Chapter 56: You're Playing with Fire in Water—Evaporate! (Patreon)

"Um..." Pandora spoke up. "Is there a bed here, by any chance? I didn't sleep at all last night, so I'm a little tired..."

Beatrice frowned. "No."

A complicated feeling rose in her. This woman... was she actually planning to spend the night here?

"No bed?" Pandora nodded at that. "Fair enough. A Forbidden Library having a bed would be the strange thing, really..."

She paused for a moment.

"Well, then, I suppose I'll just have to sleep on the floor..."

And then, without a moment's hesitation, she really did lie down on the floor.

Seeing this, Beatrice — who had been maintaining a strict "I don't want to talk to you" stance — clicked her tongue despite herself. "Compared to Mother, you're nothing but a little brat. You don't just lack any sense of manners or conduct — you're not even fit to call yourself a witch."

Just picturing Echidna's every graceful, elegant gesture, Beatrice's eyes couldn't help but shine with admiration.

At that, Pandora sat up. "That's not quite right!"

"..."

Looking at Pandora, who was smiling back at her, Beatrice's expressionless face still betrayed a clear note of disbelief.

"Actually, in front of other people, most people wear some kind of mask." Pandora paid no mind to Beatrice's reaction, hugging her knees as she went on. "Those masks might be thick or thin, but they always form a layer between you and the world. And the reason people put one on in the first place is so that whatever they're trying to accomplish goes the way they want it to..."

At this, Beatrice closed the book in her hands. "So you're saying all this to tell me that you've put on this shameless, ill-mannered mask for whatever it is you actually want to say?"

"No..." Pandora shook her head. "I just wanted to say — I don't wear a mask like that."

The moment she said it, Beatrice's eyebrows shot up. "I see. So you've wasted Beatrice's precious time on two things that have nothing to do with each other."

Pandora simply spread her hands. "Well, if that's how you see it, there's nothing I can do about it... Anyway, sweet dreams."

With that, she lay back down on the floor, grabbed a couple of books from beside her at random to use as a pillow, and closed her eyes.

It looked like she really did intend to start dreaming sweet dreams this early in the evening (sweet dreams, presumably)...

"..."

Beatrice sighed and set her book down on the table beside her.

Then she rose from her step-stool. "Since you have the power to rewrite reality, surely you don't actually need to sleep."

But Pandora's whole demeanor said, unmistakably, I really do intend to sleep.

"Besides, after living through countless years and committing more unforgivable sins than can be counted, the fact that you can still sleep so peacefully — should I call that heartless, or just plain ignorant?"

Not like her own mind, filled with nothing but "blanks"...

"Ahh..." Pandora only waved a hand at that. "Whatever it is, let's talk tomorrow. Haah~ I really am... sleepy..."

Beatrice: "..."

Was this really okay?

"If you want to sleep, that tedious mage will have a room ready for you. Don't just collapse here like Beatrice did something to you."

Beatrice swore that if Pandora had any other ill intentions, even if she couldn't kill her, she would absolutely throw the book... would throw... would throw... (books were much too precious for that — so what should she throw instead?)

Anyway, the point stood! Use your imagination! Read between the lines!

But Pandora showed no sign of responding at all. She just lay there, only her steady breathing proving that — yes, she still had vital signs...

"Hmph..."

Seeing this, Beatrice gave a small huff and said nothing more, instead pulling a thick book out from beneath the step-stool.

If that woman didn't intend to pay her any mind, then there was no reason for Beatrice to make a fool of herself trying (though somehow it felt like their positions had just swapped)...

And so.

"Hey..."

Watching Pandora, who had been lying there without moving for the better part of half an hour, Beatrice called out softly.

"Fwoo... fwoo..."

The only reply was the sound of breath passing through her nose.

"..."

It wasn't that Beatrice was losing her patience — it was just that, if she didn't get Pandora to state her purpose, the woman would shamelessly plant herself here forever...

It wasn't every day someone came here to see her rather than to browse the books — so please don't just "die" on the floor like that!

She'd admit that earlier she'd been a little... a little too harsh, but that was no reason to torment her like this, was it?!

"Now. Ten seconds. I'll give you exactly ten seconds to state your business clearly."

"Fwoo..."

"Your ten seconds are almost up. After this, even if you beg Beatrice, Beatrice won't ever again..."

"Fwoo..."

"Hey, quit faking sleep, would you? You're supposed to be a witch!"

She said that, but Beatrice could tell — Pandora really was asleep! Really! Truly! (Underline that.)

"..."

Just as Beatrice was starting to get genuinely annoyed, a mumbled, half-formed voice drifted up — and listening closely, it turned out to be...

"Please... be a little quieter..."

At that, Beatrice turned her gaze back to her book once more.

Blank... every single page, no matter which one...

Why hadn't Mother ever told her how to deal with someone like this...

*

"Haah~ Morning." Sitting up from the floor, Pandora rubbed her eyes and looked over at Beatrice, who was still sitting there. "Did you sit up all night?"

"..."

"All in all, this place is pretty livable. It'd be even better with a few windows, though."

"..."

Could she just punch this woman already?!

For a moment, Beatrice found herself thinking exactly like Regulus...

Pandora got to her feet as well. "Well, since we're here now, I suppose I'll just say it plainly."

"Beatrice doesn't want to hear it." Beatrice cut her off flat. "Yesterday, when I told you to talk, you were asleep with a hundred-point-one percent resemblance to some kind of hibernating creature. And now you want to talk? Sorry..."

Honestly — did this woman think Beatrice had no temper at all?

But...

"I want to build a nation that belongs to us, the Witch Cult." Pandora paid her no mind, going straight on. "Along the way down that road, there will be countless beautiful sights unfolding before my eyes — and if I enjoyed them all alone, wouldn't that be nothing but a waste, squandered on just one person? So, I'd like to invite one certain person — someone I think of, ponder over, and long for — to walk this road together with me, sharing what I'd otherwise be savoring alone. That way, it wouldn't be one person's waste, but two people's shared joy."