Late that night, outside the Profen guesthouse.
An unadorned exterior, like the average luxury apartment complex. Eve was outside, thinking about the past.
“Ultimately, we never completed the rune to cure illness, but getting sent to another world saved my neck. I’m grateful to both Eugy and Asako for that.”
She wasn’t wearing her usual rabbit costume and was strolling the gardens as Asako. In her hands, she held a mysterious hypodermic needle. The green liquid within it was glowing—obviously bad news.
“Alky did finish creating the healing rune once she got here…but after I turned into a demon lord, not only was my illness cured, I became immortal. I didn’t even need it! It’s all good.”
Eve was talking to herself a lot. She was clearly worked up. That sinister grin on that young girl’s face was quite disturbing.
“Still, I’ve been stuck in Asako’s body this whole time, unable to let my guard down. Fantasy, pfft. I’d much rather lord it over everyone back home. I can’t abide not achieving my original goal!”
She had convinced Eug and Alka this was their world, just transformed. It was part of her plan to make them put down roots.
“But I’m not liking this new motivated Rinko thing. My plans with her went great at first. I figured if she had a kid, it would make her lose all interest in going home, but she might have bought into this mom thing a bit too much.”
Eve intended to leave this world in such upheaval it would be a millennium before anyone could chase after her. But Rinko’s beloved daughter and husband lived here, which made her want to protect it, and given what Eve had already done to them, she was preparing for a proper war.
That was bad news—yet Eve just looked delighted. In a highly evil way that hardly fit Asako’s adorable features.
“Gets me so excited! No one really gave me a challenge back home. At this point I definitely want to see Rinko humiliated before I skedaddle. I’ll be able to drink to that for weeks!”
Eve was totally counting her chickens, playing with the syringe as she strolled the empty gardens.
“Anti-Kunlun weaponry…made from a special rune that counters the Kunlun villagers’ absurd strength, my ultimate weapon—hannyatou.”
A drug developed to fight Kunlun villagers.
The name referred to water from the spring of knowledge. It forced Kunlun villagers to realize how unusual they were by this world’s standards, and deprived them of their strength—one of Eug’s inventions.
Kunlun villagers were all living legends, and Eug had been desperate to find a way to counter that power. She’d boiled down dubious herbs the villagers despised, mixed them with powdered silver (for its anti-magic properties), then dissolved that in alcohol and applied the rune. Eug insisted it was the one thing that could stop a Kunlun villager.
“With this, I can easily capture Lloyd. He has no way of knowing I’ve got this up my sleeve!”
She slipped the glowing syringe in her pocket, moving swiftly toward the guesthouse.
Eve had ordered the guards to stand down, so she walked right in. She was a lone girl, blending with the dark like a ghost.
Near the bedrooms, she slipped behind a pillar.
“Better put on Eugy’s optical camouflage hoodie.”
Eug had been wearing this quite a while back, when she first met Lloyd. It made Eve practically invisible.
“Heh-heh… If I’m this stealthy, even Lloyd won’t spot me.”
If Selen heard that, what would she do? Likely sneer and say, “Snoorrrt, you don’t know Lloyd.”
Yes, Eve had heard about Lloyd’s miracles secondhand, but…well, normalcy bias reared its ugly head again. She was sure she’d be fine, even if no one else was. Her eyes were clouded by all her successes as president and king.
She was about to taste defeat for the first time. A miracle beyond anything in either of her lives, a boy so artless it could only inspire awe.
The invisibility cloak made her bold, and she skipped across the interior garden until she reached the guest rooms.
“Which one is Lloyd’s… Hmm?”
Seeing lights still on in one, Eve wondered.
“Are they still up? They can’t still be drinking. Going over plans for the summit tomorrow? How diligent.”
Curious how they planned to corner her, Eve peered inside.
“Both red wine and white! Whoa! I’m doing the Wars of the Roses solo!”
Marie was plastered.
What is she doing?!
Knocking booze back the night before facing her? Eve was disgusted. It wasn’t just her; Sardin and Threonine had gotten dragged into this, and were looking horrified.
“Um…Princess Maria… Tomorrow’s a big day…right, Ubi?”
Sardin turned to his wife for help, but…
“This amber wine’s gooood.”
“Darling wife?!”
