5 ( PART 2)

Rem looked at her sister with worried eyes.

"Nee-sama-"

"You should worry about someone else now, Rem." Ram cut her off coldly which broke the little sister's heart in two.

"... I liked the story."

"..." Ram simply closed her eyes and turned away from her sister.

[Subaru laid down on his bed and stared at the book in his hand.

"A scary witch… a terrifying witch. To even speak her name was terrifying. Everyone called her the Witch of Envy."]

Many shivered at the sheer ominous look of the drawing.

Roswaal slowly tapped his chin in thought.

[The screen stopped at the image of the Witch's drawn face.]

"What's the reason for his focus on the witch all of a sudden?" Felix asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why do ya think?" Garfiel replied in annoyance while gesturing at a stricken Emilia for the catboy.

[Scene changes to show Subaru standing at the front door of the mansion, Emilia, Roswaal, and the twin maids standing before him.

"Are you sure about this? We could call a dragon-drawn carriage to take you to the capital… " Emilia looked at Subaru with a worried look.]

"What is he going to do now?" Emilia asked in confusion.

"It seems like he's leaving the mansion." Anastasia mused.

"How did he catch the killer then?" Petra asked in fear. Her expression showed confusion as the girl couldn't understand how Subaru would save her and her friends while also saving himself from whatever was happening to the mansion… with her nee-sama Ram and Rem… and she couldn't tell if he would even live through this life at all.

"Oh wait… He didn't play with me and the others this time…" Petra's eyes closed with her tears running down as she realized how cruel his fate will be.

"We just have to see," Frederica answered and ruffled the little maid's head with a somewhat confident smile on her face. But the older maid simply let the little one sob in her torso as Petra hung to her side.

["I'll be fine. One day when I'm the kind of strong, smart, rich man who's worthy of you, I'll come on a white horse to take you away." Subaru pulled his thumbs up and smiled charmingly…

only to be ignored by a worried Emilia as she looked him up and down.

"Do you have a handkerchief? And water, and lagmite ore, and, and… will you be able to sleep by yourself?"

"Do you think you're my mom?!"]

The knightly trio snorted while Otto, Ricardo, Garfiel, and Al all laughed at Subaru's failed attempt.

"Yet another failed attempt!" Ricardo laughed out loud.

"I feel bad for 'em," Al called from where he sat.

"He doesn't need any of that though…" Emilia looked reserved and quite upset with how extravagant Subaru's tastes were. He shouldn't be wasteful! And He was more than worthy of her!

[Before Emilia could show her affection to her son, Roswaal cut in and extended his hand.

"Well, then, Subaru-kun, be well, and doooon't lose the gift I gave you. I added a little soooomething equivalent to our three days' woooorth of memories together."

Subaru looked at his bag and shook it a bit, a jingle sounded and Subaru smiled.

"Hush money, right? Don't worry, I get it. I won't say anything I shouldn't. I swear to the dragon."]

"He's quick to pick up things, I suppose." Priscilla mused, impressed a little by his uncovering of Roswaal's plan

["Talking with you makes any evil scheme seem to lose its purpose, and in this nation, swearing to the dragon is the highest form of promise. Make sure you don't forget it." Roswaal smiled at him.

"Got it!" Subaru looked from the master to the two maids that served him. "You two helped me out a ton. Especially you, Rem-rin. Thanks for all the great food."

He looked away and struggled to think of something. "And Ram-chi… yeah! You're good at cleaning toilets, right?"]

"Hmph! What a pathetic compliment from an equally pathetic man." Ram couldn't help but open her mouth as she felt angry at the wish he seemed to want to insult her honor and pride.

Even though he only teased her…

[Both Rem and Ram turned to each other and began showing this boy how it's done.

"Sister, sister. Our guest is hopelessly bad at flattery."

"Rem, Rem. Our guest has a fatal lack of skill in flattery."

"Oh, shut up! I seriously couldn't think of anything!"

Subaru smiled at the two brightly. "Thanks though."

Both twins smiled. "Yes, sir."]

Otto looked at the twins and then looked at Emilia. "I don't think… they did it."

Julius sighed and shook his head. "You can't judge a book by its cover. They haven't said a thing since they've been accused."

"They didn't even defend themselves!" Mimi pointed at them in anger.

"B-But Ram-sama wouldn't kill someone so dear to us! She looks so nice and happy now so maybe it was something else?" Petra tried to defend her nee-sama, not wanting to believe that the older maid had killed Subaru.

Emilia just stared towards the two with pain filling her eyes.

Rem avoided her gaze and teared up.

Emilia looked away and hugged Subaru tight.

'Am I blind?'

[Subaru was walking out the gate with a serious glare on his face.

"Subaru!"

The boy looked behind him with surprise. Emilia was standing behind him with a smile on her face.

"Thank you for everything. If you need anything, come visit anytime."

Subaru smiled. "Sure!"

Emilia waved him off as he walked away from the mansion.

"Thanks, Emilia-tan!"]

It was obvious he was planning something, so how could she have been so blind to see it? Why hadn't she intervened and helped him through it?

[Subaru began walking away. Walking and walking. He stopped midway on the road and looked around.]

"Hmmm, why does he look suspicious?" Felix asked curiously.

"I think he plans to sneak into the mansion and watch if a killer really did enter," Frederica answered.

"That's a great plan to catch the monster who killed him!" Petra cheered, still in disbelief that the twins were the ones who murdered Subaru.

[He changed course and ran through the dense forest at the side of the road.]

"What's big bro doing? The mansion is over there!" Felt asked in frustration.

Emilia watched with a cold unchanging expression.

Why doesn't he tell her about these things? She would have believed him! So…

"So why didn't you try to tell me, Subaru?" Emilia asked with dismay filling her being.

[Subaru stopped at a ledge that overlooked the entire L. Mathers grounds.

"Alright, this is it. I can see Emilia's room especially well from here. Now all that's left is to wait for something to happen… "

Subaru opened his bag and picked up a knife.

"… and stop it."]

"What?!" Felix shouted in outrage as he couldn't believe the stupidity of the plan.

"This will not end well." Julius facepalmed at the stupid plan.

"I don't understand… It sounds like a good plan." Felt slowly asked the knights.

"It's because he seems more suspicious that way," Otto answered Felt's question.

"And if the twins found him sitting on a ledge watching the manor with a knife in hand…" Ricardo quickly caught on.

"They well haaaaave to interveeeeeeene!" Roswaal kept his voice smooth and emotionless as his eyes seemed to be dim as he stared at the scene, disturbing the crowd around him.

"Does this seem funny to you, I suppose?" Beatrice couldn't handle the way he still talked with that accent and spoke as if it was the normal thing to do.

"Noooot at aaaall! But you have to keep in mind that Subaru-kuuuuun is the one that looks most suspicious in that world. So he brought this on himseeeeeelf."

Everyone stayed silent and watched with bated breaths.

"Are you saying Subaru deserved his death?!" Emilia shouted up towards Roswaal with a furious glare.

The clown simply glared right back toward her. As their eyes clashed, Emilia couldn't help but fumble her lip as the clown's glare haunted her down as if he was seeing a pain that overtook both their souls at once.

And she was simply a figure in between him and that pain.

He was looking right through her.

"I neeever aimed for him to die, Emilia-saaama, and this is unenviable but the faacts say he'll fail here somehow, and I don't see how he will die but I know that I never asked for my staaaff to harm him unless absolutely certain he's a danger to yooou."

"... So you're saying he might be killed by your staff now that he seems suspicious on this cliff?" Crusch glared narrowly at the man, every fiber of her divine power active all over the man and seeing if any wind of untruth blows around him.

So far he's been telling the truth.

"..." Roswaal simply kept silent for a moment. Ram and Rem were staring at the ground.

"I mean… the two seem to be held up in the mansion… Natsuki-san is really far away…" Otto interjected weakly and noted a couple of details that made him believe in the two maids.

"Yeah tha's true..." Garfiel nodded his head in agreement with the merchant boy.

Emilia, and the shaken Roswaal both turned to stare at the screen with desperate frowns on their faces.

[He remembered this same knife as the one he used to cut vegetables and fruits from previous loops. His only regret… using it to cut his fingers more than the fruits.

"She'd probably get mad at me for using it this way… "

Subaru smiled back at the mansion. He looked down in sadness. "I hope she does… I don't want to die."]

Emilia held his hand and watched. Her eyes remained cold and indifferent. She was ready. Ready to live through Subaru's pain and agony no matter what horrible deeds she had committed.

If they brought the slightest ounce of pain on her knight then she will memorize and work to make it up to him.

Clenching his fingers between hers tight.

Her knight.

"It's a really bad plan…" Julius shook his head and held a grimace of worry as he watched.

There was a certain feeling of dread that could be sensed by everyone in the room.

[He looked up and remembered all of his previous loops. He remembered Emilia's smile.

"I don't want them to die." He remembered Beatrice and Roswaal.]

I couldn't protect him.

I couldn't protect him.

I couldn't protect him.

Beatrice held his hand and stared at the screen with a heartbroken look while repeating the same sentence over and over again.

[Gritting his teeth to keep the emotion in. "What did I tell you, Natsuki Subaru? Even if no one remembers what happens when everything repeats," Subaru stared at his reflection in the blade. "… You remember it."]

