I used the strange teleportation power of Betty's door. I closed the library door, then reopened it, and instantly found myself in another room of the mansion. It was Subaru's room.
I saw him lying in bed, still asleep, looking peaceful for once. I saw a simple chair by the bedside and sat down. I took the time to collect my thoughts while waiting for him to wake up. I reviewed the events , the opulent mansion, the biting judgment of the twins, and the hostile yet informative welcome from Beatrice.
"If the plan worked, Emilia is safe, the insignia has been recovered, and we are safe at Roswaal's. This is the new save point. We won the first battle."
A few moments later, Subaru began to wake up. He groaned, rubbed his eyes, and emerged from his daze. I came out of my thoughts to greet him. He looked at me with a confused smile, then his face lit up with relieved amusement.
Subaru: (He stretched out long.) "Ah, Trizz. You're finally awake. The last thing I remember is the explosion... and I think I woke up first, but I quickly passed out afterwards."
Me: (I raised an eyebrow.) "You passed out? What happened?"
Subaru: (His smile faded, replaced by a grimace of annoyance.) "The last time I tried to explore this mansion, I randomly opened a door on my left and ran into a... a terrifying loli who sucked up all my mana. Literally. She said I was too noisy."
Me: (My eyes widened slightly. He had the same encounter.) "And you lost consciousness. That loli is Beatrice, isn't she?"
Subaru's eyes went wide, shifting from annoyance to stupefaction.
Subaru: "Yes! That's exactly it! How did you know? Did you meet that witch too? And why are you saying her name like you're old friends?"
Me: (I stifled a nervous laugh.) "She's... special. She called me 'public trash' and 'human' several times, but she agreed to tell me where you were in exchange for red fruit cakes."
Subaru: (He collapsed back onto the pillow, his face defeated.) "Cakes? Of course! Mana for cakes! This house is hell. By the way, your eyes are... you have slight red circles too, now. Is that the side effect of our deaths?"
Me: "I don't know. Maybe my body is just angry about being cut up and burned so many times. Listen, let's talk about serious things, Did we win? Was the insignia recovered? And is Elsa gone?"
Subaru: (He sat up, looking more serious.) "Yes. Emilia has the insignia, and the twins both thanked us for the courage we showed against the assassin. He said you were a real hero, Trizz."
Me: "Me, a hero who blew up a house. And Felt and Rom?"
Subaru: "They're safe. Ram found them after the explosion. Rom is in the infirmary, and Felt is... I think she was released. Anyway, we made it. This is the new save point."
Me: (I leaned back in the chair, relief finally washing over me.) "Finally... Now we need to figure out why we're here."
A light, polite knock came at the door.
Subaru: "Come in."
The door opened to Emilia. She wore a simple dress and looked a bit hesitant.
Emilia: "Hi, Subaru. I just wanted to check how you were doing."
Subaru: (He straightened up quickly, his pale complexion gaining a slight flush. He was visibly nervous.) "Ah, Emilia-tan! I... I'm much better, thank you for worrying!"
I saw a perfect opportunity to test the limits of etiquette and play with fire (a manifestation of Trizz's nascent Pride).
Me: (I turned to Subaru with a mocking smile.) "Look at you, Subaru. Emilia is so beautiful you forgot how to breathe! That's adorable."
Subaru's face instantly turned scarlet red. He glared at me with intense fury.
Subaru: "Trizz! Are you messing around again!? Focus on the plan, not my love life!"
Me: (I ignored him completely and stood up, walking towards Emilia with exaggerated confidence.) "I thought you liked silver-haired girls, Subaru. Too bad for you! Emilia, I have an urgent question, Would you like to go out with me?"
Emilia blinked, completely caught off guard by the abrupt request, her mouth opening and closing.
Emilia: "Uh... uh... I... I don't know..."
Me: (I gave her an intense look, a mocking smirk on my lips.) "Does that mean yes? I'm taking that as a proposal."
Suddenly, a mass of magical fur shot violently out of Emilia's necklace. Puck appeared, his usually cute expression replaced by glacial fury. He glared at me with his big blue eyes.
Puck: "DON'T TOUCH MY DAUGHTER, YOU PERVERT! Who are you, to make such a request to Lia without any formality!?"
Me: (My smile widened. I knew I had hit a nerve.) "Your daughter? You mean your adopted daughter? I'm asking for your daughter's hand in marriage, step-dad."
Puck: (He puffed up with anger, looking threatening.) "NEVER! LIA WILL NOT GO OUT WITH AN INSOLENT RASCAL WHO TRIGGERS EXPLOSIONS AND INSULTS HER PRECIOUS FAMILY!"
Emilia: (She stepped between us, trying to ease the tension.) "Puck, calm down! He's joking, right, Trizz? And I... I didn't say yes."
Subaru: (He covered his face with his hands, groaning.) "I hate you, Trizz. I really do."
Just at that moment of peak tension, the door opened again. Ram and Rem entered the room, carrying food trays. They froze at the chaotic scene.
Ram: (She assessed the situation,Trizz smiling, Puck furious, Subaru desperate, and Emilia embarrassed. Her tone was sharp.) "My sister, it is once again the guest's noise that is disturbing Emilia-sama."
Rem: (She sighed, looking at Trizz with even greater judgment.) "Yes, my sister. And he just proved that his thoughts are more perverse and misplaced than the mansion can endure."
Me: (I realized I had gone too far. I made a gesture of disapproval and backed away from Emilia.) "Okay, okay !, I apologize! You're not even funny. I was trying to lighten the mood. My brother and sister would find this amusing..."
I stopped dead.
My body froze in the middle of the room. My smile vanished completely, replaced by an expression of pure glacial terror.
For a moment, I was paralyzed. Why had I uttered those words?
