The eyes brimming with sorrow gripped Subaru and wouldn’t let go.

The urge to scoff at Beatrice’s words bubbled up in Subaru’s chest.

—What did you just say?

He could just repeat the nonsensical words that had just grazed his ears and throw them back at Beatrice.

Just twist his mouth into a smile and respond with his usual light banter.

It was just a little—yes, just a little—the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.

Because otherwise,

“————”

He couldn’t deny the ‘joke’ of the girl with the desperate eyes right in front of him.

“What did you just… say?”

After a moment’s hesitation, Subaru finally delivered the line he’d prepared.

It would be perfect if he just kept a smile on his lips and shrugged his shoulder a bit.

Yet,

“…ah”

Subaru’s cheeks stiffened, and he found that not just his shoulders, but even his fingertips had gone rigid.

It was as if the very existence of Natsuki Subaru reflected in Beatrice’s eyes had been fixed into the world itself.

“Shall I say it again, just as you wish?”

“W-wait…”

“—I want you to end Betty with your own hands.”

“Stop it!!”

Subaru’s voice rose sharply, cutting off Beatrice’s words.

This was a complete reversal of their previous roles, creating a sort of ludicrous exchange.

Subaru, who had rejected what he didn’t want to hear from Beatrice, pressed his own theory onto her, forcing a scream from her.

Therefore, even when Beatrice did the same, Subaru had no right to blame her actions. Even knowing that he had no right to blame her,

“What do you think you just said…”

“What about you? Do you understand what you’re being told right now?”

“What?”

“I’m saying I want you to be the one to end this fairy spirit, Beatrice, at my final moment. The end of a contract that has bound me for over four hundred years—would you accept that role?”

Be proud of it, Beatrice smirked ironically with a smile that didn’t suit her parched lips.

Her dried-up smile—looking at it made Subaru feel as if his chest were being torn by claws stretched out in awkwardness.

It was unbearable, and as he pressed his hand to his chest,

“I don’t get it… are you saying you want to die?”

“It’s not exactly wanting to die, you know. Betty wants to end this contract. I simply want to be freed from this eternal contract that binds me.”

“If that means taking a life, what’s the difference between that and wanting to die!!”

Subaru shouted as he stomped his foot, his voice trembling in anger.

The gospel spread out at his feet was trampled beneath his heel, yet he didn’t care.

Pointing a finger, Subaru glared fiercely at Beatrice.

“Don’t talk about wanting to die like it’s a joke! Don’t say you want to die like that… You can say it in front of anyone else, but not in front of me! I won’t allow it!”

Once someone dies, they can’t return their life.

Only Natsuki Subaru could challenge death and start over, so for him, throwing away his life holds its own worth, something that would justify his decision to die.

But Beatrice was different. Everyone else was too.

Once a life is lost, it can never be regained.

Even though he understood that, to say it in front of Subaru was,

“What do you mean, you want things to end! Stop speaking so selfishly! Acting just to die, no matter what anyone else permits, I absolutely won’t allow it!”

“That’s quite a selfish claim, aren’t you? —What do you know about Betty?”

However, Beatrice’s response was cold and unwavering against Subaru’s outburst.

She brushed her skirt aside and stood, her fingers tracing the tips of her curly hair.

“Ever since I took on the guardianship of the Forbidden Library as the Keeper of Knowledge, it’s been four hundred years. For four hundred years… Betty has simply waited in silence for that time to come.”

“Four hundred years…”

Here comes that phrase again, Subaru grimaced, feeling an urge to click his tongue.

Four hundred years. A time when witches reigned with overwhelming power, and all the long-lived beings harbored some animosity. A horrifying era.

Beatrice was born in that time and had lived until today.

“I made a contract with a witch, and aligned myself with the Meisters family. Initially, I followed the writings of the gospel and spent my days quietly waiting for that time to arrive.”

