My Take On The Gray Lady

After reading some of the speculation over whom the Gray Lady might be, I think it should first be noted that there's only a couple facts. The Gray Lady is well known, else Takeda would have had questions about Evelynn's remark. Evelynn knows enough about the death of the Heir to associate the work with the Gray Lady. Evelynn is displeased with being associated with this incident.

One possibility would be that her handiwork can be confused with the work of another assassin. It is difficult to say if this is ignorance on Takeda's part or if there is genuinely a similarity in how Evelynn and the Gray Lady operate. She could be displeased with Takeda or displeased that the Gray Lady is encroaching on her identity.

Another possibility is that the Mark is not someone should would have agreed to kill. I don't think this stands as reason on its own, but would amplify her displeasure in Takeda or the Gray Lady. It takes away from her reputation.

Assassins gain infamy over their Marks having a common theme, the assassinations having striking similarities and/or blatant calling cards or credit. In my "head cannon" Evelynn is known as the Widowmaker due to her selection of Marks and how they all die torn to shreds in the bed of a known Mistress. It appears Takeda is at least familiar with part of this.

Removing the possibility that this displeasure is over Takeda's ignorance, we can take some guesses as to what Eveylnn's issue with the Gray Lady might be. I'll throw out a couple of mine after mentioning two others I noticed in comments.

One suggested that she could be upset that a Mark was stolen from her. I will disagree with this assessment. I believe Evelynn is quite selective with her clientele and would not demean herself to an employer that would assign a Mark to whomever can do it first. This is not mercenary work. This is a respected profession and the best at the trade won't respond to "ads in a newspaper".

There was also a comment that the Gray Lady was possibly a target Evelynn was supposed to kill. I believe I will have to dismiss this as well. The most reasonable clients to wish for the death of a reputable assassin like the Gray Lady or Evelynn would be those that were related to former Marks. Taking such work is not good for the trade unless you are desperately needing to make a name for yourself. Evelynn has nothing to gain from such a job.

My first stab at the Gray Lady's identity is that she represents the generic rival. But I will be bold to say that given Takeda's lackluster response, this rivalry is not malicious. The Gray Lady merely has a similar style and she is not intentionally seeking to anger Evelynn. This annoys Evelynn, but she would not be interested in doing something about it.

But an issue with similar styles comes with how the Gray Lady builds her unique reputation. This could be simply a matter of whom the client is. The Gray Lady might only take contracts from angry, discarded wives (clients whom Evelynn has no use for). It is very possible in this scenario that Evelynn was aware of the job but turned it down. In fact she may have even recommended the Gray Lady, but is annoyed that her fellow assassin still hasn't developed a style to distinguish between the two of them.

Assuming the Gray Lady does have a unique pattern that is different than Evelynn's, then Takeda should have been more surprised with the information (or he's ignorant). If we roll with him being ignorant over the kill patterns... things become a "waste of Evelynn's time" and we could genuinely have an assassin trying to discredit her reputation.

Another shot at the Gray Lady's identity would be a more personal connection, like a relative or former friend, teacher or student. Someone close enough that would reasonably have a similar kill pattern or know enough about Evelynn to emulate hers. This could still be true in the case of a rival, but adds a new layer of history that may have been good before turning sour.

Perhaps we have a second Kira trying desperately to get Evelynn's attention (Death Note reference). So many possibilities.

In the end, I prefer the answers that would encourage an author to write "expression hardened" over phrases that would suggest a passionate hatred. Something that hovers between annoyance and rage.