10 (part 1)

It didn't seem like the screen was going to load what happened next. If one was to look at the theater, they'd assume this was a sentiment of relief amongst the watchers.

Discarded in thought over what they had seen, the camps made no effort in regrouping or huddling in one spot for each group.

Overall, the seating arrangements did not hold any difference to that of the previous viewing, except for one candidate who chose to leave for her own room.

Previous to this, everyone held their breaths for a new set of events, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

Now it was very different. This viewing's resting period was dominated by a wall of thoughts held between each respective watcher. At least for those who had something to say about Subaru's latest start into another problem.

It was bad taste to call these 'adventures' anymore.

"So this is a breakthrough isn't it?"

"Greatly underestimating your loss in all this, Aldebaran. You should be on the floor begging for my forgiveness," a haughty proclamation has been spouted by the red rose beauty sitting in the back. Priscilla held an expression that was somehow nasty and beautifully smug at the same time.

Facing the wicked woman, a helmed swordsman with one arm bandaged and another gripping his seat let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Why do we have to do this again?" Al asked, having his arm clenching the chair handle for so long was making him a bit sore but one can never be too careful around a charged Priscilla, especially if she was being contested on a win she's calling.

"Hm? Still standing by your delusions, I see." The lady in red did not even glance at the knight, choosing to unwrap her fan and start using it on herself.

"What delusions might these be, princess?"

She had just enough of a careless air around her to hide the completely pissed off glint in her crimson beautified eyes.

Al was a better man than that, so he moved back a bit.

"Why." Closing her fan and facing the man sitting beside her, the matriarch did not hesitate to bring her nastiest most beautiful wrath filled glare upon her knight as she questions, "Why are you continuing to slander yourself before me with this pitiful attitude towards that filth?!"

"... You mean pal?"

"If I could make myself more clear then I would skew the meaning into your eye sockets!"

"Okay princess," Al shakes his head, feeling just a little more affected by her attitude this time than any other, "I get that I'm sorta your punchin' bag and all. But please see how this is affecting your way of seeing things. I mean you might get wrinkles-"

"I'll burn you alive and spread your ashes in the dragon stables, cretinous vermin!"

"Never mind the wrinkles! I should not have brought up the wrinkles! I'm so sorry, princess!" Al made a move to cower before her.

Once the noble had regained some semblance of calm she began waving her fan toward herself some more. The knight had suddenly become much less fearful and a lot more casual in a weird sense. As if he was on a mission, he waited for her words carefully.

"Your perseverance is as much amusing as it is infuriating. Does this 'hero' really touch your heart in a way that makes you forget who you really are, Aldebaran?" Her tone was that of melancholy and composure.

Al understood an invitation to further his lady's interest anytime. Of course Priscilla Barialle would be too proud to ask him for an encore about something as silly as his opinions.

"I wouldn't be using our last discussion about him, princess. I think we've seen too much since then-"

"Changing your opinion now, hm?" She gave him the smug smirk she always had for when she was dealing with a marriage proposal from some poor young noble who had nothing but ambition in his eyes.

"Changing? I wouldn't really bet on that being the case for me, Princess."

At his ominous answer, the poison inside of her eyes grew to shroud the way she stared at the man.

"Continue. Now."

"I really do not know how you can't see it yet," Al shook his head, "but don't you find it interesting, the way you're getting angrier and angrier to no end?"

"Of course I'd be this infuriated, you buffoon," she sneered, "I have been forced here by some despicable force to watch a fool dance his way out of being pathetic to kiss a half-elf's hand!"

Even though her eyes burned in rage, the man before her only let out a chuckle.

"Princess, you've just confirmed my worries with this burst of rage of yours."

"..."

Seeing her growing silent, the knight could tell that her hatred for him and his attitude grew darker as she glared holes into him.

He couldn't tell which one of the two was the truth.

"Listen to me, very carefully, Princess." Al had surprised the red rose by his change in tone, considering that he leaned forward until his helm was inches away from her delicate nose.

"As complex as this is, I want you to know the exact answer you've been running away from all this time."

"How dare you, mongrel?!" Priscilla's eyes were wide in rage at this disobedience, but the man carried forward uncaring toward his life.

The display may have impressed Priscilla to some extent. It may have even intrigued her just enough to hear him out.

And after he said the next few words, she wished she had cut his head right then and there.

"Princess, you've been getting so mad from these viewing sessions not because you are wasting your time, or that none of this interests you," Al shook his head and let out a chuckle.

"You have been angered because pal over there constantly disappointed and broke your perception of who you wanted him to be."

"...Hm?" In an instant, the fire in her crimson orbs had been replaced by a sea of confusion, staring at him with rapid attention, in thought.

"Think about it, princess." Al points down towards the front row where Subaru sat asleep.

"That guy is the weirdest dude in this room to you. Even though we have a goddamn clown and a catboy that dresses like a woman for heaven's sake. You not only find him interesting, but you genuinely enjoy his attitude enough to tolerate him."

"Tck~!" Priscilla's loud click of her teeth followed right after her eye rolled at her knight. "You are finally growing feeble. What an idiot."

"But it's true!"

"Aldebaran." Priscilla warns, deathly glaring at him.

And yet Al pushed. "Princess when you first met him… You had genuine fun with him. It was the first time I've seen you act so… normal with someone let alone a dude that is clearly just a cockroach to yourself."

Priscilla's eyes faltered, he could tell that the scene of her meeting Subaru in the alleyway was playing in her head now.

"Have you forgotten," she scowled, unfocused, "about the sheer nature of that man's power?"

The princess let her eyes shine with a smugness thinking she had brought the perfect counterargument to Al's debate.

"Return By Death," she clicked her tongue, "It's the tool he uses to hide his disgusting nature and problems." Priscilla finalized with a haughty glance towards the screen.

Al's laughter could not be louder.

"Hahahhahahahahaha… oh god!"

"What are you–?" Surprisingly for the first time, Al had her on the backfoot just enough for her not to revoke his speaking privilege.

"Princess are you saying that just to change the subject away from my point? Because this only serves to strengthen it."

She stayed silent and glared at the knight with curiosity mixing in her eyes.

"Don't you remember?" Al whispered dryly while pointing at the screen with his good arm, "Ya saw through him even in that first meeting, Princess! You were even warning him to drop the act that he was fine. You were still intrigued by him nonetheless!"

"What are you getting at? Tell me now because frankly, this has gotten mineself exhausted. Such as dealing with dogs like you entails." Priscilla's sigh and back lean towards her chair gave the knight the signal he's been waiting for.

She's interested now.

"I'm saying that… This was never about that ability to turn back time for you. It was always how he was going to use it." Priscilla's eyebrow rose in confusion.

"You saw him as untrustworthy and dangerous enough at first, but then you were intrigued again to see his heart and how heroic and loyal he was towards strangers that he didn't know," Al could see that her crimson orbs were filled with replaying memories inside of her mind. She was probably in thought over all of Subaru's deaths.

"But then you noticed something else, something that made you less and less inclined to watch him and more disappointed with him."

"... That would be?" She demands, glancing at him with annoyance.

"... Pal showed it to you when he killed himself to save that demon maid, no?"

"..."

"Princess, you aren't getting angrier because you have reason to suspect him for foul play or disloyalty, you aren't even bringing up the fact that he can erase your own memory by using his power because you know that isn't who he is anymore," he chuckles and shakes his head.

Priscilla's eyes moved toward the screen, her lips thinned.

"...Frankly, I think you almost wish that our pal was using his power for selfish reasons. I should've seen it before. You are too proud to have such thoughts so you pivoted on being distrustful of him."

"Such ...thoughts? Just what are you babbling on for?" Priscilla's tone was not the one of the hateful master from seconds before. It gave the man encouragement to say what he wanted to say.

"You wanted him to be your friend or at least someone who would entertain you, and then found out that he was getting murdered and worse, he's low self respect forced him to think that his ability is something that should be used to save people that clearly only cause him further pain. That half-elf and maid, the spirit and the clown, you can see that he is dying because of them but he chooses to stay and follow them just because he thinks low of himself."

With a stretch of her hand, Priscilla's fan was caught underneath the man's helm, directly pointing into the hole where his eyes were situated.

She threatened him with a look.

Al softly continued.

"It's a hilarious theory on my part. I admit that… But princess I am the one guy that knows how you see people and act toward those that show signs of pathetic weakness. The way you acted with Natsuki Subaru is not your usual way. You gave him chances, played with him, excused his outlandish courtesies and delighted at your time spent with him."

Her grip on the closed fan was tightening and her eyes were fiery with a wrath even Al had to tremble before.

But sometimes, Al does some real stupid stuff for those he cared for.

"Princess, you are only making yourself believe that it's something else that's bothering you and refuse to see how all this has affected you. I'll come right out and say it and you can kill me after."

Al situated his helm to stare at his cruel enraged master that held his fate at the tip of her fan. One wrong word, and Priscilla was ready to pierce the inside of his eyes.

So, Al thought with humor, how about a hundred wrong words?

"You despised the way that guy was brought to us. Pitied the way he was treated. Enraged at the treatment he had gotten. And even disgusted with the way he treated himself above all."

Priscilla's hand went rigid, her eyes bore him no mercy in their burning suns.

"Imagine that. It's not anything you thought it was." Al chuckled, accepting his upcoming death with casualness only displayed by him.

