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---
Link woke before the mansion did.
He did not scream.
He did not sit up violently.
No horns or kagunes appeared.
He opened his eyes and remained lying still beneath the blankets, listening to a house that was still asleep.
Wood settling.
Wind brushing against the windows.
A lamp consuming its final drops of oil somewhere in a distant hallway.
Seven animal breaths on the far side of the grounds.
Luci floated above the pillow, reduced to a point of light so faint that she resembled an ember on the verge of going out.
Link stared at the ceiling.
His body was fine.
His muscles responded. His hands did not tremble. The tension that had transformed his horns and kagunes into uncontrolled conduits had disappeared. He felt no hunger, pain, or exhaustion.
The Wolgarm soup had done its job.
Sleep had as well.
His head was another matter.
The courtyard was still there.
The clothing whipping around beneath the pressure of his mana.
The animals cowering against the fence.
The sphere of fire above his hand.
And Rem walking toward it.
Link closed his eyes.
He remembered his wrist inside Rem's hands. Her voice ordering him to release the mana. The fire shrinking. The shoulder against which he had ultimately ended up leaning.
After that, nothing.
Not death.
Not darkness.
Only a sleep so deep that he did not even remember falling.
He opened his eyes again.
"How embarrassing," he whispered.
Luci brightened slightly.
"You do not get an opinion."
The sphere descended and gently bumped against his forehead.
Link pushed her away with two fingers.
The room was not exactly as he had left it.
His boots rested beside the door, cleaned of mud. His work shirt lay across a chair. Someone had placed a glass of water upon the bedside table and covered the pitcher to prevent dust from entering.
Beside the glass was a tray.
Broth.
Bread.
A piece of meat.
All of it cold.
A small note rested on top.
When you wake, eat.
The time does not matter.
Rem will inspect the plate.
Link contemplated the handwriting.
His first reaction was to stand.
He needed to inspect the kitchen.
Check what they had finished.
See the Wolgarms.
Make sure he had not damaged the barrier.
His second reaction was to look at the note again.
He sat up in bed.
He picked up the broth.
It was cold, and a thin layer of fat had formed across the surface.
Link did not heat it with Goa.
He did not open the door.
He did not attempt to do three things while eating.
He drank.
Slowly.
Luci settled upon his shoulder.
When he finished, he returned the empty container to the tray.
"There."
Luci flickered.
"Yes, all of it."
The sphere illuminated the piece of bread.
Link pressed his lips together.
"You are not Rem."
The glow intensified.
Link ate the bread as well.
The mansion's clock indicated an hour when no sensible person should have been walking through the hallways.
Link left without making any noise.
He wore clean clothing and a simple jacket. He did not put on the work uniform. Nor did he carry tools or lists.
The absence of weight in his hands felt strange.
He walked toward the kitchen.
The door was closed.
He stopped in front of it.
For the previous three days, he had begun every morning there. Lighting the stove, measuring water, inspecting food, reorganizing tasks before anyone else woke.
His hand reached for the doorknob.
He did not turn it.
First, he listened.
No one inside.
Then he smelled.
Extinguished ash, clean pots, soap, stored food, and the traces of several people.
Subaru.
Emilia.
Ram.
Rem.
All of them had passed through that kitchen after he fell asleep.
Link opened the door.
The room was clean.
Not as Rem would have left it.
Nor as he would have left it.
There were small differences.
One tray sat two centimeters away from its usual position. The cups had been arranged by size, but Subaru had placed one upside down while the others rested on their sides. A cloth hung crookedly beside the sink. The leftover vegetables had been stored correctly, although Emilia had written their names upon labels using letters that were far too large.
Nothing was wrong.
It simply was not perfect.
Link approached the overturned cup.
He raised one hand.
He could correct it.
It would take less than a second.
He left it where it was.
Upon the table, he found the four sheets used during the challenge.
They had been placed one over another and held down by a small salt container.
The first retained Link's notes.
The second contained Rem's corrections.
The third displayed Ram's handwriting completing the inventory he had left unfinished.
The last was different.
