Chapter Text
What if...? Beatrice had a deeper contract with Subaru?
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[—Ram—]
[Beatrice: Subaru, what are you doing, I would say? These services aren’t those of the pink-haired maid, I suppose?]
[Subaru: Hm? Ah, Beako~ Even though I’m Emilia-Tan’s knight, I was and always have been a butler of the mansion. Even though we’re not in Ros-Chi’s mansion, I can’t just sit around and not do anything, don’t you think? I’d look like a slacker.]
[Beatrice: Betty’s Subaru is not a slacker; on the contrary, he’s the hardest worker of all, I would say.]
[Subaru: Ow, you’re making me blush~]
Once again, while supervising Barusu’s failed work, I have to listen to such words. It was Beatrice-sama’s questioning of Barusu and their unnecessary conversation.
Hah!
Simply laughable.
Barusu? Hardworking? Despite Barusu’s great deductive skills that allowed him to get lucky in various events, he was really nothing more than slightly above average as a butler, even less as a knight, and worst of all as a man, in Ram’s humble opinion.
His only real strength was his common sense.
Since he continued his mediocre work as a butler to help as much as he could—given that he really had no other compensatory skills—he avoided becoming a burden, motivated by any arrogance in thinking he no longer needed to work after becoming a knight. Despite his ridiculous training to improve as a knight, he still couldn’t really surpass many in direct combat.
Even that failed merchant could be a better fighter than Barusu. If I had to bet, they must have fought already, and the merchant must have won at the Sanctuary.
[Beatrice: I still think that maid should do her job more efficiently and leave her contractor alone, just because he is incapable of doing a good job on his own, I suppose.]
[Ram: Beatrice-sama. If I may say, Ram does her job diligently. Ram helps with cleaning, shopping, and cooking. Meanwhile, Barusu has had a small lapse of decency and intelligence, realizing that it was better to continue doing his mediocre butler work while improving rather than remaining a horrible knight.]
[Subaru: OY, Nee-sama! That was cruel!]
[Ram: Barusu doesn’t understand that the greatest cruelty is making Ram witness his pathetic attempt at cleaning these windows. A disgrace to all maids and butlers who will have to fix his mistakes.]
I say this while looking at his terrible work on the windows. A pathetic attempt to show some productivity, yet he keeps failing at all sorts of things, even the simplest ones.
[Beatrice: You have no right to talk about people having to fix their mistakes, I suppose. All the other butlers and maids from both this mansion and the previous one waste much of their time correcting your mistakes, maid, which are dozens of times worse than any bad work my contractor has done, indeed.]
[Ram: ... Barusu. Your terrible manners are rubbing off on Beatrice-sama and corrupting her to become like you. It’s a shame that someone so important has fallen to the level of considering your terrible work even remotely decent.]
[Subaru: I-I, uh, B-Beako d-doesn’t need to attack Nee-sama like that, y-you know? Everyone here is trying their best.]
[Ram: Some more than others, Barusu. While you play around with Garf, we continue handling the mansion’s important tasks. We don’t have the luxury of an excuse to be negligent and relaxed.]
[Beatrice: Grrr! Don’t talk as if you’re an example, useless maid, I would say.]
[Ram: Hpmf! I don’t need to listen to such nonsense. Barusu, Beatrice-sama. I have more work to do besides listening to this nonsense.]
And with that, I finished my words and turned to leave.
Leaving them to reflect.
Hmpf! Useless maid? Was Beatrice-sama losing any kind of respect for the services I’ve provided all these years in Master Roswaal-sama’s domain? All the services I performed alone, including helping Barusu become at least a barely decent butler.
If only I had had even the slightest help over the past years...
Like that supposed sister Barusu claims I should have had...
All the work—cleaning the floors, windows, cooking, tending to the yard, protecting the domain. Even when I helped against the beast attack in Arlam Village. The effort I had to make to protect everyone, including that idiot Barusu.
Ever since Master Roswaal-sama’s mansion was destroyed by those three idiots’ stupid plan, we had to move to Lady Annerose-sama’s mansion, and from the first week we spent here, Beatrice-sama started acting strangely toward most of the mansion’s residents—specifically toward everyone from the old mansion.