"You are simply frustrated you can't do more to help the guy so you blame him and everyone around him for not doing anything either." Al leaned in, allowing the pointed tip to enter his helmet and face down his eye with a thread of hair's distance.

"Because it absolutely burns how the Princess of the Sun is unable to do anything but sit and watch as that kid is dying, just the same as all the others in here. Including the camp members that caused him to suffer so."

Priscilla's eyes had become orbs of energy, glowing red in the dark as if her hatred for her servant bore through her so much to cause such a scary sight to be summoned on her beautiful face. She could not help but run a thousand counter thoughts in her mind. Try her best to find holes in the man's argument.

But the more he continues to talk, the lessened her grip becomes on his life.

"You feel guilty? Or are ya just insanely annoyed at being robbed of a good time?" Al's voice was soft, as if dealing with a child after a breakdown.

"Aldebaran." Priscilla's voice was filled with authority and weight. Her eyes did not blink once as she pressed her fan into his upper cheek bone through the helmet.

Al closed his eyelid just in case, wincing at the cold metal of the accessory being pushed against his skin.

"... Tell me," she demands, pausing in thought, "How did you come to such a conclusion about mineself?"

Al could hear wavering in the master's voice, Priscilla was never used to him having the drop on her.

"Princess… That's how everyone has been dealing with this since the start."

"..."

"Thing is… everyone here settled on solving their problems in their own ways. Heck, the Duchess and the Kararagi lady are planning ahead right now. I think that blonde kid is on to something too."

"What are you… Is this all about the squabbling over the pathetic boy?" Priscilla's reference to the small arguments she would notice between the candidates never failed to make Al laugh.

"I mean… Yeah. They all are making decisions and taking action to help our Pal-"

"They are not helping that sleeping tool!" Priscilla bit back a look of pure disgust as she pressed her fan harder into his cheek. "Mineself can see their schemes and can't fathom why they think they shall help a greedy pig such as this."

"...You really think you know how to fix him better than the other royal candidates, princess?" Al's question was sneaky, hidden, just like his grin. Priscilla's eyes wandered down below her and narrowed hotly.

"Of course! No one but mineself can see what an animal such as that needs. A firm hand and a debt trap shall only drive the prideless moron down a worse path than even the half-wench could take him. Those disingenuous girls that were called upon to make mineself look brighter among their darkness have got some nerve–"

Priscilla's eyes glanced at the knight, a glint of surprise coating them.

"You are a proud gal, princess. Possibly the proudest." Al nodded, softly removing the fan from his helmet opening by pushing it away.

"You can't think of every possibility because sometimes you cannot fathom it. And so you start growing angrier and pivot from one excuse to the other."

"..." Her look of realization and thought was something out of a dream to Al.

"...You are simply the only one here who saw his true potential. His life, had he been with someone like you. And because you are seeing the way he's turning out under Emilia's lead, you feel the need to jump in and do something. To. Help. Him."

He leaned back, heart pounding like it was dynamite to his brain. The sharp feeling of danger had been lingering around him for more than a few minutes. Since this had started.

His master had kept her stone like stance and refused to move a single muscle as she stared at the ground.

"... You."

Priscilla's voice was one of endearment and softness in the darkness of the theater.

She leaned in close, bewitching him with her mesmerizing look.

"You must be…"

Before long, Al could only feel the air beneath his form instead of the cushy leather seat.

The flail in his form and the panic in his heart were his only companions on his journey to land face first into the theater wall.

His neck felt like it was broken and he let out the scream he could produce best.

It came out as a hazy groan.

"You must be the boldest damn idiot fate has brought me!"

"Pri~...ncess~... Ugh…"

With his cruel master's abusing words, his upside down vision became blurry as the fall's damage took place on his body.

All he could see from his position was the brutal beauty that had thrown him and broke his bones with one single arm to abuse her frustration on him. Walking away from him and down the aisle of stairs, he could tell that she had accepted his words to heart.

She woulda killed me if she didn't.

I hope this helps you, princess.

Al thinks to himself, smiling as he gives in to the blood rush and goes to sleep.

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"Are we not starting off a little stro~~ng?" An eccentric voice echoed throughout one of the theater rooms, coming from the smiling noble dressed in a colorful attire and makeup. He sat on his room's desk chair, gleefully observing the three people who'd entered his room to speak with him.

"I wouldn't advise you to come any closer than this, Otto." A maid with pink hair spoke firmly, standing in the middle of the modest room with her arms crossed.

Before the maid was a sweaty, furious looking boy with gray hair and disheveled green robes.

"I might be a pushover, Ram-sama, but please do not underestimate the consequences of this man's actions! Just let me get my answers so we can think of a plan out of thi-" He was cut off by the newcomer's shrill voice at the room's door.

"She won't hear you out, I suppose."

"Beatrice-sama?" Otto turned with a hopeful look, finding the small elegant girl leaning on the doorframe with an unimpressed glance aimed for the people inside. "Please, talk some sense into Ram-sa-"

"I just said she won't hear you out, in fact. Quit while you're ahead," shaking her head, Beatrice cut Otto's hope short, making him glance down with disappointment.

"I wouldn't have thought you to be as calm and collected about all of this." Otto whispered under his breath while shaking his head exasperatedly.

"Hm?" Beatrice took a moment to raise her brow at the young boy, interest settling on her expression instead of annoyance.

"Why don't you say anything about it?" Otto's face contorted to one of deep distress.

The blonde drill-haired girl only gave the boy a most pitiful look. "You ask me this? Do you understand the heaps of trouble Betty's contractor was going to take responsibility for due to your actions?"

Otto sighed heavily and flocked a hand over his face to rub his temples. "I didn't think everything through when I got it here, okay?"

"It does not matter what you were planning or thinking, I suppose."

The pink-haired maid standing opposite to the merchant, found herself blinking in confusion at the two's conversation. "What did Otto bring? And how is Barusu involved in this?"

"You don't need to know anything about that, servant girl." Beatrice hotly answered in Otto's place, stepping off of the doorframe to glare at Ram.

"...Beatrice-sama?" Ram blinks rapidly, unable to receive the hostility from the great spirit with grace.

"I think Beatrice-sama doesn't like us ve~~ry much." Roswaal chortled from behind Ram, making the spirit even more inclined to show her anger at them both.

"I feel like I've been forgotten suddenly." Otto rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, trying to navigate between Ram's confused stare and Beatrice's furious one.

"Even though I'm usually calm when dealing with your antics, Betty will not stand by and watch you hide from your blatant machinations." Beatrice held a look of contempt towards the smiling clown.

"I apologize, Beatrice-sama, but I shall stand between you and my master." Ram interjected the silence by stepping before the small lady.

"Relax your servant, in fact." Beatrice scoffed, crossing her arms and back tracking to lean against the door frame. "I'm only here to overlook the boy's questions and your answers, I suppose," she pointed with her head towards Otto but continued to dish Roswaal a look of contempt.

"Ah~hh so you came here to guard my answers and help Otto-ku~n along the way? What a shrewd girl you are, Beatrice-sama." Roswaal shakes his head and leans into his seat some more, parallel to Beatrice's relaxed stature. "I seem to have allocated the most troublesome sorts into my ca~amp."

"Betty doesn't want to spend a long time away from her contractor, in fact," Beatrice gestured to Otto with a delicate wave to continue his efforts, "You can continue from here on, that pink-haired murderer won't be giving you trouble, I suppose."

Ignoring Ram's eye twitch from the spite aimed towards her, Otto glanced thankfully at the spirit standing on the doorway and overlooking the room.

"I feel like you aren't giving Ram enough credit, Beatrice-sama~aaa," Roswaal continued to watch with a wide grin, his interest in the dynamics of everyone in the room clear to whomever can look him in the eye.

"How so?" Beatrice snorts, not even glancing towards Ram or Otto.

As if the conversation was only pertaining to the two eldest beings in the room, Roswaal invoked further frustration from Beatrice by waving a hand in Ram's direction, "My dearest maid here was simply protecting me from Otto-kun's ha~aarsh accusations."

"Your deflection needs reworking, clown."

"Beatrice-sama." Ram sternly interrupts, "Forgive me for cutting in, but I do not understand how this turned to a conversation about me." The pink-haired maid looked extremely disturbed by the change. "I would also like an explanation for what I've done to coerce such negativity from you, great spirit-sama."

"You…" Beatrice stuttered suddenly, looking at the maid in bafflement. "You dare ask me this after what we've seen you do to Subaru?"

"I thought we moved away from this. You even gave your seat to Rem-"

"We didn't move from anything related to yours and your psychotic sister's crimes, in fact!"

Ram looked like she had the urge to step back once Beatrice's wrath fully showed on the little girl's face.

"B-Beatrice-sama," Otto tried to mitigate the situation by coming between the two girls with a nervous smile, "Let's all calm down-"

"Mercy kill, that's what everyone had called it." Beatrice's glare pierced Ram's soul more than the dead tone she spoke with. "You, cutting my contractor's throat with a windblade where no eye can see your crime."

Ram visibly blanched at the memory, as if struck by an invisible hand across the cheek, the maid couldn't answer the spirit's anger with nothing but sadness.

"H-Hey now! Beatrice-sama, this is unwarranted!" Otto tried to intervene but the girl had no mercy.

