Once Lycoris and her most trusted maidservant returned to the hotel, she almost immediately dove into the kitchen fridge and ripped the cap off of a glass of blood to devour the contents. Not only had she worked up quite an appetite with her busy day and stressful meeting, but now that she was no longer marching across the wilderness and rationing her meals, she found it hard to ignore the re-invigorated hunger clawing at her stomach.

  Embarrassing a thought as it was, she was a growing girl. Technically.

  But unfortunately hunger didn’t do much to make her meal palatable, as she nearly gagged the moment she tasted the familiarly unpleasant bitterness of animal blood. It was like a potato that had been left to rot and was melted down into sludge, or like all the limes in the Kingdom had been drained of their sweetness, and condensed into a painfully tart slurry.

  She still choked down the entire jar, gasping and groaning afterward as she sat against the cabinet doors in a rather undignified position.

  After recovering from the assault on her tastebuds, Lycoris returned to her room to contact her mother and go over the course of events that day. And to show off her new outfit. To her surprise, Lilianna seemed genuinely delighted that she’d decided to go and pick out more clothing for herself. Lycoris assumed she’d be annoyed or call it low-brow or inelegant or unworthy of her princessly figure, or something to that effect.

  But she said it looked good on her; and asked if it was Athena who picked her outfit or if she did it herself. Naturally, she proudly puffed her chest out and declared she did it herself… and then deflated as she remembered that Athena instructed her to tell Lilianna about her need for new bras.

  ‘What’s the matter, dear? We are quite impressed with our darling flower’s taste in fashion. And your proactiveness. If it’s simply fatigue, we can hang up for now and allow you to rest.’

  “No, it’s not that. Just, um… Athena said that I went up two sizes…”

  ‘Oh my! Our little Lycoris is growing up so fast already.’

  “N-No, just… bra size. Though I did apparently gain a size of height, too!”

  ‘T-Two… Darling, are you sure that Athena didn’t mean centimeters?’

  “Oh, um, yes. That’s what she said.”

  ‘Ahem, right. …Nearly gave us a heart attack there for a moment… Regardless, it warms our heart to hear our little flower is growing. Thank you for sharing, we shall replace your wardrobe immediately. Is there any style of bra in particular you would like?’

  “I’m… honestly not even sure what sort there are. It’s not like I’ve ever had to deal with this before, and I was embarrassed enough about having to get Athena to measure me and buy a new one…”

  ‘Sweetie, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It’s a perfectly natural thing for girls to go through, and Athena is your personal maidservant. Think of her as an extension of yourself. But of course, if you find there are things too difficult to share with her, you can always come to us. Never forget that.’

  “Mm… ‘kay. But also I’m not a… or I mean, I wasn’t a girl for… over forty years. You can’t expect me to just…”

  ‘We know. Which is why we’re informing you now that it’s natural, and nothing to feel shame over. If anything, you should take pride in it.’

  “Is that so… um, thanks, then.”

  As Lycoris fidgeted and crossed her palms over her heart, she heard the room bell buzz and the door open moments later, along with the sound of Seraphine and Emma chatting about dinner, work… and Lycoris.

  In particular, talking about what sort of outfits they should convince her to dress up in tomorrow, and whether or not Seraphine could play with her hair instead of Athena. In response, Athena suggested they might as well do so after dinner, and mentioned Lycoris was talking to Lilianna at the moment.

  “I wonder if they realize I can hear what they’re saying right now…”

  ‘What was that, dear?’

  “Oh, just… Sera and Athena are talking about me. My hearing has been really sharp today, I wonder if it’s just because I’ve been anxious.”

  ‘Well we are Aphtangloa, but if you mean to say it’s felt stronger than normal, perhaps you’ve subconsciously been enhancing your hearing using your mana? You were once a soldier, ostensibly. The principle is the same, even if you never put it into practice yourself.’

  “H-Huh? But I definitely… come to think of it, you did have me doing the same to my wings.”