"Man is handling a lot by himself," Al muttered under his armor while Priscilla simply scoffed, feeling bored out of her mind again.

"He'll fail and cry, I don't see why mineself should be watching something so boring."

"I believe this viewing is for everyone, Barielle. Not just yourself," Crusch held her gaze firm on the screen but her tone was filled with serious anger as she didn't take a liking to what the red princess had said.

The others looked on in sympathy at the boy's struggle.

Rem just hugged her knees and began letting the tears slip as she saw how terrified and dismayed her hero was because of her.

[Scene changed to Subaru watching the sunset while the sky began turning orange.

"Now that I think about it, I didn't go shopping for Rem this time. Just because the food meant for me was leftover?"

Subaru suddenly looks startled at something.

It'll be a while before it gets dark.

Subaru shook his head. Focus! Focus!]

"I mean… maybe they won't find him on the ledge?" Ricardo sounded out, making some of them nod in agreement.

"T's a very far'way ledge," Garfiel muttered as he observed.

"So if the twins were going to shop without Subaru… He wouldn't be killed by the mabeast user and won't be in danger from the maids as we've been theorizing all this time… Maybe there's a third threat somewhere?" Julius commented while in thought as he felt this dreadful feeling climax and break into a heavier tension across the theater.

Emilia wanted to comment and help this conversation flow better but she couldn't help but remember that she didn't know anything of a third threat possible to have killed Subaru. She didn't even know anything about the second or first threats, to begin with.

[Suddenly… something started heading towards him. Subaru looked up quickly…]

Everyone stared at the edge of their seats.

"Nevermind!" Al shouted as he leaned closer to watch.

Beatrice and Emilia both stared on with horror clear in their eyes.

[A certain metal mace was heading straight at him.

Barely able to miss it, he jumped out of the way making it crush the entire ledge where he stood. It was so close to hitting him that it grazed his cheek and made him bleed even when he jumped away. Subaru fell down from the mountain ledge while glaring up at the mace…]

"What the hell is he doing?!" Otto felt compelled to scream in fear for what was going to happen to Subaru.

"Cap'n has a plan, shut up!" Garfiel shushed the merchant boy beside him and continued to watch with the most furious of expressions as he recognized the mace immediately.

Garfiel, Frederica, Crusch, Roswaal, and Ram all held their breath the second the mace was shown.

"Uh… It seems we were correct all along… Natsuki-dono is being murdered by his own allies… All this time..." Wilhelm could only shake his head in tribulation to what the boy on screen must've been dealing with after this death will be over.

"It doesn't look easy… Facing death those number of times and yet something about having the closest people to you doing it… It's a cruel life this young one leads."

As for Rem herself… She lost her ability to breathe as soon as she heard the sound of her own Morning Star thrusting towards the defenseless Subaru's back with the intent to kill.

[His body was suddenly stopped from hitting the ground by a rope he fixed around a tree.

"Emergency escape!" Subaru used the knife and cut the ropes. Once he was on the ground, he began running away.]

"That was smart of him." Anastasia mused and watched with an excited expression as the boy managed to live the attack off.

Julius and Reinhard nodded and watched with grim expressions as their friend's attempts fell in vain. They knew he was dead. They just had to watch and see how he dies.

["I saw it! Yes, I saw it! I saw where the sound of chains came from!"]

Rem slowly stopped her crying and looked up with various sniffles coming out of her.

[Subaru looked back while he ran. "But is it coming this way now?"]

She had to watch. He suffered this, she owed it to him.

[Subaru stopped running and looked up at a giant ledge that stood in his way.]

If the man that owned her heart couldn't love her because of this, then she would watch and despair over her anger and stupidity.

[It was a dead end]

"Oh no!" Petra hugged Frederica as tightly as she could and kept her eyes wide open to the screen.

"Why can't he just get a break already!" Petra screamed in anguish making Rem scurry deeper into a pit that made the maid want nothing but to wrap herself and hide from the world.

[Does this mean I played right into the attacker's hands?]

"Fool!" Felix shouted and glared at the Subaru on screen.

How many times will he die and fail? How many times will this boy's weakness bring suffering and pain to everyone watching?

"Just end it… They'll torture you…" Felix's disparaged muttering consumed his side of the room and was heard by his own camp members, even the Duchess that led it.

"What do you…" Crusch instantly realized what would happen as she scanned the entire situation.

"Those attacks… weren't meant to kill… Only paralyze…" Frederica now coldly whispered to everyone before looking up to the two unhinged-looking girls at the top, her eyes filled with anger and shame.

"Isn't that right, Ram? I'm the one that taught you this tactic… You want to neutralize him before having all the fun you need."

At the beastwoman's emerald gaze, Ram can only stare at the ground in silence as the situation gets worse for both her and Rem.

"Ram… Rem… What are you doing…" Emilia muttered as her face went blank white and her thoughts seemed to blank.

She only focused on Subaru's scared face.

[Subaru closed his eyes and turned around to face the killer with conviction. He pulled his tracksuit jacket off and used it as a shield in front of him.

If you're coming then come!

* Sounds of Chains* Filled the dense forest around him.

The mace was shown flying towards him.

"Do you have the nerve?!" Subaru screamed and propelled the Mace by his jacket to change its direction instead of hitting his chest and killing him, it hit the huge mountain behind him.]

"Won't be enough, but a nice trick." Priscilla snorted and watched with an indifferent expression.

Rem was horrified by the attack. Her morning star… almost killed him.

"It might kill him…" Rem corrected herself as she watched her guilt growing and fueling her misery.

Everyone watched in silence, some nervous about what's going to happen to Subaru. Some were curious to see what he will do to get out of this place.

[Subaru quickly took hold of the chain on the mace and pulled on it. "All right, show yourself, damn it! I've gone through all kinds of hell trying to see your face!"]

"He is brave. A normal boy instead of him would have run away." Reinhard spoke in a soft tone as he worried for his friend.

"He's already tasted death more than once. He doesn't need to be afraid." Julius glared as he thought about the disgusting power Subaru held.

[Subaru tried pulling the chain but it was not moving like it was chained to something immobile. Subaru glared at the attacker's dark figure. He felt the chain in his hand relent and wiggle weakly as whoever was holding it from the other end, began walking towards Subaru. Slowly they walked up to him.

Slowly, the darkness left their figure.

Slowly… Slowly…

"Then I have no choice," they said as they stood in the light before Subaru.]

"No…" Petra closed her eyes and clenched her fists as her fears were confirmed.

"Why…" Crusch narrowed her eyes and watched with undivided attention. She saw the maid's loyalty to Subaru with her own eyes and confirmed how inseparable Rem was from the boy. Why was she killing him in these loops?

"Moreover, why hadn't Subaru-dono run from this camp yet," Wilhelm sounded angry for the first time in a long time, an expression of pure determination was present on his face.

[Subaru looked at the one who killed him with shock filling his core. Confusion. Disbelief.]

Rem's eyes teared up at her hero's face. He looked so hurt. So betrayed.

"I'm sorry."

"Rem…" Emilia seemed to widen her eyes further in shock as this scenario went against everything she had in mind for the cute Oni maid. Of the person, Subaru praised over and over for an entire year of their time to keep Rem's memory in the world.

But the half-elf princess couldn't contain the pain she felt as she realized that look on Subaru's face, the expression he held was one of pure fear and confusion again. It was one she didn't like to see on him.

"I can't believe… Rem… Why?"

The blue-haired girl wanted to answer, she wanted to say that this wasn't her. This was another world they were watching.

But she knew the truth.

["The ideal scenario would have been to finish this without anyone noticing." Rem spoke in a curt tone.]

Rem flinched as if this had hurt her to hear.

"Ideal…?!" Otto grit his teeth as glared furiously at the screen.

"..." Garfiel was the only one who had a thoughtful gaze as he looked at what was happening to his captain.

"Rem… Ye're an idiot… Goddamn," the blonde boy seemed to realize something that led to him shaking his head with a frown of contemplation on his face. He even seemed angry as his eyes glared at the floor for a moment but his tough expression returned and he continued to watch in silence. He knows that this will take a looong talk to fix.

"So you planned to kill him behind everyone's back?" Anastasia coldly looked at the crying maid.

Emilia and Beatrice just watched with wide-open eyes as they thought about all the times they had let Rem near Subaru.

How many times did he die because of their incompetence?

"How many times did he die because of me?" Emilia has asked the same question in her mind since the very first death. Broken. Too tired to cry.

"Didn't I tell you all that the boy was safe, I suppose?" Beatrice's low mumble was unheard as her shaken form didn't even turn to glance at the two tense Onis.

[Subaru looked at the chain in his hand in disbelief. Why was Rem holding the other end?

"You're joking… " Why was Rem standing in place of the killer?

"Right, Rem?" Subaru shook as he realized.

His killer… was the blue-haired Oni of the Roswaal Estate.

Title screen:

The sounds of Chains

"If you do not resist, I can make your death painless." Rem spoke as she stared him down.]

Petra held her hands to her mouth, looking shocked and horrified.

Frederica held the girl close and watched with a disappointed pained glare.

She never saw Rem this cruel.

"Was this what you do to anyone that seems suspicious in the manor?" Frederica asked in heartbreak as she wondered how many of the guests she had served were killed by her colleagues.

