CHAPTER 156: CHAPTER 155: THE HOSTAGE SITUATION BEGINS

The ruins of the Peace Summit looked less like a political negotiation and more like a war crime scene. Purple gas stains lingered on the walls, frosting oozed down like someone had murdered a birthday party, and Rei lay on the floor wondering if his toothbrushes were haunted.

The five women sat around the table (or what remained of it) in eerie calm, sipping tea as if the last twenty-four hours hadn’t included: explosions, aerial duels, gas grenades disguised as cake, and Lilia’s revelation that Rei had been engaging in "oral terrorism" for years without consent.

Rei groaned, lifting his head from the sticky frosting puddle. "Can we just... call this whole peace summit a failure and move on to literally anything that doesn’t involve psychological torture?"

Drakana snorted, wiping cake from her claws. "Hah! Told you it wouldn’t work, mate. You can’t cage five apex predators in one room and expect ’peace.’ We’re natural rivals. Dragons don’t share."

Seraphina clutched her hymnbook, still glowing faintly with holy fire. "Peace was never possible so long as blasphemy walks in priestess form."

"Blasphemy?" Lilia hiccupped, still truth-drunk. She waved her empty teacup like a chalice. "Darling and I are already bound by toothbrush covenant! Stronger than marriage vows!"

Rei made a strangled sound. "PLEASE STOP CALLING IT THAT."

Emilia chuckled behind her parasol, serene as a goddess of doom. "Ara~ this was entertaining. But even I admit... it seems diplomacy has failed."

"Failed?" Rei sat up, wiping frosting off his face. "It didn’t just fail—it nuked itself into the stratosphere. This was a massacre of common sense. A public execution of sanity. A—"

The sound of metal whispered through the room.

Rei froze there.

Rosette, who had been silent until now, calmly set her notebook aside. Then she reached beneath her maid uniform.

Shing. Shing. Shing.

There were knives, so many knives. One after another, she placed them on the ruined table like a polite dealer laying down cards. Long knives, short knives, throwing knives, curved knives, double-edged knives, knives that looked like they were designed to cut cake but could also sever arteries.

The others slowly turned to stare.

Drakana blinked. "...How the hell were you hiding those?"

Rosette didn’t answer. Her expression was calm, eyes steady, lips flat.

Shing. Shing. Shing.

By the time she stopped, the table held forty-three blades, neatly aligned like an arsenal display.

Rei’s blood ran cold. "...I... don’t want to know where those were stored."

[System Notification: New Fear Unlocked – "Pocket Dimension Maid."]

[Effect: You will never trust aprons again.]

Rosette finally spoke, her tone smooth and final: "Peace talks... have failed."

She stood there in a single fluid motion, her knives vanished back into unseen folds. Then she stepped behind Rei, seized his chair—still half-splintered from his repeated breakdowns—and yanked him backward.

"W-WAIT—" Rei flailed as she dragged him across the frosting-slick floor, chair legs start screeching.

Rosette’s voice carried no emotion. "Hostage protocol: active."

The other four... didn’t even flinch.

Drakana picked her teeth with a claw. "Called it. Hostage play was inevitable."

Seraphina sipped her tea with the grim poise of a nun at mass. "Indeed. We must now enact retrieval operations."

Lilia clapped happily, still drunk. "Oh~ a kidnapping! How romantic! Darling, you’ll be rescued by my eternal love!"

Rei screamed, "WHY ARE YOU ALL SO CALM ABOUT THIS?!"

[System Attempting Diplomatic Mediation...]

[Error: Too Much Knife Detected.]

[Fallback Mode Activated: "Survival Mode."]

Rosette moved like shadow itself. She dragged Rei effortlessly out the broken double doors, chair and all, his heels leaving two pathetic frosting-streaked trails behind him.

The last thing Rei saw before disappearing into the hall was Emilia elegantly refilling her teacup, her crimson eyes glinting.

She murmured, "Ara... the chase begins."

Rei bounced helplessly in the chair as Rosette pulled him like luggage.

"Listen!" he begged, flailing against the ropes she had produced from somewhere. "We can talk this out, right? You’re the reasonable one! The calm one! The—"

A knife thunked into the wall an inch from his ear.

Rei swallowed. "...Never mind. I’ll shut up."

Rosette didn’t blink. She maneuvered him down darkened corridors with surgical precision, every step silent, every corner checked like she’d mapped the entire school decades in advance.

Rei whimpered. "This isn’t even kidnapping anymore... this is a professional operation. You had contingency plans, didn’t you?!"

Rosette glanced down at him with deadpan calm. "Seventeen."

"...Seventeen contingency plans?!"

She nodded once.

[System Notification: You are officially not surprised.]

[Side Quest Added: "Survive the Maid’s Love Dungeon."]

[Reward: Maybe freedom or maybe death.]

Back in the ruins of the council chamber, the wives finished their tea in eerie synchronization.

Drakana cracked her knuckles, grinning. "Right. She’s taken him. And who’s up for a hunt?"

Seraphina crossed herself, holy light blooming faintly in her hands. "As much as I despise joining forces with sinners... the hostage must be recovered."