  ‘And your body, while flying. Even though you probably weren’t consciously thinking about it, you had to reduce your weight to fly.’

  Lycoris nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on her ears as she felt a slight tingling sensation. Forcing herself to relax her shoulders and release the tension that had been surreptitiously building up, she heard a sound inside her ears like wind rustling, and after a moment the world became quieter.

  “…Oh wow, that really was it. Thanks Mama.” Lycoris beamed.

  ‘Of course sweetie, try not to overexert yourself. We know it’s stressful being so far from us~’

  “…I’m going to hang up and hang out with my friends, now.” Lycoris pouted.

  ‘“Friends” you say… Goodness, to think you would have such a strong opinion of your maid. But… if you’re so keen to part, we shan't keep you.’

  “It’s not that! I still want to talk but… I probably should at least say hi and spend some time with them before bed. And I do need to finish memorizing deployment records. I can’t leave Lesath to do all the work.”

  ‘Actually, you certainly could… hmm, as long as you aren’t impacting your sleep at all, you of course may spend your evening as you wish.’ Lilianna frowned and folded her arms. ‘There is no need to push yourself unnecessarily.’

  “I won’t, don’t worry…”

  ‘Right. Good. Then, we’ll speak to you again in the morning.’

  “Okay… I love you, Mama.”

  ‘Hmhmhm~ We love you too, Lycoris. Rest well, when you do.’

  With a little wave that ill-suited the image of a murderous tyrant, Lilianna hung up and left Lycoris alone in her room once more. She immediately frowned and internally cursed herself for letting her impulsiveness put an end to the conversation early.

  Rather than letting loneliness wash over her, Lycoris turned around and wrenched open the door, throwing herself to the wolves lying in wait for her. Maybe letting them toy with her hair would at least stave off the slight feeling of emptiness in her chest.

  And the unpleasant taste still lingering in the back of her mouth.

  “Welcome back, Seraphine.”

  “Oh Lyco, did you hear me come in?”

  The two of them were already seated down in the lounge area, sitting on the crescent-shaped sofa that lined the entire raised lip around it, a bottle of wine sitting in a bucket on the table in front of them… right beside the paperwork Lycoris left behind.

  She walked down the stairs and up to them, but before she could reach for a lounge chair, Athena shot up and pulled it over for her instead. She recalled her mother’s words of the maid being an extension of herself and sighed, offering gratitude instead of chastising her for doing something so unnecessary.

  “Thanks, Athena. And yeah, I meant it when I said I have sharp ears. Even heard what you two were scheming up,” she wryly smiled.

  “Scheming? You make us sound like villains! What’s wrong with playing around with hair? You can mess with mine too, if you’d like… though it’s on the shorter side of things. Oh! What if in exchange, you painted my nails? Maybe let you get some practice in, I noticed you keep yours unadorned.”

  “If Her Highness wishes to have her nails painted, she need only ask.”

  “I don’t really see why I would. Why would I want my nails painted? …am I supposed to have them painted? I don’t recall Mama saying anything—”

  “‘Cause it looks nice!”

  Seraphine threw up her hands in exasperation.

  Athena chuckled demurely, fetching a pair of glasses and tearing off the seal on the bottle.

  “Give our princess some leeway, Seraphine. Her Highness is naive in the ways of feminine beauty. Though, come to think of it… it would be an easy way of adding a touch of maturity to—”

  “I’ll do it! …I mean, um. It does sound like it could be fun…”

  The pair of women chuckled as Lycoris shrunk inward, clucking her tongue as she realized she fell for the most obvious bait in the world.

  Hoping to deflect from her own overeagerness, she looked at the bottle that Athena was pouring from.

  “Where did you get the bottle of wine from? …That is wine, right?”

  “I decided to splurge a little and ordered it downstairs,” Seraphine answered. “I could’ve had it sent up as room service, but I figured I might as well bring it up myself. Probably safer that way too, honestly. Means I can make sure it’s still sealed up.”

