[Aebliss]

I have a speculation, but which is based on the witches being actual witches, and delves into the motivation of one of them. Feel free to ignore it if you like. ^^;

Spoiler for Spoiler for games five and six:

Is it possible that Bernkastel has become suicidal? Introducing a character like Erika, breaking the parameters of the game, and ending Beatrice like that are basically a repeat of what she did in the Hinamizawa game with Lambdadelta, right? Bernkastel won that round, but the ultimate result was that her mortal origin, Furude Rika, abandoned her. I personally think the whole dead-eyed look may be the result of Bernkastel having been cast off instead of being one with the being she was born from.

In the anime at least, Bernkastel states that boredom is the only poison that can kill a witch. But she also states that she is the cruelest witch of all, who will destroy her opponent no matter what. It seems to me that the only opponent a prideful witch would acknowledge as a worthy adversary (under normal circumstances) would be another witch. If Bernkastel is growing bored, can not effectively revitalize herself now she has been cast off, and is looking death in the face, I doubt she'd let just herself go because she would be survived by other witches, who could ridicule her memory.

Look at Furudo Erika, 'the witch of truth', who is determined to 'expose the truth behind witches'. Isn't the mystique an important part of the witches' power? If Bernkastel's pawn exposes 'the truth behind witches', wouldn't that kill or at least severely cripple them all? Bernkastel would have the greatest murder/suicide-combo of her kind ... She'd die cackling, knowing that.