The return of villainess

Lisa wasn't entirely sure what she expected to find when the rabbit man reached his destination. A cave? A new village? A villain's lair? But hidden in the middle of the forest was a beautiful clearing with low grass and just enough opening between the treetops for the late afternoon sunlight to shine through. In the center of the clearing was a perfectly normal campsite, with men working and tidying the area. Some were lighting a fire, others chopping wood, and Lisa even spotted a few hanging clothes on a makeshift line strung between trees. To a casual observer, this was an ordinary group, not much different from any other in the land.

But Lisa wasn't a casual observer, and this wasn't the land. She noticed that these men didn't have human ears, they were animal ears, specifically rabbit ears. There were many rabbits roaming freely around the camp, larger than any rabbit should be, and no one seemed to mind. Several ears turned in their direction as they arrived, and many of the rabbits on the ground transformed, bones contorting and growing until they stood in human form. They were beast men, able to shift from animal to human at will.

This couldn't be an ordinary camp, just as nothing in this world was ordinary.

The men at the camp noticed their arrival and stopped what they were doing. Silence stretched over them, and Lisa swallowed nervously, feeling the tension. How many were there? Thirty? Forty? One man approached them angrily. He had a stripe across his neck and honey-blond hair that reached his shoulders.

"Alec, where have you been?" the man asked aggressively.

Alec? Was that the name of the red-haired man who had helped her get here?

Lisa glanced at the man in question. The rabbit man—Alec—didn't look particularly tired, despite having carried her almost the entire way from the village to the camp. If anything, he seemed pleased, a broad smile on his face as he looked at the man.

"Teo, my friend! I missed you too."

He walked past the man, still carrying Lisa on his back, offering no explanation to anyone. He took her to the fire and set her down, and they were soon surrounded. Curious faces stared at Lisa, who took advantage of the moment to sit on a fallen tree trunk near the fire.

The sky was painted in that strange blend of orange only twilight could provide. The sun was beginning to fade, taking the warmth with it. Lisa warmed her hands by the fire, waiting for Alec to act. He seemed relaxed, which Lisa took as a sign of safety. Here, surrounded by so many others, they didn't seem to have the urgency they had in the forest.

Most of the beast men, if not all, were focused on them now. Many were gathered around, their curious gazes fixed on Lisa, while those still working cast questioning glances their way.

"Alec" the same male from before spoke again, sounding annoyed. "Where were you? Do you have any idea how much danger we were in?"

Alec didn't reply, instead grabbing a bowl and filling it with water before handing it to Lisa. She accepted it gratefully, drinking it all in one go. Her throat burned, it was the first time she'd had water since before entering the village.

"Alec!" the man bellowed angrily. "Are you listening to me?"

Alec finally lifted his eyes from his task, which seemed to be selecting a set of pelts from a pile near the fire.

"I heard you, Teo. What's the rush?" Alec smiled lazily as he wrapped a pelt around his waist. "Everything turned out fine, didn't it?"

"Fine?" A vein bulged on the man's forehead. "We were supposed to capture the lion, increase our strength, and what did we do? We lost six of our own!"

Alec looked at the man calmly, taking his time to respond as if he weren't surrounded by beast men.

"Trust me" he said "it was worth it."

"Worth it?" the man shouted. "The plan was to wait until the sales ended and then capture the lion from the buyer. You didn't give the signal, you just started killing and causing chaos as usual! If we hadn't come to help, you'd be dead by now."

The man was talking about the situation in the village. They had been helped? Lisa didn't remember seeing any of these men amidst the earlier chaos. But now that she thought about it, several rabbits had joined the fray, causing chaos and freeing the caged beast men. She looked around. Perhaps these men had been the rabbits in their animal forms.

Alec stood, adjusting his clothes, and finally made a serious expression toward the man.

"Of course I care about you all. I know it seemed impulsive, but believe me, it wasn't."

"Wasn't it?" the male questioned, stepping closer to Alec threateningly. "I'm not so sure. Since we started following you, things have only gone downhill. We were a hundred when we left our village, now we're less than forty!"

He gestured to the group surrounding them, and Lisa noticed something she hadn't seen before. Most of the men looked tired, injured, and grim. This wasn't good. The group didn't seem pleased with their arrival.

