Chapter 391: Long live Queen Evelyn

"..." I look out at the thousands of demons buzzing with excitement as a massive celebration unfolds—people shouting in adoration, children smiling, flowers being thrown, applause, and joyful worship at a queen's ascent to her throne.

It's the festival after the end of the war that happened three years ago. Evelyn, in an extremely elegant dress of vivid red with black tones, looks beautiful standing before all these thousands of people.

She wears an elegant black crown and a long cape in shades of black and dark purple to match her hair. This is her "coronation" as well as a victory celebration. Her coronation never officially happened because of the war, but now that the war is over and she killed the queen of the angels with her own hands, the people and the nobles have accepted her.

The angelic continent has been conquered and our kingdom has recovered and also grown. The people seem to adore her. It's ironic how much three years changed everything after Evelyn became the "top."

"..." Evelyn waves to the people, finishing her speech as the sound of applause echoes extremely loud everywhere. She steps back, passing through the glass door and entering where I am, out of the people's sight. I give a smile to her, and she has a very empty look in her eyes.

"So, little doll, how does it feel to be a real Queen—an adored one? Did you like it? I put in quite a lot of effort to help create a proper celebration for the war victory and your coronation," I say with a smile to my broken little toy.

"...It's... I guess it's nice..." Her tone is completely different from the one she used with the people. After the war, her depression got much worse, even with the medication, but that's fine. I like the overall result. She really did kill the queen of the angels with her own hands.

And the destroyed scenery made people think she's stronger than she really is, when in truth it was very situational.

"Smile, Evelyn. It's your coronation, and you look magnificent." I touch her face as the glass doors close, giving us privacy—the magic on them preventing anyone outside from having the chance to see anything. She gives a fake smile, but her eyes don't follow it.

"Here, open your mouth, love. Take your medicine." I place a pill in her mouth, running my fingers insistently over her tongue to make her swallow it. I lick my fingers, savoring her taste as I pull her along with me.

Even though at first I had been very angry about what the queen of the angels did to her in that vault—something I had to hear in detail because I forced Evelyn to speak—

now I actually like our situation. Evelyn's dependence on me has grown immensely, and now she is my cute little broken doll who depends on me for everything. I knew it would be like this one day; after all, she is a dragon.

"Esther... did I really need this? ...You're the queen... I don't even touch any paperwork anymore... I—I don't even know how the kingdom really is," she asks in a broken tone. I have completely stolen Evelyn's work. She is a queen only in appearance and title, because the entire governance of the kingdom is under my command.

And even those three puppets of Evelyn's were surpassed by me. I used them to sign papers that slowly, together, kept giving me more power. It was difficult and time-consuming because they were truly skilled, but since Amanda, Cypher, and Vermilion handled different things, none of them noticed until it was too late.

Falsifying documents, changing one little thing or another, sending fake papers, and sending documents with slight permission alterations—the accumulation of that over years allowed me to gain all decision-making power while weakening both the nobles and Evelyn and her puppets, giving me a monopoly on everything.

"Yes, we really needed this. You are adored by the people. You needed a proper coronation. Besides, you look great in that dress, and your more intimidating appearance is a cute charm." I touch her clothes, highlighting how beautiful she looks. It makes me want to throw her to the floor and tear it all off just so we can have something intimate right now.

'Calm down... it's not time yet. I need to finish her coronation ritual... then I can do whatever I want with her...'

"Can I go home? I want to see my daughter..." Evelyn has now rid herself of her two extra bodies. They are no longer necessary, so there is only one "Evelyn"—this one. I released her from the restrictions just to give her a taste of what it's like to be at the top of the world and still be beneath me.

After the coronation ends, I will take her to the castle I built—the little golden cage where our daughter is waiting, and the place from which I will make a point of never letting Evelyn leave unless it is something necessary.

"Not yet, love. You still need to do a few more things for me."

"You don't want to make me sad, do you?" I ask in a falsely disappointed tone at her request to leave already.

"N-No... I don't want to..." I look at her hands moving restlessly and at her tail that wants to wrap around me but holds itself back as if it were wrong.

'How adorable...'

"You stopped smiling." I look at her face, letting her know she's so nervous.

"S-Sorry."

"It's fine. Just smile on this great day. It's your coronation! It's very important. Now that you've been seen by the people, it's time to begin the ritual. Normally it's the demon king or the person of greatest trust who performs it, so that's me, right?"

"So I want you to be obedient and wait calmly, Queen. Let's finish your coronation the right way... hmm... kneel, please." I take a dagger and thrust it into the palm of my hand, piercing it from one side to the other. I lower myself, touch the ground, and begin to move, forming a circle around Evelyn.

She kneels on the floor while I draw the correct symbols, even if they end up a little smudged because the blood moves. When I finish everything, I stand up and go to Evelyn. I squeeze the palm of my hand, spilling blood onto her head. The blood runs down the crown to her hair and face while I use magic to heal myself.

"Done. Now you just need to recite a short speech—normally in servitude to the people and to the wishes of the demons. But let's be honest, a broken little doll like you only serves me, right?"

"So how about we change that? Give a speech for me. It's private anyway, and only you and I will know what was said. And it's not like the oath changes anything about your position—it's just tradition," I say with a big smile to her, and she closes her eyes while the blood stains her skin and dress.

"[Before the Honor of being chosen as the next Demon Queen, who shall rule for an indeterminate time, I, in this important moment, dedicate words of... honor... respect, and loyalty...]" She uses the standard opening of the oath.

"[I vow to honor Esther...]" In this line, she was supposed to mention the demons in general, since the duty of a demon king is to the people. My smile grows when I hear this, because her duty is to me and only to me.

"[I vow to respect Esther...]" In this one, she was supposed to promise to respect the people and what they need, but now all respect is directed at me, as it should always be between us.

"[And above all, I vow loyalty... to Esther.]" She was supposed to vow loyalty to the wishes of the demons and to the life of every citizen born or yet to be born, but the only one she needs to be loyal to is me and no one else. It's wonderful that she understands that.

"[And may my life and my time as Demon Queen be dedicated solely and exclusively... to Esther.]" Even though the lines are short and Evelyn cut more than eighty percent of the speech because they specifically mention the demons, I loved what she did.

"Good! Very good, Evelyn, my little doll." I caress her bloodied cheek. What an adorable wife. Saluvia, who was in the corner merely as an observer—forbidden from even mentioning any of this because I cursed her—looks at me with disgust.

I let her see this only because if Evelyn has some small breakdown, she can help. Because of what happened in the battle with the queen of the angels, Evelyn's mind hasn't been very well.

Because her powers as a nymph awakened more actively, she began to literally see emotions as things she can view and interact with. That left her mind a mess that never recovered.

And considering the thousands of demons outside, to her eyes and her mind it must be a messy, chaotic, painful chaos of emotions.

'In the end, the isolation in the castle I built will help Evelyn herself, since there it will be only me, our daughter, and Saluvia—only three people whose emotions she'll see...'

Anyway, it was expected. She went through a war she never wanted, was raped by her enemy, and had to fight while feeling all of her enemy's despair and agony. She actually did quite well.

"D-Did I do well?" Because of all this, her demeanor dropped a lot. In the past, she had even become bolder and more confident, and when she became queen she got "stronger" in personality, but after the war that practically vanished, and now without proper care she simply feels bad.

"Yes, you did well." If I denied it, she would start crying. It's kind of funny, because she became pathetic after the war—but pathetic in a way that I like. It made her more deeply entangled with me.