Rem

(A/N: Hello, I have no excuses. However, I wanted to inform you guys that I finally came to the realisation I shouldn't write something if I don't want to write it unless absolutely neccessary. Doing otherwise kill your desire to write. That's why I sent Julian do his own things instead of following canon. Anyway, enjoy the chappy. And I advise to listen to music during it, similar to the chapter a bond stronger than blood, for those who remember ;)

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Soon enough, Julian arrived to a sort of main hall. Which looked to have been redesigned to look like some sort of mini court room.

This court room was pretty standard as it came there was a long way that led to an evelated platform having a pseudo throne on it. It also seemed all the damn resident of the mansion had woken up to receive him, as sleepy-eyed guards and maids stood at attention on either side of the room. A fact that amused him somewhat, as it was as if they were here specificaly to celebrate the success of the quest given by their mistress.

Of course, on the throne stood the woman who indirectly caused the death of Volcanica herself, Priscilla Barielle. However, contrary to her servants, she did not look like she just woke up.

At her right side stood a bare-chested man with a steel helm adorned with a single red feather covering his face. And at her left stood a pink-haired and red-eyed sleepy looking who, despite his state, was glaring quite fervently at Julian.

"So... That's the man, my Lady? He certainly doesn't look unordinary, but not enough to meet your imp- *cough* lofty *cough* standard." Al, the bare-chested man said idly after looking at Julian entering the hall.

Priscilla didn't answer, her narrowed eyes riveted on Julian as he entered.

After sending a single dismissive look around, he caught her gaze and grinned. He took a single step, his silhouette glowing orange, and he vanished from his spot, reappearing directly a few meters away from Priscilla and her two subordinate.

The room immediatly tensed up, with the guards suddenly looking alert and their eyes wide and the rest of the servants looking in fear and awe.

"Ah. I see it now." Al said.

"I'm not going to lie. That last part of your little quest was a bit troublesome. More so keeping the heart intact in the end." Julian said, still rather satisfied from his little adventure despite his words.

"You, bring me a plater. Preferably silver." Julian commanded, pointing at a random Maid. She hesitated for a second, hesitation that melted immediatly as he looked at her dead in the eyes.

Looking back at Priscilla, he asked. "So, you will keep your word. I presume?"

She smiled as her already narrowed eyes narrowed further. "Who do you think you are speaking to, exactly? It is well beneath me to lie and go back on my words." She sneered in disdain.

Calming back down, she looked at him silently for a while before she said languidly. "Still, it remain to be seen if the tasks has truly been accomplished."

"My Lady, what tasks are you refering to exactly and what did you promise this man for them?" Al asked, already feeling a headache incoming.

She waved her hand dismissively. "A rare lapse in judgment, perhaps, that or the fate the world has for me." She said, not explaining further to her poor knight.

It was at this time that the previous maid came back with a large silver tray and hesitantly came forward to present it to Julian. So without dallying any further, Julian pointed at it, subsequently making 4 items appear on it. Three very elaborated but different crowns and a glimmering white heart the size of an human head.

The maid almost stumbled from the sudden increase in weight, upon which Julian put an hand under the tray to keep it from falling.

Immediatly after that, a deadly silence befell the hall as the grim horror of what exactly he had deposited in the plate slowly sank in.

"Bring it to me." Being ordered by her mistress, the maid obliged and brought her the plate and its content for its content. Meanwhile, Julian rapidly grew bored of their reactions began to look forward to going back to the mansion, Emilia reaction would surely be way more entertaining.

Priscilla, when presented with the items, simply took one of the crown and inspected it.

"W-Wait, isn't that-"

"The crown of the emperor of Volcania, yes." Priscilla finished for her speechless subordinate. Putting the crown back on the plate, her eyes lingered on the Divine Dragon heart for a while before she said some quick word to the Maid and to Al, upon which both nodded seriously and left to do whatever their instructions was.

"Well, well, well. You seemed to be a man with quite the interesting means. Nonetheless, consider thy divinely blessed. Because I, Priscilla Barielle, shall keep my word and allow you to marry me, and that, entirely of my own volition." An ever haughty smile rising on her face, Priscilla declared. Creating quite the intense clamor in the halls with her words.

Ignoring all the noise, Julian nodded, as if it was par for the course. He then spoke up. "As expected of my future wife. However, let me introduce myself to you formally now that we are fiancee."

Bowing at the waist, a hand behind his back and one on his front. He smiled wickedly. "Julian Håberjorgen-Marquis, Knight of Lady Emilia, candidate for the throne of Lugnica."

The metal of her throne deformed under Priscilla's grip as she grinned widely. "I see. It seems the race ended before it even began, has it? From the witch progeny, nonetheless. Truly... Intriguing." She slowly calmed down as she brought one hand to hide her mouth, her eyes turning crescent.

"It seems I wasn't wrong in the end, my future husband. You really are an entertaining individual."

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"Well, that was fun." Julian smiled, remembering Priscilla's reaction and afterward Emilia's.

Needless to say, even Roswaal was stunned by what he had done. As with Priscilla marrying him, Emilia's knight, it both eliminated a rival faction and made the half-elf claim that much stronger.

