...
{3rd Pov}
Months had slipped by, and during that time, countless pieces of news spread throughout the kingdom, eventually reaching Reina's ears.
Among the reports, the most prominent were the successful subjugation of the White Whale and the death of the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, along with updates on several other incidents that shook the land.
However, despite the gravity of those accomplishments, what truly irritated Reina was not the content of the reports themselves but the way they were presented.
Time and time again, the majority of the recognition and praise was heaped onto the Crusch camp and onto Julius, the so-called knight of knights.
Their names were the ones spoken of with admiration, their efforts highlighted as if they were the central figures who had turned the tide of history.
Reina could not let it rest at mere rumors and surface-level accounts.
Driven by her growing frustration, she took the time to personally investigate the events in detail. It was then that she uncovered the truth about Natsuki Subaru's involvement.
The boy's role was far larger, far more essential, than the reports made it sound. In fact, without him, the victories being celebrated might never have even come to pass.
Subaru had been the one to provide precise information about the timing of the White Whale's appearance, knowledge that bordered on precognition.
He was the one who gave courage to the troops when despair loomed over them, and, more importantly, he devised the strategy that ultimately led to the defeat of the legendary monster.
None of those facts could be denied.
Yet, when the dust settled, the results painted a cruel picture: nearly all of the glory, the reputation, and the credit ended up being attributed to Crusch's camp.
Even though Crusch herself had suffered a disastrous blow, having lost all her memories as a royal candidate, her camp still reaped the majority of the fame.
As for the battle against the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, the distortion of recognition was just as blatant.
While Subaru and Julius had fought side by side to bring down the madman, most of the fame once again landed on Julius's shoulders.
Subaru's name barely received mention in the retellings, and the fact that he openly supported Emilia—a silver-haired half-elf who was already the subject of countless prejudices—only worsened the perception of his deeds.
There was also word circulating about another extraordinary feat: Subaru's supposed extermination of the Great Rabbit threat near Arlam village.
Yet, because no concrete proof or reliable testimony could be provided, the claim was quickly dismissed by most people as nothing more than an exaggerated story, a hoax born from rumors.
It became increasingly clear to Reina just how cruel and unfair the world could be, and just how strongly it seemed to lean against Subaru.
No matter how much effort he put in, no matter how much he contributed, the bias remained.
The truth was undeniable: people shunned him not because of his lack of achievements, but simply because he dared to carve out a place for himself in their lives.
To Reina, that fact alone was infuriating, and it only made her devotion to her Subaru grow even stronger.
For Reina herself, the past several months had been far from kind.
Every single day, her thoughts inevitably circled back to her Lord—her Subaru, the Subaru of her own world.
She thought about him constantly, more often than she cared to admit.
The sense of separation between them gnawed at her heart, and the crushing guilt over the mistakes she believed she had made—mistakes that had led to their parting—slowly but surely ate away at her sanity.
In her desperation to deal with these emotions, Reina began searching for ways to keep Subaru's presence close to her.
Eventually, she poured her feelings into something tangible. She painstakingly carved a statue of Subaru, a personal shrine of sorts.
Every morning, every evening, and sometimes even in the middle of the day, she would kneel before it and offer her prayers with the utmost sincerity, as though she were communicating directly with him.
But even that wasn't enough to soothe the emptiness in her chest.
Wanting something to physically hold onto, she went a step further and crafted a soft toy modeled after Subaru.
Night after night, she hugged it close as she lay in bed, clinging to it tightly as if she could somehow bridge the gap between reality and her aching heart.
Her devotion did not stop there.
As part of her personal ritual, she praised Subaru's name out loud ten times each day without fail. Whether she was alone in her room or walking in the streets, she never allowed herself to neglect this act of worship.
To her, this was not simply routine—it was proof of loyalty.
At this point, it was impossible to deny the truth: Reina was, without question, the most devoted follower of what could only be called Subarism.
In her eyes, Subaru was no mere man.
No, he was the One True God, and she was his faithful servant.
The religion she shaped in her heart was built around retelling his glorious feats.
She even went so far as to compile them into sacred writings she titled the Subaru Puran.