"You think anyone has forgiven you or your sister for that?" Beatrice badgered on. "You really think what we saw is forgotten? Just because you're from the loop that turned out right and not the one where you sliced him apart, I suppose?"

"..."

"I wonder if you are thinking of apologizing or making a snappy comeback that insults Subaru like you always do, in fact."

"I…" Ram tried to say something but her lips remained parted with no sound coming out.

"Just as I thought, in fact." Beatrice scoffs at Ram's stuttering, pure hatred in her eyes. "You not only lack the self respect to admit how wrong you were to kill a defenseless child just to save your sister's job, but you also have no shame in realizing that this cannot be forgiven by anyone in this theater, in fact. Not even yourself. So stop acting like you have nothing to feel guilty about because you have plenty, I suppose!"

"This is enough!"

Suddenly, Roswaal was hunched, his face hidden from the three as he clenched fist on his knee. Beatrice and Otto looked towards one another with looks of disturbance while the pink-haired maid seemed to still aim her eyes towards the floor.

"Beatrice." Roswaal sighed as his tone dropped. "I do not need to watch you blame my maid for something that she is innocent of."

"Innocent?!" Beatrice spoke loudly in outrage. The eccentric lord didn't look so eccentric once he rose to meet the spirit's eyes with his own.

"Yes. She is innocent of the crimes of her other self… Just like you are innocent of your many failures to protect Natsuki Subaru-kun."

"Are you-"

"Do you know why Ram's come here?" Roswaal asks Beatrice with honest curiosity, "She came here to ask me the same questions you and Otto wanted me to answer."

Glancing towards the downtrodden maid, Beatrice and Otto couldn't tell if the man's words were true or not. While the spirit that had been furious at the maid was seemingly toren by Roswaal's words, the boy seemed to remember his voice.

"Ram-san? What were you doing here before I came in?"

"..." The pink-haired girl refused to meet anyone's eyes.

"You would rather stare a hole in the ground than show us your tears of regret, I wonder?" Beatrice snarked from the side, unable to hold her disgust for the girl.

Ram decidedly moved along with Beatrice's words, keeping her hands folded and her head low as she walked out of the room. Not giving a single person the chance to look at her with pity.

"...You shouldn't have been this harsh, Beatrice-sama." Otto scolded Beatrice after watching Ram leave the room in disgrace.

"Haven't you seen her attitude towards all of this so far?! She only keeps insulting Subaru with no ounce of regret for what she's done, in fact!"

"She hasn't done anything," Otto affirms with a glare, "She's been watching just like all of us, and you've seen how crushed and heartbroken Rem-san was-"

"That was the blue-haired one, but Ram did not even offer an apology to him unlike her sister!"

"I cannot believe this… You would forgive Rem but still hold a grudge against Ram-san?" Otto bellows in disbelief.

"Don't be so callous, in fact." Beatrice seethed with clenched tiny fists. "I wouldn't forgive them for killing Subaru if the sun fell to protect them, I suppose."

"..." Otto sighed and steered his eyes away from the furious great spirit in the room.

"I wouldn't apologize for someone else's actions, but I'm sorry Ram-san was hurt, Roswaal-sama."

The eccentric man didn't acknowledge Otto's words with a reaction. Matter of fact the man seemed more focused on Beatrice than the boy speaking to him.

"Ram asked me about the gospel as well."

Otto and Beatrice snapped their attention to the man, he stared at Beatrice with a cold look.

"I'm not intimidated by you, in fact." She scoffs while swiping one of her blonde drills behind her shoulder.

"I wasn't meaning to, Beatrice-sama. But I would rather you not reject the idea that Ram is on your side in this." He spoke slowly, desperately.

"And why should I believe that, I wonder? Your gospel is something the maid has known about before any of us, has it not? She must've been there when you planned for Betty's contractor to be murder-"

"Let me end this all for you both right now then!" Roswaal snaps suddenly, making no move out of his seated position but glaring daggers at the spirit.

Both Beatrice and Otto were dumbfounded with this behavior, unable to find out why exactly the smug smile had left his painted face or where this harsh tone came from.

"Besides the fact that this is a conversation about something so integral to your agenda like this gospel, you have to be really attached to Ram-san for this reaction to be acceptable… Isn't it, Roswaal-sama?" Otto asks his margrave with a look of curiosity.

Roswaal's mouth trembled into a small sad smile, finally steering to look at Otto with sincerity between his eyes. "I do care about my staff, Otto-kun. Very much so being these two."

"The same two you rescued conveniently with no guidance or knowledge of whereabouts."

"..."

Otto squints at the man suspiciously. Roswaal notices that the boy's hand was gripping a pocket in his hand.

"You do not know the power which this gospel holds, Otto-kun. It corrupts and issues involvement in the unbelievable to get the impossible done," the clown gave no sign of a smile on his features or anything that can be used by Otto to say this was a joke. Roswaal was serious here.

"Otto-kun. You best throw that thing away before it gets you to sink into the pit."

"Pit?" Otto asks, genuinely frightened by the Margrave's death stare trained at him.

"The same pit I am now finding myself in, knowing that I caused what Beatrice blames on Ram and Rem."

"You- keh!" Otto had to swallow his words, fists shaking in anger and panic at what was being explained to him.

"So it was true, I suppose. You've been coercing everything from behind the scenes, in fact." Beatrice spoke with a tone devoid of emotion. "You killed Betty's Subaru."

Otto's glare turned to one full of rage that showed intense aspirations for what he wanted to do with the man in front of him. But Roswaal only shook his head.

"I'm afraid my sin was far more despicable than that. Teacher's gospel had not written that Subaru Natsuki would die when he was using his special power. To me, he was always in control."

"What?" Otto's face dropped from disbelief.

"Is that a joke, I suppose?!" Beatrice raged from Otto's side, now fully at the center of the room. "You inept fool!"

"D-Did you follow that thing based on a technicality that Subaru-san might be looping?"

Roswaal's face didn't change as he emotionlessly explained. "Teacher's gospel described someone with an ability to change his course for the future through the power of repeating a point of time. There wasn't a single other detail described about the way this power worked, the way the user looked or acted, just how I could get to him and manipulate his ability to achieve my goal."

"Wh-What…" Otto stutters, "You can't treat someone based on a few words from some book!"

"It wasn't some book." Roswaal cuts off, "Isn't some book," he repeats with an eye open for the pocket of Otto's coat. "You won't ever understand that these actions and their consequences on Natsuki-kun are very crushing for me."

"Don't you even start!" Otto shouts in outrage, catching up to what this explanation was leading and realizing what Beatrice had way earlier than him. "You're the reason Natsuki-san has been dying since the start! Butchered, tortured, murdered, all you!"

"Otto-kun…"

"Don't start with me!" Otto's hands found the clown dressed man's collar and lifted Roswaal's face towards his. "Do you even know what will happen to this camp should this get out?! You will be killed! Emilia loses all of her chances for the throne and Natsuki's sacrifices would be for nothing! You've put us all in the worst position possible right now and it's even worse that you did this knowingly even based on vague details from some stupid book."

"It's not a stupid book." The Margrave gave Otto a simple glance from squinted multicolored eyes. "It's a directional tool. I took it because it had the calling I desired. I made the choice to follow every word. I will do it again if I have to."

"You smug-"

"Do you truly believe that you would've met with Natsuki Subaru without my direction from the gospel's writings?" Roswaal strikes a question that stops both Otto and the onlooking Beatrice in their tracks. "Have you any idea how much he would've still been suffering out there in the capital streets had my plans not brought him to us? He died in an alleyway on his first day here!"

"It's impossible for me to state how disgusting you look right now, Roswaal." Beatrice's poison laced tone cut through the man being held by the collar, Otto can notice signs of grief in those haunted eyes. "In fact, I think you are making excuses to forgive yourself more than for us to forgive you. Disgusting, I suppose."

Otto's lips thinned, unable to do anything after what the spirit had said beside him. He only took one more look at those eyes of empty, emotionless void spaces before moving away from the lord of Magic.

"... I don't need to use my accent around you two. I'm being honest about how I feel and what I've done… Leave Ram out of it."

"Hmph." Beatrice scoffs absentmindedly, looking at Otto, "He's been telling the truth, I suppose. One like him wouldn't break his habit of torturing himself for a simple lie. You can go and think about this now."

"Wha… B-But we need a plan to cover all of this! We need something that can make us punish him for what he's done and help Natsuki-sa-"

"Nothing we do now will be worth it before the next viewing begins, I suppose." Beatrice cuts Otto off with anger in her eyes. "You're going to go and keep that burnt thing away from any of us and start thinking about a plan to keep Betty's Subaru happy once he returns, I suppose."

"What about him?!" Otto points at Roswaal with a ludicrous expression.

"... Leave him to me."

"What?"

"Leave him to me, I suppose." Beatrice affirmed without hesitation. Staring the boy in the eye as she stepped between him and Roswaal.

Otto was about to protest with his own argument but then someone slid down the hallway of the theater and clutched the doorframe to balance themselves from falling over.

"Otto, Beatrice-sama! Garf-san's reeeeally angry!" Petra shouted urgently with a look of pure fright overcoming the innocence one with her eyes should have, which forced Otto's legs to move unconsciously.

"Tell me where!" Otto gave Roswaal a silent glance before turning and running behind Petra.

