With her jaw held by Byars's hand, Liliana couldn't turn her head even if she wanted to, and she didn't even notice that she was shedding tears of fear and shame.

She suddenly thought that although she had long realized that her marriage would not be as she wished, such a marriage was really too tragic.

In fact, she really wants to devote her body and soul to the person she loves and live a happy life.

This is the simple feeling of a girl, wrapped in the armor called a princess.

She remembered what Kaori and Shizuku had said about their fairy-tale-like experiences.

When they were in danger, that person appeared heroically. Facing the attacking violence, he defeated it with even more violent force, saving Kaori and Shizuku from danger.

If I pray, can I be saved?

Liliana heard herself, a princess, laugh at such folly, but she couldn't help but cry out in her heart.

——Save me.

Just at this time--

Liliana saw an insect that looked like a small spider fall from the ceiling onto Byas's shoulder. Her eyes widened in surprise. The spider was right in front of her, raising one leg high and stabbing at Byas's neck.

"It hurts! What's wrong? My neck just..."

Feeling a sudden sting, Byas pressed his hand against his neck and pulled back before his lips touched Liliana's.

At this time, the spider had retreated back upwards along the spider silk hanging from the ceiling.

Liliana stared blankly at the scene—

"What's going on? The world is spinning—"

Bias's tongue seemed to become tied, and then his body went limp, falling onto Liliana, unconscious.

"Huh? Huh?"

Just when Liliana was confused about the situation, the spider descended onto Bias along the silk thread again.

Since Bias was lying on her, the spider crawling on his shoulder was right in front of Liliana.

Only when staring at it from such a close distance did Liliana notice the abnormality of the spider.

"...Metal... spider?"

That's right, the spider on Byars's shoulder is made of metal.

In front of Liliana, who had her eyes wide open, the metal spider, as if to deliver a fatal blow to Bias, stabbed Bias' neck again with the sharp needle on its legs, which was different from the previous one.

Although he was unconscious, Byas' body jolted violently. Since he was still breathing, it didn't seem like the attack was truly fatal.

Liliana snapped back to her senses, moved, and crawled out from under Bias's body. She sat down on the ground and stared at the spider in front of her.

The metal spider looked at Liliana with its shiny crystal eyes, then rolled up its silk and climbed up to the ceiling.

"Ah, wait a minute! You're not..."

Liliana tried to stop it in panic, but the metal spider ignored her and continued to climb up. After its eight legs reached the ceiling, it quickly moved towards the outer wall.

Then, a faint red light came on, filling the hole that had been opened at some unknown time, and slipped out of the room.

Liliana sat on the ground, pulling up the front of her torn dress to cover her chest, then finally grasped the situation and couldn't help but smile.

"Thank you... Nagumo-san."

Words of gratitude came out of my mouth involuntarily.

Liliana knew full well that, as Byas's fiancée, even if she were rescued now, it would only be a temporary relief. Even so, having someone respond to her cries for help at this moment still made Liliana immensely happy.

Liliana pressed her torn clothes against her chest with her hands clenched tightly, as if she was holding something else.

After the audience with Gaharud ended, Hajime and the others were brought to the room.

Hajime sat down on the sofa in the room and immediately closed his eyes, not moving at all.

Apart from occasionally replenishing his water, Hajime said nothing and made no movement, and Yue and the others did not speak to him either.

They knew Hajime was concentrating.

I don't know how long it took, but when the sun set and began to turn fiery red—

Hajime suddenly opened his eyes.

After Yue discovered this, she sat next to him and asked:

“…How is it, Hajime?”

"Hmm~ It went smoothly. Although there were some problems along the way, I've completed 70% of the planned goal."

Perhaps due to concentrating for so long, Hajime's voice sounded a little tired.

Kaori immediately healed him with magic.

"Thank you for your hard work. Are there really so many traps?"

"Yes, as expected of the Empire. However, there's no need to dismantle everything."

"Well, thankfully there's a dinner party tonight. The more people gather, the easier it will be for them to move around."

"...Will it go smoothly?"

Although Shia massaged Hajime's shoulders to relieve his fatigue, her expression was somewhat uneasy.

After all, the battle that determines the future of your family is about to begin. It would be strange if you weren't nervous.

To ease Shia's tension, Hajime stroked her bunny ears, Yue pinched Shia's cheek, Tio stroked her hair, and Kaori held her hand.

Seeing her companion's smile, Shia felt a surge of emotion.

But she didn't cry. Even if it were tears of joy, it was too early to shed them.

Instead, she showed her usual dazzling smile. From this smile, you can see how happy she is, because she is not alone, she still has family.

Hajime and the others just loved her smile, and that was also Shia's charm.

Not only Kouki and Ryuutarou, but even Shizuku and Suzu were fascinated by the sight.

After confirming that Shia had returned to her usual smile, Hajime said with a smug grin, like a child about to play a prank:

"The stage preparations are going smoothly, and the dinner is almost here. Let's dress up to complement the protagonists."

After hearing what Hajime said, Yue and the others smiled arrogantly, while Kouki and the others nodded vigorously with nervousness.

Volume 7, Chapter 4: The Empire vs. the Most Evil Rabbit

The sun had completely set, and the surroundings were shrouded in darkness.

In a corner of the imperial city, two imperial soldiers were patrolling according to a fixed patrol route.

