Chapter 249: A Functional Queen
"..." I see an elegant, gilded ceiling above me. The details of this place are so intricate it looks like a complex work of art. I look around and see several bowed shadows.
"...What... ah..." The memory of what happened rushes back quickly. The battle for the throne that lasted at most four hours, the fight, Esther stabbing me, and me passing out after taking care of her.
"How many days has it been?" I ask coldly, still too lethargic to feel much of anything.
"Your Majesty, it has been five days since you fell asleep." As one of the shadows answers, I touch my horn. It’s regenerated.
"Who healed me?" It doesn’t feel like my body’s natural regeneration. This is more precise, like copying and pasting something.
"We summoned the royal physicians to heal you. We also had your wife healed, as per your request."
’I asked for that?’ I don’t remember anything from after I passed out.
"How many are alive?" I ask, just to confirm.
"Esther, Marie, and Laplace."
’Augustus and Lucien died... I already knew that...’ I stare at the ceiling. I am the Demon Queen. My word holds "absolute power" over the shadows. And even though Esther is the dominant partner in our marriage, I now have a certain advantage in deciding what to do.
"Did you all watch the fight?"
"Yes."
"Did you see what happened in the domain?"
"Yes."
"What did you think of it? Answer honestly."
"..." The shadows stare at me for a second, as if considering what to say.
"It was a display that was pathetically uncomfortable to watch, yet undeniably a genius plan." The shadows are so neutral I can’t tell if they’re complaining, complimenting, or simply describing it.
"I’m your Queen now, aren’t I? And you’ll obey everything I order, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Don’t call me that."
"..."
"Now go. Confiscate everything from Lucien and Augustus for me. Also, send every noble away. I don’t want anyone touching the kingdom’s documents, records, or operations. I also want you to strip all nobles of any power over castle decisions."
"But Lady Evelyn, what if—"
"Kill anyone who refuses to return the power they seized in the Demon King’s absence. And if anyone complains, kill them too. That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it? I will handle everything. I don’t need anyone trying to influence what I want to do." A single shadow is strong, but not enough to match the most powerful demons.
But there are hundreds, thousands of them. And all of them together can handle the vast majority of demons.
"Understood, Lady Evelyn." Some of the shadows vanish to do as I asked, while a few remain to receive further orders. I get out from under the sheets I’m in, noticing I’m wearing an elegant dress and my entire body has been healed and cleaned perfectly.
"..." I feel a bit uncomfortable knowing that one of them must have seen me naked, cleaned my body, and dressed me. But I can’t complain too much; at least they healed me.
"What’s Esther’s condition? And Eve’s?"
"Lady Esther is currently sleeping. She woke up before and immediately demanded to see you. She seemed angry and was clearly hostile towards you, so we’ve kept her sedated and contained in her room until your awakening. Your servant, Eve, was brought to the castle, properly healed, and is waiting for you in a private room."
"Due to the extensive damage caused to everyone by the unstable consumption of Hikishin during the combat, all candidates for the throne have suffered relatively severe injuries."
"...Wake Esther up. Let her come see me." I can already imagine what she’s thinking. She was crying when she realized I tried to kill her. She must be so hurt. The thought makes me sigh with exhaustion. She’s undoubtedly going to be furious with me.
’At least... now I’m officially the Demon Queen. Esther will never inherit the title or get the power boost. That means Esther’s genocide plan will have to be postponed due to a lack of power...’
"Hey, shadows. I want you to bring me the most powerful monster materials you have. Also, I want several Rank S or higher cores." I’m going to create living puppets. But this time, I’ll be very strict about their creation.
I don’t want another Syl’Vyr in my life. I don’t even want another Eve. Despite Eve’s loyalty, she’s far too autonomous. I’m going to create living puppets that will do my paperwork, filter everything for me, and nothing more.
Their focus will be to live and die to fulfill the duty I impose on them, and nothing else. No questions, no lies, no individual choices. Their emotions will be more practical, focused one hundred percent on being blindly loyal and obedient to me.
"Immediately, Lady Evelyn." A few more shadows disappear, leaving only three of them.
"..." I’m a little irritated with the shadows. Based on what Esther said, our father is alive and planned to disappear, pinning the blame for his death on me.
"Shadows, is my father alive?" When I ask this, they fall silent. And that’s all the answer I need. It seems they were ordered to stay quiet. And an order from a previous Demon King must still be obeyed, as long as it doesn’t severely affect the new King or Queen.
"Tsk..." I look at my tail, which is swishing against the soft bed. My tail seems happy with the incredible softness. I look around the customized room; it looks like it was recently made to suit my needs.
’The castle is mine...’
"Lady Evelyn, Miss Marie and Miss Laplace wish to see you. What should we do?" A shadow informs me, snapping me out of my reverie about the castle being mine.
