Natsuki Subaru is chasing his back

Chapter 46: Dream

In a somewhat dark and quiet corridor, the sound of Natsuki Subaru's footsteps broke the silence.

He was now heading to Beatrice's library.

By intuition, he had already found the location of Beatrice's library, but he did not immediately walk over and open the door.

Subaru stopped and sighed helplessly, then turned around to look at Rem behind him with a complicated expression and said:

"Rem-senpai, it's already very late. If you don't go to bed early, you'll age faster, you know."

Subaru said this very helplessly.

The previous two times, Rem had not followed him, but this time, for some unknown reason, she suddenly appeared.

Normally, Subaru wouldn't have been able to detect Rem's presence.

But unfortunately, Rem's gaze, filled with murderous intent, was as conspicuous as a firefly in the night to Subaru.

Subaru watched as Rem slowly walked from the darkness to the window.

Under the moonlight, her expression was clearly reflected in his eyes, and along with it, the meteor hammer she held in her hand.

Subaru looked at Rem, who said nothing but stared at him with anger and murderous intent. He sighed again, raised both hands, and said:

"Rem-senpai, could you please put down the weapon in your hand? If you want to talk, we can talk properly.

I'm very skinny and weak—I wouldn't be able to withstand even one of your blows.

So for my own safety, I might have to shout for help loudly. If you have something to say, I hope you can calm down first before speaking."

"If you're not calm now, I can wait until you are before we communicate. Also, if you kill me here, cleaning up will be troublesome."

"Shut up! Witch's cultist!"

Hearing Rem's words, Subaru sighed, realizing there was no chance for dialogue between them now.

Since she wasn't willing to talk properly, Subaru didn't intend to waste time saying more.

Though he wanted to save this girl, the hatred she held for him was too great.

For the moment, there was no way to make her trust him.

"Alright then, it seems senpai has no intention of communicating. I'm going to study in Beatrice's library all night. You've seen the book in my hands, right? So I won't stay here with you."

With that, Subaru lowered his hands and turned his back to Rem, not worried at all about whether she would attack him.

Someone like Rem, who could not hide her murderous intent at all, was easy to read.

Subaru was not afraid.

Rem looked at Subaru's arrogant attitude. A nerve in her brain seemed to snap at that moment. But just as she was about to strike, Subaru said:

"By the way, it seems our manor's food supplies are running low. We'll probably need to go shopping tomorrow afternoon. Let's go together then."

The words caught Rem off guard.

Then she saw Subaru gently open a door.

The expression on his side profile was one of "I knew it." He shook his head slightly with a smile and walked in.

Until the door fully closed, Rem had not recovered from hearing those words and seeing what happened.

She gritted her teeth and clenched her weapon tightly.

After a while, she prepared to leave and go to sleep, planning to deal with Subaru when they went shopping the next day.

Then she heard hurried footsteps. Turning around, Rem saw who it was and called out in surprise:

"Sis?"

She quickly hid her weapon behind her back like a child who did something wrong.

"Sis, weren't you asleep?"

Rem didn't say anything but slowly approached her.

Rem had never seen the expression on Ram's face before.

While she was flustered, wanting to explain something, she suddenly felt Ram embrace her.

"Sis?"

Rem looked at Ram with some confusion.

Their sisterly relationship was indeed good, but it never had been like this before.

Since that night, although Ram's attitude toward her hadn't changed, Rem had been intentionally or unintentionally distancing herself from her.

Because of that night, filled with guilt and self-reproach, Rem couldn't come to terms with herself, nor could she easily forgive herself.

And Ram couldn't force Rem to stop pushing her away.

No matter how worried Ram was, all she could do was accommodate her sister.

This resulted in little intimate contact between them.

Ram said nothing. After holding Rem for a while when Rem was confused, she let go. Ram carefully examined Rem and, noticing the unnaturalness on her face, said:

"Rem, what are you doing so late?"

"I—"

Before Rem could explain, Ram interrupted her:

"Don't lay a hand on Natsuki Subaru. I know how you feel about him, but he's still Lady Emilia's benefactor, Lord Roswaal's guest and servant.

Roswaal has his own plans, so don't act rashly. Go back to sleep now."

"But..." Rem wanted to say something, but under Ram's unyielding gaze, she could only nod and leave.

Ram watched Rem's retreating figure until it disappeared completely before she started to think about the dream she had just had.

She dreamed of what would happen tomorrow night, of Rem lying dead in bed the morning after, and of all the villagers being dead that morning.

Because of Rem's death, she frantically hunted down a suspect who knew something.

When she reached the village, she saw Subaru talking with Lady Beatrice.

Then, after Subaru said some inexplicable words, his attitude suddenly changed.

He became a crazed madman, taking all the blame upon himself, and she saw his head being cut off.

That dream was so real it scared Ram: the cold corpse of Rem, Subaru's madness, and the smile on his face after death — all so vivid.

After confirming Rem was alive and warm, Ram finally regained some composure.

But with calm came more questions: why did Rem die, and why did the villagers die?

After carefully recalling the scenes from her dream, she found answers.

First, the magical beast corpses left in the village were likely the real culprits behind Rem's and the villagers' deaths.

But there should have been a protective barrier around the village, and Rem's combat ability was stronger than hers.

It was impossible for those beasts to curse Rem directly.

So there must be a mastermind behind the scenes who destroyed the barrier and caused Rem to be cursed.

Although Subaru eventually admitted everything was his doing, the more Ram thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

First, Subaru's motives didn't add up.

Second, why was he surprised when he saw Rem's corpse in the manor? And why was he still smiling when he died?

And those strange words he said — it sounded like, "Senpai, don't you think magic is really mysterious? See, I accomplished my mission well. You all were tricked by me one by one. I—"

She recalled how Subaru was almost beaten to death by Puck for saying some things to Lady Emilia, and the determined, hardworking words he said tonight, and the blanket covering her when she woke up.

Also, in the dream, Subaru looked at her with disappointment.

No matter how she looked at it, Subaru wasn't the culprit.

Thinking this, Ram frowned.

Even though the dream was very realistic, it was still just a dream. But... why would the Subaru in the dream say those things, wanting her to kill him?

Why would he do that?

Ram clenched her fist and came to a conclusion: Subaru's actions were to make her seek "revenge"?

Ram didn't get an answer.

Shaking her head to stop thinking about it, Ram returned to her room.