“—”

“But amidst waiting, outside the world kept moving forward. The head of the Meisters family, who stood in the same position as Betty, passed away from old age and handed down his position. Even as I knew the changes of leadership, Betty’s time didn’t change at all.”

That was how much pain Beatrice had endured.

The flat tone of her storytelling showed how the passage of an inorganic time frayed her heart, and Subaru listening couldn’t help but feel a chill run down his spine.

“The promised day that was to come—living each day without knowing exactly when that day would be or who ‘that person’ would be who would come for Betty.”

Despite that, Beatrice shook her head and said,

“Did I feel anxiety? No, because in Betty’s hands was the gospel. Trusting the gospel that foretells the future, I thought I only had to wait for the day to arrive, where I would add my own story to the blank pages. I believed that if I just waited, that day would surely come…”

“But…”

Subaru gazed down at the pages, still stepped on by his heel, realizing their cruel emptiness. Beatrice also understood the meaning behind his gaze and nodded.

What was supposed to be a source of hope—the gospel had, over time, turned into—

“Every day, repeatedly checking if the entries had changed… that time became torture.”

“…”

“How many times did I dream of new characters being added on the next page after the last entry? Over and over, I envisioned that unknown ‘person’ visiting Betty and fulfilling the role bestowed upon me.”

“…Beatrice.”

“Even the Meisters family isn’t completely devoid of visitors. There have been many humans who visited Betty’s forbidden library over the years. Many have put their hands on the door of this forbidden library… And every time, Betty’s heart was betrayed.”

When someone entered through the door, it was never ‘that person.’

Just how many disappointments had been accumulated? How many times had she faced despair? Continuously being betrayed by expectations caused her heart to wear away, filling her eyes with resignation.

Next time, and the next, Beatrice’s expectations continued to betray her. In the process, she stopped expecting altogether. By linking her hopes to something that might reach her, her heart, which had climbed to great heights, would once again slam against the ground, shattering into pain she could no longer bear.

It was only natural for the heart that had endured until now to begin to crack.

“While I was doing so, I realized… No, perhaps I had already realized.”

“Realized what?”

“That the gospel would never show Betty the next entries.”

Beatrice knelt down and picked up the spine of the gospel lying on the floor. The pages had fallen out, leaving just the cover, which exuded a sense of desolation.

Tracing her fingers along the spine she had picked up, Beatrice asked, “Do you know?”

“The gospel chronicles the future of its holder. The more precise the details are, the less variance there is against the world’s memory.”

“World memory…?”

“The memory of the world, you see. —The world knows not only current and past events but also those that will happen in the future. The book of knowledge is the forbidden book which extracts the required knowledge from that memory. The gospel carries a part of that function.”

It was Echidna who referred to the book of knowledge as the memory of the world.

There was no doubt that a close relationship existed between Echidna and Beatrice. Beatrice then showed the black-covered spine to Subaru, saying,

“The counterfeit gospels held by the Witch Cult are based on nearly the same principles. The only difference is the precision of the spells being used as a reference.”

“…So why did that technique leak out after Echidna’s death? This supposed to be the only two gospels handed down, yours and Roswaal’s, right?”

“Well, I don’t know, nor am I interested. Whoever replicated the counterfeit and gave it out, it has nothing to do with Betty.”

“Then why bring up the Witch Cult now?”

“Did I have any business with the gospel they possess? It’s your misunderstanding.”

Despite Subaru’s provocative tone, Beatrice maintained her calm composure. She then asked Subaru if he had any gospels from the Witch Cult. Subaru nodded, replying,

“I don’t have it on me. I brought it into the ‘Sanctuary’ and it’s being kept there for now. Regarding the ones I collected from other Witch Cultists, they’ve been passed on to someone capable of recovering and storing them, not us.”

Currently, the only gospel in Subaru’s possession was the single one held by Petelgeuse.