The remaining tasks had been crossed out by several hands.
Collect clothing: an uneven mark that could only belong to Subaru.
Inspect lamps: Emilia's rounded lettering.
Complete inventory: one precise line from Ram.
Dinner and kitchen: Rem's handwriting.
Wolgarm containment: an exaggerated signature from Roswaal, accompanied by a drawing Link chose to interpret as a smiling face rather than a threat.
At the bottom, Beatrice had added:
The idiot continues breathing, I suppose.
Link sat down.
He ran his fingers across the sheet.
The house had not waited for him to wake.
Neither had the tasks.
Other people had finished them.
No one had died.
No one had lost a limb.
The mansion had not collapsed because Link stopped moving.
One small and unpleasant part of him felt relieved.
Another felt something resembling disappointment.
Link recognized the second emotion.
He did not like it.
He allowed it to exist anyway.
"How ugly," he murmured.
Luci floated above the sheets.
"Not them."
The small sphere tilted.
"Me."
Link returned the salt container to the top.
He did not correct the cup.
He did not light the stove.
He left the kitchen.
The air outside was freezing.
Dawn was still some time away. The sky had only just begun losing its black color, becoming a dark blue without visible stars.
Link walked toward the Wolgarm enclosure.
Roswaal's barrier remained active. A faint membrane of mana surrounded the area, invisible to a normal eye but clear to Link as a slight pressure against his skin.
The seven animals were sleeping.
Six lay together.
The seventh was apart.
Link recognized the one that had growled.
The Wolgarm lay near the far edge of the enclosure with its body curled inward and its mutilated snout resting upon its front paws. Its eyes were open.
It saw him arrive.
Its ears flattened against its skull.
Link stopped.
The animal did not growl.
That was worse.
The imposed obedience remained. Link could feel it: a twisted tension between the creature and the person who had torn off its horn. A single order would be enough to force it to stand, approach, or expose its throat.
He gave none.
He sat outside the barrier.
The Wolgarm watched him.
Link looked at the earth between them.
"It was not because of you."
The creature did not understand the words.
Perhaps it understood the tone.
Perhaps not.
"You growled because you were frightened."
The Wolgarm lowered its head.
"And I nearly killed you because I needed something to stop existing."
Luci settled upon the barrier.
Her light reflected in the animal's eyes.
Link rested his forearms upon his knees.
"That was not because of you either."
He remained silent.
He did not attempt to pet it.
That would not have represented trust. The Wolgarm could not freely decide whether to accept his hand.
Several meters away was a container of meat. Roswaal or someone else had left it during the night.
Link took one portion.
He placed it near the barrier.
The Wolgarm did not move.
Link almost told it to eat.
He restrained himself.
He turned his back.
Several minutes later, he heard paws approaching.
The animal took the meat.
It immediately retreated.
Link did not look.
"Good."
He did not know whether he was speaking to the Wolgarm or himself.
"I will not burn you again for being afraid."
"That is a strangely specific promise."
Link raised his head.
Rem stood behind him.
She was once again wearing her complete uniform.
The black skirt, white apron, headpiece, and impeccable posture had returned with the same naturalness as the dawn.
Only her hair betrayed her slightly.
One blue lock remained out of place beside her cheek.
"Good morning," Link said.
"Good morning."
Rem looked toward the enclosure.
The Wolgarm had stopped eating and remained on guard.
"You woke early."
"I slept for quite a while."
"How long?"
Link paused.
"I do not know exactly. From when I fell asleep in the courtyard until recently."
Rem waited.
"Ten hours," he calculated. "Perhaps more."
"Acceptable answer."
"Ram has infected you."
"Nee-sama has good habits."
"She also collapses while cleaning rooms."
"Rem said good habits. Not all of them."
Link nodded.
Rem approached until she stood beside him, although she did not sit.
For several seconds, they watched the isolated animal.
"Why did you not burn them?" she asked.
Link frowned.
"You stopped me."
"That was not the question."
He understood.
The memory of the white sphere returned to his palm.
He could have launched it before Rem arrived.
He could have ignored her words.
