Wish Upon a Sin

Arc 1 - Chapter 4

When Subaru woke, he almost felt like he had never died, that he had never had his place in the manor disturbed. He was in a guest room, not as grand as the one he had woken up in the first time, but not as bare as his servant's quarters.

It took him a moment to remember that he had died, and that this was once again his first day in the manor. Luckily, he managed to get back here even with his stomach intact.

After Reinhard had left, Emilia offered to bring Subaru back to the manor with her, which he had eagerly accepted. She had been trying to figure out how to contact Ram when a dragon carriage rolled up to the ruins of the loot house, with Ram in the driver's seat. She apparently decided that Emilia's absence for most of the day was cause enough to cut the trip short and return to the manor.

The pink haired maid hadn't been particularly impressed by Emilia's declaration that they'd be taking Subaru back with them. He was pretty sure he had heard her say something along the lines of; "Lady Emilia, we cannot be taking stray dogs back to Roswaal's manor. It might have fleas, and we don't know where it's been."

Subaru knew her well enough not to take offence, but he had still argued with her for the sake of it.

The carriage ride had been uneventful, and when they arrived, Rem had said that Roswaal would be gone until the next day. At that point the emotions that had been driving Subaru gave out, and he practically crawled to the room Ram escorted him to.

It was still early in the morning, but if he went wandering, he'd probably run into Beatrice again. He had no desire to spend the morning recovering from having his mana sucked dry. He'd just wait until the maids or Emilia came to see him.

"So I'll spend my time productively. I need a plan." Not that his previous plans had worked out, but there was a first time for everything. What were his options?

Firstly, stay up late on the day of the attack, and see what happened. Hopefully that would let him raise the alarm, and if not... he'd have a better idea of what to prepare for next time.

He shivered. That would be accepting another death, and it wouldn't be as painless as when he died in his sleep. And, it would be another reset after the residents of the manor began to warm up to him. Where he'd have to save Emilia from Elsa again. Where no one would remember him.

He ruled that option out. It didn't even deserve to be called plan B. It would be plan Z, a last resort only, if he couldn't do anything else.

Second. He could warn Roswaal that the manor might be attacked, but despite his clownish appearance, Roswaal didn't seem like an idiot. He likely already knew that saboteurs could attack the manor, after failing to steal Emilia's insignia.

He already knew, but they were still caught off-guard, and Subaru still died. There wasn't anything he could say that would convince him that he needed additional precautions on that day, without seeming suspicious. After all, he was a strange person who appeared to stop an assassin out of nowhere. If he then went on to perfectly predict a second attack, he'd be suspected of working with those assassins to raise his reputation.

Or perhaps...

He felt an aversion to giving away his only trump card, but he couldn't come up with a better idea.

His third option, he could reveal return by death. Emilia wasn't the type of person who would force him to abuse the ability, and she was in charge, technically. He didn't even have to say how it activated. She'd probably be upset if she thought he had to go through a lot of pain every time he used it.

If I just told her, she could vouch for me, and that would make me seem much less suspicious. He put his hands against his face, acting as if mildly scandalised, Maybe she'll even give me a deeply personal secret that she'd never tell anyone, so that I could use it to convince her in future, if...