When the long breakfast finally finished clearing up, it was natural that everyone would quickly drift into their own time. But,

“First things first, please stick to Emilia’s usual schedule. Ram will show this guy—Subaru—around the mansion. Rem will go about her usual work… but first…”

Roswaal’s brisk instructions were filled with the poise befitting the master of the mansion. The grandeur of his collar might have overshadowed him a bit, but he noticed Subaru’s inner thoughts and smiled knowingly.

“Before all that, we should introduce ourselves. Fortunately, all the residents of the mansion are present here.”

“That’s a relief… but seriously, it’s super few! Counting everyone in the mansion, aside from me, there are only five people and one cat!?”

“Counting my sister as just a cat is incredibly rude.”

Beatrice, showing clear annoyance, interrupted Subaru’s surprise. He raised his hand dismissively and replied, “Excluding me, there are four people, one fluff, and one drill, right? Is that good enough?”

“I’ve heard it a few times, but what exactly is this ‘drill’ you keep mentioning?”

“The drill is the soul of a man, it’s romance!”

“Listening to you has made me a fool. Roswaal, can I leave now? I want to relax with my sister.”

Rubbing her eyes in a tired manner, Beatrice turned toward Roswaal with an almost unladylike gesture. Meanwhile, Pack, still lounging on the table, struck a proud pose with his hands on his hips, looking quite endearing.

“I get that your compatibility isn’t exactly great. But since we’re supposed to start getting along, can you try to move closer to each other, please?”

“I believe I’ve made all the concessions I could. If you want more than that, even as the head of the Mei Zas family, you’d better be prepared.”

Suddenly, Beatrice’s tone shifted to a quiet threat.

Subaru felt the atmosphere of the room grow heavy due to this abrupt change. The source, of course, was Beatrice, but the ‘of course’ was absurd.

Just like during their first encounter, this chestnut-haired girl seemed a bit ‘too off’ for her youthful appearance.

Her sassy tone, coupled with her behaviors—drinking, and so on—took things to another level. There was a more fundamental disconnect at play here. So,

“Sorry to interrupt your tough demeanor, but who exactly are you? You’re just here as if it’s the most normal thing, but I can’t figure out your standing at all.”

“Betty is in a bad mood right now. You should watch your words, human. If I felt like it, I could turn you to stone and crush you.”

Subaru inhaled sharply at the pressure exuded from the small girl, making him instinctively brace himself.

“Beatrice is the librarian of the Forbidden Library in Roswaal’s mansion!”

“Sister!?”

But such a heavy atmosphere was shattered by Pack’s carefree interjection. The little cat nibbled on a piece of rusk, which seemed to be made by frying what appeared to be the ears of bread sprinkled with sweet seasoning.

“Sweet, tasty, nyaa!”

“As much as it’s bad that you’re losing your intelligence in the face of sweets, could you elaborate a bit more, fluff fluff fluff fluff fluff?”

Just as Subaru reached out to ask closer, his hand accidentally brushed Pack’s ear, initiating a delightful fluffing. While getting fluffed to his heart’s content, Pack rapidly devoured the rusk.

“Roswaal is a ‘relatively’ competent magician. The Mei Zas family has a history, and there are various books that shouldn’t be seen by others. Beatrice’s job is to guard the Forbidden Library so those books don’t get exposed to the public. Right?”

“Yeah, that’s right. What my sister says is always correct.”

“Thanks to Pack, communication can be established, fluff. After all, before fluffy kids, everyone is equal, fluff.”

“You just tagged ‘fluff’ onto the end of your sentences,” Emilia pointed out with a white-eyed stare, causing Subaru to hurriedly retract his hand. Unintentionally, he had proven the addictive nature of fluffing.

It was a tragic yet ironic circumstance born from his love of fluffing.

“The addictive quality of fluffy kids has backfired… Hey!”

