F-Rank Puppeteer!! But I'll be Queen, and I'm not a narcissist!!!!!-Chapter 229: Explanations

"...Feeling better now, Eve?" Darian asks as I stretch inside the carriage. It’s been one month and nine days since Evelyn-sama was unjustly imprisoned. We took longer than expected because we took a different route than usual, and there were many bandits on the roads causing trouble.

"Yes, much better." Thanks to the bandages and food, I managed to recover, and my body started to rebuild itself. I can fight again now, though I don’t have a sword, so I have to avoid using plasma electricity to keep from overloading.

"Thank you for the clothes, Darian." I say to him with a smile, thanking him for the dress, though I find it strange that he had women’s clothing with him.

"It was nothing. Unfortunately, because of those little shits, we’re behind schedule." He curses the bandits with a growl as I look outside the carriage.

’Five days until we reach Esther...’ That’s a long time. I’m nervous and tense all the time because Evelyn-sama is suffering somewhere—sad, in pain, and alone—and I’m not there to defend her.

"Hey, boss, there’s someone on the road," the driver says while Darian stands up, annoyed that it might be another bandit. I also stand up as the carriage stops.

We both step out to deal with the bandits, but as soon as we do, we exchange glances. Approaching us is Esther herself, which is strange since we’re still far from the battlefield.

Besides, she’s covered in blood and dragging a broken sword along the ground. The sword is badly damaged, with pieces of the blade missing, and the hilt looks broken as well.

’!!!’ Realizing it’s her, I quickly run toward her. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t arrived yet; I just want to talk to her as soon as possible. As I get closer, I notice she’s in some kind of strange trance.

She doesn’t even seem to notice me, just walking and murmuring something softly. I approach cautiously.

"Esther!!" I call out, and when she hears me, she looks up. Her eyes are truly dangerous, making me take a step back.

"Evelyn... ah... It’s you, Eve..." She says Evelyn-sama’s name with so much hope, until she realizes it’s me, Eve, and her expression closes into something disappointed.

"You’re here to tell me something, aren’t you? I’ve been walking for days... seems like I’ve finally found what should inform me..."

’How does she know?... Who cares!’

"Esther, I need your help!! It’s urgent!"

"...Calm down... don’t talk so fast... I know it’s urgent, but I’m not patient enough. Speak calmly, state the facts." Normally, I’d ignore what she said, but her wild look makes me obey.

"Evelyn-sama has been imprisoned, accused of killing the demon king. Someone blocked the delivery of my letter to you all. They didn’t let me go see Evelyn-sama in prison, and Syl’Vyr and Faye betrayed Evelyn-sama!!" I state the main facts calmly, despite the tremor in my voice.

When she hears this, she seems confused for a moment, before I hear a loud sound like metal scraping against metal. Her teeth are clenched so hard that the crack echoes, causing some nearby birds to flee.

"I see... yes... it makes sense... you came to inform me of this, right? I understand..." She seems very crazed. I don’t know what happened, but she’s more disturbing than usual, and her calm is strangely terrifying.

"You did a good job, Eve. I notice you’re injured—seems your journey here wasn’t easy... thank you for coming to tell me this..." She thanks me, and I’m even more shocked. Her thanking me? I’ve never heard a ’thank you’ come from this woman’s mouth.

"Hahaha... I felt like I was going to go insane not knowing the answer... now it makes sense... Eve, someone sabotaged my communications with the kingdom, and my strongest servant didn’t send me his report."

"Tell me everything, step by step, how it happened." As she says this, we head to the carriage and I start telling her everything. She listens attentively, with a strange patience.

The more details I give, the darker her gaze becomes, yet also indecipherable. I can’t begin to guess what she’s thinking.

About twenty minutes pass before I finish. Darian, who also didn’t know everything, listened carefully, and though he doesn’t show much, he’s clearly outraged by what happened.

"Okay, I understand everything. They probably distanced me because I could prove Evelyn’s innocence. They also cornered her completely, leaving only the option for her to take the blame." Esther speaks with an icy voice.

"Evelyn was smart. If she hadn’t taken the blame, she would’ve been executed. And without me there, death would’ve been guaranteed. Even with Evelyn’s ability, I know she would’ve died, since those executions usually use certain types of magic problematic even for Evelyn’s puppet abilities."

