"..." After finishing lunch, I found myself with nothing to do, so I decided to write down notes about my ability for Esther. It might be kind of stupid to just hand over my ability's weaknesses like this.

But I know the weaknesses of Esther's ability, so I thought if I'm completely and fairly honest, maybe Esther will see it as a gesture of peace between us and help me even more.

That's why I wrote down my ability in detail. I didn't tell her all the abilities I have, of course! I only disclosed the abilities linked to my new puppet body—namely, the capacity to create, control, and possess puppets I've made.

And of course, I also wrote about the changes to my body, but I didn't mention the ability [Fragmented Theater in Acts] because I don't even really know how to use it.

I didn't tell her about [Theatrical Anomaly] either, since it's the one that reduces pain, and I don't see how Esther knowing I feel less pain is useful for either of us. And I left out the ability [Tragedy's Toybox], which is the ability to always win children's games.

As for the others, I listed them all, since they're directly tied to my capabilities as a puppeteer. And of course, I told her about my false "immortality," as it's important because it's part of the fact that I can disassemble my body like a toy.

And at night, when Esther arrived, we had dinner together, and then she immediately, and very pointedly, wanted to know about my ability. So I gave her the papers and watched her surprise as she read them.

And now I'm in this strange situation where she's staring at my body kind of weirdly.

"So... Evelyn, you're like a doll now... this is surprising. I'd heard there are abilities that change the body, but this is the first time I've seen one that alters almost 100% of the body's biology."

"It's surprising you're still considered a demon... Could you show me how your body works, exactly?" she asks while I decide not to hide the joints of my body that resemble those of a doll; they quickly shift, returning to their original form.

"R-Right here..." I say, moving my arm from the elbow in a perfect 360°. Esther gets up from her chair and comes over to me, holding my arm.

"It's... soft, like flesh..." she says, touching my arm.

"If I pulled, would it come off?" she asks, and I shudder.

"Of course it would!! If you pulled and ripped it off, it would be like tearing off my real arm! That's not how you detach it!" Actually, I've never tried to detach the joints. According to the descriptions, I can disassemble and reassemble my body, but I've never tested it. It's kind of scary.

"Hmm..." She lets out an interested murmur while staring at the joints on my arms.

"You're semi-immortal, from what I understand... that's impressive too. There are many beings with high regeneration, and depending on the level of healing magic, it's possible to regenerate lost limbs."

"But very, very few beings can survive decapitation like you... Your puppet body is truly a masterpiece in terms of self-preservation... Fitting for an ability that traded all of its user's offensive power for survival capabilities and leadership."

"...Traded? What do you mean?" I ask, confused, and she looks at me as if I'm foolish.

"Evelyn, every ability that exists comes with a counterweight, so to speak. It's the world's way of maintaining balance. The stronger an ability is, the more disadvantageous the opposing effect it applies."

"You truly didn't know this? Well, if you didn't, now you do. The reason your ability leaves you incapable of strengthening yourself is precisely to balance how the ability functions."

"After all, an 'immortal' being with strength would be a real problem for this world. Even I have limitations imposed by my Blessing. You already know some of them yourself."

"It's the fact that I cannot cause massive events, like the fall of a meteor capable of wiping out all life on the planet at once." She says this disturbing thing as if it were everyday conversation.

"Your ability, in summary, functions as a set of abilities that comes with many things at once, and it traded all your offensive capacity for extreme survival capability, making you highly dependent on the very power you have—creating puppets."

"It's a fair... cost. After all, it's a strong ability, so it has an equally strong counterweight." She explains it in a way that's really easy to understand. It seems she's already started teaching me things.

'I didn't know abilities came with disadvantages... the game never made that explicit...'

"So Esther... the Curses..."

"They are also ways of balancing a power in this world. Blessings most often come paired with Curses, because certain Blessings alone are too strong not to have a limiter."

"A Curse is typically something that prevents the user from employing their Blessing as they please. That's why certain Curses seem weak—because Curses are specific things made solely to affect the bearer, whether physically or psychologically."

When she says 'psychologically,' I remember her curse. Esther's curse is uniquely and exclusively focused on affecting her. It only affects Esther's mind and nothing else, revealing the "truth of the world" to her.

"..."

"So... why do I have such a disproportionate curse?!" I say, indignant. My curse is so unfair to me! It doesn't even make sense, I think.

"You said your curse is misfortune, right?... I truly don't understand it either... Curses that affect you physically or affect your ability generally have a direct link to the Blessing."

"Like Marie's, where apparently her curse makes everything she create have a chance to turn against her, which relatively limits the use of her Blessing, which has something to do with the capacity to create things."

