The banquet went on late into the night, and Subaru's fury burned brighter with each passing hour.
He was utterly furious at being tricked so easily, but every time he debated trying to fight back with brute force, a quick glance at Cecilus and the dozens of Ironborn standing guard just outside the hall quickly put that idea to bed.
I don 't know what to do. My only hope is to find some way to force Vincent to help me rescue Emilia. That means that I need to play ball for now.
Oh, who the hell am I kidding? Vincent will keep me on a leash forever if I let him! I need to find a way to break free, but how?
Unable to devise a plan, Subaru found himself forced to spend the entire night as a prop in the Emperor 's pageantry, standing side by side with Priscilla, whose cool expression gave no hint of what she was thinking.
Officers and officials came by the dozens to Subaru to praise his service and congratulate him on his 'reward.'
Subaru noted darkly that nobody bothered to say much of anything to Priscilla.
No matter what was happening around him, Subaru made sure to keep a close eye on Felt and Garfiel as they sat together at the table.
I 'm not letting Vincent take any more hostages or find any new ways to control me.
The most bizarre moment was when a beautiful, dark-haired young woman in a black dress approached Subaru and gave him a low curtsy. Strangely, she was the only woman who had approached him without a male escort tonight.
"My name is Cornelia Secundus," She said in honeyed tones. "It is an honor to meet you. I hope that we'll have a chance to get to know each other better."
Subaru hesitated. "Sounds lovely," He said finally. He kissed her hand, and she went away, smiling broadly.
Subaru took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. This was the first time all evening when no one was immediately waiting to speak with him.
"Be careful," Priscilla murmured, speaking for the first time in hours.
"Of what?" Subaru grumbled. "Could I get any more trapped?"
"Be careful of her. She approached you alone because she wanted you to know that she's available. She hopes to win a place in your harem," Priscilla said matter-of-factly.
Subaru gave Priscilla a hard look. "Did you know that Vincent was going to do this tonight?" He demanded.
"I knew nothing," Priscilla sniffed. "I thought that my brother was dead. At his insistence, I agreed to be engaged to you, but that was in the context of you becoming my consort as Empress. Nothing was ever said of me becoming your consort. Vincent didn't say a word to me. He didn't ask me. He didn't even warn me…"
Priscilla trembled, struggling to control herself as her eyes filled up with tears.
Subaru gently took her arm. "Come on, let's step outside for a minute."
Priscilla looked at him in surprise and then nodded. Subaru led her out on the balcony, being sure to catch Felt 's eye before he did.
Felt watched him leave with a nod.
They stood out on the balcony, and Priscilla bowed her head over the railing for a long moment, breathing heavily. Finally, she stood back up, her face once again smooth and composed.
"Thank you, Subaru Natsuki," Priscilla murmured. "For my dignity."
"Don't mention it," Subaru sighed. "All of my frustrations aside, I suppose that we're in the same boat here."
Priscilla shook her head sadly. "Vincent wasn't always like this, you know. There was a time when I knew he'd do anything for me. And I would have died to protect him without a second thought. When we were children, he once foiled an assassination. He protected me from a dagger strike with his own body. He nearly died. After our mothers fell to assassin blades, Vincent was the only one who ever looked out for me. We did everything together. We schemed to flee the Empire and live in exile together, far beyond Father 's reach. When that plan failed, Vincent risked his life and even his throne to smuggle me out of Vollachia to where I'd be safe."
Priscilla took a deep breath. "I could have never imagined that he could do this to me. When he asked me for my help, I risked my life to come back to Vollachia and aid him. He let me fight what could have been a doomed siege purely as a diversion. He even let me believe that he was dead. And now he gives me away as a trophy without a word of warning…" She said bitterly.
"I'm sorry," Subaru said simply.
Priscilla nodded distractedly. "I assume that you plan to escape from here? Please let me know if I can offer any assistance."
Subaru looked at her cautiously.
Priscilla gave him a winsome smile. "I wasn't lying before, Subaru. I believe that we could be a fine match. But not like this. I am not a courtesan to be given to one who has pleased my master, " She said bitterly.
Priscilla drew herself up, smoothed her dress, and squared her shoulders as if about to go into battle. "I believe that I've had as much 'fun' as I can endure for one night. It's time for me to withdraw and return to my chambers."
Subaru hesitated. "I'm sorry, Priscilla," He said again.
"Thank you, Subaru Natsuki," Priscilla said gently. "I do hope that you find a way to save your beloved."
With that, Priscilla marched back inside.
Alone out on the balcony, Subaru bowed his head.
Shit. What the hell am I going to do now?!
There 's no way that we're sneaking out of here with the Ironborn watching every entrance! And even if we do, there's a good chance that Cecilus would track us down and drag us back!
If I could just summon the Authority 's full power, the power that the Ryuzus told me about, it would be no issue. I bet I could melt all the Ironborn with a thought and probably pulverize Regulus, too, but I have no idea how to access that kind of power. And even Pridebreaker is no good here. The spirits are in agony whenever they get close to the Ironborn, and worse, the monsters are immune to the spirits' sorcery!
