Re:Zero - The King of Pride

"Holy King Gillecomgain is suffering from a serious disease," Anri said sadly, as she checked on the bubbling medicine over the fire. "He's still pretty young but the healers claim that he doesn't have much time left. This means that the Houses are starting to lobby to become the next Holy King."

Emilia bit into the sandwich that Victoire had made. She ate without tasting it. Victoire sat with her feet up on the table, looking at Emilia darkly. When she got tired of glowering at Emilia, the woman shifting to playing a game of throwing her beret into the air and then catching it.

Anri returned to the table and sat down next to Emilia.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Emilia said in a dead voice, continuing the conversation mostly out of a sense of obligation. "If Odglass selects the Holy King then what is there to lobby for or fight about?"

Anri looked pained. "The Houses… 'lobby' for one of their candidates to be made king by bribing Church Patriarchs to vote against their enemies so they won't even be presented to Odglass. Less wealthy Houses try to narrow the field more directly, by killing other candidates. Each rival killed is less competition. I recently met with the Hierocracy at Pardochel to declare my candidacy for the Holy Throne," She said in a dour voice that suggested this hadn't been done entirely willingly. "And my retinue was attacked on the way home by assassins, probably sent by House Griest. Except for Victoire, I… was the only survivor of my party, as far as I know," Anri finished, her voice becoming somber.

"I'm… so sorry," Emilia said.

Victoire rolled her eyes. "Come on, Princess!" She urged. "There was nothing that you could have done! When the odds are stacked against you, you either beat feet or you become dead meat. That's what they taught me during training. Those assassins were barely human! Face it, if you'd stayed to fight them, you would have died too and the others' sacrifices would have been for nothing! Be happy that you're still alive and fighting for your people. They would be!"

Anri sighed. "Honestly, Victoire, I don't know if I can say with a straight face that they did die for anything. They just died to save some underage princess who can't even do anything to protect herself, much less her people…"

"I have to agree with Victoire," Emilia said sadly. "I know what it's like to be placed in an impossible situation that you have no hope of handling successfully. And I know the guilt of knowing that you're responsible for the tragic outcome. You need to measure your actions according to what Anri could have reasonably done, not what some mythical 'perfect person' could have done in your place."

Anri stared at Emilia for a long moment and then slowly nodded.

Victoire glowered at Emilia, seemingly not assuaged by Emilia taking her side.

Emilia sighed. "Is House Griest your enemy?" Emilia asked.

Anri nodded. "House Griest is the most powerful of the Houses. They're heavy favorites to regain the throne after unexpectedly losing it to a lesser House, House Ulgo, thirty years ago. That said, it's rumored that Odglass does not favor them so Prince Malcolm is taking advantage of the Holy King's incapacitation to attack his enemies."

"What about the Hierocracy?" Emilia asked.

Anri shook her head. "The Hierocracy will follow the Holy King's lead. Without a King to unify them, they tend to fall into internecine bickering so that nothing gets done. If House Griest attacked more Houses or stirred up enough trouble then the Hierocracy might intervene but as long as the only House affected by this is House Ithil, it won't earn the Hierocracy's immediate attention."

"What makes House Ithil so special? Why are you being targeted?"

Anri sighed. "House Ithil is… an upstart, I suppose you'd call us. The other Houses don't like us very much. We only recovered our status as a Great House during my parents' time."

"Recovered it?" Emilia asked.

Anri thought for a moment and then bowed her head with a sigh. "See, life in Gusteko revolves around two things: the House and the Church. To be a person without a House is to be an 'unperson.' A person who belongs to no House has barely any legal rights, although exceptions are sometimes made for foreign merchants. Centuries ago, before the modern Hierocracy and Holy King had even come into being, there was a great war between Lagunica and Gusteko. The Dragon appeared to defend Lagunica and Gusteko lost the war terribly. Trying to salvage the situation, the King of Gusteko ordered my ancestors to do… something," Anri said ominously.

Anri shook her head. "They refused. In a fit of rage, the King declared that House Ithil had been excommunicated and removed from the roll of Houses of Gusteko," Anri said gravely.

Emilia screwed her face up in confusion. "What… does that mean?"

Anri sighed. "It means that we were considered a House accursed and had barely any protection under the law. My family, our servants, the people who simply lived in our domain, all of them were shunned. They were refused admission to shops and thrown out of taverns. If one of us was assaulted, the courts denied that we had any right to seek justice. This lasted for centuries until my parents fell in battle, protecting the Holy King from assassins. The Holy King praised their courage and in recognition, he raised House Ithil back to its former status."

"That must be reassuring," Emilia murmured.

Anri's face twisted. "If I'm being honest, I'd rather just have my parents back. For me, the restoration has just caused more problems."

"How? Shouldn't that have ended them?"

"The Holy King may have restored my family's standing but most of the other Houses still don't like us very much. Some of them even still blame us for the loss of that dumb war two hundred years ago! Besides that, when my House was not 'accredited' it survived by focusing on trade and commerce. My parents made our fortune back by brokering deals with the merchants in Kararagi and cutting roads through the southern mountains to open trade routes between Kararagi and Gusteko. This was not an altogether popular decision," She muttered.

"What do you mean?" Emilia asked.

Anri gave a humorless laugh. "Most people in Gusteko are violently isolationist and strongly prejudiced against demi-humans. All of this gave House Griest an opening to try and organize the other Houses against us. Now Prince Malcolm is trying to kill me and he's sent an army to Siros to try to seize our lands."

Emilia shook her head sadly. "And this is all just because House Griest hates demi-humans?" Emilia sighed.

