Chapter 291: Catharsis

——Sometime Within Three Years——

Will, absorbed in Rimefrost Phalanx, studied Eir as she sat at her desk. He also pondered decoding it, trying to formulate questions for “Mr. S”.

“Mmm… So the Rimefrost Phalanx’s strongest control isn’t limited to the summoned ice pillars? What is the ultimate goal of this magic, then?” Eir had asked, a flash of insight illuminating her face.

Did ancient magic possess an ultimate purpose? Will doubted it. It was a plot device born from the “older magic is stronger” trope. Discovering its “history” in this world was nearly impossible.

Still, faced with Eir’s rare spark of intellectual curiosity, he had to answer.

“It’s ancient magic. Even with Leah’s annotations, decoding it is tough. But… I believe it exists.”

“I see… So Eir’s brain… heh, probably can’t figure it out,” she had sighed, deflating slightly.

“Absolutely not,” Will countered quickly. Never crush a student’s enthusiasm. “Keep at it, and you’ll grasp its essence. For example, what are the defining traits of Ice magic?”

“Mmm…”

She rested her chin on her fists, furrowing her brow as if truly wrestling with the question. Will felt a pang of guilt. He’d asked on a whim, never expecting her to take it so seriously.

“If it were me… maybe freezing?” she ventured tentatively. Her eyes flickered up to meet his. “Is that the most common ice magic?”

“That’s the most obvious use. Keep digging. What do you want to freeze?”

“Mmm… Last night’s leftovers? Or the bread I baked the other day, which you said was delicious? Or… the freshest fruits and vegetables?”

She listed a string of things that “should be frozen”—simple associations with the act.

Her clear eyes searched his. She savored these moments: bathed in the warm light, with Will by her side.

“No… I don’t think it’s that,” she finally declared, dismissing her own answer. “Maybe, one day, I’ll understand.

Then Eir will truly understand this book.”

“You will. One day.”

……

Will knew he had been “frozen” by Eir. Since his mind remained intact, he was fully aware.

Helplessly, he “watched” Eir gather him up. Carry him to the old sauna—the “basement.”

Why here? Probably because the 300 Questions for Going Dark suggested it was the ideal place for seclusion.

He watched his hands pinioned with rope. His body lashed to a chair.

He watched Eir tilt her head, revealing blank eyes and a cold face, before turning to leave.

And only then… could he move.

The air was damp. Moss clung to the chair. The ground held a puddle of water, now frozen solid.

`The perfect prison.` The place where he’d imposed endless trials had become his cell.

“…Alright. The moment she hugged me, I understood—I understood it all!”

“Too bad Eir didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

“I guess I wouldn’t believe it anyway. Heh… because I taught her that.”

Will’s voice grew frantic, laced with despair.

Eir’s “breaking point” was simple. She had realized a truth Will had been desperately concealing—a truth she had been desperately ignoring:

He no longer needed Eir’s protection.

He was no longer “frail”—not since the witch’s blood, the demonic contracts. Hell, who was he kidding? He could obliterate monsters with a thought.

And in her heart, he had never stopped seeing her as a servant, a subordinate.

She truly feared it: shedding the label, being dismissed, being unneeded. Her love burned with a desperate intensity—terrifyingly beautiful.

All those loving touches… lies.

The “spring” she’d thought they were building… winter had won.

“Hoo…”

Will inhaled deeply, feeling the frigid air sear his lungs. The cold was so intense, it made his chest ache.

The “hope” he’d clung to…

The “hope” that had pulled him from darkness…

The “hope” he thought he understood better than anyone…

had shattered like glass.

He had mistaken a lifeline for a dead weight.

“Failed… failed… failed… I thought if I gave her what she wanted, satisfied her every need, she’d normalize!”

“Play house, spend all my time here, pretend the outside world didn’t exist—like it was just us two here, alone in this old house…”

“And that would fix her? Stop her obsession? Free me from her love?”

Will’s voice rose.

Trapped in the cramped cellar, walled by mossy stone, he raged at his own reflection.

“Heh…”

He laughed bitterly.

“You haven’t really understood Eir at all. If you had, you’d have seen it in her eyes.”

“Seen… that you can’t do this, Will!”

“That you never understood them. You thought knowing their stories, their backstories, their settings, gave you control.”
“But…”

“They’re real.

“Their love, their hate, their warmth, their rage, their hope, their despair… all real…”

“That’s why they can’t be controlled. And that’s why you can’t resist them. Why you just sink deeper and deeper!”

Will kicked the ground.

He tried to stand, but the restraints held him fast. He slipped, collapsing to the floor.

The frosted glass of the cellar door cast a harsh light across the icy puddle.

He saw his reflection, twisted and broken.

“Hah… Hah… Hah…”

A face he hadn’t seen in years. Despairing. Self-loathing. Dark circles under his eyes. A bitter smile twisting his lips.

He’d startled himself. Since arriving here as “Will Hysterm,” he had hidden that face. Even at Thirty-Seven’s grave. Even at the moment of his “doom.”

Now, it was back. And it showed all the pain he’d kept buried—the futility, the rage, the fear…

And beneath it all…

…a hollow emptiness.

`This must be how it ends,` he thought. `Consumed by a twisted love, warped beyond recognition.`

“…Eir… what will she do to me now?”

He stopped, abruptly.

His mind…

Blank.

Nothing. He knew nothing. He was adrift.

“But…”

Thump-thump-thump.

Footsteps above.

Will’s heart hammered.

The steady rhythm betrayed the soft shoes of a maid.

Eir.

She had left him. Now, she was returning.

What was she carrying?

Don’t think about it.

The truth was too terrifying.

Then, a shadow fell across the doorway: a silhouette framed by a pair of pricked wolf ears.

Eir.

Why was she here? What did she want?

Her footsteps sounded heavy. What did she bring?

Don’t think about it.

“…Young Master. I’m sorry.”

Then, a tear-choked apology he never saw coming.

And then…

He saw her hand. Reaching into the light.

Grasping…

…an enormous pair of pliers.

“Eir must do something… to feel safe again.”