On the night of her return to Fonteau, Mariabelle was in her own room for the first time in a long time, on her own bed, which she was used to, but she could not fall asleep.

She was restless.

(Even at this very moment, Jenna-sama and Fiana-san are being attacked by the slime……)

But as Leticia said, her mother, during the day, there was nothing Mariabelle could do right now.

Gather the soldiers from Fonteau and return to Grabalt.

But gathering the soldiers, they have to adjust the troops, call the personnel, prepare the armament, replenish the soldiers that were going to battle――― there were many things they have to do to manage the country.

Leticia said she could organize it all together in a few days, but Mariabelle thought that it was a tremendous amount of work, who was not used to running a country.

She could see how much of a burden that was…….

That was part of the reason why Mariabelle couldn’t sleep even though it was already midnight and she was sitting on her bed looking up at the night sky with the full moon from the window.

“Okaa-sama and Kara told me to rest my body, but it’s hard to do that too…….”

(Fiana-san, Jenna-sama…… I hope you two are okay.)

But Mariabelle, who knew the threat of the Black Ooze…… the slime, knew that worrying didn’t mean much anymore.

The women captured by the slime.

It could only mean one thing.

She sighed at the fact, her shoulders slumped, and her fists clenched tightly at her own helplessness.

She took off her armor for the first time in a long time, and her body, wrapped in a thin negligee with a hint of underwear that she used as a nightgown, was visible.

Compared to her older sister and Fenelieka, her body was inferior to theirs, but it was not poor, but it lacked flesh.

Her negligee was black.

The bra and panties underneath were also black, her favorite color, and the thin fabric emphasized Mariabelle’s white, untanned skin.

Her breasts were ample enough to be easily covered by an adult man’s hands, and the flesh on her hips seemed thin for a woman in her 20s.

However, her superb waist and tight abdominal muscles showed that Mariabelle’s body was not “poor,” but a beautifully formed, slender, and graceful figure.

If Meltia and Fenelieka, whom Mariabelle was constantly compared to, were described as feminine beauty, Mariabelle should be described as pure…… or a fighter’s beauty.

Her tall, slender body and thin, fleshy limbs were supported by supple muscles, and in case of emergency, she would make the best movement without a moment’s hesitation.

If one looked closely, one could see slight scars on her arms and legs, which told how dangerous the battles of the past few years had been.

Wrapping her battle-hardened limbs in a sheer negligee and elegant black underwear, Mariabelle looked up at the moon through the window.

(Fiana-san, Jenna-sama…… please be safe. I’ll definitely help you two.)

Not right now, but as soon as possible. As fast as possible.

For that reason, she must rest her body now.

Mariabelle thought so, and she tried to lie down on the bed to rest her body this time.

“――――?”

She turned off all the lamps in the room and lay in bed in the darkness, but she could not sleep.

Mariabelle, who had her father’s black eyes reflected the glow of moonlight, suddenly felt a disturbing presence…… that she could not put into words, and sat up in bed in the darkness.

“Just now……”

She felt as though she had felt a presence.

Uncertain, Mariabelle put on a simple linen gown over her negligee, picked up the hero’s sword in its scabbard that was beside the bed, and strode out of the room.

When she stepped out into the corridor lit by the warm glow of the lamps and she saw two knights standing by the door, who were supposed to guard Mariabelle throughout the night.

They are heavily armed, even though they were inside the castle, they wore heavy full-body armor, helmets, and steel spears in their hands.

Fonteau, which had been defeated in a previous attack by the Black Ooze, had never forgotten that lesson, and they always made sure to be fully equipped, even at night.

These fully-equipped knights looked surprised when Mariabelle suddenly came out of the room, but after a moment, they slightly removed their gazes in a natural gesture.

The reason was that although Mariabelle was wearing a gown, she had left the front open and her black negligee and underwear were still fully visible.

“Ah.”

The knights’ gazes made Mariabelle aware of that, and she closed the front of her gown in a bit of a panic.

“S-sorry.”

“N-no!…… What’s wrong, Mariabelle-sama?”

The knight took a deep breath to calm down and then asked a question.

The time was already midnight.

The full moon outside the window had passed its highest point and was beginning to tilt slightly.

It would be hard not to be surprised by Mariabelle, who suddenly came out with her nightgown at such a late hour of the night.

“No, I just felt a presence…… did you notice anything unusual?”

“……No.”

The knight answered Mariabelle’s question and looked at the other knight.

