"I promise we’re not going to hurt you," he said, trying to sound friendly. "The people who had you here are all dead now, and no one is ever going to—"

Mark couldn’t finish the sentence because the rabbit woman lunged forward with a speed he hadn’t expected, launching out of the corner of the cage in a single motion.

Throwing herself directly at him.

"Huh?!"

Mark instinctively braced to catch her, but she went right past him.

Noticing that, he quickly turned around, and what he saw behind him was the rabbit-eared woman tackling the officer with her full body weight.

The man, who could barely stay on his feet with a broken arm and a wrecked face, fell backward onto the ground with no chance of resisting.

She started throwing desperate punches, with all the force her body could muster.

One punch.

Two.

Three.

Ely, Yuki, and Aria, who were the ones who had brought him there, stood watching without doing anything to stop her.

"H-how are you still alive?!" the man shouted between blows, trying to cover his face with his one good arm. "How are you—?!"

"SHUT UP!" the rabbit-eared woman screamed, hitting him without stopping. "BASTARD! YOU ROTTEN BASTARD!"

Another punch.

And another.

"I’M GOING TO KILL YOU!" she cried in a broken voice. "I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY SISTER!"

By that point the man had already stopped talking and moving.

But that didn’t stop her.

She kept hitting.

Until finally her arms stopped moving, not because she wanted to stop, but because she had no strength left.

Mark watched everything in silence.

’Well... she’s a lot stronger than she looks...’ he thought, watching the woman on her knees over the corpse, her shoulders rising and falling with heavy breathing and her hands covered in blood.

The woman stayed still for a couple of seconds, looking down at what was left of that man.

And then she started to cry.

The tears ran down her cheeks and mixed with the small drops of blood that had splattered across her face.

Aria, who was closest to her, looked at the officer’s corpse and then at the woman.

"Hey, we were still interrogating him," Aria said in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Aria... it’s fine," Mark said calmly. "It doesn’t matter."

"But Master," Aria insisted, turning toward him, "we could still have gotten information out of him, he hadn’t told us yet how many camps like this there are or where—"

"Aria."

"..."

"Don’t worry about that..."

Aria’s expression made it clear she wasn’t entirely convinced.

Then Mark began walking toward the woman, and when he reached her he crouched down beside her.

He slowly extended a hand and placed it on her shoulder.

She flinched at Mark’s touch, tensing up all at once, but didn’t pull away.

"Come on," he said in a soft tone. "Get up."

Mark helped her to her feet slowly, guiding her with the hand on her shoulder until she was standing fully upright.

She was shorter than him, roughly the same height as Aria, and up close Mark could see how thin she was.

Her arms were bony, her collarbones showed above her worn clothing, and the reddish marks from the shackles on her wrists and neck looked even worse up close.

Her black ears were completely flat, pressed against her head.

Mark raised his hand and placed it on top of her head, between the two ears, and began stroking her hair gently.

"What’s your name?" Mark asked in a soft voice.

She raised her gaze toward him, her golden eyes reddened from crying with tears still pooling at the edges, and looked at him for a few seconds.

And then she hugged him.

She clung to Mark with both arms, pressing her face against his chest as the sobs came back with greater force.

"My name is..." she murmured in a voice muffled by her crying and the fabric of Mark’s robe. "My name is Zilu..."

The sobs interrupted her with every word.

"If you hadn’t come... I would have... ended up like the others..." she said, holding onto him tighter.

Mark stayed still, letting her cry against his chest.

’Technically it’s our fault the others died... but as long as she doesn’t know that, everything’s fine,’ Mark thought, glancing briefly at the destroyed cages with the charred bodies inside.

Mark let her cry on his chest for a while longer without saying anything, while he stroked her head.

And then he noticed something.

Everyone was watching them.

Ely was standing a few meters away with her arms crossed and an expression of jealousy visible from a mile off.

Aria had her lips slightly pressed together and her eyes fixed on the rabbit woman’s hands gripping her Master tightly.

Alice’s face wore a calm expression that was trying to conceal something that was probably discomfort at watching another woman touch her lord.

Rose, on the other hand, was clearly trying not to laugh as she watched the others’ reactions.

And Yuki was simply observing the scene with her usual neutral gaze.

’...I think it’s best if I put some distance between us.’

Mark gently separated the rabbit woman from him, placing his hands on her shoulders to create a little distance.

"You know, I’d like to ask you a few questions," Mark said, looking her in the eyes. "But before that... I think it would be best if you cleaned up a bit."

Zilu looked at him confused, as if she hadn’t realized her face and hands were covered in blood.

Then she looked down at her stained hands and her eyes opened slightly wider.

"Y-yes..." she said, nodding slowly as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand, which only served to spread more blood across her face. "Yes... you’re right..."

"Alice, could you help her?" Mark asked, turning to the nun.

"...As you command, my lord," she replied, stepping forward.

She approached Zilu and stopped beside her.

"Come with me," Alice said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "I’m sure I saw some washing facilities around here."

Zilu’s ears moved slightly, rising barely a centimeter before falling back down.

"...Alright," she said quietly.

Alice nodded and began walking in the direction of the camp’s washing area.

Zilu followed at her side, taking small, slow steps, glancing back to look at Mark before disappearing among the remains of the tents.