Out of the room, leaving both estranged long time acquaintances to their own devices.

"Beatrice-"

"Silence." The short girl ordered with no remorse for the hurt he showed. "I do not care what you or those maids have done to my contractor anymore. I only care that you get punished for each and every single instance of pain he's put under." Beatrice's words seemed to cut through Roswaal's strong shield with a glare of hatred to complete her package of causing hurt for the man.

"Your teacher was my mother." Beatrice spoke emotionlessly, "you always seemed to worship her to an extent even she was uncomfortable with. But to go this far down… on a technicality."

"... Didn't you waste an eternity waiting for a technicality, Beatrice?"

"The difference between you and me is that I was lied to. What I was waiting for never existed." Her butterflies ever looked so darkened to Roswaal.

"Why are you telling me this? My teacher wouldn't have lied to me if she didn't know herself. She must've been unaware of the consequences of her words and I was to make these choices myself whether it was worth the cost or not."

"... You're just making excuses for a liar, in fact."

"..."

Beatrice shook her head, unable to watch as Roswaal's body trembled in place, seemingly the man was ripping himself apart over her words.

"She lied to you. You've already accepted it and took the guilt, now admit it about her, I suppose."

He held his head with his shaking hands, unable to look at anything except the darkness of his eyelids.

"... Pathetic." She spat one more time, giving her old friend a glare of disgust and pity before walking out of the room.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"What the hell is going on here?!" Otto shouts as he runs into a secluded room at the end of the line of doorways.

He found three people standing in the middle of the room. A growling Garfiel that had his teeth bared and fists clenched tightly, glaring at the renowned greatest Knight of their kingdom. Julius stood opposite to Garfiel with a simple glare of indifference on his expression to meet the blonde tiger's fury. But Otto's focus was pulled to the purple-haired man's bleeding nose that stood out amongst the handsome knight's features.

Between the two men was Frederica, the maid in charge of mentoring Petra and Garfiel's eldest sister. She stood with her arms extended on each of the men's chests to seperate them.

"Garf!" Otto shouts to gain the bullheaded blonde's eyes, but it was for not.

"COME 'N GET WHAT YOU GAVE MY CAP'N! MINE AMAZIN' SELFS IS MORE THAN HAPPY TO PAY YA BACK!"

"Garfiel, hold on!" Frederica shouts and pushes her brother harder, frightened by the fury of the beast inside of him.

"Contain yourself! This is no sight for your family and friends to see." Julius admonished through blood soaked lips, looking like he didn't care about his injured nose the least bit.

"DUN TELL ME T' CONTAIN SHIT! YER THE ONE THAT TREATED MY CAP'N T' A WORLD 'F HURT JUST BECAUSE HE BROUGHT UP YER DADDY'S NAME!"

"And I'm telling you," Julius grits his teeth, "Natsuki Subaru deserved what he sought. If you wish to duel for his words then I advise you to pick a better arena than my room-"

"WE'RE GOIN' NOW YA SON'OVA-"

"GARFIEL!" Frederica screams as her brother furiously pushes her out of the way and all but leaps towards the straight postured Knight.

Until a swift fist collided with his jaw from the side, tripping him.

"I said calm down!" Otto shouts as his friend falls to the side.

"Oi!" Garfiel pushes his legs so he can back flip roll on the carpeted ground and stand up from his fall. "What's the matt'ah with ya?! This guy's gonna think what he did to Cap'n wasn't wron'! We can't let that happen!"

"This is no way to go about it, Garf." Otto breathes, catching the eyes of Julius.

"You're… bleeding?"

Julius only nods his head. "It seems the Warden's ability to stop us from being injured doesn't reach these rooms."

"...Or he's growing weaker." Otto surprises Julius by affirming a thought in both of their heads, seeing a weakness in this entity's armor.

"I don't think that's what you should be focused on right now!" Petra's angry voice cut the two's thoughts immediately with how icy it was. The adorable little flower seemed too inflamed to care about her manners as she pointed at Julius with a fury to behold in her light blue eyes. "You hurt Subaru! You must apologize!"

Before anyone else could intervene, she turned her glare towards Garfiel, looking more pissed off than he was. "And you need to stop trying to kill him!"

Garfiel growled in distaste, "Why's tha' girly, huh?!"

"Because he won't get the chance to apologize if you beat him!" Petra shouts on top of Garfiel's booming voice.

Even if he showed how impressed he was with Petra's courage to stand up for him, Julius still clicked his teeth disdainfully. "I can take care of myself, I assure all of you." The knight looked beyond annoyed as he began wiping his bloodied nose with a handkerchief. "Now please, may you leave me to my devices so I can prepare for my next viewing session?"

"Wait… What?" Otto now seemed to pull his attention fully on Julius. "What are they talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the knight scoffs while pushing back his gleaming violet hair. "He came here to push an apology out of me while the other two demanded I explain my actions to them."

Otto's eyes moved towards Frederica in surprise.

"Ah, I'm sorry Otto-san. I was just making sure to stop my brother and Petra-chan from doing anything rash… Which I failed to do as you can see." Frederica said, disappointed with herself.

"He must explain himself!" Petra took the reins of the conversation with anger in her stride forward to stand before the Knight and Otto. "If Subaru had done so much harm to the knight's honor, then why do they feel the need to cheer on when he was brutally beaten like that?! He was almost dead! Where's the honor in something so shameless and why did none of you bring it up when we all watched it on that window?!"

Faced with the rage and despair of the little girl, Frederica and Otto gave small frowns but remained silent to her issues.

"Tha's right." Garfiel exploded a sigh as he stretched in place, nodding his head towards Petra in approval. "She's on point. I need ya t' step aside s' I can teach 'em a lesson."

"Ah," Otto glanced between Garfeil and Petra, his eyes widening with revelation. "You haven't told anyone about what your reasons were yet, have you, Julius-san?"

"... My reasons? Pardon?" Julius came out of his silence with a curious look painting his face. His nose now cleaned as best as can be with little red droplets covering his uniform's front and the carpet.

Otto's statement grabbed not just Julius' attention, but also the other three in the room around him.

"You guys didn't seem to notice what most of the royal candidates as well as the other knights have from the moment the fight started," Otto glanced at the confused trio of Garfiel, Petra, and Frederica with a small smile. "Julius-san didn't beat down Natsuki-san to avenge some knightly code that was disrespected."

"Are ya hitting yer head on them chairs out there?!" Garfiel growls and points at the knight who's been driving his anger up ever since he touched Subaru. "He said 't 'emself when the duel started! You can see he enjoyed it!"

Petra nodded along with Garfiel, while Frederica looked between the two men with reluctance.

"Listen to me, Garf." Otto urges, his hands crossed and staring seriously into Garfiel's eyes, hoping to appease the rational part of the tiger demihuman. "I want you to remember very carefully. What as the crowd's reaction to this duel?"

"They were cheering this bastard on!"

"No." Otto shakes his head, surprising the trio along with Julius. "The crowds were cheering for the first hit that touched Natsuki-san. The rest of the duel was filled with groans and complete disgust towards Julius-san."

Otto looks the knight in the eye as he says this, making the handsome man pull his guard up and glare right back at him.

"...That's true." Petra nods her head and calms her stature as she begins to think back. Frederica shows Otto that he'd grabbed her interest long before he brought up this point.

He was happy that Garfiel seemed to be thinking about it as well so he continued. "I know you must be wondering what was going on then. Why would they not cheer Julius-san on when the fight was clearly a favorite to all of them?"

"Then why did ya beat him so damn hard?! Are ya tellin' me none of them damn knights cared about their names and ya just did that fer shits?!" Garfiel points his question towards the man at the center of the conversation, but Julius never answers the boy, reserving to glare at Garfiel instead.

Otto took this as a sign for him to start finishing this situation calmly. "Garf, everyone else on the outside already realized what was truly happening before us. Hell, some of them might've realized it long after Natsuki-san's ugly fight with Emilia-sama. But the gist of what Julius-san was doing was to help Natsuki-san, not to protect the dignity of a title."

"How the hell does this help-?!"

"It helps by showing all of the other prideful knights that going after this boy that had just insulted them was useless and a waste of time." Frederica stepped in with realization painting her face, explaining to her brother hurriedly. "Julius-sama ruined his own reputation to show those who wanted Subaru-sama's head that it wasn't dignifying."

"..." Garfiel's eyes widened towards his sister, freezing in place. The blonde seemed to quiver for a moment as realization hit him as well.

"Tck!" Garfiel glared at Julius, who was happy to glare back.

"You touch my Cap'n again, I promise t' complete the nose work, ya hear me?!"

"Loud and clear. Now please leave this space, I wish to ask for new clothing and change." Julius nods his head with disinterest at the unapologetic tiger.

"... Fine." Garfiel looked like he wanted to ask something but his anger didn't seem to allow him as he stomped out of the room.

Frederica lets out a breath of relief she didn't know she was holding as soon as her brother's back disappeared. "Thank you so much, Otto-san. This was a frightening situation." She bowed her head to the young man, making him blush and stutter out a "You're welcome!" while shaking his hand frantically.

"I apologize for my brother's behavior, Julius-sama." She hurried to courtly make peace with the man her brother had just punched.

