Roswaal had taken the dragon carriage back, so Shichen simply used spatial teleportation to bring Emilia and the others straight to the manor.
They were all his own people—no point hiding his abilities anymore—and besides, only Rem hadn't known yet.
"We got back to the mansion in one go! As expected of Shichen! Amazing! Rem is so impressed!"
"Is that so~"
Basking in Rem's pure, earnest praise, Shichen couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips.
"Shichen, with your teleportation, can we go to Crusch's estate anytime we want?" Emilia asked, curious.
"Of course. If you want to see her, I can take you anytime."
"No… I don't exactly have a reason to want to see her, do I?"
"So you learned what you wanted and tossed her aside—Emilia, you're kind of a heartbreaker."
"What heartbreaker—Shichen, you're spouting nonsense again." Emilia pouted.
"Just stating facts."
"You're impossible…"
"Hey, could you two maybe pay attention to your surroundings? There are other people here," a sharp voice cut in—their very familiar kitchen sentinel.
"We're back, Sister," Rem greeted first.
Since they'd teleported into the manor's kitchen—where Shichen had sensed her—there was only one person it could be: Ram.
"Long time no see, Ram," Shichen waved.
"Welcome back, Emilia-sama, Beatrice-sama, Rem, Est… and Shichen," Ram said, bowing to the ladies, then straightening—her tone flattening as she looked his way.
"So I'm an afterthought now?" Shichen bristled.
"Hmph! You took Rem out for ages. How am I supposed to know you didn't do anything indecent to her?"
"Of course I—"
"Um…" Rem fidgeted, cheeks puffed and pink—a guilty little peach. Self-own achieved.
"What? Rem, did he actually do something?" Ram gaped.
"N-no, he didn't~" Rem said, about as convincingly as wet paper.
"Unforgivable! What did you do to Rem? Don't tell me you took advantage of her figure and did this and that?" Ram demanded.
"Er…"
He hadn't taken it seriously, but with Rem blushing like that, he suddenly remembered: he had kissed her—and felt her heartbeat. Technically counts as "indecent." He'd just treated it like everyday life.
"Ram, what do you mean 'this and that'?" Emilia tilted her head, puzzled.
Her violet eyes flicked to Rem's flustered face, not understanding why Rem was so shy. What could Rem and Shichen have done?
"Emilia-sama, did Shichen do anything to you?" Ram ventured carefully.
"Did he… do something… uh…"
Emilia's mind flashed to throwing her arms around Shichen—that moment that kept replaying in her dreams. So… did Rem hug him too?
With her limited "curriculum," Emilia could only map Rem's possibilities onto her own experience.
"What? Emilia-sama, you too? Did this beast do something to you?" Ram blurted.
"Hey, hey, I never did anything indecent to Emilia," Shichen cut in, sounding very sure of himself.
"Then why is she blushing? You animal—you preyed on my sister and Emilia-sama—"
"'Animal,' huh…" Shichen twitched a smile.
"She's my sweet sister, and Emilia-sama is pure—both tainted by you—ow!"
"That's enough out of you." He rapped her on the head.
"So now you lash out? I won't submit!" Ram clutched her head, iron-willed, like she'd suffered unspeakable humiliation.
"…Rem, take care of your sister," Shichen sighed.
"Yes."
Rem hugged her and soothed, "Don't worry, Sister—I wanted this."
"You wanted—impossible! He threatened you, didn't he? My poor sister…"
"I really wanted it. Whether it was Shichen k—"
"Okay, that part isn't for public broadcast," Shichen cut her off, fast.
"Oh~"
"Kiss? Kiss what? You don't mean—no way!" Even so, Ram caught enough to triangulate, and she wasn't naïve. Her gaze ping-ponged between their mouths, face cracking.
"Heehee~" Rem only grinned, answer obvious.
"You bastard!" Ram glared like she might throw down.
"…Ignore her. Let's go find Roswaal first," Shichen said, turning to Emilia. "By the way, Emilia—do you know what 'kiss' means?"
"That… doesn't it mean being… close?" she asked. "You said you and Rem are close."
"That's right. But Ram seems to think it's something else."
"Emilia-sama, Shichen is lying—mmph!" Ram's mouth was promptly covered by Rem's hand.
"Lying?" Emilia cocked her head. "Shichen, are you lying to me? You said you wouldn't."
"I'm not. It does mean intimacy," he said with a smile.
"I feel like you're treating me like a child again." Emilia puffed her cheeks.
"It's true. Ask Puck if you don't believe me." Shichen ruffled her hair.
"Hmm~ I don't really know either," Puck chimed in, floating over her head, tiny arms folded, conspicuously unhelpful.
"See? You are treating me like a kid."
"…Puck, some things aren't exactly age-appropriate."
"She has grown up. Sooner or later she's going to learn," Puck said, nodding sagely.
"What if I'm the one who corrupts her?" Shichen muttered.
"Then I probably can't stop it," Puck chuckled, palms up.
"Can't stop it… Even with you here," Shichen pouted.
"Heh—figure it out yourself."
"I should marry you off to Subaru and be done with it."
"Why drag Subaru into this? And I'm male."
"It's fine. You have my blessing."
"That's not how blessings work, and I am not that sort of spirit."
"Shichen? Puck? What are you two even talking about?" Emilia finally cut in.
"Nothing to worry about," Shichen said, still stroking her smooth silver hair.
"Hmph. You're treating me like a child again."
"Alright, alright—you'll figure it out eventually. For now, let's talk to Roswaal about next steps."
"Mm… okay."
She gave in; the royal selection mattered more—and they'd already spent days at Crusch's.
"Rem, Ram's in your hands," Shichen told her.
"Don't worry. I'll calm Sister down," Rem said, earnest as ever.
"Mm—mmph!" Ram struggled, but with Rem's hand clamped over her mouth, she could only watch helplessly as Shichen left.
Beatrice and Est didn't care for selection talk and headed straight back to Shichen's room.
Roswaal hadn't gone anywhere; he'd behaved himself at home for once. Shichen and Emilia found him and began mapping out the plan ahead.
Roswaal wanted to announce in the border territory that he was backing Emilia. News of the selection and its candidates would reach them eventually—but with Emilia's half-elf status, pushback was likely.
Shichen still agreed.
If he could fix public perception in the capital, he could do the same out here. The same… persuasive method would work just fine.
"Roswaal, your 'worries' are a bit superfluous. Actually—no—what you really don't care about is what people think, right?"
"What do you mean, Shichen?" Roswaal donned his serious voice.
"Never mind. It's fine either way. Your intel is lagging, though—you still don't know what happened in the capital, do you?"
"What happened?" Roswaal frowned.
"Find out yourself. I'll take care of things around here."
"I see…"
"Come on—since we're idle, I'll tell you the story of the Hornless Demon and the Giant of Light."
Roswaal: "…"