Chapter 9: Truth of the Theater
’What a delay’ I’ve been sitting in the chair for almost an hour waiting for some maid, why don’t they come right away?
’Oh, it seems someone has come’ I hear the door opening, what a common maid entering my room without even knocking, but I remain seated in the chair to maintain the pose of an elegant villainess.
"Hey, it’s dinner time" The maid says as I look at her, but I immediately feel that I know her, and it’s not a good feeling.
"Do I know you...?" I question, getting up from the chair and taking a few steps forward as I try to remember, but soon these memories become crystal clear, she is a bitch who left Evelyn’s 14-year-old eye black in the past, as well as done a few other things.
And all of this simply because Evelyn tried to get food, it’s ridiculous to hurt a hungry girl in that way just for sadism.
"Of course, how could I forget, Clarissa Nacht...you gave me a really serious punch in the eye when I was 14 as well as did a few other little things" I say with a smile.
Clarissa is a "little girl" with long honey-colored hair, straight with a slight wave at the ends, with a straight fringe and bright red eyes that contrast with her fair skin. She has a small, thin, and totally flat body, with an expression that mixes curiosity and distrust.
She is, in short, a Loli, demons have a very long lifespan so her size is quite deceptive.
"Whatever, are you going to do something about it?" She says mockingly to me.
"I see your tongue is sharp for a mere maid, shouldn’t you be more cautious? After all, if the Demon King gave me gifts and access to other areas of the castle, it doesn’t mean I have the power to fight for the throne now?" I say, sitting on the bed and crossing my legs elegantly.
I adjusted the curtains and windows to create a more gloomy atmosphere, as well as placed a lit candle on a table, this candle is behind Clarissa, which makes my eyes shine with the candle’s glow without her noticing the weak candle, the candle doesn’t even draw attention.
"It was just a stroke of luck, the Demon King is very benevolent and decided to give a chance to a failure like you" She speaks as if it were absolute.
"Hahahaha what a funny joke, a mere maid wanting to talk about benevolence...I’m being benevolent by listening to so much bullshit coming from an arrogant whore who doesn’t know her place" I say, trying to maintain the elegant image.
My eyes shine slightly due to the candlelight, I think I’m managing to create a good effect here, I’m really amazing.
"...You talk too much for..." She tries to speak, but I move my little finger, making one of the lines cut her cheek.
’Shit! The line broke? Good thing I have many...’ I lost one of the lines, what bad luck I didn’t expect them to be so fragile, I try not to seem nervous so as not to ruin everything.
"Should I execute you for insubordination?" I say nervously to maintain the act, I hope she hasn’t noticed the line, I didn’t expect the line to be so fragile.
’Swapping resistance for sharpness was a mistake? Damn it...Please, let her not notice anything’ I hope she doesn’t notice, I swapped resistance for sharpness so she wouldn’t notice when the cut was made until it started to hurt, so she wouldn’t discover what cut her.
"L-Luck..." She speaks and seems ready to fight, with that I move my index finger and thumb gently to move the lines.
Crack Slash!
At the same moment of the sound, a chair and one of the mirrors are cut in two pieces, a clean cut showing that my lines are well-sharpened.
’Phew...they didn’t break, what the hell kind of resistant skin does this maid have? They had to be demons with outrageous attributes!!’ Wood and glass were easily cut, but her cheek, although cut, broke the line.
"The Demon King is not a benevolent person, he is a competitive one and you should know that well, why would someone as competitive as him give me benefits? Could it be that he saw something that others didn’t see?" I speak to her, noting her legs trembling.
’Yay!! It’s working! I’m perfectly deceiving this idiot! Suck it universe, I’m awesome!’ I boast a little.
"I-I’ve already warned what I had to warn, I’ll withdraw" She says, turning to leave, but before she can, I knock her down with the lines, making cuts on her thighs.
’Damn, but 7 lines were already gone, I-I need to finish this soon, if I run out of lines to threaten her, everything can go down the drain’ I only needed 7 lines for her to try to run, I hate that I’m so weak.
While she’s on the ground, I get up and approach her, since she’s scared and I’m light, I don’t make any footstep sounds and she doesn’t even notice my approach until she looks at me and sees me staring at her.
Being closer, the candlelight makes my eyes shine more, fortunately my silver eyes don’t indicate the candlelight very well, so she doesn’t notice anything, it’s good that I was able to use the setting to my advantage to appear intimidating.
"Maid shouldn’t you be bowing properly?" I speak in an authoritative tone, making my best effort to seem tough, in addition to telling her to bow, this prevents her from trying to run.
I also make a small cut with 3 more lines on her neck, they all break, but not before making a cut to scare her, nothing fatal, but she still didn’t notice what cut her.
"Better this way, filthy vermin like you should only be under the feet of royalty" I say, stepping on her head and pressing it against the floor as she bows.