"Excuse me," A voice said sweetly.
Subaru looked behind him and saw the girl Cornelia approaching him with a bright smile.
"Forgive me, Lord Subaru, but I was hoping we could continue our conversation from earlier," She said archly.
Too tired to even attempt to be polite, Subaru turned his back on her. "Now isn't a good time."
"Given a bit of time, I'm sure that I could convince you that I'd be a… valued member of your household," She said in a sultry voice.
"Please go away," Subaru said in an icy voice.
"Don't worry, I'm sure I can get along with your women. My mother taught me to remember my place."
"Please leave!" Subaru snarled, barely in control of his temper.
"I promise that you'll learn to like me. Remember, promises are important, and I must keep my promises."
Subaru blinked and spun around in shock. The girl 's happy, empty-headed smile was gone, replaced by a hard expression.
"Please listen to me," She whispered, stepping close to Subaru and pretending to kiss him. "We don't have much time. My name is Melinda. I am a Shadow under Princess Kairei."
"Anri?" Subaru gasped.
"The princess sent me here to find you," Melinda whispered. "She begs for you to return to Gusteko with all speed. The princess fears that her life is in danger, and she does not know whom she can trust. She pleads that you come and try to rescue her from her peril as you did so many times before."
Subaru looked flabbergasted. "I would love to help Anri but I 'm kind of in big trouble here myself!"
"I know. And I'm afraid we can't help you escape the palace, but we were able to secure your dragon. It and a wagon full of supplies are waiting for you at one of our safe houses near the fork in the river to the north. Tell the farmer in the house that 'It looks like snow,' and he will help you."
Subaru nodded. "That… Could be helpful," Subaru said, struggling not to sound unimpressed. "Thank you."
It 'll be helpful if we ever figure out a way to escape the goddamn palace, at least…
Melinda nodded. "Also, Her Majesty has learned another thing that she believes would be of value to you. She discovered that your spirits are being held in Priestella."
Subaru 's eyes widened. "Priestella?" Subaru said in amazement.
What a coincidence …
Coincidences make me suspicious.
"I have no idea how she acquired this information," Melinda admitted, "But we investigated the lead she provided, and it proved to be accurate. Also, we discovered that the kidnappers who brought your spirits there were agents of the Arcani."
Subaru 's eyes widened. "The Imperial Intelligence service…"
Melinda nodded. "Yes. The few survivors of the Arcani are loyal to Vincent, so it makes sense that-"
"Vincent kidnapped them to help keep me under control!" Subaru said, his mind filling with flames.
"If you reach Priestella, you will find them in McClane's Hospital for the Incurables. Officially, they're an asylum that takes care of unwanted and untreatable cases of mental illness. Unofficially, they're a front for the Black Silver Coins, an international criminal syndicate. This particular sect specializes in making valuable hostages vanish until and unless they're needed. If you go to the Hospital, you should expect everyone there to be hostile and to attack you."
"Then you should expect none of them to survive," Subaru snapped.
Melinda raised an eyebrow. "Lord Subaru, I see that her Majesty did not misrepresent you."
She started to turn away and then hesitated. "Lord Subaru, Her Majesty is desperate," Melinda said earnestly. " Please hurry. "
Subaru 's face hardened."We will," He promised.
Melinda nodded and walked back into the party, once again acting like a happy and empty-headed girl.
Subaru hurried over to Felt and Garfiel. Priscilla was nowhere to be seen.
Felt shook her head ruefully. "Boy, you just missed a real show, Subaru," She said.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Priscilla actually tried to be diplomatic with us!" Garfiel snickered.
"We must be more desperate than I thought," Felt sighed.
"Guys," Subaru gestured for them to come closer.
They huddled around him, and Subaru quickly scanned the area to make sure that they weren 't being overheard. "I have news."
"What?" Felt asked.
Subaru quickly repeated Melinda 's message.
"Oh, that's just great," Felt said sarcastically. "Big help! Now all we have to do is figure out a way to break out of the goddamn royal palace, which is guarded by metal monsters and a superhuman swordsman, and then we're home free!"
"Yeah, I had the same thought," Subaru admitted.
"Are you sure it's not a trick?" Felt asked skeptically. "Maybe Vincent is trying to stall for time by making us fixate on escaping the palace."
"No. It's not a trick," Subaru said. "Anri's messenger used a special code phrase that's… well, it's important to Emilia and me. No one else would know it."
Garfiel frowned. "If Anri's in trouble, then we should at least try to help her, right? After we save Frosty and the Little Bit, of course, " He said.
"We will," Subaru promised. "Priestella is on the way to Siros anyway."
"Anyone else a little worried that everything we need is suddenly in Priestella?" Felt murmured.
"Yes!" Subaru admitted. "I'm very worried. But it doesn't matter. If that's where the Od Laguna and Beako are, then that's where we're going. But first, we need to rescue Emilia."
