It was dark by the time the Hestia Familia left Twilight Manor.
If there was one thing that Lili didn't want to do was to put those people in their house, especially the wolf nuisance.
"Will Lili be able to rest her head on her pillow and not think about anything...?" she mulled, while she rubbed her skin to warm it. It was late autumn and the temperature was cold.
On the way back, Bete didn't say a word, but it was evident that he would have liked to sit in the inn drinking rather than being the guardian angel of that Familia.
Alicia instead chatted animatedly with Wiene.
As predicted, no one had returned to Hearth Manor.
Lili turned on the lights in the living room and the kitchen, but as soon as she finished doing it she immediately noticed something that made her blood rush to her nerves: Bete lying on the sofa with his feet crossed on the coffee table.
"Get those feet off." she told him threateningly. At least, how much threatening a fifteen-year-old pallum three feet and two apples tall could be.
Bete snorted, but he obeyed.
"I can always bring a pouf here..." Haruhime offered.
Liliruca promptly signaled her to bend down and spoke to her in the ear:
"What are you saying! I don't want these people to take over our house!"
Haruhime lowered her ears and blushed. Soon after, she disappeared into the kitchen to prepare dinner, promptly helped by Alicia.
Lili placed herself on the ottoman the fox girl had finally brought, and that had been left free by a Bete now completely lying down to doze.
The pallum snapped her fingers in front of the wolfman, and he opened his eyes.
"Listen to me, Mr. Rude... It doesn't matter to me that you are one of the strongest members of the Loki Familia, this is not your home and you have to show respect."
Bete closed his eyes again, unimpressed.
"The captain told me to come here to guard this Familia of runaways. That's enough for me to look at you from top to bottom."
Lili blushed and was about to hit him, but at that moment Alicia announced that dinner was ready.
In front of the succulent roast with vegetables, Wiene became more familiar with Alicia, and the elf took the opportunity to ask her about the Xenos.
Bete bit into a large piece of meat and made an unpleasant comment:
"Ais doesn't believe that monsters and surface peoples can coexist."
"Ais is not here, and what she thinks is none of our business." Liliruca retorted, with extreme ease, making Bete stiffen with rage.
The wolf-man finished dinner by making the cutlery squeak annoyingly on the porcelain plate; Lili was one inch away from pouring the jug of water over his head.
Haruhime cringed and finished the meal in silence, while Alicia nudged her partner, ordering him to stop.
But Bete was not receptive: as Liliruca was angry at the thought of being excluded from the candidates for Bell, so Bete hated knowing Ais in contention for the white rabbit.
Around ten o'clock the lights went out and everyone went to sleep, or at least tried.
If only they had known what had happened that night at the inn...