Natsuki Subaru is chasing his back

Chapter 33: The Second Death

Since the night of the great fire in her childhood, Rem has been stuck in that one night—time in her heart stopped flowing there.

She could never forgive herself for what she thought when she saw her sister's horn get cut off that night.

Everything she did was for her sister, not for herself.

This was the biggest difference between her and Subaru. After hearing Subaru's words, she finally understood how completely different they were.

For Subaru, his effort was to catch up to someone he was pursuing; his seriousness was for himself, not for others.

Unlike Rem, who did things for others, Subaru's actions were solely to fulfill his own wishes.

Not knowing what Rem was thinking, Subaru continued speaking.

"Work is tiring. I'm not a robot; I do get tired. But as long as life is full of joy and energy, I believe I can keep going."

With that sentence, neither of them spoke again.

After some time, they returned to the mansion. As soon as Subaru entered, he placed the wooden bucket down.

"I'm exhausted…"

Wiping sweat from his forehead, Subaru barely caught his breath before hearing Ram's voice.

"Welcome back, Rem. Oh, and Barusu."

"Am I just tagging along? Well... I don't want to complain anymore. Did you used to go out alone to gather food?"

"That's right. I've always gone out alone."

"Did you always carry this much each time?"

Facing Subaru's question, Ram didn't answer immediately but looked at Rem.

Understanding Ram's meaning, Rem spoke.

"Well then, sister, I'll take the ingredients to the kitchen."

Subaru watched as Rem easily lifted the wooden bucket and walked toward the kitchen. Seeing this, Subaru slowly turned and looked at Ram, who was smiling.

His throat moved hesitantly before he asked,

"Um... senpai, can you lift it too...?"

"No."

"Then..."

"But there's another way."

Subaru fell silent.

He felt that he might never be able to look at maids the same way again.

Aren't maids supposed to be cute, soft creatures without much combat ability who simply obey their masters' commands?

Ah, this is another world... maybe in this world, maids like these are normal.

So, Subaru concluded that he must be the abnormal one.

"Barusu, if you're just spacing out here, hurry up and get to work."

"Understood, senpai. I'm on it now."

After spending some time preparing dinner, Subaru returned to his room.

Yawning, he changed out of his work clothes, tidied up his books, and was about to go find Beatrice but felt unusually exhausted today.

A few days ago, on the first day of settling in, he had felt this tired, but today felt even more draining.

He guessed it was because carrying that wooden bucket had used up too much energy.

'I'll just rest for a bit today.'

Thinking this, Subaru lay down on the bed and quickly fell asleep.

He didn't know how long he slept. When he opened his tired eyes, he felt an unusual chill and weakness.

His body's strength and warmth were rapidly draining.

In a short time, Subaru realized something was definitely wrong with his body.

However, since he didn't know much about this world, Subaru couldn't clearly identify what was wrong. But he was sure it wasn't just a cold.

He climbed out of bed and walked toward the door.

When he opened it and stepped into the corridor, it was pitch black—everyone must have already gone to sleep.

Subaru hadn't walked far down the hall when he vomited. His mental state was failing. He called out weakly,

"Is anyone... there...?"

Even this simple sentence was a struggle.

At that moment, Subaru thought of Beatrice. She must know a lot about knowledge and maybe could help save him.

Thinking so, Subaru glanced at the doors along the corridor. After confirming which door to seek, his body staggered as he moved in that direction.

His ears began ringing, accompanied by footsteps and something dragging along the floor. Thinking it was all hallucinations, Subaru felt the world sway.

He fell to the floor after only a few steps.

Looking at the door just ahead, Subaru crawled forward and weakly called out,

"Bea...trice."

He lifted his hand and touched the doorknob but had no strength to turn the door, which normally opened easily.

His hand fell limply, hitting the door with a faint sound. Subaru's gaze at the door lost its light.

His life force vanished. The boy named Subaru lay still at the door.

Footsteps approached Subaru. A shadow was closing in.

When the figure was just a short distance away, the door in front of Subaru opened.

"What's wrong with you? Running around in the middle of the night instead of sleeping—"

Beatrice's voice stopped mid-sentence. She slowly crouched down to check Subaru's vital signs.

The impatience on her face disappeared, and the gleeful look in her eyes turned to sorrow. Beatrice silently looked at Subaru's profile.

"Betty knows... you're not that person... Betty worried about you for a long time... So why did you die just when Betty allowed herself to be troubled by you...?"

"Lady Beatrice? Subaru?"

Beatrice glanced at Rem standing at the door but said nothing, knowing the duties of Ram and Rem.

Although maids, they were also responsible for the mansion's security.

"Lady Beatrice, what happened to Subaru?"

"He's dead."

Hearing this, Rem was stunned.

Her gaze moved to Subaru's body. She had come out because she heard noises but didn't expect to see this scene.

Regarding Subaru's death, Rem didn't feel much emotional fluctuation—only the question of why he had died.

"I'll go find Lord Roswaal immediately." Regardless of what anyone thought about Subaru's death, the fact that something adverse was happening in the mansion was enough to inform Lord Roswaal.

Soon, the mansion's lights all turned on.

Except for Emilia, everyone gathered at Beatrice's door.

When Rem called them, Beatrice turned Subaru's body over and placed his hands folded on his chest.

Roswaal looked at Subaru and furrowed his brows tightly.

He had thought Subaru was "that person," but it seemed now he was not.

Beside Roswaal, Ram looked at Subaru's face with a trace of sadness.

After all, in her heart, Subaru was still a good friend and junior.