"Yeah, Captain, but that's the hard part," Garfiel whispered. "Even if we do escape the palace and even if we can find out where Regulus and Frosty are hiding, what the hell are we going to do when we get there? Regulus pulverized a whole army last time."
Subaru had been worried about the very same problem, but he pushed it aside. "Later, Garf. First things first. We need to find a way out of here. "
The others nodded.
"Alright. Let's get back to our rooms and start getting ready," Subaru whispered.
"Ready for what?" Felt asked.
"Looking for a way out of here," Subaru hissed. "We'll need to search the entire palace from top to bottom until we find an escape route. I refuse to believe that we're trapped with no way out!"
They started marching out of the banquet hall.
"Subaru!" Vincent shouted in a friendly voice, walking over to him while accompanied by a large entourage.
"Vincent," Subaru said shortly, not trying very hard to sound friendly.
"I have good news, my friend."
Subaru paused. "You've found Regulus?" He asked cautiously.
"No. Not yet, but rest assured, my Arcani are hard at work searching for him," Vincent said pleasantly.
Yeah. I bet they are.
Subaru fought not to growl, "Then what is it?"
"I've located your spirits."
Subaru blinked. "What?" He asked in real confusion.
Vincent 's face was somber. "Yes. They're being held in Priestella. I believe that the Dragon Kingdom is holding them hostage."
"…Those bastards," Subaru growled, trying to act like he believed him.
"Don't worry, my brother," Vincent put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I hope you don't mind if I start calling you that. I will use the full might of the Empire to retake your precious ones. They will be returned to you, I swear it. The kingdom has caused you much suffering and abuse. It's time that they paid for those sins, and you were able to return to your homeland!"
Subaru hesitated. "Well… thanks," He said awkwardly, trying to act surprised and somewhat touched.
Vincent smiled at him. "Sleep well, my brother. Tomorrow, we will have many plans to make."
Subaru nodded, trying to give his expression just the right hint of uncertainty, and then he swept from the banquet hall with Felt and Garfiel close behind.
"I'm confused," Garfiel whispered. "Why would he tell us-"
"He's going to attack Priestella," Felt said at once.
Garfiel blinked. "He is?" He asked in surprise.
Subaru 's hands made fists, and he was hard-pressed not to use them. "It's the perfect target for Vincent's opening move to retake the continent," Subaru seethed. "It's right across the Lagunican border and it's within striking distance of two other nations. The Tigracy River is right next to it, which makes shipping goods upriver from Vollachia trivial. It would be an ideal base of operations to wage war across the continent."
I 'm an idiot. All this time, I didn't see the most obvious reason why Vincent wanted me to marry Priscilla and why he kept trying to get me on his side.
Yes, he wants to control me and to make sure I don 't get in his way, but there are easier ways to do that. Locking me up in the dungeon and taking hostages springs immediately to mind, but I completely missed the big reason he wants me here.
If I 'm standing beside Vincent, willingly or unwillingly, then that legitimizes his invasion of Lagunica. He'll stand up and announce that he's only there to help me. To put the 'rightful king' back on the throne after the treacherous nobles exiled him.
From what Felt and Garf have told me, the kingdom is already fragmenting between the nobility on one side and the peasants and demi-humans on the other. If Vincent plays his cards right, he could use me as a tool to fragment the kingdom even further.
He could actually use me as a figurehead to try and create a faction in the Dragon Kingdom that 's sympathetic to Vollachia. There are probably plenty of idiots who would be happy to see Vollachia conquer the kingdom. They'd think, 'As long as the nobles get what's coming to them, what else matters?'
They 'll be in for a very rude awakening if Vincent takes over.
Subaru triggered Reason and Judgment, and the world froze around him.
Conquering the kingdom could take years , A cold voice whispered to Subaru. But it might take as little as six months if early gains are properly consolidated. Lagunica knows about Vincent 's 'ultimate weapon' by now, but they certainly won't take that literally. They'll interpret the claim as hyperbole and propaganda.
This might even have been deliberate on Vincent 's part. Reports of the Ironborn attacking Octavian at Morenth will get out sooner or later, but with Vincent openly proclaiming that the Ironborn are invincible, the kingdom might not believe the reports when they're first presented. And that situation is tailor-made for Vincent to bait a trap.
He can't separate the Ironborn, the voice went on. They won't take orders from anyone else, and that weakens their impact as an invading or occupying force. But what if he conceals the Ironborn's power and deliberately loses a few battles early in the conflict? If he maintains tight control of his forces, he'll be able to retreat with small loss even if he technically loses ground in the overall conflict. That will embolden the kingdom to think that the Ironborn are nothing special.
Then, Vincent lays out the bait: Vincent and the Ironborn are cut off from the bulk of their forces. Would Lagunica be able to resist the temptation, or would they throw everything they have at the Emperor, trying to end the war in a single stroke? And, in so doing, gathering the lion 's share of Lagunica's military manpower in one location where the Ironborn can be unleashed upon them.
The Lagunican armies would be slaughtered. With the deaths of all those soldiers and the loss of all the children that they might have produced over the years, the kingdom would go through a sharp population crunch. Lagunica would lack sufficient manpower to mount a successful opposition to the Empire for at least two generations. And Vincent would spend all that time integrating the kingdom into Vollachia.
