Birds chirped in the distance as another morning ascended. Reinhard woke up hearing a faint breathing pattern to his right, it was made obvious that his partner had yet to awaken.
Gently rubbing his eyes, his vision immediately became more clear as the curse of the morning drowsiness had been lifted.
An urgent problem came to his mind, that was to somehow find the willpower to wake up Ram. He just simply didn't have it in him to wake her, disrupting her sleep felt like a crime punishable by death.
Rolling over he saw pink hair and the source of the unconscious breathing patterns. He could not help but only stare at Ram while she slept, he still had extreme anxiety about their wedding that was to take place the next day. His thoughts were disrupted when heard her start to mumble something random.
Despite trying his best to hold back laughing, he still let out a small chuckle loud enough for Ram to hear who regained her consciousness and opened her eyes slowly.
"What are you laughing at?" Ram asked in a very drowsy voice that almost made her words sound like another mumble.
"Oh it was nothing, I just found it funny to see you talking in your sleep again," Reinhard said.
Ram let out a small cry of embarrassment as she rolled her face into the pillow. Starting to think of all the mortifying things she could have been saying in her sleep.
Absolutely hating the fact she didn't even have control over the things she says. Lately Ram had been having some pretty weird and random dreams, so it was possible Reinhard picked up on her saying some pretty weird stuff.
Lifting her head from the pillow she shot her head in Reinhard's direction with the most mean look in her pink eye that silently demanded he tell her exactly what she had been saying in her sleep.
"What have I been saying?" Ram asked
"... It was nothing really, just a couple mumbles"
"What have I been mumbling?"
"Random nonsense that I couldn't understand. I couldn't even make out a single word you were saying" Reinhard said.
Ram's face softened in relief hearing that her dreamland secrets were indeed still hidden.
"Well if I hear you telling anybody that I talk in my sleep, I am immediately getting a divorce. Especially if that someone is Barusu. If I catch you telling Barusu you are also fired from being my personal knight" Ram said.
"Like I would ever do that to you. You can trust me with keeping your secrets"
"I know, that's exactly one of the reasons why I decided to marry you. I'm only saying that as a friendly small reminder"
Both of their attentions turned to the front of the room when they heard the door swing open and the newly hired chef walk in not even giving courtesy to knock. Obviously showing little care to their privacy.
"Hey, just wanted to tell you all breakfast is almost ready-"
"Do you not know what knocking is!?" Ram yelled out.
"Oh, hello Phillipe we will be out in just a moment... But I have to agree with Ram here, can you please try to knock going forward" Reinhard said in a more calm voice.
"I mean, I don't see you guys doing anything that would be best kept private, so I don't see the big deal."
"How hard is it to knock on a door? This is somebody's bedroom, you don't just walk in" Ram said.
".... Did I interrupt on somethi-"
"Why are you still here!? Get out!" Ram demanded.
The chef let out a giant scoff at Ram's threatening tone and turned to walk out of their room and out into the hallway, not even closing the door on his way out.
After their privacy got intruded by the chef, both Ram and Reinhard got out of bed to get ready for breakfast.
When they were both ready for breakfast. They sat down in the dining room and waited patiently for their food.
The doors of the kitchen swung open and the young inexperienced chef walked out with plates of food in his hand. Ram was just waiting for him to drop it on the floor judging his hard time keeping balance on one the plates.
To Ram's surprise he successfully made it to the table and laid their plates in front of them, they both inspected their food and saw nothing wrong with it at first glance.
One thing Ram did pick up on though was a rotten smell coming from the kitchen.
"Could you tell us what's that devastating smell coming from the kitchen?" Ram said.
"Nothing to worry about. I am just in the middle of cleaning the food storage area. It hasn't been cleaned since I got here"
"You mean you haven't been cleaning it regularly!?"
"I'm cleaning it right now, just be patient." The chef said as he walked off back into the kitchen.
Ram just stared at the kitchen doors and after a couple minutes heard the sound of pots being dropped on the floor.
"Make sure to remind me that I owe a massive apology to Barusu when he shows up," Ram said.
"For what?"
