Fall arrives in Ivory City and Eleanor has a few weeks left to roam around town before she is, once again, confined to bed due to the cold.

“I need to do something big, something that will make people curse me up the river till spring. Hmm… Oh, yeah, let’s try out my new toys! Mommy. Mommy!”

“Yes, Eleanor? What is it, dear?” the duchess who is knitting a scarf says.

“I’m going out to plant bombs throughout the city. No one will die, of course. Just blowing up a few old places to terrorize the people.”

“Sorry, dear, you’re still grounded from sneaking out last time.”

“But mom!”

“Don’t, but mom, me, missy! Do you know how worried I was to think I lost you for a second time?! Do you have any idea how it feels to be separated from your child?”

“Of course I do. I had a kid. Dumped him in a boarding school and never looked back.”

Duchess Gilda blinks a few times as she processes the information. She opens her mouth to say something but stops to think some more.

“Eleanor… Amelia… how old is this child?”

“Uh… eight. No, no. Nine!”

“That means you… but who? How? Wha—”

“Shhh… No, questions now. Sleep. Sleeep.”

The duchess’ eyelids hang low before she slips into slumber.

“Yes, it works!”

Eleanor grins as she closes her pouch to stop the sleep-inducing scent—something she whipped up in Dr. Nina’s lab. She removes the knitting pins from Gilda’s hands and wraps a blanket over her.

“Sorry, mommy, but I got a job to do.”

Eleanor gets up from her wheelchair and… almost falls to the ground.

“Dammit! It’s like they’re not getting better at all. How the hell am I supposed to sneak around like this?”

Eleanor tries slithering on the ground like a snake but that just makes her lungs burn.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

“Emm…”

The sound of her coughing blood makes the duchess wake up and her attempt at sneaking out is all for naught.

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Sometime later, the Ambroses are invited to a grand ball in the palace to celebrate the queen’s birthday. And as Queen Gloria and Duchess Gilda are twins, the two will get to celebrate their birth together for the first time in years.

“Oh, isn’t it exciting, Gilda?! You, me, our two girls preparing for a dance? Doesn’t that make you feel tingly all over like we were a pair of princesses again?”

The queen excitedly invites Gilda and Eleanor to the palace to try out their dresses. The other noble ladies and their daughters also show up uninvited but the queen ignores them.

“Eleanor, dear. What’s your favorite color? I think blue would really bring out your eyes. Oh, oh, purple should also fit with your look!”

“Anything you choose is fine by me, your majesty.”

“Come now, don’t be so courteous to your dear old aunt, dear! Be spoiled, and have fun while you’re young!”

“Heh heh heh…”

Eleanor laughs dryly and glances at the noble ladies. Most of them have a smiley poker face. Some of them don’t put her in their sight. But the devil’s eyes are drawn to those who look at her like dirt. She smiles as she feels tinges of hatred flowing out from them.

“Aunt… Gloria?”

“Yes, that’s it, dear! Now, tell me all about what you want to wear.”

“I… Can I wear a plain black dress?”

The noble ladies quietly scoff at her request.

“Hh, does she think she’s a nun?”

“More like a maid.”

“How dare she refer to her majesty as her aunt!?”

The quiet ridicules fill Eleanor’s cold black heart with joy. She closes her eyes and savors the taste of spite.

The queen hears her request and orders the seamstress to fix up something that will suit her. While waiting for the queen and the duchess to try out their clothes, Princess Grace takes Eleanor to explore the royal palace.

“Say, Adrian, you’ve been pretty well-behaved since you arrived in the capital. Weren’t you going to burn everything to the ground and chaos and stuff?”

“As I told you many times before, I’m not the terrorist Adrian Acker, your grace.”

“And what is it with this pure maiden act you’ve got going on? Doesn’t a big brute like you feel the least bit embarrassed acting this way?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, your grace.”

“Call me Grace—just Grace.”

“Yes, princess.”

“Ha! Stubborn bastard. Glad to see at least one thing doesn’t change no matter which face you wear.”

Breezes blow in from an opened window and Eleanor has a nosebleed.

“Huh… It’s disappointing to see a cruel bastard like you reduced to this point. Disappointing, really. How are you going to destroy the world at this rate, Mr. Adrian the Devil?”

Grace takes out a handkerchief to wipe Eleanor’s face. Eleanor remains silent as she too can’t find a way to the princess’s question.

That night, Eleanor looks at the view of the city with a glass of wine in her hand.

“How would I… destroy the world…? I don’t know… I honestly don’t know.”

The devil gulps down her goblet as tears roll down her eyes.

D-don’t give up hope, m-master! I know you’ll turn this around somehow!

That’s right, devil! You’re only stuck in a slump, your time will come one day!

And that day is a lot closer than you think. After all… the queen’s upcoming birthday will be the day the capital is set ablaze!