The other gospels, once owned by the Witch Cultists who were Petelgeuse’s fingerlings, were destroyed by those who had consciousness before they met their end. The few volumes that were somehow recovered had been entrusted to Crusch’s group for further handling.

Originally, Subaru wanted to return Roswaal from the ‘Sanctuary’ quickly and conduct a joint expedition to hunt the White Whale and take down Petelgeuse with the help of both Crusch and Anastasia’s groups.

“Have you read that volume at all?”

“I suddenly found I could read it, so I did take a look. The handwriting was as if a worm had crawled over it, making it incredibly hard to read, but generally, it was full of bullet-pointed information. Just, personally speaking… It looked more like a directive from the future rather than a prophecy about it.”

Probably due to Echidna’s influence, he could recall the gospel he managed to read.

The content in Petelgeuse’s gospel often detailed where he would go and what he would do. The many aspects leading to outcomes were omitted, leaving the actions the owner might take to their own discretion.

Thus, the gospel of the Witch Cult felt less like an omniscient prophecy and more like a guide to the future—it seemed more a reference point.

“If it were perfectly predicted, we’d have no way to stop it. I can understand that the incomplete version is intended to offer us that much leeway.”

“I’m not so interested in its content. What I need is whether the last moments of the owner were recorded.”

“—It’s not exactly the last moments.”

The last page of Petelgeuse’s gospel, which Subaru was familiar with. Unlike the ending where he wrote “the end” with his own blood, the last line recorded within the gospel, fulfilling its original purpose, was short:

“At Meisters Territory, the silver-haired half-demon faces a trial.”

It was a rather crude line that offered no insight into what had transpired before or after.

So, if the quality of information from the gospel was only that, it would be impossible to surpass Subaru regarding predictability of the future.

“—I thought so.”

However, in response to Subaru, who detailed his knowledge, Beatrice nodded as if understanding everything. Then, the girl bent the spine in her hands and asked,

“Did the gospel add any new text after that?”

“…No, it shouldn’t have. At least, as far as I checked, the last entry was the last action of its owner. Plus, no new additions would be possible after that. Because—”

Just as he was about to voice the conclusion, Subaru froze, realizing what he was about to say and how it revealed Beatrice’s intent behind the question.

He raised his head. In front of Subaru, Beatrice sported a faint smile.

This smile, shown to him many times within this brief encounter, was hollow and made one feel overwhelmingly empty.

“—The reason why no continuation is recorded in the gospel is that the holder’s future ends there.”

“Y-you’re not like her…”

“Are we really the same? In terms of not having a future in the gospel, the difference is simply whether one still exists or has ceased to exist. —Can you really say it’s different?”

“No—!”

The impulsive denial that slipped from his mouth was obstructed by the expressionless dual orbs of Beatrice. She didn’t seek any superficial comfort for her heart. This questioning had already yielded an answer within Beatrice.

Clenching his molars tightly enough to threaten cracking them, Subaru felt blood seep from the corners of his lips as he said,

“Why… why do you keep doing this alone!”

“…”

“If you felt pain and wanted help, you could have just said a word. If you had simply expressed that you needed help or were sad… then I would have!”

When he felt hopelessly cornered in a dead-end, when he felt despair at not being able to climb out with only his own strength, he should just take a look around at the people who seemed isolated around him.

Only when he did would he realize the hands that had been extended towards him.

By taking those hands, when he’d finally feel his motionless body being pulled strongly… that’s when he would understand.

—That there was no need to give up anywhere.

“How many times have I told you… and now I’m to do the same to you…!”

“…I want you to help me.”

“Yes… that’s it, just say that.”

“I want you to help me…”

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! If you do that and reach out a hand…”

“It’s sad, it hurts… I want you to save Betty from this darkness…”

“Ah, leave it to me—”

A small, trembling fingertip extended toward Subaru.

Impatient with his overflowing feelings and suddenly urged from within, Subaru reached out towards Beatrice’s hand.