He too shook his head, but his expression turned grim under his helmet.

“Do you wish to issue a warning?”

One of the knights pulled out a wooden whistle with a high-pitched sound from under his armor, but Mariabelle shook her head.

“I may be overly concerned, so I’ll go check okaa-sama first. But you two be on the lookout―― if possible, please let a few more people know about this.”

“I understand. Hey, let’s go to Meltia-sama and the guests’ bedrooms.”

“Alright. Excuse us.”

The two knights then scuttled toward the room where Meltia, Kara, and Fenelieka were sleeping.

The heavy full-body armor made a metallic sound in the darkness of the night, and those who were used to fighting would sense the tense atmosphere from the sound.

On her way, Mariabelle went toward Leticia’s bedroom.

Quietly. Calmly.

She had a bad feeling about the disturbing presence she felt for a moment, and Mariabelle, whose intuition had been honed over the past few years as a hero, fully trusted that trivial hunch.

(Okaa-sama…)

Her mother might be in danger again―― when she thought of that, Mariabelle’s heart began to beat fast.

Running soundlessly on the luxurious soft carpet, she moved as fast as she could to her mother’s bedroom…… and in front of the door was a knight and a maid.

She didn’t know the knight’s name, but it was one of the knights who had heard Mariabelle and the others’ report in the throne room during the day.

And as for the maid, she looked familiar.

She was an armed maid with light pink hair, who only cared for Queen Leticia and was in a position to protect the safety of the surroundings.

It was the head maid who was in a position to lead the maids.

She had been working at the castle since Mariabelle was a child, yet her appearance had not changed at all since before―― a person that had an unidentifiable age.

“What’s the matter, Mariabelle-sama?”

The head maid, who had been alerted by someone’s presence in the silent night, asked her while being disturbed at the sight of Mariabelle.

The throwing knife in her hand had somehow disappeared, and her slightly long skirt was swaying.

(She has a weapon under her skirt……)

Mariabelle, who preferred pants for ease of movement, sighed slowly as she admired the head maid’s feminine weaponry stash.

“No, I felt a little…… uncomfortable. Nothing happened?”

“Yes, nothing―― Leticia-sama is still awake, would you like to check on her?”

“Eh?”

What surprised Mariabelle was that her mother was still awake.

She looked at the door leading to the queen’s room and saw that even though it was already late at night, there was a light leaking through the crack in the door.

“Y-yes…… okaa-sama, it’s Mariabelle.”

Knocking lightly and saying her name, she heard a gentle voice from inside saying, “come in”.

Mariabelle opened the door, aware that her mother’s voice caused her to relax slightly.

At that time, the knight and the head maid moved away slightly and go into the shadow of the door.

Careful not to disturb the family’s conversation.

“At this late hour, what’s wrong, Mariabelle?”

“Ah, no…… Just a little bit of a bad feeling…….”

Leticia did not seem nervous about Mariabelle’s visit.

It was strange for a mother to be nervous about something because her daughter visited her, even if it was late at night―― perhaps proof that Leticia, the best mage in the country, did not feel anything disturbing, either.

Mariabelle was relieved to see Leticia like that, and her nervousness diminished slightly.

“I’m sorry, okaa-sama. Coming this late at night.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry.”

Leticia had a terribly sensational figure, which was hard to imagine from her usual behavior as a queen.

She was dressed in a white negligee that showed her skin and underwear, and the color of her underwear was pure white, as befitting a pristine queen.

Her luxurious underwear with a lovely floral design revealed her ample breasts and deep cleavage, which looked as though they were about to overflow, and her panties were tied with strings on both sides.

The underwear was erotic for a mother of two, yet it was appropriate for adorning her well-proportioned body, making Mariabelle blush.

However, even though Mariabelle was wearing a gown, she was in a similar state underneath.

Moreover, the front of the gown was disheveled from running, revealing a black negligee and part of her bra and panties.

Remembering her condition in her mother’s underwear, Mariabelle hurriedly straightened her own clothes.

“Ah, um…”

Unintentionally and suddenly alone with her mother, Mariabelle was at a loss as to what to say and stammered out a few words.

The Black Ooze’s attack changed not only the situation of the country, but also their family, and it was no longer possible to spend time alone with her mother like this.

Mariabelle used to be troubled by the fact that she was the only black-haired, black-eyed girl in the world, and that she inherited her father’s blood more strongly than anyone else, but now…… she was grateful for that.

