Chapter Text
Thack!
Thack!
The sharp sound of wood clashing together grew louder and louder.
Following immediately behind the noise were the heavy groans of a young man, completely engulfed in rage.
“Haaaa… yah…!”
“Ha… ha… ha…”
After a continuous barrage of aimless swings with the wooden practice sword, he finally stopped to catch his breath, crouching halfway down as he huffed for air.
But before he could even get the chance to recover, he instinctively jumped back with whatever force those already failing muscles had left in them.
Natsuki Subaru looked down at his palms. The pathetic image he had of himself painted exactly how he imagined everyone else was looking at him right now.
The boiling anger quickly caught up to his senses, and no longer was this just an average practice session.
The onlookers held varied opinions about the situation. Some looked at him with genuine pity. “Subaru-kun…”
Yet others saw him as nothing more than a stubborn fool, willing to take on a losing bet he had absolutely no chance of winning.
He had been entirely serious when he asked Wilhelm to teach him swordsmanship under the grace of the warm sunlight bathing the courtyard in its full glory.
He had braced himself for the absolute hell to come, but all those idealistic fantasies had ended up becoming nothing more than a desperate medium to vent the raw, suffocating emotion he carried inside.
Wilhelm let out a slow sigh, his expression entirely relaxed as he effortlessly dodged every single strike.
“Wha–”
Swish!
“–is it–”
Swish!
“–with you?!”
Swish!
Subaru kept complaining, his voice cracking while he continued to swing aimlessly.
“Didn't you promise to make me stronger?!” Like a frustrated kid, he lashed out, finally collapsing onto his knees. “I can't even do a simple thing…” Clenching his grip tightly around the handle of the wooden sword, he let out a bitter cry.
Wilhelm understood the boy's state well. In this condition, forcing a lesson would more or less end up pushing Subaru down a dangerous, self-destructive path. Not willing to be the cause of that regression, the old swordsman held back.
“Subaru-kun! You should rest for now. You have yet to heal completely,” Rem tried to persuade him, stepping forward with deep concern in her eyes.
But her words never reached him. Drowning in a suffocating wave of self-loathing, he was already thinking of throwing it all away and giving up entirely.
From inside the manor, Felix stared down through the glass window.
‘Tchk!’
Clicking his tongue, he turned on his heel and walked back toward his study, thoroughly pissed off at himself for ever placing a single shred of expectation on such a pathetic coward.
"If you intend to throw it all away, Natsuki Subaru, then at least have the courtesy to return the resolve you lent to my camp before you break it."
The crisp, clear voice sliced through the heavy atmosphere like a blade.
Subaru flinched; he looked straight in the distance.
Walking towards him right into the brilliant afternoon sun was Crusch Karsten. Her long green hair was tied back into a high, flawless ponytail that swayed slightly as she closed the distance between them.
"Crusch-sama," Rem murmured, quickly bowing her head as a greeting.
"My resolve...?" Subaru grinned, his voice raspy and devoid of its usual energy, laced with a mocking laugh directed at himself.
"Crusch-san, look at me. I'm a total wreck. I don't have anything left to lend to anyone."
“This pathetic coward isn't worth these fancy quotes about resolve and willpower.”
Subaru went silent for a second, “Or could it be…”
“You're here to prove how strong you are? Able to take down a member of your rival camp alone. Right?”
“Subaru-kun!” Rem yelled. Subaru snapped, staring at her disappointed expression, asking him to stop.
Crusch stopped directly in front of him, blocking out the harsh sun so that her shadow enveloped him completely. She reached out, took the wooden practice sword from Wilhelm’s hand, and pointed the blunt tip directly at Subaru's chest.
She held his head up with the tip, “Arck!” Subaru was forced to look her way.
Crusch's amber eyes burned with an unwavering intensity. "Your presence in this manor is not a charity. It is the result of a calculated negotiation. Emilia-sama bowed before me, bound her camp to a debt, and placed her trust in my household solely to ensure your recovery.”
The mention of Emilia’s name felt like a physical strike. Subaru’s chest tightened.
"She made that deal because she believed your spirit was worth protecting. If you are going to sit in the dirt and throw that away over a few missed swings, you are not just failing yourself. You are making a mockery of her resolve.” Crusch yelled at him, looking down at him, her posture strict as Subaru kept failing to keep looking at her. The harsh sun shone from behind her, her magnificent green hair soaked in an ethereal glow.
"If you are truly intent on abandoning the path she cleared for you," Crusch said, lowering her sword slightly, "then I will do you the courtesy of not holding back, and I will break what remains of your pride myself. Stand up.”
He didn't remember how many times he swung after that.
Thack!
"Ugh–!"
A sharp, bruising strike to his ribs sent him spinning. He tried to recover his stance, forcing his head up before a sweeping kick took his legs completely out from under him.
Crusch stood directly over him. Her white shirt was slightly damp, a few stray locks of her long green hair framed her face, and her amber eyes were looking down at him.
Thump.
A sudden, violent tremor shook Subaru's chest.
Thump. Thump.
His heart began to race. It was suffocating.
He tried to make sense of his situation. It's fear, he told himself frantically.
Or hate.
It wasn't fear. It wasn't hatred.
Looking at the pristine, magnificent figure of the duchess standing victorious over his ruined form, Natsuki Subaru realised his heart wasn't pounding because he was terrified. It was pounding because, in the most brutal, humiliating moment of his life, he had just completely fallen in love.
Crusch lowered her sword, kneeling down into the dirt right beside him. She reached out, her warm fingers gently wrapping around his trembling, bloody wrist.
"Your body has reached its limit," Crusch murmured, her face mere inches from his as she inspected his injuries, her voice a smooth, captivating melody that made his ears burn.
"But your eyes didn't waver in the end. Rest for today, Subaru.
Crusch stood up, walking back, and she turned with elegance.
Subaru, flustered, kept staring. “Her hair smells so nice.” Dazzled by it, he, stumbling on his legs, stood up, holding himself using the wooden sword.
“Crusch-san!”
She stopped for a second.
“Let's make a bet. If you win, I will forever become your servant,” he yelled.
Crack!
The cup slipped out of Felix's hand, spilling tea all over his study documents.
“And what if you win?” she asked without turning an inch.
“Then...”
“I'll make you mine!” Subaru yelled with the setting afternoon sun behind him.
“It's really wonderful being young.” Wilhelm stared at the interaction with a fit of nostalgia, hitting him.
“Grrrrrrrrr…”
“Subaru-kyun, that's not going to work... and I'll make sure of it,” Felix, with a wide smile, his expression unchanging, stared through the windows, murmuring.