"For quickly calling him the most useless servant in existence. Clearly there is some competition for that title"
"I mean, this chef is quite new to his profession so his mistakes could be a result from lack of experience maybe... So I would like to ask you to give him a chance at least... We don't want to scare off the last servant we have around here, '' Reinhard said.
Almost all of Reinhard's servants had called it quits up to this point. All of them stated the same thing when they left. They couldn't stand Ram and her constant critique of their work. Who would always call them out for leaving giant messes and overall not doing their job properly.
Breakfast went on somewhat normally. Ram and Reinhard couldn't bring themselves to finish their food that tasted very weird. In fact they both only took a couple bites, and called it a day when it came to breakfast.
Ram would rather starve until lunch then eat another bite of the horrible soup she had been served. Each bite felt like she was just ingesting nothing but bacteria.
After breakfast Reinhard took off to attend some very important business. What he needed to do was hand a promotion to a loyal figure in Rams camp.
This decision took much time to make, but it was decided by both Ram and Reinhard that he was worthy of holding such a respectable title,
This position did not come without any competition. The decision was ultimately divided between two individuals, but only one was chosen.
While walking through the busy streets of the capital, Reinhard encountered a silver haired someone that he hasn't talked to or heard much about in a long while.
"Hello Miss Emilia, it has been a while hasn't it"
Emilia stopped walking and turned to look at him "Oh, hi Reinhard. Anything happening"
She felt like there was something very off about Reinhard, but she didn't understand what it was.
"Nothing much. Just wanted to say hi" Reinhard said
The gears in Emilia's brain were finally working, and she realized what was off about Reinhard. Ram was nowhere to be seen. Usually she was by him everyday, it was an extremely rare occurrence that she didn't go with him.
"Where's Ram at?"
"My dearest is currently at home"
Emilia made a weird face the second she heard the word that Reinhard labeled Ram with.
"... Your dearest?" Emilia asked.
"Oh, you don't already know. Well... Me and Ram recently had gotten... engaged" Reinhard said with a slightly uncomfortable and embarrassed look on his face.
Emilia's confused look grew further, she wasn't at all expecting to hear this. Ram never at all crossed her to be the romantic type.
"Really? Well congratulations" Emilia said.
"Thank you. Miss Emilia, would you perhaps be interested in attending our wedding in a couple days?" Reinhard asked
"I don't know if I am really in the mood to attend a big and formal wedding," Emilia said.
"Not too many people would be going. I think you would know some of them, like Rem of course and Subaru-"
Emilia's face lit up upon hearing that Subaru was attending.
"Subarus going!"
"I would think so. Are you now interested in going?"
"Yes actually"
"Good, see you then. Take care Miss Emilia" Reinhard said
"Alright bye" Emilia said in a happy tone as she walked off.
In The Forbidden Library
With Ram's wedding being the next day, Subaru and Rem decided to cross over back into Lugnica. This time Kenichi and Naoko were joining them.
The second the portal closed, both of them took a look around at the giant library. It had tall shelves that seemingly almost reached the ceiling.
"Well guys, welcome to the... Forbidden library" Subaru said.
"If it's the "forbidden" library, then how come we are allowed in?" Kenichi asked.
"Never in my life have I seen a library this big. I wonder what sort of books are on these shelves?" Naoko asked.
Naoko walked over to one of the tall bookshelves and slid a book off. Opening the book to a random page she noticed how it was written in a different language. A bit disappointed she was unable to read its writings.
"Don't touch those!" Beatrice demanded.
Naoko immediately closed and put the book back on the shelf and gave Beatrice an apologetic smile. Not wanting to be flung across the library.
"Alright now, do you guys wanna take a look around the mansion?" Subaru asked.
"Sure," Naoko said.
"Hold on, I have one question about this little girl," Kenichi said.
"What is it?" Subaru asked.
"How old is she even?"
Everyone looked over to Beatrice expecting her to fill in Kenichi's question, but she just stood there with her blank look refusing to answer.
Kenichi looked around the library and to his confusion saw a bed by one of the many shelves of books.
"Hold on! Is that a bed in a library?" Kenichi said.
"Yeah, Beako kind of... Lives here"
"Can you guys get out already!" Beatrice yelled out.