I tried to recall a face. My brother's face. My sister's face. Nothingness. Nothing. Not a name, not an image, not a smell of home. The absolute void where memories of another life should be. The shock was physical, a brutal disconnection from my identity.
My heart accelerated, not from fear of Elsa, but from an existential horror.
Me: (I whispered, my voice trembling, barely audible, my eyes fixed on an invisible point.) "Why... Why can't I remember my sister's and brother's faces? What are their names? Who am I?"
An icy silence fell over the room. Puck stopped growling. Rem and Ram stopped judging. Subaru, who was about to insult me for my joke, sensed that my distress was genuine.
Subaru: (He sat up sharply, practically leaping out of bed.) "Trizz, what's wrong? What are you talking about? Your eyes!"
Emilia: (She moved closer softly, her concern overriding her embarrassment.) "Trizz, are you sure you're alright? You're shaking. Maybe it's the after-effects of the explosion and burns..."
Ram: (She observed my face with a new intensity, no longer disgust, but clinical analysis.) "His eyes are redder. His confusion is authentic. His memories are... absent..." (She corrected herself, then stopped, confused by her own words.)
Rem: (She kept her distance, her tone becoming wary again.) "It might be an act, my sister. A way to manipulate Emilia-sama and hide his dark intentions. His chaos is too strong."
I couldn't explain to them. I could only blink, forced to face the terrifying reality,I was an amnesiac who had been thrown into a fantasy world, armed only with my fan memories and an ability to die.
Rem: (She spoke in a louder, official voice, breaking the tension of the crisis.) "Roswaal-sama has arrived. He wants to see Trizz-sama and Subaru-sama immediately."
I noticed Rem looked furious, more than just scornful. My panic attack, my jokes, and my tears must have derailed the perfect routine of the mansion.
"I might have made a big mistake," I thought, forcing myself to regain composure. My terror was personal, but the twins clearly took all of this as an affront to order.
As Subaru got up, confused, and Emilia joined him to offer support, I took advantage of the commotion to perform an instinctive check. I furtively slipped my hand into the pocket of my new black pants.
My fingers met something. My wallet and my phone.
"But how? Everything burned!"
These objects, my relics from the real world, had survived the explosion and my change of clothes. I kept them hidden.
En route to the door, I seized the opportunity to look inside my wallet without anyone seeing. Among the cards I couldn't use anymore, I found a small laminated photo.
It was a beach photo, my brother, my sister, and my parents smiling in it. Their faces, which I had thought lost forever moments earlier, were there, frozen in time.
My breath hitched, and my eyes became clear again, but a new fervor filled them.
"I have to keep this secret. This photo is my anchor. It's the only tangible memory of my true identity that I must protect at all costs. No one must see it."
I quickly put the wallet away, the fear of another memory loss giving rise to a cold determination within me.
Ram opened the door, and the twins positioned themselves on both sides, ready to escort the two 'idiots' to Roswaal. Emilia stood next to Subaru, looking anxious.
Me: (I composed my face, putting back on the mask of sarcastic arrogance, but with a nuance of gravity.) "Very well. Let's go meet the head clown of this mansion. Subaru, stay close to me."
Subaru: (He nodded, understanding that the joking was over.) "Yes, Trizz."
I stepped out into the corridor, walking alongside Subaru and Emilia, toward the encounter with the mansion's owner.
(A few moments later...)
We arrived in the main dining room, a sumptuous space lit by a gigantic chandelier. The table was set for dinner. Roswaal L. Mathers was seated at one end, his clown makeup and strange smile making his expression inscrutable.
I quickly sat down, making sure to position myself next to Beatrice, who was seated on a small chair at the table. She gave me a mocking look, a small smirk to tease my presence and my status as a 'human'. I responded with a forced smile, a silent contract for the exchange of sweets in our heads. Subaru stood next to Emilia, nervous.
Roswaal began with the formalities, his voice soft and slightly drawling, filled with exaggerated politeness.

Roswaal: "My dear guests, Subaru-kun and Trizz-kun. Please accept the sincere thanks of this humble servant for your bravery, yes."
He lingered on me.
Roswaal: "Trizz-kun, your recklessness and sacrifice allowed the most important person in this house to remain safe. The explosion was... unexpected, but incredibly effective, wasn't it?"
During the meal, I dove into the plate. The food was of a level I had never known.
Me: (Eyes full of stars, mouth full.) "The food is so good! Rem, Ram, you are culinary geniuses!"
The twins showed no reaction, but Subaru gave me a warning look.
After dinner, Roswaal revealed the crux of the matter.
Roswaal: "Emilia is one of the four candidates for the Royal Selection. As her saviors, it is my duty to reward you. You may choose whatever you wish, gold, titles, or... a place here."
Subaru: (He straightened up, determination in his eyes.) "I choose to stay. I want to remain at the mansion and become a butler!"
Me: (I nodded, my choice having been made long ago.) "I'm not made for uniforms, nor for orders. I choose to be an indefinite guest at the mansion. I will stay as long as Emilia needs protection, and as long as I have a comfortable room."
Roswaal smiled, his piercing yellow and blue eyes fixed on me.
Roswaal: "Indefinite guest. A practical choice. Very well."
I knew what I was doing. Something was wrong with the members of this mansion. Roswaal was strange. The twins had judged me as walking chaos. And the old threat (Elsa) was replaced by new ones (the Miasma or other assassins).
My choice was strategic. I needed to stay to investigate and strengthen myself.
Me: (I thought, my gaze turning toward Puck.) "Going forward, I will use my guest status to learn magic from Puck and develop my mysterious Pure Mana. I need to get stronger, or the next reset will be my last."
END OF CHAPTER II: REWARD