"—Ehh?! You're leaving me behind?!"
Early in the morning at the inn, Subaru raised his voice in shock as he learned
the day's schedule.
Subaru was stunned while Emilia and Rem sat before his eyes at the table.
Roswaal had left the inn earlier, stating that he had a prior engagement; the
other three were just finishing the breakfast Rem had prepared.
Emilia answered him, "Of course I am. Subaru, the reasons you're here in the
royal capital were to see if your acquaintances are all right and to get you
treated. That was the deal."
"Er, but, since I'm feeling pretty well, you could loosen up the interpretation a
little…"
"Absolutely not. Today really isn't fun and games, and outsiders are forbidden
to enter. I can't even bring Rem with me."
Emilia's atypically strict instructions were hard for Subaru to argue with given
how he'd wandered off just the day before. He looked to Rem for salvation, but
the blue-haired maid shook her head.
"This time, Lady Emilia is absolutely correct. Please listen to her."
"Crap, isn't anyone on my side here?! And I can't say anything because of
what happened yesterday, either. Ugh!"
Even if Rem was fundamentally biased toward Subaru, priorities were
priorities. As a result of his failing to uphold Emilia's instructions and wandering
off on his own the day before, he was totally grounded.
With Subaru directing his lament skyward, Emilia put her hands on her hips
and exhaled.
"It won't be that long… Or I'd like to say that, but I don't really know when I'll
be back. So go ahead and eat supper together with Rem. Otherwise I think it
might be a rather long wait."
"Pfft. If you're going to be that mean about it, I've got my own ideas, Emilia-
tan. Hey, Rem. Let's have a feast all by ourselves!"
"No, today's menu is abble chips with abble salad, abble pie filled with abble
jam, and I have freshly squeezed abble juice ready for dessert."
"Abbles all the way down?! Damn you, Scarface!"
Apparently, since he'd returned with nine abbles in his bag, it meant the
evening's menu would be a veritable abble festival. Subaru laughed desperately
as the image of the scar-faced shopkeeper smiling and giving him a thumbs-up
came to mind.
"Well, that's fine, abbles are my favorite fruit, anyway! Being surrounded by
abbles is heaven itself! Okay, Rem!! Let's eat the whole thing up between the
two of us!!"
"Oh, I couldn't. If you like it so much, I'll let you have all of it."
"You act like you're cozying up to me, but sometimes you just chuck me over
the cliff, you know?!"
Subaru was aghast at how Rem acted less out of concern for his position and
more out of how to use his position to her advantage. Emilia slumped her
shoulders at the interaction between the two before focusing on the maid.
"Anyway, I'm trusting you with this, Rem. I think Roswaal has told you this,
too, but… Be strict… Really, be strict, okay?"
"The way you repeated yourself after that pause—Emilia-tan's super trusting
of me, huh?"
Subaru gave a thumbs-up at Emilia's earnest reminder. Emilia, already
accustomed to the sight, gently rested a hand on his fact.
Subaru's breath caught at the sudden contact.
"Subaru, I'm not asking much of you…"
"R-right…?"
"Please, let me trust you, okay?"
For a moment, the sound of Emilia's plea froze Subaru's thoughts solid.
Then, he caught her meaning, chewed it over, and swallowed with a nod.
"Y-yeah! I'll do just that! I practically live to meet Emilia-tan's expectations!"
He still didn't understand the cause of the lingering unease in her eyes when
he reflexively agreed to all her conditions. He'd just accept them for now and
take them into account when he shifted to action.
In contrast, Emilia's violet eyes darkened. Then, she quietly added…
"Yes—I trust you."