F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 223: A Perfectly Coherent Trap
"..." I stare at the man who’s watching me as if I’m about to bolt. We’re inside a carriage heading toward the castle. I take a deep breath, forcing myself to stay calm—something I learned and perfected under Esther’s guidance. Always stay calm before you know whether a situation is bad or not.
"These shackles are incredible..." I murmur, looking him straight in the eyes. All I can do is hope Esther shows up to handle this.
"You don’t seem scared. That’s interesting, considering your reputation as a failure. Seems like a lot has changed since your childhood. Looks like you really don’t deserve to be called that anymore," he says while I smile.
"Who knows? Anyway, what crime did I commit that would get me shackled with the most powerful restraint we have?" I say it with irony and amusement. After all, I’m immune to this thing.
It was made to contain magic and even certain blessing effects, but its main focus is on magic and physical abilities. It doesn’t stop me from connecting with my puppets, though. I could easily escape from here by swapping bodies.
And I can still give commands to my puppets. Since I have no offensive magic and no great physical strength, the shackle is useless and ineffective. It has zero real effect on me.
"It’s not my duty to say... You’ll find out soon enough..." Despite maintaining this brave front, I’m genuinely scared. Because it seems serious enough that they’d use this specific shackle.
’I wonder if this has something to do with the Vivetrinita...’ It’s the only thing I can think of. But how would they know? Esther destroyed any evidence that I had the object, and I never even touched the Vivetrinita.
"We’re here. Get out of the carriage," he says as he stands and opens the door. I step down, trying to keep my courage up, but as soon as I see who’s waiting, I freeze. There are five shadows at the gate.
’W-Why are they here?’ They’re the Demon King’s shadows—his special servants that the public and most of the nobility don’t even know exist. They’re only sent for matters the Demon King considers relevant.
"You may leave. Hand her over to us now," one of the shadows says to the royal guard member, who clicks his tongue and steps back.
"Fine. I’ve delivered her. She’s your responsibility now," he says, walking away as the shadows begin using magic to move me through the shadows. I gulp dryly as we emerge inside the throne room.
’Shadows... more of them... t-there’s so many...’ They’re not even bothering to hide. There are also some very important nobles gathered in the throne hall, set apart from the rest. It looks like the elite of the elite have been assembled.
I look toward the throne. My father’s armor is there, and beside it stands a little girl I don’t recognize. I don’t know if she’s nobility, and she’s not a shadow because she’s showing her face.
She’s a small girl, about 140 centimeters tall. She has long blood-red hair and vibrant purple eyes. Her skin is slightly purplish and pale, with small breasts.
She’s extremely cute and has two pairs of black horns. Her legs are short, and her face is slightly rounded, giving her an air of cuteness she shouldn’t have.
"I will introduce myself to everyone here. Most of you probably don’t know me. To the nobles participating in this trial..."
’Wait, did she just say trial? But what about the investigation? Something’s wrong...’ I bite my lip, uneasy.
"I am Crimson, a loyal servant of the Demon King. I have served him for a very long time, as part of his intelligence network—its head, in fact."
’Bullshit!!’ She’s lying. Because the shadows are the Demon King’s intelligence network, and they have no chief besides the Demon King himself.
"We are here for the trial of Evelyn Ashcroft as the assassin of the Demon King!" When she says this absurdity, the nobles gasp in shock, and my eyes widen in horror.
"W-What?! That’s ridiculous! It doesn’t even make sense! How could I kill the Demon King?! He can destroy continents! I can’t even beat most of the noble demons, how could I defeat the one at the top?!" I say quickly, with more desperation in my tone than I should have.
"..." The girl who calls herself Crimson stares at me.
"I understand that to many here, Evelyn Ashcroft would never be considered strong enough for this... but..." The little girl removes the helmet from the armor, and immediately a cloud of dust pours out from inside. I—and everyone in the room—watch the dust fall from the helmet.
’Dust?... How could dust be... O-Oh no!’
"The Demon King was killed by a Vivetrinita. And according to our search, Evelyn Ashcroft was in possession of a Vivetrinita about two months ago. We have evidence, records, and a logged order," she says something absurd, yet logical.
Even though I’m weak, if I used a Vivetrinita, I could kill the Demon King, no matter how powerful he is.
"T-This..." This is betrayal beyond compare. And since I don’t have the power to hold the position, I wouldn’t be considered worthy of automatically claiming the throne for killing him using unfair tricks.
If a successor to the throne kills the Demon King, they would inherit it—but only if it’s during a fight, not by using something like the Vivetrinita.
"I-I wouldn’t do that, why would I..." I stop talking, realizing that anything I say could make everything worse. All the shadows are here, but if it were true, how could they not have seen me kill the Demon King? If I had killed him, they would have captured me on the spot.
They’d never let anyone approach the Demon King with a Vivetrinita. Which means the shadows know the truth. And they’re not acting.
"Evelyn, do you plead guilty to the crime of assassinating the Demon King?" The girl, noticing I’m not trying to defend myself, asks. I look around. The nobles are already formulating theories in their heads.
