Dawn was breaking.
Inside the guest room, even the Emperor Diavolo felt a trace of fatigue set in.
Having stayed up all night with his nerves pulled taut, even he could not endure continuous, high-intensity vigilance without taking a toll.
Yet he dared not retreat into the depths of his consciousness to rest.
His instincts warned him that this night would not end in peace.
Aside from that earlier scene, the entire mansion was far too quiet; this absolute stillness was itself the greatest anomaly.
He had not woken Subaru to take a shift, simply because there was no need.
Waking him would only breed panic and disrupt his own judgment.
Besides, if trouble truly arose, it could serve to test and forge Subaru’s ability to handle pressure.
*It should be around 5:30 in the morning.
If the next half hour passes without incident, we’ll likely be out of the woods.
When that time comes, I’ll have to find a way to leave this place.* Diavolo glanced at the sky through the window via King Crimson’s field of vision, letting out a soft sigh with a helpless shake of his head.
Here in an alternate world, devoid of influence and backup, far too many matters were no longer within his control.
He was no longer that mafia emperor who covered the sky with one hand back in Italy.
*To think that I, Diavolo, would have a day where I cower in a corner like an ant…
As expected, infinite deaths have reshaped me, making me hesitant, no longer as cold-blooded as before…* He knew crystal clear in his heart that had it been his former self, he would never have waited around for danger to knock on his door.
Upon encountering a potential threat, he would have taken immediate action to purge all hazards.
Yet after dying time and time again, he had grown numb.
Adding to that, having gained a new lease on life, the yearning to become an emperor—no, a two-faced emperor—had once again reclaimed his mind.
Most importantly, his margin for error now was astronomically high.
If he died, he died; it didn’t matter in the slightest.
If necessary, he could even take his own life.
After all, when facing Gold Experience Requiem, he hadn’t truly died, but was trapped in Schrödinger’s state between death and life.
*Clang—* *Scratch—* *Screeech—* Just as he was quietly reflecting, a flurry of faint sounds suddenly echoed from the corridor outside the door.
It was the clinking of iron chains and the sharp screech of metal dragging across the floor—sluggish and grating, tightening a knot in one’s chest with every single stride.
Diavolo snapped back to full alertness, his eyes shooting open!
*It’s here!* *It has finally come.* *Thump—* Another muffled sound echoed, this one exceptionally heavy.
It was the sound of a heavy object slamming onto the floor.
*It’s that maid.* Diavolo made the judgment instantly, locking onto the intruder’s identity in a heartbeat.
The noise was by no means subtle, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that the other party had completely dropped all pretense and abandoned every shred of disguise.
“Finally decided to make your move?” They didn’t even bother to hide it anymore, meaning they had made all necessary preparations and intended to lay their cards on the table to kill him outright.
At this moment, he could easily jump out the window and escape, yet he refrained.
Since the opponent wasn’t hiding their presence, they naturally weren’t afraid of him running.
In fact, someone might already be keeping watch outside the window.
And indeed, that was the case.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Ram was standing in the courtyard, her head raised as she gazed up toward the room where Diavolo was located.
Well-versed in wind magic, she could provide support at a moment’s notice.
The moment he jumped through the window, he would inevitably be caught in a pincer attack—a path that likely led straight to death.
The sound of iron chains drew closer and closer, finally coming to a halt outside the room.
The doorway fell silent for two seconds, as if the other party was making a final confirmation.
Immediately following, the room door was slowly pushed open.
Rem stepped inside with measured strides, dragging a heavy morningstar flail in her hand.
Her eyes were icy cold, lacking even a fraction of the meekness she displayed the previous night.
Diavolo didn’t act rashly, maintaining his posture of deep sleep, disguised seamlessly without a single flaw.
Yet King Crimson was already standing by the doorway, locking its gaze tightly on Rem’s every move.
It was as though the moment she made the slightest suspicious motion, King Crimson would instantly smash through her skull.
After all, under the premise that the opponent might possess an immortal body, smashing the brain would likely prove far more effective than piercing the heart.
Yet he did not move for now, specifically to decipher the opponent’s true objective—to see whether Rem was acting alone or if there were other ambushes prepared.
The malice emitting from the other party was simply too inexplicable.
Before long, Rem arrived at the bedside.
King Crimson followed right beside the bed as well, keeping a tight watch throughout.
Rem failed to perceive anything amiss whatsoever.
She slowly raised her hand, the morningstar flail suspended in mid-air.
Its massive, spiked head gleamed with a frigid light, looking as if it would crash down in the very next second.
“Making such a racket and still no reaction?
Natsuki Subaru, stop pretending to sleep.
You’ve already been exposed.” “Originally, I was supposed to be the only one coming, and I wouldn’t have struck this early.
But after all, this is Lord Roswaal’s order.” As the words fell, Subaru, who had originally been “sleeping soundly,” gradually regained consciousness.
However, he discovered that he couldn’t control his body in the slightest—he couldn’t even open his eyes to see what was happening outside.
“Brat, don’t move!
Leave it to me!” Just as Subaru was about to try something, Diavolo immediately voiced a warning, preventing any conflict over body control.
“B-Boss?” Subaru spoke up groggily in his mind.
He had only vaguely heard someone calling his name, causing instant panic to surge through his heart.
Though his mind wasn’t entirely clear yet, he knew that Diavolo was currently pilot-controlling his body.
He felt no resistance toward this at all; Boss could take over whenever he pleased, and in a critical moment like this, Subaru trusted him one hundred percent.
“Brat, we walked into a trap.
Don’t fight for control, leave everything to me.
That maid named Rem is standing right beside your bed holding a morningstar flail.
Since she didn’t strike immediately, she likely has other motives.” Diavolo quickly explained the situation, his tone calm and composed.
Rem delaying her strike was highly likely because she wanted to interrogate them, buy time, or wait for backup.
He had to keep the situation under control.
“W-What trap?!
How could we have walked into a trap?
Wasn’t everything completely fine yesterday?!” Subaru was utterly bewildered.
He couldn’t fathom it at all.
Everyone had been so polite to them yesterday—how could their faces turn on a dime overnight?
Why did he always have to go through things like this?
Thank goodness he hadn’t gone out to secretly scout the mansion last night; he was now a hundred percent certain that someone had definitely been watching him the entire time back then.
Up until now, he was only familiar with a small fraction of the mansion’s layout; there was simply no way out.
“Perhaps that half-elf Emilia was the bait to lure us into the game from the start, and Elsa was too.
All of this, from beginning to end, was a setup.” Diavolo calmly re-examined all the clues, connecting every coincidence together—from their initial arrival in the city to entering the mansion.
“T-This…
how is that possible?!” “If this was a setup, then if you hadn’t been here, Boss, I would’ve definitely died at the hands of that Bowel Hunter!
How could I have entered the game then?” Subaru couldn’t bring himself to believe that gentle, beautiful girl was the one who lured him into a trap.
What reason could she possibly have?
There was simply no motive at all!
Facing Subaru’s doubts, Diavolo was unable to answer for a moment.
“That’s precisely why I told you not to move!
Stay still and gather more intelligence.
We might die this time around, so we need to collect as much information as possible.
It will become a powerful weapon for your next ‘foreseeing the future.'” “W-We’re gonna die!?” “Then what do we do next?
Should we run?
I still remember the way we came up yesterday, let’s head that way!” Subaru spoke frantically, his mind consumed entirely by the single thought of running away, his composure completely shattered.
Before Diavolo could reply, Rem had already run out of patience.
The way the other party pretended to sleep and play dumb made her lose the last thread of her composure.
*Prefer playing asleep, do you?* *Then stay asleep forever.* —