Rom-jii had stormed the hall for Felt's sake. Though on the surface their relationship looked like nothing more than a business partnership, in a certain sense he was effectively Felt's guardian.
Because when Subaru had brawled with those passersby, Rom-jii had lent him a hand in passing. Worried for Felt's safety, Rom-jii had naturally asked after her, and on learning Reinhard had taken her away, he'd immediately pieced together the whole chain of events and come to bust up the proceedings.
Felt—who already had plenty of grievances about Reinhard arresting her, and who despised the noble lords besides—had of course wanted nothing to do with any Royal Selection. On her way in she'd even tried to land a solid high kick on Reinhard. But when she saw Rom-jii had been seized, she reluctantly accepted the role of candidate instead.
After all, if she wasn't a royal candidate, Rom-jii's crime of attacking the venue would already have been more than enough to warrant execution.
"Watch carefully how I write it—this character should be written like so." Beatrice sat beside Yimi, teaching her this world's script.
"Emilia, don't you trust me?"
"I want to! We made a promise, and you're the one who broke your promise so easily—and made a scene like that on top of it... You don't keep your word, but you still want me to trust you. I can't do it!"
"..."
"Subaru, why are you always trying to help me?"
To Emilia, Subaru had always been that person who'd barged in out of nowhere, throwing himself into helping her without a shred of motive.
"Because you saved me."
"I saved you?"
"You have no idea what your kindness to me really meant. What a salvation it was."
It wasn't only that she'd rescued him from those thugs. Emilia had been the very first person in this world to be kind to him—and to someone like him, who'd already given up on any future back in his old world, her gentleness had been like a guiding light for a whole new life. Even if it had lasted only a single fleeting day, and even if others later trusted him unconditionally, none of them could replace that first place she held.
But in the eyes of an Emilia who remembered none of it in the current timeline, this Subaru sounded like someone who, even now, was still scrambling for excuses to deceive her.
"I was saved by you—"
Once again those unseen hands clamped around Subaru's heart.
"You've gone quiet again..." Emilia looked at him helplessly.
"I thought Emilia would understand."
Under the threat of that lunatic who'd granted him his power, Subaru couldn't get out a single word connected to the loops.
"The version of me in your head must be really impressive—understanding everything even when you say nothing..."
"Could this house have any better soundproofing?" Beatrice looked out at the dusk with displeasure, then lowered her gaze to the little cat.
Yimi, who'd been tilting her head to meet Beatrice's eyes a moment ago, turned to look away.
Beatrice brushed aside a lock of her hair. "Is there something you want to tell Betty?"
Subaru shoved the door open, panting, and cut them off.
"You're supposed to get permission before entering a lady's room. Don't go bringing that arrogance of yours in here, to Betty." Beatrice raised a hand as if to work magic and drive Subaru off.
The argument outside had cut off the instant Emilia dropped to a murmur; any more of it and Subaru's composure would have snapped.
"Betty, could you step out for a bit? There's something I need to tell Yimi alone."
"Are you dreaming?"
"I'm begging you..." Subaru dragged his fingers back through his hair, the anguish written plain across his face.
"Tch."
Beatrice clicked her tongue, picked up a book, and headed out, glancing back once. "Don't let him within a meter of you. If he crosses that line, hit him."
"..."
Watching Beatrice leave, Subaru simply sat down on the floor and hugged his knees. "I only wanted to do something for her. I don't want anyone bullying her. Why can't she understand that?"
"Because she saved me. I can't help but treat her as special. I've died over and over, all for her—without me she can't manage on her own at all! She..."
He'd all but said it outright now—yet alone with Yimi, the Witch made no move against him.
Subaru lifted his head. The little girl before him was clutching the notebook she'd just been practicing her characters in, gazing at him in blank confusion. Maybe it was because Yimi had only joined at the very end of his attempt to save Emilia, playing no part in the process, that she couldn't grasp what he was saying.
Right. In the end, the one who'd saved the day was still this child. And she was only a child—even if she knew he could loop, what of it? Even if he could tell her, so what? Was he really going to pour all his bitterness out onto a kid who didn't even look ten years old?
Subaru got back to his feet, turned, and walked out of the room.