  “I know Your Highness doesn’t enjoy, erm, alcohol, but… If you’d like a sip,”

  Athena held the glass filled with blood up, the crimson spirits taunting Lycoris.

  How nice it would be, to rid herself of the awful taste stuck to the back of her throat. And if Athena was offering it to her, it obviously had to be pricy enough to satisfy a princess’s palate, or whatever.

  Lycoris had been working awfully hard, and she’d done an excellent job today, if she did say so herself. Maybe she deserved at least a sip. Obviously she’d abstain from a glass herself; even if she set aside that it was made from the blood of innocent humans, it was still alcohol.

  Hesitantly, she raised her hand up and—

  Don’t… …drink it!

  Lycoris froze, glancing left and right as she heard a strange voice in her head.

  Or rather, it’d been her voice, but it felt like someone else had spoken inside her head. She didn’t see—

  Don’t you dare … drink that blood, Lycoris!

  “I… I’ll pass. Hmph, you should know better than to try and tempt me, Athena. I feel a headache coming on just thinking about it.”

  In truth, trying to fixate on the intrusive thoughts burrowing into her head was causing a great deal of discomfort. Had her conscience suddenly grown a will of its own and decided to stage a rebellion? Surely it wasn’t that big of a deal, and where was it when she was struggling over cake before? Or when she accidentally ate that parfait. Or when she’d first given in to hunger, after being stabbed with Mizar…

  “Right, my apologies, Your Highness.”

  Athena looked rather downcast, but didn’t press the issue. No doubt the picture of Lycoris slumped against the cupboards was still fresh in her memory.

  Still, even though she’d very nearly given in, Lycoris felt a bit proud of herself for resisting the urge. Wherever that voice originated from, it’d undoubtedly just saved her.

  She had half a mind to tell Seraphine not to over-indulge as well, considering how poorly the woman seemed to hold her liquor, but decided against it. Better to drink for a merry reason, rather than to chase away demons. Especially if it meant she’d continue being happy in the moment, rather than alone and worrying over Emma.

  The two of them lightly clinked their glasses together and sipped, making smalltalk while Lycoris turned her attention back to the remarkably dry paperwork full of names and deployment records and notable accomplishments for each squad.

  And then… Lycoris heard a thud, and then the sound of glass clattering.

  Her eyes snapped up from the papers and focused on Seraphine, slumped over on the sofa, passed out already.

  “Hmph, if she was so tired, she should have…”

  In the middle of tutting and scolding the unconscious Seraphine, Athena joined her as she flopped forward onto the table.

  Lycoris dropped the papers and shot up to her feet, darting over to them and placing a hand to Athena’s back. There wasn’t anything strange about her heartbeat, at least. Most likely the two of them had just been put to sleep… though not being able to check if they were breathing left her feeling anxious, even though she knew vampires didn’t naturally breathe.

  Poison? But, the bottle was sealed.

  She looked at the innocuous bottle, advertising itself as an Avnas Red, straight from the orchards and quality assured by…

  The Vanas.

  Lycoris was rapidly growing to hate that name more and more with every passing day. But even if they monopolized blood processing technology, would they have really purposefully have a stock of laced bottles of wine? That seemed incredibly unlawful.

  If that sudden voice hadn’t warned her…

  Her danger sense spiked, and a shiver ran up her spine. Before she could even fully process the feeling, Lycoris reflexively jumped away from the sofa just before a dart struck the cushions she’d been leaning against.

  Her temper flaring, she spun in a half-circle as she rapidly scanned the room, looking for any sign of the intruder. Naturally, there was none. But that wasn’t going to stop her.

  She closed her eyes, focused all her energy on her ears, and listened as intensely as she possibly could.

  The ever-so-faint sound of the rug being pressed down by a boot slammed into her ears like a clocktower bell, and she knew exactly where to strike.

  Letting instinct take over, Lycoris charged toward the sound and thrust with her hand, the suddenly sharp-tipped talons tearing through some sort of padded armor and ripping off a chunk of flesh.