Within those pages, she documented everything.
Tales of his unmatched bravery, stories of his kindness, and accounts of how he saved people others had dismissed as unworthy.
She even exaggerated some tales to raise his image even higher.
To her, Subaru's accomplishments included everything from rescuing someone as "insignificant" as the so-called Sword Saint, to heroically cutting down the White Whale and freeing the world from its terror.
She wrote of how he fearlessly confronted the Sin Archbishops, rulers of evil, battling them without hesitation and destroying them in the most gruesome and satisfying ways possible.
She described him as a man who gave no quarter to villains, and who exacted righteous vengeance for all the suffering they caused.
And then… her imagination began to stray into less appropriate territory.
In her writings, she occasionally added accounts of how Subaru would seduce beautiful women, how he showered them with affection, and how he generously bestowed upon them his love… and his seeds.
Ahem.
Yes, clearly, her imagination had wandered way too far at that point. Even Reina herself realized she might have let her fantasies run out of control.
Though she often imagined herself in the place of those women.
His words of wisdom, the ones she believed carried the very essence of his divinity, were carefully recorded in what she proudly referred to as the Book of Revelation.
To Reina, it was not simply a collection of writings but a holy text, one that captured the brilliance of Subaru's thoughts and the righteousness of his actions.
And then… there were the other parts of her so-called religion. The more "artistic" ones.
Inside her personal temple—if it could be called that—she had taken the liberty of decorating the walls with what she dubbed "divine arts."
These were illustrations depicting Subaru in various intimate positions with her, acts that she shamelessly glorified as sacred unions.
To anyone else, they were nothing but lewd fantasies given physical form, but to Reina, they were holy, worthy of reverence, and proof of the boundless love between her and her God.
Yeah, there was no denying it at this point—she was absolutely not right in the head.
Anyone who saw her shrine, her rituals, or her self-made scriptures would come to the same conclusion.
But leaving that aside for the moment, Reina had in fact managed to build herself a stable life.
After wandering for some time, she eventually settled down in a small village, where she purchased a plot of land and a modest house.
She was able to do so thanks to the Royal Gold Coins she possessed.
With just a handful of coins, she could secure nearly anything she desired, and considering that she still had dozens left over even after the purchase, she could live comfortably without worry for many years to come.
Of course, she understood that flaunting wealth would only attract suspicion and unnecessary attention, so she kept things low-key.
To blend in with the villagers, she began cultivating and selling flowers.
It was honest work, something simple and peaceful, and it served well enough as a cover.
Yet even here, her devotion to Subaru never faltered.
Every morning, after tending to her flowers, she would carefully gather the freshest ones and lay them before the statue of Subaru in her home, showering it with blossoms as offerings during her daily prayers.
Yes, at this stage she was already about as far gone as a person could be when it came to love. Completely infatuated, utterly obsessed—there was no other way to put it.
If not for the loss of her Divine Protections, she would have been able to conjure vivid images of her and Subaru together instantly, capturing their supposed moments as if they were reality.
If she still had that ability, her entire house would have been filled to the brim with countless portraits of them in every situation imaginable—romantic, domestic, and, of course, intimate.
But stripped of that convenient power, she had no choice but to rely on her own two hands. And so, she painted.
Patiently, meticulously, she created artwork after artwork, each one portraying herself and Subaru together, often in ways that were… less than appropriate.
To an outsider, it was clear she had lost herself entirely.
Obsession had consumed her, reshaped her, and perhaps even broken her mind.
But despite how it looked from the outside, there was more to it than sheer madness.
There was another reason—an underlying motivation—that drove Reina to suddenly establish this religion centered around Subaru.
In the past, Reina had not even known the meaning of the word religion.
It was not a concept that existed in her world, nor something she had ever thought about before.
The very idea of organized belief, of devotion to a higher existence, was almost foreign to her.
That was, of course, until Subaru introduced it to her.
To her or rather to the people of Lugunica, worshipping Divine Dragon was the closest thing to the religion.
Now Subaru had spoken of it casually once, explaining the basics of how religion functioned in his own world.
