The group met with king Menzor again, and he agreed with Sophia's plan of traveling while occasionally checking back in the capital with her magic. As a reward for the won war and also to use as a base for Sophia, she received a mansion in the capital. Taking Anna along, as well, and guided by the minister of housing, the group was currently checking out the estates.
"And here we are at the first object." Still in the innermost circle of the capital, not far from the castle, the middle-aged minister with the jaguar-like hair and features eventually stopped and pointed at a huge building.
"E-Eh...?" Sophia looked at the property and was at a loss for words. Walled off by a fancy metal fence, the group looked at a huge patch of greenery through the magnificent gate they were standing in front of. The mansion was a little back on the property and partially hidden by trees. The building itself was made with white stone and looked simply gigantic. It was two and a half stories tall and symmetrically built. Right above the huge and arched entrance door was a big balcony and many, big windows went along the façade on both sides.
"Wow…" Maya had a similar reaction.
"That's way too big! Cleaning and taking care of the building will be way too much work!" The blonde wasn't an immediate fan.
"All estates for the noble and royal families will be maintained by gardeners, maids, and the likes when they're needed."
"S-Seriously?!"
"Also, this is the smaller of the two properties we can offer you at the moment. This one's biggest selling point is the close proximity to the castle. The second one is at the edge of the inner circle, around 20 minutes from here, but both the plot and the building itself are around 50% bigger."
"We'll take this one!" Sophia pointed at the white mansion in a panic. "I-I'll often be visiting the castle when we're in the capital, so the location is much more important." The location actually was a total non-issue for Sophia, but this mansion was already too big for her liking. The alternative sounded even worse.
"Certainly, please check the inside of the mansion to see if there are any issues. I'll also take a look at the property in the meanwhile because I hadn't had the chance to do it beforehand. This arrangement happened on very short notice, after all." He opened the gate and gestured the group inside.
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"T-Thank you..." With Sophia in front, they walked towards the mansion and entered it.
"This is really yours now...?" Maya looked around in the entrance hall and wasn't sure how to react.
"Ours." She corrected her. "Seems like it..."
"Wow…"
"It seems like a nice place." Even Anna, a princess who lives in the royal castle, thought the mansion looked good.
"Well, uhh, let's take a look around...?" Sophia was still a little overwhelmed. "Wait, where's Fen and Aura?" She only then noticed that the two wolves weren't with them anymore.
"They went that way a few minutes ago." Anna pointed at a glass door to their left that connected the entrance hall with another room.
"Really? Well, then..." She also stepped through the door, looking for her runaway companions. The room they entered was a fully furnished living room with a lot of natural light from the big and numerous windows. It featured a couple of cupboards and the likes, but the main attraction was the three light-black or anthracite sofas in a U-shape in front of a massive fireplace. "Oh, not sure about the color of them, but they sure look comfy. The would've looked much better in pure white~."
"Idiot." Maya had a hunch of what Sophia was talking about when she alternatingly glanced at the sofas and the white cat.
"Ehehe. So, what are you two doing here?" The blonde tiger addressed the elephant in the room. Or wolves, in this case. Fen and Aura were both sitting in front of the fireplace and looked at it with great interest.
"J-Just checking out the place." Fen awkwardly turned his head away.
"Is that so? Hey girls, is it just me, or do these two look like some dogs who want to take a nap in front of the fire?"
"..." Maya and Anna looked at each other but couldn't bring themselves to say a word.
"Anyway," Sophia interpreted the non-reaction of the wolves however she wanted and changed the topic. "I like the living room. It's cozy."
"Yes." The cat-girl agreed. "During the winter, we'll have to come here a lot." She also eyed the fireplace.
"Sounds like a great plan!" The cat in Sophia, or tiger, agreed with her on a spiritual level.
"I'll have to come and visit a lot." Anna, too, was of feline origin.
"Doesn't the castle probably have like 20 fireplaces?"
"Yes, but it should be more fun with friends."
"That's fair." Maya couldn't say anything against that. "Ah, bring, uhh... Arianne, was it? Bring her with you, then."
"Ari? Sure, that sounds like a great idea. We did that whenever it got cold before, but I bet it's even better with more people."
"Alright, with the winter plans taken care of, let's continue. I want to see the kitchen!" Sophia ignored the wagging tails of the wolves and sounded very motivated.
"Hungry?" The cat-girl could read her like a book.
"A little."
"You do know that there will be no food in the kitchen, right? We haven't moved in yet."
"A-Ah." She hadn't thought that far. "Well, let's take a look regardless..." There was a lot less enthusiasm in her voice now.