["Why are you doing this? That's such a cliché, but do you mind my asking?" Subaru struggled to stay calm as he looked at the one who once murdered him.]

Everyone leaned in and watched in silence.

"The question of the day," Otto asked with complex emotions running through him and not allowing him to look away from the screen to glare at his brother's killers.

["If someone seems suspicious, punish them. This is the rule of maids."]

"...The fuck?" Ricardo muttered with a disbelieving look.

"That's not fair!" Felt yelled at the two maids.

"That's such a stupid reason to kill someone!" Petra screamed a heartbroken scream of anger and frustration. She lost all respect for the blue-haired maid at this moment. Even the dress she was wearing, the symbol of her love for Subaru, felt disgusting on her as she witnessed Rem dirty the entire purpose of being a maid.

"That's not what we were taught!" Frederica seemed more disparaged by the entire twisted nature Rem showed as an understanding of their profession and loyalty. That's not what being a maid is all about.

Garfiel seemed to stare more openly at Rem's eyes. Uncaring for the rage in Otto's gaze.

"Suspicious…?" Emilia muttered in disbelief.

["Does Ram know?" The sweating Subaru asked while gazing at his attacker.

"I intend to finish this before my sister sees anything." Rem quickly picked the chain with her hands.]

"Hmm, so the pink one wasn't involved?" Priscilla mused with surprise.

Many looked at Ram in surprise.

"Roswaal-sama ordered us to just watch Barusu when he first came to the mansion. He explicitly told us not to take matters into our own hands when dealing with him." Ram coldly stated while shielding her sister from anyone glaring at her.

"So why did the blue maid not obey?" Anastasia asked sternly.

"It seems that her plan is to take care of Subaru quickly and quietly without anyone knowing or noticing," Julius answered for his mistress.

"Including her employer and her own colleagues as well as the remaining residents." Crusch continued the thought.

"But that still doesn't answer why she's doing all this," Al asked.

Beatrice and Emilia remained silent.

"No, Ram is 'ere… Fer sure she's up 'ere watching the show." Garfiel's statement surprised many around him.

"What are you-"

Otto wasn't heard as Garfiel's glare narrowed on the screen once he called out for the pink maid.

"Ain't that righ' Ram? Ya would be able to tell how much yer sister wanted to murder someone no matter where she's. Yer probably watching through yer Clairvoyance… Yer just watching this happen to Cap'n from afar…"

As Emilia and the rest stared with various emotions from curiosity to betrayal towards the pink maid, Ram only gave silence to Garfiel's accusation and stared down at her shoe.

A fiery glare that hid the remorse in Ram's eyes was plastered on her face.

"This is something that I'm not familiar with, Garf. This me is someone different."

"... But t's still you."

Ram's expression turned to one of pain and frustration.

"Don't blame my sister-"

"Quite."

Roswaal shushed the trembling Rem with his finger and laid his eyes on the screen.

["So in other words this is your own decision, not one of Roswaal's orders?" He asked in desperation.

"I'll eliminate any obstacles standing in the way of Roswaal-sama's desires."

The boy seemed to be pivoting as he let go of the chain and gave a dark chuckle devoid of humor, "So he can't even train his lap dogs? It would be intolerable if a passerby were to be bitte- BAWWAH!"

"I'll not permit any disrespect aimed at Roswaal-sama." Rem lashed her chain to the side of Subaru's face, cutting across his cheek and head making him bleed.]

"Rem…" Roswaal's disappointed shake of the head caused the blue-haired girl unparalleled shame.

"This is interesting…" Priscilla muttered steadily while glaring at the scene.

"Not happy that you weren't correct on clown-man being the killer, princess?" Al asked from the side of the baroness, no humor in his town. Just steeled smoothness.

[The boy gritted his teeth and kept steady on his feet, his eyes lost all light.

"Is that how little you trusted me?" Subaru looked so broken as he asked this.]

Rem felt her heart shatter at the tone and look he had.

"It's not me… It's not me, Subaru-kun… Please-"

[Rem started walking to him with an indifferent expression on her face.

"Yes."]

"Ya was smiling with him until he left! He was thankin' ya with a smile!" Garfiel finally spoke up yelling at the twins. The blonde boy was going insane as he watched the situation unfold. He never expected the girl he crushed on to be so cruel as to KILL someone for such a stupid reason as being suspicious.

They smiled to his face before he left!

"And now ya kill him?!"

Rem couldn't argue with the blonde boy, The maid had her mouth fall open in shock.

"..." Garfiel and Priscilla both noted this expression on the girl's face while withholding their own anger.

Crusch was the only one that had noticed the way Rem looked since the start and she was only staring at the maid in pity.

[Subaru suddenly smiled and looked at his feet as the despair filled his being. "Damn, I'm pathetic. I was so sure we were getting along well… " Subaru's hands fell limp as he stared at the ground.]

"Subaru… " Emilia's heart shattered as she thought about being in his place.

"Doing everything you can to help the friends you made in a new world. Trying to save them from a horrible fate, going as far as dying many times for them." Reinhard lamented in sadness.

"Only to find out they were the ones killing you for no reason at all." Wilhelm solemnly continued his grandson's thoughts.

"That… Isn't me…" Rem whispered diligently, trying to offer an excuse, any excuse to run away from the reality no one had lived through except for the boy she cherished the most.

[Rem stopped before him. "My siste-"

"I don't wanna hear it!" Subaru shouted and suddenly took out his phone, pointing straight into her face and taking continuous photos with it, flashing the light into her eyes, blinding her in place.

"Take this!" Subaru quickly pushed Rem out of the way and ran.]

"He didn't stab her." Anastasia mused while watching intently.

"Indeed," Wilhelm nodded his head, foreseeing this already since he understood Subaru's heart enough to know that the boy won't be hurting Rem.

"Of course he won't. He doesn't want to hurt his friends. Even when they try to kill him." Otto growled at his brother's stupidity.

Garfiel nodded his head remembering how noble Subaru was back in the sanctuary.

[Subaru was running… running with a scared expression of a child on his nasty-eyed face.]

"He looks so scared," Petra said in a sad tone.

"Of course he is! He's going to die alone by someone he thought was his friend." Felt yelled out in frustration as she watched her big bro running from a murderer alone.

[Breathing heavily, inhaling and exhaling. His legs never stopped as he ran through the forest underneath the orange sky.]

Beatrice and Emilia both watched with their hearts breaking.

Rem just stared at the screen.

Silent.

[Something flashed behind him and some wind flew towards him before he knew it… Subaru fell and began tumbling across the forest floor. He didn't know what was happening, he screamed and fell down to a stop.]

"What was that?" Petra asked in confusion.

"That was wind magic," Mimi answered for her. Her tone lost all of her cheer.

"W-Wind…?" Rem choked as her eyes widened to slits.

"Told ya…" Garfiel muttered hatefully while looking away from the girls.

Emilia understood who this was.

"Ram was the one more efficient in wind magic…" Emilia's mutter was broken as she stared the pink-haired girl down while Subaru screamed on the screen.

"You were also supporting Rem… That was you, wasn't it?"

"... Yes, Emilia-sama." Emilia's expression contorted to a tearful glare as she lost all trust in the two maids at this moment.

Petra instantly covered her gasps with both hands and sobbed as she lost her love for the wonderful pink-haired teacher she wanted so hard to impress.

Roswaal watched this in silence without bringing himself to interject for his maids' sake.

[Opening his eyes, he saw something before him that was too shocking for him to believe he was seeing it. There was no way. No way that was his…

and then the pain hit him through the adrenaline.]

"Shit!" Garfiel exclaimed in shock.

"Oh, No!" Petra screamed in horror as tears ran down her face.

"Subaru!" Beatrice yelled out, losing all of her elegance as her failure to help her contractor was displayed yet again.

Emilia watched in silence. Her hand crushing Subaru's. Her eyes were emotionless.

She was just staring at the screen with no emotion except her mortified slack-jaw at the scene.

[Screaming and shrieking in pure agony, the boy from another world slowly looked back at his body and found that his leg had indeed been cut off.]

"W-Why?" Felt wanted to ask but she couldn't keep the tears from coming down.

"This is too cruel! Even for how suspicious he was acting!" Crusch spoke out to the maids.

Rem just stared wide-eyed at what happened to her love.

"Barusu's stupidity put him in this situation. We were ordered to keep the mansion safe and he was spying on it." Ram sounded unconvinced of what she was saying, but still held her defensive glare towards everyone glaring towards her sister.

"You have no right to put him through such pain," Julius spoke up in anger.

"Don't go acting on impulse now, Julius-kuyon. It was their master's domain and they had every right to treat a potential threat however they saw fit." Felix spoke in an oddly sad tone, yet still sounded firm enough to side with the twins.

Julius glared at Felix and grunted as he saw good logic behind his cat friend's words.

"But you still didn't have any right to kill him in the hallway, and Roswaal had already ordered you both to keep watch and stand down, in fact!" Beatrice stood up to speak on behalf of her contractor. How dare this maid defend such cruel treatment?! Betty will show her.

Ram snorted coldly. "It's obvious that Roswaal-sama ordered this to happen."

"No, Roswaal didn't order it. Rem just said that she was doing this to get rid of Subaru of her own will and against both of the wishes of the domain's lord and you as well." Otto growled and interrupted angrily, instantly seeing a big hole in said logic of the maid.

