"Okay... I've already thrown away most of the mirrors, except for something to distract myself," I murmur, deciding what to do. The banquet is coming up soon, so I need to get ready.
I need to grab a dress from the closet. I can think about the alternate route later.
The alternate route where Evelyn becomes strong is when she discovers that the evolution of her ability turns her into a [Puppet Master], essentially becoming a living puppet.
By doing this, she won't become strong, Evelyn will still be weak, but she'll have the ability to create very powerful living puppets that are indistinguishable from real living beings, so I need to take this route.
Basically, Evelyn will be able to generate immensely powerful allies using her own vitality, and that's why Evelyn's vitality status is SSS+.
Fortunately, this route can be done relatively early in the game, but it requires very specific things for this evolution to happen, and the banquet is more important for now.
I go to the closet to check the dresses. I'm not expecting anything too fancy, since everything Evelyn gets is just the bare essentials for survival.
As soon as I open the closet, I freeze. I see several puppets, some very beautiful and well-made, like really nice dolls, but what stand out are two simple wooden puppets right in the center of the closet, getting the most attention.
They're nothing special, just almost like wooden toys with faces carved through some tool, but these two ugly puppets are the most special to Evelyn.
They're her two best friends, Marcus and Corvis. They're in a special spot in the closet, so well-cared for, showing how important they were to Evelyn.
In the game, young Evelyn took better care of these puppets than she did of herself. They weren't just toys, they were her only friends.
I carefully pick them up, but soon tears start streaming down my face, dripping onto the puppets as a memory of the original Evelyn surfaces, a memory from her childhood when she was 7 years old.
...
...
"Okay, okay, my dear friends, I want you to stay calm and quiet, because the great Evelyn is going to perform a play in a few minutes. In this play, I plan to make a new friend," I say excitedly as I place my two puppets on the bed.
"Corvis and Marcus, I have big plans for new friends," I say, trying to sound happy, a huge smile on my face to hide the sadness and pain in my little heart.
"I-I just need some material... well, I think I'll get it. The maid promised she'd bring it to me..." I say, not very confident.
"Well, while we wait for the new material for the play, I'll tell you about my daily life," I say, sitting on the floor and looking at my two best friends, even though they don't speak, I don't mind.
"Today I had a great day. I was able to eat warm and delicious food... the maids forgot to close the kitchen door, and I finally got to eat hot food without getting caught," I tell them the good news.
Warm food is extremely rare. Normally I just eat the cold leftovers when I'm lucky, and when I'm unlucky, I go days without food.
"I-Isn't that great? I even managed to bring a bread with me, a beautiful and soft little bread," I say, taking out a bread hidden in my skirt and placing it in front of my best friends.
"You can have it, don't worry, I'm not hungry anymore..." I say as I carefully move the puppets, giving the bread to them.
"Want to know if I'm okay? Y-Yes, I'm great. Today was a perfect day. I didn't run into the other kids, and the maids were busy, so I had more freedom," I converse with my friends.
"Haha, you're right, my birthday is coming up. Maybe I'll be able to get something good from the kitchen again?" I say with hope.
"No... I can't take that. I want to, but if I take any fabric from somewhere, the maids will beat me..." I deny taking anything beyond the necessities.
I wanted more materials to make more friends, but taking materials can put me at risk. I don't want to get beaten up. It was already hard to get the wood and a knife to make Marcus.
And when the maids saw that I had taken a knife from the kitchen, I was beaten and hung in the sun and rain for days without being able to eat, sleep, or rest.
The rules are clear. I can only have what my father allows, and he said that all future candidates for the throne would only have the basics, and the rest they would have to conquer with their powers.
So if I take things that aren't mine, the maids will punish me, and I don't like that.
"What did you say, Corvis? Unfair? N-No, it's not unfair... it's just that Father is strict. A-And the others don't get things either... they have to conquer them," I say with tears, but quickly wipe them away so I don't cry. I know Father loves me; he just wants to teach us to be strong.