Anri looked awkward. "No. I mean, yes but that's not really what this is all about."

"I don't understand."

Anri gave a humorless laugh. "The truth is that this is all about money! Sanshi territory is just north of Lagunica. The southern mountains that wall off Gusteko from Kararagi and Lagunica are impassable for the most part, especially in the winter. Since House Griest controlled the only safe way through the mountains into Gusteko for centuries, all northern commerce originally had to pass through Sanshi and pay exorbitant tariffs to House Griest in order to bring their wares to market. This made House Griest fantastically wealthy. However, when my House opened the other trade routes to Kararagi, that revenue dwindled. Prince Malcolm has been trying to use xenophobia and racism to rally the other Houses against House Ithil so that Griest will control the trade routes again."

Emilia was confused. "I don't understand. What does isolation and demi-humans have to do with tariffs?"

Anri snorted. "Marketing! Prince Malcolm can't walk around to the other houses and say: 'House Ithil is costing me money, I want you to send your soldiers to fight and die against House Ithil so that I can be wealthier.' He's claiming that the influx of Kararagi merchants are diluting the racial purity of Gusteko since those merchants are often demi-human. Most Lagunican merchants tend to be human so they're easier for the reactionary faction in Gusteko to tolerate. Honestly, as far as propaganda campaigns go, it's not that bad a strategy."

Emilia puzzled her way through that. "And nobody else is challenging this?"

Anri shrugged. "The Hierocracy is too fragmented to do much of anything right now and the Holy King is too sick. Most of the other Houses are maintaining that this isn't their problem. Prince Malcolm is hoping that his son Canmore will gain the Holy King's throne," Anri continued. "So he's also waging war to demonstrate his House's strength and to try to force the other Houses into line. If he succeeds in crushing his opposition and killing most of the other candidates before Holy King Gillecomgain dies, his odds of taking the throne will increase."

Emilia stared at her. "Then, you're a candidate for the throne?"

Anri snorted dismissively. "One of hundreds! Every House submits at least one candidate, no matter how remote their odds of taking the throne actually are! Or there were hundreds of candidates anyway, I have no idea how many of us are left at this point. I doubt those assassins were just coming after me. Of course, the other reason Prince Malcolm wants to kill me is just to destroy my House," She said bitterly.

Emilia's face twisted in sympathy. "I'm very sorry to hear that. Subaru and I were once candidates for the Lagunican throne as well," Emilia said without thinking. "But I'm afraid that we may not be candidates for much longer, given… given everything that we've gone through recently. Truthfully, I think that I'd be altogether happier if we weren't involved in the royal selection anymore. Dealing with the nobility's prejudices as well as all the ceremonies and glad-handing was making me miserable…"

Anri nodded enthusiastically. "I so get what you mean. In some ways, the past few weeks of being free from the restrictions of the nobility is a blessing from the gods, even if everybody is trying to kill me. For once, there aren't hundreds of people evaluating how I chew my food and suggesting that my great-great-grandmother would have taken smaller, more lady-like bites! Or telling me that my second cousin twice-removed words her thoughts more eloquently," Anri rolled her eyes.

Emilia actually laughed.

Anri thought for a moment. "I'd heard that Lagunica was choosing a new King but I don't know any of the details. Were there hundreds of candidates there too?"

Emilia shook her head. "Very few," She said with a sigh.

Anri looked at Emilia strangely. "Emilia, I knew that Subaru Natsuki was considered the forerunner for the Lagunican throne but I'd never heard that an elf was involved. Honestly, I would have thought that would have been bigger news. All kinds of small-minded idiots in Gusteko would have liked to make hay out of that."

Emilia, you are such a dummy! Why did you say that?! You know that nobody remembers you!

"It's… I…" Emilia struggled to put what had happened to her into words and finally gave up. "Never mind. You'd never believe me anyway…"

Anri gave her a speculative look. "No? Well, maybe you should tell us anyway. We'd like to hear the story. Right, Victoire?"

Victoire was still playing a game of catch with her beret and clearly not listening to this conversation. "Oh yeah, I'm just so fucking stoked to hear all about this," Victoire said in a bored tone, her feet resting on the table.

Anri shot Victoire a look of annoyance then got up to check the bubbling medicine. "Come on, Mili. We have a while before the medicine is going to be ready. It'll make the time go by quicker. Besides, after all this, I'm really curious how the upstart prince of Lagunica wound up falling in love with an elven woman and a suspected witch. I mean, I love reading romance novels but if someone recommended a book to me and told me that this was the plot to the story, I'd tell them that the book went way beyond believability," Anri said teasingly.

Emilia sighed. I suppose I could use the distraction… And really, who cares if they believe me? I've been called a liar so many times since we left the Sanctuary. One more won't kill me.

Emilia took a deep breath. "I became a candidate for the royal throne of Lagunica several months ago. Lord Roswaal found me living in the Elior Forest and explained to me that by the magic of an ancient insignia, he knew that I was qualified to stand for election as King. My people in the forest lay under a terrible curse. They were all frozen solid long ago. My… father and I had lived alone in the forest for years. Roswaal convinced me that the sacred dragon blood, which only the King of Lagunica has access to, could break the curse. So I left the forest and tried to become King. For months, I… really accomplished nothing. Most people laughed at the thought of any demi-human sitting on the throne, much less a silver haired half-elf. In my weaker moments, I sometimes wondered if Roswaal had recruited me as secretly just some kind of cruel joke…"

Emilia glanced at Anri who stood stirring the medicine with a considering look on her face.