The reason he had come here was completely forgotten in that moment.

The truth was, Subaru had come to find Beatrice to seek her strength to solve this deadlock. He hoped she would lend him her power.

But now that he understood the suffering Beatrice had carried and the darkness in her heart, he couldn’t think of it that way anymore. All that pushed Subaru was the sense of duty to save this small girl who was tortured by loneliness.

By taking her hand, Subaru would only shoulder an unavoidable burden. Even though he was already carrying a considerable load on his back, Natsuki Subaru was about to embrace that once more.

But he didn’t care. Because—

“————”

—How could he leave behind the girl staring at him with such trembling eyes?

Beatrice was trying to rely on him.

That provoked an unbearable emotion in Subaru. He couldn’t explain the reason. The meaning didn’t matter. It was just that his soul was screaming.

Save her. Rescue her. She means everything to you—so do it!

“I will definitely—”

“So…”

Subaru’s fingers reached out to the extended fingers.

Clumsily, he pulled her outreached hand toward himself, intertwining their fingers and joining their palms.

Looking directly into Beatrice’s eyes. He saw Natsuki Subaru reflected in her glistening orbs. Then, from those eyes, large tears spilled forth from Beatrice.

“—I want you to kill Betty.”

—Not wanting any easy salvation, she shook off Subaru’s hand.

※※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

Why? Subaru inhaled, ready to raise his voice in question.

Looking at the hand that was brushed away, at the empty fingers that grabbed nothing, and turning to Beatrice, he wanted to ask why.

“————”

Yet he couldn’t. The gaze from Beatrice directed at Subaru was far too, far too, far too—too late, there was no way to take it back.

“For four hundred years… have I been alone this whole time?”

“B-Bear-tress…”

“The ‘person’ who was supposed to come never arrived, and I have spent these four hundred years utterly alone.”

Subaru couldn’t take his eyes off Beatrice’s dual orbs.

Just calling her name. Subaru couldn’t hesitate even to do something so simple now.

“How many times have I thought of giving up? How often have I wished to forget everything? A hundred, a thousand, even beyond ten thousand… none of it is enough…”

In this narrow, dim room, Beatrice had spent a long time in solitude.

Crouching with her knees pulled up, she kept waiting for someone, whose face and name she didn’t even know, to come.

However, even after reading through the sea of books surrounding her, she still awaited that visitor who never came, an individual who might give meaning to a future filled with empty pages.

Just how many times had loneliness killed this girl’s heart?

“I want help…? I want something to change…?”

“—Aah.”

“Just how many times did Betty think that? Did you think I’ve never considered that and just gave up?”

The broken words slowly ignited with heat.

Instead, Subaru felt pressure enveloping him. His throat tightened, and the fiery passion that had recently burned away within him suddenly turned cold, weighing him down as if filled with lead.

He could neither move for Beatrice nor flee.

“If you extend your hand, you think you can pull me out from this unseen darkness? You think you could show me the answer to a never-ending dead end?”

“…”

“If you can do that… then why… why…”

With her head lowered, her voice trembling, she paused with each word.

As she lost sight of Beatrice’s expression, a suddenly overwhelming darkness gripped Subaru’s heart. He felt as if he might lose his path before reaching Beatrice’s outstretched hand, still so close.

Trembling, he hesitated. And in that moment, Beatrice raised her face.

She glared at him. Her mouth opened, and the girl bared her teeth.

“—You left Betty alone for four hundred years?!”

“————”

“Alone! For so long! For such an eternity, Betty has spent time in futility in this place! I felt lonely! I felt frightened! I thought I was abandoned! Failing to fulfill the role assigned to me, I couldn’t even decay with time… and I believed I would spend eternity alone just like this!”

Tears spilled from the girl’s big eyes, falling freely.

Droplets rolled down her cheeks, plopping onto the floor. With each drop that struck the ground, it felt as if Subaru’s heart was being violently struck.