He could have transformed the entire enclosure into a stain of ash.
"One part of me knew they were not the problem."
"And what was?"
Link placed one hand over his face.
His eyes were normal.
"Me."
Rem did not immediately respond.
"That sounded worse than I intended," he added.
"Rem knows."
"I am not trying to say that I am garbage or anything like that."
"Rem knows that as well."
Link lowered his hand.
"I saw them as a task I could eliminate. It did not matter that they had done nothing. It did not matter that they obeyed me. They dirtied one sheet, made noise, and suddenly... burning them seemed easier than continuing to care for them."
The Wolgarm finished the meat and returned to the edge of the enclosure.
"I should not keep them if I am going to do that whenever I am tired."
"No."
Rem's answer was immediate.
Link looked at her.
"You could at least pretend to consider it."
"Being responsible for something does not mean you must do everything alone."
"That sounded rehearsed."
"Rem had several hours."
Link looked away.
"Did you carry me to my room?"
"Yes."
"I am sorry."
"Why?"
"My weight."
"Rem has carried heavier things."
"That does not help my self-esteem."
The corner of Rem's lips moved slightly.
"Subaru offered to carry you."
"And you told him no?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Rem looked toward the sky, where the first light was beginning to appear behind the trees.
"Because Rem had stopped you."
She did not explain further.
She did not need to.
Link looked back toward the enclosure.
"Thank you."
"You do not need to thank Rem for preventing you from doing something you would have regretted."
"That is precisely why I should."
Rem accepted the gratitude with a small inclination of her head.
Silence returned.
It was not uncomfortable.
Link realized he had missed that kind of silence during the previous three days. A space where he did not need to fill anything, explain anything, or anticipate the next task.
"Yesterday, Rem understood something," she said.
"What?"
"Why Nee-sama becomes angry."
Link observed her.
"Only one reason? She has many."
Rem ignored the interruption.
"When Rem works too much, Nee-sama does not watch the tasks."
The isolated Wolgarm lay down again.
"She watches Rem."
Link lowered his gaze.
"It is not pleasant to see it from this side," she continued.
"No."
"Even when the person does everything correctly."
"Especially then."
Rem looked at him.
Link remembered Ram collapsing without having made a mistake. He remembered holding her while the tasks fell around them.
"When someone makes a mistake, you can correct them," he said. "If they do everything well while destroying themselves, you can only stop them."
"Yes."
"And then they become angry with you."
"Yes."
"Now I understand why Ram always looks as though she wants to hit us."
"Nee-sama does not need reasons to want to hit Subaru."
"I was talking about us."
"So was Rem."
Link released a brief laugh.
The first since waking.
Rem heard it.
Something in her expression softened.
"Yesterday, Link stopped doing that," she said.
"What?"
"Laughing."
His smile slowly disappeared.
"I did not realize."
"Rem did."
Link contemplated his hands.
"I was not angry with any of you."
"Rem knows."
"Subaru began irritating me."
"Rem knows that as well."
"I did not want to speak badly to him."
"That is why you did not until you could no longer speak any other way."
The precision hurt.
"I owe him an apology."
"Yes."
Link raised an eyebrow.
"You could have said it was unnecessary."
"That would have been a lie."
"I like that you are direct, but sometimes it resembles a disease."
"Rem will attempt to control it."
She would not.
Both knew it.
Rem lowered her gaze toward his eyes.
"Can you manifest the kakugan?"
"Probably."
"Do not."
"Then I do not know."
She stepped closer.
She raised one hand.
Her fingers stopped beside his face.
"May I?"
It took Link a moment to understand.
He nodded.
Rem placed two fingers beneath his right eye.
Then beneath the left.
There were no dark marks. Nor any abnormal heat or tension around his eyelids.
Her touch was professional.
That did not prevent Link from forgetting how to breathe correctly for several seconds.
"Normal," she said.
"Good."
Rem moved her fingers to his forehead, directly where the horns had emerged.
The skin was smooth.
"The horns are not attempting to appear either."
"That is good."
"Yes."
Her hand lowered.
Link began breathing again.
