Subaru Natsuki, who returned from the new Three Kingdoms

Although she had been lying in bed for a long time, her eyes were still fixed on the door.

But no footsteps were heard in the corridor.

Friguel still did not return.

There wasn't even a single explanation.

Anna pursed her lips and reached out to wipe away the remaining tear stains from the corners of her eyes.

This man is indeed just like Julius.

Despite saying so many nice things, they completely forgot about us once other candidates extended an olive branch.

It's better to abandon it.

Anyway, it's him who likes our family, but our family doesn't like him.

Anna suddenly got out of bed, walked to her desk, picked up a quill pen, and wrote a few lines on the paper with great force.

"Starting tomorrow, I will no longer rely on anyone!"

"Anyone who doesn't choose us doesn't deserve to be chosen by us!"

When the last stroke was made, the pen tip left a deep mark on the paper, and the back of the paper also wrinkled, showing how much force was used.

Anna stared at those words for a long time, as if worried that she might change her mind, so she simply put the paper on the table, turned around and lay down on the bed.

She turned her back to the door and pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulders.

"We don't care..."

The sound was muffled under the covers and quickly became inaudible.

Just as Anna's mind was in turmoil and she was about to fall asleep, she suddenly heard Echidna's (Dona the Fox) urgent voice in her mind:

"Anna, wake up!"

Anna suddenly opened her eyes.

Several dark figures had appeared by the bed at some point.

Before she could speak, a hand tightly covered her mouth. At the same time, another hand gripped her wrist and pulled her off the bed.

Anna opened her eyes wide in terror and struggled desperately.

Dona the Fox also attempted to unleash magic to rescue them.

However, because casting magic would consume Anna's life force, she dared not cast it too powerfully, and in the blink of an eye, the magic was dispelled by the opponent.

Anna was then blindfolded and her hands and feet were bound.

In the darkness, she felt someone lift her up.

Then, she felt a pain in her neck, and her consciousness immediately sank into darkness.

……

When Anna woke up again, the first thing she felt was the coldness on her wrists.

She tried to move it, and the iron ring immediately made a piercing sound.

The damp stone walls came into view, and the air was filled with the smells of mold, mud, and some unpleasant stench of decay.

Anna slowly raised her head.

There were a dozen or so blurry black figures standing around.

One of them walked up to her and asked in a low voice:

Where is Subaru Natsuki?

Anna paused for a few seconds.

"Who?"

The dark figure paused noticeably.

"Still playing dumb?"

The man took a folded wanted poster from his pocket and unfolded it in front of Anna.

The black-haired boy in the portrait has a flamboyant expression, with an impressive arrogance between his brows and eyes.

Anna stared at the portrait for a while before finally remembering who the person was.

That was the man who used to follow Emilia around, behaving frivolously and making unwanted advances towards her.

Later, he inexplicably barged into his own chamber of commerce, spouting strange, incomprehensible words.

"You want to find him? What does that have to do with us?"

Stop pretending!

The shadowy figure grabbed Anna's chin, forcing her to lift her head.

“We’ve already checked. He had contact with you before he disappeared. If you don’t know where he is, who does?”

"Our family has indeed met him."

Anna frowned, her tone gradually turning annoyed at the unexpected disaster.

"But he left so quickly. How would we know where he went?"

"You haven't seen each other again?"

"No."

Did he give you anything? Did he tell you where he was going?

"No."

Anna grew increasingly irritated by the questions.

She had no idea why she had been arrested and brought here because of a dark-haired man she had only met a few times.

"We don't even know where he lives. It's no use asking us all these questions!"

The shadowy figure's fingers slowly tightened.

"You think we'd believe that?"

Anna turned her face away, avoiding the hand.

Believe it or not, it's up to you.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to suppress the fear in her heart and trying her best to maintain a calm tone.

She knew that revealing her fear in this situation would only make her predicament more dangerous.

The shadowy figure remained silent for a moment.

Anna's answer clearly surprised him.

Anastasia.

Another voice rang out in the darkness; it was a slightly dejected female voice.

Observing the actions of others, Anna quickly realized that she must be the one with the most authority among them.

"If you tell us where Natsuki Subaru is, we can let you leave alive."

Anna looked up in the direction the voice came from, and said angrily:

"I've already said, I don't know him at all!"

"You're arresting my family just to find a man who has no relation to us?"

"He has nothing to do with you? Stop pretending~" The woman's voice remained calm and unhurried.

"How could you not recognize him if he still came looking for you when he was wanted by the entire city and being hunted by the Sword Saint?"

"you..."

Anna paused for a moment after saying this, realizing that the other person's logic was indeed very reasonable.

But she couldn't remember how many words that man had said. She only remembered that he used strange terms of address, his eyes lit up when he mentioned alcohol, and that he had done a lot of rude things around Emilia.

As for who he was, why he disappeared, and where he went after he disappeared, Anna knew almost as little as the people of the capital.

The shadowy figure didn't argue further, but just stared at her coldly.

Anna felt a chill run down her spine from that gaze, and her voice lowered.

"We really don't know."

"We don't know where he went."

"Whether he has any accomplices or not, we don't know."

"You've really got the wrong person."

The shadowy figure remained unmoved.

"You don't know, do you? Then you can think about it here."

An empty bowl was thrown in front of Anna.

The rim of the bowl hit the ground with a jarring sound.

"If we don't give you water today, we won't give you food tomorrow either."

"Surrounded by rats, when you are starving, these rats will not hesitate to eat you."

"You'd better think this through quickly, or you'll probably become a rotten apple before long."

As Clarissa the Shatterer uttered those words, memories subconsciously surfaced in her mind.

She had once been turned into a bunch of mice by her mother... and several of them even got lost and couldn't return to her body... so much so that she can still sense their presence from time to time...

The footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

The stone door closed in front of Anna, and the underground space was plunged into darkness once again.

Anna stared at the door, her chest heaving faster and faster.

The sound of the door lock closing when those people left still echoed in my ears.

Anna tried to stand up, but the iron rings on her wrists immediately tightened. The cold metal dug into her skin, and her body was pulled back, her shoulder slamming against the wall.

The pain briefly brought her to a state of consciousness.

Unfortunately, the stone gate remained tightly closed.

There were no guards.

There are no subordinates.

Even Echidna's voice did not ring out again.

Anna swallowed hard, her throat dry, and tried to call out:

"Echidna?"

His voice trembled as he spoke.

The echo struck the damp stone wall and quickly dissipated.

No one responded.

She shouted again, this time louder, but the sound broke completely at the end.

"Echidna!"

There was still only the sound of the iron rings rattling.

Dona, who was disguised as a towel wrapped around her body, was now completely silent, as if those people had used some kind of trick on her.

Trapped in the darkness, Anna was gradually overcome by fear, and her body curled up into a ball.

Tears gradually soaked the corners of my eyes.

"No one would..."

"Nobody's coming to save us..."

The next morning, Subaru Natsuki woke up early.

In an apology that included the words, "Forgive me, Capela, this is the last time."