She continued, "Then I met Subaru. My insignia had been stolen by a pickpocket and this removed my right to stand for election. I had to get the insignia back if I was going to have any chance of saving my people. Subaru helped me locate the insignia. He almost… died helping me get it back. Subaru had held my insignia and it reacted to him so we knew that he was qualified to become King as well. Because my insignia had left my possession, I was about to be disqualified from the election. I thought that I'd failed and that my people would be frozen forever. But Subaru offered to marry me to keep me in the election so that I could save my people…"

"He offered to marry you?" Anri said in shock. "Just like that?!"

Emilia nodded. "Subaru told the sages' council that we'd gotten engaged before he touched my insignia. Because as a married couple, our interests would be joined under the law, it let us both stay in the election. It was the only way that he could think of to keep me in the royal selection."

Anri whistled. "That's amazing! It is just like the plot from a romance novel!"

Emilia squinted at her, uncertain of how to respond to that. "My Subaru is very kind," She said finally. "Subaru took the lead in our quest for the throne and for a time it seemed that we were nearly unstoppable. It felt like everyone wanted Subaru on the throne. Even if that meant… taking me too…"

Emilia bowed her head and took a deep breath. "Then… everything went wrong. I made a foolish mistake and once again, I ruined so many lives…"

"What do you mean?" Anri asked in concern.

Emilia sighed. "I was determined to prove to Subaru that I was worthy to stand beside him as an equal. That I wasn't just… some girl that he'd always have to rescue and take care of. I wanted to be someone who could take care of him as well. I… I wanted to make Subaru proud of me…" She whispered.

"Of course you did!" Anri encouraged. "Who wouldn't? That's a very noble objective! It shows bravery, determination, and empathy! I'm sure that Subaru approved."

Emilia shook her head. "No. Subaru tried to talk me out of it," She whispered dejectedly. "He didn't want us to be separated but I insisted. Subaru went to slay the White Whale and I went with Roswaal to attend a gathering of village chiefs so that I could campaign for our election. Unfortunately, Roswaal had betrayed us and we were attacked by a monster, the Sin Archbishop Peteleguese. He chased us away from the village and Roswaal led us to the Sanctuary without telling us that once we were inside, we would be trapped. Only pure blooded individuals can pass through the Sanctuary barrier without dying. That meant that everyone was trapped inside the Sanctuary and I was the only one who was qualified to take the trials that would get us out."

"Trials?" Anri asked in confusion.

She sighed. "Three magical tests that needed to be passed in order to lower the barrier. I attempted to take the trials everyday for two weeks and I failed constantly. I never even got past the first trial. I always collapsed wailing and screaming every time I tried." She shook her head and scowled. "And then I had to be carried back to my bed," Emilia said in a tone of deep disgust.

"What were these trials?" Anri asked.

Emilia sighed. "They were magical visions. The first trial was my past. It forced me to confront the worst mistake of my life. I just… couldn't get past it. I couldn't endure watching it happen again. Even knowing that it was only a vision, all I could do was throw every drop of magic I had at the image of that little monster, trying to obliterate my younger self. I did this everyday for weeks."

Anri looked at her sympathetically.

"This was all part of Roswaal's plan, you see," Emilia continued. "He planned to grind me down and break me. He wanted to make it impossible for me to ever pass the trials. Then he somehow manipulated the Sin Archbishops of the Witch Cult to come to the Sanctuary to kill everyone while we were still trapped there.

Anri gasped.

"We only had a few hours before the Sin Archbishops arrived and I was no closer to passing the trials than I had been my first day in the Sanctuary but I was the only one who could take them!"

"How did you realize that Roswaal was tricking you?" Anri asked.

Emilia hung her head in shame. "I didn't," She growled at herself. "I never realized it. I was completely oblivious to it! Subaru managed to figure it out after being in the Sanctuary for less than a day. He confronted Roswaal and he admitted to it. Roswaal thought that he had Subaru trapped somewhere that he couldn't escape from."

Emilia sighed. "Actually, that's a lie. Subaru knew that he could pass through the barrier because he was pure blooded. But Roswaal knew that Subaru wouldn't do it. He knew that Subaru… would never… abandon me…"

Emilia was silent for a long moment. "Roswaal told Subaru that he'd grant him the power to take the trials in my place and free the Sanctuary if he signed a magical slave contract that would forever bind him to Roswaal's will."

Anri's eyes were big as hen's eggs. "He… didn't sign it, did he?!"

Emilia shook her head. "No. I… I couldn't let that happen. I would have died before I let that happen!" She almost shouted. "I promised Subaru that I would pass the trials this time and we would get everyone out of the Sanctuary. And Subaru, for some reason, gambled that I could do it…"

"Did you pass?" Anri asked excitedly.

Emilia nodded. "Yes, again thanks to Subaru. Subaru showed me how to pass the trial. I saw my past again but he taught me how I could see it with new eyes. Instead of despising that girl, I… I suddenly pitied her for all the pain that she had been forced to endure."

"What were the other trials like?" Anri asked.

Emilia sighed. "The second trial was a vision of a life that I would have sold my soul to have. All of my loved ones were alive, Subaru and I were safe and free to do nothing except love each other. We even had a baby," Emilia whispered with a sad smile.

Anri smiled, poking at the bubbling potion. "That sounds wonderful, Emilia."

Emilia nodded. "I wanted to stay there forever but Subaru… the real Subaru, needed me so I left," Emilia took a deep breath and shook her head. "The last trial was my worst fear."

"Wait, what do you mean 'your worst fear?'" Victoire asked sharply.