"If Ram…-nee-sama wasn't supposed to know… Why did she help Rem cut Subaru's leg? Why is she teaming up on him?" Petra shivered through her tears and growled out the words with great difficulty as she started sobbing along with Subaru's screams filling the background.

Ram just stayed silent and glared at the merchant.

Her sister just stared at the screen, trembling in place.

["Aahhhhhh! My leg!" Subaru screamed as the grass turned red from his bleeding stump.

His whole body was paralyzed from the pain of losing his limb, he couldn't move or crawl as his blood sputtered out of his open gushing wound.

Suddenly, a hand reached out above the bleeding spot where his limb used to be.

"Mana of water, heal this damaged body."]

"Oh, this will be bad." Frederica quickly covered Petra's eyes.

"Keep them closed little one. This will be rough to watch." Wilhelm advised the struggling Petra in a somber tone.

"Don't even think about it." Felt glared at Reinhard as he tried to cover her eyes. The little blonde was crying and glaring at the screen with hatred. She will avenge him.

"What a disgusting way to use the power of healing." Felix snorted. Sure, he didn't care that it was happening to Subaru but he still didn't like a power similar to his own being used like this.

[Subaru stopped screaming and felt some relief as Rem began healing him. He looked back with confusion in his eyes.

"If you die this easily, I can't get any information out of you."]

"You're torturing him!" Mimi quickly picked up on the meaning.

"What's the meaning of this, I suppose?! You were trying to kill him for some unknown reason against your dear master's orders! Why would you want information now?!"

As Beatrice screamed with fury, Rem could only look at the screen with a doll-like expression.

Emilia kept her eyes stuck on the screen. Cold and silent. Expressionless. Emotionless.

She ruffled Subaru's hair a bit. She appeared calm.

"He didn't trust me. He didn't ask for my help." Emilia's thoughts began drifting into the darkness… along with her sanity, as she watched her knight live through another nightmarish scenario… without her.

[His relief turned to horror as he understood why she healed him.

Rem stopped the spell and walked towards the fallen knife. "If you had stabbed me with this, You could have fled a bit farther." She picked it up and began stepping closer to the boy with an indifferent expression.]

"What are you doing?!" Frederica shook with anger as she held Petra and watched Rem step closer to Subaru with the knife.

This wasn't the way of the maid she had been taught. Frederica was deeply angered by this display of cruelty her colleague displayed.

"This isn't like ya… " Garfiel shook his head with a look of pure bafflement and frustration. The look on Rem's face was completely animalistic.

Crusch's face contorted to one of pure fury as she noticed how indifferent Rem was looking on the screen. Friend or not, Crusch Karsten did not tolerate cruelty. Especially not toward someone she was indebted towards by her life.

[She threw the knife behind her and looked down at the boy. "I ask you this… Are you a member of a faction supporting one of Emilia-sama's rivals for the throne?"]

"You have no reason to believe that!"

"Ye're killing him just because there was a chance for that?"

Crusch and Anastasia glared coldly at the shocked maid. While the red princess was simply smiling in content as she noticed just how right the maid was to protect her household and candidate from this boy.

"Stop smilin' ya cunt!" Felt hissed immediately as soon as she noticed Priscilla's attitude.

Priscilla simply grinned wider to anger the girl more.

[Subaru grunted in pain and managed to smile up at the maid. "My heart belongs to Emilia-tan forever-"]

"Liar…" Emilia pulled on his hair and glared at the screen.

'If I did own your heart then I would have helped you. But you don't trust me.'

[Rem quickly sent her mace flying into him, filling his nerves with unbearable pain, making him scream as loud as he could.]

Petra flinched and hugged Frederica closer as her hero's screams sounded out.

"Please stop," Rem begged as her wide blue eyes couldn't believe such a sight.

Her? Torturing the one she loved most in this world after her sister?

Why did he save her back then? Why did he show her the world?

"Stop it… Stop it…" Rem begged as she held her hands to her hair and pulled.

"No… No… Nononono this isn't fair, I suppose… Stop…" Beatrice started having her own heart attack as her world was consumed by his screaming. Hugging her knees and blabbering pleas into her knee, Beatrice was having trouble breathing for the first time in years.

[Undeterred by his screams, Rem continued to look down with an expressionless face.

"Who hired you, and under what conditions?" Cold and emotionless, Rem asked the withering boy.]

"You could've questioned him with Bubby present, he could read the intentions of normal humans, in fact!" Beatrice screamed with tears of self-loathing as Subaru's screams filled the room.

"He did… Subaru was an innocent boy… No malice or evil…" Emilia's voice was hoarse as she said this. Her eyes never left the screen.

"Please… I didn't do it… I didn't do it… Please!" Rem was full-on gasping as she held flocks of her hair in her hands, pulling and rocking back and forth, her tears running down her cheeks.

[Subaru gasped through the pain and smiled some more… "Emilia-tan's smile, and it was priceless-"]

"Always alone, always leaving me behind… idiot!" Emilia whispered and hugged Subaru close with her eyes finally showing an emotion she had been ignoring because she was afraid of the pain.

The unimaginable guilt in her heart started to fill her with great pain to punish what she had let the boy live through.

[Rem raised her hand again and stabbed him with her mace once again, making his blood fly around some even hitting her face.]

"This is too much," Otto screamed as he too teared up at the sight of someone he cherished like Subaru going through such trauma.

"Stop, I suppose!"

"Oh my…" Frederica gasped in sheer shock.

"... Sorry Cap… I can't watch this…" Garfiel looked away and kept his head down. Not wanting to see his most honored hero be killed like this.

"You could've just given him to the royal guard. Kept him prisoner in the meantime. Told your lord about him… What would prompt you to do this to him?!" Julius was furious at the two maids and glared up at them with so much hatred even his own liege was startled by his hostile aura.

"..." Ram couldn't answer since she was just as clueless as to what was happening as anyone else. All she had were excuses to help her sister out but somehow this loop's Ram seemed complicit with what Rem was doing.

Had her sister convinced her to kill Subaru in this loop? What incentive did she offer to make Ram break such a moral code?

"It's not me… It's not me… I wouldn't do this to him! Not him! Never!" Rem screamed while her tears fell at a rapid pace. Her shouts of guilt went unheard.

[Slowly, the maid wiped the blood from her cheek and stared down with a steeled look at the screaming boy as he cried from the torture.

"Are you affiliated with the Witch's Cult?" Cold and indifferent once again, she asked.

Subaru was withering as the grass all around him turned red from his bleeding form. The boy managed to look up at the monster.]

"What?" Crusch asked as she, and nearly all of the fighters and politicians in the room tensed at the name.

Beatrice's body went rigid. The little blonde could only hear ringing in her ears.

"Witch's Cult…" Roswaal repeated emotionless as his eyes went wide.

"... t' hell?" Garfiel grumbled as he opened his closed eyes again… And he immediately witnessed the cruel expression of torture on Rem's face.

"She… Cap'n…" The gruff boy seemed to realize something crucial as his face contorted to one of pure sympathy and sadness.

"No Rem… Don't take 't out on 'em…" He whispered and slammed a fist on his armrest.

"Witch Cult…?" Emilia whispered lightly as her gaze finally moved from the ground up to the bloody mess that was her knight on the screen. The girl's tears finally ran down her cheek as she sobbed at the picture.

["T-The Witch's Cult? I don't know what that is. My family has been secular for generations-"

"Don't play dumb!"]

"Why would you imply that?" Anastasia asked, now very suspicious.

Priscilla's expression changed to one of pure interest now as she found something in the maid's eyes.

"This might be her true motivation for going to such lengths to brutalize Subaru-dono," Wilhelm called in a grave voice. Earning a few ears as most of the important people had their own world of tears to get through to hear anyone else in the room.

[Subaru leaned back from fear as the blue-haired Oni finally showed emotion for the first time since the beginning of his torture session.

Rem glared down at the boy with gritted teeth while her eyes shined with rage.

"Your bald-faced lies can only take you so far when the witch's scent lies so thickly upon you!" Rem yelled out with hatred as she glared down at him.]

"What do you mean by that?" Reinhard asked in conjunction, looking alarmed and disturbed at this entire 'session' he's been watching.

"Big bro has the Witch's Scent?!" Felt exclaimed in bafflement.

Julius and Felix quickly understood the implication of that.

"So it did have something to do with the Witch after all? His entire reason for being here?" Felix questioned with a frown.

"Do you think that the Witch of Envy was the one who sent him into our world?" Reinhard repeated.

"I don't know why she would. Subaru has been causing her clan of degenerates trouble since he came into Lugunica." Julius mused firmly as he remembered the disgusting cultists and their tribes of filth.

"If he has the scent, doesn't tha' mean he's a cultist?" Tivey asked with a scared expression, only to be hit in the head by his sister.

"Why would he be one when they tried to kill him? I was there. You should stop being an idiot!"

"So that's why you tried to kill him?! Betty has already told you that the scent doesn't mean anything if he didn't have the gospel on him, that is why Betty zapped his mana dry, I suppose! To make sure he wouldn't use magic. He wasn't a threat." With all the hatred she could muster, Beatrice turned from her fetal position to glare towards the twins with every fiber of malice she can show in those butterfly irises of hers.

