"Ask your heart, Beatrice. If it chooses me to be 'That Person,' I will stay by your side even without a contract." Grin's voice was thick with an undisguised, raw sincerity.
"No... that's not how it is..." Beatrice staggered to her feet, her fingertips trembling as she frantically flipped through the Book of Wisdom. Her movements were so hurried she nearly crumpled the parchment, her eyes searching for a sign that wasn't there.
A single, scalding tear finally escaped, landing with a heavy plop on the page and leaving a dark, jagged stain. She tried to wipe it away, but her tears flowed like broken beads, soaking into the delicate lace of her dress and leaving scattered, wet marks across her chest.
"Look... your name is clearly in the book!" Beatrice pointed a shaking finger at the tear-stained mark where the words Grin Andersen stood out in the dim light.
Grin took a deep breath, his voice dropping an octave. "I'm sorry, Beatrice. It was actually the magic mirror who wrote that".
"No... no... please, just have mercy and lie to me, okay..." Beatrice shook her head hysterically, her cries filled with a deep, ancient grievance. She knew. She had memorized every corner and edge of this book over four centuries; she knew exactly what had been added and what had been lost.
"Choose me, Beatrice! I am a thousand times more suitable for you than some vague, unattainable ghost!" Grin reached out, his palm open and his eyes filled with a desperate tenderness.
With eyes blurred by tears, Beatrice numly looked back at the book. "The book doesn't say whether I should respond to you".
"I'm not waiting for a response from a pile of paper; I'm asking your heart!".
"The book doesn't say whether I should even have a heart...".
"What does the book say? What you should eat for breakfast? Which shoe to put on first? Beatrice, put your hand on your chest and listen to the pulse!".
"It's not in the book...".
"Then get rid of the damn book right now!".
Grin's hand lashed out, knocking the Book of Wisdom from her grasp. It spun into the air, the binding finally snapping as it shattered into a thousand flying fragments of paper that swirled like snow through the library.
"Human! Stop torturing me... just end my life and my suffering together..." Beatrice wailed. Grin's own eyes welled with tears as he pulled her into a crushing hug.
"In your eyes, am I just some beast that only knows how to bare its claws at friends?".
"Then what do you know about me?" Beatrice cried against his chest. "I have spent four hundred years dreaming of new writing on the last page. Every time that door opens, I feel the weight of a new disappointment. I had already resigned myself to this fate, but you still managed to intrude into my dreams...".
Grin felt a jolt of surprise. Had the dream the magic mirror gave her truly featured him so prominently?.
Beatrice struggled in his arms, her violent emotions causing the entire Forbidden Library to shake and groan. "But dreams end! When you open your eyes, the pages are still blank! I finally understood that the reason there was no sequel was because the owner's future had already come to an end".
"Do you know how much I long for salvation? Do you think you can just pull me out of this darkness where I can't see a future by simply reaching out your hand?" Beatrice's voice was hoarse with four hundred years of built-up resentment. "If you can really do it, then why leave me here alone for so long? Why didn't you come sooner?".
Her scalding tears soaked through Grin's clothes. The violent mana rolling off her swept out like a tsunami, shoving Grin's body back. To resist the sheer pressure, Beastification patterns began to crawl under Grin's skin, and sharp claws tore through his fingertips. The repaired bookshelves creaked and groaned under the magical wind.
"I'm sorry, Beatrice. This is the fastest I could run on the path of destiny," Grin grunted, straining to keep his embrace steady as he tried to soothe her.
Beatrice's voice was fading, her throat too raw to scream for help she no longer believed in. "If... if even so you still want to save me... then put me first! Think of me first! Choose me first!".
"I am already trying my best to hold you! If this is what your heart wants, I will do it!".
Grin could no longer maintain his human form against the storm. With a heavy buzz of mana, his body expanded into the massive, fur-covered form of the Beast Prince. Beatrice looked up at the hideous, looming beast face, but there was no fear—only a morbid, yearning anticipation, as if she wished to be devoured and melted into his very bones.
"I am a worthless bastard who broke her contract... if I could die in your warm stomach... that would be the happiest ending for me...".
Grin looked down at her, a silent curse directed at the Witch of Greed burning in his mind. "You must be so tired, Beatrice". He lowered his massive head, wrapping her in his beastly body until his soft fur brushed her tear-streaked face.
"Do you remember the story? The lonely beast locked in the castle, waiting for a princess? Princess, you haven't even taught the beast how to love yet, so how can you give up your life?". Grin pressed his huge beast head against her small face.
"Beatrice, would you like to be my 'That Person'?".
Grin, a lone sail on a dark ocean in this world, reached for her. "This body is cursed with life. I will not die as long as there is life to be had. We will spend ten thousand years together until those four hundred years are buried so deep you never remember them again".
"Choose me, Beatrice! I'll fix your bookshelves, I'll tell you stories every night! My embrace will be a thousand times warmer than that cold chair!".
Beatrice's breath hitched. The shackles of her mother's contract were fraying, one link at a time. "Grin... Andersen..." she whispered, her voice finally soft, hovering on the edge of a new fate.