F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 184: Angelic Face, Narrative Manipulation
"S-Shadow!!" I quickly say, dropping everything I’m doing. I see a shadow, a direct and secret servant of the Demon King. It has just appeared in front of me, just like when it brought me the golden apple before.
"Hello, Miss Evelyn. I have come to fetch you and take you to the Demon King. Your presence is required with some urgency. Other children of the Demon King have also been summoned, though not all of them," the Shadow speaks with a voice too neutral to even discern its gender.
"I-I’m busy, you know? I have paperwork, and also my soldiers to lead... and..."
"..." The Shadow stares at me, not saying a word, silencing me, making it clear I am not to argue.
"B-But my allies..." I murmur quietly, irritated by this. I didn’t want to have to go see my father now.
"Your servants will be brought to the castle shortly as well. The situation has changed. You know that in a war, changes of plan happen, don’t you?" Its question is genuine, and it bothers me.
"Y-Yes..." It extends a hand, and I take it. Immediately, the floor around us is swallowed by darkness. I shiver, feeling how powerful this high-level magic is.
"C-Can I know who else is being summoned? And what’s happening?" The Demon King’s Shadows aren’t sent for just anything. If one of them came to fetch me instead of a messenger, it’s because there’s some emergency.
"I cannot inform you of anything. Direct your questions to the Demon King," it denies giving me any answer as I begin to be swallowed by the darkness. I wonder what’s happening.
...
... 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
...
"Qyraen, how are your plans going, my beautiful queen?" My brother arrives with a big smile on his face, entering my room without knocking as I mark some things on a map of the demon continent.
"Raguion, what are you doing here?" I ask, confused. He was supposed to be in that boring conference meeting dealing with less practical matters, while I’m handling the adjustments of our troops.
"My meeting ended early. Some of the angels didn’t come due to lack of time. Everyone’s schedule has been quite hectic lately, thanks to your plans... What is that?" he asks, looking at the map.
"Spy points, locations that are good for building bases and control posts on the demon continent. Unfortunately, many of the angels sent for this failed miserably... but one of them succeeded," I say, smiling.
"Oh!!! What wonderful news. If one of them succeeded, it means we can build the [Bridge]. You really are so malicious," he comes to me, hugging my waist while looking at the map.
"Mhm, the [Bridge] is already being constructed. With it, we’ll be able to use spells like [Heavenly Wings] and move to the demon continent instantly instead of having to fly there."
"And it’s almost ready. In 5 days, we’ll be able to send a very large number of angels to attack those filthy demons... Hmmm, love, ahhh, don’t squeeze me there," I murmur the last part as he caresses me.
"I don’t know what I’d do without you, sister," he kisses my cheek while briefly eyeing the map, still caressing my body.
"Well, I don’t know what I’d do without you either." We both complement the leadership. We’re good at different things, so instead of conflicting over who does more or who does better, we simply divide the work, letting each do what is most suitable for their capabilities.
Therefore, my brother handles most bureaucratic matters, negotiations, and general leadership, and I handle internal projects, soldiers, and war plans we use. In short, we trust each other absolutely.
"Ahh, brother, not here..." He lays me back against the planning table, lifting my leg a bit high. The movement slightly opens my dress as he gazes at my body.
"Come on, my queen. You seem happy with the success, but your muscles are so tense because you’ve been working too hard recently. Let me relieve some of your stress," he says with a big smile, preparing to do something right now.
"Of course, then..." The door opens, disrupting the moment. Some servants see the scene and look away as my brother releases me. I click my tongue, irritated, frustration hitting me immediately.
"I’ve said to knock on the door. Just because it’s slightly ajar doesn’t mean you can enter," my voice comes out cold and cutting as I adjust my dress again and stand up.
"W-We’re sorry, Your Majesty... W-We only came because an important letter has arrived... f-from the Demon King," one of the servants approaches, handing me the letter, which I find curious.
’The Demon King sent a letter?’ I take the letter as my brother looks on. A black envelope. It smells of blood—a horribly strong smell of blood, angelic blood, and not from just any angel.
