"..." I look at the mountain of presents in my room, various jewels, gold, and important ores, all gifts from Esther trying to buy my forgiveness. She knows that as a dragon, I have that compulsion to hoard treasure, and she’s trying to exploit that weakness.

"How disgusting..." I ignore her gifts. She isn’t truly sorry. She’s spent every day of the past month buying presents for me; she hasn’t even offered a genuine, remorseful apology.

I love Esther so much, but it’s disgusting that she thinks she can buy my forgiveness with treasure so I won’t forbid her from knowing things about me during my time at war.

’Should I just not leave any flesh and blood for her?’ I know how bad her hunger is, but if she’s going to use the issues of my race against me, then I don’t know if I should have pity on her and leave some of myself for her to eat.

’I think I’ll tell Esther that if she doesn’t stop trying to buy me with treasure, I’ll leave her with nothing of mine to eat...’

"Hey, Calyo, food for you." I call my dragon, who appears at the window, his head pressed against the glass. I toss him a piece of a powerful monster. Getting materials now is so easy.

"..." I leap from the window, landing on my mount’s head. I walk onto his back, and despite his size and powerful physique, he moves so smoothly it’s like walking on something that’s standing still.

’I’ve already finished my work for today, and my puppets and Esther are handling the rest...’ I’m training two things: first, how to fly skillfully with Calyo, my mount, and second, how to control my puppets better.

"..." Calyo flies, guided by my mind, as if threads dictate his path while I stop at the castle’s training grounds, where Eve is training with the shadows. I assigned two shadows to strengthen Eve, my most powerful puppet, and my trump card against Esther.

"Eve, want to go for a ride?" I ask Eve as the two shadows training her bow to me.

"Yes, Evelyn-sama!" Eve smiles at me as she leaps up onto my dragon. She looks so strong now; she doesn’t even seem like the same Eve from when I first created her.

"And you two... go to Marie and Grace. Tell them I want the reports on the troops I sent." With the trade routes opened by Esther, I’ve already started sending soldiers to the ports where the ships are.

I just hope Esther doesn’t try to use the trade routes to threaten me into letting her watch over me during the war. She doesn’t seem to have thought of that yet, and I hope it stays that way. If she closes the routes again, I’ll have problems.

’One and a half months left...’ Esther has a month and a half until I leave and she’s left knowing almost nothing about me. Her desperation over this is obvious. She knows the only way to maintain contact and be able to observe me is if I forgive her.

"Hey, Eve, how’s your training going? The shadows are pretty strong; I’m sure you’ve learned some cool things." I say, making Calyo fly high and start to leave the kingdom. I want to test some things.

"Yes, they are very strong, though their focus is a bit too high on stealth. However, a large part of them also focus on combat in a style similar to mine, centered on speed, so I’m learning quite a lot from them."

"That’s good. I’ve also gathered a lot of materials to strengthen you..." I murmur, thinking about it. Every time I think about strengthening Eve, I remember Syl’Vyr’s betrayal and end up hesitating.

’...’ I understand the problem now, and I can now avoid betrayal from living puppets. But Eve is an old-model puppet, so she doesn’t even have the ’programming’ that instills absolute loyalty.

"Evelyn-sama?" Eve looks at me, confused, sensing my tension. I remain calm and composed. Eve won’t betray me. She’s loyal. She’s not like Syl’Vyr. Eve is the closest thing to a friendship I have.

’Friendship...’ Ironically, I don’t have any real relationships except with Esther and maybe my mother. I don’t have friends or anything like that. Should I get a friend?

"It’s nothing serious, Eve. I was just... thinking about something. Hey, Eve, want to see this dragon’s maximum power? I’m going to use him in the war. I’m not going to create more living puppets for combat right now, so this dragon will be your companion."

"Of course. It’ll be good to know how strong he is." When Eve agrees, I look around. Since my dragon flies very fast, a huge distance is covered quickly. I see some mountains in the distance.