“You want to help me?! You want to save me?! Why didn’t you come sooner?! Why did you leave me here?! Why didn’t you hold me from the start instead of just offering me kind words now?! Why did you let go of my hand?! Why! Why would you abandon me?!”

Her words became blades, flames, steel, viciously cutting Subaru’s heart. In every shape, every meaning, every form of pain, they tormented him.

Beatrice’s accusations felt far too unreasonable for Subaru.

Four hundred years—most of the lonely time she’d spent was all beyond Subaru’s reach. Their acquaintance barely spanned two months, and for her to say that within this timeframe could either be judged as too early or too late. It shouldn’t have been a salvation. If he were to retort logically, he could throw that back at her.

But what sort of meaningless counter-arguments would save either of them?

Neither Beatrice nor Subaru would find salvation.

And Subaru realized too late just how he had underestimated the time the girl named Beatrice had lived through.

Four hundred years. —Four hundred years.

Reading it in mere characters may render the number as unremarkable.

In the narratives of subculture, four hundred years might not be anything significant. There exist stories suggesting far more ludicrous timeframes or even those where the world circles through its timeline. Compared to those impacts, four hundred years may not seem much at all.

What a fool he was. How foolish could he possibly be?

In reality, how could he grasp the suffering of this girl who was given four hundred years to live a life only filled with unanswered questions? To know, to understand, to feel it.

How can Subaru’s flimsy words heal her solitude borne over four hundred years?

“Words like ‘I want help’ or ‘I want something to change’… are these just wishes withered away over these four hundred years…”

“…”

“Was there not a single human who tried to save Betty? Did they think Betty was a high-ranking spirit? Many must have made efforts one way or another to pull me out, you know?”

Hearing this was new information. There had been others in the past who wanted to take Beatrice out from the Forbidden Library, just like Subaru now. And the results were clear in Beatrice’s existence today.

Looking into Beatrice’s still weak eyes, Subaru shook his head and said,

“D-don’t compare me to those people! I just wanted to…”

“Among them, there might have been those who, like you, disregarded Betty’s powers, and simply sought to save who stood before them… naive as they were.”

“—”

“But they could never pull me out. That was only natural.”

Because, Beatrice breathed in, smiling delicately once more.

“The contract that binds me here cannot be broken with half-hearted resolve. For four hundred years, this contract has tied me to my role… a mere human like you can’t break it so easily.”

“W-what should I do…?”

“—Make Betty your number one.”

The quiet words thrown at him struck Subaru like the piercing of an eardrum.

“What do you mean…?”

“Make Betty your number one. Consider her first, choose her first. Rewrite the contract, overlay it, bury it. Take me out. Draw me close. Embrace me.”

“—”

“You can absolutely not do that.”

Beatrice’s plea was heartfelt, earnest, and choked his heart.

It bore a weight of impossible desire that wouldn’t allow for a simple nod of agreement.

“Within you, your number one has already been decided long ago. That silver-haired girl, or the blue-haired maid… Either way, you could never place Betty above them. It’s impossible for you.”

“Emilia… Rem…”

“The contract is absolute. It must be completely fulfilled with a price befitting to change the ways the signed contract unfolds. If it could be altered by anything else, Betty would no longer believe in or be able to trust the promise of being freed. Then, the only way to be released would be through that promise being fulfilled…!”

The two girls each resonated strongly within Subaru’s heart.

When he thought of them, his heart leaped, throbbed, and heated. It was an answer etched into his very soul, one that could never be altered.

“So I ask you, break the contract with Betty and… destroy this body that has wasted away in meaningless time all this while…”

“The contract… is it really that heavy? If you dislike it so much, can’t it just be dealt with by your own will?”

He could find no answer. He didn’t even know how to respond to Beatrice.

Therefore, Subaru’s twisted answer only leads the questioning elsewhere, something cowardly.