Emilia stared off into the distance with haunted eyes. "The magic brought to life the worst thing I could possibly imagine. A horror that made me want to lose my mind. The magic reached into my soul and dug out my absolute worst nightmare and made me face it. I barely got through that trial with my sanity intact…"

"I don't get it," Victoire said, shaking her head.

Emilia put up her hands. "Please, I… I don't want to get into the details," She murmured.

"Sure!" Anri said quickly, casting a reproachful look at Victoire.

Victoire sighed and rolled her eyes, tossing her beret into the air and catching it.

"But you did manage to pass the trials in the end, right?" Anri asked.

Emilia nodded. "We barely escaped ahead of the Sin Archbishops but we did get away."

"Wow! That's an amazing story, Emilia!" Anri said excitedly. "You must have been thrilled! You really were a hero! You proved everything to Subaru that you wanted to prove!"

Emilia didn't answer right away. Finally, she sighed. "Then we discovered that somehow, inexplicably, our lives had gotten even worse."

"Worse?! How could things have gotten worse?!" Anri asked in shock.

Emilia sighed. "After we left the Sanctuary, I discovered that I had been cursed and nobody could remember who I was."

"…What?" Anri replied.

"No one could remember who I was," Emilia repeated. "My father. Subaru's adopted sister. All of our friends. Everyone acted like they'd never met me before. Subaru was the only person who even remembered who I was. Everyone else simply assumed that I had put an enchantment on Subaru to trick him into thinking that he knew me. Everyone's memories had been edited so that they only remembered Subaru as a candidate for the throne.

"Because everyone thought that I was a witch, Subaru and I had to run for our lives. We traveled with my father and his sister for a time," Emilia said sadly. "But my father now despised me for putting Subaru in danger by my mere presence. Finally, our friends tracked us down and were ready to kill me. Subaru and I got away but Beatrice and Daddy… they didn't…"

Emilia stared sadly down at the floor.

Anri scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Hey, Emilia, you say that you were cursed and that nobody can remember you?"

Emilia nodded. "Even my own father doesn't remember who I am. All his memories of me were either erased or the magic changed them so that Subaru was inserted into my place."

Anri shook her head. "I've never even heard of a curse like that."

Emilia sighed. "Neither had I. We think that the Witch Cult might have placed the curse on me."

Anri thought for a moment. "Victoire, have you ever heard of something like this?"

Victoire shook her head. "Nah. But I never wasted my time studying curses. Or the Witch Cult. I'm guessing that your Grandpa would be the best person to ask."

"Your grandfather?" Emilia asked.

Anri nodded. "Yeah, my grandfather is a Patriarch of the Gusteko Holy Church. He serves as the caretaker of the Grand Archives. When my parents died, he told me that he considered becoming the regent since my brother and I were too young to ascend the throne and he could easily gain the approval of all the nobles to land the job. But it would have meant giving up his seat in the Hierocracy. Luckily, my Uncle agreed to become regent so my Grandfather didn't have to."

"What are the Grand Archives?" Emilia asked.

Anri smirked. "They're the collective knowledge of the Holy Church! It's by far the largest repository of books anywhere in the world. We've even got books on the Old Kingdom!" Anri said in a proud voice. "My family has guarded and protected the Archives since long before anyone can remember."

"Old Kingdom?" Emilia asked.

"Yeah! The Grand Archives contains lots of books and other materials dating from the Old Kingdom. They're all considered to be treasured artifacts by my family. My Grandfather has spent his entire life studying these relics."

"I'm sorry, Anri, but what is the Old Kingdom?" Emilia asked awkwardly.

Anri gave her a strange look.

Emilia blushed. "I'm afraid that I'm not very well educated," Emilia admitted. "I've never heard this term before."

"Hm," Anri thought for a moment. "That's probably not your fault, Mili. I don't think that Lagunica likes to discuss the Old Kingdom very much. From what I've heard, Lagunica likes to pretend that it's a kingdom that has endured for thousands of years," She said mockingly.

Emilia frowned. "Hasn't it? I thought that the records of the Lion Kings go back fifteen hundred years before the Great Calamity."

Anri snickered. "Well yeah, I heard that they do but I don't have much faith in those writings as historical records. I remember reading a little about the early Lion Kings of Lagunica during my studies. Aker son of Atum and the rest seem more like mythological fables than actual history. I sort of have my doubts that the first Lion King actually fought a river with his bare hands or that he trapped the four winds in a bag until they agreed to serve him."

"Perhaps he was a great sorcerer," Emilia suggested.

"Maybe," Anri allowed. "But it seems more likely that the story is intended to be read as an allegory. Like the legends that claim that the ancient Sun King carved the Great Dragons from mountains and smokeless fire. We lost a great deal of knowledge of our history during the Great Calamity. We only have scattered remnants to pick over and it's not really clear how much of it we should take literally."

"Why would we lose all that knowledge?" Emilia asked.

Anri looked at her Emilia. Her usually cheerful demeanor had grown somber. "Emilia, how much do you know about the Great Calamity?"

"It's when the Witch of Envy destroyed most of the world," Emilia said promptly.

Anri chuckled. "Very good, Emilia. You get a gold star! But what do you think that catastrophe was like?"

Emilia thought for a moment and then answered, "Scary?"

"Yeah, that's not quite what I meant, Mili," Anri chuckled. "My grandfather told me that the Witch of Envy's campaign against the world lasted for years. Even a witch takes a very long time to destroy a whole world."

"And then she was sealed away?" Emilia asked.

"Yup. The Sword Saint, the Sage, and the Divine Dragon joined forces to seal the Witch away after they discovered that they couldn't kill her. They gathered the greatest army this world had ever seen to fight off the witch's abominations and monsters while they finally sealed away the witch. But what do you think happened after the battle?"

