Chapter 31: Crusch Karsten: I Love You (Patreon)

"I've received your opinion, Lady Felt. It's a pity, but I respect your thinking. I only ask that you not interfere with Lord Natsuki's deliberations either. That is both my demand and my request. Is that acceptable?"

Crusch's expression was pained. Her heart had already skipped a beat. From what she had observed, Subaru Natsuki doted on Felt almost without limit, and if Felt kept up such fierce opposition, then it was likely that…

"No, actually, there's nothing to think over."

One second before Felt could bare her little fangs, hiss "Haaah!" and start a fight, Subaru Natsuki stepped forward in time, just as Crusch had feared. "I was never going to accept, from the very start. Whether Felt takes that attitude or not, my answer was settled from the beginning."

"So I really am grateful that you think so highly of me. It's just… I have other things I want to do more than serve a Royal Selection candidate. I hope you can understand, Cru-Cru."

"—I'm going to kill you, nya!"

The instant Subaru finished refusing, the one who erupted in rage was none other than Ferris, who a moment earlier had been cheering Felt on. His face twisted savagely, as if a king had descended from the heavens with a lion lurking in his eyes.

If he'd had a way to send out a world broadcast, then with the fury he was radiating, he would probably have spent his entire fortune hiring every assassin alive to take out Subaru Natsuki.

Felt and Subaru stared at each other. The two partners, perfectly in sync, were both utterly speechless.

"Un-fucking-believable. I really can't figure you out. You blow hot and cold like the weather. Weren't you just hoping he'd refuse?"

"Ferri-chan did hope he'd refuse, nya! But he hoped you'd refuse out of shame, thinking you weren't good enough to stand at Lady Crusch's side, nya. In other words, Ferri-chan hoped for a refusal that would preserve Lady Crusch's dignity, nya!"

"Meaning all the benefits go to Lady Crusch and all the downsides go to you two, nya! If it had gone like that, Ferri-chan would have knelt in the middle of the street and thanked Subaru, dear, nya!"

"You really dare say that so bluntly…" Felt shook her head in a daze, at a loss for what to even call it. "Greedy, selfish… Sure, nobody can fault your loyalty, but you really don't care about anyone else, do you?"

"Fi—fi!"

Crusch was somewhere between a wry smile and real anger. She never imagined Ferris would turn on a dime like this. Had she known, perhaps she really shouldn't have brought him today.

But punishing Ferris was out of the question. He had given her so much all this time that she couldn't bear to lay a hand on him, so she'd simply take the blame herself.

"Stop!"

Seeing that Crusch was about to do something, Subaru hurriedly cut in first. He wasn't the least bit angry. If anything, he thought, yeah, that felt right. That was more like it. Cru-Cru was clearly a special case, and Fifi was exactly what he'd expected.

"Apologizing back and forth is just no fun. But we really can't have a repeat of this next time. Why don't you take Fifi and go for today, Cru-Cru? I hope that by the next time we meet, Fifi can stop flipping out like this. At least not go to such extremes."

As for Subaru himself, he absolutely loved spending time with Cru-Cru. He'd even go so far as to say he wished he could keep her here. If Cru-Cru weren't a girl, he'd have wanted to talk the whole night through, sleeping side by side.

The reason he was so eager to send them off had nothing to do with any dissatisfaction with Cru-Cru or Fifi. Quite the opposite. He was simply worried for Fifi's life.

They might not have noticed, but after the initial shock wore off, Felt and the other slum locals nearby had gotten very dangerous looks in their eyes.

It was a completely different kind of danger from the way they'd treated Anna and Cru-Cru. Toward those two it had been plain hostility to outsiders. But toward Fifi, well…

Murder was probably off the table. It wasn't that outrageous. But tying him up, humiliating him savagely and forcing him to shout ten thousand times, "Crusch is number one under heaven, but Lord Natsuki and Lady Felt are the heavens!" was something they'd absolutely do.

"Is that so? I understand. I accept your kindness. If you change your mind, or need help with anything, you may come to me yourself or send someone. As long as I am here, and as long as what you ask is just and within my power and means, I will not hold back."

Crusch was every inch Crusch. She picked up on the shift in the atmosphere right away. She was not someone to dig in her heels when she was in the wrong. Moved, she took Lord Natsuki's hand warmly, eyes brimming with tears, gripping it again and again and marveling that she had not misjudged him.

Lord Natsuki really was different!

If he hadn't been unwilling, she would have taken him to the Karsten Mansion right now to talk through the night.

She had even pictured the scene already. Under the night sky, the two of them would speak with soaring spirits and dissect the ills of the age. Through the meeting and exchange of their ideas, they would finally sketch out the blueprint of a brighter future.

When the first ray of dawn fell through a window with no curtain and lit her face and Lord Natsuki's, the two of them would glow, hands clasped tight, promising never to abandon each other, and to be buried together in death.

She had sealed her heart long ago and would know no marital love in this life. She would stay single until she died. So it was fine. There'd be no obstacle to being buried beside Lord Natsuki, and no disrespect to anyone else.

Ah, kindred spirits. How wonderful! Merely imagining it was enough to fill her with delight. The bond with the wonderful Lord Natsuki was one of the things a person lives for.

"You're accepting it that easily?"

This time it was Subaru's turn to be surprised, and he found himself getting a little gloomy. He'd been recruited, and one refusal was all it took for her to back off? Did that mean Cru-Cru didn't want him all that much either?

Not that he'd ever agree, no matter how relentlessly Cru-Cru pestered him. So really, he was just as selfish, greedy and hypocritical as Fifi. But to be honest, being given up on so quickly was kind of disappointing.

Sigh. Maybe he and Fifi really were brothers by nature. Even their selfish double standards were exactly the same.

"What are you saying, Lord Natsuki?"

Crusch smiled, not a trace of discouragement in her eyes. She didn't even seem to notice Lord Natsuki's dejection before she made a declaration terrifyingly worthy of the clingiest, most obsessive lover.

"This is only the first invitation. Isn't it perfectly normal to be turned down by someone of your caliber?"

"We have plenty of time ahead. A day, a week, a month, a year, or ten years. However long it takes, even if I only win your consent the day before I die, I will be able to leave this world with a smile. If I am the sun, you are the moon. If I am the moon, you are the sun."

"The sun and the moon may differ, but they are always the best-matched pair of stars. Aren't they?"