Rose was still at Mark’s side, equally still, with that uncomfortable expression still on her face from when Hod had grabbed her hands.

"And this is exactly why I prefer staying inside the dungeon..."

Mark stood on the path watching the cloud of dust left by the horses slowly dissipate between the trees.

"...Yuki," Mark said through the mental link.

"I’m here, Master."

"Follow them, make sure they’re far enough from the dungeon, then come back to me," Mark ordered.

"As you command, Master."

Yuki’s presence vanished from the surroundings as quickly as always, leaving Mark alone with Rose in the middle of the wooded path.

Then Mark looked at the vampire.

"You know, I really didn’t expect anyone to be following us."

Rose was quiet for a moment.

"Well... that’s probably mine and Alice’s fault," Rose said in a tone that wasn’t exactly guilty, but wasn’t entirely carefree either.

Mark looked at her for a second longer, then let out a sigh.

"It doesn’t matter," he said, looking away toward the road. "It’s done, you tricked them, they’re gone, there’s no point dwelling on something we can’t change."

"Aren’t you angry, Master?"

"Would it do any good to be?"

"...No, I suppose not."

"Then I’m not. Besides, I already gave you both the scolding of your lives that night and I’m not going to repeat it every time a new consequence shows up."

Rose looked at him with an expression that was hard to read, but had something resembling gratitude in it.

"Thank you, Master."

"Don’t thank me, just don’t do it again."

"That I can’t promise," Rose said with a faint smile.

"Rose..."

"I’m joking, Master."

Both went quiet for a moment before breaking into laughter at what the vampire had said.

"Changing the subject, great work back there. You fooled them and sent them in the opposite direction from the dungeon."

Rose let out a short laugh, waving one hand dismissively.

"It wasn’t that impressive, Master," she said with a shrug. "Lying isn’t exactly hard when the other person is in such a rush they don’t stop to think about what you’re telling them."

Rose paused.

"But I definitely would have preferred that woman hadn’t touched me..." she added, looking at her own hands with an expression of discomfort that still hadn’t entirely left her.

"I could tell it caught you off guard," Mark said, letting out a quiet laugh.

"Caught me off guard is an understatement, Master," Rose said, frowning slightly. "I almost ripped her arms off by reflex."

"I’m glad you didn’t."

"So am I, it would have ruined the whole performance."

Mark shook his head with a smile and then looked in the direction of the dungeon.

"We should head back before someone else sees us," Mark said, starting to walk. "We’ve had enough human contact for one day."

"I agree..." Rose replied, walking beside him.

The two covered the stretch of forest separating them from the dungeon entrance in silence.

It wasn’t a very long walk, barely ten minutes on foot, and when the entrance appeared between the trees Mark stopped for a moment before going in. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"Rose," he said, turning toward her.

"Yes, Master?"

"I need you to gather Alice and the others again in the throne room and fill them in on everything that just happened."

"As you command, Master," Rose replied with a small bow of her head.

And with that both of them entered the dungeon.

Mark’s footsteps echoed against the floor as he moved through the dungeon until he reached the throne room, and without stopping he headed straight toward his bedroom on the side.

When he reached the door he pushed it open and went in quickly, leaving it open behind him.

The first thing he did was look for his robe, the one he had been wearing when he arrived.

But something was missing.

"Where’s Vorax?"

Mark went over to the robe and checked it quickly. The small slime that normally stayed hidden among the folds of the fabric was nowhere to be found.

Mark was about to look under the bed when a sound behind him made him stop.

Click.

The door to his bedroom had closed.

Mark slowly turned toward the door.

And there, standing in front of the closed door with her back against the wood and both hands still on the bolt, was Cali.

The succubus was looking at him with slightly nervous golden eyes and a timid expression on her face.

"Cali?" Mark said, somewhat surprised to see the succubus.

"H-hi, Master," she replied in a quiet voice.

"Hey, sorry for not coming to say hello when I arrived," Mark said, scratching the back of his neck. "Things got a bit chaotic and I didn’t have the chance to—"

"Don’t worry about that, Master," Cali interrupted, gently shaking her head. "You don’t have to apologize."

"Still, I should have."

Cali shook her head again without saying anything.

Mark looked at her for a second, then looked at the closed door behind her.

"Cali," Mark said in a curious tone. "What are you doing here?"

Cali pressed her lips together slightly before answering.

"We... needed to have a little chat with you, Master."

"We?" he repeated, looking around the room. "But it’s just you."

Cali said nothing, just lowered her gaze slightly to one side with an expression that was clearly embarrassed.

And then Mark heard a creak to his right.

The wardrobe door in his bedroom swung slowly open and Aria stepped out from inside.

She emerged brushing dust off her clothes with one hand while using the other to pull a cobweb off her shoulder.

"Hi Master, glad to see you’re back," Aria said with a smile.

Mark was about to say something, but another sound cut him off before he could, this time from below.

From under his bed.

A pair of hands appeared first, gripping the edge of the mattress, and then Ely’s white hair emerged slowly, followed by the rest of her body as she crawled out from under the bed with an agility that made absolutely no sense.

"Master, what a coincidence running into you here," Ely said with a smile identical to Aria’s.

"Uh... weren’t you supposed to be with Alice?" Mark asked, looking at Ely and Aria.

"Oh, don’t worry about that, Master," Ely said, waving a hand with complete nonchalance. "We took care of everything before coming here."

"Yes, Master," Aria added, nodding firmly. "We left everything perfectly organized."

Hearing their answer, Mark looked at both of them with an expression that made it very clear he didn’t believe a word of what they were telling him.

...

Meanwhile, somewhere in the dungeon, Alice was standing in the middle of the corridor with Alpha and the others behind her.

The nun was looking in every direction trying to find her new companions, but without success.

’Where the hell did those two go?’ Alice thought with irritation. ’They were here five minutes ago.’

Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon exchanged glances with each other at Alice’s strange behavior.

"Is something wrong, Miss Alice?" Alpha asked curiously.

"No, everything’s fine," she replied, forcing a smile.

’Those bitches abandoned me...’