Beatrice lifted her head, her eyes hazy with tears, and simply stared at Natsuki Subaru. She opened her mouth, but for a moment, no words came out.
"Those cool lines like 'I'm going to pull you out of your loneliness,' I've thought about saying them many times...
But in the end, those are just empty words to smooth things over for a moment.
Now, I want to say what's truly on my mind. How I see you, and what I really want to tell you."
Facing the speechless Beatrice, Natsuki Subaru's tone was exceptionally serious, revealing his feelings without reservation.
He placed the right to decide how to respond and how to accept his words entirely in her hands. He knew this might be reckless, but at this moment, he couldn't care less.
"Your own power is more than enough for you to live on your own. There's no doubt about that.
Otherwise, you never could have spent four hundred years here alone. So, phrases like 'I'll help you' or 'I'll be your strength' could never truly reach your heart."
Pausing for a moment, Natsuki Subaru continued to look at Beatrice and said, "But even though you're so strong, so smart, and so endearing, you're still afraid of being alone, aren't you?"
You must be heartbroken and lonely inside.
So, no one would blame you for clinging so tightly to the existence of 'that person.' Everyone can understand how you feel."
"You... you're just making assumptions about Betty's feelings... What do you know about Betty!"
Beatrice bit her lip, a barely perceptible tremor in her voice. She clutched the hem of her dress tightly, as if trying to hold onto this fleeting agitation and keep herself composed.
However, Natsuki Subaru just gently shook his head at her: "I know you're actually very kind. If someone has a nightmare, you'll quietly hold their hand, trying to help them sleep soundly.
If they face an insurmountable obstacle, you'll silently offer a hand, carving out a viable path for them. No matter how annoying or detestable someone is, if they lose a dear friend, you'll feel sad along with them."
"You talk as if you know me so well..."
Beatrice turned her face away, her voice low like a mumble, but she didn't refute him again.
"Beatrice, choose me."
Natsuki Subaru took half a step forward, his gaze fixed intently on the spirit girl before him.
"Let me take you out of this room. Let's go see the sky outside, the real sunlight, feel the wind on our faces. We can go to the market together, taste freshly baked bread, and drink piping hot black tea."
He paused for a moment, then continued: "You can try talking to other people, making new friends. You won't have to guard these books alone anymore, waiting day after day. I'll be with you, hold your hand when you're scared, and give you courage when you hesitate."
Natsuki Subaru's eyes were earnest and gentle.
"For four hundred years, you've lived for someone else's expectations. Now, it's time to make a choice for yourself. Not because of a contract, not because of a promise, but simply because this is the life you want."
As he said this, Natsuki Subaru slowly extended a hand toward Beatrice.
"Will you? Start a new life with me."
"Th-That way of putting it... saying something like that now... You're not 'that person'... and you just rejected me moments ago...!"
Beatrice spoke incoherently, her emotions so stirred she could barely form her words.
But her gaze was locked on the outstretched hand, unable to look away. All she could do was clutch the book in her arms, tears silently streaming down her cheeks.
"Four hundred years... Betty has spent four hundred years all alone! Even if I take your hand now, you'll die soon... A human's life is but a fleeting moment to Betty...
After all this time... how could I possibly grasp onto something so brief, i suppose...!"
"I truly can't imagine the four hundred years of loneliness you've endured." Natsuki Subaru knelt down, bringing his eyes level with hers, and gently wiped the tears from her face.
"I haven't even lived a twentieth of your life. I can't fully understand your fear of loss just yet."
"If that's the case... if that's the case..." Beatrice shook her head forcefully, her voice tinged with a helplessness bordering on despair, "Then nothing you say can solve anything...!"
You're not 'that person'...
"But, I can still hold your hand tomorrow," Natsuki Subaru said softly, gazing at the tear-streaked Beatrice.
"Tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that... It's true I can't be with you for four hundred years, but for every day we spend together, I will cherish you and value you.
Though we can't be together forever, I will be by your side in every moment we have now."
"So, Beatrice—"
"Choose me."
Natsuki Subaru had already made his own choice.
He laid all the options out plainly before Beatrice, with no concealment and no coercion. Now, it was up to her to decide.
Would she continue to abide by her mother's long-ago instructions, guarding a promise that had long since faded? Or would she break her promise to her mother, let go of the one she had waited four hundred years for, truly follow her own heart, and reach out to take the hand of the Natsuki Subaru before her?
"You... you... you're not 'that person' anyway..."
Beatrice bit her lip, a final trace of defiance in her voice, but only she knew that the wall she had defended for four hundred years was already crumbling under his words.
"I'm certainly not." Natsuki Subaru looked directly into Beatrice's eyes, his tone firm. "Don't compare me to that shadow you've imagined in your heart countless times. I am who I am, Natsuki Subaru.
Let go of this four-hundred-year obsession you have with someone whose face and identity you don't even clearly remember."