"First, I want you to officially expel those two from my castle. Send them to their own houses. The castle is mine now, and I don’t want them near me. As for seeing them... I’ll see them in a few hours. Have them wait in the throne room."
"Also, prepare a new dress for me. Entirely red and black with gold embroidery. A crown with an amethyst as the main jewel. And a cape." I want to make a proper "display" of who the new ruler is.
"Understood." Two more shadows leave, leaving only one. When I dismiss her, she’ll send more shadows. There will always be shadows near me unless I order them to leave because I want to be alone.
"You... I have a special order for you..." I think about all the power I have now. And there’s something I can’t accept, a flame of anger burning in my heart, along with something I’d have to do anyway.
"What do you wish, Lady Evelyn?"
"Kill half of the nobles who participated in my trial. Confiscate half the assets of the nobles who survive as a warning." I need to do this. To show I won’t tolerate just anything. Being the Demon King doesn’t guarantee instant loyalty or respect.
Everyone will try to figure out if I’m the same failure everyone knows. Well, I’ll give them an early answer. I am now a Queen who won’t put up with any nonsense.
’How ironic... now I can easily defend myself from any demon except Esther...’ I lean back, lying completely on the bed, staring at the ceiling. If Esther tries to hurt me, I wouldn’t let the shadows interfere.
By a twist of fate, I can’t just stop Esther. My heart aches just thinking about letting her hold a grudge against me.
"Haaa... Haaa... Haaa..." I pant, feeling a kind of psychological pain from the stabbing. I hear her pained question echoing in my mind: why did I do that, even though she loves me?
"Lady Evelyn, are you alright?" Another shadow appears near the bed, checking on me as if I were injured. Seeing such concern for me is uncomfortable after being so humiliated in this castle.
"...I want silence... I don’t want any shadows near me for the next hour. I want to be alone." I want privacy to suffer in silence, so I order the shadows to leave me be.
As soon as the shadow leaves, I hug my tail, curling up in pain. Being a dragon has never been such a disadvantage before.
It’s as if my body is screaming in pain from losing my "treasure." It hurts so much, the pain is almost physical.
"..." When Esther was attacking me and I saw Eve dragging herself with that sword to come and kill Esther, I nearly erased Eve. I almost used my ability to sacrifice her, just so she wouldn’t hit Esther. And I’m sure Eve noticed, because her gaze faltered.
"I nearly destroyed the only person who has been loyal to me from the start..." I bite the tip of my tail, disgusted with the horrible, selfish person I am. The scales are hard, and the action creates a faint clicking, scraping sound against my teeth that echoes in the screaming, empty silence of the room.
Eve, even realizing the risk to protect me, was willing to risk her life. I don’t know if I’m happy about that or angry that she tried to hurt Esther without my consent.
"Why do emotions have to be so confusing?" I murmur, wishing I could just stop feeling so strange about everything, about my own choices. Why am I such a hypocrite? Why can’t I just be happy I became queen?
I did something that defies the impossible. From rock bottom, I climbed to the position of queen. So why can’t I even smile with joy at this achievement?
"..." My wings close around me protectively as I nibble the tip of my tail, feeling the rigid cold of the scales between my arms.
’I wish I had never remembered... I wish I had never found out I was human... If I had lived as a demon from the start, I could be happy...’ I wonder if I have dysphoria about my race.
I’m not a doctor. How could I evaluate myself? But it wouldn’t be impossible. I was human, then I became a demon and didn’t know I was once human. Then I remembered I was human, but forgot I was a demon from the start, and then discovered I had been both.
It messes with my mind and my body. Why can’t I just be one? I didn’t want to have to live through the experience of both. It’s uncomfortable. It makes me feel like an aberration.
"Does anyone else go through what I go through? Is there anyone in this world, or another world, who suffers what I suffer? Or am I just so pathetic and selfish that I think my suffering is something absurd when it’s not even a big deal? Am I treating my suffering as something too big?" I hug my tail tighter.
Is my suffering my fault? Do I treat it as bigger than it really is? Have I really suffered a lot? Or am I just being a hypocrite?
"..." I look to the side, seeing a mirror on the wall. It shows a breathtaking beauty, a carefully sculpted beauty. How can I be so beautiful on the outside and so ugly on the inside?
"No... no... no, I shouldn’t think about that..." I shake my head, not wanting to think about what "Evelyn" did. I would never throw another person into my situation. I would never commit such cruelty.
I would never, ever make another person live as "Evelyn" just because I don’t want this life. I’m not a monster like that Evelyn, who dumped everything on an innocent person’s shoulders.
"How did everything come to this? ...How unpleasant..." I hate how my mind plays tricks on me when I’m alone, generating these unpleasant thoughts. Why does everything seem to overflow when I’m alone, making me want to cry?
’I have to stop being like this... It must be so irritating for others to see me this way...’ I take a deep breath, hugging my tail in silence as I try to think of good things, even if almost nothing comes to mind.