Even the characters were wrong. Out of that short passage, only five were written correctly. The handwriting was ugly, too—even the way she gripped the marker was off. The marker's tip was thick to begin with, and the few scrawled characters took up half the page.
But misspellings didn't stop anyone from understanding what the words meant. It was the first writing to appear in four hundred years.
"Is that how it is?"
Beatrice's hands trembled slightly around the Tome of Wisdom. She was an artificial Great Spirit, fundamentally different from the human body in every way—and yet tears slid down her cheeks, falling onto those clumsy, ugly characters.
She had given up hope long ago. Four hundred years she'd guarded this place, and occasionally someone would stumble in. As time ground onward, even Roswaal—the one she used to bicker with—had been replaced generation after generation. She had always been alone in this library, with nothing but this book that no longer displayed words, carrying the faintest trace of Mother's lingering scent, and a hope that would probably never come.
In her eyes, the so-called "That Person" was probably someone who could kill her—free her from her promise to Mother.
What Mother had left her, she would never treat with disrespect. Even dropping the book on the floor made her heart ache for a good while.
Was this child "That Person"? Or could anyone become "That Person"? Or had Mother given the power of choice to Beatrice herself from the very beginning?
"Betty can't figure it out. Betty just can't figure it out."
"I'm sorry." Seeing her cry, Yimi clutched the marker in both hands, at a loss—she felt like she'd done something bad.
Yimi reached up with her sleeve to wipe Beatrice's tears. "Don't want, your book, anymore."
Did she dislike that a cat had scribbled in it? Maybe she should swipe a book from Diego's collection and give it to Beatrice as compensation.
"No. Thank you."
…
"Good morning. Are you Diego-san?"
Following the direction Yimi had pointed him in, Natsuki Subaru successfully met the master of this estate. Honestly, the instant he laid eyes on the man, he half-wondered if this was some clown the owner had hired for entertainment.
"Diego? I'm afraid I don't know anyone by that name~"
"You're not? Because a kid told me this place was Diego's ol'… estate, so I figured you must be him." Subaru slapped the man's shoulder without a care in the world. "Are you the resident clown or something?"
Roswaal didn't seem offended. He smiled pleasantly. "While I can't say I know any Diego, I am indeed the master of this estate~"
Subaru hurriedly pulled his hand away.
Creating this kind of awkward situation on purpose—had the cat loli's revenge not ended yet?
He cleared his throat. "Let's just cut to the chase and be direct. What's your purpose in bringing me here?"
Roswaal raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, but considering that Subaru hadn't recognized him moments ago, he opted to play dumb for the time being.
"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about~"
Subaru stared hard at him. "Still playing games? That world-crossing tool you've got—it's the whole reason I was dragged here in the first place. Maybe I should mention that my Return by Dea—urgh!"
Just as he was about to say it, a chill that locked him in place seized his throat. It was as though an invisible, malevolent hand had reached through his chest to gently squeeze his heart. At the same time, the Witch's Scent clinging to him surged in a sudden burst.
"Roswaal-sama."
The twin maids—keenly sensitive to that smell—slammed the door open, glaring at Subaru with undisguised hostility. Their timing, at least, gave him a moment to recover.
Roswaal waved the twins off with a gentle gesture, then turned to Subaru with what passed for concern. "Feeling unwell?"
"Sorry—I haven't fully woken up yet."
Subaru clutched the front of his shirt and walked out. The maids' eyes tracked his back the entire time. From their perspective, this boy had just been in Roswaal's room when the Witch's Scent radiating from him suddenly doubled in intensity.
Subaru stepped outside, looking for fresh air.
He couldn't make sense of it, but something had clearly stopped him from speaking about Return by Death. It wasn't the clown's doing.
A cheat-code ability like this was never going to be simple.
Walking out the front door, the first thing he saw was the little girl who'd tricked him sitting in the courtyard with a slightly older blonde girl, drinking tea together.
"Tea?"
"You don't even know what tea is? It's made from specific dried leaves steeped in water—it improves the taste. Usually served to guests, though this place doesn't get many visitors."
Beatrice patiently explained the concept to Yimi, one hand flipping through a book, the other pinching the dinosaur tail of Yimi's pajamas and toying with it.
Somehow, every now and then, the child's tail would suddenly go stiff—like it had been frozen in place.
"Mm." Yimi glanced at Beatrice's teacup. Puck, petite enough to fit, was lounging inside it like a tiny hot spring.
So Puck was the "nii-chan" Beatrice had mentioned.
"Yo, dinosaur cat loli." Subaru walked over and waved. "You totally fooled me! There's no Diego at all—you're too young to have forgotten that sincerity is the ultimate weapon in life!"
If her overwhelming power wasn't still fresh in his memory, he would've already been grinding his fist into her temple.
"There IS a Diego!" The little cat refused his doubt, jabbing a finger at Subaru's face. "You don't, plant things, he comes, to beat you up, at night."
More than drinking tea, Yimi wanted to go match wits with Diego. Plus, her catnip stash was running low.
Beatrice gave him a sidelong glance. "Roswaal's guests are getting stranger and stranger. Believing the made-up nonsense a child spouts off the top of her head."
"You're not exactly old yourself, are you?" Subaru poked her forehead. "So—who's this little girl whose entire face seems to have grown in the direction of contempt? Your onee-san?"
"Whose face grew in the direction of contempt?" Beatrice's eyebrow twitched. She placed her hand on Subaru's stomach. Subaru instantly felt a wave of weakness wash over him, bending over with a surge of nausea.
"My soul… was drained?"
"Don't make Betty sound like some kind of demon. Betty merely siphoned a bit of your mana as a lesson." Beatrice examined her own hand. "Just a tiny amount and you react like that. You're so weak it's surprising even to Betty."
"Sorry for being so pathetically weak."
Still—this also proved that in this world, he possessed the constitution to learn magic, didn't it?
Subaru turned to glance at Emilia, who was keeping a deliberate distance from him for reasons he couldn't fathom.
It felt a little irresponsible to say, but after just one day together, Subaru had already taken a liking to this kind girl.
He adjusted his expression, aiming for the most approachable look he could muster. "Good morning, Satella-tan!"
"Pfft—!" Beatrice spat out her tea.
And after Subaru called that name, it wasn't just Emilia, who looked like she'd just been picked on. Behind him, the blue-haired maid who'd been on her way to trim the garden had frozen mid-step.