In the first week. More specifically, the first morning.
We heard a gigantic scream. We thought we were under attack.
She looked sad, dejected, in shock. We saw her in a catatonic state in Barusu's room. He was trying to comfort her from what seemed like a nightmare, hugging her, and she held onto him as if he were about to disappear from the world. Clinging to him. We all assumed it was due to the shock of leaving the Forbidden Library and our old mansion, and no one would blame her for that. After all, she was a spirit who was said not to have left the library in the past four centuries.
But then she returned to what we thought was her normal state. Everyone was relieved, obviously.
However, her behavior toward Barusu had changed as well. She treated him more affectionately, stayed close to him, and never left his side under any circumstances. Almost like how Puck acted with Emilia-sama. Not that it was unexpected, but her behavior seemed far worse than we had anticipated.
Sometimes she acted aggressively toward all of us. Even committing acts disguised as accidents; one time, though I can't prove it, I thought I saw her pushing a merchant down the stairs. Luckily, he wasn't hurt as badly as expected. When I questioned her, she claimed to have tripped and knocked him over by accident, but what I saw was different.
I'm certain I saw her push him. I saw her running, approaching him from behind, before striking the back of his legs.
If it had been an isolated incident, I wouldn’t have cared. After all, it could have been a risky joke, something Barusu might have encouraged her to do. He treats her like a child, despite their age difference. But these incidents kept happening. She continued doing similar things that harmed people.
The only ones unaffected were the maids who had already been working here, as well as Petra and Frederica. They were the only ones spared from her attacks.
Even Ram suffered from these problems.
She insulted all of Ram's work—cleaning, cooking, caretaking. She also directed these "accidents" toward me. These events almost became daily occurrences, irritating enough that I nearly grew accustomed to the insults and attacks. Even when I tried to speak with Master Roswaal-sama to ask for support in this matter, he refrained from interfering with Beatrice-sama, or perhaps he was already dealing with similar issues from her.
Even Barusu, who should be her contractor and responsible for disciplining her, proved to be useless in doing so. Another of his many lacking abilities—one that would actually be useful in situations like these. Hah! Barusu, the idiot and failure, as always.
Something must be done. But, like most, I keep wondering what could have happened.
—X—
And so, as night fell, another day had come to an end.
Hard work. Something all the maids and butlers had to endure today, but Barusu, even when he tried to keep up, proved to be inefficient.
Almost more than usual.
Beatrice-sama kept interfering when Ram tried to encourage Barusu to improve and share some of her knowledge with him. But she kept interrupting, kept criticizing everything.
As I explained... it started to become an irritating habit.
[Ram: Barusu’s behavior has even corrupted someone like Beatrice-sama...]
I sighed once more, disappointed by how far she had fallen, but even more by who she had fallen for. Once again: Subaru has good timing in certain situations and nothing more, with mediocre or almost average skills in everything else.
I didn’t want to criticize him, but it becomes impossible when there’s nothing truly praiseworthy about him beyond his luck.
As I walked back to my room, I noticed something. The door to that room, where we had temporarily left that girl who looked similar to me—the one Barusu calls Rem and claims to be my twin sister, who was always a better maid than I was—was slightly open. Strange. Could Barusu be in there? He usually...
[???: Die...]
A voice—not Barusu’s. It was female.
[???: Die... die... die...]
That voice kept repeating the word, over and over again. So many times.
Die...? Why...?
As she continued, I started approaching the slightly open door. Who could be in there? An intruder? No. Because this voice was familiar to me. And no one would invade the mansion so easily.
Getting closer and closer, I peeked through the crack and looked inside.
There she was. Beatrice-sama, standing on a stool beside the bed, staring at the figure with blue hair.
[Beatrice: You’re a monster, I suppose. You hurt Betty’s Subaru, indeed. No matter how much he forgave you or whatever you’ve done, I won’t forgive your transgressions, for how you hurt him, I suppose. —— Die. I want you to die already, so he won’t have another burden to carry anymore. So it’s better if you die soon and stop wasting his time taking care of you, I’d say.]
