Chapter 202: Priscilla is considering whether to kick Emilia out of Subaru's harem!

“Welcome, welcome, thank you all for coming to the manor. Is everyone here now?”

“Well then, in this parlor… shall I say a few words first?”

Natsuki Subaru cleared his throat, and under the burning gazes of everyone present, he leisurely picked up the cup of tea on the table beside the head seat and downed it in one gulp.

Before he could even set the empty cup back down, Rem, standing at his side, had already refilled it from the teapot.

Subaru swept his eyes over the crowd before him, smiling but saying nothing.

One second, two seconds, ten seconds… Subaru had expected someone to lose patience and step forward to ask what exactly he wanted to say.

Then, naturally, he could play the fool as usual and tell everyone it had all just been a joke.

But really, what did he even have to say?

He knew nearly everyone in the room — they were all his friends. It wasn’t as if he could put on airs like some executive calling a meeting.

After all, everyone knew it — he, Natsuki Subaru, was a thoroughly humble man!

Except now there was a small hitch: no one was stepping forward. Everyone just kept staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

As if he were the most important person here, the one most worth paying attention to… though maybe that actually was the case!

Ugh.

Subaru couldn’t deny it — with everyone gathered like this, every eye on him, watching his every move, it honestly felt pretty great.

He remembered back when the mabeast incident at the manor had just ended.

Wilhelm and Ferris had come to the manor by dragon carriage to discuss with Emilia matters like departing for the Royal Capital to join the Royal Selection.

Back then, he hadn’t been allowed to take part in the discussion among Emilia and the others — he’d been classified as an outsider with nothing to do with it.

Faced with Emilia’s troubled expression, no matter how thick his skin was, he hadn’t been able to shamelessly force his way into that private meeting in the parlor.

That had been the first time he’d truly felt powerless.

When facing the threat of death, he could still use Return by Death to turn things around.

But against this kind of gap in status, being shut out had left him with an inescapable sting of inferiority.

He’d thought that, having resolved the mabeast incident, become the village’s hero, and spared Roswaal’s domain from disaster, his words would carry some weight by then.

But in reality, he’d been fooling himself.

At that point, his actual standing was still just a servant of the manor — he couldn’t even claim to be a butler, damn it!

That had planted the seed for everything that came after —

When he’d later stepped forward at the Royal Selection to shield Emilia, it had partly been to help her, and partly out of his own selfish need.

While Emilia was being scorned and ganged up on at the Royal Selection, he’d stood up and declared himself her knight.

Looking back on it now, maybe he’d been a bit too hasty, and probably looked ridiculous to everyone else.

But at the time, he’d wanted, more than anything, a title that would actually earn him respect.

That period was, without question, part of his darkest history.

“Huh, Priscilla, are you sitting here all by yourself?”

Subaru’s gaze drifted absently past Priscilla, then suddenly sharpened into focus.

As he recalled, wasn’t that monstrous man, Al, the one who always wore that heavy helmet, usually right by Priscilla’s side?

Wasn’t he her knight? So why was he nowhere to be seen now?

That was pretty derelict of duty… wait, no.

Subaru suddenly remembered — he’d actually never heard Al claim to be Priscilla’s knight. So what exactly was the relationship between the two of them?

A thoughtful, faintly teasing look crossed Subaru’s face.

If he had to guess — wasn’t that guy Al basically Priscilla’s simp?

The kind of guy who only flattered her to win her favor — how else could he put up with Priscilla’s temper?

Too bad, though — Subaru had seen with his own eyes that Priscilla had appeared in that mysterious viewing space, which meant she, too, was almost certainly from some other possible world.

And as for the current Priscilla’s favorability toward him… it was probably off the charts by now!

“Of course! Who do you think I am?”

“There is no equal to me in all the three thousand worlds — I am the supreme Lady Priscilla!”

Priscilla thrust out her magnificent chest proudly, meeting Subaru’s gaze, and declared this with smug satisfaction.

“Therefore, I have no need whatsoever for those pitiful mortals as my backdrop — I alone am more than dazzling enough!”

“Ah… right, right, I get it!”

Subaru rubbed his temple wordlessly. It was exactly this kind of arrogant attitude from Priscilla that instinctively rubbed him the wrong way.

How could anyone in this world be this narcissistic?

And what really got him was — she actually had the looks to back it up.

At the very least, that impossibly refined face, seemingly a gift from the heavens, and that flawless figure, were both more than enough capital for her pride.

…But none of that was the point, damn it!

“So what I want to know is — where’s your follower? Where’d he go?”

Subaru pointed toward Felt and shrugged.

“Look, even Felt has Reinhard standing guard beside her. Why’d you come alone?”

“Hah…”

Priscilla first followed Subaru’s pointing hand reflexively.

Then, once she realized what he meant, the corner of her mouth twitched. She raised her fan to hide her face and said, with visible disdain,

“Little Felt is a mere mortal, of course she needs a knight’s protection. I, however, am nothing like her!”

Right, right, right — she’s a mortal, so you must be some kind of god, huh?

Subaru grumbled silently to himself.

“Everything in this world revolves around me. Every matter unfolds exactly as I wish it to, so a knight means nothing to me…”

Priscilla said this in an offhand tone.

But when she got to the word ‘knight,’ her voice suddenly caught. Her gaze fixed on Subaru, drifting slowly up and down.

“Hmm, though perhaps having a knight now wouldn’t be so bad, husband… ahem, I mean — you would suit the role quite well. What say you?”

“Uh-huh… uh, wait, what did you just say?”

Subaru nodded along on instinct before suddenly sensing something was off, his expression freezing.

“Subaru is my knight! Don’t even think about stealing him from me!”

At that, Emilia stepped forward indignantly, planting herself between Priscilla and Subaru, glaring angrily at Priscilla.

“Someone like you would never cherish Subaru properly. A wicked woman like you would only toy with him — so forget it!”

“Ha? I would never do such a thing to my husband… to that man over there, the way you’re describing it!”

Priscilla kept her smile fixed in place as she spoke, though her teeth were clenched.

How could she possibly treat her own husband that way? If the heavens had brought her and Subaru together, that was surely fate — a gift bestowed on her by providence itself.

Besides, being with Subaru was never dull. The two of them were simply well-matched.

What right did Emilia have to lecture her on it?

Priscilla’s chest heaved violently — she was genuinely furious this time.

Subaru’s other wives, her three other sisters, had said nothing through all of this.

But Emilia — who was supposedly one of Subaru’s wives just like her — had turned so possessive now, so aggressive, so unruly.

This left Priscilla seriously considering whether, this time around, she ought to kick Emilia clean out of Subaru’s harem for good.