The knight gave her a graceful bow of his own and spoke melancholy but respectfully. "It was understandable. Nothing that happened here was a surprise to me so worry not. I know your brother's a good friend of Natsuki Subaru. This is just an expected consequence of what I had done." Julius straightened his back and let Frederica have her moment of relief.

"... Did you really do that to help Subaru?" Petra spoke from the side of Otto, looking up at the knight with an unreadable expression.

"... I merely did what my self desired at the time."

"That's no answer." "Petra-chan! That is enough!" Frederica reprimanded from the side, narrowing her eyes at the little girl, but Otto noticed that the village girl's eyes were beginning to hollow with dullness.

"That's not an answer though!" Petra suddenly raises her voice and steps one foot forward to Julius, looking at him with something akin to desperation. "I don't care why you tried to help, I just need to know if you were trying to help him or not!"

"..." Julius stares at her with a thin-lipped, wide-eyed expression.

"Please." She had tears in her eyes now.

The greatest knight found himself weakened by the stare. "I… I wanted to save his life. That's all."

While Otto was narrowing his eyes at the answer he gave, Petra seemed to have the opposite reaction as hers went wider than they were and a horrified look overcame her.

"So… There was real danger to Subaru's life?" Petra's voice broke. "You thought that these knights would kill him just because of what he declared in the throne room?"

"... Not all of them were like that." Julius could only meet the floor with his gaze for some reason.

"The knights of our kingdom… Would hurt someone for saying he was one of them…" Petra muttered dryly, looking at the wall of the room with disbelief.

"There was more to it than that-" Julius tried to make the girl see it from a knight's perspective on that day but Petra's crushed hope seemed long lost. It was a hit to his Knightly pride. A child had just lost faith in their order and she was walking out of the room to be with herself and think of the disenchantment.

"Let her be, Frederica-sama." Otto gave Petra a look of understanding as she exited the room. "She needs time."

Frederica could only nod. "I hope so. That girl's been subject to a lot of unpleasantness these past few… days."

"It's okay." Otto smiles at the worried woman. "No matter how much time passes in here, we will be with each other. Help is a footstep away from every side."

Emerald eyes seemed to shine hopefully because of the words that left his mouth, noticing the strange smile on Frederica's face, Otto could only flinch nervously and look away.

"Thank you for being here, Otto-sama." Frederica giggled and gave a short bow for both, the blushing Otto and the knight standing with a baffled look on his face.

"I apologize once again, Julius-sama. Thank you for your manners. I must be excused to make sure my brother isn't causing any more trouble somewhere else."

With that, Frederica left the room with a bright smile.

Otto sighed as his eyes trailed her until all flocks of her golden hair disappeared from the doorway.

"... Are you going to speak to me about my answer to the little girl or not?" Julius cuts Otto's dream state with impatience.

"Yeah… I don't have much to say really…" Otto sighed for the second time and moved his eyes from the spot that caused his heart to flutter to Julius where his disappointment showed.

"Well? Get on with it because I need to change before we get called by the Warden."

"..." Otto stayed silent, looking at Julius' eyes with unreadable thoughts going through him.

"You were saving Natsuki-san… That's all you wished for on that day?"

Julius narrowed his eyes.

"I mean." Otto nervously moved his hand behind his head. "Can you not see how unreal this answer seems? After what Natsuki-san told me about you, I can firmly tell that's not how you feel now, neither do I believe that this is what you wanted during the fight either."

"What are you blabbering about?" Julius asks, already done with this.

Otto gives a short smile. "I know that you wished to be friends with someone who dared to do what they did before the kingdom's strongest men and women without breaking a sweat."

"..." The knight eyed him with expression of annoyance.

"Oh… And of course to protect your master's honor. Of course." Otto rubs the back of his head with an uneasy smile.

"... Hmph," Julius scoffs, unimpressed. "I'll have you know, Natsuki Subaru was sweating plenty in that hall."

"...Eh? Then you must've thought he was really stupid to do that." Otto blinks.

"I still think he is stupid for doing that," the knight affirms while swiping away locks of hair from his face.

"Maybe even stupid in general?" Otto looks up with his chin in his hand, in thought.

"I think that's a point I would be happy to discuss with you at a later date."

"Sure. Let's do it over drinks when that time comes." Otto chuckles lightly as Julius showed him the semblance of a smile.

It wasn't long before the chuckles stopped and Otto's legs began moving him towards the doorway, something that disappointed Julius greatly.

"I was actually beginning to enjoy your company."

"Yeah, that's flattering Julius-san. But you need to change and I need to take care of something." Otto stopped to shoot the knight with a smile. "Besides, you gave me the answer to my question already."

"Hm?" Julius blanched remembering that there was something Otto was after.

"Yeah. I know that you wanted to befriend him more than you wanted to protect him. And I know that should the situation repeat itself, you would hurt him again to keep protecting him from the same threat. It's just how it is." Otto didn't hesitate to blunder Julius with this revelation with a wide smirk.

The knight stood with distress painting his expression. "H-How...what?"

"... Don't be surprised." Otto's voice turns playful as he stares at the doorway, turning his back on Julius. "Let me tell you. I was just talking to someone with a worse case of guilt over what they had done to Natsuki-san."

"Worse case for guilt?... Do they regret doing what they did?"

Otto ponders the question from Julius.

'In fact, I think you are making excuses to forgive yourself more than for us to forgive you. Disgusting, I suppose.'

"Yes. Plenty I'd say, Julius-san… and I know that just like you-"

'It's a directional tool. I took it because it had the calling I desired. I made the choice to follow every word. I will do it again if I have to.'

"I know for a fact that they would repeat that same mistake knowing the consequences of their actions just to achieve the same result."

Julius stares at Otto's back in bewilderment. "Why would they do that?"

Otto lets out a laugh. "Because they are desperate to befriend Natsuki-san. Just like you." He repeats more clearly every time. Emphasizing what Julius is refusing to accept.

"... Why are you telling me this then?"

The skittish merchant shrugged. "I think I wanted to show myself that he's not really that bad after all… With all the terrible things he's done… He speaks just like you about Natsuki-san."

"So… You think whomever it is can be forgiven for their crimes and turn a new page?" Julius sounded peeved when asking this question, unable to look at Otto anymore than the wall to his room.

All he received was a chuckle from Otto. "Who knows? I don't. You don't either."

Julius blinked obstinately at this answer.

"All I know is that… '' Otto calculated his words in a pause before starting to walk out of the room, "Natsuki-san seems to care about the both of you enough to keep you close even after all that you've done to him. So maybe it's time you start forgiving yourself, Julius-san?"

With that, he left Julius to his own thoughts. The Greatest Knight remained staring at the doorway with an expression of shock expressed on his face.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

As she paced through the hallway, Rem couldn't help but shy her eyes away from Otto's as he walked out of one of the rooms with determination covering his face. She breathed a sigh of relief once he'd pass her and she would continue her rigid walk towards her destination undeterred.

The Oni girl was motivated that this was the right thing to do. She must not let anyone else follow in her path to self-ridden destruction.

And so, she stopped right before one of the doors in this hall and knocked.

"G-Go away…" A distant feminine voice spoke from the other side. Rem wasn't surprised at all by this reaction.

"Emilia-sama." Rem called out from her side, touching the door's surface. "I wish to speak with you."

It was a far shot for the maid to think that this would work, but to her surprise, the door opened not two seconds later.

"Ah," her mouth opened to speak but nothing came out to describe the sight.

"I know." Emilia's angelic voice had a hoarse slight in it, "I've been better."

Better was an understatement. The beautiful half-elf that once outshined every royal woman in the theater was now replaced by a red-eyed girl with messy hair, and a crumpled white robe instead of the elegant one it used to be.

Overall, the half elf princess wasn't looking better than when Roswaal brought her to the mansion years ago.

"Did you need something, Rem?" Emilia said through a tired voice. Rem dropped out of her revere and looked at the half elf's eyes.

"I wish to speak with you."

"... You can get inside." Emilia stepped away to allow her entry.

Rem breathed deeply before stepping into Emilia's room. She took a quick look around, finding a messy bed with a few extra cups of whatever beverage Emilia wished for during her time here.

"You ran straight to here as soon as the vision started, Emilia-sama. I couldn't quite catch what you thought about all of it." Rem began talking immediately as she and Emilia took the seats on the opposite ends of a table that was in the room.

"Why would you need to know my thoughts on it? My cowardly reaction is enough, isn't it?" Emilia answered dryly while staring at an empty cup.

Rem shook her head. "With all due respect, Emilia-sama. But I don't think you crying here is going to help anyone."

"... I don't care about helping anyone." Emilia mutters darkly glaring holes into her mug.

"It seems your situation is worse than I thought, Emilia-sama."

"My situation?" Emilia's eyes moved to look at Rem, her expression became unreadable but it didn't deter the maid from speaking her mind.

"You shouldn't feel guilty for your fight with Subaru-kun." Rem was positive, she had a small smile to offer the princess an olive branch that could untie the both of them together.

But the more she waited for a reaction or an answer, the more uneasy Rem began to feel. Emilia was staring at her sharply, with no blinks or even tugs on her lips.

The half elf was just frozen there, staring at Rem expressionlessly.

"Is this…" finally she spoke, but the icy tone covering the angel's voice made the Oni all the more uncomfortable. "Is this what you told yourself? When you saw yourself torturing Subaru?"