In that moment, a shade of disappointment flashed in Beatrice’s eyes. It felt fatal to Subaru.

“That is… what gives Betty her reason to live.”

“The contract…?”

“Beatrice was born for this contract, and lives for it. It is the first role assigned upon her birth, a contract she has never fulfilled since being born… You want me to break it selfishly… Is that what you’re saying?”

“It’s not selfish! You’ve been trying for four hundred years! After keeping one promise for so long, why would anyone accuse you for it?! Who would blame you?! You tried hard enough already…!”

“I didn’t fulfill even a single role! I can’t live throwing away my meaning of birth or reason for being! No one would blame me?! I blame myself! I will never forgive myself for living such a cowardly life as the spirit Beatrice!!”

Subaru took a step forward, gripping the small girl’s shoulders to speak to her. Yet, the girl raised her face and pushed Subaru back with even greater force, creating distance once more between them. Even the girl’s frail strength pushed Subaru back down.

There was no strength in his body. Unable to recall what he was looking at.

“For spirits, the contract is absolute! The contract with the contractors weighs above all else! Even my sister! That’s why she prioritizes that silver-haired girl above all else! She holds her dearest! She loves her first! Between Betty and that girl, she would choose that girl without hesitation! Even my sister wouldn’t place Betty above her!”

In her position as a fellow spirit, Beatrice had been closer to Pack than anyone else.

Perhaps that feeling emerged from a bond they could share for four hundred years—something no human could ever grasp.

Subaru couldn’t understand what Beatrice felt for Pack, nor what Pack thought of Beatrice.

But Beatrice already had an answer to what Subaru couldn’t comprehend.

She had enough time to fret and find her own answer a long time ago.

Breathing heavy, trembling at her shoulders, even the once-arranged curls of the girl became disheveled. Large round eyes brimmed with tears while her quaking lips flickered between weakness and plea.

Subaru found her so small, a mere girl too small.

Why had no one ever cared for such a small girl all this time?

“You do understand that you’re not going to be ‘that person’ to fulfill our promise…?”

“————”

“But will you be ‘that person’ for me? Or will you become something else entirely to save Betty?”

“————”

Words wouldn’t come.

He shouldn’t have been able to just nod easily or impulsively deny it.

In this short span, Subaru understood a piece of the worries Beatrice had carried in her heart.

Yet to fully understand her loneliness, Subaru would need to truly share a solitude of four hundred years with her.

Such a thing was utterly impossible for any human to achieve. Her trials, her loneliness, her sorrow—none of them would ever be within Subaru’s grasp.

“What can’t be helped—Betty understands this more than anyone.”

“Beatrice…”

“So, kill Betty. With your own hands. You can’t die either, as dying would also violate the contract… Therefore, that can’t be done alone.”

“Why me…?”

Beatrice extended both hands, pleading towards Subaru.

Fearful of helplessly accepting her timidly reached hands, Subaru covered his face with both hands and said,

“Why would you entrust your end—the end of four hundred years—to me…?”

“Why… is that so?”

Complaints, weakness, escape routes—Subaru could hurl insults at all of these truths, but Beatrice chose none of those.

She tilted her head as though she herself didn’t know the reason.

After a moment’s pause, she slowly nodded.

“—Ah, I see now.”

“…”

“Betty entrusts the end to you because surely… surely…”

Once he heard that answer, he couldn’t run away anymore.

A conviction was born within him. He raised his face, needing to block his ears somehow to avoid hearing her answer. He had to silence her words.

His resolve was slow. Realizing it late, he knew full well it was already too late to matter.

Beatrice’s lips parted to deliver her answer.

It was about to come. At that moment—

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but—”

A voice that shouldn’t have reached him resonated, sending a chill through Subaru. He abruptly turned around.

And then, he saw.

“—I can become ‘that person’ for you, you see?”

A pitch-black killer, dripping with blood and wielding a kukri knife stood at the entrance.