Before the aspiring tragic actor Subaru, Beatrice cautiously reached out to touch Pack’s ear. Assessing the softness with timid fingers, her adorable face softened in bliss.

Subaru gasped at her cuteness and observed Pack, who was blissfully munching on the rusk while still being teased by Subaru’s fingertips.

With arms crossed, and turning his face away while only directing his gaze at the two, he huffed.

“Hmph! Just because Pack is flirting with you, I’m not jealous or anything!”

“Don’t say such cruel things, Subaru. Our relationship is something else entirely. That little one, once I squeeze out all the benefits, I’ll just toss her aside.”

“That’s just mean… Fluff fluff.”

“Oops, sorry about that, adorable Betty. Of course, I was joking. The one who’s most important to me is of course you, you’re the only special one.”

As a palm-sized, pampered pet cat, Pack behaved like a crafty strategist, manipulating both their affections.

With that bad boy attitude stirring sweet emotions between them, Emilia stepped in, hands on her hips.

She pinched Pack’s head, lifting it up, causing the adorable cat to let out a cry that would capture the heart of any cat lover.

“Pack, don’t get carried away! Also, don’t eat too many sweets. If you get plump, I won’t let you ride on my shoulder anymore.”

“Fufufu, are you feeling jealous? You don’t want anyone else to be the most important to me, do you? Don’t worry, my heart’s home is always with you. Even if I waver like a cloud in the wind, my home will always be… nyaa nyaa nyaa!”

While dishing out cheesy pick-up lines, the pressure from Emilia’s crushing grip on Pack’s head intensified and resulted in a defeat.

Out of breath and staring at the now-still Pack, Emilia threw Subaru a resentful look.

“Subaru, your bad influence has affected my child…”

“Is that my fault? I mean he’s pretty much being himself, right!? What you’re doing is more like an Iron Claw correction, it feels like I’m witnessing the dark side of a family, like in Journey to the West!”

It was like watching the exchanges between the monk and the monkey king from afar.

However, judging from their previous interactions, it felt like they had the reverse parental roles. Well, aside from the serious moments, Pack’s manner probably was as it always was. If he knew when to draw the line, it shouldn’t be a problem.

“Well, in regards to yesterday, it was pretty much useless in a decisive moment, so he sorta didn’t know what to do… Hey, if it stays like this, you’ll just be a chatty cat with a light mouth.”

“Having a sister like you is just fine! Just being there is part of your appeal!”

“Your devotion is bordering on obsessive! That’s beside the point! The position of the guardian of the Forbidden Library really tickles my Chuunibyou mind. Get into details about that!”

Pointing with both hands shaped like pistols, he leveled a serious gaze.

Beatrice, while fiddling with her drill with obvious disdain, reluctantly began to explain.

“Almost everything was covered by what my sister explained earlier. To put it simply… the room you entered is it.”

“Oh, the one with all the books?”

Recalling the overwhelming amount of books that made him worry about the floor collapsing, he thought, well, it deserves to be called the Forbidden Library. On the flip side, if all those were banned books, it would certainly carry a light hint of criminality.

The Forbidden Books—they are wonderful words that seize and rattle men’s hearts and never let go.

Thinking back to middle school when adolescent desires peaked, those treasured books granting release to such blue impulses were praised as “forbidden books.”

Oddly enough, Subaru’s kendo club boasted an overwhelming possession rate of such books, and under the club room, they had a dedicated storage area.

That was due to conflicts with the rival baseball club, information leaking during interactions with other schools at the cultural festival—then there was that disastrous incident of the banned book storage burning down just before graduation.

After that incident, the kendo club room was dismantled, and the remaining treasures, having lost their haven, scattered everywhere.

“Looking back, I feel bad for the underclassmen. The history of our kendo club’s forbidden library passed down through generations—the neat sorting by era and genre makes me nostalgic now…”

“You’re practically broadcasting to the world that you’re contemplating the most ridiculous thoughts right after Betty answered your question, and it’s maddening.”

