A Golden Trap

Chapter 4: Wild Blue Winter Lilies

Rem: [Subaru-kun. What happened to your left eye?]

Subaru: [I received a hot kiss from Petra's fist in the eye, which she did to hide her embarrassment. She had a cute side......I got carried away with myself this time.]

Rem: [Jeez, please be careful. Subaru-kun's body isn't Petra's possession, after all.]

Rem's words were rather energetic, yet also territorial. Almost like a cat's aggressive meows. She smiled, one of the few smiles that made Subaru smile without feeling sick.

Subaru shrugs at that girl's smile and moves towards Rem's side. He stands up, and waves at the girl to sit down, who tried to give up her spot.

Subaru: [You be careful too. Hypothetically, it certainly is true that my body isn't her possession.......but realistically you're the one that should be careful.]

Rem: [Sorry. I should really be helping Subaru-kun in these busy times too...]

Subaru: [Don't make the wrong assumptions. For now, it's okay for you to rest and come see me with the greatest smile like that. That is your greatest power. Because at any rate...]

Subaru kneels before Rem, who was sitting in a chair, while saying these words. He faces towards her and reaches out with his hands. One caresses her horn. Her horn was always fully extended now. The other reached her stomach...and he understood that this sensitive girl's stomach, Rem, was now bigger. She was pregnant with another being.

Subaru: [Our child is right in here. Just how much of it is my energy, I wonder.]

Rem: [I'm happy supporting you emotionally, but I want to support you physically too, Subaru-kun. I might be frustrated about having that role taken by Petra.]

Rem sticks out her small tongue, the girl who walks around but tries to cover up her troubling frustration. Subaru's memory flashed back to the early days after Rem's restoration. She was indeed the one who used to be Subaru's bodyguard and chief maid for a while. Those were happier days. Before everything went downhill.

The mutiny quickly flashed in and out of Subaru's mind. Reinhardt, Juius, Anastasia, Felt and so many more. All dead now. Rem was the only one who survived, and that too only because of the Child in her belly. Even still, Rem was no longer to be Subaru's personal maid. That was one of the conditions of her pardon. She was Emilia's now. The crest tattooed on her lower belly declared as much, as did the fact that she lived in Emilia's Room. She was no longer the maid of the Royal Family. She was Emilia's pet.

Subaru tried to push those thoughts out of his mind. Yet he could not help but compare those memories to the girl in front of him now. The old Rem was a quiet, timid maid who kept her hair short like her sister. The girl before him would be scarcely recognizable as Ram's sister. Her horn stuck out prominently from her long blue hair. Her eyes always had that slight tint of Madness to them. However, it was never so much that Subaru couldn't willfully ignore it.

And that is exactly what Subaru did. He narrowed his eyes. He purposely turned his gaze away from Rem's eyes, from the past, to the present. To the task which she currently spent her time in.

In particular what took up most of Rem's time lately was

Subaru: [Looks like you made quite a lot of socks, huh.]

Rem: [I thought I was bad at knitting at first...... but while I was making them, it got more and more fun. I thought about the child getting bigger, then they got a bit bigger and bigger. First it'd be about the size of my thumb, my fist, my palm, an appa, then a melon.......]

Subaru: [What have we done through our sex to make it necessary to have titan sized socks!?]

Rem: [I was just thinking about it getting bigger quickly and wanted it to grow up carefree......]