Rem pretended not to notice.
"We need a rule," she said.
"For my eyes?"
"For Link."
"That sounds rather broad."
"When Rem asks how long you slept, you will provide an amount."
"Cruel."
"When you cannot deactivate the kakugan, you will stop working."
"Very specific."
"When you feel that fire would solve an obligation..."
"I am not promising not to use fire for cooking."
"Link knows what Rem means."
He sighed.
"I will say something."
"To whom?"
"To you. To Subaru. To Beatrice. Whoever is nearby."
Rem nodded.
"And you will not call something that depends upon you garbage again."
Link looked toward the isolated Wolgarm.
"I cannot promise that either. Subaru depends upon me, and I call him worse things."
"Link."
"Fine."
Rem observed him.
"I promise."
"Rem will remember."
"That sounded like a threat."
"It was one as well."
Subaru found them when the morning had begun painting the trees.
He walked with a blanket over his shoulders, his hair pointing in incompatible directions and the expression of someone who had left bed only because anxiety had pushed him out.
Upon seeing them together before the Wolgarms, he opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Link waited.
Subaru breathed.
"I had a joke."
"I assumed so."
"It was fairly good."
"I doubt it."
"I decided not to make it."
"Thank you."
Subaru appeared proud for one second.
Then he looked at Rem.
"Is he all right?"
"He is awake, fed, and his eyes are normal," she answered.
"That was not what I asked."
Rem looked back toward Link.
Subaru did the same.
Link felt watched by too many people for that hour.
"I do not know," he said.
Subaru nodded.
"Valid answer."
Rem moved away slightly.
"Rem must prepare breakfast."
Link opened his mouth.
She raised one finger.
"No."
He closed it.
"I was only going to say—"
"No."
"You do not even know—"
"Rem knows."
Link looked at Subaru.
"Now I understand how you feel around Ram."
"It is oppressive, isn't it?"
"A little."
"And strangely safe."
Link did not answer.
Rem returned toward the mansion.
Both men watched her leave.
Subaru waited until she was beyond normal hearing range.
Not beyond Link's hearing range.
That was practically impossible by now.
"Did she carry you?"
"Yes."
"Like a princess?"
"Subaru."
"Clinical question."
"I do not remember."
"What a tragedy."
Link looked at him.
Subaru raised both hands.
"I have already stopped."
The humor disappeared with deliberate speed.
He sat beside Link.
The blanket slipped across his shoulders and covered part of both their arms.
"Yesterday, I did not stop," he said.
Link remained silent.
"You asked me to leave you alone. Several times. I continued talking because I thought I could make you react."
"I spoke badly to you."
"Yes."
"I am sorry."
"I accept the apology."
Subaru rested his arms upon his knees.
"You accept mine as well."
Link looked toward the animals.
"Accepted."
"It was strange."
"What was?"
"Seeing you quiet."
"You always say I should speak less."
"Yes, but that is because you normally say stupid things. Yesterday, it seemed as though every word cost you something."
Link found no response.
Subaru observed the isolated Wolgarm.
"Was that the one that growled?"
"Yes."
"Are you keeping it?"
"Yes."
"Are you certain?"
"No."
Subaru slowly nodded.
"Another valid answer."
"I cannot abandon them because I nearly killed them. That would only be another way of removing the problem."
"You also cannot watch them every second."
"I know."
"Do you really?"
"Rem just explained it to me."
"Then you officially know."
Link lightly struck him with one shoulder.
Subaru smiled.
"We need a rule as well."
"I already have too many."
"When one of us says stop, the other stops."
"You will last five minutes."
"I am serious."
Link looked at him.
Subaru was not smiling.
"Fine."
"Even if it seems like the other person needs to talk."
"Fine."
"Even if we possess an excellent joke."
"Especially then."
Subaru extended his hand.
Link looked at it.
"I am not shaking your hand over that."
"It is a solemn pact."
"We are adults."
"You nearly burned seven cursed dogs because one dirtied a sheet."
Link took his hand and squeezed.
"Shut up."
"The pact is already active."
"That was before."
"Convenient."
