I leave the room where Evelyn is and close the door while thinking about everything I learned about Evelyn today. I must say, it was... surprising in many ways.

"Does Lady Esther require anything?" A servant passing by asks upon seeing me exit the room. I think about refusing, but a brief thought occurs to me and I decide to ask for something.

"...Hmm... I need you to go to my library and look for books on rare minerals, but they must be the rarest ones from the four continents... and also the list of nobles who deal with magical relics," I say disinterestedly to the servant while continuing to walk.

'Evelyn... she really gave me the answers I wanted... but this worsens some of my plans, which will have to be completely rethought now...' Her abilities are a true... inconvenience.

'Am I feeling threatened by the chance of her escaping me?' I don't know if Evelyn noticed, but from what I understood of her abilities, imprisoning her anywhere is nearly impossible.

It turns out, from Evelyn's descriptions, I'd say her current body isn't truly her body. Probably, her ability made it so her true body is some kind of spiritual projection akin to a soul.

The core in place of her heart must be the catalyst that manifests this spiritual projection, and the body she uses to move and do things is more like a shell that symbolizes her form.

This means that by using possession, Evelyn can leave her body and go to a distant puppet vessel, and from there, she just needs to reconstruct her "true body" and voila, she has escaped.

And it is precisely this chance of escape that makes me feel threatened because I have no means to block this escape, but I don't understand why the possibility of her being able to flee from whatever I do bothers me.

'A Blessing... There must be some way to prevent Evelyn from possessing other puppets... a way to trap her in her current body.' I think Evelyn can only stay temporarily in the bodies of the puppets she makes.

Because she needs the core, and her puppets don't have that, and Evelyn can only have one core, so she always needs a body made specifically for her.

That's when a memory from the past surfaces. In the castle, I once read about a rare ore that nullifies Blessings, but it's so ridiculously rare that not even the Demon King currently possesses any.

'I need that ore or some magic to lock Evelyn in her current body... but... why am I so... apprehensive about her escaping from me?' I move through the mansion's corridors with this persistent doubt.

'If all this goes wrong... I just need to make it so she can't live without me...' I stop, looking out the window. I see the full moon illuminating the garden with its light, and I finally realize the reason for my insecurity.

"I'm afraid she'll run away from who I am?" I finally grasp the reason for all this apprehension and the desire to prevent her escape. I am afraid... but I don't understand the exact reason for my fear. I shouldn't care if she escapes, but for some strange reason, I do.

"..."

"Since when did I become so emotional? We barely got married and I'm already thinking she wants to run away from me... what a bad joke." I open the window, leaning against its frame while staring at the moon.

'At least Evelyn still falls for manipulation easily.' That request of Evelyn's, where she accepted my terms in exchange for a Golden Apple Tree, was extremely unfair to her side.

Initially, when she offered to let me watch her create a puppet, but in exchange I had to give her a golden apple tree, I knew it was an unfair deal for me because such a tree is rare and will be expensive for me to obtain.

And merely watching her create a puppet benefits me almost nothing, since I only want to see it out of curiosity. But what I proposed in the counter-offer, which she accepted, is even more unfair to her.

"Trading material goods for behavioral control... if she remains this stupid, I guess I don't even need to worry about her escaping. With reasoning this weak, she'd barely make it out of the kingdom's area before I caught her." Evelyn seems not to understand where a deal is unfair to her.

It's true that such a tree is ridiculously difficult to obtain, since it comes directly from the continent of our greatest enemies, and it will require very specific care to stay alive.

However, even though I am "giving" this tree to Evelyn, in the end, this tree will remain in my mansion, and everything that belongs to Evelyn is mine. Meaning, this tree is mine regardless.

Evelyn will only have the illusion that she won it, but it's not like she can take the tree with her, and she also won't be able to use the tree's fruits if I don't permit it.

And that's where the point of my request comes in. Asking for Evelyn to accept any physical intimacy wasn't an act of irrationality, or lust and desire; it's actually "training" for behavioral control.