Everyone left the library like Beatrice requested, and the second everyone was out the door slammed shut.
"Geez, keep slamming the door like that and the door will come straight off the hinges" Kenichi said.
"Look at the size of these corridors, who needs hallways this big. Rem I can't believe you had to clean this everyday" Naoko said.
"It isn't that difficult to take care of with Nee-Sama's help," Rem said.
"So when can we finally meet the owner of this fine mansion?" Kenichi asked in a fancy voice.
"Ummm... Let us see where he is. Rem can you please find us a means of transportation to the capital. While I show my parents around and try to find Rosswal"
Rem gave him a nod and took off to ready a carriage to the capital. Both Subaru and Rem decided that for the next week that's where they would be residing for the entirety of their stay.
Subaru showed his parents all around the middle ages style mansion. Naoko and Kenichi were both astounded at the size of the mansion, Subaru tried to introduce them to Rosswal but he was nowhere to be found.
He then tried to go find Emilia, not only to introduce her to his parents, but to also prove to his dad that spirits indeed existed in this world.
Subaru walked up to her door and knocked. "Emilia it's me, I have returned and have some people you would like to meet" Subaru said.
Seconds went by and Emilia did not open the door. Subaru knocked again.
"Emilia are you in there? Puck, can you hear me?"
Grabbing onto the door knob, he slowly opened the door to find an empty bedroom. It wasn't just empty because Emilia wasn't there.
It was empty because all of her possessions seemed to have disappeared. The paper work on her desk was gone, and the room was made to look like an ordinary empty room in the mansion.
In The Capital
Ram had been left to eat lunch herself, being unacquainted by anyone. While eating she noticed how the steak she was served tasted slightly odd.
Using her fork and a knife she cut it open and noticed how it was barely cooked. It was so raw the animal it was made from still looked alive. Officially making this the third steak in a row she had been served undercooked.
During her time staying at Reinhards, Ram had been served a variety of things by his new personal chef. Which by this point was the only servant left standing after Ram scared away all the housekeepers and other servants.
When Ram first arrived. There was a highly professional chef that would cook the food. Ram never had a problem with him and was quite impressed with the tidiness of the kitchen and the professionalism of his work. Unfortunately he fell very ill and had to cut his career to return home for treatment.
A new chef would take his place and for the past couple of weeks Ram had been less than impressed with the quality of food she was being served.
The food she ate tasted old like it was left out for months and rotten almost, it got to the point Ram felt like what she was eating was barely considered edible.
Ram had grown to be increasingly more suspicious as to what was happening in the kitchen. She wanted to walk in and check on his work area, but the chef asked that she not enter his work area.
Being the last servant left, Reinhard reluctantly accepted his request and kept Ram and himself from entering the kitchen in hopes it would help the quality of his work.
Every time Ram would attempt to go into the kitchen she was either stopped by Reinhard or stopped by the new chef before she was even able to walk through the doors.
The second Ram noticed mold at the end of the stake she was being served. She slammed her ultensal down on the table and shot up from her chair.
Storming to the kitchen doors with her plate in hand. She swung them open and immediately got a horrifying sight of how the kitchen was left in.
There were unclean dishes all over the place. The floor looked like it had not been swept clean in months, add that to the horrible smell. This kitchen felt like you needed to wear protective gear to enter.
Only seconds later did the chef burst out of the food storage area looking panicked.
"What are you doing here!? I asked you not to enter the kitchen!" The chef said.
Ram didn't answer and walked up to the stove that had a giant pot on it. Looking inside she caught sight of the disgusting soup that had bugs swarming around in the mold.
"What is in this pot?" Ram asked.
"That's soup leftover from... Three days ago"
"That was not left there for only three days! Was that the disgusting soup I was served this morning!?"
"No, that's just a pot I have yet to clean out"
"Then where is the soup you gave me this morning?"
"It's already cleaned"
Ram looked over to the sink and noticed the dishes left over from the morning that have all yet to have been cleaned. In fact the dishes all dated back to a week ago.
"Those are all dishes from last week, you haven't even cleaned the food off of them" Ram said.
"I was literally just about to clean them until you walked in"
"Why are you lying to me?" Ram asked.