Rem's heart dropped like a rock into her stomach. Emilia stared at her emptily, merciless as she held her cup.

"You seem to think my situation is the same as yours." Emilia continued, expressionless, emotionless. "They are not. I didn't kill him or torture him." Her voice showed signs of anger there. "I was much worse. I was the one who used his pain for my own selfish desire to be coddled."

Rem's breath was taken away the moment the memory of her nightmarish deeds against her beloved played within her head. But something within Emilia's words forced her to pause her semi panic attack.

"Coddled?"

"Rem." Emilia stared at her cup with a small frown. "Subaru said he… l-loves you the same way he loved me." Rem's chest fluttered with life again. No matter how many times people tell her this, she wouldn't believe it's true. It was a nice thought however.

Emilia continued. "He said he loved you… Even after what you've done to him… He loves you." Her voice cracked and her grip on the cup became unstable.

Although Rem's own chest was hurting from the way Emilia kept referencing the crimes she'd done, the maid couldn't handle seeing anymore of the half-elf's pain.

"Do you mean that… Subaru-kun won't forgive you like he did to me?"

Emilia shook her head.

"I mean that I don't want him to."

"What?"

Rem and Emilia stared at each other with bewilderment and conviction staring off on each side of the table.

"I'm not going to forget my own faults that caused Subaru his pain, Rem. I know what I was thinking back then and I know how much I used him for myself. I don't deserve him." Emilia's small confession was said in the most determined voice Rem had heard from the naive girl that used to walk alone in the mansion halls.

"What are you talking about?" Rem found herself seething in place, unable to control her bottled emotions as she recalled every word Emilia just said.

"Do you think that I've forgotten my own deeds against Subaru-kun?!" Rem shouts at the half-elf, who stared at her blankly.

"I have not!" Rem shouts again, standing up and slamming a hand on the table, "I won't ever forget that hellish loop even if this Warden took them away again!" The maid was babbling on, her eyes and expression furious and determined.

"... It doesn't matter." Emilia whispered sadly, pitifully.

"What?" Rem demanded, standing over Emilia with a glare.

The half-elf looked to the side with a defeated expression. "I can't forgive myself like you did." Rem blanched at the audacity of Emilia's words. "I can't see myself beside him after what I've done. You on the other hand… You love him enough to not care about what you've done to him."

"... What the hell is your problem?!" Rem's voice was louder than a thunderstorm. She glared daggers into Emilia like she was the source of everything she hated in the world.

"I'm just telling the truth." Emilia pitifully let go of her cup to fold her hands on her lap. "The only time I ever helped him was when he slept on my lap… and even that caused him to get attached to me and get beaten by Julius… He can't ever be with me…"

"Get over yourself." Rem firmly spoke from above, causing Emilia to look up at the standing maid in surprise.

"What?"

"You are pathetic. Get over yourself." Rem repeats without mercy. Long gone was the polite timid maiden that was crushed by guilt and horror from Subaru's loops. Now, Emilia was faced with an extremely annoyed Oni.

"Your pity party won't save you from the fact that Subaru-kun won't ever choose Rem over you. I can stomp on it whenever I want because I've already seen him choose you."

"...?!" Emilia's eyes widened at these words, spoken from an infuriated Rem.

"I have not forgotten anything I've done. Every single one of his screams is stuck in my head like a needle. You will never know how that feels like, because you haven't tortured him."

Emilia flinched on herself as Rem began shedding tears.

"Y-You. He chose you." Rem sobbed as her emotions took control over her. "and h-here you are, throwing it all away because you would rather hide than face the fact that there's some work to do. You would rather blame yourself and close every door by making it impossible to see yourself in a redeeming light. You couldn't even see that Subaru-kun had his own problems and faults. That's why the fight at the castle happened. Not because you've helped him!"

The Oni managed to stop her tears and wipe away the ones that fell down her cheek. Glaring at Emilie with disappointment and hurt in her blue eyes.

"Subaru-kun needs you to hold him up and kick him down when he shows some of his ugly sides. That is his nature. Rem's seen it. Rem loves him for it. I cherish him with all my heart and won't ever forgive myself for what I've done."

"..."

"You once told me that Subaru needed me. That's why I should forgive myself for his torture." The maid's voice trembled. "And if you can't stand by the same words you told me in the past viewing sessions then please do not comfort me ever again, Emilia-sama." Rem stepped away from the chairs and walked towards the door, uncaring for the half-elf princess.

"It's clear that you haven't forgiven me, so stop trying to use Rem as a tool to further your self pity and start fighting for his love!" Rem loses control over her hands and slams the door to Emilia's room shut behind her. She takes note of the silence from the other side and spends great effort into taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"She's one pathetic girl." Rem snarled furiously before walking away with disgust.

Inside the room itself, Emilia was left alone to her ugly thoughts and Rem's dominant words.

All the half-elf could feel was shame with how rightful the Oni was to be angry with her. Rem came here to help Emilia but all she got was hsr kindness thrown in her face.

Emilia's fingers crumpled to form fists on her lap.

"I do want to fight for him… I want to love him…"

The naive girl's resentment and jealousy began cracking into her voice.

"What does a murderer like you know?! He chose me before I even hurt him! If I did the same thing you did, he wouldn't have ever forgiven me!"

Emilia's jealous rants were not heard by anyone but the walls of the sub world that was her room in the theater.

She breathed heavily. In and out.

Rem was long gone, and Emilia was left with a fury in her chest that could not be satiated.

"Just come back, Subaru…" Emilia groaned into her palm as she placed her face into her hands. "Just wake up… Please."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"It seems that my luck has left me out to dry today. Tck!" Priscilla clicks her teeth and showcases an eyeroll at the sight of the man before her.

"Y-You don't need to be so annoyed with this!" The feminine boy stutters out, clearly humiliated by Priscilla's dismissal of his effort.

"Do not dwell on what does not concern you, freakish boy." Priscilla waves her fan slowly as she looks at the blushing Felix up and down. "Or are you a girl? I forget… fufu~"

"I-I am a man-"

"And you dress like that? Has that Karsten harlot really forced her servant to change genders? She is worthy of mine interest." Priscilla's laughter caused Felix to grit his teeth.

"If all you're gonna do is make fun of me, then why let me inside of your room in the first place, nyan?!"

Priscilla's laughter died as her glaring rubies fixed on the knight before her.

"I was compelled to give you a few moments of my precious time. You should thank your maker for this privilege." She spoke with a predatory grin on her face.

Felix shuddered in place at the bewitching woman's tone. "What?"

"Awe, don't be scared, dumb kitty." Priscilla mocked. "You won't be able to manage a favor out of mineself should you continue to be so clueless. Now stop wasting mineself's invaluable air by being in this room and get to your request."

The cat demihuman gulped anxiously, the stars didn't align with him as Priscilla reveled in his humiliation with the gaze of a hawk. Amusement filled the proud princess from head to toe as everything pointed Felix to the conclusion that she would be enjoying every second of this.

The healer let his pride go and sighed in defeat, willing to let her play her games with him. Afterall, he already knew this wouldn't be easy or merciful on him when he asked Priscilla for permission to enter her private room.

"Out with it, Karsten's freak of nature. Mineself has no more time to waste!" Priscilla urged hotly, forcing the flustered knight to speak hurriedly.

"M-My Master t-told me to apologize to your merciful self for my despicable behavior in the last viewing session! I should not have raised my voice towards a royal such as yourself and I do not deserve the right to ask this but if your kind heart allows it, please forgive my conduct towards you, nyan~!" Felix's sweaty palms clenched into fists as he bowed his head to prostate himself before the cruel matriarch. He had his eyes closed and his nerves were a wreck. He wondered if this was worth it in the end, if fulfilling Crusch's demands like this would bring a smile to his master's face.

It all depended on the one lady in the room he didn't want to be with, and Priscilla was staying silent for as long as it took for her to grow bored of the sight.

"Apologize, you say." Priscilla hummed to herself, staring at the healer's bowed head, not even commenting about any of this but taking it in stride and amusing herself nonetheless.

"Keep your head bowed to me. Mineself wishes to ask you questions while you humble yourself like this."

"Y-Yes, Priscilla-sama." Felix found it hard to comply with this woman without gritting his teeth, but the idea of answering her questions didn't seem revolting even if he had to keep his head down.

"Now then," she began, crossing one leg over the other and leaning back to fan herself, "Why would you do this to yourself? Mineself's pride would never allow me to do something so undignified as this."

"M-My master wanted me to apologize, so I did." Felix answered prickly.

"... That's not what I asked."

"Huh?"

"Who is your master, freakish boy?" Priscilla tried a different tactic that confused Felix even more as he answered.

"Crusch Karsten."

"And the Karsten head is known for her outstanding nobility and dignified pride, is she not?"

Felix was beginning to question if this amused woman was insane. He panicked because he could feel her gaze stuck to his head, he knew that she was toying with him and leading him somewhere unpleasant.

"Of course she is!" But he couldn't let her refute the truth about his master.

"Of course she is." Priscilla repeated in a tone of complete ease and tranquility. "She is proud. She is royal. She is noble."

'Everything you are not.' Felix wanted to say as his fists shook and his head began hurting from being angled like this for so long.

