Chapter 340: Answers
"So, Evelyn, how are you feeling?" Saluvia asks while we’re alone here in what is now my room. I look around at my bed, this big double bed where Esther sleeps with me.
"...Chained." That’s all I say. It’s obviously a prison. This collar with a chain holding me to a specific spot, and the chain on my ankle that limits how far I can walk makes it clear this is a literal prison.
’House arrest never made so much sense.’
"I understand. It really is a complicated situation, but I believe that aside from the imprisonment feeling, everything is fine, isn’t it? Food, conditions, the overall context — Esther has been doing her best to make everything comfortable for you and the baby—"
"Why is Esther making me take so many medicines every day? What do they do?" I question her about the extra pills, which unfortunately I have to take or Esther forces me to take them.
"I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what each one does." She looks into my eyes and refuses. What a great doctor I have! Wasn’t she supposed to obey me specifically, her queen?
But I don’t get angry now. I still have questions I want answers to, and one of the most important is why Esther "changed" so much. It can’t just be the fact that I can now taste her emotions.
"...What the hell happened to Esther after she put my body to ’sleep’ and locked its state?" I don’t understand when everything completely fell apart, so I question her.
"...It was around three months after you were ’preserved’ in that capsule. Though I’m not certain myself — perhaps the very context of you being physically and mentally far from her is what made her become obsessed with the idea of locking you in a place where she can control you." She gives an answer that doesn’t help me one damn bit, leaving me stressed.
"You’re my doctor, Saluvia. Do you think it’s good for my mental health to be locked up? Your competence as a medical professional is questionable." I question her, and her competence.
"Above being a doctor, I’m a scientist, so medicine is a mandatory extra I must have. As for your imprisonment in this place... do you wish to kill yourself?" The way she speaks seems strange somehow. She always treated herself as a doctor first. Why did that change?
"...No." I deny it. Obviously I don’t want to die. My life is complicated, but I’m actually somewhat happy sometimes and I love Esther even though she’s bad to me.
"Then I see no problem. Your body doesn’t need sunlight, long walks, or other basic necessities. As for your mental health, as long as you don’t want to kill yourself, that’s already fine."
"After all, at some point you’ll get used to living here, and when you get used to it you’ll be able to be happier. So for me, it’s an acceptable result as a doctor. After all, you’ll be alive and healthy."
"Esther has taken good care of your health and overall integrity. I’m not qualified to judge her methods." Saluvia just completely dodges all responsibility.
"And do you think Esther is normal? You know what... wait..." I get out of bed, pulling Saluvia from her chair, and immediately yank at her clothes, tearing them. Saluvia, caught off guard, can’t react.
"M-My god..." I step back in shock, seeing absurd wounds on her body.
"...Eh... you’re more perceptive than I expected... what gave it away?" She speaks with enormous coldness considering her physical state.
"...I was going to say that Esther’s mental health doesn’t seem the best... sh-she tortured you?" I remember what Maximum Favorability said. It said that the person with favorability ??? could hurt both the person they love and those close to them. And looking at Esther’s favorability, she already is favorability ???
[Esther’s Favorability ??? (Total = ???/100) / Mark of Hatred = 100/100]
??? Completely Obsessed!!! (Extremely Dangerous. When an Individual acquires this favorability, it cannot be reduced. The individual becomes unpredictable, romantically jealous, and dangerous both to you and to those around you)
Before, Esther’s Favorability was 100/100 so I had forgotten it could rise further and that it would already be more.
"...For the last two years I was training Esther so she could improve the use of her blessing... I ended up creating a monster more dangerous than I predicted... these wounds? It wasn’t Esther. They were strange accidents."
"This one here was a knife. A chemical experiment exploded and the knife was flung at me." She speaks, pointing to a deep scar.
"It was the first accident, and they kept happening randomly until three weeks ago when they finally stopped. I don’t know for sure what Esther did, but it’s obvious it was her. Maybe as a warning, maybe because she doesn’t like me, maybe out of revenge."