They released one another.
For several seconds, they remained seated in silence.
Subaru was the one who broke it.
"You frightened me."
Link did not move.
"I know."
"Not because of the eyes."
"I know."
"It seemed as though you were there, but nothing remained except finishing tasks."
Link lowered his head.
"I know."
Subaru adjusted the blanket.
"Good. I only wanted to make sure you knew."
"Thank you."
"You are welcome."
Neither said more.
There was no need.
Ram was already inside the dining room when they returned.
She was not wearing her uniform.
Nor was she wearing a nightgown.
She had chosen a simple dress and remained seated beside the window with a cup between her hands. Her posture was straight, although a blanket covered her legs.
Link stopped at the doorway.
"You should be in bed."
Ram raised her eye.
"Good morning to you as well."
"Good morning. You should be in bed."
"Ram slept for eight hours and twenty-six minutes."
Link blinked.
Ram drank.
"An amount."
"That was low."
"It was educational."
Subaru placed one hand upon his chest.
"I am witnessing the birth of a family tradition."
Ram ignored him.
Upon the table beside her cup rested the third day's list.
Link recognized it.
Ram lifted it with two fingers.
"The inventory was incomplete."
"Yes."
"Ram finished it."
"I saw."
"You had counted the oil reserves in the eastern wing twice."
"You corrected it."
"Yes."
Link approached the table.
"Thank you."
Ram observed him.
Perhaps she expected a joke.
None came.
"It was not for you," she answered. "Roswaal-sama needs accurate records."
"Even so, thank you."
Ram held his gaze for a moment.
Then she set the sheet down.
"Acceptable."
Link looked at the blanket over her legs.
"How do you feel?"
"Better than the gardener did yesterday."
"The standard is buried underground."
"And yet you still manage to trip over it."
Subaru smiled.
Link did as well, barely.
Ram took another sip.
"Rem carried you."
"News travels quickly."
"Barusu told Ram."
Link turned toward Subaru.
"I did not know it was classified information!"
Ram set down her cup.
"Ram would have preferred to do it."
The silence lasted one second longer than usual.
Link looked at her.
"Carry me?"
"Beat you unconscious before the courtyard incident."
"Oh."
Subaru exhaled.
"Of course."
Ram slightly inclined her head.
"Although Rem achieved a more efficient result."
"That almost sounded like a compliment toward her."
"It was."
Link sat across from Ram.
"You collapsed as well."
"Ram lost consciousness with dignity."
"You fell on top of me."
"And you did not break. Everything proceeded correctly."
"Your definition of dignity requires work."
"Link's definition attempted to set obedient animals on fire."
"Point to you."
Ram lowered her gaze toward the sheet.
"Do you know why Ram completed the inventory?"
"Roswaal needed it."
"Ram already said that."
Link waited.
"Because Rem would have attempted to do it."
The answer erased the joke he had been preparing.
Ram ran one finger along the edge of the list.
"Her rest ended when she saw you lose control. If Ram had not taken one task, Rem would have taken all of them."
Link understood.
It had not only been about helping him.
Ram had protected her sister's rest even from a chair and beneath a blanket.
"Then thank you for that as well."
Ram raised her gaze again.
"Do not abuse this. Ram has no intention of becoming a grateful person."
"Do not worry. You were in no danger."
The dining-room door opened.
Rem entered with breakfast.
Link made the instinctive movement to stand.
He only rose a few centimeters.
He stopped.
He sat again.
Rem saw it.
Ram did as well.
Neither commented.
Subaru did.
"That was visible character development."
Link pointed at him.
"The pact."
Subaru closed his mouth.
Ram frowned slightly.
"What pact?"
"One that will reduce the surrounding noise," Link answered.
"Then Ram approves."
Breakfast was not extraordinary.
After three days of improvised meals, calculated schedules, and mistakes that felt like moral judgments, Link received a cup of tea and a plate prepared by someone else.
Rem served.
He remained seated.
The sensation was much more difficult than expected.
Not because he distrusted her.
Because he could see everything she did.
The position of the cups.
The sequence of service.
