F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!! Chapter 263: The Chain and the Anchor

"...E-Esther?" I look at Esther, who’s holding in her lap, clutching tightly against her.

"What was that?" She asks as I slowly regain my motor functions; I wrap my arms around her neck.

"Jealous?" I say to her, who is obviously jealous of my mother. Though, I have to say, my mom did an amazing job; my tail is still just as sensitive as always.

But she moves elegantly and smoothly, shifting with my body to avoid touching anything or stirring the air, completely shielding herself from any extre sensations.

"..."

"I’m not telling you anything." I say, giving her cheek a little kiss.

"...So vindictive. You’ve really beco way too vindictive, Evelyn." She carries out of the room.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Taking you on a date to a secret place here in the castle. I bet you’ve never even been there." She says, carrying without an ounce of sha. I feel embarrassed walking through the hallways with my tail exposed after what my mother said about it.

"Evelyn, did you... like whatever happened back there?"

"Being jealous of my mother is a really bad look on you! But yes, I did like it! I feel so much... lighter." I feel genuinely better, as if a small weight has been lifted off . I guess I can consider that a therapeutic massage that relieved days of built-up stress.

"You shouldn’t enjoy another woman’s touch that isn’t mine." She opens a secret passage behind a painting inside her old room here in the castle, carrying inside and through a dark space.

"Is that so?... Esther, shouldn’t you be doing my job right now?"

"I already finished everything for today, so don’t change the subject, Evelyn." She opens another secret door by pulling a brick from the wall, and then starts moving forward. In the dim darkness, the red glow of her eyes is kind of unsettling.

"...Evelyn, are you happy with ?" For the first ti in her entire life, Esther asks sothing she’s never asked before. She’s asked similar things in different ways, but this is the first ti she’s been this direct with .

"Yes, I love you and I’m happy..." I give her a small smile.

"...I’m happy to have you with too... it’s just complicated, we have a difficult relationship." She murmurs, opening the passageway, leading us into a kind of glass do.

Inside the do, the floor is a lawn of pale green grass, with roses scattered throughout. The place has an intense sll of blood.

"What is this place?"

"I had it built in the past. I planned to bury the crown here. When I was younger, I thought it would be cool symbolism—to bury a crown, representing that even though I was the Queen, I didn’t need a crown, because I didn’t want to command lives, but rather take all lives."

"...But you took the throne from , a rather unpleasant irony that shattered my old plans..." She lays down on the ground, lying on top of so our chests press against each other.

"Evelyn... be honest with ... are you happy? If you lie to again, I’ll beco... dangerous. We’re isolated, the shadows aren’t here to stop . So tell the answer to my question honestly."

"..."

"No."

"Do you love ?"

"Yes."

"Are you afraid of ?"

"...A little..."

"You know you’re ruining my life, don’t you?"

"...I know, I know that very well..."

"Then Evelyn, just tell , do you really not care about that fact?"

"I don’t care. I can’t bring myself to care about it..."

"And why, Evelyn? Why don’t you care? You could have chosen better, and you know that, don’t you?"

"I know..."

"Haaa..." She kisses , pulling into a tight hug as I hug her back, accepting her kiss.

"Evelyn, it’s my fault, isn’t it?" She asks after breaking the kiss.

"It’s all my fault that you’re this confused, kind of broken girl... tell when it started."

’...’ I think about the past, the mories of our childhood, the mories I had forgotten, the mories I only recently recovered. One specific mory cos to mind, from when we were both 14 years old.

...

...

...

"Evelyn, what do you want from ?" Esther asks . She’s sitting on a white chair under a parasol, drinking a cup of coffee with five sugar cubes in it.

"I-I... I’m not sure..."

"You look scared, more than you should be for soone who invaded my break ti. But that doesn’t matter, I guess. Sit down." She orders with that empty look, as if my life had no value.

"..." I sit in the chair across from her, looking down, extrely uncomfortable with the situation.

"Tell , am I interesting?"

"Huh?" I look at her, confused by her confusing question.

"You stare at too much. Through the window, in the hallways, when I pass near you, you stare at with fear and sothing else. But as far as I rember, I’ve never really done anything significant to you, have I?"

"So Evelyn, be honest. Because I hate liars who think they can fool . And when the lie is obvious and poorly done, I usually cut the liar’s tongue out. After all, a liar who’s easily discovered doesn’t deserve the gift of being able to lie, don’t you think? So if you’re going to lie, you’d better have a good one."

"I-I... I j-just find you f-fascinating..."

"...?" She looks at as if she’s evaluating , while picking up her cup again and drinking from it without taking her eyes off .