Emilia frowned. "They… threw a party?"

Anri shook her head. "They cared for their wounded and buried their dead. The death toll of that battle is believed to have been in the hundreds of thousands and we can't even guest how many might have been injured. Then the survivors left to face a far greater emergency."

"Greater than the witch?" Emilia asked skeptically.

"Yes. They'd stripped the lands of every able bodied man and woman to fight the war and they'd left the fields untended. Winter was coming and there was no food. They managed to eke their way through that terrible winter but only by emptying every storehouse on the continent. After that, they discovered that they had lost so many people during the war that when springtime came around, there weren't enough young and healthy people left to plant new crops. The majority of people who hadn't participated in that great battle were mostly cripples, the elderly or the very young. In other words, the people who couldn't help grow and harvest crops far outnumbered the remaining people who could. The result was famine and plague. For a full century, the only concern on the continent was food. The swords were exchanged for shovels and the proud war steeds were hitched to plows. Worse, most of the lands that the armies had been drawn from had been destroyed or forced under the sea by the witch. The world was a fraction of the size that it had been before her rampage. These men had nowhere to return to and had to find new places for themselves. They tried to seek help from the rulers of the remaining lands but those potentates didn't have enough food for their own people! They couldn't take in refugees. The armies broke down and many formed roaming bands of brigands desperately searching for places to live and food to eat."

Emilia shook her head in disbelief. "Nothing like that ever happened in any of the other fairy tales that I've read," Emilia commented.

Anri chuckled. "Yeah, because those were only stories, Mili," Anri murmured. "This really happened. My grandfather told me that during the chaos following the sealing of the witch, all kinds of knowledge was lost. Elders starved or took sick or were killed in the fighting. Whole libraries were burned."

"So… what was the Old Kingdom like?" Emilia asked.

"We don't know."

"Huh?" Emilia replied.

Anri shrugged. "We don't know what the old world was like, not really. Was there really a Kingdom called Lagunica before the Great Calamity? Did the line of the Lion Kings actually extend for a thousand years? Or is all of this just myth? We have barely any records of what kingdoms existed before the Great Calamity or what they were like. We use the term 'Old Kingdom' as a catch-all for whatever existed before the Great Calamity. My grandfather is one of the world's foremost experts on the Old Kingdom and he would be the first to tell you that the little knowledge we do have of the old world is vague and often contradicted by other works."

Emilia thought for a moment. "Anri, you said that the Grand Archives has books on this subject?"

"Of course! The Grand Archives has books on almost every subject you can imagine and probably dozens that you can't!" Anri said proudly. "They're the treasure hoard of my family! They have books on everything from medicine to battle strategies to hair dressing! They even have books from the days when the witches still walked the land!"

Emilia took a deep breath. "Anri, do you think I might be able to find more information about my curse in the Archives? Maybe even a cure?"

Anri hesitated. "Well, I can't say for sure but I do know that if you could find information on it anywhere in the world then I'm sure that you could find it there," She admitted slowly. "I could give you access on my authority as Princess but getting back to Siros right now would be… complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"Our lands are under attack," Anri said somberly. "I'm not even sure how I'm going to get home."

Victoire scoffed. "I'll get you home, Princess! You just trust this amazingly beautiful lady to steer you around the corners!" She boasted.

Anri sighed. "I really admire your confidence, Victoire," She said with a faint smile.

Emilia looked at Anri sympathetically. "Maybe Subaru can help. If he thinks that we might learn how to lift my curse, I'm sure that he'd be happy to help you get back home."

Anri smiled at her. "Now that's a deal! You guys get me back to Siros and you can browse around in the Archives to your heart's content. If there's any reference to your curse in the Archives, Emilia, my grandfather will know about it."

Anri paused in stirring the potion. "Come to think of it, I wish that Hunnicutt was here right now," She murmured.

"That was your friend, right?" Emilia asked.

Anri sighed. "He wasn't my friend. He was one of my House's Shadows. I barely knew him, unfortunately. But I liked him. And he told me that his area of study had included the Witch Cult. He might have been able to answer some of your questions, Emilia."

"What is a 'Shadow?'" Emilia asked.

"The Shadows, like Victoire," Anri gestured toward the bored woman sitting at the table, "Are my family's secret service. They're trained in stealth, information gathering, and infiltration. They also keep my families secrets and some work as our bodyguards," Anri explained.

"And Hunnicutt was infiltrating the Witch Cult?" Emilia asked in disbelief.

Anri chuckled. "No. I'm not sure that the Witch Cult has ever been infiltrated successfully. He studied them. Or his study included them anyway. In addition to their field training, each Shadow spends years studying in the Grand Archives. It's a tradition and it's believed to increase their intelligence and insight, right, Victoire?"

Victoire looked pained. "Please, don't bring me back there. I'm a field operative not a bookworm. All that studying made me want to fucking scream," Victoire said flatly.

Anri snickered. "Why? What was your area of study?"

"The Lagunican royal family, Princess," Victoire rolled her eyes. "I spent years learning every stupid ancestor's name and every stupid thing that they ever did in their stupid fucking lives. And now they're all gone and all that studying is fucking useless!"

Anri burst out laughing. "Yeah I guess that would be pretty frustrating. I needed to study all of the Ithil family history myself. Most of it was pretty boring," She admitted. "But at least they were my relatives so that made it a bit more interesting."

"What was Hunnicutt studying?" Emilia asked.

