Capítulo 26: Rem’s Death

"Come and play again next time!"

The children waved at Ayanokouji and Rem, shouting loudly, looking a bit reluctant to leave.

"I didn't expect the children to really like you."

The two had started their journey back to the mansion. Rem said slowly, "You're not the same as before."

"I just played with them for a while." Ayanokouji said calmly. He could sense that Rem's hostility towards him seemed to have weakened.

The main reason he got closer to the children was to gather enough information from their mouths and also to reduce Rem's suspicion towards him.

From the current perspective, his actions had achieved their goal.

"But why did you say 'I didn't expect'?" Ayanokouji asked.

He wanted to lead the conversation and talk more with Rem to understand why the other party was hostile towards him. Both Ram and Rem were wary of him, but Rem was particularly cautious, as if she was sure he was her enemy.

"Because Ayanokouji-sama seems like the type of person who is very indifferent to others. You probably don't have many friends. I didn't expect Ayanokouji-sama to be so popular with children."

"These are really merciless words." Ayanokouji said lightly.

In his eyes, there was no such thing as friends. They were either valuable tools or useless trash.

At present, the relationship between he and Rem seemed closer than when they first met, and they were talking more than when they arrived.

This made Ayanokouji realize that Rem wasn't a complicated person. Although she still had a bit of hostility towards him, if he could eliminate her wariness, Rem would definitely trust him a lot.

After slowly steering the topic towards himself, Ayanokouji felt the time was right, so he decided to get straight to the point and asked: "Rem, are you still wary of me now?"

Hearing this, Rem was a bit surprised. She didn't expect the other party to ask such a direct question.

But since the other party asked such a question, Rem was prepared to answer directly: "Yes."

"Is it because my origin is unknown?" Ayanokouji asked.

"Yes." Rem nodded, not hiding her thoughts this time, "And you still smell."

"Smell?" Ayanokouji's eyebrows raised slightly, doubt appeared in his eyes, and he subconsciously sniffed himself a few times.

He paid great attention to personal hygiene. After all, if someone looked sloppy and smelled bad, it would instantly reduce others' impressions of them, so when he heard Rem mention that he smelled, he was confused as he sniffed himself.

'Is this a smell only Rem can sense?' Ayanokouji thought to himself, raising his head to look at her, "What kind of smell?"

"It's the smell of a Witch." Rem replied calmly. The two had just gotten closer, but they distanced again.

"Although Ayanokouji-sama is now considered an honored guest, if you do anything suspicious, I will kill you directly."

Rem's tone was very calm, but the killing intent in her words was not fake.

"A very clear threat." Ayanokouji still appeared very calm after hearing Rem's words.

However, seeing that Rem seemed unwilling to talk further, he chose not to ask more.

The two soon returned to mansion. Rem took the purchased items to the kitchen and then started doing housework, while Ayanokouji went to the Forbidden Library to find Beatrice.

"Betty's room has become a place where you can enter whenever you want?"

Seeing Ayanokouji appear in front of her, Beatrice frowned slightly, a bit of arrogance in her eyes, and spoke with an impatient tone.

'Really, how can this person accurately find Betty's door of opportunity again and again?'

Beatrice was very puzzled at this moment, but more than doubt, she was more curious about Ayanokouji himself.

"Sorry, I was looking for the bathroom, so I happened to come here." Ayanokouji said lightly, without expression on his face. In fact, he intentionally came to Beatrice to get answers from her. As the manager of the Forbidden Library, Beatrice might know the answer.

And most importantly, through observation in recent days, Ayanokouji found that Beatrice only lived with Roswaal and was not as loyal to Roswaal as Rem and Ram.

Beatrice and Roswaal outwardly had a good relationship. If Ayanokouji did something in the Forbidden Library, the other party might not report it to Roswaal.

"Then quickly get out of here!" Beatrice said with a commanding tone, as if she didn't want to waste time with him, then stretched out her hand, preparing to release magic to expel Ayanokouji several times as before.

"Sorry, I have a question for you." Ayanokouji spoke again.

Beatrice raised her hand in the air and stopped moving, her eyes focusing on him. The previously indifferent person actually had a question to ask her. This made her feel a bit curious.

"Although I have no obligation to answer your question, you better tell me first."

"Do you know what 'witch's smell' is?" Ayanokouji asked.

He was a bit curious about the witch's smell mentioned by Rem earlier, and when he had contact with Emilia before, the other party didn't seem to notice any strange smell on him.