  Upon opening her eyes, Lycoris saw a hooded figure wearing a strange modern-looking getup covered in zippers backing away from her. In one hand, they held a weapon that looked like a hand-crossbow, only more metallic, while their other hung limply at their side, a nasty wound oozing blue blood from their arm.

  She couldn’t make out their face, but they made no sound of pain or surprise at being caught.

  The erstwhile assassin tossed the weapon aside and pulled out a needle-tipped object, holding it reverse-gripped like a bandit preparing to strike with a dagger, and slowly started circling around Lycoris.

  He—or she, potentially. Lycoris couldn’t tell beneath the strange jacket and pullover hood, but they had a solid but lithe build—moved to put himself between Lycoris and the two unconscious ladies.

  “Don’t you dare,” Lycoris hissed.

  Of course, the assailant ignored her. Until she dashed forward, and thrust her claw-tipped fingers toward his guts. Unfortunately, being much shorter and having worse reach than the adult assassin, her hand failed to find its mark before he lifted his leg and heel kicked her in the gut, tossing her to the floor with a gasp of pain.

  As Lycoris tumbled along the floor, reeling in the odd sensation of not having the wind knocked out of her, the assailant charged toward her and gripped her by the shoulder to hold her in place. Before he could swing the needle down into her, she kicked at his ankles. Her hope had been to throw him off balance, but she ended up completely sweeping his legs out from under him.

  Scrambling back up to her feet, she grabbed him by his good arm and, after spinning him around to build up momentum, tossed him straight toward the windows. He felt surprisingly heavy, given his size, but rather than smash through the metallic shutters and window beyond, he struck the blinds and left an indentation in them as he bounced back and landed on his feet.

  It almost looked like the shutters took more damage than he did, for how little he sold the impact of Lycoris’s toss. He immediately closed the distance once more, but while Lycoris had her gaze fixed entirely on the weapon in his hand, prepared to intercept, he sprinted right past her toward the two unconscious women.

  “Ah!”

  Realizing her mistake, she turned around to catch him, but he stopped on the spot the moment her guard was down and reverse-roundhouse kicked her.

  “Does every Vampire have eyes in the back of their head or something!? I don’t think I ever got the memo,” she snarled through gritted teeth as she clung to his leg to avoid being knocked away.

  The assailant wiggled his leg like a dog trying to shake off a burr, while Lycoris slashed at the strange mesh leggings with her claws. They met more resistance than she expected fabric to demonstrate, but her talons managed to shred through the material and dug into his skin.

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  Before she could sever an artery or break any bones, he swung the improvised weapon down at her, forcing her to let go to evade the strike.

  Lycoris rolled back around, wiping her bloodied fingers on the carpet as she got between him and her two companions. He clearly wanted to use them as hostages, which meant she had to do whatever she could to keep him away.

  Letting him go on the offense, she ducked and wove around his thrusts, making sure that she didn’t give up any ground while avoiding an injection of whatever was in the dart.

  It was much easier once she let him get into a rhythm, and after waiting for him to step forward with his injured leg, she baited out a strike and caught him by the wrist. Snarling, she slammed her fist into his center of mass. The strike hit him with such force that he was ripped out of her grasp, tearing a scrap of cloth from his sleeve and causing him to drop the needle-dart to the floor.

  He was sent flying away, slamming back-first onto the handrail that wrapped around the walkway behind the lounge area. It didn’t break his momentum though, as he flipped over behind it and… righted himself, landing on his feet as he scrambled toward the kitchen unit.

  Rather than let him arm himself with the knives there or run around to put Emma and Athena between them, Lycoris jumped after him. She vaulted over the railing in a single motion, gripping him by the back of his jacket and swinging him around, throwing him through the kitchen table and slamming him onto the floor. She snarled as she wrenched his hood down to stare at his face.

  “You shouldn’t have worn something with so many zip—” she started, before her breath caught in her throat.

