"Could you become that person...?"
Beatrice's lips trembled, her eyes trembled, and even her entire delicate body trembled.
Because Fang Li's words practically meant this, didn't they?
"Could anyone become Betty's that person...?"
That was what Beatrice thought.
And Fang Li confirmed it.
"That witch was the embodiment of thirst for knowledge, the very incarnation of curiosity. As long as it satisfied her curiosity, she would do anything."
That was why Echidna had said that, if possible, Fang Li should become that person.
The meaning behind that was not merely that she wanted Beatrice to find release. It surely included Echidna's own nature as well, didn't it?
"She made a contract with you partly so you could keep living, believing it necessary to give you a new purpose, and partly to witness your ending."
After all, the Witch of Greed was interested in everything in this world and wished to satisfy her curiosity with its past, present, and future.
Beatrice was no exception.
Echidna gave her the duty of guarding the Forbidden Library, yet never specifically stated who that person was. She said Beatrice had to choose for herself, but that choice itself was what Echidna sought.
Whom would Beatrice choose as that person?
Or would she make no choice at all and simply spend the long years in vain?
And after enduring loneliness, solitude, and emptiness so profound it bordered on despair throughout those long years of waiting, what action would Beatrice take?
Would she break the contract with her mother and seek her own life?
Or would she wait until death filled her heart, seeking death as release?
Everything involved, whether the process or the outcome, was something Echidna wanted to know.
In other words, Beatrice's experience of gradually letting her heart weaken and even wither over those