Chapter Text
Waking up from her slumber, Emilia suddenly smiled as she remembered what day it was.
Today was the one-year wedding anniversary between Emilia and Subaru.
They had been married for over a year now and today would be their first mark of it. Emilia couldn’t help but feel excited—she had waited for over a month ever since she realized it was coming up.
She snuggled closer to Subaru—who was sleeping soundly next to her—feeling his warmth emanating from his muscular body. Emilia loved a lot of things Subaru had: his body, his smile and antics, even his knowledge and stories about stars.
Her smile grew even brighter when she felt a soft kick inside her stomach. She had been pregnant for over four months now—the best part was that it was going to be twins according to Felix. Emilia should start thinking about names.
At first there was this hidden impulse to name a girl “Chocorina.” Emilia thought that was such a ridiculous and odd name. No way she’d name her precious daughter like that.
Subaru wanted to name the children after his mother and father—whom he had lost when he arrived here long ago—to honor them. Emilia thought that was so sweet. But she also wanted to name their children. So the two decided that each of them would pick one name for the babies.
She considered a few choices like Subaru too—naming their children after people who raised them and were precious to them. Puck, for example—although she would never forgive him for what he planned with Roswaal, so that was a pass.
How about… ? She tried to recall someone who taught her about keeping promises… Who’s that?
Emilia thought she should just start the day with Subaru. As much as she wanted to think about baby names, she should wake Subaru so he could prepare for the day and, of course… set up their anniversary.
“What if he forgets about it?” another thought popped into Emilia’s mind. Well—she did admit that Subaru had been extremely dense the first time they met, but that was okay because after many continuous efforts Subaru finally confessed… Although Emilia admitted that she went far too fast after his confession—basically took him to bed the same night.
But like… no way Subaru is that dense now, right? He’d been quite a gentleman after they became a couple, and he was very mindful about her moods. Of course he might find something weird about her even if he didn’t remember everything.
Deciding she didn’t want to dwell on that atrocious time when he was so dense that Emilia developed psychological trauma hearing the words “friend” and “she’s my…” in the same sentence, she decided to wake him up.
“Subaru~ wake up, hubby.” Slowly, from beneath the warm blanket, Subaru stirred.
“No way… Emilia-tan woke up before me… today’s gonna rain…” Emilia giggled; Subaru was always funny to her—her husband had a great sense of humor.
“That’s slander, hubby. I can wake up soon from time to time.” Emilia pulled the blanket off Subaru, making him roll in her arms.
“The only time you wake up before me is when neither of us slept the night before…” Subaru muttered in defeat, enjoying Emilia’s scent under the embrace.
“Let’s start the day then, Subaru.”
“All right.”
After finishing breakfast, Emilia went out to meet the chief of the elven village. Emilia herself represented the whole village, but hearing the chief’s opinion about matters always worked best—according to Emilia and Subaru.
The result after the Royal Selection was the best one in Emilia’s opinion. Although she didn’t win the race, Felt had given her some dragon blood for the camp’s contribution to the kingdom. As a matter of fact, Emilia didn’t want to be queen.
As much as having the power to change the kingdom for the better, Emilia put her faith in Felt to do that. Someone like Felt would never lead the kingdom astray…and Emilia also wanted to spend more time with Subaru.
If she became queen, he would be a king of Lugunica as well. Although someone as amazing as him would deserve such a title, that would also mean he’d be bombarded with the kingdom’s work and have less time to spend with her. That’s why Emilia preferred their current situation: just the two of them living a happy, simple life.
“Ah, Emilia-sama. I do wonder where your husband is?” The chief was holding one of the elven kids, asking about Subaru.
“Oh… I think he’s preparing for something. Do you want me to go fetch him?” Emilia struck a thinking pose; she did want to see if he was doing what she expected.
“Please do, Emilia-sama. I want to talk to him about what Duke Felix is dealing with in the Capital. He said Subaru’s innovations have increased survival rates and medical quality a lot.” The chief answered, still holding the child.