"Whatever the option, it’s a fact that I know it was her. I don’t know for sure what her blessing does — she hasn’t spoken about it — but it’s obvious it’s a powerful blessing."
"...Some of them will heal, others are still open, but it’s not as bad as it looks. I know my physical integrity seems terrible, but it’s because I’m... how to say it, waiting. In about one month, all the wounds and scars will vanish. After all, there was no point in healing myself if when I did, more wounds, even more dangerous ones, appeared ’accidentally,’ which I deduce is another warning from her for me not to heal."
"Y-You didn’t accept it..." I’m shocked by this. I was angry at Saluvia. I imagined she had simply complied and accepted Esther’s orders. But no, she was silently forced to choose to help her — not through conversation, without contracts, just obvious and indirect threat.
"You have a strong wife. Too strong. She grew at a pace that honestly disturbs me. She’s already as strong as a Demon Queen even without the title of Demon Queen."
"I don’t know how you plan to deal with this woman, but I can tell you — she’s now like a dead ocean. And you know what an ocean with nothing alive in it means? That you shouldn’t enter it. And you... you’re deep in these waters."
"Now, before she comes in here and sees me with torn clothes and you so close, I suggest you step away. She’s always watching even if she’s not here, and I’m not referring to spy magic." Saluvia speaks, stepping away while a new set of clothes emerges from her shadows. She begins putting them on while I return to the bed, unsettled.
"You... can’t you win?" Saluvia had spoken about her power before when I asked in the past. It’s an incredible power!!
"...Maybe if I go all out, but the odds are too relative. I have the advantage of having many bodies of Demon Kings and Queens that she’s unaware of, but Esther’s power is still too confusing to me."
’...Damn...’ Esther’s power is so powerful, it’s ridiculous that someone was born with such a ridiculously strong power.
"Haaa... could you at least tell me what I’m taking in terms of medicine? I won’t fight Esther or stop taking them even if it’s something bad." Resisting will just make everything worse anyway.
"I don’t know."
"...?" I look at her confused.
"What?"
"...It’s a fact that I’m manufacturing the medicines, but with caveats. I know the individual effects of each one, but the reality is that my medicines react with others of similar types, changing their effects. Therefore, normally I make you several pills because they all act as one single medicine."
"Esther somehow ’learned’ a pattern of medicines that causes some effect she wants, but which I don’t know what it is. I tried to study what their combined effects would do, but when I did that, a needle pierced my right eye falling from the shelf and I was poisoned, so it’s obvious she won’t let me know."
’Damn, damn, damn!!’ It’s Esther’s blessing. Even if Esther doesn’t know something, her blessing will always guide her to what favors her. So she doesn’t need to know something, she just needs to follow the "instinct" that it works.
It was probably a "test" using various medicines. She was seeing what combination would activate her blessing with a warning that it would help her. So not even Esther must be sure what the medicine does.
"S-Sorry for attacking you... I’m just... I’m just a little stressed... the baby is going to be born soon, right? You’re going to do the delivery, so we should be more prepared."
"I’m already prepared. You don’t need to worry about that. Also, I suggest you mention this conversation to Esther. I’d rather be able to sleep in peace tonight without something accidentally trying to fatally wound me."
"Now that I’ve evaluated your health, I’m leaving. You seem well and that’s good." She speaks, heading for the door, but as soon as she opens it, Esther is already in front of her. Esther’s expression is very blank before turning into a smile when she looks at me.
"Evelyn, is everything done already? What was the evaluation?" She asks, passing by Saluvia as if she didn’t even exist.
"W-It was great... I’m fine, as much as one can be..." I murmur to her. All I have left is to act like everything is fine, to keep Esther from hurting Saluvia more.
"..." Esther’s eyes go to a piece of fabric that ended up left behind, even though Saluvia hid the torn clothes inside her shadows.
"...E-Esther, how about making me something salty? I’m wanting something salty today!! G-Grapes too, I want grapes... and... g-golden apple, you know how much I love golden apple, right?" I say to shift her focus while Saluvia already left, feeling nervous with her here.