  Staring back at her was a bald-headed man with the majority of his ears lopped off, a surgical scar wrapping around his head and a barcode stamped on the front. There was no trace of fear, pain, or confusion in the clear blue eyes fixed on her, just a blank stare. He didn’t look glassy-eyed or unfocused, just… impassive.

  She had seen many different expressions on the defeated faces of her enemies, but they always carried some form of emotion. The emptiness staring back at her was like a waking corpse. To a trained soldier, it was unsettling.

  Her hand reflexively tightened around his throat, but he didn’t gasp or wince.

  “Can you even talk…?”

  “Halt.”

  A monotone voice called out to Lycoris from across the room, in the direction of the two unconscious women.

  She winced, pinning the vampire’s arms with her knee and free hand before turning to look at the source. A second hooded assassin stood beside the table, holding up the unconscious Seraphine by the neck and angling a small, jet-black knife at her heart.

  Subconsciously, she squeezed her hand a little tighter, feeling the blood vessel in the neck of her own hostage struggle under her thumb.

  “Release No.5786, and stand down. Our objective is to bring you to the lord. Compliance is suggested to prevent further damage to mission objective.”

  “Oh, truly? How about a counteroffer: harm a single hair on her head and I’ll kill your friend here, your boss, and every single person who has ever backed him.”

  “You do not know—”

  “Bartholomew Vanas, right? Both me and my mother know what he’s done. Surely you realize what that means, right?”

  “Do you find such a trade to be acceptable?”

  “What trade?”

  “The life of one assassin, for three women. The life of our master, for yours.”

  “Hah!” Lycoris couldn’t stop the sudden burst of laughter from slipping out. “What makes you think you’re capable of stopping me? Did you see what I already did to your buddy here?”

  For just a single moment, that tiniest slip of focus was all it took for the person she had pinned to slip his arm out of her grasp. Dislocating his own shoulder, he slid his hand over a coat pocket, withdrew a pair of familiar black wrist cuffs, and slapped one onto one of Lycoris’s hands.

  The sudden wave of nausea bewildered her, making it trivial for him to pull her hand from his throat and fasten the other one, shackling her source of power and rendering her as frail as a “regular” girl.

  Throwing her to the ground, the man shrugged his shoulders and with a pop, re-set his arm as he reached for another pocket.

  “W-Wait! I surrender, just… don’t hurt them.”

  In a panic, Lycoris raised her hands defensively in front of her face, still attempting to tug at the sinister black-nailed bracelets despite her supposed surrender.

  “Your compliance is no longer necessary. You will remain still as we prepare you for transport.”

  “Hold on a second,” Lycoris frowned, “I don’t know what you mean by that, but do you think a princess can be stuffed into a sack and carried out a seventh story window? It’s a terrible idea, you’d get caught immediately.”

  The pair of hooded figures glanced toward each other wordlessly.

  She had no idea if they’d actually believe what she was saying, but it wasn’t… wrong. It had been a terrible idea. Her mind raced as she scrambled to find whatever leverage she could apply.

  Just as they were about to resume whatever it was they were planning, Lycoris puffed her chest out and inhaled deeply, putting on her best spoiled-child voice.

  “To say nothing of how much it would ruin my dress! And my hair, and just the sheer indignity of it! If I am to be presented to anyone of noble standing, it must be at my best. Therefore I demand that you two serve as my escort to wherever it is you’re taking me. Unless you think the two of you are capable of tending to the strict regimen I demand for my daily care. And are capable of bringing all my necessary belongings along. Given the downright slovenly and underhanded way you fight, I can’t imagine such a thing to be possible. Honestly, I have no idea how your master puts up with you. And is that monotone routine truly necessary? It’s rather gauche, if I must be honest.”

  She felt her hand tremble from nerves, desperately hoping they’d believe her routine.

  The two of them remained completely still as they looked at each other, leaving Lycoris briefly wondering if they had a means of telepathic communication, before the one with Seraphine held hostage carefully lowered her back onto the sofa.