Subaru shook his head, trying to collect his thoughts. That seems like a stupid way to wage a war! He 'd conquer the Dragon Kingdom only to inherit a broken nation that's suddenly in the middle of an economic crisis!
It 's not a stupid approach at all . The voice disagreed. You forget: what is Vollachia 's greatest crisis right now?
Subaru felt a chill running down his spine. The drought.
Precisely, The cold voice said matter-of-factly. Now that the desert is expanding, Vollachia has too many people to work on too little land. That 's what triggered the rebellion in the first place. The downfall of every Empire can be traced back to a hungry peasant.
Vollachia needs new land. And where 's the best place to find it? A kingdom that has suddenly experienced a population collapse. Vincent will solidify his grip on the Empire by achieving what they've dreamed of for centuries: conquering the Dragon Kingdom. And once the dust from the rebellion has settled and all the treacherous officers have been executed, Vincent will have enormous land grants to reward his loyal officers and promote new ones. The Vollachian feudal system will be exported to Lagunica, and the Lagunican peasants will be reduced to serfs and bound to the land as little more than slaves.
Conquering the rest of the continent could take generations, but once the Dragon Kingdom falls, the other nations will be no match for the Empire, and they know it. Vincent might not even bother to attack them. He could conquer them over the negotiating table, taking a piece at a time until he has everything. The first Emperor of this World …
Subaru restarted time.
"He's going to attack Priestella?! What are we going to do about it?" Garfiel gulped.
"Garf," Subaru grated. "I'm not sure if we can do anything about it."
"But-"
"Garf," Subaru said. "I barely survived fighting one of these things that was in bad condition from being buried for centuries! What's worse, they're immune to my magic! I don't know how we can-" Subaru cut himself off and shook his head. "Whatever. Let's focus on the immediate problem."
"Escape," Felt said at once.
"Right. Let's get back to our room, get out of these costumes, and start going over the palace with a fine-tooth comb. There has to be a way out of here!"
Emilia hung limply in the shackles. "No… No, it's not true," She wept. "I won't believe it."
Emilia had been here for hours watching the visions play out endlessly while listening to Regulus 's mocking taunts. Each time the vision played, it got steadily worse. Subaru would die each time, but as Regulus taunted him about how much Emilia hated and despised him, sometimes Emilia could see the exact moment in the vision when his heart broke . Sometimes, Subaru became so broken by the thought of Emilia turning against him that he couldn 't even bring himself to fight back before Regulus killed him.
Sometimes, Subaru 's face even twisted spitefully and his last words were a curse against Emilia for ruining his life.
It 's fake! I know that it's fake! Regulus always lies! The vision keeps changing! It's changing because it's fake! He's trying to trick me, trying to break me! She thought desperately.
What if it 's not? A different part of her worried in despair. The visions last time kept changing because Regulus wanted to break me, but the basic concept was true. The forest really was cursed by me. And Regulus did go out on a mission tonight before I tried to escape. What if the mission really was to hunt down and kill-
No! I won 't believe it! I won't!
Subaru let Felt and Garfiel into his room and shut the door behind them.
There was an immediate knock on the door.
Subaru glanced at the door in confusion. The knock came so immediately after he closed it that, for a moment, he wondered if he was hearing things. He opened the door again.
"Hey, Subaru," a man in a knight helmet with only one arm said.
"Al?" Subaru asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it's nice to see you too," Aldebaran said without offense. "Mind if I come in? I don't think we should discuss stuff like this in the hallway."
Subaru stepped back and let Aldebaran come into the room.
Aldebaran inspected the luxurious apartment. "Nice place you've got here," He remarked.
Subaru stared at him in confusion. "Al, what are you doing here?" He asked again.
"Well, a very special lady asked if maybe I could help you with a problem. Such as getting the hell out of here," Aldebaran explained.
"You mean Priscilla?" Garfiel asked.
"Garf, you'd make a terrible spy, you know that?" Al complained. "We have no idea who could be listening in right now. But yes, Priscilla did suggest that maybe you should take a little vacation right now. She hopes that you aren't too upset, but she isn't sure that she's ready for matrimony at this particular time, and your absence would be most useful in that regard."
Subaru studied Aldebaran carefully. "You can get us out of the palace?" He asked in a guarded voice.
"I can do better than that. I actually know where you can find Regulus and your elf."
Subaru 's eyes widened. "You do ? "
"How do you know that?" Felt asked suspiciously.
Aldebaran shrugged. "Well, a long time ago, someone showed me where he lives. It's… sort of a long story."
Subaru hesitated, his mind screaming that if it sounded too good to be true, it probably was. He glanced at Felt and saw the same suspicion in her eyes.
But what other choice do we have? Hell, if it is a trap, so what? How much worse could things get?
Subaru took a deep breath, then pressed forward, "Al, if you can help us do that, I'll definitely owe you a big favor."