Because of her father’s blood, she was able to awaken the hero’s power and got to wear the sword and armor.

Because of that, she was able to protect her country, her family, and her friends.

But now that those worries were resolved, she didn’t know what to say this time.

She had finished reporting during the day, and as far as she could see, there was no sign of anything disturbing in Leticia’s surroundings.

(Was it my imagination……?)

Mariabelle was not too convinced that the “hero’s intuition” she had been relying on all this time was wrong.

If it was just her imagination, that would be fine, but if she had missed something important…… however, she suddenly had such doubts.

And when Leticia, Mariabelle’s mother, noticed such a change in her daughter, she turned her attention from her desk toward Mariabelle and placed the quill in her hand on the desk.

“What’s wrong?”

“Eh, ah… yes.”

(Okaa-sama is still not in perfect condition, and I don’t want to worry her too much……)

If that was her imagination, she would be causing unnecessary trouble.

Leticia, who has been humiliated by the Black Ooze for over a year, appeared to be in normal physical condition, but her enormous mana, said to rival that of the Demon King, had yet to recover.

Although she still possessed more mana than ten ordinary mages, in Mariabelle’s eyes, who knew her mother in her prime, Leticia still seemed to have regained only about 70% of her strength.

She was at a loss, hoping not to burden Leticia further.

“Come in―― Lyna, I know it’s late, but could you prepare some tea?”

“Yes, please wait a moment.”

The head maid with peach-colored hair…… Lyna, who was waiting outside the door, left Leticia’s room without a sound.

For a few seconds, feeling a presence moving away from her back, Mariabelle stood in the doorway, not knowing what to do, and Leticia got up from the chair she was sitting in and sat down on the bed, gently patting beside her.

“Come, Maria.”

Gentle words, not as a queen, but as a mother.

It was warm and made her heart at ease―― Mariabelle’s cherished voice.

She relaxed her right hand, which had been on the handle of the sword ever since she left her room, and took time to release the tension from her whole body.

When the tension and stiffness finally left her entire body, she sat down on the bed, following her mother’s words.

“You’ve been tense like that for a long time.”

“……Yes.”

The black-haired female hero nodded her head without hesitation, as Leticia understood Mariabelle’s true feelings.

Ever since she pulled out the Hero’s Sword, she’s always been tense.

To act as a hero. To live up to the expectations of those around her. To make people feel safe.

Even after defeating the Black Ooze, she was still expected to act as a hero, and that was normal.

However, the girl, Mariabelle, was originally a very delicate person.

She was troubled by her hair color, which was different from her surroundings, and she did not have superior magic like her mother and elder sister, she was just an ordinary girl, although she was royalty, who had no power in the peaceful world.

Her mother and older sister had always comforted her about that, but when she awakened to her power as a hero, she was suddenly sought after by those around her.

As a hero. As a leader.

She picked up a sword that she had never even held before, fought, took monsters’ lives, and saw many lives disappear before her eyes.

She also saw people humiliated as women and raped in front of her eyes.

Mariabelle’s hand was then gently caressed, rubbed, and held by Leticia, transmitting her warmth to her daughter.

“It’s fine. This is a safe place.”

“Yes……”

Meltia and Kara always told her that she was too uptight and that she should relax a little, but her mother’s words easily broke it, and Mariabelle did as she was told, relaxing her entire body.

“I’m sorry. I’ve always depended on you.”

“No, that’s――.”

“It’s true, I would have wanted you to live in peace though……”

It was Leticia’s true feelings.

The battle against the Demon King.

With her father, she was at the center of the battlefield, and the days were restless.

Knowing how hard it was for her, she wanted her daughters to live in a peaceful world, and her hands conveyed her tender feelings.

The warmth of her touch made her even more relaxed, and a gentle smile appeared on her lips.

“I’ll be fine. Onee-sama, Kara, Fenel-san…… I also have important friends who supported me.”

No matter how hard it was, if she had her friends, she could endure it. She would do her best.

Mariabelle thought that maybe her father felt the same way, just as her mother did―― she knew that she was fighting with the support and help of her trusted friends.

She knew she was not alone.

But Leticia held Mariabelle’s hand a little stronger.

“Still, you need to rest or you’ll…… get tired.”

Mariabelle knew what Leticia was trying to say.

She wanted her to rest her mind, at least for now.

“Don’t worry, okaa-sama―― I’ll rest properly.”