  If she could just separate them from the hostages, she might be able to take one down on her own if she caught them by surprise… Admittedly that would be far easier if they gave her the chance to arm herself, but it would be rather obvious if she walked over to the knife holder. Plus, even if she managed it, the other one would easily overpower her. She felt no different than an ordinary child with these repulsive shackles on her wrists.

  Not to say she was entirely against letting them take her. She absolutely wanted to give that absolute fool a piece of her mind, and maybe some lashings, for being idiotic enough to cavort with Tatyana. But, she also didn’t want to cause another massive incident, nor upset or worry her mother unnecessarily. Her mind began burning as she looked around the penthouse, wondering if there was still some way out of this situation.

  “Acknowledged. However, we must still take precautions with Her Highness Princess Lycoris. No.5786, damage report.”

  “Right arm majorly damaged, wound closing slowly. Left arm still suffering from minor fractures and earlier dislocation. Left leg moderately damaged. Spinal column partially misaligned. Combat capabilities will be severely hampered if further fighting breaks out. Supposition, I will need to be replaced after mission completion. Apologies, No.1526.”

  “Understood, please secure Her Highness while I tend to the hostages.”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Ugh, is that seriously how you talk all the time? Now I see why Mama keeps people like Athena around…”

  The one Lycoris had injured—Number 5786 apparently—walked up to her without a hint of hostility in his movements, like their earlier scramble had all been a bizarre hallucination. Or maybe more like he’d flipped a switch, given how machine-like they behaved.

  Lycoris definitely wasn’t going to let them do that to Emma, and she was going to make that Vanas guy beg for death for even implying it. Not that his death wouldn’t be assured, given that he was essentially taking the Heir-Significate hostage now.

  Is this part of Tatyana’s plan, though? No, it can’t be, I doubt she even realizes I’m still alive. So why is the Viscount coming after me now? Is he seriously just that stupid? Or impatient, maybe? Perhaps he didn’t expect me to show up in person, and wants me to guarantee his safe passage out of the city… No, that doesn’t make sense, if he has guards like these, I’m sure he could just slip out with Emma. So then, why?

  “Present your hands.”

  “Huh? What is it now…?”

  Lycoris looked up and held out her hands somewhat nervously.

  The assassin, 5786, tore a scrap loose from his own clothing and tied Lycoris’s hands together. He showed a surprising amount of courtesy, as the restraint wasn’t nearly as tight as she’d have fashioned it, and the material didn’t chafe her skin. Not any more than the awful mana-sealing black bangles, at least.

  “Where did you even get these from? Don’t tell me you stole them from the teleport…”

  Obeying her request, the assassins said nothing in response to her question.

  At the same time, Assassin number two… or 1526, apparently, took a pair of tiny brown satchels out of one of their pockets and began stuffing Seraphine feet-first into it. It looked incredibly silly, there was no way they’d even get half of a foot into it. Except they easily slid it up over her legs, and carefully tucked it around her clothing.

  “Wait what are you doing!?” Lycoris cried out.

  She knew what a bag of holding was, there were a few in circulation within the Kingdom. It made sense vampires would have easy access to them.

  But she also knew that there was no oxygen inside them, that nothing short of anaerobic bacteria could survive in the portable dimension inside of them. …Not that Tatyana had explained what exactly that was when sharing the “fun” tidbit on their travels.

  “Securing the hostages,” No.1526 blandly replied.

  “You’ll kill her! She can’t… breathe? …wait a second,”

  “Vampires do not need oxygen, this will not impact her life. Killing a hostage would pointlessly enrage our target.”

  “Well that’s a whole new form of nightmare for the poor farmgirl from Dauwen…” Lycoris sighed quietly to herself.

  After putting Seraphine inside one bag and fastening it to their belt, they moved on to stowing Athena in the same manner.