"Prospective Shadows spend years studying in the Grand Archives. They can't become real Shadows until they achieve mastery over at least one subject. Hunnicutt spent close to three years studying tiny and obscure scraps of Old Kingdom knowledge, attempting to glean new insight from them. He wrote his dissertation on the small fragments that we have of three different plays written in the Old Kingdom just before the Great Calamity."

"They were about the Witch Cult?" Emilia asked in surprise.

"Oh no. They had nothing to do with the Witch Cult."

"Anri, I thought you said-"

"The three plays each have a soliloquy where a character is compared to a Witch Cultist, usually in the context expounding on the character's betrayal of the main character. Each play has nothing to do with the Witch Cult other than that analogy. Hunnicutt spend three years writing a dissertation on their meaning," Anri replied.

Emilia looked confused. "Anri, I don't understand. Why would it be noteworthy that the villain of a play is compared to a Witch Cultist?"

"Well, the plays don't compare the villain to the Witch Cult. In each case, it's a flawed friend of the protagonist who's being compared to the Witch Cult. Someone who, through accident or character flaw, has betrayed the hero and now the hero must suffer for it."

Emilia thought for a moment and then shook her head. "I still don't understand."

Anri chuckled. "Yeah, honestly I didn't understand it either at first. But Hunnicutt talked a lot about it while we were fleeing. Looking back on it, I think he just wanted to distract me so I wouldn't be scared. Hunnicutt's big insight dealt with the concept of 'betrayal.' The fact that these plays, which were written about different topics and by different people all associated the Witch Cult with betrayal suggests that the connection between the two was fairly prevalent in society at that time. Hunnicutt's dissertation essentially boiled down to: 'You can't be double-crossed by an enemy.' The fact that people viewed the Witch Cult's actions during the Great Calamity as a 'betrayal,' strongly suggested to him that the relationship between society and the Witch Cult at that time must have been different than what we think of today."

"Yeah, that's all really fascinating," Victoire sighed, sounding bored.

Anri gave her an annoyed look before continuing. "Hunnicutt went so far as to speculate that the Witch Cult was openly tolerated in the Old Kingdom or perhaps even admired," Anri's voice was fond as she recalled her fallen companion. "He told me that the chairman of his dissertation committee was my Grandfather. Hunnicutt told me that Grandfather told him that his conclusion was mad. But Grandfather admitted that Hunnicutt had made several cogent points even if his conclusion was bonkers. Grandfather said that it was common knowledge that the Witch Cult before the time of the Great Calamity would have been far more powerful than the dregs that we see today. He said that as a result of this, the Witch Cult must have been far more feared at the time and likely far more influential. So Grandfather accepted his dissertation and voted for him to become a Shadow."

"Dregs?!" Victoire said incredulously. "Do you know what they're doing to Lagunica right now? Do you know what will happen to this kingdom if they turn north when they're finished?!"

"Anri," Emilia said in a similar tone. "Have you ever met a Sin Archbishop? They are terrifyingly powerful! Subaru barely escaped from combat with them with his life!"

Anri shrugged. "Well, I don't know much about them, Mili. I'm just repeating what I've been told. My Grandfather is an expert though. He once told me that the power of the Archbishops in no way compares to the power of the Witches. He said that if the seven Witches of Sin walked the land today then the Witch Cult would control this entire world."

Victoire threw her beret into the air and caught it. "Hey, any chance that we could talk about something else? Like literally anythingmore pleasant?" Victoire grumbled. "I realize that we're currently squatting in an abandoned dump in the ass-end of Sanshi territory but there still must be something nicer to talk about than the motherfucking Witches of Sin!"

Anri pulled the pot off the fire. "Actually, I think that we're done talking for the moment. Emilia, I believe that your medicine is ready."

Emilia sprang up. "Really?"

Anri brought the pot over to the table and set it down. Emilia looked inside the pot where the medicine seemed to have boiled down to a dry, gray powder.

Anri bustled over to the enormous spice rack and pulled out a bottle of some vibrant green oil.

"Everyone brace yourselves!" Anri warned as she brought the bottle to the pot.

"For what?" Emilia asked as Anri poured the oil over the powder.

The dust started to steam intensely. Huge clouds of white steam filled the room.

Emilia jumped back gagging and trying not to vomit at the intensely foul odor.

Victoire bent double, coughing and hacking. "Oh my fucking god, that smells vile! That smells worse than the time I had to escape a town by crawling through a fucking sewage tunnel!" She staggered slowly out of the kitchen and went outside of the church where she was noisily sick.

"Gah!" Anri cringed, desperately fanning the air and trying to clear the clouds of steam. "I swear that this potion smells worse every single time I make it!"

"Anri, what is this?!" Emilia asked as the steam slowly began to clear the room.

"The medicine," Anri said, choking and trying not to throw up.

Anri grabbed a small measuring glass and carefully poured some of the medicine into it.

Emilia looked into the pot. The formally gray powder had combined with the green oil to produce a yellowy-green concoction with the consistency of melted butter and a powerful odor. "Anri, are you sure that this won't kill him?" She asked dubiously.

Anri gave her an amused glance as she handed Emilia the glass. "Here. Give this to Subaru. It won't taste very good but make sure that he drinks it all. If he's still unconscious, you may need to help him sit up and drink it."

Emilia's eyes filled with tears. "Thank you so much!"

Anri waved her gratitude aside then grabbed her stomach as she almost threw up. She gave Emilia a weak smile. "Hey, it's the least that I owe you! I hope that he feels better soon. This medicine will force the Black Water's witchcraft out of him. The purification is a very traumatic process for the body. He'll likely sleep for several hours. Encourage him to do that. The less he's conscious through the process the better!"

Force out the witchcraft? What will that do to Subaru's Authority?

