"Good day to you, my dear master... Ah! Oh! Ouch!"
Bang, bang, bang!
Under the pounding of the magic mirror, the nails gradually sank into the bookshelf.
"Wait, Master, stop hammering! Please, wait a second. Can you tell me what I did wrong this time?"
"Have you done so few shitty things? I've kept a record of all of them. Did you think they'd reset the next day?"
Grin finished speaking and continued hammering; before long, he had fixed one bookshelf.
Just when the magic mirror thought it had finally survived, Betty raised her little Fingers and pointed to the other side.
"There are more than ten others over there that are also loose."
"No!"
The magic mirror wailed toward the heavens.
Grin held the magic mirror up to his face and said disdainfully, "I fed you so many Demonic Beast souls yesterday, but you're all talk and no action. Why am I keeping you around?"
"Master, you can't think like that!"
"Using me as a hammer is like using a cannon to hit a mosquito!"
"Think about it: first, I can help you hypnotize women you're interested in; second, I can help you take secret photos of them bathing... Mmph... Mmph..."
Grin didn't dare let the magic mirror finish; he quickly plugged its foul mouth.
Betty cast a look of disgust at the master and servant.
"Please refrain from such foul language in Betty's room. Betty feels as if the very air has been polluted by you."
"You haven't already used those filthy abilities on the people in the Mansion, have you?"
"No, not at all! Absolutely not!"
Grin denied it three times in a row, not quite daring to meet Betty's eyes.
As of now, the hypnosis ability had only been used on Betty.
A Great Spirit shouldn't count as human, right?
"Hmph, truly filthy."
Betty cursed and lowered her head to read her book.
It took about half an hour for all the loose bookshelves to be secured.
The magic mirror was barely hanging on, gasping for breath.
It lay sprawled on the table, tremulously raising a hand conjured from mana, as if identifying a murderer.
"I... I want to report Noble Consort Xi—ptui, ptui—I want to report you, you super-male patient!"
"I want to be a state witness! shorty, this bastard... took secret images of you while you were sleeping..."
"Bullshit!"
Grin shouted loudly out of guilt, scrambling to recall the magic mirror back into his body.
The magic mirror was prepared and darted into Betty's hands first.
The mirror's surface rippled, revealing Betty's cute sleeping face as she lay on the Princess Bed.
Betty's expression froze as she earnestly examined herself in the mirror.
Her Fingers slid gently across the mirror's surface, and the photo switched to the next one.
A brief silence fell over the Forbidden Library.
The more she watched, the tighter Betty's brow furrowed.
"Huh? It sounds like someone is calling me. Did you hear that, Betty? It must be that little glutton Rem getting hungry again. I'll go take care of her first. See ya!"
Grin used the Creation out of Nothing Technique and turned to make a run for it.
After quickly walking to the door, Grin twisted the doorknob with all his might.
Click-clack, click-clack!
No matter how hard Grin twisted, the door simply wouldn't open.
"Good Heavens, this door is cursed."
Betty's eyelids lifted slightly, and a cold glint of magical power flashed in her silver-blue pupils.
With a flick of her slender fingertip, a strand of condensed pale purple magic patterns darted out like a living thing, accurately wrapping around the back of Grin's collar.
Before he could react, the invisible magic suddenly tightened and then yanked him backward with a jolt.
"Ouch!"
Grin felt an irresistible force from his back; he stumbled and finally fell back in front of Betty.
With a cold expression, Betty flipped the mirror over and showed it to Grin.
"The previous images were all of Betty alone, so one could assume you were captivated by Betty's beauty."
"But! What was your mindset for this last image? If you don't explain yourself clearly, Betty will beat you into the flower fertilizer downstairs."
Grin looked up, his mouth hanging open in a mix of confusion and surprise.
In the mirror's image, Grin stood behind the Princess Bed with one large foot stepped on the headboard, both hands extending middle Fingers, looking down at the sleeping Betty with a face full of disdain.
"What the fuck is this..."
Grin swore that everything he recorded were cute photos of Betty. He had definitely never taken something this cursed that looked like it was AI-generated.
"This must be Photoshopped by that dog of a magic mirror!"
Betty asked in confusion, "What is 'PS'?"
Grin explained quickly, "It means he forged it. It seems I was still too merciful."
Having said that, he stretched his limbs and, burning with rage, beckoned with his hand.
The magic mirror turned into stardust once again and flickered back into his hand.
Grin pulled out a nail, its sharp tip glinting coldly.
"You're finished, wolgaroth..."
Seeing that things were going south, the magic mirror immediately cried out to Betty for help.
"Save me, save me! Most high and virtuous little Princess!"
"You just called her shorty a moment ago."
"Master, I was possessed by a ghost just now! I definitely didn't mean to betray you, believe me... Ah! No!"
...Betty crossed her arms, looking as if her anger had not yet subsided.
"Even if the last image was forged, the ones before it must have been taken secretly by you."
"Betty... this, this, this... this is actually all your fault!"
"What kind of nonsensical answer is that..."
Confusion and annoyance surfaced in Betty's silver-blue eyes; she found Grin's erratic words difficult to understand.
Grin explained to Betty in all seriousness:
"Don't you know that the higher the beauty, the heavier the sin? To be this cute is an unforgivable crime!"
"Huh?"
A question mark slowly formed in Betty's mind as her small face became somewhat indifferent.
"Stop acting spoiled with Betty. Betty is not some dress-up doll meant to provide you with emotional fulfillment."
With that, Betty raised her small hand, preparing to send Grin flying.
Buzz!
The bookshelves, floor, and walls of the Forbidden Library vibrated along with Betty's magic.
"Wait a second, Betty! I have a gift for you!"
Grin hurriedly fumbled around in his robes and finally pulled out a stack of small cards, presenting them to Betty.
This was a good thing he had prepared for the Great Spirit who liked to stay cooped up in her room.
Betty paused her movements with a look of hesitation.
"What is this? It looks disgusting."
"These are called Playing Cards. It's just that the raw materials are a bit gross; I made them from Roswaal's portrait, precisely cutting them down to card size."
Grin spread the items in his hand for Betty to observe. The cards were of moderate size, with patterns or numbers drawn on them.
Betty was somewhat speechless as she pulled a few cards into her hand.
Looking at the cards, she could indeed see Roswaal's fragmented facial features.
"This was the portrait of the first head of the house, Roswaal A. Mathers. It was an antique with nearly four hundred years of history, and now it's been turned into a pile of scrap paper."
Grin curled his lip in disdain.
"With that family's ancestral, disgusting fashion sense, who would ever buy it?"
Betty's eyes drooped slightly, and the corners of her mouth, which had been cold, unconsciously pursed into a straight line.
Looking at Grin's innocent and harmless face, she irritably scratched the stray hairs at her temples, her voice thick with inescapable helplessness.
*Sigh*... Betty needs to stay calm.
"So... you're giving Betty a gift that even you find disgusting?"
"How could that be? This is actually a game prop. Let me explain the rules of the game to you first..."