Alec's expression dropped, and his lips twisted mockingly.

"I didn't ask anyone to follow me."

The other male, Teo, let out a bitter laugh.

"You didn't? Who whispered impossible dreams to us? Who said we could be strong? Who brought us here?"

Lisa scratched at her skin as she watched the argument. She had no idea what was in the mud that had been smeared on her, but now her entire body itched. The sensation was maddening. Worse, she was growing uneasy about the conversation. Alec seemed calm, but Lisa wasn't sure she could trust him to gauge their safety.

"Fine!" Alec raised his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, you're right, i made a mistake today."

He walked over to the log where Lisa was seated and climbed onto it.

What was he doing? Lisa shot him her most questioning look, but he ignored it.

He was her only ally, now wasn't the time for him to put himself, or worse, her, at risk.

"Excuse me, dear" he nudged her slightly to the side so she would shift over and give him enough space for whatever he had in mind.

She had no idea what he was doing or what was happening.

"Please, everyone, pay attention to me for a moment" he raised his voice, addressing the crowd as if he were on a stage rather than a log. "I know today's losses were devastating" he adopted a sorrowful expression "but it was worth it because today, we captured a female."

He pointed down at Lisa, who was sitting on the log beneath him. She choked in indignation at his words.

She knew she shouldn't have trusted him!

Lisa wasn't the only one surprised. The beast men around exchanged glances, assessing Lisa with scrutinizing eyes.

"You brought the female with you?" Teo seemed shocked.

"Of course i did!" Alec said proudly, and Lisa found herself with an almost uncontrollable urge to shove him off the log. What would everyone do if he fell now? "Why do you think it took me so long to show up here? I was carrying my precious cargo along a safe route. We weren't followed."

Teo, the rabbit man arguing with him, seemed calmer now, though his expression still carried irritation.

"Even so, you should have told us..."

"Teo!" Alec interrupted him. "I see you may be unsure of my intentions, but I've always wanted to help the rabbit men."

Teo looked doubtful. He wasn't the only one. Lisa had just met the guy, and he hadn't exactly inspired confidence so far.

"Ever since the rabbit village opened to beast men of other species, our females have increasingly chosen other partners. We're being abandoned. How many rabbit men have been chosen recently? The females prefer predators, carnivores, and other dangerous beasts that can protect them."

Grumbles arose from the crowd. If Alec intended to win them over, it wasn't working.

"Why does this happen? Because we're weak!"

Teo bristled.

"We're not weak!"

"Aren't we?" Alec challenged. "Then why do we have fewer stripes? Why are we falling behind? The females want males who can protect them, and without that, we're not attractive. Isn't that why you all followed me? Don't you want to become stronger?"

"All we've achieved so far is death!" Teo muttered.

"Then leave" Alec shot back. "No one's holding you here. Go beg some female to want you, maybe one of them will pity you."

Teo's face flushed red with anger and humiliation.

"I sense that you won't leave, and do you know why?" Alec's smirk was so smug that even Lisa felt a flicker of anger. "Because you know I'm right. Alone, we're weak, but together, we can become stronger. Look at yourselves. None of you had stripes before, and though we're fewer today, those who remain are stronger."

The crowd seemed more convinced, glancing at one another and nodding in agreement. As for Lisa, she felt she was beginning to understand the situation. Perhaps these men had banded together to increase their chances of gaining strength, as rabbits alone didn't pose much of a threat.

Regardless, it was surprising that rabbit females were choosing mates from other species. Lisa couldn't judge them for it. When she first saw the rabbit man, hadn't she thought the same? In such a dangerous world, survival often required females, who couldn't gain power on their own, to secure it by any means possible, in this case, through strong partners.

She vaguely remembered that at the beginning of the book, the protagonist Eleanor didn't want to choose a partner. She thought she could survive in this world alone. Only when she was nearly killed, and many lives were sacrificed to save her, did she change her mind.

The villainess, however, had quickly begun assembling her harem. The men she chose were essentially her vassals, carrying out her every whim. Unfortunately, it was that ambition that had landed her here. And now, Lisa was the one suffering the consequences of her actions.

"With this female" Alec pointed at her "we can become even stronger."

Lisa shivered as she felt everyone's eyes on her.