Is this smell only detectable by Rem? It seems not everyone can smell this. Is there anyone who can detect this so-called smell? Ayanokouji did not know this, so he needed to prove it bit by bit.

"Witch's smell?" After hearing those words, Beatrice's expression became a bit serious for a moment, and she frowned, "It's the lingering scent of a witch, exactly the foul smell emanating from your body. It's because of you that Betty's room stinks."

"A lingering scent of a witch..." Ayanokouji extended his hand, gently rubbing his chin, and thought deeply.

From Beatrice's words, she, like Rem, could smell this so-called 'witch's scent' on his body, which at least meant there was indeed a certain smell on his body.

Did he get contaminated with something? Ayanokouji recalled carefully that Rem showed slight hostility towards him when she first saw him, which means he was already infected with this smell before coming to Roswaal's house.

Could it be that he got contaminated with the smell during the fight with Elsa? No, that's not right. At that time, Emilia, Felt, and others also had close contact with Elsa, but judging from Rem's reaction, they did not seem to be affected by it.

Furthermore, Ayanokouji took a bath every day in the mansion. Although there was a smell, it should have been washed away...

This raised a suspicion in his mind that the so-called 'witch's scent' was not something he contracted from somewhere but was emitted by himself.

But now Ayanokouji was still a bit confused about what this so-called witch's scent was. Thinking carefully, when he and Emilia were at the capital's market, he heard many passersby mention the witch.

"What is a witch?" Ayanokouji asked.

Hearing this question, a momentary look of surprise appeared on Beatrice's face. She didn't expect the person in front of her to ask such a question so seriously, so she explained.

"In this world, if we talk about a witch, it only represents one person, and that is the Witch of Envy, Satella."

After hearing Beatrice's words, Ayanokouji squinted his eyes slightly. This was the alias given by Emilia in his last regression.

Although there was a slight reluctance on her face at first, Beatrice unconsciously explained to Ayanokouji about the Witch of Envy, giving him a general understanding.

"How strange, why do you have the witch's smell? Do you have any connection with the Witch Cult?"

Beatrice turned her gaze, looked at him, and asked confusedly.

"The Witch Cult?" Ayanokouji heard another unfamiliar term and remembered it in his mind.

"Forget it, you seem to know nothing... Now Betty's patience has completely run out with you, quickly get out of here!"

After Beatrice finished speaking, she raised her hand, and then a gust of wind blew, pushing him directly out of the room, and the door closed tightly.

Ayanokouji calmly patted the dust off himself.

Candidate for the throne, assassination organization, lingering witch's scent, witch cult, he knew there were still many things he needed to learn more about in this world.

The camera changed, and in the blink of an eye, it was already the next morning.

Ayanokouji had just woken up when he heard a rapid knock on the door – the sound was very strong, and it seemed that something very important had happened.

Then Emilia quickly entered the room, with hurried steps and a grim expression, as if something significant had happened.

He also noticed that Ram and Rem, who usually monitored his wake-up, were not present.

"Ayanokouji, please come with me..." Emilia said with a grim face.

"Yes." Ayanokouji nodded.

He noticed a slight choking sound in Emilia's voice and started to guess what had happened. Considering all circumstances, Ayanokouji could infer that the most likely conclusion was that something had happened to Ram and Rem.

He immediately followed Emilia into a room. As he walked through the door, he heard Ram's heart-wrenching cries.

'Ram is still alive. Judging from her sorrowful cries, something might have happened to Rem.'

He thought about this in his heart. At the same time, he had some doubts. Rem was fine when she returned from the village with him yesterday.

He followed Emilia into the house. Ram was kneeling in front of the window, tears streaming from her eyes, continuously calling out Rem's name, her voice becoming slightly hoarse.

Beatrice and Roswaal were also present, with Felt and Rom standing silently near the wall, and on the bed in the room lay Rem's cold body.

Ayanokouji carefully observed Rem. Her skin was pale, she wasn't breathing, and there were no signs of life.

However, to confirm this, Ayanokouji slowly walked to Rem's side, preparing to check her physical condition. He needed to make sure if Rem was truly dead or if she had entered some sort of suspended animation. He could also use the knowledge he had previously learned to determine the cause of Rem's death.

"Take your dirty hands off!" Ram shouted with an almost hoarse voice, immediately swatting away Ayanokouji's extended hand, "Don't touch Rem, don't touch Ram's little sister."

Ram's eyes were full of anger and guilt, as if the person in front of her was Rem's killer.

"Sorry, I just want to confirm Rem's physical condition. Maybe I can obtain some important information." Facing Ram's anger, Ayanokouji always appeared calm.