Subaru Natsuki reacted immediately and threw the mirror in his hands toward Grin.
The magic mirror sensed danger at once and tried to flee, but Grin's summoning force locked onto it before it could escape.
Even poisoned, Rem was still in her oni-transformed state.
And to cancel that state, the horn on her forehead had to be struck hard enough to break the mana wrapped around it.
Grin raised the magic mirror high over his head and swung it down toward Rem's horn with all his strength.
"Master, wait! I can hypnotize her! I can hypnotize her!"
It was useless.
There was no time to waste.
Bang!
Rem let out a muffled cry.
The magical layer coating her horn shattered into starlike fragments and scattered away.
The horn itself dimmed and slowly withdrew beneath the skin.
At once, all the strength seemed to leave her body, and Rem fell limp into unconsciousness.
Grin quickly reached out and caught her before she could hit the floor.
Her body was still unnaturally warm from the oni transformation.
Soft and burning, she felt almost like holding a living heater.
"Ugh! I'm done! I quit! I resign!"
The magic mirror had been smashed badly enough that it could barely keep itself steady in the air.
"Alright, alright. You're fired."
Grin ignored the wretched thing completely.
He still had not settled the matter of Emilia's stolen stockings.
"This… this, my ever-joking Master, hehe… how could I bear to leave you?"
The magic mirror activated the mana inside its body, smoothing out the dents from the impact, then shamelessly drifted back over as though nothing had happened.
Grin carried Rem into his room and laid her on the bed.
Then he retrieved her Morningstar and used its chain to tie her hands securely to the headboard.
Alpine lily of the valley grew in cold highland climates and could not tolerate heat well.
Once the temperature rose to around thirty-eight degrees, the paralytic toxins began breaking down on their own.
So even though Rem had collapsed, with her body still so hot from the oni transformation, she would likely wake in half an hour at most.
Once that was done, Grin turned to Subaru Natsuki.
"Wow… bro, you're in bad shape. Can you even stand?"
"It hurts so much! I've lost too much blood, and I'm getting dizzy. Grin-kun, help me…"
Subaru's survival instinct was at least impressive.
He had already ripped part of the bedsheet off and wrapped it around the wound on his face.
Grin reached down and hauled him upright.
"Come on, Subaru. Let's get you to a doctor. You can find the crossing door, right? Only that little drill-haired girl can save you."
"Of course. Probability games are my specialty!"
…
Click.
"Do you two mind not disturbing Betty this late at night? Even a Great Spirit needs sleep, I suppose."
Inside the Forbidden Library, the scattered books had already been tidied and stacked neatly to one side.
And in the center of the room stood an extravagant little princess bed.
Beatrice sat upright upon it, staring at the two intruders with obvious displeasure.
"If that filthy thing bleeds on Betty's books, then you may pay with your lives, in fact."
"Sorry, Beatrice. I didn't mean to bother you. But look at him—his face is practically split open. He's lost too much blood already and is going into shock."
Grin dragged the half-conscious Subaru up in front of her and showed her the terrible wound.
"That is disgusting. If he is dead, then throw him into the forest."
Beatrice pinched her delicate nose and fanned the air with open disdain.
"He's not dead yet, Beatrice. Please, show some mercy and treat him."
"And why exactly should Betty save him? Betty does not recall having any such obligation, I suppose."
Grin started pacing anxiously around her in circles.
Then a thought occurred to him.
"Didn't you say some of your bookshelves were loose? If you save this guy, I'll fix them for you. How about that, Lady Beatrice?"
Beatrice folded her arms across her chest and let her proud gaze wander elsewhere.
"Well… since you insist, Betty may as well take pity on you and help, I suppose."
"Good. Then it's a deal."
Grin held out his fist to suggest a fist bump as a sign of agreement.
Beatrice visibly froze for a moment.
But in the end, she still reached out with her tiny pink fist and tapped it lightly against his.
"Stupid, stupid Grin. You are just as childish as a small child."
Beatrice stepped over to Subaru Natsuki and crouched down, then placed one small hand against his cheek.
