Chapter 161: Rem is willing to be the second wife! But if her sister wants to elope with Subaru, then what...?

"Anyway, the one I like is Subaru! It's absolutely not the way you think it is, Sister!"

Fighting down her embarrassment, Rem struggled for ages to make Ram understand: the "like" she'd blurted out just now was not the kind of "like" Ram was imagining!

For this, Rem even went so far as to lay it all bare to Ram, confessing the plain truth that she had long since fallen for Natsuki Subaru.

"Is that so… Then Ram is relieved. Now come, let's keep watching. The story on the screen is still going."

After hearing Rem's frank confession, and the love she made no effort to hide in her tone, Ram lowered her eyes.

So it was true. That look brimming with affection she'd seen Rem give Barusu back at the manor had been no illusion after all.

And there was nothing strange about it.

The images on the screen had shown Barusu throwing himself into danger to save Rem, and even Ram felt her heart stir at that valiant sight.

A pity. That did not belong to her.

She was only a thief who had stolen her way in between Rem and Barusu's feelings, a sinner who had committed a crime and now needed to atone for it.

And since Rem and Barusu loved each other, what meaning did her own existence hold?

Perhaps the one who ought to step aside was her.

A flicker of blankness crossed Ram's eyes as she turned and fixed her gaze back on the screen, an air of cold, shattered loneliness drifting off her without her willing it.

"Lady Sister…"

Rem pressed her lips together and called out softly, in a voice only she herself could hear, and then said nothing more.

As her twin, she could sense a portion of her elder sister Ram's emotions by nature, so between the two of them there were, one might say, no secrets at all.

Sister… Ram loved Subaru too!

Rem had discovered this fact long ago. Her sister hid it well, true.

But at the manor's dining room, over that one brief span of a meal, Ram's mood had swung back and forth several times.

At the same time, she'd noticed the fervor buried in the way Ram looked at Natsuki Subaru, along with a tenderness Ram herself had likely never even realized.

Back then Rem had only just been bumped into by Subaru that morning and had only just recovered her memories, so she hadn't thought too deeply about it, nor understood why things had changed this way this time.

But now, having watched the story of the Wrath line, Rem understood.

Her sister loved Subaru. A love born out of the utmost hatred and the utmost guilt. Twisted, yes, but by no means false.

Perhaps she ought to give Subaru up to her sister, because… she felt guilt toward her sister all the same.

That grand escape she and Subaru had made that day, running toward the sunlight, had bought them a lifetime of peace, yet it remained a knot in her heart she could never untie.

Since she had already had Subaru for one whole lifetime, giving this lifetime to her sister Ram seemed only right, didn't it?

That was what she thought. Even though that was what she thought… Rem still found herself clenching her fists tight without meaning to, betraying the turmoil within.

She loved Subaru, so even if he took many women as his wives, for the sake of a harmonious life she would be willing to be a lesser wife.

But the fervent feeling Ram now held for Subaru, that obsessive love, left her uneasy.

The truth was, she had been afraid all along… afraid that once Subaru fell in love with Ram, the two of them would abandon her and run off together!

Just as she and Subaru had done in her past life, abandoning her sister Ram.

Precisely because she had done such a thing herself, it was only natural that she should dread it!

If something like that truly came to pass, it would be a punishment a thousand, ten thousand times more agonizing to her than death!

A future like that… Rem refused it!

Rem trembled faintly and bowed her head, and so the two sisters sank into this strange, unspoken silence.

[When Natsuki Subaru woke again, he found the wounds on his body had all been treated, leaving only a few faint scars.

Emilia kept watch at his bedside, asleep in the chair. It looked as though she'd tended him here through the whole night.

So as not to disturb her rest, Natsuki Subaru slipped quietly out of the room.

And the moment he stepped out the door, he came face to face with Ram, carrying a basket of steamed sweet potatoes.

"Oh? Barely awake and already begging for food? How eager of you, Barusu."

Hearing the growl from Natsuki Subaru's stomach, Ram smiled faintly, plucked a steamed sweet potato straight from the basket, and with lightning speed crammed it into his mouth.

"Eat up!"

"It tastes good, sure, but I thought I was going to be scalded to death! I object!"

Caught off guard and scalded, Natsuki Subaru rolled about on the floor, but thankfully his superhuman constitution let him tough out Ram's little bit of willful mischief this time.

"Of course it's hot, it was just made… no, just steamed."

And seeming to realize she'd gone a touch too far, Ram gave Natsuki Subaru a wink and flashed an adorable, sweet smile.

In that instant, it was as if pink bubbles had materialized out of thin air all around her, an effect that, in Natsuki Subaru's eyes, was exaggerated to the extreme.

"There, there. I'll gift you one of Ram's signature smiles, and then you'll shut up and behave."

Ram's personality was still exactly the same: stubborn-mouthed and dead set against apologizing, offering at most this so-called compensation.]

"Ahaha, that Ram really does love her pranks, doesn't she."

Puck folded his arms and gave a couple of dry chuckles.

"Hmph, I'd say it's just a plain nasty streak. She knows perfectly well Subaru's injured and still messes around like this. No wonder things ended up the way they did earlier."

Emilia scooped Puck up into her arms and spoke in an unfriendly tone.

"Looking at it this way, Subaru should be safe now, right? The wounds on him seem to have all healed too."

Just then Reinhard cut in abruptly, utterly oblivious to the mood, voicing his own question.

He didn't direct it toward Emilia and Ram, because he was still quite the well-mannered sort.

Since those two ladies were in the middle of a conversation, he felt he ought to put his question to someone else and not intrude on them.

"Hardly. You mustn't forget the curse on Subaru's body."

"Those Wolgarm, that is, those Mabeasts, laid a curse on every single wound they gave Subaru, and by now they've all tangled together and can no longer be undone."

At this point Betty picked up the thread. She wasn't too pleased with Ram herself just now, but since the Natsuki Subaru on the screen showed no revulsion, she wouldn't let any open displeasure toward Ram show either.

And faced with Reinhard's assertion, she couldn't hold back from correcting him outright, since she had no wish for the others to grow too optimistic.

Up next, Subaru still had a hard battle ahead of him.

["Your life has only one day left."

This was the conclusion Betty pronounced over Natsuki Subaru when he ran into her on the road, after he'd gone to check on the homes of the other children the Mabeasts had carried off.

Then Betty told him why, wanting him to die a man who understood his fate:

The curse on him could no longer be undone. The only way to break it was to slay every last monster that had laid a curse upon him.

And hearing this, Natsuki Subaru suddenly thought of the faint, blurry voices he'd heard while he was unconscious earlier.

"So you're going to give up? There must be some other way to save him, right?"

"—I will save him, no matter what!"

Natsuki Subaru suddenly remembered. This had been Rem's conversation with Betty while he lay unconscious.

"Rem… where did she go? Betty?"

He shot to his feet all at once, planting both hands on Betty's shoulders and questioning her in a panic.

Betty fell silent.

____

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