Might the potion get rid of it? That… isn't necessarily a bad thing but what if the potion reacts violently with Subaru because he has so much witchcraft in him? Could it damage him or put him into shock?

…I have to take the chance. That poison will absolutely kill Subaru. If there's any chance that this medicine will save him, I have to take it.

Anri looked out the door to where they could hear Victoire still coughing and throwing up. "I think I better check on Victoire," Anri said somberly. "And maybe do a little throwing up myself… When Grandfather taught me and a few other students how to make this potion, we all threw up so much that we almost passed out!" Anri walked to the door, looking nauseous and dry-heaving repeatedly.

Emilia nodded and started to leave the kitchen, walking slowly to avoid spilling a drop.

She had to pause repeatedly during her walk as her stomach did somersaults because of the foul aroma.

Emilia walked back into Subaru's bedroom. The sun was just setting. She saw Subaru lying there unconscious, his face drawn and miserable.

"Subaru, the medicine is ready," She whispered, putting the glass on a nearby night table. She sat down on the bed beside him. "Let me help you up."

Subaru whimpered as she gently pulled him upright. Emilia could feel the heat of the venom through the sheets, burning like a furnace. It appeared to have started to spread through the left side of his torso.

She picked up the glass. "Here, Subaru. Drink," She whispered, holding the glass up to his lips.

She poured extremely slowly so that Subaru only got a few drops at a time.

Each sip made Subaru gag and his body spasmed.

Emilia bit her lip. "I know that it tastes bad, Subaru, but it's medicine. Please drink it," She urged.

Subaru made no sign that he was even aware of her presence.

It seemed to take forever. The unconscious Subaru struggled to swallow it and keep it down. Twice he almost threw up but barely managed to force it back. Finally, the medicine was all gone and Subaru lay crumpled against Emilia's shoulder, looking absolutely spent.

Emilia helped him lie down. He was panting for breath.

Emilia gently kissed his forehead. "Try to sleep, Subaru. Anri says that you need your rest, alright?"

Subaru sighed but Emilia wasn't sure if he had heard her.

"You're safe, Subaru. Nothing can hurt you as long as I'm here," She soothed. "I promise that I'll take good care of you. Promises are important and I must keep my promises."

Emilia just sat beside his bed for a time, watching him sleep. He was dreaming but he flinched and writhed in his dreams.

Oh, please get better Subaru…

She laid down beside him and went to sleep.

Emilia woke up hours later. She glanced out the bedroom window and realized that the sun would rise soon.

Subaru was fast asleep.

Emilia climbed off the bed and tucked Subaru in. He was still moaning but he wasn't writhing around as much.

Emilia lifted the covers and looked at Subaru's body. The yellowish brown color that had been spreading through his body hadn't moved much during the night. It had also darkened to a more orange hue.

I hope that's a good sign… At least he seems to be breathing easier.

Emilia kissed him gently and then went back to the kitchen.

"Hey, Princess," Victoire said, sitting at the table. "Look, I hate to be a nag but we gotta get the fuck out of here, today. If there's any chance that Malcolm an Griest knows about the safe-houses then he's going to be knocking them over one by one until he sees you come crawling out from under one!"

"Yeah, leave and go where?" Anri sighed. "If this safe-house is compromised, shouldn't we assume that all the others aren't safe either?"

"Yeah, probably," She admitted. "Look, maybe we should just return to Siros. Your people fucking need you!"

Anri hesitated. "Look, I agree that we should probably go home but how can we even get there? There's an entire army between us! We even have assassins and bounty hunters trying to catch us on the road."

"I can handle that, Princess, don't you worry," Victoire said confidently. "The Shadows take roads that nobody else knows about. This amazing lady will get you home safe and sound. Just don't expect it to be a fun fucking trip. When we get back to Siros, you-"

Victoire stopped talking as Emilia entered the kitchen. She gave the elf a chill look.

"Oh!" Anri said turning to look at Emilia with a broad smile. "Good morning, Emilia! We made some toast for you if you're hungry."

Emilia nodded. "Thank you," She said sitting down at the table. She spread some butter on a slice of toasted bread and ate it.

Ironically, this is the best meal that I've had all week.

I just wish that Subaru could share it with me…

"How's our patient?" Anri asked.

Emilia hesitated. "I… don't know," She admitted. "He… doesn't seem to be any worse at least."

Anri nodded. "You might not think it but that's a very good sign that the medicine is working. If the medicine hadn't taken effect, he never would have made it through the night."

Emilia stared at her in horror.

Anri flushed and chuckled nervously. "Oh, right. Maybe I shouldn't have shared that. But the point is that Subaru is almost certainly recovering. I'll go take a look at him."

Anri got up from the table and went back toward the bedroom.

Emilia wolfed down her bread and followed Anri.

Victoire didn't move but Emilia felt the woman's eyes boring into her back.

Anri knelt on the bed next to the unconscious Subaru.

"Morning, Subaru," Anri murmured. "How are we feeling?"

She peeled back one of his eye lids.

The eye seemed to focus on her momentarily and then rolled away.

"Alright!" Anri approved. "Those black veins from yesterday are all gone. He's definitely on the mend."

Anri pulled up the covers to inspect his body. "The venom doesn't seem to be spreading any further," She said. "His arm is still in bad shape but that just needs some healing magic to repair the muscle and the damaged flesh."

"Can you do that?" Emilia asked intently.

Anri nodded. "Yeah it will just take a day or two. I know that his arm looks really bad but trust me, the damage looks a lot worse than it actually is. Subaru doesn't need a master healer. Just a competent one. So I'll try to pretend that I qualify," Anri said in a tone of self-mockery.