"Hey, Calyo, punch a hole through that mountain and go through it."

"W-Wait a minute, Evelyn-sama, isn’t that dangerous—" Before Eve can say anything else, Calyo accelerates, flying extremely fast. The force of his head makes the wind rise upward without affecting me much.

While his horns, though not very aerodynamic, cut through the air tension as if piercing it, the dragon beats his wings powerfully and starts spewing fire.

We approach the mountain, and the color of the fire becomes a more intense purple. The dragon goes straight for the mountain, but before his body reaches it, the flames burn through the rock and earth, opening a giant hole that the dragon begins to pass through.

The blaze of intense flames melts anything in its path as the dragon moves forward, finishing passing through a mountain in seconds. Eve and I look back, seeing the enormous hole the dragon left behind.

The sensation is a bit warm, but he passed so fast that nothing more than a faint trace of heat was what I felt, showing how skilled this dragon is.

’Esther’s current magic would vaporize the entire mountain...’ The dragon is strong. That wasn’t weak at all, but by the standard of strength I need to achieve, this is quite weak. That’s why I’m stuck in this uncomfortable dilemma about which puppets I should create.

Esther is getting stronger and stronger. Without a Demon King and without rules to restrict her, she’s been training intensely in her free time, and her power has already far surpassed what I expected.

’I should make another sword for Eve. A new sword, more durable and powerful...’ I take a deep breath as the dragon slows down.

"See, Eve? That’s the power. And it wouldn’t even need the flames; this dragon could punch a hole like that with a headbutt. But obviously, I’d be thrown off his back." I say, keeping a soft smile on my face. I wonder if I can use my threads to make a sword.

As a Demon Queen, my threads gained the ability to be indestructible. So theoretically, a sword made of threads would be indestructible. But the sharpness would probably be terrible, and I likely can’t modify it.

’Seems the indestructible threads, while interesting, aren’t as powerful as I thought.’ Using them in combat only works if the enemy doesn’t see the thread and gets caught by it beforehand.

They’re more useful for traps and controlling dolls and puppets than for actual fighting. They’re also good for tying up and restraining things or people.

"Evelyn-sama, if you don’t want to create living puppets, why not create regular puppets with good materials to give them abilities, and then sacrifice all of them to another standard puppet? That way, it would be a puppet that isn’t alive but is filled with power." Eve, perhaps noticing my hesitation to strengthen her, offers a possibility.

"Yeah... that sounds great... or... I could sacrifice them to give the abilities to you... I trust you completely, Eve. It’s just... it’s just that the betrayal was recent, and I can’t just do things blindly." I end up indirectly admitting I’m tense about giving Eve more power.

"...I will do what you wish, Evelyn-sama, and I will respect any choice you make. So please think calmly. I will wait as long as it takes." She says with a nod as Calyo lands on the ground when I give a mental command.

"Great. Now, Eve, I brought you far out because I want to try something. There’s a movement ability among puppets; I want to try to learn it." In the game, Evelyn knew how to do this.

"If I learn it, I can teleport the puppets." I can do it if I use my Domain, but there’s a way to do it without, allowing me to teleport all my puppets to my position. Having to do it using my Domain isn’t worth it.

"So stay around here. If I can’t do it, I’ll call you back. If I can, you’ll return to the castle! Now please wait patiently. You can go train or test your powers!" I say to her as she jumps off the dragon.

"I hope you manage to learn this skill, Evelyn-sama!"

"I hope so too. And don’t worry, I’ll let you know before I try to move you, so you won’t accidentally hit anyone with an attack." I touch the dragon’s head lightly with the tip of my foot, a physical command that makes Calyo start to fly.

"It might take a little while, so please be patient!" I’d love to learn to teleport puppets. Even if I can only do it to bring them to my position, it’s perfect for moving armies of puppets. And since I have over a month to train, I think I can learn it.

’I just hope everything doesn’t fall apart from here on out...’ I have certain concerns regarding Arial, who said she would "nibble" on my emotions every day.