He turned his head and saw Beatrice sitting on the floor right outside the door, reading.
"That was quick. Betty half expected you to come flying back out."
"Don't say that. I'm not scum." Subaru's voice was very low.
He'd thought, for a moment, that he'd found someone to confide in—but how could he dump a gut full of garbage onto a small child?
"Calmed down?"
"Probably not." Subaru shook his head and trudged wearily off toward his own room.
When Felix had informed Emilia of the assembly, he'd made a promise: to heal Subaru's already-faulty Gate, which had been further damaged in the fight against Gluttony—because Felix was the foremost healing mage in the entire kingdom.
So the next day Subaru took up temporary residence at Karsten Manor to receive treatment.
"Crack!"
Flicking the wooden sword from Subaru's grip with his own, Wilhelm looked down at him. "Your heart is in disarray. You're in no state to practice the blade."
Swordsmanship in this world wasn't quite what Subaru understood it to be; after a few simple tries, he privately concluded he could spend his whole life at it and never grasp the trick.
Wilhelm gazed off into the distance. "The little lady hasn't come to visit."
She had, after all, promised Rem from the very beginning to keep Emilia safe.
"Mr. Wilhelm—you said before that you owe Yimi a debt." Subaru flopped flat on the ground, staring blankly up at the sky.
"My wife fell in the campaign to slay the White Whale." Perhaps because he, too, had been out of sorts lately, the normally taciturn Wilhelm didn't mind sharing his own story.
"At first I only half-believed the little lady's claim. But hearing she fought Reinhard to a standstill yesterday, I'd meant to properly repay her once she came by today."
There was an unmistakable stiffness as he spoke Reinhard's name—for this was the very boy who, at five years old, had taken the Divine Protection of the Sword Saint from his wife while she was locked in battle with the White Whale. His own grandson.
His own flesh and blood—and yet more than ten years had passed without the two of them so much as speaking properly.
"Repay her? Mr. Wilhelm, how do you plan to repay Yimi?"
"That's a rather dull question."
Wilhelm found him to be making idle conversation, but answered all the same: "What I have to offer would all be dull things to the little lady. If she'd tell me herself what she wanted, I wouldn't be so troubled over it."
"That said—for me, the debt of avenging my wife isn't something that can simply be squared away."
He drew his true blade and studied his own face reflected in the steel. "When I was younger and more restless, I might not only have failed to see it as a kindness—I might even have thrown a childish fit, resenting her for stealing the chance to take my revenge myself."
"You would, Mr. Wilhelm?" Subaru sat up, looking at him in surprise.
Little time as they'd spent together all told, the man seemed nothing like the sort to say such a thing.
Wilhelm gazed at his reflection a while longer, then closed his eyes. Before them, perhaps, rose the bewildered face of a five-year-old Reinhard.
Even now, he couldn't say for certain whether, deep down, he still blamed Reinhard.
"A person comes to understand, through the things they've done, that they mustn't make the same mistake again."
Completely incomprehensible.
Subaru wearily shut his eyes.
"Is this all right? Just leaving him there and heading back?"
On the dragon carriage, Beatrice bent to stroke the little cat sprawled across her lap; having read up on it, her cat-petting technique was passable now.
"Betty, thank you." Emilia used the nickname she'd caught from Subaru.
Beatrice frowned. "Why are you suddenly thanking Betty?"
Emilia covered her mouth and laughed softly. "Because—you keep saying you don't want anything to do with us, but you can't help showing you care."
"Betty only doesn't want Nii-chan getting hurt over your moods, that's all. Hmph!"
"At Crusch-sama's place, Subaru shouldn't have any chance to do anything foolish. Maybe it's for the best, letting him cool off a little."
Emilia brushed the hair by her ear. "I really thought Subaru was different from the others—I thought he'd treat me like an ordinary person. I guess it doesn't work out after all."
Beatrice pinched Yimi's paw pads. "He only had one fixed ability to start with. Once his Gate heals and he learns magic, won't he just find it even easier to do something stupid?"
Yimi looked up, uncomprehending. "But he's got another one, the time-rewind power too."
"Eh?"
Even a kitty couldn't puzzle out the conclusion.