"What is your sickness, you deluded brats, I wonder?!" The great spirit showed nothing but disgust for the twins.

Ram's silence wasn't an issue of confusion anymore, as this new information had settled a deep, heavy feeling that made her feel like her stomach was sinking.

"Rem… Please don't tell me… You did this to every person that resembled a cultist… Just because of that night in our vill-"

"No no no!" The blue twin screamed while holding her head and sobbing pathetically, begging for someone to help her case.

"I didn't do this to people… I wouldn't do this to Subaru. I wouldn't do this… Not to him… Please…"

"Liar… Liar… Subaru's in pain right now because you're killing him!" Emilia spat out as her tears fell down her cheek.

Reinhard and Crusch both glanced at one another quickly, relaying information through gazes of surprise and shock.

Rem was telling the truth… As she was now, Subaru wouldn't ever be hurt by her…

[Subaru looked at her with a confused expression. Unable to say anything, afraid of the monster above him as she spoke with poison-laced in her tone.

"When I watched you conversing with my sister, I felt as if I would go mad with anger and unrest. Someone associated with the one who has caused my sister so much agony, boldly encroaching on the place in which she and I belong… "]

"So you blamed him for what happened that night?" Ram asked her sister in a soft yet disappointed tone.

Rem just cried at her horrid-looking self.

[Subaru's face was filled with terror as Rem's entire form shook in anger.]

"What a poor kid," Al spoke in a soft sympathetic tone.

"He's just a boy coming from far away. Knows nothing and wants nothing. Just trying to live." Ricardo counted as he watched Subaru scream.

["I can't bear it any longer. Even if I know my sister only acts friendly with you, and only pretends to care for you!" Rem shouted down at him.

Subaru's heart broke in two. His terror shaking him from the toes to his very eyes as they began leaking streams of betrayed tears.]

"She still thinks Ram isn't there? Is… Is she so far gone in her blood lust she can't see why Natsuki-san is in this condition?! What kind of hatred is this?! Just because of a smell placed on him!?" Otto couldn't help but question in malice at the brutal, animal-like way this entire situation had been concluded by the two twins.

Garfiel and Crusch stared at the boy for a moment as they realized that he noticed way more than they did even when he was blind with wrath and agony for his friend.

"So Ram is just watching fer real and not helpin' Cap'n? What the hell, Ram?!" Garfiel looked at her in disappointment and desperation as he didn't want to believe she would do something like this.

Ram only closed her eyes and turned away from everyone.

[The boy slowly laid down his back on the blood-soaked grass floor.

His shaking hand was raised to the sky as he spoke in a broken haunted tone.

"I don't cut my hands when I peel vegetables anymore. I can read and write now, even if it's just simple stuff. I kept my word and studied. I was able to read those fairy tales." Subaru's broken voice began filling with anger and rage. His eyes streamed lines of tears that mixed with his bloodied cheek.]

"He's breaking." Julius grimaced at the sight of his friend.

Only to be met with a scoff from a tear-faced angry Felt, "Yeah 'f course he's gonna break! You try dying and getting tortured to this level and tell me ya wouldn't break!"

"I'm not saying that to diminish him, Felt-sama. I just expected him to keep a better facade in front of the maid so that she won't take his sanity into question-"

"So? He's a kid. I bet you wanted to give him another beatin' just fer that!" Felt seemed unrelenting as she seethed on the knight.

The now hardened, insulted knight instantly closed his eyes and bowed his head in shame.

"Felt-sama…" Reinhard looked saddened by this attitude of his lady and moved in to help calm this situation down, "Julius is a good friend of Subaru's. The two made up after the Sloth expedition and fought together to bring about great peace for us all."

Felt only seemed to become more wrathful at this, "Don't give me that!"

She shouted in a tone of despair and pointed towards the window of hopelessness, "Look what friends truly become when ya turn yer back!"

Ram and Rem both could only hitch their breaths for a moment as the statement knocked them harshly.

"..." Reinhard seemed to look confused and powerless as his lady's scarlet eyes glowed with rage and determination for retribution.

Julius seemed to gaze up from his shameful stance to continue watching in silence without emotions showing on his face.

["Thanks to you two… "

"What are you talking about?"

Smiling, manic, and despaired… crying and betrayed… Subaru turned his head to look at her with his mad smile.

"I'm talking about the things you guys gave me."

Rem's face changed into disgusted confusion. "I have no memory of any of that." she coldly stated.]

"This power of his is really disgusting." Priscilla spat in disgust and grimaced with annoyance at the sight of the dying kid before her. She had been contemplating why he still stuck to that which harmed and broke him apart so thoroughly. Never before had she seen a human sacrifice their will to stupid things such as a crush, or lives, just to seem heroic.

And the fact that she couldn't understand him, and that he always ended up in this pathetic position of having to rely on others to save him… Priscilla truly felt disdain for this dying fool.

[Subaru's forehead trembled as he scowled deeply while his eyes leaked tears of frustration.

"Why don't you remember?!" Subaru screamed and gasped in pain as he slowly sat up, his body bleeding more and shocking his nerves with unparalleled agony.]

"He's so alone." Otto finally realized why he had to punch Subaru that day in the forest. No one was that persistent to fight everything alone

["Why do you all keep leaving me behind? What did I do to you?!"]

"His power is making him feel isolated," Anastasia spoke with pity, filling her tone.

"B-But why?! He could just tell us!" Felt asked, her voice broken by the breakdown Subaru was having.

[Subaru glared hatefully at Rem with his tears flowing all over his face. "What am I supposed to do?!"]

Beatrice couldn't look at the sight and sniffled while holding her contractor close.

"Forgive Betty, I suppose… please."

[His head shook as the pain intensified, further fueling his anger and tears.

"What did I do wrong?!"]

Rem's tears ran down her cheeks as she watched the pain he was in because of her.

"S-Subaru-kun…" Ram slowly hugged her little sister.

"I'm… s-so sorry."

[He screamed to the sky for an answer to this pain. This unjust, undeserved pain.

"Why do guys hate me so much?!"]

"Man, this is hard to watch." Ricardo looked away with a stern frown on his face.

He respected this man. He doesn't want to see him so broken.

Broken and nauseous, Rem slowly looked up to watch some more.

[Subaru cried and cried as he closed his eyes and looked down at himself.

"Even when you said you'd cut my hair… "

The nasty-eyed boy slowly looked up at the cold-looking Rem with a pleading crying face. "All that time, I… "

Rem glared and urged him to finish, unimpressed by his facade.

"I…" She urged.

"I really liked both of y-" *SPLASH *

Natsuki Subaru couldn't finish as a sudden wind attack cut his throat open. The boy slowly fell as blood gushed out and into his air pipes. As the boy fell before her,

Rem only looked down with an expression of cold disgust. "My sister is too kind."

Natsuki Subaru was killed… by Ram's mercy.

Darkness….]

Emilia's gasp followed even though her hands covered her mouth. The widening of her eyes was expanded upon by her dilated pupils and horrified stare. The look on his face, the weakness he showed, the way he screamed, the way his entire speech was discarded by Ram just to shut him up so ruthlessly…

"... This… This… This is the girl that you love…? Subaru?! Subaru?! Why didn't you tell me what she's done to you?! Has she been making you live in fear all this time?!" Emilia quickly grabbed onto the boy's collar and began shaking the comatose body rapidly as her tears and frustration continued to increase.

"Answer me, Subaru!"

"... Please…"

…

"You killed him just because he had the smell of the witch on him?" Frederica asked as she let Petra out of her grasp. The beast woman was wearing a scowl so deep it showed her fangs.

"Damn bro… That shit was no joke… I really need to bond with the guy more, he looks like he knows a thing or two about how it feels like…" Al muttered dryly under his helm as he opened and closed his fist rapidly.

"There's more to it than that. I have seen how much he cares about Rem-chan. Even if she killed him in such a cruel manner, it seemed like he forgave her." Crusch gave her thoughts, a little afraid that Subaru might have actually gone insane from such an experience.

"Why would Subaru not want revenge on them for killing him?" Mimi asked as she glared at the maids.

"Maybe he realized that there was more to it than them killing him for the heck of it?" Al tried to answer.

Priscilla snorted at this. "The two maids did what they were supposed to do."

Yells and shouts were thrown at the princess while she met them with a simple bored look.

"Why would you say that?! How can they be right to kill Natsuki-san like that?!" Otto shouted in rage from his seat towards the princess, losing all cool.

"I agree with Barielle. Subaru couldn't have known that this would be his ending but he could've at least realized how suspicious he looked in that situation." Crusch sounded reluctant to tell this as she saw betrayal in Emilia's eyes. But the duchess has never been one for short telling and so she had to give her full opinion now, "I believe what happened to Natsuki Subaru is a tragedy. But I don't believe it happened simply because the maids are heartless or brutal… No. Something else is at play here."

"What else should there be…? Subaru was butchered alive because Rem is an animal!" Emilia left all logical advances Crusch tried to make and decided to shout through tearful rage.

"Nayot to mention that he has the smell of the filthy Witch on him. Which makes him even more suspicious." Felix cheerfully gave his own opinion.

