"...Lady Saluvia, here’s the notebook you requested." A servant hands me a small personal notebook, something I asked for to begin a new record. I take it with a nod, dismissing her as I scale the wall the moment she vanishes from sight.

I punch through the ceiling, open a hole, and climb inside, crawling through the inner passages that only I know. With this route, I quickly reach the space above Evelyn’s bathroom.

Using magic and considerable patience, I cut a square out of the ceiling and pull it upward, crossing the bathroom’s barriers. Now I have full visual access, where I see Esther and Evelyn talking.

’Let’s see... stable casual interaction...’ I jot everything down carefully, analyzing how Evelyn interacts with Esther, the very cause of her suffering. Shocking, truly — Evelyn treats their current relationship as something normal, showing no extreme fear or signs of severe trauma, despite having it.

I don’t know if this means she possesses an incredibly strong mentality, or if it makes her seem pathetically emotionally dependent on Esther. Perhaps a mix of both, or maybe she’s just stupid and throws herself into danger even knowing it’s dangerous. So many variables.

’I should take notes on Esther as well...’ Both of them, still unaware of my presence, carry on with their private conversation, oblivious to my observation. I listen as Esther suggests they talk more.

’Good approach. From my study, their relationship is very poorly verbalized. This could make Evelyn feel better and safer.’ I note down the way Esther attempts to address the issue.

’Evelyn seems quite responsive... acceptable result, though her speech wavers. She’s not as comfortable as she pretends to be.’ Esther — perhaps as a way of coping with guilt, or simply because she’s a strange woman — asks Evelyn to hurt her.

’Efficient... asking Evelyn to scratch her will make Evelyn feel better, more in control, and far calmer, along with the excellent sensation of equality.’ For dragons, scratching things is important, similar to cats that have significant reasons for scratching.

I observe their exchange of affection with scientific curiosity. As Evelyn scratches Esther’s back deeply, both are locked in a very intense kiss.

Evelyn seems to react to the scent of blood, letting her instincts take over. The scratches on Esther’s back run quite deep. If Esther weren’t a Ghoul, these wounds would make her scream or could prove dangerous.

’As I imagined... killing Esther would be a problem.’ Evelyn is far too attached to Esther. If I were to kill this woman, Evelyn would never recover her mental health. As such, it would be a medical failure on my part.

’I’ll be more... cautious... killing Esther is entirely out of the question.’ Esther and she begin having sex inside the bathtub. My interest cools considerably. It’s like watching two animals, and I’ve seen enough animals "enjoying" themselves together. So I move on to analyzing everything I’ve recorded.

’Evelyn, at best, is simple... but Esther...’ This woman is a serious problem. She didn’t change because she regretted being the cause of Evelyn’s suffering. She only changed because she understood that not changing means losing Evelyn.

In other words, it was a change driven by pure ego, arrogance, obsession, and possessiveness. Her talk about killing herself if Evelyn were to die makes that fact clear.

’This woman could pose a risk to my life. Training her while I learn about her blessing is intriguing, but I should devise a contingency plan to disappear...’ I seal the hole with magic and backtrack, starting to leave so no one notices me.

"The current generation really did have a troublesome Queen." I drop from the ceiling, landing in the corridor. Two girls who can’t set aside their instincts controlling an entire race — truly complicated.

’Although, even being weak, Evelyn has Esther as a stabilizing weapon for her kingdom... what a strangely functional couple.’ I close the little notebook and tuck it into my clothing.

"I still don’t have enough to decide what to do..." I step into the shadows, a magic all [Shadows] use for movement, and emerge inside my laboratory.

The intense smell of medicines, drugs, and blood hits me immediately, but it makes my body relax — a familiar scent I’m perfectly accustomed to.

"Haaa... much better..." This air, which would make many weep, cough, and feel ill, is far more comfortable to me. I look at the countless notes spread across various panels — records I keep on every generation of Demon King.

"Well, the time has come to add Evelyn to this." I pull a large slate from a stand and place it on the wall, where I begin to write what I’ve learned: about her body, about her magic, about her powers, and what I know of them.