According to Subaru, the practice of religion was not merely about rituals or rules but about striving toward a greater purpose.
The ultimate motive, he had said, was usually to achieve something beyond the mortal self—often to become one with God, or to ascend to a place known as Heaven, a realm where sorrow and suffering no longer existed.
The way he explained it had sounded strange to her at the time, almost unbelievable, yet his words had planted a seed in her heart.
For Reina, who longed desperately to reunite with Subaru, the concept became something more than just a curiosity.
She reinterpreted it, twisted it into her own personal creed.
To her, creating a religion dedicated solely to Subaru became the perfect way to console her aching heart.
It was not simply faith for the sake of faith—it was a system she built to convince herself, over and over, that she would most definitely be reunited with him someday.
Their separation, which to any other person might have seemed like a hopeless tragedy, she instead reframed as a divine trial.
A challenge presented to her by fate.
And so, she declared that the ultimate goal of her self-made religion was simple: to return to the side of her Lord, Natsuki Subaru.
To be with him once more—that was the one and only goal that consumed her every thought.
To bask endlessly in his boundless affection, to drown herself in the warmth of his gaze and the comfort of his touch, that was her deepest desire.
She longed for her body to be claimed by him, to be marked and tainted by his very essence, to carry his seeds within her as proof of their eternal bond.
She dreamed of bearing his children, of raising them as living testaments to their union, each one a symbol of the love she believed was destined to last forever.
But her fantasies did not end there.
She yearned to make love with him over and over again, without end, in every embrace reaffirming their unbreakable connection.
Day or night, reality or dream, it did not matter—so long as she could be with him, so long as she could feel him, she would be satisfied.
And above all, she desired to remain by his side for all eternity, never to part again, never to lose him a second time.
Yes… when viewed from the outside, she was absolutely delusional.
Forget all the rational explanations, all the grand ideals she tried to cloak her obsession in.
The simple truth was clear enough.
Reina had, without a doubt, completely lost it.
To be continued...
(A/N: That was a total brain rot... LMAO)
💬 (A/N: Support the Author!)
Hey everyone! 💖
If you're enjoying my stories, check out my Re:Zero fanfic — Re:Zero: The Great Sage!
You can also join my Membership Program to get early chapters, exclusive stories, and cool illustrations!
🌟 Membership Tiers
💠 $2.5 — Trial Tier
5 chapters of Re:Zero: The Great Sage
3 chapters of Is It Wrong to Be a High-Elf in a Dungeon?
3 chapters of Pride if Alternative
5 chapters of In Mushoku Tensei with the Unique Skill Great Sage
💎 $5 — Respected Member
12 chapters of Re:Zero: The Great Sage
7 chapters of Is It Wrong to Be a High-Elf in a Dungeon?
12 chapters of In Mushoku Tensei with the Unique Skill Great Sage
All available chapters of Pride if Alternative
Exclusive Illustrations
Discord Role
🔥 $10 — Loyal Member
20 chapters of Re:Zero: The Great Sage
15 chapters of Is It Wrong to Be a High-Elf in a Dungeon?
All available chapters of In Mushoku Tensei with the Unique Skill Great Sage
All available chapters of Pride if Alternative
Versatile Mage: Infinite Resources (Exclusive Fic Chapters)
Exclusive Illustrations
Discord Role
👑 $15 — Royal Member (Sold Out!)
30 chapters of Re:Zero: The Great Sage
All available chapters of Is It Wrong to Be a High-Elf in a Dungeon?
All available chapters of Pride if Alternative
All available chapters of In Mushoku Tensei with the Unique Skill Great Sage
Versatile Mage: Infinite Resources chapters
Exclusive Illustrations
Discord Role
💫 $20 — Mommy Minerva's Sugar Child (Sold Out!)
35 chapters of Re:Zero: The Great Sage
All available chapters of every other fic
Exclusive Illustrations
Discord Role
⚔️ $30 — King Arthur Tier(Sold Out)
All previous perks
Special small animated scenes from my fanfics
My eternal thanks 🙏)
https://discord.gg/Xb47VnFUpQ
https://patreon.com/AkrosZero