"That is exactly what I was hoping to hear," Aldebaran chuckled.
"Uh," Garfiel muttered. "Not to be 'that guy,' but even if we can find Regulus's home, what are we going to do when we get there? That guy crushed us pretty easily last time. What's changed?"
"You make a valid point, Garf," Aldebaran agreed. "But I think that this time will be different. If you follow my plan, you should be able to rescue your woman and get away before Regulus comes after you."
Subaru stared at him. "Al, that sounds… seriously … optimistic. "
Aldebaran shrugged. "Don't worry. I have it pretty well planned out. Shall we go?"
"This is all your fault, Acolyte," Regulus said in a voice like iron. "It's your fault that he's dead. You wanted this. You asked for this."
"No," Emilia wept.
"You did. You know that you did," Regulus smirked. "We all watched you beg for his death."
"You made me…"
"I made you?!" Regulus asked incredulously. "I made you betray the man you love? I made you beg for his death? I made you accuse him of beating you, abusing you, raping you? If you loved him, then why would you ever say those things?"
"You broke my arm! You wouldn't stop hurting me until I did what you said!" Emilia screamed.
"You chose who would suffer!" Regulus shot back. "I gave you the choice, and you made it! You saved yourself by asking me to murder Subaru Natsuki! It was your own selfishness that killed him."
Emilia twisted in her chains, Regulus 's words burning into her mind like a hot iron.
"How does it feel, Acolyte?" Regulus said insinuatingly. "How does it feel to watch him suffer and die because of your selfishness? How does it feel to know that you could have prevented it all if you'd just been a good girl and obeyed…"
Subaru and his friends quickly changed clothing and sneaked out of the room. The party was still in full swing, and the halls were deserted.
Subaru glanced back at the others. "Everyone ready?"
They all nodded.
"Alright," Subaru whispered. "Let's go quick and quiet. Ideally, no one will notice us or care about what we're doing. If that fails, we'll try telling them stories, and if that fails, I'll just splatter them across the walls. Any questions?"
"No. Sounds like a typical night for us," Felt remarked.
Aldebaran snorted with laughter. "Alright. Just follow me to the Hall of Relics."
Fortunately, by luck, they encountered no one on their journey to the library except a single courtier who didn 't spare them a backward glance.
They slipped into the library, a massive room covered in bookshelves.
"Man, that's a lot of books," Garfiel whispered.
Subaru snickered. "Wait until you see the Grand Archives in Siros," He said.
Aldebaran led them through the library and into the 'Hall of Relics,' which appeared to be a museum with dozens of artifacts displayed under glass.
"Anything interesting in here?" Garfiel asked, looking around.
"The only thing that interests me is a coffin full of bones," Aldebaran muttered, searching the room. He paused and looked back at Subaru. "That… really didn't sound right, did it?" He asked.
"Not really," Subaru admitted. "How does this get us out of here?"
"There's a secret passage hidden beneath the sarcophagus of 'Marius the Unifier.' Apparently, one of Vincent's ancestors was a little nervous about his position, so he arranged for a secret escape tunnel to be built in case he needed it. It's been long forgotten by just about everybody."
"Then how do you know about it?" Subaru asked.
Aldebaran sighed. "Subaru, that is a very long story. "
Subaru was about to call Aldebaran out on his evasiveness when Felt asked, "Is this it?"
The others hurried over to Felt, who stood in front of a large black sarcophagus on a marble pedestal.
"Well, this has got to be the creepiest thing I've ever seen. At least since all those zombie dragons this morning," Garfiel muttered.
Al scratched his chin. "Feel around underneath," He encouraged Felt. "There should be a catch."
Felt stuck her tongue out in concentration as she reached underneath the sarcophagus. "Oh! I think I found it!"
There was a loud click, and the pedestal swung away from the wall, revealing a narrow passage inside.
"This is going to be a tight fit," Subaru muttered.
"Then let's hurry up and get it over with," Felt said.
Subaru nodded. "I'll go first. Felt, remember to close this thing behind us," he said, squeezing down into the hole and then into a tight, cobweb-filled passage.
"Uh, any suggestions on how I do that?" Felt asked incredulously.
"You'll figure it out," Subaru called back as Aldebaran slid into the passage after him. "I have complete confidence in you."
"Gee, thanks a lot," Felt swore under her breath as Garfiel forced his way into the passage. He was forced to double over in order to fit, and his muscular shoulders scraped the walls.
Felt jumped in after him, and she pulled the pedestal behind her. She jerked on it until something clicked. Then, the library was left empty.
Emilia hung there limply, making no sound. Her mind was utterly silent. Emilia didn 't want to think. She didn't want to feel.
Regulus 's taunts barraged her like a solid wall of sound, an inescapable voice stabbing her most sensitive spots over and over again.
Regulus pulled Emilia 's face up with inexorable pressure, forcing her to look him in the eye. After all of these unbearable hours, Emilia had double vision. She saw Regulus, but at the same time, the horrible visions in the mirror played out in front of her without interruption.
