The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

"Yes! Bree made something!"

Evelyn was slightly disappointed, but didn't let it get to her too much. Instead, her disappointment soon turned to curiosity.

Bree had been a dumb little puppy for quite a while, and that had only changed just now. What could she possibly have made right under her eyes, without her noticing?

"You made me a gift?"

"Mhm!"

Evelyn watched with consternation as Bree held her palm and bulged out her cheeks, again and again.

'S-She's not going to spit on my palm, is she?'

Unfortunately, her guess turned out to be true. The little girl really did spit on her palm, and then dared to grin proudly!

But Evelyn couldn't get mad, because in addition to Bree's saliva, there was also a shining cerulean blue bead the size of a ping pong ball in her palm.

The pink-haired girl ignored the saliva on her hand as her gaze focused on the strange-looking thing.

"Where did you get this from, Bree? Did you eat it when no one was looking?"

The little girl's face immediately turned aggrieved. Her 'mama's' reaction was far from the praise she had been expecting.

"I-I did not! I made it myself… Wuuu…"

Evelyn could only sigh and console her first. "Alright, alright, I don't mean to scold you, calm down."

It took a while before she managed to do it, but the little girl really did calm down and nodded obediently. "…Un."

Evelyn sighed. How can she hold it against her when she's so cute?

'It's okay, it's not that different from when she licked my palm as a puppy.'

She turned her attention back to the blue bead, and the results from her probe skill left her stunned.

[ Chaos Essence Bead ]

—A culmination of pure energy, fatal to anyone below level 30.

—Previously used to contain [Raijuu's Legacy], small traces of lightning essence still linger within it.

—Contains the energy of a Grade 9 beast's flesh and blood, purified using the Qilin's bloodline.

—Effects of the primordial ability [Calamity] detected. May lead to either involuntary subjugation or harvest of ability. Extremely dangerous!

—Unknown effect upon consumption.

Evelyn was silent for a while as she gathered her thoughts.

'So this is the 'unknown object' that was inside Bree all this time… Now that she's evolved, it seems like whatever was inside it was either cleansed or absorbed. And the empty shell was filled with energy extracted from the tentacles and purified using the Qilin's bloodline… interesting…'

Although this much was clear to her from the description alone, what she didn't understand was how her own skill 'Calamity' ended up being involved in this interaction.

Evelyn hadn't dared to make direct contact with the tentacles, so the source had to be from Bree herself. But she had stood aside, uninvolved, through the entire process. Which meant…

'So I guess it wasn't just a feeling I had.'

She had long since felt that there was some sort of connection between herself and Bree. One that hadn't been there when they first met. Most importantly, she didn't share the same feeling with anyone else, such as her parents, or her friends.

'So that day when we enthralled the third princess, Bree did end up creating a strange connection between us, huh. But I don't know if this is a good thing or not.'

As for the warnings about [Calamity], of course they didn't matter to Evelyn. After all, since the origin was herself, who would be subjugating who, and what could she even take from herself?

'No wait… doesn't that mean if I feed it to someone else, there's a chance they will become another one of my thralls, just like the third princess?!'

But although that was possible, Evelyn soon shook her head. 'This thing far more useful than another thrall. I can't waste it like that.'

An item that contained enough energy to be fatal for anyone under level thirty was sure to provide her with a lot of experience once consumed. Moreover, the remnants of the Raijuu's legacy might also prove to be of some benefit, even if the possibility wasn't great.

It was definitely worth taking a chance, even with the unknown effect.

"Mama! Eat! Eat!"

Evelyn rolled her eyes as squeezed the little girl's cheek with her one clean hand. 'She probably has no idea that I might die if I eat that thing right now, does she?'

It was no surprise, given that Bree herself was level 82, regardless of anything else, so she probably didn't feel any threat from the bead. Moreover, she had produced it herself, hadn't she?

If Evelyn didn't have the system, she would have surely eaten it based on her trust in Bree. Thankfully, her ever unreliable probe skill hadn't failed her this time.

Of course, there was no need to tell all of this to Bree. She would only feel guilty and distressed, thinking she had almost hurt her 'mama'.

"I'll eat it later, but you could have told me you were gonna spit it out, right?"

Even in her human form, Bree's big green puppy dog eyes were super effective.

"Wuu… mama never got mad when I lick her hand before!"

Evelyn patted the little girl's head. "That's when you were a puppy, Bree…"

"Ehehehe… I'm still puppy!"

The pink-haired girl sighed. Who would have thought, instead of learning, her time at the academy would start with teaching? Hopefully, Amara would be able to take over this 'job' for the most part, but she would still have to do her part as Bree's 'mama'. 

"… Listen, when you're like this, you're a girl. Learn from me, okay? You can't keep doing things like before, or everyone will think I'm a bad mama who didn't teach you anything!"

The little girl immediately bared her teeth, growling. "I'll bite them!"

Evelyn rolled her eyes. "That's not the point, Bree…"

"But they're mean to you? I'll bite all meanies!"

She couldn't help but laugh. 

"Ahaha… okay, fine. Let's talk about this tomorrow, I'm a little sleepy."

The little girl tilted her head in confusion, still full of energy. 

"Sleep?"

Thinking about it, in her current condition, it was probably better to let Bree continue sleeping with her until she grew up or her memory returned. Anyway, she had gotten used to her and Ruru's company in bed over the years.

"Oh no! I forgot I still had Ruru locked out!"