Ubi could drink. She was the kind of drunk who would quietly sip away, never looking worse for wear, until you discovered how far gone they were.
Meanwhile Anzu was knocking back shochu on the rocks.
“Why… Why can’t I find anyone?!”
“You know, these things happen. In due time.”
Threonine was on the receiving end of her harangue and was looking clearly very tired.
“The only person who ever chats me up is Renge when she wants to gloat. I thought Eve was my friend! But she just wanted to use me.”
Eve’s betrayal had been more of a shock than she let on.
Hmm. If we’d been born in the same world, we might have been good friends…but…we literally live in different worlds. Sorry, Anzy.
In Eve’s mind, she had never seen herself as more than a visitor. But she did feel a little guilty.
Still, they’re dumber than I thought…or arguably just that sure of themselves? Marie’s looped right back round to rather adorable.
With that, Eve left the room full of darling drunks.
But to Lloyd… Wait, another one?
She’d barely resumed her search before she found another light on.
Another drinking party?! Most of the rest are underage!
Eve peeked through the window, curious.
She found the cadet girls with Renge and Mena. They were all in pajamas, sipping tea before bed.
Renge alone was not like the others. She was guzzling tea like it was liquor.
“I feel like Allan and I ain’t getting’ nowhere. Stagnating? Retrograding?!”
Apparently, the sleepover subject was dating. It may have been spur-of-the-moment, but Allan and Renge had already gone through the wedding ceremony, so perhaps “dating” wasn’t the right word.
“I know! You skipped right past the courtship and can’t quite process your new relationship, which makes you nervous.”
Selen’s sympathy was usually misplaced, but not this time, and Renge was nodding.
“So where’s Allan at?”
“In bed already. Can’t handle the stress of tomorrow’s summit.”
“……He’s just a wuss. But given who we’re up against…”
A row of rulers all accusing Eve of evil— Allan’s reaction was totally normal.
“You’ve had the wedding,” Mena said. “Panicking now will just make it worse. Especially with a basket case like him.”
Renge acted like she was listening, but she wasn’t actually calming down at all.
“You’ve got a point; I oughtta keep my head on straight. We’ve started cohabitation—I’ve got this in the bag! Gotta remain calm and lay the groundwork with Threonine.”
“That’s what I mean by panicking,” Mena muttered, but Renge was so intense about it she didn’t argue further.
Listening to all this, Eve looked deeply sorrowful.
Huh? Are my sins a secondary consideration?
If they weren’t leveling accusations, that was a good thing—but it also made her feel left out. Like influencers who loathe online harassment but agree not getting mentioned is worse.
Renge set her empty teacup down on the saucer, noisily, and changed the subject.
“So you getting anywhere with Lloyd?”
“““Hah?!”””
That brought a smirk to Renge’s face that was utterly devoid of elegance.
“I might have been a bit curious. Anzu does bring him up rather often. And this is a pajama party… Honestly, I’d much rather gossip about that than Eve’s so-called crimes.”
I’m not even secondary?!
Eve was reeling now. Can you blame her? Wedding blues > Romantic gossip > The greatest villain of our times.
“Fess up! I know there’s plenty of cadets with their eye on him.”
Renge was serving as a guest instructor at the academy. In that position, it was hard for her to really pry like she wanted, and she was seizing the chance.
“T-talk about a bolt from the blue, Renge!”
“……You are far too eager.”
Renge sighed dramatically, shaking her head.
“You should be eager! Your teens will be over before you know it. And if you two don’t put yourselves forward, Selen’s gonna lock him down. I know Lloyd doesn’t have a romantic bone in his body and freaks out when the topic comes up, but waiting for him to be ready will leave you eating dust.”
“All true!” Selen said, confidently. “Truer words were never spoken. I always put myself forward! It’s the path to victory.”
Riho and Phyllo both glared at her.
“You do tend to lean in…”
“……Like a sumo wrestler.”
A classic sumo blunder involved pushing so hard your foot went outside the ring before your opponent’s.
Although in Selen’s case, it was more like she was doing a solo ringside battle nowhere near the actual stage.
Is this how girls talk in private? A bunch of meaningless flimflam? I envy it! …Mm?
Eve had never been one for fraternizing and was quick to dismiss these topics.