Chapter 152: Subaru is about to fall apart, isn't he?

"It is said the Witch of Envy hungered for love."

"It is said she could not speak the language of humans."

"It is said her body would never rot, never age, never die."

"It is said that even sealed away by the combined power of the Dragon, the Hero and the Sage, she would not be destroyed."

Betty spoke softly, her face grave, as though every word of it were fact.

She paused for a moment, then let the last of the rumours about the Witch of Envy fall from her lips in the flattest of tones.

"It is said… that she was a silver-haired half-elf!"

"But that's—"

Natsuki Subaru's face went stiff. Slow as he was, even he made the connection now: Emilia was a silver-haired half-elf too.

Not that it mattered! He wasn't about to back away from Emilia over some pointless old rumour!

There was only one thing nagging at him. In that very first loop, right after he'd been thrown into this world, Emilia had told him her name was "Satella." Why would she do that?

"Um, Betty, I've got a question. When would somebody ever go around using the Witch of Envy's name as their own?"

"Whenever it might be, anyone who'd do that has something wrong with their head, I suppose," Betty answered, not remotely interested.

"No… I think that person was probably just a little too clumsy, and a little too determined to keep other people at arm's length."

Natsuki Subaru thought back to that one-day date he'd spent with "Satella" — helping a little girl find her mother, chasing down leads on the thief who'd stolen the insignia, looking out over the city from the clock tower, talking about nothing at all by the bridge…

"So she did it to make people think she was crazy. She didn't want anyone else dragged into the fighting over the Royal Selection."

Natsuki Subaru gave a helpless little laugh.

It was such an Emilia way to handle things. It had also caused him no end of grief.

There was one loop where, fresh off a Return by Death, he'd called out to Emilia and greeted her as Satella — and for reasons he couldn't begin to fathom at the time, earned nothing but hostility and disgust. Ahh!]

"To think something like that happened. Subaru and Lady Emilia's first meeting really was full of surprises," Julius said, his face alight with amusement.

"It's hard to imagine. The Subaru who stood in the hall that day and declared himself Lady Emilia's knight—"

"—who squared off against every single person in that room without flinching. What kind of heart-stopping first encounter did he and Lady Emilia have?"

"Hmph. It's exactly that troublesome disposition of hers that made her give Barusu a fake name on purpose, and then she was the first one to forget she'd said it, which caused even more trouble."

Ram had been silent for a long while, but her old habit had clearly flared up again: the moment she spotted an opening, she came down on Emilia with everything she had.

"Maybe it seems like nothing to you. But what about Barusu?"

"You were the only person he knew in the entire world back then. Imagine how miserable and humiliated he must have felt when he found out the name you'd given him was a lie. He trusted the wrong person, clearly," Ram said coldly, arms folded, her gaze aimed squarely at Emilia.

Emilia might as well not have heard a word of it. She was staring up at Natsuki Subaru on the screen, and her eyes had gone so soft they were nearly melting.

Judging by her own memories, that really had been what she was thinking at the time — but Subaru had no way of knowing that, did he?

And yet from nothing but a few offhand lines of Betty's, he'd worked out exactly what had been going through her head, and hadn't assumed the worst of her. She was so glad. So glad!

She'd known it all along. Subaru really was an angel.

At that moment, Emilia was Natsuki Subaru's most devoted believer.

["Good morning!"

Another new day at the manor. Natsuki Subaru came down into the courtyard, talking to himself with fired-up enthusiasm.

"Not a cloud in the sky today either. Perfect laundry weather!"

"Let's have ourselves a great day!"

Then he thrust both arms over his head and bellowed.

"Alright — Victory!"

The racket of Natsuki Subaru psyching himself up carried across to Emilia, who was sitting on the steps a little way off, communing with the spirits as usual. She looked up.

"Victory, victory…"

Listening to the shouting drifting over, Emilia smiled a small, indulgent smile. "Subaru's raring to go bright and early today too."

"Oh!"

The instant he caught her remark, Natsuki Subaru was in front of her, practically a blur, showing off his efforts like a child desperate to be praised.

"Today I shall once again enjoy a full day of the servant's life, under the orders and tender instruction of the maid sisters!" He rattled off the whole line at high volume and made a deliberate show of looking delighted about it.

"But when I get sick of that life, I'll come sprinting straight for Emilia's lap, so make sure you keep it free for me, okay?"

"Ah, Puck! Watching you wash your face like that, anyone can tell you really are a cat! Do spirits get sleepy too? Do you sleep in?"

Natsuki Subaru had already moved on to Puck, who was drifting in midair, and was scratching him here and there with the practiced hands of a lifelong cat person.

"I'm a spirit, after all. Moving around burns Mana, and when I'm low on Mana I get drowsy… haaah."

Puck yawned, floated up to the top of Emilia's head, and settled in like he was crawling back into his own nest.

As if she'd caught it from him, Emilia yawned too.

"The two of you stayed up late together?" Natsuki Subaru guessed, with all the familiarity and cheek of an old friend.

"Bet you were up half the night talking about who you like! Let me in on it too~" He grinned and pointed at her, his tone so teasing and shameless that anyone hearing it would have bristled on instinct.

"The one I like is Puck. And the one Puck likes is me."

Instead of getting annoyed, Emilia only smiled faintly, reached up, and gave the little paw on her head a gentle shake.

"Right. That's the end of that subject." She clapped her hands once and shut the conversation down herself. Subaru's answer just now had gone a bit far, after all.

If she'd had to actually respond to it, she would have died of embarrassment — so cutting it off cleanly was the best option.

"Oh, oh, that reminds me — if I don't get going, the maid sisters are going to be furious!"

Natsuki Subaru shot out his wrist and checked a watch that wasn't there, a gesture that struck Emilia and Puck as thoroughly bizarre.

"So — see you later!"

And then he hurried off, as though he'd realized his own performance hadn't been quite perfect.

"See you…"

Emilia kept her hand raised mid-wave, staring blankly after him.

"What's wrong, Lia? You don't look well," Puck asked, picking up on the shift in her mood.

"No… it's just that Subaru seemed strange today. He was trying much too hard. His face, the way he moved, all of it was so exaggerated — like he was forcing himself to smile…"

Emilia said it with worry in her voice, one hand pressed tight against her chest. "Something about it makes me uneasy…"

"Well, it's no wonder you're confused, Lia. Things really have gotten rather difficult."

Puck folded his arms and looked off in the direction Natsuki Subaru had gone. As a Great Spirit, he was born far more sensitive to the emotions of others than anyone else.

Which was how he could tell that Natsuki Subaru… was very nearly broken.

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