Lilia raised her hand like a schoolgirl. "Me! Me! I’ll save Darling~ and then he’ll thank me with marriage vows in every kingdom!"

Drakana gagged. "Keep dreaming, priestess."

Emilia twirled her parasol, her smile sharp as glass. "Ara~ this could be fun. A tactical pursuit. We must play by the maid’s rules, after all."

Seraphina narrowed her eyes. "You propose... teamwork?"

Emilia’s grin widened. "Oh no, dear Seraphina. I propose competition."

The four women’s eyes met. Lightning cracked metaphorically between them.

Then, without another word, they split into motion.

Drakana burst through the window, wings unfurling in a blaze of fire.

Seraphina floated out the opposite side in a halo of holy light.

Lilia somersaulted out the front door, staff raised like a lovesick gymnast.

Emilia simply walked, her parasol tapping the ground softly, her aura trailing whispers of dread.

Then the hunt had begun.

Rei was deposited unceremoniously into a chair in the middle of a dusty hall. Cobwebs dangled from the ceiling, crates lined the walls, and faint moonlight filtered through cracked windows.

Rosette stood in front of him, expression calm, knives glinting faintly under her apron.

Rei squirmed. "S-So... um... what now?"

Rosette tilted her head slightly. "Negotiations resume."

Rei blinked. "N-Negotiations? You mean—"

Her eyes sharpened. "Peace talks... without distractions."

[System Warning: Hostage Negotiation Level = Extreme.]

[Advice: Do not make sudden movements or any movements.]

Rosette leaned in slowly, her voice barely above a whisper. "You are too reckless, Master Rei. You are the one who is allowing chaos and interference. My solution is to containment."

Rei stammered. "C-Containment? What am I, a chemical spill?!"

Rosette didn’t answer. She pressed a blade gently against the ropes, tightening them just enough that Rei squeaked.

He trembled. "O-Okay, okay! You win! Just don’t—don’t add toothbrush sabotage to your resume!"

She blinked once. "...Not yet."

Rei screamed internally.

Drakana landed hard enough to crack tiles, flames licking her hair. "Rosette! I can smell his fear!"

Seraphina descended like a glowing saint, glaring daggers. "The maid has crossed into heresy. We must retrieve the groom!"

Lilia skipped along the ridge, her staff spinning. "Darling~ wait for meeee~!"

Emilia simply strolled onto the rooftop, a parasol shading her from the nonexistent sun. "Ara... how noisy."

They all paused, scanning the campus below.

Somewhere inside, Rei screamed: "I DON’T CONSENT TO THIS NEGOTIATION STYLE!"

Four heads turned toward the sound instantly.

Drakana grinned. "Found him."

Velvet Academy in the storage hall. Rosette stood guard, forty-three knives arranged in a perfect circle around Rei like a ritual.

Rei sat in the middle, sweating buckets. "This is fine. This is totally fine. Four angry wives versus one terrifying maid. I’ll probably survive this with, what, only fifty new traumas?"

[System Calculation: Survival Probability – 2%.]

[Encouragement: Hey, that’s better than 1%.]

The doors exploded inward.

Drakana stormed in, fire blazing. "HAND HIM OVER, MAID!"

Seraphina followed, halo glowing. "Release the groom at once!"

Lilia stumbled in, truth-drunk, waving her staff. "Darling, confess your eternal love to me and I’ll forgive your kidnapping~!"

Emilia entered last, calm as death. "Ara~ ara. Quite the setup. But unfortunately... the game is over."

Rosette didn’t flinch. She raised one knife, her calm voice filling the room:

"Peace talks... will continue."

And the hostage situation officially began.

[System Notification: Main Quest Updated – "Survive the Hostage Situation."]

[Failure Consequence: Dissection by yanderes.]

[Reward: Maybe breathing tomorrow.]

Rei groaned. "Of course this is my life."

Rosette stepped forward, her knife glinting in the moonlight. The circle of blades around Rei tightened, each one rising an inch from the ground as if obeying her will.

Rei squeaked, trying to shrink into his chair. "I-I thought the knives were just decoration!"

[System Notification: Reminder – Nothing Rosette does is "just decoration."]

[Advice: Cry quietly. It may buy you some time.]

Drakana cracked her knuckles, sparks flickering down her arms. "Oi, maid. Either hand him over or I roast you AND your creepy knife art."

Seraphina’s halo blazed brighter. "Surrender the groom before divine retribution falls!"

Lilia wobbled forward, still truth-drunk. "Darling~ just say ’I do’ right now and I’ll save you! Or... I’ll join you in the knife circle! How romantic~"

Rei’s eyes bulged. "NO, PLEASE DON’T JOIN ME!"

Emilia’s chuckle rang soft, chilling. She tilted her parasol toward Rosette, eyes glittering. "Ara... this is fascinating. You’ve set the stage perfectly. But you forget—hunts end only one way."

Rosette’s face remained unreadable. She lifted her blade higher. "Correction. Hunts end when I decide."

The air thickened, every woman ready to strike.

And Rei? He screamed, "CAN WE JUST GO BACK TO CAKE ATTEMPTS?!"

[System Notification: Warning – Negotiation Breakdown Imminent.]

[New Objective: Survive "Peace Talks: Knife Edition."]

To be continued...