Etiquette is indeed very important

Etiquette, in truth, holds a peculiar duality; its importance is both undeniable and, at times, negligible. Proper etiquette can elevate an individual, bestowing elegance, civility, generosity, and decorum.

It cultivates a favorable public image, paving the way for smooth endeavors and lasting friendships. Yet, its unimportance stems from the fact that some matters simply cannot be resolved through politeness alone.

An alternative approach might yield unexpectedly swift results. Consider, for instance, a certain tyrant who preferred forging alliances through cannon fire. Naturally, an outstanding personal charisma and formidable leadership were indispensable.

“But you, with no image, no personal charisma—”

The doll glanced at Annelise’s conspicuously flat chest.

“—and no power to dominate all else… why would you provoke your senior in an unknown place, you ill-tempered young lady?”

“Hmph? You insolent girl.”

“…Damn you, I was merely careless! How dare you ambush me!”

Hanging from the tree, the petite queen, clad in a white dress, grimaced, glaring indignantly at the doll below, who was leisurely sipping red tea.

‘It seems the lessons I’ve given you are still insufficient…’

The doll tsked. Suddenly, two long feathers materialized in her hand. With a flick of her fingers, they flew towards Annelise.

“…Wait! What are you doing?! Ah! No! Ah ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha…”

‘Quite sensitive, aren’t we…’

The doll took a sip of her tea, an eyebrow arching. She watched the Vampire Queen, who was suspended from the tree by a rope around her waist, her face a mask of mortified rage, yet still laughing uncontrollably.

“Well? Are you ready to listen to me properly now?”

“Ugh… ah ha ha, presumptuous! I am the Vampire Archduchess! How dare you treat me like this, ha ha, me!”

Gasping for air, Annelise struggled fiercely, swinging back and forth in mid-air.

“Heh, some people, due to their inexplicable arrogance, simply refuse to mend their ways…”

‘Next, I’ll try her earlobes, her ribs… those sensitive spots…’

With a touch of mischievous glee, the doll watched the ‘tree loli’s’ face shift from pale to green, then purple, as she conjured more feathers of varying sizes.

“Torture! Tickle-torture hell!”

The doll’s lips curved into a smile. She pointed her hand forward, and a dozen feathers soared through the air.

“Ah ha ha ah ha ah ha ha ha ha…”

The assailed Vampire Queen laughed breathlessly from the tree, utterly devoid of the strength to even struggle.

‘What an disobedient little one, but…’

‘Thanks to her, my mood has significantly improved.’

Smiling, the doll’s teacup and saucer vanished in an instant, replaced by two rings that appeared in her palm.

One was her own, the other had been retrieved from the corpse of an Outer God.

They were a pair of black rings, one masculine and one feminine. Their overall design was uniformly simple, devoid of intricate patterns, save for a pair of silver, translucent mana crystals glowing with magical luminescence at the head of each ring, lending them an unusual aura.

Both rings were high-grade enchanted artifacts, each granting a once-daily elemental shield and mid-range teleportation. They were truly rare items.

However, for Miss Doll, who now possessed the true form of a Saint, they no longer held much practical use.

Perhaps the only reason this pair of rings felt truly indispensable was the profound meaning they carried…

The two rings floated in her palm, occasionally emitting faint, metallic clinks, causing the doll’s recently settled emotions to stir once more.

‘To think that I, who was such a scoundrel back then, could still inspire you to fight so desperately for my sake…’

‘You dared to sign a contract with an Outer God just to save me, and because of me, the family you built with your own hands deemed you senile. You truly are… an idiot…’

Staring intently at the patterns within the rings’ crystals, the doll, who had always stood apart from the world, suddenly realized she wasn’t as strong as she imagined.

News of friends confirmed to be deceased, even for her, whose heart had grown indifferent through a thousand years of sealing, brought an uncontrollable wave of sadness.

Moreover…

‘Look closely at these rings, Sally. Do you truly still want to claim that what you shared with Grace was merely friendship?’

‘Yes… a girl who sacrificed nearly everything for me… a friend? What a joke!’

After a moment’s thought, the doll seemed to make a momentous decision. She took out the masculine ring and slipped it onto the middle finger of her left hand.

The crystal on the ring shimmered, as if acknowledging the doll’s resolve.

‘Some matters need not be spoken, nor overthought. One simply needs to act.’

‘Wait for me, Grace!’

Suppressing her emotions deep within, Miss Doll regained her indifferent composure, as if that fleeting moment of weakness had been nothing but an illusion.

With a flick of her right hand, she stored the other ring into a spatial void. Only then did the doll fully return to herself and glance at the petite queen still hanging from the tree.

“Oh dear, it seems I might have overdone it…”

Seeing Annelise’s current pitiful state, even the doll, having just returned to her senses, felt a touch of embarrassment.

Though Annelise was merely a soul body, within this nightmare domain where thoughts manifest reality, she faithfully experienced a portion of physical sensations. The petite queen, still trapped in tickle-torture hell, perfectly exemplified this phenomenon.

Her body, which had been struggling violently moments before, was now almost motionless. Only an occasional tremor indicated she was still alive. Her head hung low, dull, unfocused eyes staring blankly ahead, her mouth unconsciously agape, a stream of drool escaping, and her cheeks flushed with an unnatural crimson.

She was utterly broken!

“Ahem, cough cough… the punishment ends here.”

The doll awkwardly covered her mouth, coughing a few times. With a wave of her small hand, the binding straps and the tree dissolved back into white mist and dissipated.

The unbound soul fell from the air, caught in the doll’s arms as she flashed over.

‘Well, seeing her like this, she’ll surely be more obedient later…’

‘While it’s good that her suppressed nature, born from constantly managing complex family affairs to maintain her queenly dignity, has been released, that overly lively personality was truly a bit too boisterous.’

Wiping away the drool from Annelise’s mouth and tidying up the poor little one’s appearance—who had been excessively punished because the doll lost track of time—the doll placed her on a stone chair opposite the table. She then returned to her original seat, adopting Commander Ikari’s posture, staring intently at Annelise.

“Ugh… where am I? I remember I seemed to have reached the afterlife, then encountered a huge pervert… Is this a chair?…”

Rubbing her head, Annelise groggily shook her hair from side to side.

Stare…

“Ugh… this chilling sensation is…”

Annelise felt as though she was being targeted by some ancient behemoth, every hair on her body bristling. She turned to survey her surroundings, and finally, her disoriented mind, having lost its sense of direction, turned towards the correct spot.

Across the table, a silver-haired figure, wearing white gloves and gold-rimmed glasses, rested her chin in her hands, her reflecting lenses fixed on Annelise, a peculiar, inscrutable smile playing on her lips.

Frozen for a moment, Annelise finally recalled the terror of being once dominated by a deviant, and the humiliation of being hung from a tree, trapped in tickle-torture hell…

“…It’s the pervert, ahhhhhhh!!!”

Annelise clutched her chest, grimacing, and let out an earth-shattering, ghost-wailing shriek.

The doll: …………