"Only a horrible beast like the Demon King would write a letter made with blood," I open the envelope, seeing the beautiful handwriting and the red letters slightly runny because blood isn’t ink.
"Sister, what does it say?" Raguion asked curiously, reading the letter alongside me.
[King and Queen of the Angels, considering the recent intrigues between us, and the escalation of the war’s effects, I have decided to consider that you are now actively moving from the slow war we were in to a real war.
Very well, I accept the challenge with a big smile. I am well aware of the control post you just set up. A lucky strike for you, but do not forget, Queen of the Angels, a [Bridge] can be used by both sides.
Prepare yourselves, for now I will no longer passively accept these affronts. If you want war, then you shall have war. And I hope you enjoy my gift.
Signed: Lysaon Ashcroft (The Demon King)]
"Gift?" Before I realize it, Raguion steps in front of me, creating a powerful barrier. I hear a roar and realize something pierced through the continent’s barrier, the kingdom’s barrier, the castle’s barrier, the room’s barrier, and reached here.
Fortunately, my brother blocked the attack, and when I look, I see a black lance made of dragon scales. The lance almost pierced my brother’s barrier, cracking it and penetrating a little.
"...Damned freak," I murmur, seeing the damage. There were many layers of powerful barriers, and he pierced through almost all of them, aiming precisely at me. Although, judging by the lance’s tip, it seems the lance was focused on finding the letter, so if my brother had been holding it, it would have gone for him.
"..." I look outside Raguion’s barrier. The servants outside were butchered, while the roof and several rooms of the castle have a gigantic spiral cut, as if a giant drill had been thrown along the path.
"I guess we can’t hide... this," I say, knowing our subjects will see this damage and know we were attacked. I look at the butchered corpses of the servants and think for a moment.
"Sister, don’t you think this is a good opportunity? The Demon King has just directly attacked another country, breaking several laws of war, and attempting to assassinate the Queen of the Angels."
"Not capture, not take prisoner, but directly kill her." When he says that, I smile maliciously.
"You’re right." I take the lance, still stuck in the barrier, and hold it. It’s a good weapon, but it has no magic in it. It’s just a physical object so that we keep it—truly a "gift."
It only had all that force because the Demon King used his magic to propel it. If it had hit me with that force and I was unprepared, it would have killed me, but now it doesn’t even represent any risk.
"Are you going to do what I think you will?" he asks with a curious look.
"Oh yes, of course I am. Could you get the imaging artifact?" I ask kindly while holding the lance with both hands and using it to pierce my own heart, impaling myself with it.
I let out a soft moan of pain as blood from my chest flows, staining my dress and dripping on the floor. My chest is opened by the lance’s tip, which goes through to my back, as I begin to cry fake tears.
My brother quickly grabs the artifact and creates an image of me while I make an expression as if I’m in great pain. My brother shows me the image as he pulls the lance from my chest, ending the brief performance.
"Hmmmm..." I hold the image while he heals me, closing the wound completely. The image looks very good. It’s me crying with the lance piercing my body. It looks like I was attacked and am a vulnerable victim.
"It looks great. Let’s use it for the newspapers. Headline: [The Demon King Coldly Attempts to Assassinate the Queen of Angels, Breaking Various International Treaties]." I give a big smile as he takes the image from me.
"Seriously, you are so wicked, my queen. It even makes me shiver to think what else you might do," he teases playfully while placing the lance on the table.
"You know how it is, right? We have to seize the chances life gives us. The Demon King gave us such a useful gift, so it would be wrong not to make the most of it."
"After all, I’m not the type to come out losing or harmed." I transformed what was once harmful into something useful. A good king and queen can turn something bad into something neutral or good.
And now, thanks to what I did, I’ll be able to come out as the poor victim of the evil Demon King, controlling the narrative before a narrative can be formed by those who don’t know what happened.
"Now, shall we take a bath together? Dust and blood aren’t exactly what I’d like to have on my body first thing in the morning, and we have to finish what you were about to do on that table." I give a seductive smile to him, and he immediately accepts.
