"How is it impossible?" Natsuki Subaru immediately cut her off, his face filled with undeniable seriousness.
"What do you imagine, I suppose? Even the most capable person makes mistakes! Even the most precise gears can get stuck if they turn for too long, can't they, in fact?"
"Th-that's simply incomparable!" Beatrice stamped her foot in anger, her golden twin tails shaking indignantly with her movements.
"Mother, she is…"
"But what?" Natsuki Subaru looked directly into Beatrice's blue eyes, pressing further.
"Do you think, your mother is so flawless she's perfect?"
"Of… of course not…" Beatrice suddenly stammered, her gaze flickering slightly, but she quickly tightened her expression, her tone becoming forceful.
"But Mother would never make a mistake on something so crucial!"
"It's precisely the more important things that are easier to mess up due to nervousness!" Natsuki Subaru looked at Beatrice, stating earnestly.
"It's like during an exam; how many people stumble on the simplest task of writing their name? The more you want to write it correctly, the easier your hand makes a mistake. It's the same principle!"
"Even, even if I don't understand what you mean by 'exam'... but Mother... Mother cannot be wrong."
Beatrice's voice weakened, yet she stubbornly insisted, sticking out her neck.
She had always regarded her mother, Echidna, as an object of faith, holding her in utmost reverence, and naturally could not tolerate anyone presuming to offend her in such a way.
Yet, for some reason, a faint voice quietly surfaced from the depths of her heart, carrying a hint of wavering that even she found absurd.
Wait… this sounds utterly absurd, in fact.
Why… does it contain just a sliver of logic that one cannot entirely deny?
"Then do you dare say there's absolutely no such possibility? Have you truly never doubted it even a tiny bit? Are you saying that you truly believe, from the bottom of your heart, that your mother actually gave her own daughter a blank book?"
Natsuki Subaru clung stubbornly to the paradox, attempting to shake Beatrice's obsession with this sophistry.
In truth, Beatrice was an Artificial Spirit created by Echidna, sharing a bond with her akin to that of mother and daughter.
Back then, Echidna, through a contract, entrusted books and knowledge to Beatrice, which was both a trust in her abilities and a hidden arrangement for her destiny.
She had Beatrice wait for "that person," intending for Beatrice to make her own choice, but she hadn't anticipated that Beatrice would become so deeply entrenched, unable to break free.
Come to think of it, this couldn't be entirely Beatrice's fault.
After all, for four hundred years, she had guarded the Forbidden Library, hardly ever stepping out of its doors, living as a complete shut-in, with no opportunity for normal human interaction.
In Natsuki Subaru's view, the reason this four-hundred-year-old Great Spirit was so obsessive was probably due, in part, to her long years of living alone, with no one to communicate with, her heart long since filled with accumulated depressive negative energy.
Completely suppressed by Natsuki Subaru's imposing presence, Beatrice's tone gradually softened, and her gaze began to waver.
She knew well that the wavering stirring within her heart at this moment was disrespectful to her beloved mother, yet she couldn't help but shake her head in self-loathing.
When belief and reverence clashed within her heart, she ultimately leaned towards the former.
For these four hundred years, she had never once doubted her mother's words.
Thinking of this, Beatrice clenched her fists, forcing back her inner rage as she said:
"Mo-Mother cannot make mistakes. Th-that's obvious, in fact! She is Betty's Mother! Can you really doubt your own mother's words!?"
"Of course I would!" Natsuki Subaru immediately retorted, deliberately putting on an expression of nonchalant obviousness.
"To be honest, I've doubted far more times than I've believed. It's perfectly normal for a teenager to doubt their family, isn't it? If anything, your unquestioning attitude is what's stranger, I suppose?"
As long as he could make Beatrice no longer place her full trust in Echidna, allowing the seeds of doubt to sprout in her heart, then her obsession with death would naturally waver.
After all, for four hundred years, Beatrice had lived within the confines of "Mother's words are absolutely correct." Unless that box was broken first, she wouldn't be able to escape at all.
"I, I don't understand…" Beatrice frantically shook her head, her twin tails swaying violently with her movements.
"What exactly do you want Betty to say?! Betty doesn't understand at all! Your thoughts, your purpose—Betty understands none of it!"
Her voice held clear confusion and unease, like a lost child.
The belief she had clung to for four hundred years was suddenly shaken, leaving Beatrice standing helplessly, her slender shoulders trembling slightly.