"Hmm, I suppose he did go about it wrong. But these two still took it a tiny bit too far, I mean you had a cat that could read people's thoughts. Could've used him." Anastasia mused coldly as the sight of Subaru's death was stuck in her mind.

"It's more than just Subaru appearing suspicious, Anastasia-sama." Julius cut in as he inspected the girls. "These two seem to have a history with the Witch's Cult."

Everyone who's heard about the cult or even witnessed them knew what that phrase meant.

"Rem did appear really angry at the cult rather than at Subaru. The scent of the Witch and how suspicious he was acting must have encouraged the idea in her mind, and it looked like Ram killed him at the end because she knew that he was innocent but it was far too late to save him." Otto slowly came to the realization. He was angry for Subaru but he couldn't deny the circumstances were fit for him to die no matter what Subaru did.

"'t was a mercy kill?" Garfiel slowly backed down and looked at the ground in confusion.

On one hand, he wanted to avenge his Cap'n. On the other, he kind of understood that the twins were angry and scared of someone they perceived as a monster coming to hurt them once again.

"Preposterous, in fact!" Beatrice stood up and pointed at the maid twins. "This worthless swan is a murderer that tortured and killed an innocent boy for nothing but the miasma he can't control coming off of him! She should be put down where she stands, less she kills him again!"

"YOU'RE WRONG!"

Everyone looked on in shock as Rem stood up with her red puffy eyes glaring at the angry Beatrice.

"I would never hurt my hero like that. I would do anything to make my Subaru-kun feel loved and cherished because that's what he makes me feel. That man saved me and sacrificed so much to save the rest of us and I want to make it up to him. I want to see his smile and hear his laugh. I want to watch as he plays with our kids and makes them act as goofy as he does. I want to show him how much I love him."

Rem, former head maid of L. Mathers house, glared at Beatrice with a broken haunted yet determined look of conviction and anger.

Her tears running down, her mouth quivering, her hands trembling at her sides.

Yet her head remained high. Her eyes remained glaring.

"Shut your mouth…"

Rem could only flinch back as Emilia whispered coldly while glaring up toward her.

"..."

"Don't speak about Subaru… Don't say you love him… You don't deserve that after what you did!"

"Emilia-sama-"

"Ye're no better, Pink hair!" Felt took initiative to cut off Ram's advance to side with Rem by glaring fiercely at the two.

"H-Hold on… Ram's probably the least guilty 'ere," Garfiel tried to amend the situation for someone he deeply cares about but he was thwarted when his sister cut him off.

"Ram didn't participate in the torture, but she still helped Rem catch Subaru-sama and kill him. She was the one that murdered him in this loop," Frederica stared at her brother in bewilderment, shocked that he would try to defend the pink-haired maid when she did something as disgusting as the blue-haired one.

"But tha's what I'm sayin'! T was a mercy kill-"

"No, it wasn't… Don't be so shallow to believe that crap, Garf-san…" Otto cut the blonde off and took initiative to glare up at Ram, who only frowned in sadness and seemed tired.

Emilia, Beatrice, and the rest of the camps stared on as Otto decided to face Roswaal, looking furious.

"Margrave-sama, you've been silent all this time. Don't you want to help us see the innocence of your staff?"

"... There's nothing to defend, dear Otto-kun. Ram and Rem are simply guilty."

"... Oh?" Priscilla hummed in surprise as she didn't see the man giving up on his dogs so easily, yet Roswaal's defeated expression seemed to indicate just how futile a fight over this will be for him.

The surprise wasn't even present on the twins as they both felt a new wave of shame, realizing that their master would discard them for all the trouble they've caused.

Otto seemed to gain a new glint in his eyes, "So… What are the two guilty for?"

"Ram and Rem decided to torture and kill a boy with suspicious behavior for very superficial reasons."

"... and you are sure they are the only guilty parties in this whole situation?"

Otto's blue eyes burned with accusation as they met Roswaal's demented steady ones.

"Oh… Ya think he might be the one responsible and he is throwing his maids under to cover for himself?" Anastasia sounded beyond impressed by this twist of logic the merchant boy managed to pull.

Emilia and Beatrice seemed to have grown more fierce glares as they both looked at the lord with hatred and contempt.

Crusch noticed this immediately. "He must've done something to cause his own camp to distrust him in such a manner," The duchess noted in disgust while her knight, Wilhelm seemed to pick up on this fact as well and only seemed angry at the lord's insufferable emotionless expression.

"Man, this camp's a mess…" Tivey rubbed his head as he witnessed something akin to a botched trial for what the maids had done.

"Are you responsible for what happened to Natsuki-san?" Otto questioned.

Roswaal simply held a small smile as he leaned back in his seat.

"Why would you saaaay that, Otto-kun? Aren't I giving you the go-ahead to punish my dear maids for their criiiimes? Rem even said multiple times that she was acting on her oooown, correct? Why would I be suspect heeere?"

Otto's gaze was piercing on the lord, "I suspect you encouraged this because of Ram…"

Ram flinched at the tone the merchant boy used. She had to.

"Ram acted so suspicious, Rem was doing everything openly, she was not hiding her bloodlust. But Ram was actively hiding in the shadows, she immobilized Natsuki-san by cutting his leg for Rem to catch him. She murdered him when it was realized that he wasn't in the best sanity to be questioned. He was useless to Rem and so Ram discarded him from the shadows."

"Are you telling me you weren't the one who sent Ram to do this?"

Roswaal simply shrugged with a mockingly uncaring look on his face, "Looks like I've been caaaaught…"

"What…?!" Felt exclaimed her shock as the rest of the Emilia camp simply looked downright mortified.

Except for Garfiel and Ram as they both were the only ones to seem unconvinced and downright distrustful in that notion.

As he received every glare his way with a mocking smile that never reached his eyes, Roswaal stared into Emilia's eyes, gleeful.

"I was the one that caused Natsuki Subaru's death this time, Emilia-sama," with delight, Roswaal admitted to his sponsored candidate.

Emilia's eyes widened for a moment at the remorseless man, her heart ached in betrayal as her worries were confirmed tenfold. The half-elf couldn't help but feel helpless as she stared at the trio above. Her anger and pain made her tremble in place as every time she blinked she could see Subaru's neck, spurting blood from the grazing wound on his neck.

"You… You ordered Ram to help Rem kill Subaru…?" Emilia repeated in disbelief.

"Yeeees," Roswaal answered without remorse.

"..."

"Hold, Emilia-sama…"

The mortified girl turned to the firm speaker, the duchess in sailor had been glaring unconvinced towards the magic lord with conviction.

"Roswaal L. Mathers… You're lying. The wind of untruth surrounds you."

"...What?" Otto's shock could be heard in his voice as the duchess broke his approach apart.

"He's lying? So he isn't the one that called for Big bro's death?" Felt asked as she glanced at her knight. She only received a nod from the redhead.

"It seems he was usin' ya, merchant boy," Anastasia mused, suddenly entering the conversation while smiling towards Otto in pity.

"What…?!" He sounded confused.

"Roswaal… You better stop playing your games and start explaining why Betty shouldn't skin you and your maids alive, I suppose!" Beatrice growled as her magic-powered around her, making her twin-tails fly around.

"I agree with the spirit, mineself's grown annoyed of this farce," Priscilla ordered Roswaal from the side looking extremely annoyed.

Roswaal simply ignored all of them, he had the eyes of everybody in the room, even the twin maids were looking at him with bafflement.

He only met Emilia's eyes.

"Now… Emilia-sama. You understand that I had nothing to do with hurting Subaru-kun this time around… Correct?"

"...Correct. Crusch and Reinhard are witnesses to this," Emilia replied without hesitation, her tears drying up as she focused on Roswaal as he did with her.

"...This time?" Julius muttered in distress as he realized that something must've happened between the lord and Subaru that caused harm to the boy.

Crusch seemed to shush the knight as she held a finger for Julius to let it go.

"..." The knight kept his mouth shut and watched the clown as he talked with his sponsored candidate.

"I had already known that aaaaany attempt maaaade by me to help assess the situation would be interpreted as me trying to saaaave my own skiiiin from the blame for my staaaff's behavior. Otto-kun's accusation was no surprise to me. But you needed to see that I haaaave no ability to lie here, did you understaaaand?"

"Yes, I understand…" Emilia seemed content but still in suspicion as she stared at the lord with her piercing eyes.

Roswaal nodded his head and clapped, "Good~, now please remember, that if I caaan't lie here, my dear staaaaff cannot eitheeeer."

"You cannot be serious, I suppose!" Beatrice interjected as Emilia fell silent. The blonde charged a magical wind around her as she hatefully glared towards Roswaal and his maids.

"Your incompetent animals killed Subaru, in fact!"

"There are variables you are choosing to ignoooore, Beatrice."

"Stop it with your games, in fact!"

Beatrice shot her magical attack right towards the maids, surprising everyone that had the attack going above their heads.

"Rem!"

Ram shouted as she shielded her sister from the attack.

[Focus, shut down.]

A voice could be heard whispering and suddenly all magical energy around Beatrice dissipated. The attacks seemed to disappear out of thin air.

"What the… Why can't I use my magic, I suppose?!" Beatrice's rage further inclined the spirit to stand proudly and glare towards the screen, calling for the entity responsible for this.

"..."

All she got was silence.

"Beatrice-san, Emilia-sama," Roswaal called the two girls, gaining both their attention as well as the rest of the crowd.

