A Friend's Lie, The Greatest Sin (Witch Hat Atelier Spoilers Ch93)
The butterfly effect of the sins between Qifrey and Olruggio is far worse than you may expect.
The darkest reveal in the flashback arc is that Qifrey has been memory wiped over and over in the brimhat experiments.
It's the reason that Qifrey floats around like a ghost in ch89 before meeting Olly. Forbidden magic that can manipulate someone's memories and feelings at will. Olly's solution, ironically, uses magic of the same caliber. Even Coco in earlier chapters argues that the memory wiping magic the pointed hats use is no different from any other forbidden magic; it's a necessary evil to uphold the Pact. He'd rather they both plunge into the darkness instead of letting Qifrey die.
Olly's greatest sin is making Qifrey a sinner. Ch93 explicitly shows that over time, this pact between them fundamentally alters Qifrey as a person.
At first, Qifrey did the same thing he did in ch92. He actually told Olly the truth, allowing his roots to grow. It was Olly that decided to restart the loop instead of freeing himself from it.
Over time, Qifrey had to get better and better at lying.
Over time, he got better at repeating their sin.
And at some point, he got a little too comfortable with altering memories for his goals.
Nolnoa caught a stray in the sin between them. Thus begins Tartah's suspicions of Qifrey. When questioning him, he's thrown off by Qifrey's lying smile—another thing he only learned from Olly.
Over time, Tartah's mistrust with the pointed hats grew. What is more, he felt the burden of lies himself when he had to lie to Custas about the truth of magic. He started believing that the lies are nothing but an obstacle leading to harm, that they aren't able to protect anyone. He reached a boiling point when he learned that there's a secret behind silverwoods—he couldn't handle the fact that Coco might be the one hiding from him urgent information for both Custas and his own grandfather.
Thus, in an impulsive move, he shatters all trust between them.
In the end, he was technically right about Qifrey hiding information. However, this cruel act was not a solution. Despite the row of falling dominoes leading up to this, it was unjust and something Tartah likely wishes he could undo if he could.
It's only human to leap at the opportunity to throw of the chains of lies. Qifrey does the same thing in the next chapter. He wishes to break the promise to Olly now that he feels he has the opportunity to end the lies.
When learning that the cycle of despair is happening to others, he desperately wants to give his promise up to give other hosts a better chance. However, Coco tells him that this won't work. She needs him if she is going to become a great witch—all of his doting apprentices do. Coco has seen that rashly forcing out the truth will only lead to more despair, so she chooses to cling on the lie of witches. She knows that she's repeating the same mistakes, but if they just stick together, they can one day find a better way.
So, let's take a recap of the events from Qifrey's past to Tartah's betrayal. A horrible act of magic leaves a person in a terrible state. To put a band-aid over the problem, witches formed a pact with each other to preserve a lie. A pact that will protect them from forbidden magic, but doom them to an existence filled with lies and lacking in true comfort. The lies and mistrust escalate until the truth is forced out, an act against the Pact but causing even more harm. Following this, the decision is made to hold onto the lie, ever so fragile.
Starting to sound familiar, isn't it? History is destined to be repeated, whether considering all of society or an act between two witches.
And this circle of hope plummeting into despair will continue over, and over, and over again—like a forbidden spell's outer circle being closed by Olruggio, then Qifrey, then the next generation of people who will bear the weight of sin.
It will be nothing short of a miracle to break the loop. But after all, a miracle is exactly the feat of a great witch.