"Oh, is that so? Fascinating? And what about you is fascinating?" She asks a strange question.

"I-I don’t understand?"

"You said I’m fascinating, Evelyn. But you’re here, wasting my ti. So tell , what about you could be considered fascinating enough for you to have the audacity to look in the eyes and ask questions?"

"...S-Sorry." I lower my gaze to the table, trembling in discomfort. I can feel her eyes on , and sothing about it is still strangely captivating. I feel like I know Esther in so different way.

"Apologies, huh? An apology from a coward isn’t really very valuable. If an apology is your answer, then I think we already know your worth here."

"...I-I’m so sorry." I get up to leave.

"Did I tell you to leave?"

"...N-No..."

"Then don’t leave. I still have questions. After all, your irrational fear of is at least a curious puzzle. And I’m bored."

"Your honesty is also pleasant. So Evelyn, let’s do a test. If I gave you a good amount of money right now, would you take a little boat and leave the continent? Sailing across the ocean in a pathetic attempt to start a new life?"

"N-No..."

"And if I said that if you don’t leave the continent on a little boat right now, I’ll torture you and take your life, would you leave or stay?"

"...I-I need to stay... a-and..." I start crying out of fear.

"...Urgh, I hate the sound of your crying. It makes you look even more pathetic than you already are. Get out of here. The day you beco interesting, I’ll summon you to be honest with , Evelyn. Until then, never appear in front of again."

"Continue being the pathetic coward who just watches from afar. And next ti you’re running from the pathetic servants who bully you, don’t co into my garden. I don’t like dirty rats staining this place."

...

...

...

"Esther, when we were 14, you called a dirty rat, pathetic, and said I had nothing interesting about , while I said you were fascinating."

"You made cry... ironic, isn’t it? Now, Esther, am I fascinating to you? Enough for you to ask for honesty?"

"...Yes, Evelyn, you are fascinating." She deeply inhales the scent of my neck, running her tongue along my neck, my jaw, until she reaches a kiss on my lips.

"Esther... I’m not fascinating. I’m the sa fragile girl who cries easily. The only difference is that now I love you, and you love ... but your love is unbreakable."

"And my love is brittle. It’s cracking, slowly but steadily, breaking, and breaking, but never disappearing. Like a vase, that gets broken and glued back together again. Never the sa, but always there."

"My jealousy and your obsession are the glue that keeps sticking this broken vase back together... but this vase gets uglier every ti it’s reconstructed... Esther, tell ."

"Would you give money and throw onto a little boat in the sea to sail far away from you?"

"Never."

"...So you’ll never be able to throw away this ugly vase. But this ugly vase will hold more and more cracks and resentnt towards you as you break it."

"Love is ironic, isn’t it? Do you rember that day? When we were 14 and I called you fascinating?"

"...A little, but I don’t rember everything."

"Esther, can I change the answer I gave you 5 years ago?"

"Of course."

"I was wrong. You’re not fascinating, Esther. You’re simple... and that’s why we’re a couple today. You weren’t fascinating back then. You were like . I didn’t have to rise to your level, just make you fall to mine to show you reality."

"You were arrogant, and your arrogance made you accept a reality that wasn’t yours. Neither you, nor , neither of us is fascinating. We’re like water. Important, but also nothing special."

"So tell , Esther, what’s it like being simple? What’s it like being dragged down? Are you happy?" I’d never asked her so directly if she was happy.

"No... I’m... not happy." When she says this, I smile. A genuine smile that makes her furrow her brows.

"Exactly, my love. Neither of us is happy. Love doesn’t bring happiness. It forms a bond that ties us together, that’s all."

"And you turned that bond into a leash. A leash for both of us... So Esther, for us, the question isn’t when will we be happy. It’s when will you lose control and break again." I give her a kiss.

"You’re so negative, Evelyn. And your negativity is like a black hole that pulls into your center... you’re a disgusting girl. Like a puddle of mud hiding a bottomless pit."

"Thank you for the complint. It’s endearing to hear that from you." I say with sarcasm and a genuine pang of truth.

"If we’re at the bottom, then I’ll drag you up." She strokes my back, touching the tip of her nose to mine.

"Drag up? Then I’ll wait. But I won’t help you. Because I’ve already seen that I can reach the top alone, and the top isn’t pleasant. It’s just the start of a bigger climb."

"So, Esther, I’ll keep pulling you down, okay?"

"As long as you love , that’s fine by ." She kisses . My tail curls around her leg, the core that simulates my heart beats faster as I hold her tightly, my nails sinking into her back as I accept her kiss.