She spoke those words in a cold tone. Cold and sharp, as if she weren’t speaking to anything more than a worm—or worse. As if she were addressing a monster, an abomination.
Beatrice-sama raised a hand. A recognizable gesture, as I could also feel a flow of mana. She was ready to attack the figure on the bed.
[Ram: What are you doing, Beatrice-sama?]
Without even realizing it, I had stepped into that room. Maybe it was for Barusu or for myself, but I followed an instinct inside me that told me to act.
[Beatrice: —— I'm getting rid of a nuisance, I suppose.]
[Ram: A nuisance? You're talking about the one Barusu rescued, aren’t you? Did he ask you to do this? I doubt it. For the same reason I believe he isn’t even aware of your actions right now, is he? He worked so hard to save her. Ram believes this ‘nuisance’ is something Barusu wouldn’t allow you to attack, hurt, or kill.]
[Beatrice: Betty’s contractor shouldn't have bothered, I suppose. Given what he knows about this sister of yours, he would also understand that my actions are meant to help him in the best way possible, I suppose.]
[Ram: Why do you believe that? Ram doesn’t quite understand what you’re talking about, Beatrice-sama. From what Barusu said about my sister, she was someone kind who helped him a lot. It saddens Ram to think that my supposed sister would help someone as futile as Barusu. He can’t even take care of his own spirit, showing what kind of useless man he is——]
[Beatrice: DON'T CALL HIM THAT!!! —— You don’t understand anything, I suppose. None of you can truly comprehend what I mean or what my contractor feels, I suppose! He is far too lenient when it comes to punishing those who hurt or abandoned him, I suppose. No one truly understands the effort he put in to make sure everyone was safe and well, I suppose. He is not a futile or useless man, and I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO SPEAK OF HIM THAT WAY!]
She didn’t say the last part in her usual manner. But more than that—there was a sensation, a very strange, powerful sensation coming from her. An overwhelming rage and a certain smell—
BLEEERGH!
An unbearable stench.
A horrible, terrible, overwhelming stench filled the air, like a black curtain swallowing the room. A stench that invaded my nostrils, corrupting everything, destroying everything. A smell so awful it made me collapse to the floor, vomiting everything I had eaten at dinner.
A stench so unbearably horrible.
So dreadful that I wanted to die just to never have to smell it again—to the point where, for a brief moment, the thought of cutting my throat crossed my mind just to escape it forever.
[Beatrice: Understand, maid. Your life, your sister’s life, the clown’s life, my own life, and the lives of everyone in this estate were spared only because of my contractor’s kindness—because he refused to give up on anyone. But the moment I realize he is unhappy here, the moment this home turns into a cage that restricts his freedom, the moment I see that your lives only serve to drag his down——We will end the world.]
Those words... that tone... that pressure crushing every bone in my body...
When I looked up, when I saw Beatrice-sama’s face, when I gazed into her eyes—I saw it. The pink butterflies in her blue eyes had changed; now they were amethyst set in black sclera. Her clothes, too, seemed to have lost their natural color, transforming her into something entirely different.
She calmly stepped down from the bench. Walking as if nothing in the world was wrong, she passed by me as if I were nothing. As if I were nothing more than a meaningless insect.
And then she left the room.
Leaving us behind.
She no longer seemed like a spirit... she looked like... a Witch.
—————
In this IF, Beatrice has a deeper contract with Subaru that allowed her to both contact the Witch of Envy and find out about the Return by Death without being punished.
Among the changes:
-Beatrice knows about Death Return and can see the memories of Subaru's deaths (watching them, feeling them).
-The Witch of Envy (not Satella) had contact with Beatrice, corrupting part of her as she showed the deaths (as if injecting part of herself into Beatrice, from personality, her mana, powers, ideas, etc.).
-In this IF, she is one of the most powerful versions of Beatrice, as she gets mana from both Subaru and the Envy Witch herself.
-Beatrice/Envy Witch has episodes of “accidental” murder attempts on Subaru's allies who tried to kill him, killed him or hurt him in some way.
-The story takes place in the year between Arc 4 and 5.
Just to let you know: I'm going to write my version of Priscilla IF, but it'll be a while before I post it. Since I'm also writing Consequences IF.