"Admit it, Acolyte," Regulus said coldly. "Who ruined Subaru Natsuki's life?"
Emilia quivered as the responsibility settled heavily on her shoulders. "…Me," She whimpered in tears.
"And whose failure caused his death?" Regulus's voice was pleasant, but she saw the searing hatred in his eyes. Emilia knew that Regulus was fantasizing about her death. And she couldn't even bring herself to care.
"…Me…" She said in a broken voice.
Regulus grinned. "There now. You're finally learning. Wasn't that easier? There's no need to struggle, no need to fight. All you must do is obey. Welcome to your true purpose, Acolyte. Now, at last, you're ready to be my wife…"
A patch of earth trembled in a moonlight glade out in the Vollachian countryside.
The ground trembled violently as if something was shoving it from underneath. A moment later, the tall grass 's roots ripped and tore as a trap door was forced open in the earth.
Subaru climbed out, choking and coughing. His hair and clothes were covered in dust and spiderwebs.
"Al, you picked a hell of an escape route," He muttered, frantically trying to get the spiderwebs out of his hair and flinching as a spider ran across his face. He quickly batted it away.
Aldebaran slipped out behind him. "I didn't think it was too bad, " He murmured, climbing out of the tunnel and stretching.
"Yeah. That's because all the spiders are on me," Subaru grumbled.
"That's why I let you go first," Aldebaran said without an ounce of shame.
"Uh. Little help here?"
Subaru and Aldebaran glanced at the trapdoor and found Garfiel tightly wedged in the opening. His upper body was free, but his hands were stuck next to his waist. His body was just as covered with spiderwebs as Subaru 's was.
"You're stuck?" Aldebaran asked.
Garfiel sighed. "No, Al, I'm staying like this for fun," He grumbled. His body jerked. "Hey! Knock it off, shrimp! Quit pushing! You're not going to get me out that way!"
Subaru chuckled. "Garf, go back down."
"Huh?!"
"Go back inside and bring your arms through first," Al explained. "Then you can slip out."
"Oh. Good thinking," Garfiel said. "Hey shrimp, I'm coming back," He shouted at the ground. "No, back. Stop pushing!'
Jerking and twisting, Garfiel finally managed to escape. Then Felt sprang out behind him, panting for breath.
"I hate tight places like that!" She shuddered, slamming shut the door behind them.
"Well, at least we're all out and safe now," Subaru said, finally getting all the spiderwebs off him.
"Captain, to tell you the truth, I don't think that we're going to be safe until we're out of Vollachia," Garfiel said, brushing himself off.
"I don't think that we'll be safe even then!" Felt argued. "You heard Vincent. He's getting ready to attack Priestella!"
"First thing's first," Subaru disagreed. "We need to rescue Emilia."
"Regulus's mansion is still a good distance away from here," Aldebaran warned him.
"Yeah. So before we do anything else, we need to find Patrasche," Subaru said firmly.
Subaru looked around until he located the Crystal Palace off in the distance. Then he looked up and studied the starry sky.
"What are you doing?" Felt asked.
"I'm not great at telling directions after dark," Subaru admitted. "But Melinda said that Patrasche would be waiting for us to the north. I went out on our balcony before we left and checked which way the moon was hanging. And we were in the west wing and facing west. The moon was off about thirty degrees to the right. So by calculating all of those together, north should be-"
"Subaru, how about we just go toward the dragon?" Aldebaran asked, pointing.
Subaru blinked.
Everyone looked where Aldebaran was pointing. In the distance, they saw that Patrasche was hitched to a post next to a small wooden wagon. A cozy little farmhouse stood behind her.
Subaru 's face turned bright red. "Well, sure," He muttered. "If you want to do it the easy way. "
Sometime later, soft hands touched Emilia 's arms.
Emilia flinched. "Don't touch me," She said in a broken squeak.
"We're here to get you down," Sylvie whispered gently. "The monster sent us to heal you."
Emilia struggled to open her eyes.
The redheaded 246, Sylvie, and the cat-girl, 117, were gently unlocking her shackles. Emilia noticed that they all looked as if they 'd been beaten up.
"How… how long…" Emilia whimpered.
"About ten hours," Sylvie whispered as they helped her sit on the wooden floor.
Emilia 's muscles were in agony. She couldn't even sit up on her own.
The girls helped her rise to a sitting position, and they slowly pulled a clean dress over her aching body.
"64," 246 whispered. "Are you… alright?"
Emilia ignored the use of her hated number. She didn 't even respond to the question.
It doesn 't matter. If Subaru is dead, then… nothing matters. It'd be better if I were dead as well…
The wives looked miserable. "We… we need to bring you upstairs," Sylvie whispered. "There's… something that we need to talk about…"
Subaru had knocked on the farmhouse until a stout, middle-aged man in tattered, dirty overalls opened the door. He looked at Subaru expressionlessly.
"It… looks like snow," Subaru awkwardly repeated Melinda's code phrase.
The farmer nodded once, and he handed Subaru a heavy bag. Then, he closed the door without a word.