“……Yeah.”

But Mariabelle’s mind was on the battlefield.

Fiana and Jenna, who were still trapped and probably being roughed up, and the women captured by the slime.

Thinking about them made her restless, but she think she could rest her body now.

With that thought in mind, Mariabelle grasped Leticia’s hand.

A soft hand.

A few years ago, they felt big enough to envelop her, but now they were big enough to hold each other’s hands.

“They’ve gotten bigger.”

“…I don’t quite understand it myself.”

But Mariabelle noticed that her hands had grown bigger and her palms had become stiffer.

Her skin had hardened from all the physical growth and wielding her sword over the past few years.

She was not ashamed of it.

In fact, She was proud of it.

“But if I could protect someone with my hands, I would……. I keep thinking about it.”

A few minutes of silence passed.

By the time Lyna returned to Leticia’s room after preparing tea, Mariabelle had laid her head on her mother’s shoulder―― and before Leticia knew it, she was asleep.

Being next to her mother, she was able to relax, calm down, and finally fall asleep.

“Ara.”

“…………”

At the sound of Lyna’s small voice, Leticia raised her hand opposite the shoulder on which Mariabelle rested her head and held up her index finger in front of her lips.

“I guess she didn’t need the tea.”

“She was just tired… really.”

Leticia laid Mariabelle on her own bed so as not to wake her.

Her stunning black hair, inherited from her father, spreads out onto the bed.

“But, as expected of the hero―― maybe she even senses the situation in this country.”

“Yes. I’ll tell her in the morning.”

“I think it’s just a dream though…”

“Yeah.”

Leticia did not touch the tea Lyna had prepared, and Lyna left the room with the lamp light turned off.

Leticia slept with Mariabelle to prevent her from having nightmares and held her daughter’s head to her chest.

The black-haired princess’s head was buried in her ample breasts, which were unlike those of an elf, and her hands were behind her back, perhaps reassured by the scent of her mother’s scent.

“Don’t worry. The nightmares that many women have reportedly been having are only because they are worried about being attacked by the slime―― there is no longer any threat to you in this country……”

Now, there was a problem in Fonteau.

A nightmare.

Moreover, only women have nightmares, and as far as the priests have been able to ascertain, it was not a curse of any kind.

However, the priests and mages thought that the women who had experienced the Black Ooze’s attack and were mentally scarred were seeing them as nightmares…….

It would be normal to think so, since there were no traces of curses or magic left behind.

Even a mentally strong person like Leticia, who had not been able to forget her sordid past since she was freed from the Black Ooze until today, sometimes had nightmares about it, so it would be natural for ordinary people to think so.

So many people tried to deal with their nightmares by taking sleeping pills or consulting priests about their mental problems.

The reason why they did not report that to Mariabelle and her friends was simply because they did not want to burden them further with the new threat of the “Slime Castle”.

However, if Mariabelle’s “intuition” could sense even that, Leticia thought that she should report it just in case.

That was all there was to it.

Mental scars. Dreaming of pain.

It was considered a natural thing for a normal person to do.

“Suuー… Suuー…”

In the royal castle, in a corner where maids, knights, and servants rest.

The room, where one could faintly hear the sound of small sleeping breaths, was almost completely devoid of personal belongings.

Only a bed, a nightstand, and drawers for mending clothes, which were their work clothes, were placed in the room.

On the bed was a doll-like maid, Tiana, a former assassin, who looked just like an ordinary person without her white brim and maid’s uniform.

She was well-equipped, with a knife in her hand hidden under the bedsheet and a spare knife under her pillow, and even though the room was filled with the sound of her breathing, one could sense a cold tension in the air.

Perhaps the tension was so great that just someone’s hand on a locked doorknob would make one jump…… that kind of feeling.

But Tiana herself was asleep.

“Suuー…”

Tiana’s sleep was undisturbed.

A few years ago.

The aftereffects of the Black Ooze’s humiliation have completely disappeared, and the way she worked was almost the same as before.

No, she had become more attentive to her surroundings than before, and she was more alert while engaging in her current work.

Therefore, if there was an insolent person who sneaked into her room now, the knife held under the bedsheets would fly and pierce his chest the moment he took a step into the room.

――It should have been that way.

The door and windows were closed, and the room was completely sealed.

But a sweet scent began to waft through the room.

No matter how sturdy the lock was, it could not seal the gap in the window.

……If one looked closely, one would see a shadow between the curtains, where the moonlight of the full moon shone through.