"And escaping would’ve been impossible for Evelyn, since they’d hunt her down by any means possible."

"You seem pretty calm," I say to her with frustration. She could at least show more in the face of this absurd situation.

"Anger and impulsiveness are useless. Evelyn has already been judged, imprisoned, brutally tortured, and must be there waiting for someone to come help her."

"Getting angry won’t make me help her faster... besides, I had some suspicions... I just never imagined this would be the crime..."

"Wait, suspicions?" I say too loudly.

"...Yes, I had some suspicions that they’d try to blame Evelyn for something. I tried to resolve it without worrying Evelyn, but it seems I was too slow. I lacked my servant’s final report to protect Evelyn properly..."

"Whoever orchestrated this plan thought of everything perfectly. Protecting Evelyn was almost impossible... they controlled the positions, set the stage, and limited the responses to this lie."

"It’s actually quite obvious if you think about the fact that no candidate for the throne besides Evelyn was there. If any of us had been there, doubts would’ve arisen and prevented this rushed trial."

"Eve and this adventurer, you will be rewarded for your work in coming to inform me. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out what was wrong... but now it’s my turn to resolve these pending matters." She stands up.

"Adventurer, since you’re on a guild mission and have nothing to do with this, you should continue and deliver these supplies to the battlefield. Look for a woman named Elizabeth; she’ll be in command."

"I’ll give you a good recommendation at the guild, which should greatly help your career and give you some high notoriety." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Eve can go with this adventurer to the battlefield to deliver the supplies and then return with him. I’ll go to the castle flying; I should arrive in 3 hours, and you’d only slow me down."

"As soon as I reach the castle and resolve the problem, I’ll send someone to fetch you quickly, Eve..." She uses some magic that creates large, blood-red wings.

"..." I grab her hand.

"I hate you, Esther. I hate you deeply, but save Evelyn-sama. Don’t let her suffer anymore. My pride meant little when I decided to come after you for help, so don’t let that be wasted. Evelyn-sama shouldn’t spend even one more day in that place." She pulls her hand away with mild irritation.

"Don’t worry. She won’t spend even one more day in that place, even if I have to kill everyone in my way. Don’t forget who I am."

"I am Esther Ashcroft, the current princess closest to the throne. Without a demon king, I am the one who holds the greatest power alongside Lucien. Evelyn’s imprisonment doesn’t hold if I don’t allow it." She steps out of the carriage, spreading her wings.

"I won’t blame you for failing to protect Evelyn, because I failed too. And I know hardly any of us could have succeeded... and I’m very grateful you remained so loyal to Evelyn when those two betrayed her."

"And as a reward, I’ll try to get you an excellent sword when I have time. I always reward good work." She begins to fly, leaving at such speed she disappears from the horizon in seconds.

"..." She’s right about me being too slow to keep up. It’s better for me to continue the journey with Darian and then return with him. It’s safer, even though I want to return to Evelyn-sama right away.

"Tsk..." I click my tongue. I hate that woman so much, but it’s undeniable that she loves Evelyn-sama, even though I hate her deeply for being mean to Evelyn-sama.

She still easily shows how deeply she loves Evelyn-sama, and precisely because of that love, I knew it was better to go after her, because she’d really try to help as quickly as possible.

I don’t know if I made the best choices. I don’t know why everything ended up this way, and I have no idea if I could’ve done differently, but I hope I chose the best.

"You look frustrated, which makes you seem pathetic. After all, you’ve done what you had to do; you should be more satisfied. Those who aren’t content with what they do will never be content with anything, so I’m curious—why are you so frustrated?" Darian speaks as the driver starts moving the carriage again.

"Yes... I’m frustrated... frustrated at being so weak that I have to depend on the woman I hate, frustrated that I can’t even be there for Evelyn-sama when she gets out of that filthy hole."

"And above all, frustrated at being so pathetic that I failed at the one thing I was supposed to do." My only duty and sole reason for existing is to protect Evelyn-sama. She created me for that, and yet I failed, letting her be falsely accused of something and imprisoned.

So I can’t feel satisfied with the little I did. I should have done so much more for her.