"Please… You need to stay calm or else… You'd be disrespecting Subaru-kun's greatest wiiiish~."

"..."

"... You- tck!" Beatrice gritted her teeth in fury.

Emilia only seemed to grow more frustrated as she faced the twins and the lord.

Roswaal held a small smile of patience.

"P-Princess… Uh…"

Emilia's eyes wandered towards the nervous-looking Garfiel. The blonde seemed confused and heartbroken just as much as any of Subaru's closest, but the boy was seemingly keeping up a brave face.

"I uh…" Garfiel breathed in and out before gazing at Emilia with a confident look, "I don' think ya should forgive 'em. But I think… You can understand what pushed Rem into doin' this…"

"What are you doing, Garf?" Frederica seemed to be glaring at her brother along with Otto as they felt betrayed by the boy siding with the two maids.

Garfiel simply kept his eyes on Emilia's.

"I don't like the clown. I hated what happened to Cap'n as much as you did. But I know fer sure that this has more to 't than Rem… Killin' my Cap'n fer simply smellin' bad."

"Garf…"

"Just let me do this for ya, 'lright!" Garfiel growled Ram's surprised interjection off and kept facing the rigid Emilia before him.

"Jus'… Rem's bloodlust and cruel nature… That ain't her… I think we should watch mor-"

"Watch as she kills Subaru again?" Emilia's cold tone cut the boy off, making him flinch but the blonde didn't back down.

"... Princess… Do ya remember Cap'n's nights in our new place?"

Emilia's eyes closed as she understood what the blonde was saying.

"Cap'n spent his nights at her bedside… He begged me to save Rem when no one remembered who she was from the killer… Don't ya think there's somethin' else happenin' 'ere?"

"Why would Subaru still love that girl when she had brutalized him for no reason, I suppose. That's your question?"

Garfiel… Only nodded with a firm expression to Beatrice's demand.

"That does not matter, I suppose."

"... Ghk!"

Beatrice scoffed him off, making Garfiel look reluctant but he was ignored as Beatrice turned to the maids with a sharp glare.

"Even then the blue one dragged her most inner animalistic rage out to satiate her bloodlust on Subaru, I suppose, and since we know Roswaal had nothing to do with any of their decisions, that means the pink one helped in the torture of my contractor because it was easier for her to watch as her sister takes out her rage on an innocent boy in the middle of the woods and then kill him after they were done to no one being the wiser, in fact. She wanted her sister to be protected and knew that Subaru would tell on Rem to the mansion's residents so she helped her sister kill him."

Emilia's closed eyes opened and she glanced at Ram with a silent glare.

Beatrice seemed to sharpen her gaze even more on the maids.

"Let me ask you this Rem… "

Everyone, including the Oni, looked at the calm and collected half-elf. Emilia simply looked at Rem with a stern look.

"Have you ever thought about hurting Subaru in our… loop? As he calls it." Emilia surprised everyone by how calm she was and she looked at Rem, not by a look of anger. But with patience.

Rem quickly took the opportunity to defend herself. Shaking her head and looking at the boy with her entire body shaking.

"I-I never thought about hurting him. That night…"

Rem slowly looked at the ground with tears of guilt and shame coming down.

"… When I s-saw his innocent face, asleep and at peace. I knew that he wasn't at all like the dark cult. He was a good person."

Rem clenched her hands on her skirt tightly and refused to meet Emilia's eyes.

"I love him…" She whispered while crying in guilt for what she had caused her hero to go through.

Everyone watched the scene with silent pity and sympathy for the girl. Sure, it was horrific what she did.

But she wasn't the one that did those horrible crimes. This Rem had no idea about these crimes she would have committed… and seeing herself do that to the one she loved…

It was heartbreaking to watch.

"She's telling the truth Emilia-san," Crusch nodded as she never once read the wind of untruth around the maid.

Slowly, Rem stopped her crying a bit and kept her head down. She could never ever look at Subaru the same way again.

"Are you sure?"

Crusch nodded confidently.

Emilia looked down at the floor for a moment, her hand ruffled Subaru's hair unconsciously as she seemed to be thinking.

"Can you choose a path, half-wit? I truly wonder." Priscilla mused silently as she watched with intent.

'... She loves him… '

I love that girl as much as I love you, Emilia-tan~

'...'

"Rem…" Emilia called sternly, as her eyes opened to deliver a harsh glare towards the shaking maid.

"Y-Yes, Emilia-sama."

"... I don't want to disrespect Subaru's wishes… I don't want to act on impulse either… But I will not forgive you for doing this to him. No matter if he did."

"Emilia-sama…" Rem whispered with hope in her eyes.

"... You won't be punished for now. I want to see why Subaru hasn't thrown you out of his life for good yet."

Rem could only stare in disbelief and relief at Emilia's seething glare.

The half-elf turned with her frown stuck to her expression as she regally sat herself down beside the sleeping Subaru.

"You're…" Beatrice spat in disgust at the half-elf as she couldn't contain herself for wanting to punish the two girls.

"... Subaru sees her as someone precious," Emilia remembered the night he cried for Rem before her, "He sees that she was worthy of his heart, Beatrice…" The half-elf couldn't hide how much this statement hurt to say, "I can't do anything to break that… I can't lose him by stepping on his wishes."

Beatrice's glare softened, she glanced away from the half-elf and sat down, placing the hand on her lap again.

"Maybe that would be best, I suppose…" Beatrice seethed as she rubbed the outline of his wrist with a dangerous glint in her eyes. The voice of his scream still stuck in her head causing so much rage in the little girl's heart.

"Well… That went better than I expected… " Roswaal sighed in relief while settling back in his seat. It seemed the rest began returning to their seats while murmuring about the maids and Emilia's choice. Crusch and Garfiel looked relieved by this choice of Emilia's, while Anastasia, Felt, Frederica, and Otto seemed the most displeased.

The knights all seemed content with sitting down and keeping to themselves.

"Could've done better, but not selfish at least," Priscilla gave a simple scoff at Emilia and finally turned her eyes away from the entire crowd as she felt bored with all of them again.

"Offer me interest," She ordered whimsically as the screen turned on.

[A blurry image, a faint sound.

Subaru, wearing his robes and laying on his bed, opened his trembling, sweaty eyelids.

The stunned boy slowly looked at the window… the sun was shining. It was morning. He had Returned by Death.

A voice sounded out…

"Sir, have you awakened?"

Subaru's blood ran cold and slowly turned his head to the front of his bed.

"Sir, are you awake?" another voice sounded.

Slowly… he turned his head, not being able to stop the terror and fear from filling him as his mouth emitted grunts and gasps of fear and pain.

Natsuki Subaru screamed for his life. For before him, were the same twin maids that tortured and killed him.]

"That must have been nightmarish for 'em." Ricardo mused in pity.

"Waking up to the face of your killer is really troubling," Reinhard spoke in guilt.

"I shouldn't have let him go with Emilia-sama," he whispered to himself.

"Ye're damn right," Felt growled under her breath.

[Scene change… Emilia is sitting beside Subaru's bed with a worried look on her face.

"Subaru, Ram, and Rem were really worried. They were unusually despondent, wondering if they'd been impolite… " Emilia looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Nothing happened between them and me," Subaru said in an emotionless voice.]

Emilia frowned deeply, "Why does he keep insisting on doing this alone?" Otto asked the question she was inquiring in her mind.

"Does he really think he's some hero?" Felix asked in anger.

["Subaru, are you all right? If something's wrong you're welcome to talk to me."]

"Come on! Talk to 'er Cap'n!" Garfiel yelled out as he too began feeling tired from Subaru's stubbornness to deal with things by himself.

[Subaru slowly looked down while clenching his covers. His eyes trembled.

If I could tell Emilia that it's no use, that I can't take any more…]

"Come on, tell me." Emilia urged, not caring if this was another reality.

["That's right… " Subaru's eyes lit up with hope as he turned to the worried half-elf girl.

All this time, I've been struggling to change things alone, but…

Seeing him stare at her in silence, Emilia asked once more. "Subaru, are you sure you're alright?"

Subaru steeled his nerves.

"Emilia. There's something I want you to know."]

"This is it!"

Everyone waited to see if he actually told her about his ability.

Emilia couldn't shake the feeling of something going wrong.

[Emilia was taken aback by his sudden sternness. "Okay." She readied herself.]

Because if he had told Emilia in this reality, then why didn't he tell her again in hers?

["Emilia… Several times up until now,

I've died and-"]

…

"What?"

…

"Da f'ck?"

…

"Why did big bro stop?"

…

"The wind stopped too!"

…

[The world stopped.

It just stopped.

The wind that had entered the room through the window, that began blowing Emilia's hair before he began his sentence had vanished. Emilia's hair remained in the air. Unmoving.

The silent world around Subaru was filled with a cloud of black fog. The fog overtook Emilia and the entire room. Subaru's eyes trembled from the fear and confusion. He couldn't move, speak or look around.

Only looking at the darkness as it manifested before him in the shape of a clawed dark hand with sharp claws.

Whoa… wait…

The slender hand slowly moved and climbed over his frozen form.

This is seriously no joke…

Subaru could only feel the pain as the hand finally reached his heart and crushed it. The boy grunted in pain, frozen and incapable of moving in the world of darkness of this black hand.