’That’s right, bitch, who told you to bully the original Evelyn! You’re fucked! Hehehehe’
"You know, little maid, crocodiles are patient beings, they just stay put waiting calmly, they are quite calm beings that don’t get into confrontations out of nowhere, but even they can get annoyed and attack" I speak, trying to impose more fear.
Fear is all psychological, I give small speeches so that she can interpret it herself, so she can come to the conclusion that I’m scary, little does she know that I’m currently a weak fraud.
"My patience is already exhausted and having a filthy like you testing limits really annoys me, tell me why I should spare your life instead of hanging your head in the maid’s quarters?" I directly threaten her, so she might think I have the power to fulfill this threat.
But even using all my lines, I doubt I could do that, I don’t have the strength to cut her so deeply with the current lines and my weak strength, but I keep the calm tone to make it seem like I can.
Unfortunately, the lines are lousy, they are not a good quality product and are also old, which has made them more fragile.
’Even an idiot can bluff with absolute conviction and determination to shake the mentality of a wise man who is right!’ Sometimes seeming honest enough outweighs the truth itself.
"S-Sorry I-I..." She starts to apologize, but I decide to interrupt, I need to show who’s on top.
"Did I give you permission to speak?" I say, pressing her head harder against the floor, even though I’m pressing her with all my strength, she barely moves.
’Damn universe, why am I so physically weak, seriously!!! Evelyn deserved better, you hear me universe!!’ To scare her, I wanted to at least shove her head into the ground, but I don’t have the strength for that.
"Listen well, you ignorant whore, I am Evelyn Ashcroft, one of the candidates for the throne and the daughter of Demon King Lysaon, do you really think that a being like me is weak?" I question.
Trying to get her to put the pieces together, if I talk too much I might screw up and ruin the act, it’s better for her to put the pieces together on her own and think I’m strong.
"Do you really think I’m a failure? I may have carried this stigma for a long time, but know that I was just being benevolent, I could have killed you bitches at any moment" I bluff to make it seem like I was just pretending this whole time.
"However, I tried to be gentle and benevolent, but now enough is enough, my patience is exhausted, and filthy rats like you don’t even deserve to lick my feet...now, what should I do with your miserable life?" I speak, trying to impose more fear as I stop stepping on her and return to the bed, celebrating with a smile.
’Yes!!! THAT’S IT!! She’s crying in fear! What a wonder, I have talent for acting as a villainess!!’ The maid starts crying, which shows I’m succeeding.
"So tell me, little maid, what fate should I give you? What death is most suitable for a maid who tries to humiliate someone of the nobility" I question.
This will make her think that she chose to serve me instead of me choosing her, this will make her think that she can be discarded if she loses her usefulness.
"P-Please s-spare my life" Clarissa pleads for her life, which gives me a strange dark satisfaction, a satisfaction that Evelyn always hoped to feel.
"And why should I? Your life is of no use to me" I lie to her, she will be very useful, but she needs to believe that she is not really useful to me, this will make her try harder.
"I-I swear to serve you with all my life! I-I give myself to you, s-so please spare me" She speaks, crying even more, with real fear of me.
"And why do you think your life has so much value? I can have as many maids as I want, why should I show generosity to a cowardly vermin like you?" I ask as she freezes.
’Did I go too far? Damn it I should have stopped before! I can’t let her notice my falsehood’
"...I’ll give you one last chance, bitch, you’ll be my maid and you’ll have to serve me with your life, you’ll have to keep everything that happened here hidden and just observe" I speak to fix the mistake of having talked too much.
"I still don’t want to reveal my greatness to the world...but if you betray me, I swear I’ll make you know hell sooner than you could ever expect, spared rats that bite the hands of their masters deserve the worst death of all" I talk about betrayal to avoid it at least in the beginning.
"And you must have noticed, wounds made by me are quite painful, you won’t want to see how much I can make you suffer" I say in a malicious tone, wounds made by me hurt for a simple reason.
Skin wounds hurt more than many other wounds, the skin is sensitive and has many nerves, so the lines that focus on cutting it cause a lot of pain without destroying nerves or anything.
"T-Thank you m-miss Evelyn" She speaks, trembling with fear.
"Get out of here, your first mission as my maid is to get well-sharpened knives, wood and raw meat from a freshly slaughtered animal, if you fail at this, your miserable life won’t be spared again" I say as she gets up and runs out the door.
Closing the door and disappearing quickly through the corridors, with that I collapse on the bed.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAH I’m so bad!!! No villainess besides Esther compares to my magnificence, obviously the amazing me couldn’t fail at something as simple as scaring a maid" I say with a proud smile.
Although inside, my heart is racing, the fear of being discovered was horrible, fortunately I was able to act well enough using everything I could from Evelyn’s personality.