"So tell me," Priscilla fanned herself a few more times while reading the boy's body, "Why have you come here? Why have you bowed your head when I barely said a word to you? Why did you degrade yourself in your apology when you believed in what you've said at the moment of your transgression against mineself?"

"..." Felix's breath was lost to him as he thought about every question Priscilla shot at him from her seat.

"You don't know?" Priscilla snorts in amusement, "Let me tell you then." She took a moment to sip some of her wine while flinging her crossed leg in the air, letting the knight ponder in silence and anticipation.

"Your freakish self was only asked to apologize, not prostrate or degrade yourself." Priscilla sounded amused once he flinched before her. "Yet you have done exactly that. Right away, without even needing an order from the goddess before you."

"I-Is this going anywhere?" Felix questioned, unable to think about what she was saying.

"...Hm." Priscilla let out a short hum, finally seeing something that she's been looking for. "Tell me, do you think of yourself as inferior to the half-wit's dog outside this room?"

"Absolutely not! Nayn, he's nothing but a pathetic man, hiding his weakness behind the need to use his power for other people's pleasure!" He answers furiously at the notion and outrage trembling his body. "Natsuki Subaru is nothing like me, nayn!" Felix declares with pride.

"Mhm. Mhm." Priscilla lets out hums of approval and nods to herself. "Then our interaction shall be concluded."

"...?!" Felix finally looked up from his bow to find the red rose that was Priscilla looking at him cryptically. "I have the distinct feeling that this isn't over yet, nyan."

"You'd be correct, my dumb cat." Priscilla leans on her hand and takes pleasure in making him tremble in anticipation.

"Should you want to earn my forgiveness, I only require one small request, and mineself will mercifully allow you the pleasure of earning your master's approval."

"Anything." Felix gulped with a brave face. Waiting for the wicked woman like a man waiting for poison to burn through his lungs.

Priscilla raised her crossed foot at him. "Kiss my shoe once."

"..." Felix found himself unable to process what was happening. His mind blanked out and all he could see was Priscilla's majesty as her red beautiful orbs observed him without waver or a blink. Her lips were thin and her expression bored with his entire existence.

"Your master's approval is waiting, freak." Her foot waved in the air, her urging forced his mind to think back to Crusch's disappointed face.

'Crusch-sama… I will do as you ask and serve you until you see me how I see you, nayn!'

His entire world revolves around Crusch. He was here to serve her, make her feel good, make her feel confident, take the responsibility of being a woman from her so she feels confident to lead the entire kingdom as a man should.

"Yes, Priscilla-sama."

This was a simple task that didn't matter in the grand scheme of his loyalty to his master. The Duchess of the Karsten house would pay ten times over to save him and people like him. Felix was keenly aware of how stupid this one small sacrifice of pride is compared to what Crusch would give to help him.

Kneeling down before this prideful and cruel witch, leaning his head to where her foot was raised from the floor, placing himself like an animal before Barielle's destestable mercy and amusement. His lips finally tasted the dirt on the toe of her footwear.

Once he rose from the utterly humiliating position, he never felt whole again.

And the woman that shattered a piece of his soul simply stared off to where his lips were placed. Bored. Expressionless. Blinking as if it was just another day where someone breaks their backs to amuse her.

"How very irksome." Once her foot lowered to the floor, she started wiping away the spot he'd sacrificed his heart to kiss. Felix felt like he wanted to cry. "The half-elf's sleeping pet has more integrity in his finger than your entire existence." Priscilla shot Felix with her cruel words.

Before he knew what was happening, the crimson matriarch snarled in disgust at what felt like his core.

"You have just shamed the Karsten household by humiliating their precious daughter's knight. Have you no shame?"

"Wha…" Felix widened his eyes in disarray at the hostile aura around Priscilla.

"... Your entire existence should've been forgotten instead of your master's memory. Mine self would say Karsten's lucky to have her memory wiped just to forget a freak like you."

"What's with you?! I did what you asked me too-"

"You've done what you wanted to do. Do not take me for a fool, boy." Priscilla threatened with a thorny glare. "You shame that greedy man's actions as if you are any better than he is. When really you are worse than a hypocrite in mineself's eyes. You are a person with no pride or existence beyond Karsten's boot steps. Do not believe yourself to be anything other than that when you speak about the sleeping man."

Felix found himself in utter humiliated shock, unable to register that Priscilla Barielle was actually defending Subaru because of his action.

"Y-You asked me to do this."

"And had you been better than him, you wouldn't have ever considered kneeling to me, much less do the deed." Priscilla took mercy to explain, though she still showed him disgust and repulsion through her gaze. "Your life is meaningless should Karsten will it. You hide your own weakness by surrendering yourself to be her inferior. You leech off of her confidence to bloat yours and commit actions by her name with no shame that your own holds no meaning before your adversaries."

Each sentence was a punch to his entire world and the coffin became darker as she closed it. Priscilla held Felix by the collar to spit her disgust into his soul.

"The half-wits slave at least worked the courage to demand what he wanted from her. That is why I believe you two are very different, and you to be his inferior version."

His reaction to her final statement was not important to anyone as he was thrown to the door of the room. "Out of my sight! I need to replace my shoes."

Felix's trembling hand grabbed the door handle so he could trip outside of the hellscape that was Priscilla's room. All he could think about was arguments about how wrong this witch was.

But his tears were proof that he had nothing to argue against. Priscilla read him like an open book and used it to humiliate him in the worst ways possible, using Crusch and Subaru against him.

"I'm sorry…" Felix whimpered to no one in particular, shaking from the entire ordeal. "I'm sorry."

It almost felt good to apologize to himself.

Inside of the room, the disgusted young lady found herself staring in the mirror.

"What an arrogant buffoon." She clicked her teeth at the situation that had just happened. "I would rather not have commoners in mine sanctuary again… But the world's message is clear." Priscilla sighes tiredly and summons another glass of expensive wine by the room's magic, an ability she found out as soon as she entered the first time.

"If this freak is what the world sends me, then I shall make my own use of his existence." Priscilla muttered to herself, thinking about what she said about Felix and what Al said to her.

"If the freak is the inferior version," Priscilla sucks her upper lip and hums, closing her eyes and picturing a far off image of a man with black-hair. Al's words echoed in her ear. "Maybe the superior version has a chance for mineself's attention after all?"

The red rose beauty drank her wine in satisfaction, finally having a clearer mind and an objective that isn't grumping around this Theater dormitory. All thanks to the soul Felix had just sold to her amused joke.

"How gross must one be to dress like a woman when they aren't? Yuck." Her snarl of disgust returned.

She really didn't want any more visitors to her room. Never.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"I have no intention of dignifying such a question, Wilhelm-dono." Crusch sipped her tea indulgently while the old man sitting next to her enjoyed his own cup.

"My apologies for overstepping, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm gave her a small lean of his upper chest. "But I wanted to make sure that we aren't planning anything nefarious."

"I understand fully well how precious your respect for the man is, Wilhelm-dono. Rest assured, I won't be taking advantage of that." The Duchess applies firmly, not giving any ground.

"I apologize for thinking such an act is possible from you, my lady." Wilhelm gives a deeper bow of respect this time, setting his cup down on the table.

"... But you have not come here to ask me about strategy. My plan was already clear enough last time you asked me before this viewing occurred."

"You are correct, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm nods and rises to meet with the militarist royal face to face. "I have no more ways to say this that are effective on a maiden's heart anymore. So I'll be blunt."

"Feel free to do so, Wilhelm-dono. We are in the sanctity of my quarters." Crusch urges the man sharply.

"Do you think that you're trying your best in this race for Subaru-dono's camp?"

"What makes you ask?"

"I have a good intuition that nearly all of the others are constantly changing their own agendas and movements to get closer to Subaru or the family surrounding him. Just before, in the viewing, that Oni maid was chatting bubbly with the knight of Priscilla Barielle." Wilhelm explained thoroughly and calmly, making Crusch sip her tea with a thoughtful look.

"Mh. Interesting."

He raised a brow at the simple, nonexistent reaction.

"You won't be changing any of your approaches to this?"

Crusch set her tea cup on the table and looked at the old man with a stern frown. "Should the other camps grow closer to Natsuki Subaru's friends or not, that is irrelevant to us. Natsuki Subaru has our full trust as we do his. Our camp will be there to hold Emilia's from scrutiny and prejudice as we disclosed in all of our deals even after I had been attacked by Gluttony. This is a simple fact, Subaru Natsuki will fall with us by nature if we just stood back and waited for the other camps to strike." Crusch laid out her plan, coldly, calculating each and every thing the subject had touched in her head to give her firm estimate on keeping the agenda running.

"Subaru Natsuki will be safe with us." Crusch leaned back in her seat again with the tea cup back in her hand.

"... And if he doesn't feel the same way in his heart about you, what would this plan be for, Crusch-sama?"

The Duchess had not acquired dignity of steel to hold herself from spitting the tea all over the carpets.

"... I did say I would be blunt on matters of a maiden's heart." Wilhelm comments with amusement.

The Duchess gave him a side glare after coughing the beverage out of her lung. "Since when does the Sword Demon make distasteful jokes?"

"I do not joke about these matters, my lady." Wilhelm answers absentmindedly, making Crusch pause.

"What makes you think that I have any feelings towards Natsuki Subaru? Do you think I'm so easily swayed to focus on him rather than my own goal?" Crusch asks, having a firmer frown on her face than before.

