F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 176: Evelyn’s Return
"...Ah..." I jolt awake suddenly—it feels like I’ve been sleeping for days and was just rudely pulled from slumber by a bucket of cold water. It takes me a moment to realize where I am. I look around, seeing an endless ocean.
Water stretches in every direction, though I’m not sinking—it’s as if the water’s surface is completely solid. And I know exactly where this is immediately, since I’ve been here before.
"!!!"
"Oh, looks like you’re awake. Good morning, sleepy little fruit—you’ve been out for nine days!" Arial says with a smile, appearing right in front of me. But my memory is foggy, a hazy mist that leaves me confused.
Besides, Arial isn’t one to just show up like this. Actually, this is the first time I’ve seen her since what happened in the dungeon. She made it clear she wouldn’t keep appearing, and that most of the time I’d have to come to her, asking for things in exchange for giving something up.
"W-Why am I here?" I stand up, feeling a strange sense of violation, as if someone had secretly trespassed on my body for far too long.
It makes me curl in on myself and try to cover my most private areas with my hands, as if that could protect me from whatever happened to me while I was asleep.
"Oh, how cute. Covering your tits and private parts with your hands like that doesn’t stop me from admiring your beauty, you know?" She speaks with that wicked smile while I stare at her body, which remains as seductive as ever.
"Answer me!" I snap, irritated. She’s stalling instead of telling me why I’m here. I don’t want to talk to her.
"...You killed someone. How do you feel?" When she asks that, my heart races and my vision blurs for a moment with tears as I remember—me killing an angel with my magic.
The feeling of blood spraying onto my body, that warm liquid with a metallic smell, the weight of a head separated from the rest of the body, the revolting sight of a neck without its head.
"How do you feel, Evelyn?" She asks again, seeing that despite the tears, the expression on my face hasn’t changed from something neutral. I’m crying, but my face isn’t following my feelings, as if it’s frozen.
"I-I don’t know... strange..." I feel empty, disconnected from reality. When I think of the person I killed, what comes to mind is Esther, and a strange sense that maybe she’d be happy to know I’ve finally taken a step forward on the path to becoming a general.
As if taking a life was something I should’ve always done as a first step to mending the troubled relationship between us.
"Hmmm, looks like it worked." She smiles at me and comes in to try and hug me. I dodge and pull away from her touch, not wanting to be held—especially by this perverted liar.
"What did you do to me!?" I ask, utterly frustrated. I feel like she did something to me, but I don’t know what. She puts a finger to her lips in a "cute" way before smiling.
"Nothing. And you don’t need to worry. Besides, Eve will explain things better on the outside. There’s just one thing you need to know, Evelyn: you have exactly seventeen days to torture the captured angels." When she says that, I freeze in shock.
"W-What?"
"If you don’t torture the angels imprisoned in the mansion’s basement, you’ll lose a lot of face with your soldiers who are expecting it. Seventeen days is plenty of time, isn’t it?" Her tone is so sweet while talking about such a macabre topic.
"...But..."
"Before you complain, think of the upside, Evelyn. Imagine how proud Esther will be of you? The rewards you’ll get from the Demon King for your conquest, the gold you’ll earn, and above all, Esther’s love." When she says it, it’s like an anesthetic.
It’s also like a trigger, a switch being flipped inside my head at this very moment.
All the weight of the act of "torturing" is numbed, like a wound that hurts, but the anesthesia tricks the brain into feeling nothing until after the bandage is already on. To my mind, it seems strange, repulsive, and wrong.
"Okay..." But while it also seems horrible, something shifts my focus. I no longer see it as torturing the angels, but as a means to an end—and the end is gaining gold and love.
"Urgh." I put a hand to my head after just agreeing to this absurdity. Something feels wrong, but before I can spiral into panic, Arial hugs me, her large, comfortable breasts pressed against my head like two soft, warm water balloons.
"Shhh, calm down, Evelyn... don’t overthink it. You don’t want to feel pain, right? So wouldn’t it be better to ignore the weirdness? Killing is sad, isn’t it? You feel sad about having to kill or torture, so you can cry... but cry in secret. Don’t show your tears to others. Only cry when you’re alone."