  Meanwhile, No.5786 brought a chair over to sit Lycoris down, and carefully slid her into her shoes. Maybe they really did take her haughty ranting seriously… she chased away the idle thought, but not before wondering if the Vanas these two served had a child like that. Or maybe it was how Bartholomew himself acted…

  “So, not that I particularly care if you get caught or not—actually, I would be quite pleased if you did—but what is your plan for getting me out of here, exactly? People will notice if I simply walk out on my own, or if I’m accompanied by a pair of mysterious hooded men.”

  “…”

  “…”

  “…Helloooooo? Do you realize how rude it is to snub the Crown Princess!?”

  Lycoris grumpily tapped her foot against the ground.

  Once the one down below finished sacking the pair of adults and joined their colleague above with Lycoris, they removed their jacket and exposed their nearly identically shaved and branded face, holding it out to Lycoris. Their figure was slightly more lithe, and they had amber eyes instead of blue, but their gaze was no less devoid of… anything.

  “Wear it.”

  Lycoris scowled to chase away the unpleasant feeling of staring them in the eye, and raised her hands—tied together by the wrist.

  “And how am I supposed to put it on, exactly? Besides, I can’t imagine something like this is actually going to fool anyone, even if it does mask my face. And what are you going to do without it?”

  Instead of vocalizing an answer, the more slender, now hoodless of the two simply pulled the hoodie over her, before zipping up the jacket in the front and tying the two loose sleeves together.

  Next, they took another pouch out of one of their zippers and withdrew a full guard uniform from it. Then, finally, after changing into their disguise, they put a pair of thin manacles on their companion’s wrists, which didn’t look like they’d even be able to bind a frail human girl, much less a vampire assassin.

  Once they led Lycoris to the door, the one in the guard uniform turned to stare down at her.

  “Remain silent. The safety of the other two depends on your actions.”

  “You do realize my mother is going to kill you all for this, regardless of what happens to me, yes?”

  “Our Lord will use you to prevent such an outcome. Remain silent.”

  “That is the stupidest— ugh…”

  Shaking her head in utter disbelief, Lycoris fell silent as they asked. They seemed pleased—if they could even feel such a thing—that she was following instructions, and proceeding to escort her into and down the elevator and through the foyer of the hotel.

  In a stroke of luck, one of the guards standing by in the lobby approached them and began interrogating the assassin in disguise. Lycoris looked up at them with hope in her heart and desperation in her eyes, but obviously nothing got through to the guard, since her face was completely enshrouded…

  “What’s going on here?”

  “These two were attempting to sneak onto Her Highness’s floor. I’ve got the situation under control,” the assassin replied with surprising emotion.

  Apparently they could manage it, when the situation called for it.

  “Wait seriously? Who the hell are they? …and why’s one of them so short?”

  “Dunno, they won’t talk. We’ll see if they change their tune once they’re brought in.”

  “I’ll accompany you, then. Better to keep them from getting away.”

  “That shouldn’t be an issue…”

  Do I speak up here? Lycoris eyed the pair of satchels on the assassin-guard’s belt. No, they could destroy the bags before the guard would understand what I mean. And considering these dumb bracelets, they could just ‘officially’ take me hostage and then flee that way… I need to cause a proper distraction where their attention won’t be on my actions or the hostages, and have some means of escape. I can’t really outrun them like this… ugh, stupid vampires.

  The conversation between guard and “guard” continued while Lycoris puzzled out the situation, a sense of hopelessness washing over her. She couldn’t think of a good way to actually distance herself from the two of them. Not while her mana was sealed off and she was functionally powerless. It was all stuck inside of her, the bracelets like a lid on the jar that was her body.

  “Alright, stay safe. Don’t let these two out of your sight.”

  “Of course, keep up the good work.”

  “Ah—!”

  As her thoughts turned to the spiral staircase of despair and gloom, the guards finished their conversation with… the real one deciding to simply let them go!? Lycoris wasn’t sure what trick the assassin had pulled, but her voice caught in her throat as a squeak upon seeing him subtly reach for his holstered firearm.