“Calm down, eat some dried fish. Getting calcium will calm your mind and even help you grow taller! I think the height difference like with Emilia-chan is perfect for hugging and love comedy…”

Trying to give advice to the outraged Beatrice, he snuck in a charm for Emilia. However, it seemed she swiftly cut through Subaru’s nonsense and pointed out something different.

“Wait a minute, Subaru. Didn’t you just say you entered the Forbidden Library?”

“I did! I came back to my room planning to go take a nap when that drill little girl remodeled my workplace! And afterwards, she just slurped all my spirit away… What kind of Yakuza shenanigans is that?”

In response to Subaru’s complaint, his gaze turned sharper. Beatrice faced away, ignoring him. Emilia now directed the topic toward her.

“Beatrice… You didn’t, by any chance, invite Subaru into the library, did you?”

“That’s just impossible, you know. There’s no way Betty would invite such a lowly being. …He managed to unwittingly ‘cross the threshold’ without realizing it.”

“Your dialect is losing its refinement, Lady. Ohhohohoho.”

As Subaru posed with his hand daintily over his mouth, Beatrice’s silent rage boiled over. Meanwhile, Roswaal, who had been quiet until now, touched his nose while observing.

“To connect to a Forbidden Library that I can’t even reach randomly without permission from Beatrice… You two must have a special compatibility, huh?”

“Huh?!”

Both turned to Roswaal, grimacing and then simultaneously looked away, making disgusted faces at each other.

“Your expressions are mirrored, both of you.”

“With cute Betty being associated with me? It’s not a funny joke.”

“Same here! I don’t possess a loli attribute! If you say that, I won’t be able to laugh! It’ll be impossible to laugh!”

“Why are you all serious about this?! I’m done! You two can handle it on your own now!”

Displaying theatrical shading on his face, Subaru finally pushed Beatrice’s limits to the breaking point.

She stood up and marched to the dining hall’s door, forcefully pushing it open.

Then—

“Huh? What about the hallway?”

It was only natural for such a question to arise.

Because the door that should have been connected to the central hallway of the mansion—beyond it was the very library Subaru had entered once before.

Beatrice stepped into that room, crammed with shelves barely holding it all together, and with a triumphant expression directed at Subaru, she proclaimed,

“This is ‘Crossing the Threshold.’ Etch its grandeur into your memory and tremble. —I don’t want to see your face for a while.”

The door slammed shut, taking the small girl’s figure away.

Subaru was left in shock. What surprised him further was when Ram opened the already closed door without being asked.

Slowly, the once violently shut door swung open, revealing the corridor Subaru had just walked through.

What had just been connected to the library was now an unbelievable phenomenon.

“I see. In other words, it’s a magic door that connects anywhere in the mansion to your room. Perfect for shut-ins.”

“Your understanding is quick. I don’t really get the whole shut-in thing, though.”

“A parasite that just sticks to their room and never comes out unless it’s time for meals or showers.”

“Got it. So, Beatrice is a shut-in, huh?”

“Heard that, did you?!”

Peeking from the barely ajar door, Beatrice’s face narrowed on them.

She had claimed to not want to see their faces but then promptly proved otherwise. Subaru placed his hands on his hips, mimicking a bird’s flapping motion while taking little steps.

“Oh my? What’s going on? You just barged out with such force; did something happen? Did you forget something? That would be quite inconvenient! By the way, how do you feel right now? What are your feelings right now?”

Unleashing the NDK (Hey, what’s your mood?) dance.

The return gift was simple yet powerful, brought forth by Beatrice extending her palm toward them, launching Subaru away with magical force.

“Bonjorno!”

Smacked by an invisible mass of air, Subaru flew through the air effortlessly.

Tossed around, losing all sense of up and down, he crashed into the wall, smashing into hanging paintings and decorative items that swayed, until the two maids rushed in just in time to secure everything.

They mercilessly kicked Subaru, who had fallen at their feet. That was a solid save.