Beatrice pressed her lips together tightly and said no more, but fresh tears began to well in her eyes, falling cold against her cheeks.
"Instead of living in fear of a separation that will come sooner or later, why not live through every tomorrow that is certain to arrive, with me?" Natsuki Subaru looked at Beatrice, continuing to speak his heart.
"If you're really with me, you'll definitely have to worry about me all the time, running around so busy you won't have a moment to spare. Where would you find the time to feel bored or lonely?"
A suppressed sob escaped Beatrice's throat, as if something was caught there, impossible to swallow or spit out.
"Choose me, Beatrice."
Natsuki Subaru repeated the phrase over and over, as if to instill strength in her, or perhaps to encourage himself, determined to make her hear it deep in her heart.
He knew all too well how violently the girl's heart was wavering at that moment. The guilt born from hesitation, the remorse bubbling up from the possibility of breaking her promise—he wanted to take it all for her, to cover up those heavy emotions with his own selfishness, his own willfulness.
He had only one thought: he could not let this girl continue to cry alone in a corner.
"But you... you'll die soon enough..."
Beatrice's voice was thick with tears, each word seeming to be squeezed from between her teeth.
"It's true I won't live forever." Natsuki Subaru didn't avoid the question, his tone calm yet honest. "The future you fear will one day come true.
I will definitely leave before you do, leaving you, who can live forever, all alone. But if we miss out on the joy of being together just because we're afraid of parting, think of how many worthwhile things we'd miss in this life."
"But you... you'll just leave me behind..." Beatrice's voice grew softer, as if she were arguing with herself.
"Be with me." Natsuki Subaru took a small step forward. "Let's live together, do the things you want to do together, see the sights you want to see together.
We'll make so, so many memories. So many that you'll forget the fear of separation, so many that you'll be able to laugh with all your heart, so many that you'll feel that even after subtracting the four hundred years of loneliness you endured here, you'll still have enough happiness left to reminisce for a long, long time."
"That kind of thing... what good would it do!" Beatrice suddenly raised her voice, as if in rebuttal, or perhaps to convince herself. "One day, I'll just be alone again!"
"For you, who can live forever, the days I can spend with you might truly be as brief as a single moment. If that's the case, then let this moment I spend with you be carved deep into your soul."
Natsuki Subaru stepped forward, closing the distance between them little by little, until he stood right before her, close enough to see the teardrops clinging to her trembling eyelashes. He continued, "—Remember the man named Natsuki Subaru, remember every day we spend together, so that in your eternal life, I will never fade, and you can always think of me!"
Beatrice's hands were still trembling, but the knuckles of the hand clutching the book her mother had left her had turned white.
Natsuki Subaru knew that book was her only solace in four hundred years of solitude. To make her let go, he had to make her believe that he could truly soothe her four hundred years of loneliness.
So he reached out his hand and shouted with all his might:
"Choose me! Beatrice!!!"
"—Ah."
As if startled awake by his cry, Beatrice let out a soft sound, a flash of understanding in her eyes.
"The truth is, you've wanted someone to take you outside for a long time, haven't you!" Natsuki Subaru looked at Beatrice, his tone as certain as if stating a fact.
"Otherwise, why do you always sit by the door! Guarding that spot every day, weren't you waiting for someone who could take you away!"
The moment his voice fell, the world that had imprisoned Beatrice for four hundred years finally met its true end.
With a soft thud, the book she had clutched for four hundred years slipped from her grasp and fell onto the cold floor of the Forbidden Library.
The next second, her hand was tightly grasped by another, warmer one.
And then, the two figures embraced tightly.
Sanctuary.
Emilia opened her eyes, returning from the trial. The sensation of her consciousness returning was distinctly different from waking up. It wasn't a physical slumber, but the return of her consciousness after it had left her body. The awakening was clear and unhindered, yet it carried the slight numbness of a soul re-entering its vessel.
"Ah... no, I almost started crying."
Emilia pressed her lips together, suppressing the lingering sense of loss in her heart. Her fingertips brushed across the carvings on the stone wall as her gaze turned toward the depths of the stone chamber.
The door that had once been sealed shut was now slightly ajar.
On the hill, the Witch had said that the barrier would be dispelled upon leaving the stone gate, but Emilia could still feel the Sanctuary's restraints. But the presence emanating from behind the door clearly indicated that the true key lay within.
"I have to go, even if I'm nervous."
Emilia clenched her fists and pushed the door open.
The passage was narrow, requiring her to stoop slightly to move forward. After a few steps, a stone chamber appeared before her. It was nearly half the size of the trial chamber, with just enough room for two large beds and nothing more.
But the object in the center of the room instantly captured her full attention.
It was a transparent coffin, crafted from a magic crystal of extremely high purity, its luster surpassing even the crystal that housed Puck.
A woman lay within the coffin. Her snow-white hair cascaded like a waterfall, her skin was like white porcelain, and she wore a pure black formal dress. The interplay of black and white created an ultimate sense of pure beauty.