"I'm not"
"Yes you are! That soup had bugs in it!" Ram said slightly shouting.
"Show me, I don't believe you" The chef said as he walked over and looked into the pot.
"Don't you see them crawling around in all that mold!"
"I don't, I really don't know what you are talking about. I think your going crazy"
"How do you not see them! You literally have glasses on, and you still can't see properly" Ram said.
She picked up a spoon and wasn't surprised in the slightest to see that it wasn't clean. Regardless, she scooped up an area of the pot with a giant bug population, and held it out for the incompatent chef to examine.
"Do you see now? Look at them all!" Ram said.
"I didn't see it when I... That still doesn't mean it's bad. I am a hundred percent sure there were no bugs or mold in the soup I served you this morning"
"You didn't see it!? Just because the bugs and mold are out doesn't make it good to serve! You served me that soup knowing full well that there were bugs and mold in the pot! I've actually eaten that!"
"Listen, I am trying to get rid of leftover stock piles."
"Any food you don't serve during breakfast you throw away. You don't keep it left out and serve it three days later."
"I can't just throw out that much food! Are you crazy, what a waste of resources!?"
"Where are your standards for quality? Maybe don't make so much food! Like a pot this big is not necessary for a single dinner, breakfast, or lunch of only three people! I love how you have excuses for everything!"
Ram began looking around the kitchen counters and found a bowl of salad with disgusting lettuce.
"Were you planning on serving me that!" Ram asked as she pointed to the bowl.
"No, that was for me actually," The chef said.
"You made this for yourself!" Ram said.
She picked up the bowl and began to rummage through it using her hands, flies then began flying out of the lettuce the second there hiding spot was turned over.
"Yes I made that"
"Don't eat it! You hear me!? Do not eat It!"
"I already have"
"You ate this!? Are you trying to kill yourself?!"
Ram immediately stormed into the food storage area, and the second she swung open the door cockroaches started to crawl onto the floor. They startled Ram enough to step back in disgust and look into the storage area to find more crawling around.
"Look at all of these cockroaches! Is this the area where all the bugs breed or where the food is stored!? It smells like dead bodies are stored here" Ram shouted.
"It's just-"
"No, just stop talking,"' Ram interrupted. Walking in she got to once again smell the horrid remnants of rotten food stored on the dusty shelves.
Peeking out from under the wooden crates of food. A tiny mouse made the dash for the open door. It only got to the doorway until the side of a high heel came crashing down and slammed the mouse in the door frame.
Ram without any hesitation bent down and grabbed the mouse by the tail, and held it out for the chef to examine.
"What do you call this"
"A mouse"
"Why are mice and cockroaches in the area where food is stored!?" Ram asked.
"Mouses can be found anywhere. They are pretty common"
"Stop making excuses. How dare you serve people this sort of food knowing how disgusting and filthy this place is! You kill people serving food in a kitchen like this!" Ram said.
"I stay extremely busy every day and every second that I am here," The chef said.
"Doing what!?"
"Doing preparations. All day by myself. It's impossible to clean everything, you just don't get that!" The chef said.
Ram stormed up to the kitchen counter and glided her hand across it collecting an alarming amount of dust and dirt in her palm.
"Look over here!"
"I scrub everything"
"No, look over here! Why is there dust and dirt all over the kitchen counter"
"I'm telling you now I scrub everything"
Ram let out a giant scoff of disbelief and walked to a window, opened it up and chucked the mouse in her hand outside. The mouse landed onto the ground, and got up to continue its journey.
"What type of servant are you? The condition you left this kitchen in is unacceptable. Servants clean the kitchen, you haven't cleaned it at all!"
"Well I don't see you cleaning this place up!"
"I'll have you know that I was the one that cleaned that abandoned office space. I was also a maid at one point" Ram said.
"When I first got here the condition was much worse! This was the mess left over by the previous chef that worked here. The dishes and all that were actually my entirely fault, but all this wasn't" The chef said.
" You're going crazy and making up excuses! This mess is solely your fault! You know what, it's partially mine as well for not discovering it earlier!"
"You know what I just about had it, with your constant bewilderment whenever I do the slightest thing wrong!"
