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Citrina’s Homecoming
Some going back in the story.
It was the middle of the night when Barbara and Citrina got to Duke Yellowmoon’s house.
Lorenz, who had been walking around aimlessly in the courtyard while thinking, was totally caught off guard by this. He had to rush to get ready to greet his daughter.
“Come in, come in.” He said. “What’s going on? Oh, you’re not alone.”
As Barbara and Citrina walked into the manor, they were followed by three other guys. They were all armed, and each wore a mask with the same striking snake-like design around the eyes. Lorenz was used to people wearing masks. They were members of the Chaos Serpents, the destroyers of order. They are those who are willing to give their lives to help it reach its goals.
Lorenz couldn’t help but make a face. The wolfmaster was not like these men. They had a dark look to them. They smelled like death and rot. The idea of his daughter being around guys like that was very upsetting to him.
Citrina stood still and looked upset. The dirt on her face and the mess on her clothing showed how quickly they had come back. She didn’t look like she was hurt badly, but Lorenz thought she was about to fall apart. She didn’t try to look up, even though her head was down.
When he saw how tired she was, it broke his heart. He ran to her side, but was stopped by a blade that was aimed at his nose.
“What the heck does this mean?”
“This girl has betrayed us because she is a fool, sir. She betrayed the Serpents,” Barbara hissed as she pushed Citrina in the back.
Citrina fell to her knees, looking like a doll whose strings had been cut.
“Well, milady? Do you not think you need to say sorry to milord? Your stupidity has caused him a lot of trouble. How do you plan to make up for it?”
Citrina gave a shiver. She finally turned around to face him.
“I’m sorry. Rina did something stupid when she thought about friendship. I put my silly feelings first, and in the end, I helped Her Highness get away.”
Her eyes were like dying fires, and tears fell from them.
“I’m sorry I’ve been such a useless daughter,” she said.
“Rina
 Come on, let’s get you on your feet first.” Lorenz touched her shoulders with his hands. “Out there, what happened—”
Barbara spat, “Milady’s silly whims made it impossible for us to kill Princess Mia.”
“What the heck—you tried to kill Princess Mia?!”
Lorenz was shocked and stared at Barbara, but she just sighed.
“What a waste. We’ve shown our hands. If someone tries to kill the princess, they can’t let anyone see it. Even though it’s an easy idea, Milady seems to have missed it because she was too busy playing make-believe. If you had done what the Serpents told you to do, you would have done well as a Yellowmoon, but instead
”
Barbara continued being mean to Citrina. She played with her hair and twisted it around her fingers.
“W-well, well, what’s failed is failed,” Lorenz said quickly, trying to change the subject. “We can’t do much about that now. Then, let’s hurry up and make plans to get away.”
“Escape? What escape?”
“Our escape, of course! You can’t possibly think of rebelling against the empire through a revolt!
”Barbara waved her hand and said, “Of course not.”
“They’ll beat us, and that will be the end of us. An entirely useless attempt.”
Even with their special private army, the Redmoons couldn’t hope to fight the Imperial Army on their own. It would be suicide for the Yellowmoons, whose group was more of a loose crowd than a united front.
“Then why—”
“What, sir, do you have to gain by running away? What will you and your sad daughter do after that?”
Barbara grabbed Citrina’s hair and pulled her face roughly close to hers.
“Ow—”
Citrina held back a scream of pain and closed her eyes.
“What can you even do while you’re running?” Barbara yelled. “What good are you? Are we going to teach you how to kill people and let you try again with the princess?”
She let Citrina go just as forcefully before giving a shrug.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think this girl will ever turn into a Serpent. Not as long as she keeps her silly interest in meaningless things like friendship.”
“Then, D-Do you think we should face them here at the manor?”
“Do I? Let us consider your question. Do you think these guys will be able to beat her? After she has already beaten the wolfmaster, who was our best asset? No, their blades won’t cut the princess’s blood,” she told her followers, shaking her head. “Or, sir, do you know someone who can fight better than that cursed Dion Alaia?”
“I
don’t believe so.”
“Then it’s clear that’s not what I’m suggesting,” he said.
Before she went on, Barbara gave an unsettlingly sweet smile.
“A small bug doesn’t fight a lion by standing up to it. It will just be broken. The only way a bug can hurt a lion is from the inside.” She turned slowly toward Lorenz and looked into his eyes.
“Yellowmoons, you’re worms, right? Poisonous ones. As the oldest of the loyal ones, you shouldn’t let the lion’s paw kill you for no reason. Instead, you should act like the deadly worms you are and get torn apart and eaten so that your poison can spread through your enemies. With that poison, you will ruin the princess’s image and help the Serpents reach their goal.”
Her smile turned gentle.
“All right
 Let us prepare, milord. Milady too. We need to get ready to meet the Great Wisdom of the Empire, and it would be rude to do so in such dirty clothes. We’ll be very nice to her, be on our best behavior, and wear our best clothes when we meet her. Anything we can do to make them suffer more because they have to make a choice is—Oh?”
She cocked her head. “By the way, sir, where is Bisset?”
“O-Oh
 He told me he had to go do something.”
“Oh my goodness.” Barbara chuckled. “Even your butler has finally given up on you. My apologies, milord. But don’t worry, because I and all the other Serpents will be with you until the end.”