Emilia's heart jolted. This face was remarkably similar to the Witch of Greed, Echidna, from the trial, yet it possessed the mature charm of a woman in her twenties, a look she had definitely not seen in the trial.
"Why is she in Echidna's tomb? Could she be her sister? How strange..."
Emilia frowned slightly, scanning the small room with a heart full of questions, her gaze finally settling on the transparent coffin.
Just then, she keenly sensed that the entire space, centered on the coffin, was filled with the fluctuations of an ritual art that was complex beyond imagination. This was undoubtedly the core that maintained the Sanctuary's barrier.
Emilia tentatively placed her fingertips on the coffin lid, tracing the flow of the ritual art. Soon, she found the core node of the art, located directly above the woman's folded hands on her abdomen.
A cold sensation came from her fingertips, and for a moment, hesitation pricked her heart like a fine needle:
"Once I destroy this, I'll never have another chance to find clues about my birth mother through the Witch's Tea Party."
"No, I can't hesitate." Emilia shook her head forcefully, her amethyst eyes becoming firm.
"Subaru has already taken the villagers back. I've held on this long to liberate the Sanctuary so everyone can come and go freely. I'll find a way to deal with the other things later!"
The moment she finished speaking, she clenched her fist and slammed it into the core node.
"CRACK—"
The sound of shattering echoed clearly as web-like cracks rapidly spread across the magic crystal coffin lid.
The next second.
A violent torrent of mana surged out like a flood breaking its dam, only to dissipate into the air in an instant.
Emilia clearly felt the formless restraint that enveloped the Sanctuary completely vanish.
The function of the Witch of Greed's tomb had completely ceased.
"Subaru, I did it... The barrier is gone. The residents of the Sanctuary can finally come and go as they please."
Emilia took a deep breath, flashes of today's trials running through her mind:
First, after Natsuki Subaru and the Arlam villagers left, Puck unilaterally broke their contract to force her to become independent, unsealing her long-forgotten childhood memories. This allowed Emilia to understand what had truly happened in the past.
Then, upon entering the tomb, her first trial recreated the tragedy of her foster mother Fortuna being accidentally killed by Geuse and the forest being frozen. She finally found the courage to face the fact that she had been the source of the disaster.
In the second trial, faced with an ideal illusion of reuniting with her family, she did not indulge but chose to live on with her head held high.
And in the third trial, even when faced with the terrifying scene of Rem leaving with Subaru, she did not shrink back. This strength even earned the acknowledgment of the Witch of Wrath, Minerva.
Of course, during that time, she also had several conversations with the Witch of Greed, Echidna, and the other witches. Many things had happened, and there was no time to think about them now.
In short, she had passed the trials and successfully liberated the Sanctuary.
Composing herself, Emilia turned and ran quickly out of the tomb.
"—Huh? It's snowing?"
Just as she stepped out of the tomb, a biting cold wind carrying snowflakes hit her face, stinging her skin slightly.
Emilia exhaled a puff of white breath, watching the mist instantly dissipate in the wind, feeling a bit surprised. It was sunny before I went into the tomb. How did it start snowing after such a short time?
"So the princess finally came out. I was starting to think you were gonna sleep in there forever."
A somewhat impatient voice came from behind her.
Emilia turned to see Garfiel standing not far away, frowning, with a thin layer of snow on him:
"Garfiel? What are you doing here?"
"What else? Waiting for you, obviously." Garfiel snorted irritably. "You were in there long enough. If you hadn't come out soon, I was gonna go in and drag you out myself."
"Sorry, the trials took some time..."
Hearing this, Emilia lowered her head slightly, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Alright, no time for chit-chat." Garfiel straightened up, strode over, and grabbed her by the wrist. "Come with me, quick. Those troublesome things are about to arrive."
"Wait, what troublesome things? Where are you taking me?" Emilia asked with a confused look, stumbling as Garfiel pulled her along.
"And why is it suddenly snowing? Where are Ram and Roswaal?"
"No time to explain!" Garfiel said without looking back, his words coming out in a rush.
"The old lady's waiting up ahead, you'll know when we get there. Let me tell you, in this situation, it'll be tough to even get out of the Sanctuary. What a pain!"
"Huh? What on earth is happening?" Emilia sensed the urgency in Garfiel's tone, and her heart began to race.
"Just tell me what's going on!"
"The Sanctuary is..."
Garfiel was about to speak when he suddenly stopped, yanking Emilia behind him. He shielded her with his body, his already fierce eyes instantly turning sharp.
"Tch, they're here already...?"
"What's here?"
Emilia peeked out from behind Garfiel, following his gaze, and then she froze—
On the snow-covered ground, a cute little creature had appeared at some point.
It had a pair of long ears, was covered in soft, white fur, had short limbs, and its eyes were two round, crimson dots. It was tilting its head, its mouth constantly wiggling, making a 'doot doot' sound.
______
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