The room Tiana used was a servant’s room on the first floor of the royal castle.

It was not difficult to break in, but the knights were on an even tighter patrol now, having learned from the Black Ooze’s attack.

However, the figure had managed to evade the knights’ watchful eyes and had reached the servants’ quarters.

Then, through a crack in the window, a strong fragrance was poured into the room, soothing Tiana into a deep sleep.

Was it doing that as a precaution…… or did it understand that Tiana was a former assassin and had a high tolerance for drugs.

The shadow carefully filled Tiana’s bedroom with a sweet fragrance, even though there was no way of knowing when it would be discovered, and it entered the room, confident that she was in her deep sleep.

……It should have been locked, but it was as though nothing had happened.

“Suuー……… Suuー………”

The window opened.

There was a small sound of metal fittings scraping, but Tiana did not wake up.

The dark purple hair, which was usually tied up in a barrette, was untied, exposing her unprotected sleeping face to the intruder.

――It was small.

The head was abnormally large, but the body was as small as a child’s…… The figure was the very “goblin” monster that many people know.

There were two of them.

But they didn’t talk, they didn’t breathe.

Their bodies, made of filthy blackish-gray mucus, shimmered in the moonlight as they stood near Tiana, who had fallen into a deep sleep.

They stood motionless as though they were a doll, not even breathing, for several minutes.

How the goblin was able to enter a place so heavily guarded, and even within the royal capital, which was always illuminated by lamps at night, no one knew yet.

However, it was certain that all of the events that Leticia and the others were perceiving as a “nightmare” were far more dangerous than they think.

One of the goblin-shaped slimes laid its fingers on her forehead as it carefully checked that Tiana was deeply asleep without moving an inch.

The other roughly flipped up the bedsheets, exposing Tiana’s hidden limbs to the moonlight.

“Suuー… nhh…”

Tiana’s sleeping breath was slightly disturbed by the sudden cold air caressing her skin, but that was all.

The tips of the fingers laid on Tiana’s forehead emit a slight blue glow, which could be seen being absorbed into the maid’s forehead, who normally had a cold, doll-like expression on her face.

With each increase in the amount of light, Tiana’s sleep became even deeper, and finally, her breathing calmed down that even the cool air caressing her skin did not bother her.

“Suuー… Suuー…”

After waiting for Tiana’s breathing to completely calm down, the bedsheet was moved to the side of the bed, and this time, the maid’s sleeping figure was completely exposed.

There it was, a simple linen nightgown with a one-piece shape and a girlish, almost bulging bosom that rose and fell with regularity.

The goblin-shaped slime unbuttoned the buttons of the nightgown one by one, not even looking at the knife in her hand.

“Suuー…”

Tiana’s sleeping breath was undisturbed by the sticky goblin fingers touching her skin.

When the dirty fingers carefully unbuttoned the buttons of her nightgown, the first one exposed her neck and the second one, her chest.

Her skin was pure white.

The beautiful pure white skin without any tanned skin was evident in the glow of the moonlight.

Furthermore, if one removed the third one, one could see a small, thin bulge that didn’t need the support of underwear, and the gaudy black underwear that was too luxurious to adorn such small breasts.

It must have been Tiana’s taste.

Unbuttoning the fourth one revealed the flashy bra, and the goblin’s fingers move further down, unperturbed by the boldness of the underwear.

Fifth one, sixth one.

Trained and toned abdominal muscles. A small, well-shaped navel. And even a pair of fancy black panties with the same opulent ornamentation as the bra……

The front of her one-piece nightgown was completely exposed, but Tiana didn’t wake up.

The goblin-shaped monster―― the slime exposed her obscene figure.

“Nhh……”

For a few minutes, her underwear was fully exposed.

Slightly, Tiana’s sleeping breath was disturbed.

Sweat broke out on her calm sleeping face, and she began to wriggle somewhat painfully.

It had begun.

The nightmare had begun.

The goblin’s fingers were still on her forehead.

A good mage would understand what the blue-colored magic emitted from its fingers meant.

It was the ability to pour mana directly into the brain, causing the subject to have nightmares.

Right now, Tiana was being shown nightmares that everyone in Fonteau believed to be “the aftereffects of being violated by the Black Ooze”.

In a dream.

Even if it was a great mage, a strong swordsman, or a hero, there was nothing they could do.

In a place that no one would ever imagine, humiliation through dreams.