  Understanding the implicit threat, Lycoris allowed the two of them to resume guiding her before she could come up with a course of action. Watching another one of her avenues close itself off, she was left with no choice but to go with the flow for now and pray another opportunity arose.

  ＊　＊　＊

  Unfortunately, no such opportunity presented itself. Unlike the capital, there was next to no foot traffic in the city this late in the evening. There was still the occasional car traveling down the streets, but for the most part they remained tragically unbothered by pedestrians.

  And it seemed they had reached their destination within the city.

  Lycoris gazed up at the sign hanging over the front gate, advertising the zoo she had visited only a few hours earlier.

  There were no guards posted, but the one in disguise still had them avoid walking through the front gate. Lycoris didn’t understand why, and didn’t bother asking because she knew she wouldn’t get any answer, but when she was hefted over the railing by one of them and into the arms of the other, she let out an indignant huff of irritation all the same.

  “Just what do you think you’re doing? This seems far and away too excessive when the front gates were right over there! What would you do if you dropped me!?”

  “Even with No.5786’s drop in performance, such a mistake is not possible. Remain silent.”

  “Mmrgh…”

  Lycoris twisted her head away with a growl of displeasure as the man in uniform gently set her back on her feet.

  The path they took through the zoo was similarly convoluted, as they avoided particular crossways and went around the back of many facilities as if they were avoiding guards… even though there weren’t any present.

  Come to think of it, Tatyana had us doing something similar before as well… perhaps there’s alarm rituals that I can’t see because of these dumb bracelets.

  In that circuitous manner, they continued into the heart of the park. Lycoris wondered why exactly this had been their destination, until she noticed a familiar assortment of animals sleeping inside one of the exhibits. Inside were the myrhs, including the lavender-colored one that she had found oddly familiar before. Like deja vu, despite it being the first time she’d ever seen the creatures.

  Wondering if the animals couldn’t somehow get her out of her predicament, she subtly wandered toward their pen while following her captors, and “accidentally” slammed her elbow into the lock. She immediately regretted her decision, as instead of actually breaking the lock, she simply bruised her elbow and made a loud clang. All she’d earned was a searing flash of pain.

  While she doubled over and whimpered, the two assassins emotionlessly approached and loomed over her.

  “Do not make any noise. This is your last warning.”

  “I can’t help it! I slammed my elbow really hard and it really hurts! Don’t either of you know what pain feels like? Mmngh… Owie…”

  “We still recognize pain,” the one Lycoris had brutalized replied.

  “Stand up. Keep moving.”

  “J-Just, give me a moment. I’m sorry, okay? I let my thoughts distract me. Surely you two understand how stressful this must be for me. And don’t think that the Crown Princess of Tenebreimen is apologizing flippantly.”

  “…”

  That seemed to silence the two of them for the moment.

  Lycoris glanced toward the pen, hoping that the noise would have attracted the attention of the myrhs. A couple of them had raised their heads to look at her, but most appeared to either be still asleep, or trying to ignore the disturbance and rest.

  She let out a small sigh, briefly glancing toward the lavender-colored horsebird, and stood back up as the throbbing in her elbow gradually faded.

  If only you could actually understand the situation I’m in… I could really use a convenient horse-related distraction right now.

  As Lycoris allowed herself to be guided away once more, the myrh opened its eyes and lifted its head.

  She decided not to chance causing any more distractions, and eventually the three of them arrived at a small service hatch that, when pried open, led into a rather foul-odored maintenance tunnel.

  Lycoris winced, turning her nose away from the repulsive sewer entrance. She’d sworn to Mizar that she never wanted to trawl through another sewer again, but it seemed fate wouldn’t be so kind to her.

  The pair of kidnappers ignored her reproachful gaze, and forced her down into the unpleasantly familiar underground passage.

  Stepping into the somewhat narrow tunnel, Lycoris desperately prayed that she would be able to see the light of day once more.