Because now, it was not a free for all between 4 candidates anymore, but one with the full support of another and two others who were alone. With that, Emilia was almost guaranted to win the throne.

However, he had the feeling this world had not much more to offer him besides spark of impossibilities and... Other things he dreaded to do.

For the former, he had a someone he could meet. But to meet her, he had to go through trials he wasn't keen to do, as much as told himself he was pass that. As for the latter, well, unfortunately, his guts told him that now was the right time, not only for something concerning him, but also for someone else. To exploit this opportunity, he could only count on finding the right words.

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~Rem's PoV.

As Rem sat on the side of her bed in this cold evening, the curtains of her open window fluttering in the wind. She thought of something that wouldn't go out of her mind since a bit less than two months ago.

She shouldn't have been saved. She wasn't worth the debt she had put on her sister for her revival, and she was even less worthy of the left arm Julian-Kun had sacrificed for her. Nor was she worth the recent worry Ram had for her.

"Burden." That was all she was for those around her.

This world was rotten. The worst thing was, she knew she belonged right in it.

When coming into the manor, Julian-kun had come with another person, a foreigner from the same place with the name of Subaru Natsuki. A familiar face among strangers. That fatidic night, if he had known he'd been bitten too, Julian could have saved him. But fate will it, she had robed him of that choice.

"Good for nothing. Hypocrite." She had robed him of that choice, yet she dared to feel happy to be alive. What perplexed her the most was the boy himself didn't even resent her in the least, he was good to her sister and her, even going as far as telling them his secret just to reassure her that he wasn't a threat to them.

She couldn't understand. She couldn't understand the sad and self-loathing glint she would sometime see in his eyes when gazing at her. Nor could she understand the soft smile at first glance seemingly so anathema to his personality, even when he justify that it was because she reminded him of himself.

She didn't deserve that smile, not from anyone. And certainly not from him. In fact, she hated it.

Coming back to life put things into perspective for her, it put the past, the present and the future out of the stasis she had put them in.

Gazing out of the window and at the rising moon, the silver rays of it reflecting of her bright blue eyes, Rem pondered why when she thought of the later, all she would see was a bleak and thick mist.

Herself and Ram had no one but each other, and it worked fine until now, working for Roswaal. But, where would it put them in 10, or 20 years?

"Rem shouldn't have woken up, that night." Yet another selfish and hipocrite thought, it was stronger than her, wasn't it?

"And why is that?" Her head whipped out at the voice, but she calmed down rapidly as she saw the now familiar blond-haired boy leaning against her doorframe. But she tensed instinctively as she saw his calm eyes drilling through her.

She swallowed with difficulty and gripped her dress hard, she couldn't stop her eyes from misting over. "R- Rem is not-"

"You're not... What?"

She bursted into tears and screamed hatefully, her words leaving her mouth like sands slipping through her fingers. "REM IS NOT WORTH ANYTHING! I DON'T DESERVE RAM! I DON'T DESERVE TO BE SAVED! I DON'T DESERVE KINDNESS! I'M JUST A BURDEN! I- I DON'T DESERVE TO LIV-" She found herself unable to finish her words as her head brought against something hard, but warm.

"Emotions are traitorous things, and thoughts can be insidious. They are not something that can be controlled easily. You feel, therefore you live. It's something outside your control, caring about what you think you shouldn't feel is a losing game."

"B-but, Rem felt glad when Ram lost her horn while saving her!" Her head burried in his chest, she insisted, her tears dripping down her face as she gazed up at him.

"I know."

"Rem felt happy that Julian-Sama saved her instead of his friend!"

"I know."

"J-Julian-Sama knew?" She stammered.

"I did."

"So then, why-"

"Do you think your sister would resent you do what you did?"

"B- but-"

"She wouldn't care in the least, even worst, she'd be davastated if she knew how you truly thought of yourself all these years." He pushed her back at arms length, letting her see how serious he was while saying those words.

"Ram doesn't-" Overwhelmed, her eyes widened at being presented a perspective she couldn't even deny.

"What? Care about you? Don't even try. As for saving you, it was MY choice. I knew very well Subaru had probably been bitten too. You have every right to feel glad to be alive, even at the unfortunate expense of another. Those who say otherwise are traumatised or liars." Unrelenting, Julian continued to tell her that her guilt was misplaced.

"R-Rem don't understand." Her heart thundered through her chest as her mind tried to assimilate what was said, her eyes searching the boy's for something.

His face softening, he smiled at her with that soft smile she had hated, until now that is. "Let me help you, then."

He seems to hesitate for a split second before he hugged her, his relatively large frame surrounding her own as she found her chin laying on his right shoulder. At this moment, she couldn't help but reciprocate to the first act of affection someone had done for her in years outside her sister, thus placing her arms around his chest.

Then, his voice came, weaker than ever, but full of understanding and pain of his own. "Rem, it's okay to be selfish. Whatever happened in the past doesn't make you a burden, it merely make you a victim of injustice, like many others."

"R-Really?" She cried hot tears, hiccuping from emotions. She couldn't help but believe him, his words rung raw, firm, and convinced in their own truth. They didn't sound hollow, but something he had wanted to say for a long time, or to someone else.

"Really. And no one else deserve to be a bit more selfish than you, Rem."