"OI, OI! Someone stop that woman! She's going to kill him!" The king's voice thundered from his elevated perch, echoing across the smoking remains of the battlefield.
No one moved.
Not a soldier, not a noble. Even the breeze seemed to hesitate.
"Seriously, no one? And you!" He jabbed his finger at me. "What the hell are you doing to the kid!?"
Boom.
A small explosion of flame flared up around my hand as I straightened from the still-burning body of Hugo. He lay crumpled on the ground like a roasted chicken, twitching slightly.
"Did you say something?" I asked, feigning innocence as the smoke curled up from his singed form.
"You already won!" the King said, exasperated. "Why are you still here—he's still on fire!" And what's that on his back!?"
I tilted my head, genuinely confused for a second. "Oh, that? I just thought the phrase 'I am the best sucker' really suited him. It's got layers. Ambiguity. Multiple interpretations. Very avant-garde."
I waved it off casually, letting the king stew in his frustration.
His eye twitched. "Fine. Whatever. But can you, I don't know, stop your mother? She's about to snap the Duke's spine like a twig!"
Following the direction of his shaking finger, I turned to see Mom still applying an extremely aggressive chokehold on the now thoroughly bloodied Duke. His eyes were rolling back, tongue lolling.
"Nah. It's only been ten minutes. He's got a few more left in him. Builds character," I replied nonchalantly.
Kayda, who had been silently observing the carnage beside me, leaned in. "Isn't he going to bleed out from that new hole in his shoulder?"
"Ah, good point." I nodded in appreciation. A small fireball formed in my palm, crackling with golden heat. Without missing a beat, I drop-kicked it into Hugo's side wound, causing a satisfying grunt of pain to escape him.
"That should cauterize it. Sirone can deal with the rest later."
Kayda looked unimpressed. "Won't his hair grow back and cover up the branding?"
"Pfft, no. I burned deep enough to scar the follicle beds. That patch of skin is now a permanent billboard."
Behind us, a soft, pitiful sob echoed.
Sob. Hick. Sob.
I glanced back at Hugo and grinned. "Aww, is the little furry crying? That's adorable."
At that moment, the Duke let out a gurgling wheeze and collapsed entirely.
"Did you pass out already?" Mom huffed, disappointed. "How disappointing. Kitsuna, come here and do that to him too."
I blinked. "I'm done! Dean Draig, get your wife and daughter under control!"
From high above, my father's voice rang out, clear and firm. "FUCK NO!"
"Amari Draig!" the king shouted again, nearly begging this time.
"NOT HAPPENING!" Mom called back gleefully, still holding the unconscious Duke like a chew toy.
The king clutched his head. "Can someone—anyone—just stop them? I don't want to lose the last Duke House!"
I looked up at him, eyebrow raised. "Who cares?"
Mom chuckled. "Ignore him. Go on, burn off his hair already."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm busy," I muttered, lighting my finger like a cigarette lighter.
[Two Hours Later]
The chaos had simmered down—well, mostly. I was now seated cross-legged on a massive bed, the chaos of earlier replaced by something quieter… and possibly more dangerous.
Hugo's harem—or what used to be his harem—sat across from me, some perched on chairs, others kneeling on cushions. Every single one of them had an expression that ranged from blank skepticism to outright annoyance.
"So let me get this straight," Rin, the tall white-furred bunny demi-human, said flatly. Her red eyes narrowed. "You only want us to gloat in front of the Furry?"
"That's… about it, yeah." I leaned back, stretching my arms with a grin. "Simple, effective."
Rin crossed her arms under her ample chest. Her pristine white fur, a rare trait among her kind, shimmered under the room's warm lighting. No wonder Hugo had his eyes on her—he probably thought she made him look more important.
"My queen isn't a pervert like the furry," Chinada piped up, puffing his chest with loyalty. "She just wants to use you all for strategic humiliation."
"We don't know that!" snapped Brit, a sharp-eyed catgirl with bronze skin and a black tail twitching irritably. "At least with Hugo, we knew he wouldn't touch us until he turned eighteen. This one? She looks like she eats people for breakfast."
"I do eat a lot, actually," I admitted.
"See!?"
"Come on, Brit," Mia, the curvy ram-girl with her curled horns, said with a wink. "We're free from that hairy freak. What's the harm in a little revenge?"