The way she picked up a spoon without interrupting her stride.
Every movement was one Link had attempted to reproduce during the previous three days.
Now he understood part of the hidden effort.
Not all of it.
Enough to make remaining seated feel discourteous.
Rem placed his plate down.
"Eat before it becomes cold."
"Thank you."
"Rem will verify that you finish it."
"You are beginning to sound like Luci."
The small sphere rotated above his shoulder.
Puck floated beside Emilia. His schedule had barely begun, and he was already watching Link with amusement.
"That is because both of them need to supervise you."
"I did not need another opinion."
"And yet you received one for free."
Emilia smiled, although her eyes remained attentive.
Beatrice appeared on the opposite side of the table.
She did not use a normal door.
No one was surprised.
"Look at me, I suppose."
Link picked up the spoon.
"Good morning."
"Your eyes."
"They are normal."
"Betty will decide that."
Link raised his face.
Beatrice examined him from her seat.
"Normal."
"Rem already checked."
"The blue maid is not Betty."
"Fortunately for everyone," Ram said.
Rem tilted her head.
"Nee-sama."
"Ram did not say that was a bad thing."
Beatrice crossed her arms.
"If you keep your kakugan active for hours again, Betty will put you to sleep before you can protest."
"Rem said something similar."
"Betty will do it better."
"Is this a competition to render me unconscious?"
"It is not a competition when Betty wins."
Roswaal entered the dining room while they spoke.
His appearance was impeccable, as though the previous night had not contained white fire, terrified animals, or a gardener asleep upon a maid.
He occupied the head of the table.
"I see our temporary administrator has returned to the world of the conscious."
"Apparently."
"How are you feeling?"
Link thought before answering.
"I slept approximately ten hours. My eyes have returned to normal. I feel no pain or hunger. I am still embarrassed, and I do not know whether I should remain in charge of the Wolgarms without supervision."
Roswaal smiled.
Subaru set down his spoon.
Emilia blinked.
Ram raised an eyebrow.
Rem's expression did not change, although she appeared satisfied.
"That was suspiciously complete," Subaru said.
"I am trying something new."
Roswaal interlaced his fingers.
"Then let us discuss the result of the experiment."
Link stopped eating.
"Did I lose?"
"Did the mansion fall?"
"No."
"Were the guests attended to?"
"Yes."
"Were the rooms, supplies, and grounds maintained?"
"Yes."
"Then the task was completed."
Link looked at the sheets beside Ram.
"Not by me."
"You did not ask whether you completed it alone. You asked whether you lost."
"The condition was replacing Ram and Rem."
"For almost three days, you did."
"Almost."
Roswaal tilted his head.
"You won the wager you made with me and lost the one you made with yourself."
Link frowned.
"I do not remember making another."
"You decided that asking for help would transform your effort into failure."
There was no response.
Roswaal picked up his tea.
"The mansion was maintained. Ram and Rem rested more than usual. We discovered several organizational deficiencies, a peculiar relationship between your exhaustion and the kakugan, and the alarming ease with which you transform a domestic crisis into a magical incident."
"It sounds worse when you list it."
"It also sounds more interesting."
Emilia placed both hands upon the table.
"It was not interesting."
Roswaal turned toward her.
"Emilia-sama."
"He could have injured the animals. Or Rem. Or himself."
Link lowered his gaze.
Emilia continued:
"I do not want him to promise that he will never become tired. That would be impossible."
"Thank you."
"I want him to promise that he will tell the truth when we ask."
Link looked at his plate.
"I can try."
"No."
Emilia's firmness surprised even Puck.
"Promise," she said. "You may continue being stubborn afterward. But first, you must tell the truth."
Link slowly raised his gaze.
Emilia appeared kind.
Not weak.
"I promise."
"Good."
Puck settled upon her shoulder.
"Lia learned how to manage idiots from Subaru."
"My educational legacy!" he declared.
Ram drank tea.
"A transmissible disease."
Roswaal set down his cup.
"The Wolgarms will remain inside the outer enclosure. The barrier will remain active, and no one will approach without Link, Ram, Rem, or my authorization."