Subaru quickly rummaged through the bag and discovered that it was full of food and water and even some nondescript robes to wear.
OK. Maybe this stuff will be helpful after all.
Patrasche proved unusually willing to be harnessed to the wagon, and the group sped down the moonlit road toward the west.
Alright. Here we go. On our way to face Regulus without a weapon or magic or even a plan …
Subaru swallowed hard and looked at Felt and Garfiel, whose faces were equally frightened.
"Are you sure that we're going the right way?" Subaru asked Aldebaran, who lounged in the back, seemingly without a care in the world.
"Yeah," Aldebaran said lazily. "We should be there midmorning."
"I sure hope Vincent doesn't figure out where we're going and try to stop us," Felt grumbled.
"I doubt he'll even realize you've escaped before tomorrow," Aldebaran remarked. "That man is over the moon right now. I almost wish that I was going to be there to see the look on his face when he finds out that you all disappeared on him."
The wives gently carried Emilia up to the fourth floor.
Emilia didn 't help. She didn't care where she was or what she did anymore. She would have happily just laid down on the floor where they'd found her and stayed there.
It was still pitch dark outside. Dawn was a good way off.
Emilia vaguely realized that the wives weren 't carrying her to her own room but to the dormitory down the hall that the other wives shared. The dormitory was a long, narrow hall filled with small beds on both sides.
They gently carried Emilia into the dorm, and Emilia discovered that all the wives were already up and waiting for them. They all looked badly beaten, and their eyes were hard as agates. They glared at Emilia with loathing.
Emilia looked at them numbly, unable to muster up the energy to say anything. Sylvie helped Emilia sit down on the floor and then helped her lean against the wall when it was clear that she didn 't have the strength to support herself. Sylvie's hands glowed green, and she started to mend Emilia's frayed and worn muscles.
"Why are you doing that?" 42 demanded.
Sylvie sighed. "It's my nature. I'm a healer."
42 folded her skinny arms across her chest as she looked down at Emilia with flat hatred.
Emilia looked up at 42 numbly.
I don 't care anymore…
246 sighed, rubbing her hands together. "64… I… The other wives… We've discussed the matter," She said awkwardly. "We… You shouldn't have tried to escape. The monster punished all of us for not stopping you. He … he went pretty far this time. He broke some of our bones, and he…" She trailed off.
Emilia stared at her apathetically. This latest tragic mistake on her part washed over Emilia without a ripple.
246 looked miserable. "We… The others… they're not happy about this. They blame you-"
"Oh, stuff it, 246!" 42 shouted. "Listen up, princess. We've made a decision. Today is your last day."
Emilia just stared up at her blankly.
"You heard me!" 42 shouted as if thinking that Emilia was doubting or challenging her. "We'll see to it ourselves if we have to. You've been nothing but a curse on all of us ever since you got here. You've made the monster worse than ever, and everything you do makes us suffer. Today, you die. Make your peace with the Gods because if the monster doesn't kill you, we will."
A blond wife huffed, "We'd do it right now if we weren 't afraid of it not looking like an accident."
Emilia almost smiled. Well … that makes life easier… soon I'll see Subaru again… and I can tell him how sorry I am for everything I did…
Maybe he 'll even forgive me for my mistakes one last time…
42 looked livid at Emilia 's reaction. "Are you just going to sit there? " She demanded.
Emilia looked up at her and, sensing that her muscles had recovered somewhat due to Sylvie 's healing, she slowly got to her feet.
"Go ahead," Emilia said simply. "What are you waiting for?"
The wives were all silent.
Emilia studied the women with a faintly pitying expression. "I have nothing left to live for. The only thing that let me hang on was my belief that Subaru would rescue me. But he 's gone now. Regulus murdered him. I have nothing left. No, 42. I have no fear of dying. What astounds me is that any of you do . I can 't imagine being willing to live in this house of horrors for even another day. Let alone fighting to survive here if I truly had no hope of escape. Just come and find me when you 're ready to end it. I'd prefer something painless, but I suppose by now I've gotten more accustomed to pain than I ever dared to imagine."
The wives were all speechless.
Sylvie bowed her head. "64… I'm sorry… We tried to speak up for you. But it's our lives on the line now. I-"
"And the others beat you until you gave in," Emilia cut her off. "I already guessed. It's not your fault."
42 snorted. "So what? You're going to highroad us-"
"There is no highroad here," Emilia said to the wives in a voice of deep contempt. "Regulus… has broken all of you. Body and soul. The only person that I've seen concerned for anyone else since I arrived here was Sylvie."
The wives all flinched at the sound of Sylvie 's name, and then they looked at Emilia with murderous rage.
Emilia looked them all in the face without an ounce of fear, and most of the wives slowly lowered their eyes.
"Yeah," 42 snarled. "You elves are all so precious."
"I wouldn't say that," Emilia admitted. "But at least she cares about people. I don't know when you all gave up your humanity, but you have lost it. You lost it a long time ago. All you care about is surviving for one more day at any cost, and I truly don't understand why you'd even want to. Another day of this? What makes that worth fighting for?"