"W-Well, I'd like to have strength, but I prefer my puppet ability. It's the most unique ability of all. Who needs all that brute power like the others..." I try to lie to myself.
Without materials, my ability is useless. Without strings, I can't even control my puppets, and without any construction materials, I can't carve, sculpt, or model new things either.
"W-Well, I can try to ask Father for strings as a birthday present. He usually grants small requests as gifts... I-It's just a little bit of thread..." I say, trying to have hope for the future.
"Y-Yes! When I get the threads, you'll finally be able to walk, and we can explore places, and we can play together," I say with a smile to my friends.
I wish so much that they could speak, but at least when I get the threads, they'll be able to move, and I know that unlike the others, my friends will never treat me badly.
"What's the maid bringing, you ask, Marcus? It's simple. The great me asked for a small piece of wood. I'm trying to learn magic. In the future, I'll be very strong, but first I need to master my powers."
"And the m-maid promised she'd bring it," I say to them with a small smile.
"M-Marcus, don't say that. I know she didn't lie... she'll bring it. We just need to wait, and with this wood, I plan to make a new little friend for us."
"What will I use to carve? Well... I can't take another knife, but I discovered I can carve with my nails, even though it hurts and makes them bleed a little, it's okay. It's all for my friends, right? What does it matter if my nails break? They'll grow back." I climb onto the bed.
"Hurt? Oh, this red mark isn't what it seems. I just bumped into a maid, and she slapped me as I was running to my room, but it doesn't hurt. I mean, haha, it's common for that to happen. She could have beaten me more, so I think I got lucky."
I soon hug my two friends, knowing that the maid lied, and that tomorrow I'll probably have trouble getting food since I invaded the kitchen today, and I'm sure they'll notice.
But it doesn't matter. As long as I have my friends, everything is fine. I don't care if they're just inanimate materials. They are all I have, and they are my best friends who will never abandon me.
They are special, and they will always be special, whether now or in the future. I will never forget my friends.
...
...
I look at the two toys of Evelyn in my hand, the two puppets that Evelyn built with a lot of effort. I feel my tears dripping onto the puppets.
"D-Damn it... why did she have to have such a sad past?" I say, wiping the tears on my dress. I put the puppets back in the special place Evelyn kept them.
I feel a strange affection and care for the puppets. They are my "true friends," the only legacy of the real Evelyn, the only valuable thing the real Evelyn left behind.
Now it's mine, and I won't be like the others who think it's silly. These puppets may not be very beautiful, they're not detailed, and they're absurdly simple, but they are the dreams of a rejected child.
They are the true friends of a child, they are the hope and determination of a child to be loved, even if the love comes from an illusion. Evelyn's narcissism is like a defense mechanism.
Evelyn realized that only she would see value in herself. She realized that if she didn't love herself, no one else would love her. Her narcissism is the saddest thing in her history, proof of a child who gave up on receiving affection and started giving herself the love she wanted.
"Don't worry, Evelyn! I'll prove that we're not just two failures... I'll prove that we can do incredible things," I'm afraid of the future, but strangely I feel good about trying something.
I'm tempted to go out and prove that I'm not a failure. Knowing Evelyn's incredible future gives me the confidence I need to know that everything depends on my effort.
The closet has several small puppets, all assembled with effort. Most of these materials Evelyn obtained by asking for them as birthday gifts. This small collection was made with years of suffering and effort.
"That's right! We are the best of all. I am Evelyn Ashcroft, and I will be the Demon Queen!" I say to myself, opening the drawer to get my best dress.
A simple dress. Evelyn doesn't have incredibly good clothes. She only has basic ones, but Evelyn is beautiful, so anything looks beautiful on her.
I grab a black and dark purple dress. It's elegant and matches my purple hair. I quickly start putting it on carefully.
The banquet is a chance for change. I must not be intimidated by my siblings and rivals for the throne. They are all rivals who want the same thing, the throne of ruler of the demons.
But only I, Evelyn Ashcroft, the one who knows almost everything about the game, will obtain this position and prevent the global genocide carried out by Esther Ashcroft.