The wise old man looked at her with a small grin that was barely noticeable on his lips.

"You haven't told me. Why did you never change your attitude towards Subaru-dono?"

"Huh?" She sounds confused.

"You've seen the boy die many times over. Fail and get others killed because of his mistakes." Wilhelm notices how serious her posture became, no doubt hiding the real emotions of rage behind her firm expression. "Why haven't you abandoned your old views about Natsuki Subaru yet?"

"..." It only took Crusch a moment of thought to answer. "His struggle is admirable. All it takes is strength and determination to move a boulder ten times your size, but a mountain? That takes will and spirit."

"Is that what you see in Subaru-dono?" Wilhelm notices how calmly Crusch began picking her tea cup once again.

'You're much calmer speaking about something you are sure of. You can't lie to yourself, Crusch-sama. These are words from your heart.'

"I believe he has those yes. I believed. After I saw what he did to get here…" Crusch's lips thinned and her eyes dimmed slightly. "That boy has a will that can move our world ten times over, not just a mountain."

"Strong words. He must've charmed you enough during his time wallowing in self-pity." Wilhelm nods, compelling her to answer an unspoken question.

"That was just a phase." Crusch took the bait in stride. "Even back then I knew someone like him wouldn't stay down on the ground. He was far too passionate to do that." Wilhelm knew that Crusch had memories of Subaru's declaration as a self made knight were ones of admiration and bafflement, he'd never heard her speak of Subaru's time in her mansion after that though.

"... You praise and defend him when there is no need to." Wilhelm raises an amused brow at the confident matriarch.

Crusch gave him a simple smile with no connotation behind it. "After what he lived and went through, he deserves to at least have this from me."

"You seem very adamant on having him by your side, Crusch-sama. I'd say that is far greater than a few compliments." Wilhelm's stone-like expression never ceased to amaze Crusch even when he was clearly jesting.

"Are you trying to get an answer out of me that isn't there? That is a trick learned from Natsuki Subaru I wager?"

"You'd be correct." Wilhelm let the Duchess chuckle and sip her tea out of bemusement.

"No." Crusch answered with a smile as she swallowed the tea. "Subaru Natsuki is someone I wish to protect and have by my side to achieve my goal. There is no room for me in his heart nor can I let him mine."

"...That's a sad smile you have, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm shook his head, sipping some of his own tea, waiting for his master to regain the strength to rise from her disappointment. "Matters of the heart can be quite unremitting."

"I have no use dwelling on what might never happen." Crusch stares at the empty cup with great apathy. "There's a goal that I must fight for."

"... Mhm." Wilhelm slowly drinks the last of his tea. "The goal built on another love you do not understand."

"..." Crusch's form went rigid at the old man's words, feeling her breath growing heavy.

"Forgive my zealousness." The Sword Demon relents and reflects on his approach with a small bow of his head.

"I-It's fine." Crusch forces out, placing her cup down and staring at the floor. "It is not a matter to be discussed. But Fourier's love for me was… Precious."

Wilhelm nods his head, encouraging the iron woman to let her guard down and share what's burdening her with his silence.

"But I feel that it might've been misplaced." Crusch looks as if she had crushed her own heart by just her frown. "Natsuki Subaru would probably end up the same way as Fourier-sama should he accept me."

Wilhelm clicked his teeth. "You know, making excuses just to deny your wish is unlike you, Crusch-sama."

"It isn't an excuse." Crusch's voice wavered as if it was in pain. "Besides, he told me himself that he couldn't. Emilia-sama and Rem-san can take care of that matter for him."

"... But I can see through you, Crusch-sama." Wilhelm provides kindly, earning a soft glance from the wavered woman. "You're desperate to understand this all, but making excuses has never succeeded in making you deny yourself something you desire."

"What do I even desire? To you, I'm just denying something within me from causing more issues for my goals down the road. To me, I'm not even sure if this pull towards him is what Fourier…" Crusch loses her voice and trails her eyes to the table edge.

"Crusch-sama, my lady." Wilhelm coughs politely and moves in his chair to fully face the confused girl before him. "I would advise you to only think about what is there instead of what should be there. Your past experience with these feelings aside, it's clear that your tenacity to own what you feel is yours is already doing the work for you."

"What do you mean?" She asks, curious but still staring at the floor.

"I'd say the fact that you believe so firmly that he will end up by your side once his camp goes into danger is enough. Or the brave choice of covering nearly every single one of his friends under your banner if needed… This is not the strategy or sacrifice of a cunning politician, my lady. I think it's more telling of what your heart wants."

Crusch seemed to register what her oldest member was saying with grace and acceptance. Her lip was stuck between the front white teeth and her eyes closed. The Duchess was now in a world of turmoil and chaos when her plan seemed so clear and straightforward.

All it took was a few words from the wise old man sitting beside her, and she was second guessing each choice she would make in this race between the camps.

"Am I that obvious, Wilhelm-dono?" Crusch asks, merely to satiate her need to focus on something other than her own mind.

The old man looked at the troubled woman with pity and amusement. "Those who fell in the same trap as you did can read the trouble your heart is in from a mile away, my lady." He answered kindly.

"What trap?" Crusch asks, voice dry, and her head leaning back towards her chair.

Wilhelm's smile finally broke through his stony expression in a way Crusch can see the warmth that came off of the old man.

His answer was clear on his lips which caused Crusch to chuckle.

"Maybe excuses aren't really my style after all." She muttered as she relaxed on her chair with closed eyes and a warm smile.

The Sword Demon nods and crosses his arms, waiting patiently for the third member of this household to return and rest with them.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"I feel so stuu~uk here!" A small girl with tiny animal ears loudly groaned inside of the Theater room. The massive space of the room happened to be empty enough for an echo to spread.

"Interestin'… It seems the echoes were suppressed durin' viewin' times somehow and we can hear them now that the screen is off." Beside the young Demi-Human girl, a twin was scanning the ceiling with narrowed eyes.

"Whatcha lookin' at anyway?"

"I'm trying to find out more about the place we are in, Mimi. Now please shut up or else you will wake up Boss Ricardo." He points towards the unmoving beastman in the chair beside him but his eyes widen as soon as his sister picks up her wooden wand and strikes at him.

"Oo~ff!"

"I'm bored Tivey!" Mimi shouted as loudly as she could as she swung for her brother who expertly dodged.

"I told you to shut up!" Tivey whispered, catching the wood in his hand and glaring brazenly at his twin.

Mimi adorably stretched her tongue out which made the boy shake his head and turn around to glance at the hulking beast sleeping right beside them.

Ricardo's snores filled his ears much to his relief.

"I feel like you aren't getting how serious this situation has become, Mimi!" Tivey shouts, glaring at his sister and gripping the wand tighter.

"I am!" Mimi retorts while trying to rip it out of his hand, but her brother only glared at her without budging. "I wish I was stuck in here with anyone else! At least they are not as boring as you!"

"How would you like it if you were Hetaro right now? You would be alone over there without the boss, Mama, or even a Sword Saint! Don't you get how stupid your statement is?!" Hetaro's name being mentioned sent the twins both down a spiral of emotions they were not ready to hold.

"..."

"I'm sorry for mentioning him, Mimi… I shouldn't have." Tivey spoke in a softer tone of voice, sympathetic for his sister's silence.

"Don't care! I don't care! Screw you forever, Tivey, you dumby!" Mimi ran away from her brother down the isles, past the black-haired sleeping boy and the small blonde in the pretty dress.

"Ow!" A small girl in a maids uniform shouts as Mimi knocks her down midway through her run inside of the hall.

"I-I'm sorry!" Mimi expresses her regret by trying to reach out to the fallen orange-haired girl, but a voice scrambled behind her.

"Mimi, wait! I didn't mean it, I really really did not!"

Hearing her brother, Mimi panics and retracts her arm, making the poor little maid fall over again with an 'oof' coming out of her.

"I'm sorry! I'll make it up to ya, promise!" Mimi hurriedly speaks a jumbled mess and runs off to one of the rooms in the hallway.

The small girl Mimi had dropped twice was on her legs, rubbing the back of her head with a small frown on her face.

"So sorry for my sister! Please forgive her!" Tivey quickly ran toward the girl and pulled her up.

"I-Its fine. No worries, please go find your sister." The girl speaks softly, pulling her hand closer to her chest and looking away from Tivey.

"O-Ok. Thank you." He hurries after Mimi in a dash.

At her loneliness, Petra's lips thinned and her legs walked once again.

'This is the worst group of people. Liars of deception and selfishness! I don't know what to do!'

Petra continued walking with her mind running with confrontation after confrontation about everyone's character surrounding her and Subaru.

'Does anyone even care what might happen to him anymore?!'

She bit her lip in protest of this thought. Remembering how Rem and Emilia agonize over his many deaths. How much Otto and Garfiel care for him. How scary Beatrice was when she threatened everyone over him.

But she still could not forget the sight of Rem torturing his wound with her Morningstar.

"..."

The little girl couldn't hold her bubbly smile around Rem and Ram anymore. She can fake it to make them feel better…

"This don't change a thin' in my plans, sweetheart"

"..."

Petra stopped walking in the hall to face a door that was opened a tiny bit.

"That Karsten gal ain't gonna be trouble for me. She's actually growin' on Barielle's nerves!"