"Slightest thing!? This kitchen is not a slight thing wrong, it's a complete disaster!"
"Yeah whatever, it's your problem now. I am out of here. Tell your husband to put his dog on a leash!"
The chef took off his jacket and threw it in Ram's face, and turned off and stormed out of the kitchen. Slamming the door on his way out.
After the chef quit Ram spent the rest of her afternoon cleaning up the kitchen herself, she cleaned the dishes, mopped the floor, cleaned the counters, and threw out all the rotten food in the storage area. Even having to go out and get groceries because the majority of the food was laced with bugs and rats.
Later into the evening Reinhard returned home and walked into the dinning room expecting to find Ram there waiting for him, but to his surprise she was nowhere to be found.
Another surprise came to him when he smelt actually decent food being made from the kitchen. Getting up from the table Reinhard walked into the kitchen to ask if the chef had seen Ram anywhere.
But the second he opened the door he found Ram preparing dinner, and not the chef.
"Oh, hello again dearest, What are you doing making dinner?" Reinhard asked.
"Im making dinner because the last of your servants quit while you were out"
"Did he really? I would expect a more formal exit"
"He told me to tell you to put your dog on a leash," Ram said in a bitter tone.
"... But we don't have a dog," Reinhard said.
Ram just looked over to him with a frustrated look in her eye, and Reinhard immediately knew by the look he was getting at what the chef was referring to when he said to put his dog on a leash.
"It seems that now I have to go out and find myself more servants."
"You don't really have to"
"Well then whos going to take care of my or should I say our home"
"I can do it," Ram said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure, it's nothing difficult. This place isn't nearly as big a chore to tend to as Rosswals" Ram said.
"If you wish, but if you ever feel like the burden of taking care of all the housework is too much just tell me," Reinhard said.
Dinner went on peacefully, and eventually the sun descended on the horizon and the moon shone in the black sky signaling the end to another day.
Later that night Ram and Reinhard were laying around in bed trying to drift off to sleep. Ram had seemed to have already drifted off
Reinhard was having difficulties drifting off to sleep. He couldn't help but dwell on the next day, and he couldn't have been more nervous. Ram was clearly no different, but she already found out a technique to fall asleep.
Neither of them had been in any relationship up to this point, so they were going in blind with no past experiences. Ever since their rather odd engagement, they have found it hard to even stand near each other without getting embarrassed in front of everybody.
Each night both Reinhard and Ram had this mini competition to see who could drift off first and ease the awkwardness of sleeping next to each other. Winner gained relief from the awkward atmosphere from drifting off to sleep.
They had made some progress. When they first started sharing a room and sleeping together both of them slept at the edge of each side of the bed. Rolling over in the wrong direction would result in falling to the floor.
Reinhard felt himself starting to doze off, but a knock on the front door snapped him back to his senses. He looked over to Ram seeing if she woke up, but she still laid still and continued to sleep peacefully.
He walked out of the bedroom and walked to the front door. Being curious to who comes over so late at night Opening it he saw Subaru to his surprise standing there looking tired and exhausted.
"Finally, we got the right place," Subaru said.
"Hello Subaru, what brings you here so late at night?"
"We just arrived here in Lugnica, and I just wanted to make sure we got the correct place of residence."
"Well you have seemed to have accomplished that goal. Is Rem with you?"
"Yeah she is on the verge of falling asleep. During the ride here I had to splash my water bottle in her face to keep her up."
"That does not sound ideal... Where are you two planning on staying? You could of waited until the next morning to come over"
"Well it's actually us four since my parents are with me. Ummm... We arrived pretty late and all the hotels have closed down, so we decided to find your place of residence by asking some important looking locals and call it a night"
"I guess you're in luck... Because all of my servants quit recently due to... Certain circumstances... I rather not get into it, but now I have some empty bedrooms laying around in the corridors, so feel free to take them as you please"
"I thank you for your generous action, are we able to see Ram"
"Unfortunately no, she is currently asleep. You will see her tomorrow morning. All I ask before I take off back to bed is for you and your family to please be quite"
"Sure, I will tell my dad no wrestling matches while we are here"
"Wrestling matches?"
"Don't ask," Subaru said.