F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!! Chapter 154: Secret Protection and ‘Delicious’ Secrets

"Eve and Faye, have you noticed how Evelyn-chan has been acting strange lately... hmmm... stranger than usual, for the past few days? Actually, it’s been almost a full month now!!" I say to Eve and Faye. Eve agrees, but Faye looks at confused because she’s new here and didn’t know Evelyn-chan before.

"What do you an? Is Lyn acting strange?" Faye asks, her wings opening softly as I glance at Eve.

"Evelyn-chan has been having lots of ’fun’ playti with Esther lately!!" I say, puffing out my chest while Eve facepalms at my response to Faye’s question.

"..."

"Oh... w-w-waaah!!" Faye turns completely red at my words, finally understanding what I an. And even Eve can’t deny that the two of them have been acting like a married couple, with little kisses, more natural conversations, and Evelyn-chan spending even more ti on her appearance.

"Yes, it’s even a bit strange. Evelyn-sama used to be quite ’afraid’ and uncomfortable around Esther, so this sudden change is... uncomfortable to watch. I spoke with Evelyn-sama about how she was foolishly hopeful that she could change who Esther is."

"But now Esther is really changing? At the very least, she’s treating Evelyn-sama much better than before, aside from the daily training sessions they’re having. Evelyn-sama always cos back from training all flushed and with a silly smile on her face," Eve says as I nod in agreent.

"Yes, yes! Very suspicious! Evelyn-chan goes into an isolated room with her wife and cos out hours later, blushing and sweaty! Very suspicious! I believe the two of them are so focused on their ’fun’ playti that they’ve started getting along better," I give my verdict.

"Syl’Vyr, stop thinking so perversely... Besides, Evelyn-sama has been talking a lot about the strategy books she’s been reading, and she’s actually started to improve quite nicely in her planning skills, at least on paper," Eve seems satisfied with that.

"A-Are Lyn and Esther just in love, and that’s why they’ve changed?" Faye says sothing that neither of us had ntioned, sothing that seems inconceivable in so aspects, though not entirely deniable because the two of them have been acting kinda lovey-dovey this past month.

"Faye... I wish I could deny that... I don’t accept that Esther is the one who married Evelyn-sama, but if she’s really changing, all I can do is accept it," Eve says through gritted teeth. I’m also a bit bothered that it had to be Esther, but we don’t have the right to deny it.

"Anyway, what matters is that Evelyn-chan is happy, don’t you think? Over the past month, she’s seed much happier and calr regarding Esther, and even if their slightly lovey-dovey affection is a bit strange, it’s better than Esther verbally attacking Evelyn-chan!" I think that’s what matters.

"...Hmph... A surprisingly responsible comnt from you, what a shock. But you’re right, we can’t ddle too much in their personal lives... and Evelyn-sama genuinely seems happier and more hopeful about the future, so we should give them our full support," Eve agrees with , despite her word choice.

"So, shall we get back to training? I think..."

"WAIT!!! Not yet!" I stop Eve. I don’t want to go back to training. Ever since Esther allowed her to use the underground training room, Eve has gotten much stronger, so our joint training sessions consist of sparring, and Eve always goes all out in these fights.

While Lyn helps us recover faster so we can get back to fighting! I don’t want to get beaten up again so soon! I’m still all sore!!

"Before training, let’s share what we’ve seen about those two!?" I say quickly. Eve doesn’t understand, while Faye tilts her head.

"What do you an?"

"Obviously, I’m talking about their couple’s ’fun’ playti! What have you seen them do?! I’ll start! Three days ago, I saw Evelyn-chan and Esther kissing on a table! Evelyn-chan was laid out on the table like a al while Esther seed very comfortable with the whole situation!!" When I say this, Faye blushes, and Eve looks at with so disgust.

"E-Even I saw L-L-Lyn and E-E-Esther a week ago... d-during dinner... E-Esther, while helping L-Lyn walk because her legs were shaky, was g-grabbing Lyn’s b-butt... a-and squeezing it," Faye joins in the ga while Eve rolls her eyes. If she stays out now, she’ll seem like a buzzkill, so she just sighs and gives up.

"Every two to three nights, if you pass by the door of Evelyn-sama and Esther’s room, you can hear suspicious moans and heavy breathing, usually between 00:00 and 03:00 in the morning."

"Since I often train a lot, I usually finish around 23:00 and walk around the mansion doing a small patrol and walk to calm my nerves. That’s why when I pass by their room, you can hear it," Eve shares the best discovery of all.

"Oh!? So it seems those two are really engaged in this marriage! How naughty!!! Who would have thought the usually so innocent Evelyn-chan had that side to her in the bedroom! That’s why you can’t judge a book by its cover! The quiet, saintly ones are always the wildest in bed!!"