Emilia looked at her. "Anri, you saved his life. You're a wonderful healer. I am… forever in your debt," She bowed her head.

Anri chuckled. "Let's just call it even, shall we? You did save my life after all. Hell, you probably bothsaved my life. The Black Water would have devastated the entire region before it was stopped."

Anri and Emilia tucked Subaru back into bed.

They both sat on the edge of the bed for a moment. Anri looked at her. "I hope that you're feeling better, Mili. I can't imagine what you went through last night."

Emilia took a deep breath and let it out. "I thought that I was going to lose him. I thought that he was going to die and that it would be all my fault. Subaru got hurt protecting me. Again."

"But he isn't dying," Anri said with a reassuring smile. "He's going to be just fine."

Emilia sighed. "We had a screaming argument before we met the Black Water."

Anri coughed. "Yeah, I heard. Not the specifics, I mean. But I could hear the shouting. I'm guessing that most of the forest could."

Emilia flinched. "I said… terrible things to him."

"Emilia, why did you tell him to leave?"

Emilia didn't answer right away. Finally she bowed her head and sighed. "Anri," Emilia said patiently. "Subaru was devastated by the loss of Beatrice and Puck. His friends even turned against him and it was all because of me. If he left me behind and just went back to the capitol… he could get everything back. It's just… the right thing to do. It's best for Subaru, for his friends, it's even the best thing to do for the world. You know what kind of man Subaru is. He could be a King! He could literally change this entire world. How can I ask him to abandon all that and run away with me? How can I ask him to waste his life hiding with me in a tiny cottage in a cursed forest?" She murmured.

Anri seemed to weigh her answer carefully. "Emilia, you didn't ask him to run away with you. He just did it."

"So?" Emilia muttered.

"Emilia, listen, there is a very big difference between asking someone to sacrifice for you and letting them sacrifice for you. They aren't even close to the same thing."

"I don't know, Anri," Emilia said. "They come to the same thing in the end, don't they?"

"Shouldn't Subaru get a choice in this?" Anri asked gently. "It's his life after all. How does he want to spend it? Did you ever ask him?"

Emilia shook her head. "You don't understand, Anri. I can't just… ask him how he feels about this."

"Why not?"

Emilia sighed. "Anri… Subaru is so kind and caring. He would never tell me that he regretted meeting me. I know that Subaru would never abandon me… no matter… how much he might want to…"

"You think that he wants to abandon you?" Anri asked incredulously. "If you're worried about that, why didn't you ever talk to him about it?"

Emilia wept silently. "I'm just… I'm afraid that someday he'll wake up and realize that being with me could never make up for everything that he gave up for the sake of being with me. That he'll hate me for holding him back."

Anri chuckled.

Emilia looked at her in shock.

"Look, I'm real sorry, Mili," Anri said with a knowing smile. "But I just can't take these kind of fears seriously. I've known Subaru for about three days and he's been unconscious for at least one of them. And even I know Subaru well enough to say that he'll never give up on you. I can't promise you that your love is going to be eternal and that everything will work out. Nobody can promise that. Love is difficult and even with both people trying as hard as they can, sometimes things just don't work out the way you'd like. But I am certain that he'd never regret trying to make it work or regret the time he spent with you."

Emilia's mouth moved but she didn't say anything.

"That boy loves you, Emilia," Anri said confidently. "He loves you as truly as anyone I've ever met. And for the sake of that love alone, I'd follow you two into the dragon's den."

Emilia blinked. "Dragon's den?" Emilia said in confusion.

Anri flinched. "Oh, right. That… doesn't make sense in this context," She mumbled.

"I don't understand."

Anri looked pained. "Um. So, it's just possible I was quoting some lines from one of my favorite romance novels…"

Emilia covered her face and sighed.

"Hey! It's still good advice!" Anri protested.

Emilia shook her head in resignation.

"Look," Anri urged. "Let's go finish breakfast. Subaru should wake up in a couple of hours. Then we can all plan our next moves."

"Next moves?" Emilia asked.

Anri shrugged, standing up. "Yeah. Victoire and me need to find our way back to Siros. I'm not sure what you and Subaru want to do next but I'll try to help you as far as I'm able. I certainly owe you that much."

"As far as I'm concerned," Emilia said, following Anri out of the room. "We're in debt to you, Anri. Whatever struggles that you're facing, if there's any way that we can assist you, I'll do whatever I can to help and I'm sure that Subaru will feel the same way."

The pair returned to the kitchen and found Victoire sitting there like a statue.

She glowered at Emilia.

Anri quickly noticed the tension between the women and sighed. "Victoire, do we have any more toast? I'm sure that Emilia is still hungry after the week she's had."

There was a knock at the door.

Anri gave Victoire a confused look. "Could it be another Shadow?!"

Victoire shrugged as she got to her feet with a confused expression on her face. "I don't know! Maybe?"

Anri approached the door and put her ear to it. "Who is it?" She asked slowly.

"Natalie," A voice replied.

Anri looked at Victoire with excitement. She slowly opened the door and then gasped.

Emilia watched Anri quickly scramble away from the door, her face pale and her eyes wide with horror.

A figure stepped through the doorway.

Emilia's mind went blank and then filled with countless images of Subaru lying helplessly on the ground like a broken doll. A huge pool of blood spreading out around his shattered body as everyone desperately tried to staunch the bleeding. His pale face drawn and twisted in pain as he struggled to hold onto his fading life while Emilia stood by helplessly.

"Why hello there, Kairei," Elsa said pleasantly. "It's lovely to see you again. I've been looking for you."