“Let’s get engaged again. Will you make a fresh start with me, Brigitte?”
If he dangled that offer in front of her, she’d snap it up in a heartbeat.
But he was wrong again.
In the end, she turned him down unambiguously, saying she liked someone else. As he watched her walk out of the classroom with Yuri, it was clear enough who she meant.
Anger stained the world red. He shook so hard, his throat seized up, and drops of blood bloomed where his nails dug into his palms.
I thought I beat that rat.
Was he going to give up? Was he going to slink back to the days when people jeered at him and called him a dunce?
No…never!
He concocted a desperate plan.
He saw the column of light that rose from the Meidell residence during the summer, meaning Brigitte’s spirit had finally awoken from its long slumber. He went to the shrine and tried to buy himself some time, but he didn’t have much left. He had to do something before they realized what spirit she was contracted with.
I have to turn her back into a stupid doll.
Lisa had locked herself in her dorm and wouldn’t come out even when he called her. She’d been a worthless pawn, but now that she was gone, Joseph was forced to do his own dirty work.
When he got his hands on a magic breaker with the power to sever the relationship between a person and their spirit, he gloated. He was sure Yuri must have found out about Brigitte’s spirit by now. That was why he’d shown up again so shamelessly in her life. What other reason could he have?
If that was so, then if she lost her spirit, he would lose interest. The same went for everyone else. They were all making a fuss over her now, but he was certain they would drift away once they realized she had nothing to offer.
When that happened, she would be wounded. She would lose hope. And she would finally realize…
When you’re all alone again, your only choice will be to come back to me, the kind prince.
What was his real aim?
What shape had his feelings for Brigitte taken?
Those feelings had been twisted from the start. Even Joseph didn’t understand them anymore.
“Well, Brigitte, what have you decided?”
He smiled faintly, as if to say there was nothing more to explain, and reached out his hand toward her. Not his right hand holding the magic breaker—his empty left hand.
“If you say yes now, I’ll forgive you for resisting. Although you’ll unfortunately have to part with that spirit of yours… In exchange, I will bestow on you the honor of becoming engaged to me again. An excellent offer, wouldn’t you say?”
“…”
Still holding Peep in both hands, Brigitte stared at his outstretched hand.
How long ago that was…
She used to dream of facing Joseph like this, below a sparkling chandelier, amid a crowd of beautifully dressed people. In her dream, the handsome prince with the golden hair took her hand, and they smiled at each other. The crowd applauded warmly.
“…I’ve never danced with you, either, Prince Joseph,” she muttered.
Joseph’s eyebrows rose, and then he smiled. “You’re right. Shall we dance?”
Brigitte took a deep breath. Then she screamed as loud as she could, hoping her voice would thunder through the whole school.
“Neverrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!”
Startled, Joseph reached out a hand to hold her in place. She dodged and screamed again as she backed away.
“I’m not your doll, and neither is Lisa! Please stop speaking as if you’re the only one who matters!”
“…I’m doing you the favor of choosing you, and you treat me like this…!”
“That’s not love!”
“!”
She knew now what real love was. It was when her heart beat in her ears and she couldn’t make it stop. It was when the person she loved spun round and round in her mind until she was dizzy. And still, all she could think of before she fell asleep, and even in her dreams, was that she wanted to see him one more time—and she wanted him to smile at her just one more time. She prayed for it.
It was a warm feeling, a feeling that meant more to her than anything else.
That’s what it is to love someone.
What Joseph had was something else. Obsession. Desire to have her all to himself. Beneath his out-of-control emotions lay something so dark and stagnant she couldn’t even imagine it.
“How dare you judge me! Shut up!” He flew at her with the magic breaker.
“Ow!”
She tried to escape, but the branch tangled in the ends of her long hair. He grinned slyly, pleased to have finally captured his prey. But instantly, she grabbed her hair with one hand and pulled hard. She could hear it snapping behind her head. He winced as she unhesitatingly tore what some would call a woman’s weapon, while she took advantage of the moment to dart farther from him.
Sienna will kill me for this…!
She could imagine the look on her attendant’s face when she saw the state of the hair she cared for so attentively every day. Her eyes tearing for more reasons than one, Brigitte glared at Joseph. He seemed to have lost his drive.
“…I’m sick of this,” he muttered.
She didn’t have time to ask what he was sick of. A ball of fire was already forming on his palm, perhaps one-tenth the size of the fireball Brigitte had manifested. He hurled it at her without a second thought. No—just to the right of her.
The dry wooden shelf burst into flames, and the flames spread in a heartbeat.
Brigitte watched in a daze, while Joseph laughed carelessly.
“Let’s die together in these flames, Brigitte.”
…She was reaching her boiling point. Joseph was acting like a hot-tempered child. The moment life didn’t go his way, he got angry and started throwing things to vent.
“You think I would die with you?!” she shouted, sticking out her tongue.
He shrugged, still smiling. “I’ll blame the fire on Yuri Aurealis. Everyone hates him already. Unlike Lisa, I can find all the witnesses I want.”
It was obvious what he was referring to.
“So you were the one behind what happened at the magic-stone hunt…”
“Why deny it now? Yes, I made Lisa do it.”
Joseph was contracted with two spirits—a wind spirit and a fire spirit. Either he or his spirit had lit the torch that Lisa was carrying at the magic-stone hunt.
He sat down against the wall.
Brigitte looked away from him at the rising inferno. The flames were terrifying, and each breath hurt the back of her throat. She pressed her handkerchief to her mouth, but it didn’t help much.
There was only one small window in the storage room, and it was shut tight. If something didn’t happen soon, she and Joseph would probably be swallowed by the flames and die. She moved as far from the flames as she could and spoke to the little spirit in her hands.
“Peep, please, run away from here.”
But the only answer was its shallow breath, still ragged from Joseph’s blow. Since Peep was a fire spirit, Brigitte suspected it might be able to cope with Joseph’s fire, but she had no way of knowing. It made her anxious.
The chick opened its eyes slightly. Its body was hot. Was the faint heat emanating from it coming from the flames around them?
Brigitte removed both her gloves and wrapped them around the spirit’s small form. They were the special fire-resistant gloves the cottage servants had given her, so she hoped they would protect Peep.
She stroked its round head softly and smiled. She had finally met her dear spirit—the only one who had chosen her.
“Thank you, Peep, for contracting with a person like me.”
“…Peep…”
The chick’s beak moved slightly, as if it was trying to tell her something.
Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice. “Brigitte!”
She jerked her head up.
“Are you in there, Brigitte?!”
“Sir Yuri…?!”
His voice was coming from the other side of the locked door. She ran to it and knocked to let him know she was there.
“Miss Brigitte!”
“Miss Brigitte!”
She heard Kira’s tearful voice and Nival’s high-pitched one. Although she was in a dire situation, relief flooded her. Kira must have come looking for her with Yuri and Nival when she didn’t return.
I’m glad I screamed so loudly!
“Smoke’s coming from the room! Hold on, I’ll break the door down!”
Yuri sounded uncharacteristically panicked. But that was enough to soothe her.
Meanwhile, Joseph laughed from his position against the wall, although it quickly descended into coughing. He must have been having a hard time breathing.
“What perfect hero’s timing. So perfect it makes me sick,” he said.