...
Walking out of the doors of the room, I let out a yawn of boredom as I thought back on the conversation between Emilia and Frederica.
All they pretty much did was catch up on certain things with each other before speaking a bit on the topic of the Sanctuary. Frederica has also complained a bit about how being the only maid in this mansion at the time of our leave was miserable.
But to my surprise, a development I didn't expect to happen occurred. Petra had come to apply to be a maid, but that's not the thing that surprised me. Arthur will to become a butler was the thing that shocked me.
Petra had applied mostly because of my actions in saving the village from the witch cult and also the kids from when the demon beast's attacked. Arthur on the other hand had told me that he would forever keep a bad taste in his mouth if he didn't return the favor.
Walking along the halls, I reach into my front pocket and feel for the gospel that is present inside it. When I touched it and confirmed its existence, I looked over to my right and felt a small connection with the door.
Letting out a small smile at this door, I looked behind my shoulder at Wilhelm. "Stay here, I have something to do."
Wilhelm only nodded in response before leaning on one of the walls present in the hallway and closed his eyes.
Turning towards the door, I reached my hand out before opening it to enter. Once inside, I smelled the familiar scent of books and the sight of the forbidden library.
"Just how do you do it?" Beatrice's voice rang out from in front of me causing my gaze to drop to look at her. "Your ability to find me so easily really ticks me off you know."
Laughing a bit I send her a small knowing smile. "I don't know how I do it, but maybe I have a knack for it? Or 'something' is allowing me to find you easily."
Frowning a bit at the last part of my talk, she let out a small hmph before looking up at me with a frown. "Well I guess we have done enough talking for now. Now what did you come here for?"
"For now?" I said in fake shock as I reached into my front pocket before letting out a smile. "Don't worry Beacko, I'll 'make sure' you don't go lonely."
"Don't call me Beac-....." She began with a deep frown before I pulled out the gospel causing her to go quiet. "Why do you have that?"
"I killed the Archbishop of Sloth, Petelgeuse. All I ask for is for you to tell me the origin of the gospels and how I can destroy them." I said with a blank expression as I passed the gospel to her.
Beatrice sighed sadly as she flipped through it's blank pages and confirmed it to be the gospel of a dead person. "So.... you left me too Guese."
After saying that, she handed it over to me before looking up at me with caution. "Correct me if I'm wrong Suburu, but did you say you wanted to destroy the gospels?"
I looked at the gospel for a second before proceeding to pocket it and looked at Beatrice. "Yes, I plan to destroy every single one of them. The 'fakes' however are something I don't need to bother with."
Beatrice visibly flinched when I hinted at my knowledge on the 'true' gospels before looking up at me with caution and a slight bit of hope. "Suburu, what is your actual reason for coming here? Could you perhaps be...."
"Them?"
Beatrice then looked directly at me with wide eyes of shock and whispered in disbelief. "Your 'them'?"
Getting on a knee, I looked her directly in the eyes in silence. Beatrice looked directly back as hope slowly filled her eyes before a slight uncertainty appeared.
"Please..... answer me Suburu."
*silence*
"Answer me!"
And with her eyes now producing countless amounts of tears as they where full of a mixture of hope, uncertainty, and sadness I just looked her directly in her eyes.
"To be totally honest with you Beatrice I find you pitiful."
Shocked, Beatrice looked up at me as her tears stopped and her eyes widened in fear. "W-what? D-don't tell me your not..."
"You spent 400 years blindly following someone's orders and never 'truly' understood what they meant."
"You spent countless days on end looking at a blank book. Countless days of reading, learning, and perfecting your magic all for what?"
"Stop...."
"There is no 'them', and there never was. You can open that book one more time to drill that fact into your thick skull and maybe also learn what reality is while you're at it."
"Please...."
"And your strong front is nothing but a sham Beacko, it's just something to help you cope with your cowardly side. The same cowardly side that keeps you locked up in this false contract and also prevents you from killing yourself or attempting at least some form of change."
"Stop!"
She yelled with her head now facing directly towards the ground and her bangs covering her eyes, droplets of tears where rapidly hitting the floor. She then slowly raised her head and showed an extremely pure type of sadness inside her eyes with surprisingly no signs of anger.
She didn't even have any signs of her cope mechanism which was her unbridled stubbornness.
"I'm a coward, I've always known it. But what do I have left? Mother is dead, teacher is dead, Guese left me, all I have left is this library."
"So tell me.... why should I leave when I have absolutely nothing left?"
Sighing, I proceeded to sit down and pat the ground next to me. "Sit down and I'll tell you."
"How does sitting down help?"
Sending her a glare I patted the ground again. "Do you want a good reason to leave your misery or not?"
Shutting up, she sat down beside me uncomfortably before turning her head towards me. "Now what?"
"Now I'll ask you one question, and one question only. How you answer will effect you from this point onwards ok?"
Looking at her for her response, she just nodded silently. Smiling I got up before going to the doors of the library and opening them.
"Wait don't leave Suburu!" Beatrice yelled out in panic as she got up and quickly ran towards the door.
She then grabbed onto my pant leg and held it with her small hands as she looked down. "Don't leave me like momma did...."
"If you don't want me to leave, then come with me." I said calmly as I held the door open. "That's my question for you Beatrice, will you come with me for just this once?"
Tightening her hold on my pant leg, she looked up at me with a pained expression filled with a battle of uncertainty and hope.
"I-I...."
Seeing her hesitation, I reached towards the small and petite hand that was on my leg and softly held it with my own.
Feeling her hand held by my own, she looked down at it in silence before looking up at me with her usual expression, except this time it held a small smile.
"Yes."
And with her yes, she let go of my hand and took a few steps out of the library before looking back towards me with a bright smile present on her face.
"Thank you Suburu, you are not 'that' disgusting and revolting personality wise I suppose."
Laughing lightly at her joke, I walked out of the Library and gave a secretive thumbs up behind my back to Wilhelm as he stood watching the interaction between us.
"Well Beatrice, let's go meet the others, Petra will be happy to see you."
Shivering at the mention of Petra, she turned towards the now closed door and went to go back inside. Seeing her breakdown at the mention of Petra, I just sighed before grabbing her and slinging her over my shoulder and walking towards through the halls.
"Please let me down...." Beatrice said softly only to earn a retort from me.
"To think you waited 400 years to be taken out of that library only to have your will shatters because a 12 year old. Oh what a tragic tale that would be! One of the great spirits being beaten by a child!"
"That would be pitiful I suppose...." Beatrice said softly to herself before going silent again.
"You can let me go now...."
"Sure, but you'll have to hold my hand so I don't lose you." I said as I put her in front of me and reached out my hand.
Looking up at my hand, she frowned before looking at me with agitation. "What am I? A child to you?"
All she got from me in response was a silent smile causing her to sigh deeply before grabbing my hand and then started to mumble under her breath as we walked.
"Stupid Suburu."
....