"People like Esther don’t love weak, crybaby girls. Esther won’t love a girl who breaks down in front of everyone with ugly tears. So only cry when you’re completely alone, where you can hide your weakness just for yourself." She turns my face to look at her.
"If you want someone to see you cry, know that I’ll always be watching. I’m with you. So only cry when you know no one but me is watching. That way, Esther will love you more." Her voice sounds so sweet, like a poison seeping into my mind.
As if affirming something inside my brain. I try to fight it, but why? When I try to resist this idea she’s selling, my brain hurts—the pain of having killed someone, the pain of having to torture someone and bear the guilt, because the guilt is mine.
And so my brain reaches a conclusion: why not accept it? If I refuse, it hurts. At least if I accept, I’ll have temporary anesthesia to stop the pain. Even if it’s cowardly, I can escape the guilt.
Even if it’s just me being a coward, at least this cowardice will erase the pain and let me focus only on what’s good for me. No one can judge me for not wanting to suffer.
"..." I collapse into her arms. I feel so tired. I can’t understand what she’s saying. I hear it, but my weary brain doesn’t process the words as I hug her, searching for some comfort.
"That’s it, Evelyn, very good. I see you’re accepting it well... this is your fate. Fighting it isn’t good, is it? So just leave everything to your dear Arial here. I can watch and carry all your hatred, guilt, and fear with a smile on my face." She strokes my head as she lies down on the ground, pulling me on top of her.
"Tired? Makes sense. It’s very exhausting to be in the spiritual plane after spending nine days trapped in the subconscious. Your brain hasn’t had time to rest... so you can rest here."
"..." Her embrace is so comforting and warm—much better than the pain of trying to accept the fact that I killed someone. So, cowardly, I just accept what she says, because it’s easier to run from the pain than to face it head-on.
"...So sweet." She murmurs softly to me, holding me as I sleep in her arms, snuggling into this false sense of security, while I bury the guilt deep down, hidden, but never truly getting rid of it.
...
...
...
"Hey?! Hey? Fake Evelyn?" I shake Evelyn-sama. Her body suddenly stopped moving on the sofa and started acting like she was asleep. It’s kind of weird because she won’t wake up.
"..." I hear the door opening and see Clarissa entering with food—the food the fake Evelyn had asked for before suddenly "falling asleep."
"Eve, is Evelyn-sama asleep?" she asks, seeing this. I don’t know what happened, but I play along and decide to just agree that Evelyn-sama decided to sleep a little.
"Yeah, she’s tired from all the work, so she decided to take a nap... let’s give her some space. Leave the food here for her to eat when she wakes up." I say, taking Clarissa’s hand and leaving with her. The fake Evelyn said the real Evelyn-sama would be back soon, so maybe that’s it? Or is it just another lame trick from that faker.
"Clarissa, do you need help?" I ask her, seeing how her maid uniform is dirty and she has dark circles under her eyes—which is natural considering she’s taking care of this mansion without any help.
"Hmm..." She looks around. She’s been handling everything, but it’s still a mansion, and she’s alone. Not to mention, she’s the one bringing food to the captured angels and taking care of everything for them.
"I do..." She’s reluctant to ask for help, as if she’s losing something, but I decide to help her. She’s been doing really good work. I guess Evelyn-sama giving her a second chance wasn’t so bad after all.
"I’ll give you some help with cleaning while Evelyn-sama is asleep." Syl’Vyr and Faye are still at the camp with the soldiers, so I have some free time now.
"Thank you." She just says thanks as we move on.
"Eve... when is Evelyn-sama going to torture the angels? It’s kind of tiring taking care of them... they complain too much, talk too much, curse at me too much, and some are trying to escape. They can’t break out of the place, but it could be dangerous." She brings up the topic I least wanted to discuss.
"Soon... besides, they won’t be able to get out, don’t worry. The prison has a very good anti-magic system..." At least that thing is genuinely high quality.
