- For the sake of your happiness...
Gift From the Princess Who Brought Sleep is the third light novel in the Deadly Sins of Evil series, as part of the Evillious Chronicles. It was written by mothy, illustrated by Ichika, and released in 2014.
An expanded look at the story in a song by the same name, the book is a mystery focusing on the true nature of the supposedly patient and kind Marchioness, Margarita Blankenheim—whose husband Caspar was the first victim of a mysterious illness sweeping through the city of Toragay. The protagonist is Hanne Lorre, an investigative journalist who arrives in the hope of learning more about the legend of the "Flower of the Plateau"—and finds many more dark secrets than she bargained for.
The novel takes place in the Evillious equivalent of the Victorian Era, primarily in Elphegort, showcasing startling new information for the series as a whole both on the criminal organization Pere Noel and the Sloth demon. While the primary focus is on the viewpoint of the protagonist, Hanne, the narrative is punctuated by thoughts from the personal monologue of Margarita Blankenheim. It’s preceded by the Story of Evil series, and in the Deadly Sins of Evil series proper, Evil Food Eater Conchita. It's followed up by Fifth Pierrot.
The novel's website can be found here
(note however that it’s all in Japanese), and it can be purchased on Amazon. Registered users who purchase the novel also receive a tie-in short story in their email.
This novel provides examples of:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Subverted. Margarita doesn't exactly die from her Gift and with the revelations that come afterwards Elluka ends up reversing her sympathies for her and outright tries to destroy her soul.
- Arranged Marriage: Between Margarita and Kaspar Blankenheim. Margarita will insist it's a Happily Arranged Marriage, but...well...
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The list of complaints that Hob levels at Heide for her actions as a Justea officer includes trashing buildings, torturing suspects, skipping out on duty to see concernts, and giving an interview in the newspaper on whether or not Rin Chan is a lip syncher.
- Artistic License – Biology: Margarita, using relatively primitive technology for the period, somehow turns a poison into an airborne disease complete with antibody-like structures, yet it is still considered a poison rather than a bacteria/virus. Of course, without this we wouldn't have most of the key points of the story.
- As You Know: As he prepares to arrest Hanne and Heidemarie, Bruno Marlon goes off on an explanation of why he's called Bruno which both of them already know, but in this case it was actually a lead up to the more relevant explanation of what authority he had to throw the two of them in prison.
- Bittersweet Ending: A worldwide disaster is averted through the resourcefulness of a group of survivors in Toragay and the primary antagonist of the novel is dead, but several other villainous characters escape unscathed, including Eve, who may or may not have possessed Elluka's body.
- Book Ends: The investigation opens with Hanne in a carriage being taken to Calgaround to speak to the mayor while it's pouring rain outside, and the investigation ends with Hanne now Elluka, alongside Gumillia being taken to Calgaround in the same carriage, going to see the same mayor, while it rains even harder than the last time. She even comments on it.
- Chekhov's Gun: Egmont's energy tonic and Michaela's sap end up being vital in saving the world from Margarita's Gift epidemic.
- Childhood Marriage Promise: One between Margarita and Kaspar, who were then put in an Arranged Marriage as adults. Of course, by that point Caspar had become a lecherous and neglectful playboy, but…
- Cliffhanger: The story ends with the duo setting off to find the real Irina, who we find out is the President of Lucifenia, Lemy’s reign of terror has just begun, and there’s the implication that Eve has somehow taken control of Elluka’s body and neither Michaela nor Gumillia notice.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Hanne asks Julia who the "Virgin Mother" is, Julia points to a portrait of Meta on the wall. Hanne proceeds to ask if it's a picture of Julia herself or Germaine in short order.
- The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much: Both Caspar and Dr. Felix's deaths were written off as being related to tobacco abuse or choking, when it’s obvious there was more going on. In this case, the World Police are forced to accept the testimony because of pressure from above.
- Creepy Doll: The Clockworker's Doll makes an appearance, being the vessel of Sloth. More accurately, Margarita is the doll.
- Dead All Along: A threefold case. Hanne and Heidamarie died when they were young—the characters in this novel are Elluka and Gumillia disguised as them. And Margarita died in childbirth—the woman pretending to be her is Eve inside the Clockworker's doll, brainwashing everyone into seeing her as human.
- The tie-in short story adds on to this: the real Bruno had been killed by Kaidor Blankenheim before the events of the story and taken his place.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Several characters. Elluka is pretending to be Hanne who died years before, as did her sister Heidamarie with Gumillia taking her place. Margarita is actually Eve in the Clockworker's Doll using brainwashing power, and in the tie-in novel Kaidor Blankenheim killed Bruno and had Seventh Magician change his face to look identical to him.
