened—Even basic movement would probably become extremely difficult for her.
Emilia, meanwhile, failed to notice Ram's subtle positioning.
She was currently staring at Subaru, seemingly struggling with how she should introduce him.
Unlike Shiro, Subaru had spent the entire incident as the person being helped.
And Emilia's identity was far too sensitive.
If she honestly explained how she had met Subaru, Ram could easily suspect him of harboring ulterior motives.
Besides, to put it somewhat impolitely—Emilia felt Subaru's personality was a little... overly familiar?
Some people might find that personality charming.
Others would find it extremely annoying.
Emilia had no idea which group Ram belonged to, so she was still wondering whether she should explain everything.
Fortunately, Subaru did not leave her struggling for long.
He jumped forward and introduced himself.
"Yo! I'm Natsuki Subaru!"
"An ignorant, foolish, eternally indestructible penniless bum!"
"Borrowing the name of a star?"
"What a shame."
"Judging by both his appearance and personality, this gentleman failed to inherit even the slightest bit of a star's brilliance."
"You're unexpectedly savage?!"
"Aren't maids supposed to embody grace and refinement?"
"But... this actually isn't bad?"
"Hmph. Naturally."
"Ram is the cutest existence in this world."
"A mere Barusu should be grateful for the privilege of speaking with someone as adorable as Ram."
Ram puffed out her chest slightly, the corner of her mouth rising.
Her pink hair fluttered despite the absence of wind, revealing a face cute enough to inspire envy in countless people.
Aside from her sharp tongue—which could hardly even be called a flaw—Ram genuinely had plenty to be proud of.
Unfortunately for her, no one present was particularly weak to pretty faces.
So her little display did little more than lighten the mood.
Meanwhile—Emilia watched Subaru and Ram bicker with obvious envy.
One of her wishes was to have a friend like this.
Someone who could treat her as an equal and joke around with her anytime without restraint.
She unconsciously raised a hand toward her face.
A trace of sadness entered her thoughts.
'With the way I look, I probably won't ever have something like that in my entire life...'
Still, Emilia did not remain depressed for long.
Remembering the matter at hand, she quickly withdrew her envious gaze and turned toward Ram.
"Ram, these two are important guests of mine."
"I'm planning to bring them back to Roswaal's residence and have them stay there for a while."
"So I'll have to trouble you to prepare the dragon carriage."
"Yes, Lady Emilia."
"Please remain here and wait for a moment."
When addressing Emilia, Ram finally set aside the casual attitude she had shown Subaru and behaved a little more like a proper maid.
She bowed slightly to Emilia.
Then she turned and left.
Only after Ram had completely disappeared from sight did Emilia turn back toward Shiro and Subaru.
She began explaining their destination—The so-called Roswaal Mansion.
…