They held torches burning with magical fire and tried their best to drive away the darkness that sheltered the illegal intruders.

"Ah, at this hour, all those high-ranking officials are attending the banquet... They must be enjoying the delicious food."

"Hey, stop talking nonsense. If anyone hears, I'll be held responsible."

A soldier looked at the lights in the distance and sighed and complained.

The other soldier corrected him with a frown, but the reason for his frown was not what he said.

If I had to say it, the reason was probably something like, "When the weather is hot, shouting it's hot will make you feel even hotter, so don't say it out loud." In fact, he was also complaining the same thing in his heart.

"But you also want to stand out as soon as possible and attend a dinner like that, right?"

"...Of course I do. If I could become successful enough to attend a dinner like that, I wouldn't have to worry about money and women..."

"That's right, eating and drinking to one's heart's content at a banquet, then spending the night with all those rich ladies, it's like living in paradise. Ah~ I really don't want to be doing meaningless patrols in a place like this. I really want to hug a woman, preferably a bunny woman."

"You really like Bunnymen. Most demihuman women have great bodies, but even when you go to a brothel, you always order Bunnymen."

"Of course, that's because they're the most worthy of being bullied. Their cries are so beautiful to hear."

"Your hobby is really bad..."

"What are you talking about? Bunnymen always give off an aura of 'please bully me', right? I'm just fulfilling their wishes, and you've tortured several people to death, haven't you?"

"What can we do? Because their cries are so beautiful."

The two patrolmen looked at each other and laughed obscenely together.

In the Empire, demihumans were no different than tools, tools to be used to vent stress and sexual desire, but also to be discarded once worn out. Therefore, it wasn't that these two individuals were particularly cruel, but rather that the practice of toying with demihumans was common knowledge among the Imperial soldiers.

At this moment, one of the soldiers' eyes suddenly moved, as if he saw movement in the shadow of the building.

"Hey, something seemed to happen just now..."

"Huh? What's wrong?"

As the soldier cautiously approached the building, trying to illuminate the area, another soldier, confused, followed.

The soldier in front asked, "Is anyone there?" while shining his torch into the gap between the buildings, which was barely wide enough for one person to pass through.

However, he saw no figure ahead. He murmured, "Am I seeing things?" and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, with a wry smile, the soldier turned back to look at his partner...

"Sorry, I misread—? Hello, Mauru? Where are you, Mauru?"

But he saw no one, and only the torch that should have been in his hand was left on the ground. The soldier didn't know where his companion had gone, so he looked around, but there was no one around.

He felt a chill run down his back.

To hide the fear welling up in his heart, the soldier called out to his partner again in an angry tone.

"Hey, Moru, come out quickly! If you keep making trouble—Ugu!?"

The next moment, two hands suddenly stretched out silently from the gap in the building where there should have been no one.

It was as if a hand grew out of the darkness, holding a dark and dull dagger. When the other hand covered the soldier's mouth, the dagger pierced into his medulla oblongata.

The soldier convulsed, then his body went limp and was dragged into the darkness by two hands and disappeared.

Before they knew it, their torches had disappeared, leaving only the warm night breeze blowing gently.

In the darkness, a voice almost drowned by the wind rang out.

"Headquarters (HQ), this is A. Location C has been suppressed."

"A, this is HQ. Understood. Go to location E2. There are two sentries there. Go around from the east."

"HQ, this is A, got it."

After a quiet conversation, several figures in black began to move silently.

Their faces were covered with black cloth, leaving only their eyes exposed to ensure visibility. Their eyes flashed with sharp gazes, and two small swords were strapped to their backs.

If a Japanese person saw their outfit, they would definitely shout, "Ah, ninja!"

Unfortunately, although it is impossible to tell who the individuals are, their identities are clear at a glance.

There are two ears above the headscarf. No matter how you look at it, it is definitely a rabbit man or a Hauriya man.

They took advantage of the night and hid in the shadows of the buildings.

Peeking out from the shadows, I saw, as reported, that there were four sentries divided into two groups, each standing in a position where they could see each other.

One of the Haolia people gestured to the three people behind him.

The three of them nodded and immediately retreated to the back, disappearing as if blending into the night.

After waiting for a few seconds——

Taking advantage of the gap when the sentry was looking away, a light suddenly flashed in the direction indicated.

Similarly, to avoid entering the sentry's sight, another Hauriya held a lighter-sized container, which he closed the moment he opened it. This item was made by placing green light stone inside the container, and its function was like a simple flashlight.

The Haolia who sent the signal turned around and gave instructions to the two people behind him with gestures, and took action at the same time.

The moment the two groups of sentries left each other's sight, a Haolia concealed his breath to the limit, approached in one breath, covered the soldier's mouth and nose with one hand, and stabbed his medulla with the other hand.

“——!?”

Another Hauriya also stopped the second soldier with one hand and stabbed him in the kidney with a knife.

The last man caught the sentry's torch before it hit the ground, blew out the flame, and made sure there were no other traces left. Then he dragged the two soldiers into the shadow of the building.

However, it was impossible to be completely silent after all. Another group of sentries heard the sound and looked over.

But he could no longer see his companions who were there just now, and the light of the torch had disappeared, leaving only darkness.

"Where did they go?"

The sentry was surprised and looked closely. He saw a figure moving in the darkness, as if dragging some large object.

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