At once, shadowy magic like a reversed night sky spread over his entire head.
The yin-attributed mana was not warm.
Instead, it carried the dry, papery scent of old books in a library.
But wherever it passed, the wild pain was snipped away as though by an invisible pair of scissors.
Subaru, who had already been drifting toward unconsciousness, twitched awake from the sudden absence of pain.
Cold sweat gathered on his brow.
"Pain…"
"It has already been blocked."
Beatrice knelt beside him, cream-colored curls spilling forward and half-hiding the disgust still on her face.
"Merely severing the sensation of pain does not heal the wound. And if you make too much noise, your nerves may freeze as well, I suppose."
She lifted her other hand and traced a pale violet spell circle in the air with her fingertips.
Mana gathered into fine threads like sewing needles.
Yet rather than stitching flesh, they seemed to stitch time itself—folding away the instant of blood loss and interrupting the countdown of life draining out.
After that, Beatrice switched to water magic.
Warm mana flowed into Subaru's wound, urging flesh to knit together and new tissue to grow.
"Alright. Before you leave, make sure to wipe up the blood on the floor for Betty."
Once she was finished, Beatrice returned to her princess bed.
But when she noticed Grin still standing there, she frowned.
"Why are you not leaving yet?"
"Um… well… if I go out now, Rem will probably try to kill me. Let me stay here tonight."
"And why would Rem be chasing you?"
The moment Beatrice asked, she seemed to remember something and lowered her eyes to the sleeping Subaru.
"I see. But what does any of that have to do with Betty, I suppose?"
"Don't be so cold, Beatrice-chan."
Grin dragged over a chair and placed it beside her bed.
"As compensation for disturbing your sleep, how about I tell you a few bedtime stories?"
After saying that, he fluffed her pillow and gestured for her to lie back down.
"Betty does not remember ever being this familiar with you."
Despite saying that, the proud Beatrice still leaned against the pillow in a rather unconvincing show of resistance.
Grin immediately tucked the blanket around her and dimmed the magic lamp by the bedside to create a cozy atmosphere for sleep.
Then, in his hands, a storybook appeared out of nowhere.
Its cover read Dark Fairy Tales.
The pages turned rapidly on their own, with no wind at all, until they settled on an entirely new section.
Golden light glowed from the page as lines of text slowly emerged.
In addition to Snow White, two new stories had now appeared in the dark fairy-tale book.
Beauty and the Beast.
And Little Red Riding Hood.
"Looks like you're lucky tonight, Beatrice. There's a new story."
"Once upon a time, there was a merchant named Maurice, and he had a lovely daughter named Belle."
"One day, Maurice was preparing to leave on a business trip. Before he set out, he asked Belle, 'Daughter, what gift would you like me to bring back?'"
"Belle said, 'Father, all I want is a golden rose.'"
…
"On his way home, Maurice lost his way and came upon an ancient castle deep in the forest."
"There was a teapot that poured tea by itself, candlesticks that lit the halls, and a table full of delicious food—even though no one seemed to be there."
"After he had eaten, he saw that the garden was filled with golden roses. Remembering Belle's wish, he picked one."
"But the moment he turned to leave, he was stopped by a giant beast—half lion, half wolf, covered in thick brown fur."
"'You stole my golden rose,' the beast said. 'Then you must repay me. The first thing you see when you return home will belong to me.'"
…
"Maurice had expected to see a bird, a tree, or even the fireplace in his house first."
"But when he returned, the first person to greet him was his beloved daughter."
…
"Later, Belle brought the golden rose to the castle."
"There, she slowly soothed the loneliness inside the beast's heart and taught him what it meant to love and to be loved."
"And in the end, when she stood on tiptoe to kiss him, the great beast shed his fur and changed back into a handsome prince."
"He had once been cursed by a witch for his arrogance."
"And the only way to break that curse was to learn love, and to accept being loved in return."
"So at last, in a garden full of golden roses that would never fade, Belle and the prince held a magnificent wedding."
Grin gently closed the book.
"That's enough for tonight. Good night, Beatrice."