"Evelyn’s ability is very good. If I can get hold of her corpse in the future..." Her puppet-creation ability is enviable, even though the ability leaves her weak. But since I’d only be controlling the body, I wouldn’t become weak, so it’s a perfect ability.

"I wonder how many years Evelyn can live, and whether she will die..." There are some Demon King bodies I was unable to obtain, because they couldn’t die and simply decided it was tedious and either self-destructed, leaving not even the dust of their bodies, or isolated themselves in another dimension.

’Well, if I don’t get it, that’s fine. Just the data on her body already interests me greatly.’ I finish scribbling on the board with everything I’ve gathered so far, and with it I draw a parallel between her and other Demon Kings and Queens.

"Evelyn reminds me of Alicia..." Demon Queen Alicia, one of the few bodies I was unable to obtain. She was also a dragon, though a pure dragon rather than a hybrid like Evelyn.

This Demon Queen possessed the [Absolute Control] ability, which allowed her to control the bodies of everything she could bite and inject her toxins into. It was an extremely powerful blessing that let her control others as if they were puppets.

"The difference is that Alicia was quite powerful..." I take a book from a shelf. In it, I’ve recorded strategies that Demon Kings employed. Since Evelyn has a power similar to Alicia’s and vice versa, I can examine what strategies Alicia used during her reign that Evelyn could replicate.

"Predicting the future of someone so chaotic is so complex." I throw myself into a chair, starting to read to refresh my memory of that era. After all, age doesn’t define memory — you can live as long as possible, but past a certain number of years, memories begin to fade.

Since I’m over 19,000 years old, I’ve already forgotten a great deal. Fortunately, in my youth, I foresaw my cognitive and memory decline and made adjustments — notes, recordings, and spells to help me recall everything.

...

...

...

"Eve, we’re getting close according to the captain!! Plus, dinner today is fish!" A soldier I’ve had many interactions with speaks to me as if we were friends, while from here I can already see the continent, though it will still take several hours to arrive.

"Yeah, I’ve noticed. Not much longer... but it’s not just about arriving." We still have to circle the edge of the continent and then dock the boats, which will take at least five days. Fortunately, the angels have no way of knowing precisely when it will happen, so we’ll be able to dock without being attacked immediately. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"Eve, do you think it’ll be very difficult?" The soldier, who seems quite young, asks curiously. And I end up choosing to answer, rather than ignoring him as I do most of the time because he talks too much.

"I don’t know, but it’ll probably drag on a lot." Wars aren’t quick, and they don’t end instantly. Even with the current situation, the war will likely take anywhere from many months to a few years.

"Okay, well, I hope it leans more toward the fast side than the several-years side, or my wife would get pretty mad hahaha. After all, I told her it would be something brief, a few months." He says this, rubbing the back of his head. His complete lack of awareness is almost stupid.

’I won’t ruin his naive notions.’ Mortality in wars is high, so him saying he wants to return to his wife is almost a very large red flag.

"You know, you should be more... serious about the war. It’s not a walk in the park, you know?" I say, leaning against the ship’s railing. The many months at sea were... bothersome. The monster attacks were undoubtedly hellish.

And in the end, ship damage came to 9% and ship losses, and 20% of the ships sustained low to medium damage. So it’s within the expected range. In fact, the prediction was surprisingly accurate.

There’s also the fact that Evelyn-sama returned to the kingdom, based on what I feel from our connection. I’m worried because when she spoke with me a few days ago, her voice was somewhat shaky. I hope that in the next contact she explains her situation.

"I am taking it seriously!! I’m just not sure what to expect, that’s all. It’s my first time entering combat, but everything will work out, right?" He, who is far too optimistic, makes me flash an ironic smile.

"You’ll see. But most likely everything will work out, so just try not to die." First combat — no wonder he has that attitude. Evelyn-sama also didn’t think things would be so bad.

And in the end, upon experiencing battles and war, she was forced to do things she hated and was forced to grow in a way that now disgusts her. So this young soldier will have his mentality drastically altered, if he survives.