The following morning, everything happened quickly.

    It seemed the concubine hated Ciela, maybe even more than the empress herself. Though Ciela told Asmodeus not to worry, the small comments about her race and the colour of her skin made him irritated.

    "I really hate these people."

    "Calm down, my dear—they are just confused and don''t understand."

    Asmodeus and Ciela planned to leave the elven city after breakfast so that they could support the missing Empress and two princesses.

    Although the emperor allowed them to use the strange power of the concubine, It wouldn''t be strange if she suddenly made him change his mind.

    "Make sure everyone comes with us, and it will be easy to crush them with everyone else." Ciela''s nose scrunched up as she reached over Asmodeus''s body to grab a new pair of clothes from the clothing rail beside her bed. "Ah... can you hold me so I can reach?"

    "No problem..." He smirked, wrapping his hands around her soft thighs as she reached for the distant clothing rack—for some reason, the maids assigned to the palace never came to this room once during his stay last night.

    ''I guess it will be difficult for them to change quickly...''

    .

    .

    .

    After a short time enjoying their morning together, Ciela wore a black undershirt and pants, then her usual leather and chain mail armour over the top, with a green cape covering one shoulder and flowing behind her, which made her look cool.

    "Let''s go, Asmodeus!" She had a brilliant smile, her lips curled into a wide arc, her eyes narrowed and almost closed, and her brows lifted high.

    "I really am grateful for you—thank you for being there for me."

    "If I can be with a beautiful woman like you, I will crawl over burning rocks naked, haha."

    "Idiot... let''s go meet Alice and Velvet."

    Asmodeus and Ciela paced through the corridors, holding hands. Fingers twined. Their goal was the room they agreed to meet at in the afternoon.

    Along the way, many elven soldiers stared at the running duo with expressions of shock, fear, anger, disgust, or confusion.

    Ciela seemed to be accustomed to being seen by such glares—perhaps it was because she used to get such looks when she travelled alone as an adventurer.

    Asmodeus didn''t quite like this, but his calm smile and light blue eyes narrowed, focused on Ciela. If she showed issues, he might have massacred the elves to make her smile again.

    Finally, Asmodeus opened the door to the meeting room and found Alice, Velvet, Vinea, Asmodea, Levia, Erika, and Aki all gathered together with smiles on their faces.

    "Yay! We''re all here!"

    "Lord Asmodeus! How did your evening with the elf go? Was it amazing?" Erika joked, her eyes narrowed with a smug look.

    "Shut up, Eri!" Ciela rushed forward, covering Erika''s lips before sitting beside her. Asmodeus watched their faces, a room full of his women, while he noticed the massive map of the forest placed on the meeting table. His heart fluttered and tingled at seeing them all safe and happy after yesterday''s troubles.

    ''I love these girls so much...''

    Just as he prepared to give them all kisses on their foreheads, the wooden doors behind him were knocked.

    *Knock!*

    "Excuse me. I''m coming in."

    "The ground here has a lot of rocks, right? I plan to use this mountain just behind the castle to set up my place of attack; what about you, Asmodeus?" Ciela''s eyes sparkled with hope and excitement.

    "Erika, Velvet, Alice... will you three support me in rushing to the outpost wall first?"

    "Yes~."

    "I can do that!"

    "Yeah, no problem!"

    They each said their own words as Asmodeus finished up his explanation and waited for feedback.

    "So, basically," Erika broke the short silence. "You''re going to be running around killing as many enemies as possible while protected by Ciela and Asmodea from afar?"

    "Mm." Asmodeus nodded.

    .

    .

    .

    The group didn''t waste time collecting supplies, and that was when a group of around twenty knights stood in light armour at the eastern gate in a square formation.

    "Your Highness, Princess Ciela! We are here to support your mission!"

    Ciela''s eyes widened, her lips opening several times as if the sound wouldn''t come out. "The Glade Guardians?!"

    "Indeed—we are here to protect the princess!" The knight standing at the very front spoke firmly while being dressed in green light metal plate armour.

    There was even a Silvered bardiche (long axe) affixed to their back, and everyone else wore similar armour with various weapons affixed to them.

    ''What are these guys doing here?'' The knights usually guarded the empress in the city against invaders like goblins, orcs, and demons.

    "I... um... I didn''t call you guys," she said softly. Although he couldn''t see it, the look on her face must have been cute. A weak smile spread across her lips as she gazed at the knight leader with confused eyes.

    "But Princess, we swore an oath to protect you and your mother, her Imperial Majesty! Your Highness! So, please give us a command to aid you in this battle!"

    Obviously, their eyes didn''t look at Ciela with the same dirty and displeased look.

    Their thoughts were genuine, so Asmodeus didn''t get involved; instead, it made sense. Her mother must have support because she fights for them so often.

    Asmodeus and the others stood together in a semicircle at the massive open gate, facing the group of soldiers before they saw Ciela walk forward.

    But after only a few steps, her gaze fell upon Nua. "So this is my sister''s doing?"

    "That is correct, Your Highness," Nua replied with a pleasant look on her face. "When Princess Ar''Orina returned a few months ago, she admitted many of her faults and taught us of your situation. Not only that, but many of the ''accidents'' in the past were revealed to be her doing out of jealousy. Thus, she requested to join the Empress in defending the forest together. As atonement."

    "...Eh? S-Sister... what?"

    She stepped back, her wide, almost empty gaze staring at Nua before turning toward Asmodeus and then back again.

    "It seems like a dream—she actually accepted it?"

    "She has a step back from the throne as punishment for the things she did to you in the past, Princess." The maid bowed deeply, wearing her black leather armour and wielding two long, elvish daggers at her waist.

    "Her Highness Orina seeks to make amends."