"Besides, Esther is quite the attacker! For soone so cold, she ends up being much warr than she lets on, and... Owwah!" Eve punches on the top of the head.

"Enough of this conversation. I know you’re stalling to avoid training. Besides, what Evelyn-sama does in her private life is none of our business. As long as Esther isn’t forcing her into anything, we have no say in the matter, understand?" She cuts off completely.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, you’re such a grump! I bet you’ve never even experienced... n-never mind..." I shut up under her serious gaze, not finishing the joke.

"Shall we train?" Faye asks, while Eve shakes her head.

"No, let’s rest. I’ve been training way beyond my limits, and training without rest yields no results... I’ve also been a bit hard on Syl’Vyr, who has less physical stamina, so let’s take the day off... would you like... to eat together with ?" she asks, scratching her forehead a little embarrassed.

"Of course! You might be a bit grumpy and cantankerous, but it’s fine! I’ve been getting stronger too!"

"A-And I’m also getting better at timing my spells!" Faye says as the two of us smile, deciding to rest for now.

...

...

...

"Hmmm..."

"I-Is it very bad, E-Esther?" Evelyn asks nervously as I look over the answers she gave on a 100-question test I made.

’Perfect... too perfect... clearly a perfect score.’ I look at Evelyn, seeing the test was answered with totally unexpected perfection. I knew Evelyn was intelligent, but learning all this in just 1 month of study is surprising.

Even though she learned it using the books I wrote, this is content learned over a long period of experience. So her ability to formulate her own answers using what she learned genuinely surprises .

’Although her written answers are very... naive... they are functional, but still too naive for real combat...’ I think about what grade to give her. In terms of theory, she gets a perfect score.

But if we consider the realistic side, she gets a 0, because in practice, her peaceful ideas only work if soone powerful tries to implent them, and Evelyn is weak. And being weak, all those peaceful ideas fail.

"You got half of the maximum score," I decide to be fair. She answered very well in the end. It’s unrealistic for her to do these things, but it’s correct that soone like the Demon King could accomplish them.

She lets out a calm sigh as if she did well, which makes sigh in disappointnt. She’s so genuinely unambitious in so ways; half marks on a 100-question test is horrible in my eyes.

"Here..." I hand her a briefcase, which she opens with her eyes shining. This is her reward for her score. I said that for every point she got on the test, I would give her a proportional amount of gold.

I realized during our studies that Evelyn could extract the maximum of her talent if incentivized through money, especially gold bars and jewels, which she’s been storing in the vault.

"Thank you!" She hugs the briefcase as if it were one of her greatest treasures. Ever since we started this reward system for correct answers, she hasn’t spent any of what she earned and just saved it all.

"...Is sothing wrong, Esther?" Evelyn asks, sensing the tension in the air. She has no idea about the problems I’m having because of her.

’How can I tell her that our father wants to throw her onto the battlefield?’ Thanks to the angel I helped capture alive, the Demon King managed to extract a lot of information.

And one thing is clear: the war we’ve been having with the angels, which was a "small" war of attrition that, despite happening for hundreds of years, only involved limited dispatch of troops and resources, has just gotten more serious.

It has now beco an official and irreconcilable war. In other words, there’s no more stalling. Our father has begun mobilizing many more soldiers to the battle areas.

But that’s where the problem cos in. The Demon King has millions of soldiers, but he is a single being. He needs commanders to lead these troops, but the commanders need to be people he can control without any risk of betrayal.

That limits the choices, and one of the best choices is us, his children. He gave troops to Lucien, Augustus, Laplace, and Marie and sent them to command, and he’s trying to assign 300,000 soldiers to my command.

But I’ve been refusing with the excuse that I’m dealing with matters related to establishing my noble family. Now that I’m married to Evelyn, I can’t just use my family’s na or Evelyn’s family na; the two of us have essentially beco a new branch of nobility.

Although my father doesn’t have much confidence in Evelyn’s abilities, he still wants her to go to the battlefield, leading a small number of soldiers. The worst part is, I can’t protect Evelyn for much longer.

Because as a new noble family, we need achievents to solidify our nas. I do have great achievents, but Evelyn has nothing to be proud of, and because of that, my father can easily force her to fight, even if Evelyn is mine.

"Evelyn, it’s nothing... Let’s focus on our lessons. Besides, you’re progressing well in the part about seeing Hikishin! Ever since you’ve been drinking my Hikishin, your magical capacities seem to have expanded," I divert her focus to her progress.

The lessons and all the content Evelyn is learning from will very soon be put to the test, where she will be responsible for the lives of other demons and will have to give orders that will cause deaths.

And unlike human commanders, who generally don’t enter the battlefield and only give orders, demon commanders need to enter the field. So Evelyn will have to kill people directly.

And even though I’m striving to keep her away from the battlefield, ti is limited. At most, two more months until my father loses his patience with .