Volume 4 - Chapter 73.3

Chapter 73.3
In front of Subaru’s pronouncement, the listener was at a loss for words . Keeping her face downcast, softly, and quietly, she stood up,
[???: B-but that’s, not……what, she, told…… me?]
[Subaru: ah……?]
Slanting her head and swaying her blue-hair, the impostor stuttered out her words .
Hearing this, Subaru let out a voice of doubt――
[Subaru: ――――]
Before his eyes, the girl’s image seemed to blur as Rem’s figure turned vague .
A storm of midnight-television-haze drowned out his vision, and, following the momentary hijacking of the world, there was now another person standing in that same spot .
――Someone he had never seen before .
Her pink hair stretching halfway down her back, her bearing was gentle―― or rather, timid . The girl’s features were attractive, but nothing about it came across as outstandingly beautiful . It was more of an ordinary, commonplace kind of cuteness .
Wearing a white, long-sleeved robe, her hands were hiding inside her sleeves as she held them against her cheeks, watching Subaru nervously .
[Subaru: Who are…… you?]
[Camilla: I-I’m the Witch of Lust…… Camilla… you know? N-nice to meet…… you]
Hearing the girl―― Camilla’s reply, Subaru inadvertently swallowed his breath .
She just called herself the “Witch of Lust” . Which means,
[Subaru: So this strange, inexplicable space…… is inside Echidona’s dream?]
[Camilla: Yes… and no…… I guess . Echidona-chan is, watching, the Trial…… and the Trial itself is, kind of, like, a dream…mm…… yeah]
[Subaru: That’s kind of missing the point, but no, even before that……]
Camilla’s manner of speech was getting on Subaru’s nerves . Naturally, seeing Subaru’s gaze grow harsh, Camilla immediately started shivering and hugging her head .
[Camilla: P-please don’t hi…… hit me……]
[Subaru: I won’t do anything like that . I won’t, but…… what were you trying to do earlier?]
[Camilla: Earlie……r?]
[Subaru: Appearing in front of me, pretending to be Rem! Is that what your power is supposed to be!?]
All the Witches bearing the name of a sin seem to possess some sort of special Authority .
Assuming the Witch of Lust was no exception, she should have an Authority as well . If her transformation earlier was her Authority, then――
[Subaru: Well, I guess compared to what the other Witches can do, transformation is a pretty orthodox ability…]
[Camilla: I-I didn’t, tr-transform…… though? I-I, just, looked, to you, like someone, else…… b-because…… that’s, who, you wanted, to see… that’s all?]
[Subaru: what?]
[Camilla: I, mean…… I, didn’t, even, want to, meet you…… . E-Echidona-chan, asked me, to…… and lied, to me, too……]
Camilla’s mutters were exacerbating Subaru’s annoyance .
The way she spoke, the way she shifted her glances, and the way she looked down whenever she sensed his gaze, all irritated him to no end . That whimpering tone, and those sulking complaints, the hell is her problem?
Not only was nothing she tried to say getting through, she didn’t even appear to realize how cherish a thing to Subaru she had just trampled over .
Irritated . Aggravated . He wanted to scream at her just so she’d understand .
[Subaru: You…… do you even know what you just did……?]
[Camilla: Echidona-chan, she…… s-said, I just had to spoil, you…… a little, and it’ll all be, fine…… even, though…… I-I didn’t want to, I told her]
[Subaru: Listen to me……!!]
[Camilla: E-everyone…… is ganging up, on, me, pick, picking on me…… like, this . Echidona-chan is, d-doing it, too . You’re all, so…… so mean]
[Subaru: DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT LISTEN TO ME MEANS――!!??]
Screaming, Subaru felt all the air being wrenched from his lungs as he expelled that scraping shout . He felt it, but the incinerating rage burning through his body erased that thought from his mind .
Suffocation was nothing compared to this irritation clawing at his chest .
He wanted to jam her snivelling, stuttering, whimpering mouth shut, and blast her with all the rage and agony inside him so she’d understand what she had j――
[????: ――Any more of that, your life would be in danger]
[Subaru: ――――gh!?]
That instant, Subaru heard a voice whispering into his ear, pulling him back to his senses .
The very same moment, the pain of being deprived of oxygen up to the point of asphyxiation struck him, along with the dry soreness of his continually wide-open eyes .
[Subaru: Aa―― a, aah?]
[????: They were drastic measures, but I’m glad to see you back . ――When facing Camilla, the “Faceless Godess” of Lust, people tend to forget to breathe . Ultimately, even their hearts stop beating]
[Subaru: Egha, ghpt…… hha, hhaa]
Spitting out the choking saliva, having fallen to his hands and knees, Subaru’s consciousness was strobing .
But the voice had entered his ears, and its meaning delivered to his brain .
And so, Subaru wiped off his lips with his sleeve as he looked up at the most probable culprit behind this prank, and, baring his teeth,
[Subaru: Just what, what were you plotting―― Echidona]
At the receiving end of Subaru’s hateful gaze, the white-haired Witch softly stroked her hair, and all-so-naturally rested her elbows on the table,
[Echidona: Isn’t it obvious? ――I am a Witch . I’m plotting something nefarious, of course]
She said, smiling .