"Then I'll speak plainly. This isn't just for you, who's utterly foolish, but also for your muddled mother to hear!"
Saying this, Natsuki Subaru leaned slightly, closing in and lifting Beatrice's face. At a distance where their breaths could touch, he spoke clearly, word by word, to the tear-filled girl:
"Stop being trapped by that blank book and that verbal promise from four hundred years ago. What you want to do should be decided by yourself, Beatrice."
"What did you say?"
Beatrice stared blankly at Natsuki Subaru, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.
"It's been four hundred years; it's perfectly justifiable to be rebellious just this once, don't you think, I suppose?"
Natsuki Subaru knew all too well that Beatrice deeply loved her mother and held an obsession with that Book of Wisdom, which was why she was so firmly bound by these four hundred years of solitude and emptiness.
But all of this had to be broken.
Beatrice, sitting on the topmost rung of the short step stool, was almost level with Natsuki Subaru's gaze.
After a moment of silence, she lowered her head, gazing at the book on her lap, her lips trembling as she whispered:
"No matter, no matter what anyone says... Betty must uphold the contract, I suppose. A contract is sacred and inviolable… Therefore, Betty must keep her promise."
"A contract my ass, that doesn't count for anything!"
Natsuki Subaru unceremoniously cut her off, his tone full of disdain.
"Shut up!"
Beatrice suddenly snapped her head up, her deep blue eyes instantly welling up with tears.
"No, I insist on speaking!" Natsuki Subaru refused to give an inch, even leaning closer until their noses were almost touching.
"Making a contract and then regretting it? So what? Is it shameful? I'm telling you, since sticking to this rotten promise has made you miserable enough to want to die, why not just break it?! There's absolutely no one in this world who would blame you for wanting to live!"
"Betty will blame herself! Why don't you understand!?" Beatrice's voice suddenly rose, and tears welling up again.
"You're the one who doesn't understand!" Natsuki Subaru also raised his voice, the pent-up frustration in his chest finally bursting out.
"Knowing full well that sticking to the promise is a dead end, then of course you break it first and live! There's only a future if you're alive; if you die, there's nothing left! Is my choice so outrageous? Is it utterly unreasonable?"
"You, your words and actions don't match; you're simply despicable and vile…"
Beatrice clung fiercely to her obsession with the contract, glaring at the Natsuki Subaru she couldn't comprehend as if he were a monster.
"I know my words and actions might be somewhat contradictory, and I am reflecting on that." Natsuki Subaru's gaze, however, did not waver in the slightest.
"But on this matter, I absolutely will not back down."
He understood from the very beginning that the key to this tug-of-war was never about the right or wrong of the contract, but about Beatrice's heart, stiffened by four hundred years of obsession.
What he had to do was pry open that heart, trapped by four hundred years of shackles.
Natsuki Subaru's dismissive attitude towards the contract plunged Beatrice into unprecedented confusion and bewilderment.
This was completely normal, in fact.
In this world, contracts held an extraordinary sacred meaning for Spirits; they were vows etched into the very soul.
"I-if only…" Beatrice gazed at the Natsuki Subaru who was so close, suddenly speaking softly.
"You are that person…"
This sentence carried Beatrice's sole mission for four hundred years, and it was also the fundamental reason she still clung tightly to the contract, even after being tormented by the blank pages to this day.
As long as she found this final reliance, Beatrice could be freed from her long wait.
At this moment, like someone grasping at a lifeline, she stared intently into Natsuki Subaru's dark eyes, her voice trembling as she asked:
"Will you... be the person Betty has been waiting for, I suppose?"
This simple question would bring an end to her four hundred years of blank existence.
In a trance, Echidna's words echoed in her ears:
"Wait for that person to appear in the Forbidden Library, and that person will take you out of the Forbidden Library."
This was precisely the answer Echidna, the Witch of Greed, wanted to know.
Not to provide the correct answer, but to let Beatrice make a choice of her own free will.
The Witch used her daughter as a tool to satisfy her curiosity, forcing her to endure four hundred years of torment.
And all of this finally bore fruit at this moment.
Beatrice nervously swallowed, waiting for his reply.
Natsuki Subaru looked directly into the girl's eyes, paused briefly in silence, then suddenly grinned:
"That's right, I, Natsuki Subaru, am the person you've waited bitterly for four hundred years!"
Although a little late, he had at least made it.