Now Evelyn no longer has the right to refuse my advances, because we made a deal and she accepted. Naturally, in her brain, she will be paying for the agreement.

And that's the interesting point. It might not make a difference in the first few days, but in about three months she will automatically accept everything I ask for. This will slowly render her incapable of saying "No" to my requests.

The real reason our exchange is unfair to Evelyn is because she inadvertently gave me control over her right to refuse or accept anything. She literally gave me her body and her behavior for a mere tree that will still be under my control.

And in a few months, even if we argue, if she's scared, or if she doesn't want to do something, she will still be unable to refuse and will just obediently say yes because she has gotten used to merely saying yes to any advance I make.

"You should be smarter, Evelyn. Think about the fine print when offering something and accepting deals," I say disinterestedly. The truth is, I prefer it this way. The more naive she is, the better, because she won't try to resist me nor will she oppose what I want.

'I wonder how many weeks it will take for her to start saying yes before she even understands what I'm asking for.' When she reaches the state of automatic response, it will be fun.

"I should take it gently for now... let her have the feeling that everything is fine between the two of us..." I don't want to have to force her into anything; I truly want everything to be natural between us.

Which even surprises me. I could easily break her, leave her mind in such a chaotic and horrible state that she wouldn't do anything without my commands, but I don't want to do that.

I truly and genuinely hope our relationship happens and flourishes naturally, with me controlling only a few general aspects to make her more comfortable.

I know I'm controlling, I don't deny that, but I also won't take it to the extreme as long as she doesn't cross any lines. I won't be giving orders or forcing her to do things all the time.

I'll just do what has to be done.... which is quite strange for me. I've never before felt I needed to hold back so as not to scare the other party away from me.

'I wonder if Evelyn will try to step out of line...' I hope not, because I don't want to have to hurt her to show her her place. I can't say I felt remorse for hurting her before, but I also don't want to actively do it.

If I hurt her, it's only because I needed to. After all, you can't build a relationship on aggression, and for me, who wants a "natural" relationship, hitting her is quite counterintuitive.

"Relationships are strange things..." I step away from the window and start wandering the corridors again, deciding not to think about this anymore. Evelyn shouldn't occupy too much of my time.

I have a mission for the Demon King that must be done within the next three days, and I should focus on that.

...

...

...

"What is it, Grace? Calling me at this hour of the night is VERY inconvenient," I say irritably to this stupid human who made me come to her so late at night.

"Marie, I called you here to give you this," she says while handing me a little pink box with white ribbons. I take the box suspiciously and shake it, listening for a sound.

'What is it? It's not a bomb, is it?...' I wonder. I promptly point the box at Grace and open it, expecting something to be shot out.

"..."

"...Wow, that hurts my feelings. You thought I'd set a trap for you?! It's really a gift! Because your attitude of helping me with the clothes I wore for the wedding was really cute," she says with a flirty smile on her face.

"H-Hmph, it's not like I did that for you. I just couldn't let you embarrass the Demon King," I say, looking at what's inside the box. It's a very simple silver bracelet, which seems somewhat disappointing.

"...I don't need your gifts, human." I throw the jewelry and the box back in her face, uninterested in this ugly trinket.

"..." Grace immediately squeezes the bracelet until I hear a metallic snap.

"W-WHAT!?! Why did you destroy my present?!" I say, furious.

"You said you didn't want it. To me, presents are special things, made for a special person. If the person doesn't accept it, then the present no longer has any meaning."

"..."

"I'm sorry to have bothered you. Perhaps in the future I can give you a better gift. Unfortunately, I don't have much money to pay for something beautiful, so I made this one with my own hands... I'm truly sorry... I'll go to my room now," she says in a hurt tone while starting to leave.

"...G-Go... I won't fall for such fresh manipulation..." I say, starting to leave, frustrated by this.

'How was I supposed to know she made it with her own hands...' If I had known, I wouldn't have just thrown it away.

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