“I will!” Emilia was glad the people in the capital acknowledged Subaru. He always had very detailed knowledge about topics people didn’t expect him to be an expert on—truly her husband’s style.
Running toward her house, Emilia saw Subaru talking to his friends—a merchant of some sort. She felt like she shouldn’t know his name because this is the beginning of Arc 3 and he didn’t appear yet.
“So that’s basically it, Otto. I’m glad you helped with the preparations.” Subaru crossed his arms; beneath him were several boxes of various decorations.
“Don’t worry about it, Natsuki-san. I’m glad I can help you prepare for the wedding anniversary for Emilia-sama.” Otto patted Frufoo’s head; the ground dragon’s back was full of trinkets and stuff.
“Also… I wanted to ask you this, Otto…” Subaru’s face suddenly grew serious, making both Otto and Emilia flinch.
“It’s about… love advice…” Subaru’s words made Otto fall silent, while Emilia staggered—her eavesdropping might lead to the thing she feared most.
“Was that about someone else? Is he cheating on me? He doesn’t love me anymore?” Emilia rambled—she realized what his words might imply, and it scared her.
“Uh… Natsuki-san. I don’t like what this implies.” Otto’s words snapped Emilia back to reality. She felt like a tragic heroine from a romance novel that was a cheap spin off fan written for pure angst.
“…I know it might sound surprising…but I think Emilia-tan likes me.”
“…”
“…”
“Ouch! What the hell, Otto!” An empty box landed straight on Subaru’s head. Otto looked at him with pure frustration.
“At first I thought you were cheating on Emilia-sama! Now it’s even worse! YOU MARRIED HER! FIVE MONTHS LATER YOU’LL HAVE TWINS WITH HER! WHAT DO YOU MEAN EMILIA-SAMA MIGHT BE INTO YOU?” Otto shouted, making Subaru flinch back.
“Well… I do love her—I love her a lot. But I didn’t think she liked me back or something.” Subaru scratched his face in awkwardness; Otto stared straight into his soul.
“Then explain why the day you confessed, Emilia-sama had already planned her wedding vow. Then she took you to bed the same night. Are you ignoring everything she did before you confessed? And now both of you are going to be parents…” Otto leaned against Frufoo for moral support; he thought finding someone this dense was rarer than finding a person as strong as Reinhard.
“Uh… I thought she was being nice to me… like telling me she loved me and married me and all…” Subaru said. Emilia swore she might faint—her legs actually gave out.
“Natsuki-san, I swear if the dragon carriage had a sword I would have stabbed you this instant… then why are you only realizing it now?” Otto’s defeated sigh was echoed by Frufoo’s discontented huff.
“Because we’re having children. I’m so excited to be parents. I didn’t realize that she might like me until now… I thought she was just being nice after hearing my confession; I didn’t expect her to answer back.” Hearing this, Emilia was glad Subaru hadn’t cheated on her but, dear God.
Emilia told him she loved him every single day—was the consistency too much that made him think she was joking? No way such passionate bedtime together and daily vows would be mistaken for jokes. Emilia fainted.
“Huh? Emilia! Emilia!” Subaru rushed to Emilia’s side, trying to lay her down in panic…
“No! Please don’t!” Emilia shot up from the bed; her consciousness slowly returned as she realized—it was a dream.
“Huh… huh. It was another dream…” Emilia muttered, as much as she was glad it was a dream. This had happened for two days now.
“Dreams don’t mean anything, right?” Emilia tried to convince herself. Tonight nightmare was even worse than the first: she dreamed of Subaru having a friends-with-benefits relationship because he didn’t understand what love was—the worst part? Emilia didn’t even realize it until she woke up after Subaru asked Ram if Emilia loved him.
Emilia swore this was just her anxiety about his density in love that was causing the nightmares. Totally not prophetic.
“I’m not gonna give up…” was all Emilia said after stepping out of bed, prepared for another day—a date in the Capital with Subaru.
“I’ll make sure I don’t make the same mistake as in the dream. Never trust Subaru when it comes to understanding love.”