From now on, we'll stick together, eating, sleeping, battling Magic Beasts, getting into trouble, until the end of time, the world's destruction, and the cycle restarts.
Just as a glimmer of hope appeared in Beatrice's eyes, and she was on the verge of tears from emotion—
"Moved, little Betty?" Natsuki Subaru suddenly changed his tone, shrugging.
"You still believe such cheesy lines? I'm not that inexplicable person you're talking about!"
"Id-Idiot!!!!!"
Beatrice was genuinely enraged. Her cheeks puffed out with fury, and her eyes reddened, a color interwoven with indignation and grievance.
Immediately after, she abruptly raised her hand, a faint blue magical aura instantly lighting up her palm. With a sharp whoosh that cut through the air, she pushed it straight towards Natsuki Subaru.
"Wait! I was just—"
"Boom!"
The dazzling mana beam solidly struck Natsuki Subaru, flinging him completely away to crash heavily into a distant bookshelf with a dull thud.
"Cough, cough... A bit too heavy-handed, wouldn't you say, I suppose...?"
Natsuki Subaru leaned on a nearby bookshelf, slowly propping himself up from the scattered pile of books on the floor, deliberately contorting his face into a grimace, feigning intense pain.
In truth, with his current power as a Level 60 Shadow Monarch, avoiding Beatrice's previous magic attack would have been effortless.
There was simply no need to do so, because he had seen from the beginning that although Beatrice was trembling with rage, she had clearly held back her strength when she actually struck.
One must know, at the true level of Beatrice, the Great Spirit, if she had truly intended to kill and held nothing back, it would have been absolutely impossible for him to merely be knocked back into a bookshelf. He would probably have already been banished to an Otherworldly Dimension directly by her Yin Magic.
What's more, Natsuki Subaru had always known clearly in his heart that Beatrice would never truly try to kill him.
She might appear hot-tempered, flaring up at the slightest provocation, but in reality, she was very soft-hearted; it was just her tsundere nature that always made her unwilling to admit this gentleness.
Just like countless times before, no matter how angry she got, she always held back at the last moment.
"Get out, immediately!" Beatrice still had her back to Natsuki Subaru, her hands tightly clenched, her shoulders still trembling slightly from her earlier agitation. Her voice was full of unspent fury, yet laced with a barely perceptible tremor.
"Betty never wants to see you again! Never!"
"Hey, hey, don't be like that~" Natsuki Subaru dusted himself off and slowly walked over, a cheerful smile, as usual, on his face.
"Aren't I just trying to make you understand, I suppose? Even if I'm not the person you're waiting for, you can choose again, start anew. There's no need to be trapped by that promise forever."
"Why!" Beatrice suddenly turned around, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Why give Betty hope…"
The rest of her words failed to come out; her voice grew fainter and fainter, finally dissolving into suppressed, quiet sobs.
"I'm sorry." Natsuki Subaru's expression became serious as he addressed Beatrice earnestly.
"I just don't want you to treat me as a substitute for someone else. Who you're waiting for, what that four-hundred-year-old promise is—I don't care about any of that. But I am standing here now, and the one saying he'll take you away is Natsuki Subaru, not just any 'that person'."
"But... but Betty…" Beatrice bit her lip, and tears welling up again.
"Betty doesn't know what to do, I suppose… Betty has never thought of anything else besides waiting for that person…"
"Since even an imposter like me can make you feel hope, it means you already know the answer in your heart, don't you, I suppose?"
Natsuki Subaru said, looking at Beatrice.
Come to think of it, why didn't Natsuki Subaru just deceive Beatrice, go along with her words, admit he was that person, and then logically take her away?
In fact, the reason was simple: he wanted Beatrice to achieve true salvation—the kind of salvation that comes from making a choice genuinely aligned with one's own will from the bottom of one's heart.
After all, Beatrice had been waiting alone for four hundred years at that door, waiting for someone who might not even exist.
Throughout these four hundred years, she had always been bound by the promise Echidna had set, by that "person to wait for," never truly making a choice for herself.
Natsuki Subaru hoped Beatrice could make her own decision, one that followed her heart. Only then could her heart truly be saved.
No one could underestimate the promise Beatrice had upheld; four hundred years of waiting had long proven the extent of her regard for that promise.
Precisely because he understood this, Natsuki Subaru chose the most direct approach, without any concealment or circumlocution.
______
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