The wives looked unsettled.
"I don't even know why you're still alive," the mousy brown-haired wife said spitefully. "Any one of us would have been long dead by now! He would have killed any of us days ago! He even ordered 78 to keep you alive! Why does he like you so much? Why does he think that you're so special?"
Emilia frowned and pursed her lips. "What did you just say?" She whispered.
The mousy brown-haired wife fumed. "You're the only one he tries to keep alive! It must be nice to be his favorite!"
Emilia frowned. The words stirred something in the depths of her mind. She remembered the blistering hate she 'd seen in Regulus's eyes before she'd lost consciousness in the Mirror Room.
…It doesn't make sense… why is Regulus trying to keep me alive…
As a hostage? But why? Subaru is already dead. What other value could I have for him?
Sylvie suggested that he really wants another elven wife but that isn 't it either. I saw the hate in Regulus's eyes even after he thought I was fully broken in the Mirror Room. He hates me. He wants me dead.
It has nothing to do with my behavior. No matter how broken and submissive I get, Regulus will never be satisfied as long as I 'm still alive. But then why won't he just kill me?
He wants to do it. I 've seen it in his face a dozen times. But he holds himself back. In fact, the one time that he did almost kill me, he panicked. He even threatened the other wives if I died. Why?
It doesn 't make sense. Regulus wants me dead, but he won't kill me, and when he thought I was dying, he actually looked almost…
Emilia 's eyes widened. That 's it… That's the only explanation! And if it's true, then maybe I can finally end this nightmare!
It might not work, but tomorrow, I 'll be dead one way or the other. So, I may as well take a chance and try to do one more good thing before I die. And succeed or fail, at least I'll have a chance to find Subaru on the other side. Maybe we can finally be together there.
Emilia turned and left the dormitory without a word, her mind whirling at a mile a minute.
The wives all looked confused at this abrupt exit.
"She's lost her mind," 117 whispered.
Sylvie wearily got to her feet. "I think perhaps we all have. In forty years, I never even imagined us murdering one of our own. "
"She's not one of us!" 42 said sharply.
Sylvie didn 't respond.
Emilia 's face was rapt with concentration as she reached the door to her bedroom.
"64."
Emilia winced at her title. She turned around to find Sylvie standing there. Her eyes were ashamed, and tears flowed freely down her face.
"I'm sorry," Sylvie said in a broken tone. "I never… wanted this. I've dreamed of seeing another Child of the Old Blood for so long, and now… my own sisters are going to kill her."
Emilia actually smiled. "I'm not dead yet," She said with a fatalistic surge of confidence.
Sylvie frowned at Emilia 's reaction. "Please… don't make this any more difficult," She begged. "None of the wives want to do this, but-"
"Honestly, Sylvie," Emilia said calmly, ignoring Sylvie's wince at the use of her name. "I get the impression that most of them are actually looking forward to killing me."
Sylvie hung her head in shame.
"All this time, I've been looking for Regulus's weakness," Emilia said thoughtfully. "But I've been looking in the wrong place."
"He has none," Sylvie said with a resigned sigh.
"You know, Subaru told me a story once," Emilia continued in the same abstracted tone. "It was about a group of children playing stick-ball. A boy steps up to bat, and in rapid succession, he hits a double, a triple, and a home run. When the team decides to change pitchers, the reliever asks the old pitcher if the boy at bat has any weaknesses. The old pitcher says, 'Yeah. He can't hit singles.'"
Sylvie stared at Emilia in confusion, and then she shook it off. "Wait. I have to tell you something. When he ordered us to come get you, the monster told me," Sylvie whispered. "That today he plans to marry you."
Emilia looked at Sylvie in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"It's another ritual," Sylvie said in a dead voice. "When a new bride finishes her 'training,' he has a wedding ceremony where she renounces her old life and becomes his bride."
Emilia 's face twisted in contempt. "That makes no sense! " She hissed. "Regulus hates me! Why would he want to make me his wife? "
"You don't understand," Sylvie sighed. "Regulus can't tolerate the fact that you're different from the rest of us. He feels like he doesn't control you. He's marrying you to prove that you're just as broken as the rest of us."
Her face twisted in deep thought. "What happens during the ritual?" She asked.
Sylvie sighed. "The wives and I will gather around the master in his study. You'll be dressed in a wedding gown. At the right time, you'll enter the monster's study and kneel before him. You'll beg him to take you as his wife."
Emilia gave a sharp laugh. " Beg ? Oh, I 'll give him a wedding that he'll never forget," She said gleefully.
Sylvie cocked her head in confusion. "Then, you'll publicly renounce your former life and swear to think of nothing else but him for the rest of your life," She said with a sneer of contempt. "Then we'll all cheer and watch him eat a few bites of wedding cake before he orders us to throw the rest away. And sometime later tomorrow… the other wives will find you, and they'll…" She trailed off in a sob, her expression horrified.
Emilia thought that over carefully. Then she slipped into her room without another word and closed the door behind her.
Emilia lay down on the bed, thinking hard.