"You, who came two days ago, entered the castle and spent time alone with the Demon King, and who had possession of a Vivetrinita with you—do you declare yourself innocent or guilty?" She asks a horrible question.
’Alone?! What a tasteless joke!! I bet the shadows were there!!’ They hardly ever leave his side.
If I say I’m innocent, I’ll be put on trial. They’ll present evidence, and in the end, I’ll be executed for not admitting to such a serious crime. But if I admit guilt, I escape execution. Because I’m still a competitor for the throne, and I’m still in the running.
Not even the Demon King could change the rules of the "game." So my only chance is to admit I killed the Demon King. But why? How? And why are they doing this to me?
Did someone actually kill the Demon King? If so, who? And why are the shadows cooperating if they’re 100% loyal to the Demon King? I bite my lips. The judgmental stares from the nobles are obvious.
Because they already have their "culprit," and they don’t care about the truth. And even Esther won’t be able to defend me from this. She’s away.
’W-Wasn’t this timing a little too convenient? The Vivetrinita as a gift, me being summoned to the castle, that bad feeling, Esther being sent to the battlefield...’ Everything was orchestrated by someone.
I’m sure they’ve already planted evidence that I’m the culprit. They’ve completely surrounded me. And of the dozens of things I could do, they all have ways of shifting the blame back to me. And the more I defend myself, the guiltier I’ll look.
’...’ I look to the side and see Grace. She was summoned too. It makes sense—they called important people. And Grace is important, plus she married into the royal family.
’...D-Does she think it was me?’ I look at Grace’s expression and see disgust, mixed with a slight trace of doubt. It seems like before I even got here, everyone was informed of something.
’H-Hahaha... what a truly tasteless joke. The worst taste of all. They started the investigation before I arrived. They tossed false evidence to everyone as bait, and now they’re piling all the blame on me...’ I feel like crying, but I hold back the tears so I won’t look weak.
"Speak! Evelyn Ashcroft, are you innocent or guilty?" Crimson asks authoritatively. I gasp with anxiety.
"I-I..." If I admit guilt, I’ll carry this guilt forever. I won’t be able to prove it wasn’t me, because unlike the modern world where you can have additional investigations and appeal a sentence, that doesn’t exist here. An innocent person who admits guilt will always be guilty.
’I-If Esther were here...’ If she were here, she could defend me. Because her word carries weight. Then they’d be forced into a proper investigation where they’d find the flaws and inconsistencies in the accusation. And Esther herself would participate, finding the gaps that would defend me.
"Is your silence an attempt to plead innocence?" Crimson speeds things up. She clearly doesn’t want to give people time to think about the errors, leaving me less and less time to think. No matter how much Esther trained me, the weight of this decision is too heavy.
’If I admit guilt, I won’t lose my chance at the throne. I’ll probably be imprisoned and tortured for a while as they make records and formal accusations in the official register...’ Forever. Whenever someone reads the royal register, it will be there—that I cowardly killed a Demon King.
It’s a stain for eternity. It won’t hinder my attempt to obtain the throne, but it will forever taint my story for any future generation.
"I-I am... guilty..." When I admit guilt, all the nobles gasp, as if they didn’t expect me to actually do it and admit it—as if they expected a spectacle where I’d claim innocence and they’d expose me.
I look at Grace. Her gaze loses all doubt and turns to pure disgust. And I understand her. The Demon King is my father, and I just admitted to killing him.
"..." Even Crimson looks surprised, as if she expected me to say I was innocent. But if there’s one thing Esther taught me, it’s to know when I’ve lost. And here, everything was already set up for me to lose.
"As you all can see, she has admitted her crimes... so we will move to the punishment, which will be carried out in accordance with the law and its restrictions..." Crimson picks up a paper and begins citing laws and rules, but her tone sounds frustrated that I just admitted it without even fighting.
She cites everything that’s truly relevant, as well as the fact that I won’t be killed or lose my chance to become the Demon Queen, because it’s in the rules.
It’s not forbidden for a successor to kill the Demon King for the throne if they have the power to do so. So they can’t execute me for something that’s permitted. And the weight of "cheating" doesn’t equal execution.
’P-Please, Esther... g-get here soon.’ I look down, biting my lips so hard that blood begins to trickle as tears stream in small drops down my face. My tail coils around my leg as I kneel on the floor, feeling the weight of the disapproving, judging stares. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
There are so many holes in this story, but no one would dare question it. And me pointing them out would just sound like an excuse. Besides, the more I tried to deflect the blame, the guiltier I’d look, because they’d have answers that would make me seem guilty.
I bet even the shadows—who should be the biggest plot hole—would lie and make the lie sound logical enough, even if false. That’s probably why that Crimson girl was surprised. She expected me to defend myself so she could pin the blame on me even harder.
Now all I can do is wait. Wait for things not to get worse for me, and hope that the letter reaches Esther quickly and she comes to help.