"But your curse... it's something too complex and divisive... It seems to have no connection to your Blessing, but rather directly to you." When Esther says this, I remember that in the game, the original Evelyn's curse was different from the one I have.

"..."

"Evelyn, are you hiding something from me?" she asks, her voice icy. I look into her eyes and fall silent.

"..."

"...I won't ask what it is, but it seems you know the reason for your curse. Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. I thank you for telling me so detailedly how your Blessing works. It's quite... interesting." She speaks, and I sigh.

'Is it because I'm reincarnated, right?' That's the only answer. My curse is like this because I'm someone who was reincarnated. If what Esther said is 100% true, it means the "world" tries to balance how someone acts and affects the world.

Now just imagine, if a being appears who knows how the future is supposed to happen, and that same being uses that knowledge to gain an advantage, from the perspective of "fate," that being brings imbalance.

In other words, this curse that makes me trip for no reason, get hit in the face by opening doors, and other minor things, is fate's way of slowly trying to stop me.

'Another way would be... the future changing...' I look at Esther, who is reading the paper I wrote with genuine interest, and with that, I understand that perhaps our marriage is the future correcting my existence.

It's kind of like fate is saying, "You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't know this, so I'll change everything so that you once again know nothing." And with that, a large part of my knowledge goes straight into the trash.

'So... my marriage to Esther... is it my fault?...' I'm shocked by this epiphany. It makes total sense with what Esther said, which reminds me of the gods from the game.

In the game, religion is barely explored in the demon continent because demons don't care much for gods, but when Grace talks about religion, we understand in the game that Angels and Humans are quite religious.

And demons and beast-kin, while having a religion, don't care much for the gods. The game implies that there are many gods, and they care for different aspects of the world.

'Maybe some god or goddess connected to fate knows I'm a reincarnated person... because this isn't a game anymore... maybe... could it have been some god who brought me to this world?!' I don't know. I've never found any trace of what brought me to this world.

"Evelyn, what are you thinking about?" Esther asks, pulling me out of my strange reverie.

"O-oh, I... I was just thinking... hmmm... about..." I get lost for words as Esther tucks my notes into her dress.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk now. You've fulfilled your part and given me more answers than I expected. I'm happy with this result, and as promised, I'll give you resources... but I'd like to watch you create a puppet."

"I'm interested in the exact manufacturing process." When she says this, I almost say [Okay] too quickly, but then I realize this wasn't part of our deal and decide to try and get more things.

"...I-I'll let you... but I want... I want a golden apple tree!" The golden apple can still be very useful for me! First, because I can use them as material.

Golden apples are one of the few materials that have no impurities, so I can use them as they are to create puppets. Second, with a tree of them, I can use them as the base material for common puppets—lifeless soldiers to fight for me!

And third, it's a really awesome fruit! It's beautiful and pretty, just like me! So just for the charm and beauty of the fruit alone, I'd want to have a tree of them with me!

"...That's a rather unequal deal. This is a fruit and a tree native to the angelic continent. Do you know how difficult it is to obtain just the fruit? And you want the entire tree?" she says with seriousness.

"..." I end up lowering my head. Her tone really intimidates me.

"..." She suddenly hugs me, gripping my butt firmly with a grasp that leaves me in shock.

"Then, to make it more fair, I want you to accept and actively participate in any intimacy I desire."

"W-What do you m-mean?!" I ask, looking at her chest so close to me.

"If I want to kiss you, you must kiss me. If I call you to bed with me, you must come without question. If I try to touch you, you must accept it without pulling away from me."

"It means that for anything intimate I want to do with you, you must accept it without trying to escape my hands." As she explains, I swallow hard, nervous.

"O-Okay..." I end up accepting. Whenever I try to negotiate with her in some way, she always ends up getting more than I wanted to offer. Am I really that bad at negotiating?

"Perfect. Then I'll get a [Golden Apple] tree for you... Now, I think I should go. I need to think about... a few things. It was fun learning about your ability. It's complex in a way that piques my curiosity... even though... you've hidden things from me." She says this in a seductive tone before letting me go.

"I usually sleep very little, so you'll rarely see me sleeping in our marital bedroom. You can go to sleep or do whatever you want; it's already getting late anyway."

"I'll probably appear in bed around 2 or 3 in the morning and leave around 5 or 6 AM. So if you wake up and don't see me in bed, it's because I've already left."

"But know that I will try to sleep with you almost every day, so you can be sure I will know if you are or aren't sleeping in our marital bedroom." She says this in a sweet tone that somehow sounds like a threat.

"O-Okay, I'll be there..." I say, without any particular desire to sleep! She just said that every day she's going to sleep with me in the same bed, without me noticing when she gets in and without me noticing when she leaves! It's like having a ghost!!

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