"Subaru!"

His eyes opened, he could feel his heart free from the hand's mercy, he could feel his nerves no longer frozen to the dark world.

"Ah, ugh! Ahhhh! Uh…" Subaru grunted and gasped as he clenched his chest from the pain. Emilia looked at him with extreme alarm.

"Subaru! What happened all of a sudden?" Emilia stood by his side confused and afraid for him.

Subaru clenched his chest.

My voice works. My heart doesn't hurt. But…

The fear is engraved in me…

Seeing him shudder and tremble in place with a haunted expression as he held his chest, Emilia's worry increased.

"Wh-What's wrong? Subaru, if something's going on-"

"I have a favor to ask." Subaru interrupted her.

"Okay?"

Subaru looked down with a shock-drizzled face as he spoke in a whimpering tone. "Have nothing to do with me."

Emilia was dumbfounded and a little hurt at this.

Subaru laid down on his side and faced Emilia with his back.

That was the end of this scene.]

"Th-That's so cruel!" Otto shouted with eyes wide.

"Who was that?! How did they stop the world?" Garfiel looked manic as he watched his brother and Cap'n get hurt again by some unknown entity.

"That could have been either a witch cultist…" Julius calculated.

"Or it could have been the Witch of Envy…" Everyone froze at Reinhard's words.

"T-The Witch? No!" Petra hugged Frederica afraid out of her wits.

Everyone looked scared and shaken by the revelation. Even the candidates and Roswaal seemed taken aback.

"S-So if Subaru spoke about the power, The Witch will kill him by crushing his heart?" Emilia's eyes were wide as she yet again had her life shattered by Satella.

"That explains why he didn't tell anyone about this. It's because he couldn't." Otto growled at Subaru's unfair situation.

"But why would she do all of this? Helping him get to this world? Cursing him with that power? Force him to keep quiet?" Anastasia listed the important questions.

"I think all will be revealed to us if we watch." Wilhelm sounded out, his voice still calm but his expression grim at the revelation.

"One thing I want to make sure of. Everyone still believes that Subaru-sama is innocent of the Witch and her cult, right?" Crusch looked around to make sure.

"I have seen him bring down their whale so I believe he's a good guy." Ricardo nodded his head.

Garfiel looked quite interested in that aspect of the story. "Man, I want to see that battle." He said to himself in excitement.

"I can confirm that he's an ally. We wouldn't have a chance against Sloth without his valuable information and tactics." Julius admitted and smiled at the boy as he remembered those fine moments.

Reinhard smiled wide. "He saved my lady so of course, I see him as my ally. In fact, he's someone I like to call my friend."

Priscilla snorted and kept to herself. Her silence was the only thing positive she would say about the boy so Crusch smirked at her.

"It seems everyone is trusting of our dearest kniiiiight," Roswaal exclaimed in amusement, but behind those eyes of his, there was a glint of absolute fear.

"Subaru…" Beatrice whispered contingently, horror was all she had on her expression.

The Witch… He's been haunted by the Witch?

"Seems like he's more important than I thought… The Witch haunts him… But why?" Crusch muttered to herself with a serious glare pointing towards the boy in the theater.

"Cruel…" Emilia whispered to herself as her entire face looked paler than usual.

"That is… Too cruel…" The half-elf girl whispered again with a choked sob as she finally understood how truly hopeless Subaru's situation was. It's not that he doesn't trust her, however, that really didn't matter to Emilia anymore after what she saw.

Subaru's life was nothing but a nightmare. Why did he have to live like this?

Emilia's heart broke in two as she realized that there was nothing she could've done to help him right now. What could she do to help? Subaru was all alone this time.

[We return to Subaru's room to find him sitting upright on his bed facing Roswaal.

I can't tell anyone about Return by Death.

I've died in this mansion three times.

I didn't experience a fourth time in the capital. If I die again, I might not come back.

Roswaal was shown speaking some gay words before leaving the tired and beaten Subaru to his thoughts.

As the boy stared at the window with dismay all over his face.

But then, darkness filled the window with Subaru's voice barely heard through the black void.

I can't sleep…

Noises of impact and squishing emitted in the darkness of the screen. The scene moves closer to the Roswaal mansion as the noises of impact kept getting harsher and harsher.]

"What is that noise?" Julius inquired with a raised brow.

[* Squish*

* Squish*

Subaru's breaths were heavy as the scene kept coming closer and closer to the mansion.]

"What… Is going with Natsuki-san?" Otto had a look of worry and caution as a bad feeling filled him.

"I don' like this…" Garfiel growled in distress.

[I can't sleep…]

"Natsuki…" Crusch narrowed her eyes as she started to realize the noise's source.

"No… No, don't…" Al shook his head and whispered under his helmet worriedly.

[* Skich skich skich*]

The silent maids both flinched at the constant noise, Ram looking really angry while Rem seemed distressed.

"Felt-sama… Do you know what's happening with that sound?" Reinhard inquired as he noticed Felt's darkened expression.

"Just… Watch, Rein… Just see for yourself." The little blonde coldly turned away from the knight and looked at the screen with a brave face.

[I don't trust myself to sleep…

The scene changes…

Towards the sight of a dip pen that had blood covering its metal tip. The hand carrying the pen seemed shaken. Subaru's breathing was heavy.]

"What is that…" Petra whispered in confusion and horror.

Frederica stayed silent as she watched with widened eyes.

Rem's breath grew more rapid as her tears started coming down her face once more.

[The hand's grip on the pen tightened as it was shown the person carrying it had raised it once again.

I don't want to sleep…]

"How pathetic… Pitiful." Priscilla seemed to growl but it came out more of a whisper than anything else.

[It was revealed that Subaru was the owner of the blood-covered dip pen and the arm raising it.

If I slept, I wouldn't know what's happening…

Subaru appeared manic, eyes dilated to the pupils and sweat running down a sheen down his face.

His arm stabbed the dip pen into his other hand.

* Squish*

I don't want to sleep…

* Squish*

His hand was scarred all over. Many a stab wound could be found beside each other, bleeding.

The boy grits his teeth as his wounds bleed. He tightened his hold on the pen causing it to break. He hissed from the pain.]

"...?!"

In a moment, Emilia's jaw hung slack as her eyes dilated.

"Oh jeez…" Ricardo grimaced in sympathy and found it difficult to look atthis scene.

"He was harming himself?" Reinhard asked no one in particular as he could only stare worriedly towards his friend's condition. Julius held a stare of anger but elegantly kept himself reserved from an outburst.

Felix only looked away with his look of hatefulness becoming clearer.

Roswaal was the one staring at this with the most emotion oddly enough, as the distinctly clownish man only held the deepest of horrified frowns at this scene.

"He is uh…" Garfiel tried to speak but bit his lip so as to not start yelling in fury, "He's ah… dealing with a lot… He needs to be stronger… Cap'n is stronger."

"Natsuki-san is breaking, Garfiel," Otto held an expression of despair and defeat as he held on to his pocket tightly, "He can't… just do that and be fine the next day."

"Is that how he really deals with this…?" Petra held her hands to her mouth as tears leaked once more. She couldn't help but feel betrayed as the image of the strong person that always smiled in the darkness faded with this.

"I did this to him," Rem sobbed into her knee as she balled on herself.

"Sister…" Ram seemed to whisper, her guilt for not being there for both Rem and to save Subaru was weighing on the pink maid heavily. Not to mention the fact that her other self was to be blamed for Subaru's death, so his eventual self-harming before her was expected.

"No… You started doing this from back then?!" Beatrice found herself shrieking in her own mind as she didn't want to alert anyone around her to this dark reality she found herself in.

Sure, when he does it at night beside her, he's much more graceful about it than just stabbing his hand like that.

But it would go without saying that you can also get more skilled when you self-harm for a long time.

Meaning that Betty's Subaru was doing this ever since he met her in the mansion. And she swore an oath not to speak about it to anybody.

"I promise you… I'll get your revenge from those maids… I'll work for my redemption, I suppose," Beatrice growled as her tears leaked swiftly towards the hand on her lap. His motionless hand.

"I'm guessin' he didn't say anythin' 'bout this, no?" Anastasia inquired humorlessly as she glanced at Emilia with a small frown. The merchant queen was thinking of all sorts of ways to help the boy out of such a situation, she was surprised for doing so. After all, she wasn't his master nor was she in his camp. But she needed to understand just why Emilia's camp is so destructive before deploying any of her assumptions.

The stirring Emilia gave wasn't a good indicator for what Anastasia wanted to learn, nor was the half-elf's decomposing vigor, as the once cold angry elven princess broke her dam to stream tears over Subaru's shoulder as she hugged the boy and sobbed into him.

"What a troublesome bunch, jeez." Anastasia sighed at the uselessness of this crowd she was surrounded with, especially annoyed with Emilia and the twins above as they were doing everything they could to deplore the boy's suffering without actually committing to anything.

Or maybe it was because Anastasia was utterly upset with this turn of events that led someone of incredible talents to feel so worthless that he had to harm himself just to stay awake from mistrust of nightmares or assassinations.

"Troublesome doesn't even begin to describe this!" Felt agreed aggressively as she felt her own eyes tearing up at this scene.

"I'm sorry princess… I'll clean it right up."