"Don't call Lord Hugo a freak!" Ava, the mouse girl, screeched. Her oversized ears twitched in fury.
Mia rolled her eyes. "Still as stuck-up as ever, huh, Ava?"
I sighed, rubbing my temples. "Yeah, this is going nowhere. We need to be in the throne room in ten minutes."
Standing up, I gave the group a slow once-over, noting each face carefully.
"Alright. White bunny, the catgirls, ram girl, black doggie girl, Chinada, Miss Raccoon, and brave little mouse—you stay. Everyone else, you're dismissed."
One of the girls raised her hand hesitantly. "Where should we go, Master?"
I winced. "Don't call me that. Go to the Draig Family's estate. I'll sort everything out after the meeting."
As they filtered out, Ava remained, arms crossed and glaring.
"What are you going to do with us?" she demanded.
I smirked. "You're one brave little mouse, aren't you?"
"I'm not little!" she squeaked, stomping her foot.
"Ava, hush. What's your plan?" Rin asked, tone sharper now.
I sat back down, legs folded. "Honestly? No plan. I'm just shocked that idiot managed to wrangle a group like you. You're all way too spirited to have ended up as his trophies."
"Some of us were bought," said the small loli catgirl, her voice quiet. "Some caught by hunters. Others… well, joined voluntarily."
I nodded slowly, eyes flicking to Ava. "Let me guess. Mouse wanted the D."
"What? He was hot! Can't I just want a hot guy?" Ava said, hands on her hips.
"Hot? In what way?" The rest chorused, deadpan.
"Whatever. Time's tight." I stretched again. "All I want is for you to sit near me in the throne room. Nothing else."
Brit stood, frowning. "Why should we?"
I grinned. "Don't you want to see the Furry's face when he sees you all wrapped around me?"
That got them.
"I'm in," Mia said immediately, looping her arm through mine.
The rest hesitated but eventually gave in. Except Ava, who was still pouting.
"I hope Sirone healed him up properly," I muttered, striding out the door with the girls in tow.
[Shino POV—Throne Room]
We had been waiting in the throne room for nearly ten minutes. And that fox was late. Again.
I sat upright in my seat as Princess, trying not to fidget. Yami sat beside me on my left, stoic as always. Across from us, my big brother lounged casually in his massive golden throne, while Mother occupied the seat next to him, watching the nobles murmur among themselves.
All of them had come to witness the Boei family's official pledging today… But it seemed like the stars of the show were fashionably late.
"It's already been ten minutes. Where is that damn fox?" Big Brother grumbled. "When I get my hands on her, I'm going to strangle her to death."
Right on cue, the main doors creaked open.
And there she was.
Kitsuna strode in like she owned the place. Gone were the simple jeans and button-up shirt she wore earlier. Now she wore a crisp white suit, complete with a red bowtie and gleaming white shoes. Her scarf was gone, revealing the cursed mark on her neck for all to see—bold as ever.
Behind her, a colorful trail of girls followed, each dressed sharply or stylishly, all eyes on them. Some smiled, some looked bored, but they radiated energy. A few nobles gasped. Others began whispering frantically.
"Took you long enough," Big Brother said, legs crossed, acting like he hadn't just been yelling minutes ago.
'Strangle her, huh?' I thought, eyeing him skeptically.
"Yeah, we had a few things to sort out," Kitsuna said without missing a beat. Everyone assumed she would head toward our family's seating area.
Instead, she walked right past us.
Her destination: the seat of the disgraced Boei Duke house.
She stopped at the center and tapped her foot once.
Frost bloomed.
The temperature plummeted instantly. My skin prickled. From the stone floor rose a throne—not just any throne, but an ice throne. Regal. Ornate. Glimmering with frostwork detail. Its design mirrored Big Brother's, but with elegant white and silver blades fanning out like wings. It was—dare I say—cooler.
Literally and figuratively.
"Hey, hey, little sis, can you make me one of those?" Big Brother asked, nudging me.
"I can," I sighed.
"You don't have the copyright to my throne," Kitsuna teased, already seated.
Her girls took position around her. The loli catgirl hopped onto her lap and curled up, purring happily as Kitsuna pet her. The ram and bunny girls perched on the armrests like queens in their own right. The rest flanked the throne behind her.
Everyone except the mouse girl glared at the others as if she wanted to bite someone.
"So," Kitsuna said, grinning at Big Brother. "When are we starting?"