Link nodded.
"I will feed them."
"Once per day," Rem said. "Their food will be prepared alongside the other provisions."
Link looked at her.
"I can—"
Rem held his gaze.
"Once per day."
"Fine."
"Ram will inspect the records," the elder sister added. "While seated, to prevent another lecture."
"Subaru can help maintain the count," Emilia said.
Subaru pointed toward himself.
"Me?"
"You can write slightly better."
"Your confidence moves me."
"Link will inspect the orders and the animals' condition," Rem continued. "Roswaal-sama will maintain the containment."
Link observed all of them.
The responsibility remained his.
But it no longer fit entirely within his hands.
"Agreed."
Roswaal smiled.
"Excellent. As for your temporary position as head of service—"
"No."
The answer came from Link, Ram, and Rem simultaneously.
Subaru began laughing.
Emilia joined him.
Even Beatrice hid something behind her cup.
Roswaal raised both hands.
"It was only a suggestion."
"A rejected suggestion," Ram said.
"With administrative violence," Link added.
Rem placed another portion of food upon his plate.
"Finish breakfast."
"Yes, Rem."
This time, the response was not an automatic reaction to her beauty or a form of flirting.
It was simple obedience.
And for the first time in several days, it did not bother him.
After breakfast, Ram and Rem officially resumed their duties.
Not completely.
Ram would continue working while seated throughout the morning. Roswaal had issued the order clearly enough that even she would struggle to disobey.
Rem handled the kitchen and main rooms.
Subaru returned to his light duties.
Link received only the garden and inspection of the outer enclosure.
One part of him wanted to protest.
He did not.
Before leaving, he returned to the kitchen.
The four sheets remained upon the table.
He picked them up.
Luci floated nearby.
Link looked toward the stove.
The flame was burning.
Small.
Domestic.
Rem worked on the other side of the room, organizing containers without apparently paying him any attention.
Link held the sheets above the fire.
He did not move them closer yet.
For one instant, he saw another piece of paper.
A poor grade written in red ink.
A child hoping no one would ask about the assignment.
The match.
The blackened corner.
The brief satisfaction of making the evidence disappear before taking it home.
Fire had always been useful for that.
Erasing.
Transforming something uncomfortable into ash.
Making sure no one could ever see it again.
Luci positioned herself between the papers and the flame.
Link observed the small sphere.
"I was not going to do it."
Luci brightened.
"I was considering it."
The sphere did not move.
Link looked at the sheets.
His mistakes.
Rem's corrections.
Ram's inventory.
Subaru's crooked mark.
Emilia's oversized letters.
Roswaal's absurd signature.
Beatrice's comment.
They were not proof that he had failed.
Nor that he had triumphed.
They were proof that when he became unable to continue, other hands had finished the task.
Link moved the sheets away from the fire.
He carefully folded them.
He opened his backpack and stored them inside one of the inner pockets.
Rem continued working.
"Rem saw that," she said.
Link closed the backpack.
"Everything?"
"Enough."
"I thought about burning them."
"Why?"
Link observed the flame.
"Old habit."
Rem did not ask further.
Perhaps she understood that the complete answer did not yet belong to that morning.
"And why did you not?"
Link rested one hand upon the backpack.
"Because this time, I do not want to pretend it never happened."
Rem held his gaze for a moment.
Then she returned to the containers.
"Then keep them safe."
"Yes."
Link headed toward the door.
"Link."
He stopped.
Rem remained with her back toward him.
"Rem's rest has ended."
"I know."
"But she may need another one again."
Link smiled.
"Then I will attempt not to replace you next time."
"That was not what Rem meant."
"I know."
He left for the garden.
The morning greeted him with fresh air, damp earth, and a reasonable amount of work.
There were no impossible lists.
There was no entire mansion resting upon his shoulders.
Only plants, tools, and seven animals that still did not trust him.
It was enough.
For the first time since the challenge began, Link did not think about finishing everything.
He thought about doing one thing.
Then another.
And when he needed to stop, allowing the rest to continue existing until tomorrow.