- Driven to Suicide: Margarita.
- Foregone Conclusion: Despite Elluka's efforts, it's clear to anyone who's seen the song that Margarita drinks her poison. What happens afterwards, on the other hand...
- Foreshadowing:
- Margarita's monologues are filled with foreshadowing about the reveal that she's Eve in the Clockworker's Doll, such as (but not limited to) recounting other characters saying she's "like a doll", remarking that she remembers getting a doll but not where it went or when she received it, and speculating that she's never had a mother because she can't remember hers.
- There's quite a bit of leadup to Hanne being outed as Elluka Clockworker, such as Hanne's narration claiming she's much older than she looks, and that she hasn't washed her hair in a long time.
- There's one bit of foreshadowing for the Pierrot novel—at one point Hanne arrives at the inn in Toragay to see the coachman riding out to the main road with two passengers in tow. Hanne can't see their faces, but can tell they're both children. These eventually turn out to be Lemy and Rin-Chan.
- Frame-Up: Hanne is framed for the Lioness Burning incident by Bruno. Funnily enough, this is the second time she was framed for that, the first time being as Elluka by Mayrana.
- Gratuitous German: Certain nouns and phrases are written in German despite having Japanese words for them, as Elphegort is the Evillious equivalent to Germany—such as referring to grape jam as "Trauben jam".
- Hate Sink: Kaspar, being a greedy, hedonistic playboy who treated his wife as both a status symbol and a meal ticket as well as openly cheating on her, is clearly not meant to be liked, and this allows Margarita to be a bit more sympathetic in murdering him.
- Historical Hero Upgrade: In-Universe, the people of Calgaround do this to Meta, calling her the “Virgin Mother” and believing that any allegations that she was a terrorist witch who stole the twin god babies from saving Levianta are just Historical Villain Upgrade revisionism from the Levin faith.
- Info Dump: In addition to detailing Margarita’s story the novel also takes several sections to provide historical information on Calgaround, Toragay, Merrigod Plateau, The Flower of the Plateau, and the Original Sin series, as well as various other details of how Evillious is progressing at that point in time.
- Inn Security: Naturally Heidemarie goes on the warpath to rescue Rin Chan in the inn that Hanne is using and while she's sleeping in it.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At one point when Hanne sees Margarita's face and realizes that she resembles many others she bursts out laughing and insults "god" for making stupid rules for how certain people should look alike. It almost sounds like she's calling out mothy for reusing the same vocaloid for multiple characters.
- Nobility Marries Money: The once noble Felix family pushes Margarita to marry the noble (and now impoverished) Caspar Blankenheim to regain their status, while Caspar makes use of her fortune.
- Red Herring: The librarian that Hanne interrogates in the first chapter implies that the leader of Pere Noel is a blue haired man, suspected to be Kaspar. Though anyone who has seen the songs knows ahead of time that the real leader is actually Julia.
- The Sleepless: The prologue of the novel is Margarita talking about how she’s unable to sleep, or even comprehend the effects of insomnia on other people. This is because she’s actually a living doll.
- Spotting the Thread: During her confrontation with Julia Abelard, Elluka realizes that Julia Abelard, mayor of Calgaround, isn't really Irina because her red cat is missing.
- Stepford Smiler: Margarita is kind, patient, and cheerful. Under the mask she’s murderously psychopathic and emotionally broken from being used her whole life. This isn't even going into her other issues that the reader finds out.
- True Love's Kiss: Margarita believed in this, saying that a kiss from her prince would finally allow her to sleep (in an inversion of Sleeping Beauty, where the prince's kiss allows her to wake). She says in her monologue she expected this of Kaspar. And she's perfectly happy even if it didn't. Absolutely.
- Villain with Good Publicity:
- Julia Abelard, first as the mayor of Calgaround, then when it's revealed that she’s actually the president of Lucifenia.
- Bruno Marlon, who, despite being respected even by Hanne and Heidamarie, turns out to have Pere Noel connections.
- Wham Episode: For the Evillious Chronicles as a whole. There are quite a few disturbing revelations but they all pale in comparison to the one that comes after Margarita drinks her "sleep potion": Margarita died being born. Mikulia giving birth. There was no Platonic. It was Eve Moonlit. All of these people, when we see them after their deaths? They were Eve inside the Clockworker's Doll brainwashing everyone she came into contact with. She is the Sloth demon. And she’s not the only person from the Original Sin Story who might still be around…
- When It Rains, It Pours:
- The opening features Hanne's carriage pulling away from the checkpoint and being immediately assaulted with a sudden downpour so heavy that it sounds more like hail than water.
- It happens again as the protagonists are making their way back to Calgaround.