"Absolutely!" Maya, the cook of their group, got excited instead. "I want to see how big it is and what kind of furnishings and appliances it has!"
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The trio walked around for a little before they eventually found the kitchen on the ground floor. It also had two windows that let in a vast amount of natural light, and the room was as spacious as it could be. All the furniture was white, and it had many cabinets and cupboards to store whatever one wanted, and the countertop spanned almost around the entire room. Multiple cookers were integrated into it, and a couple of pans hung on the wall next to it.
"Woah..." Sophia found no better words. "I'm looking forward to the meals from here~."
"Now that's a kitchen! Let's go shopping later and get some ingredients! I want to try it out immediately! Cooking during our camping was one thing, but now I can show you what I'm really capable of!"
"Calm down." The blonde tried to stop her cat.
"Maya likes to cook?" Anna looked at her.
"She always does it for us when we're traveling."
"Also, because you're hopeless at it."
"True." Sophia's best cooking-related skill was staying alive after eating whatever she threw together. "Well, your cooking's delicious, so I don't mind at all being bad at it."
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"Hmm~? I bet Ari's better." The princess sounded strangely proud for some reason. "I always taste-test her new creations, and it's the best!"
"Oh?" Maya's competitive spirit was lit. "I think we have to find out about that in the future!"
"Sure, let's have a contest! Ari will take you on any time!"
"You two... especially Maya." Sophia wanted them to act more their age. First and foremost, her girlfriend, the older one. "Wait, doesn't that mean I can eat twice the amount of delicious food?!" She decided against being a grown-up herself in the end. It wasn't her style, anyway.
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The cat and the princess bickered and boasted for a while longer until the three finally left the kitchen. They ran into a couple of storage rooms that were of little interest until the girls found the bathroom, which actually more resembled a public bath with its size.
"I don't like it." Maya had a complicated expression while looking at the way too big tub.
"Ehh...? I think it's great!" Sophia didn't share her opinion.
"I like smaller, more cuddly tubs better, and you know why."
"A-Ah..." Unable to answer, she went silent. Ignoring the confused princess, she led them out of the bath, and they went upstairs.
"That's more like it!" The first door they opened there led to another bath, which was one-fourth the size at best. It was most likely intended for guests to use, but Maya didn't care about that.
"Really?" Anna tilted her head. "Personally, I enjoy stretching out as much as possible or even move around a little when bathing, which, because I'm pretty tall, wouldn't work here at all."
"Save your breath, princess." Sophia stopped her with a tired expression. "Maya has her very, uhh... peculiar tastes when it comes to taking a bath... Just let her be. You have no way of winning against her. Trust me, I tried."
"I see?" She was obviously confused.
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The following two rooms seemed to be intended to be used as offices. They both had a large desk, a couple of bookshelves, and a large, round table with chairs lined around it. As the blonde tiger-girl had absolutely zero interest in ever doing office work in this world, she didn't even enter them and closed the doors again after giving a half-hearted reaction to these rooms.
"Next!" Leaving the offices behind, Sophia opened the door to the adjacent room. It seemed like a bedroom intended for a guest. It had a small desk, a wardrobe, a comfy-looking red armchair, and a cupboard together with a medium-sized bed that seemed comfortable for one person and slightly cozy for two. Like most of the rooms, the big windows of the building netted a lot of natural light. The next three rooms beside it looked precisely the same. "Guest rooms for days, huh? I think we need to find some more friends..." The mansion already had more rooms they could use at the moment.
The bathroom and the guest rooms were all located on the left side of the building. Going back to the stairwell, the group entered the other side of the mansion, whose hallway had its own kind of entrance. Behind, there were two doors at each side of the corridor and one big and elaborate one at the top end.
"..." Maya curiously opened one of the standard doors and froze in place. There wasn't much in terms of furniture. Still, the colorful walls, the small bed, and how everything was arranged to have as much place as possible to play and not get hurt made only one thing possible. Actually, the other rooms across the corridor, too, all were rooms for children. The cat-girl had zero interest in filling those rooms anytime soon, but the timing overloaded her brain. Just the other day, she was teased by Kira about this topic and also found out that Sophia loves kids so much that she even was a kindergarten teacher in her old life.
"Oho, not bad." Sophia wasn't nearly as affected. She found out that she could actually have her own kids in this world a while ago and was incredibly happy about it. Still, not only did she know it's way too early to even think about it, the remains of her old personality made it impossible for her to even imagine a future with children at the moment. She had changed dramatically ever since Maya entered her life, being capable of having a mostly normal love life. However, there were still many limits she had yet to overcome. "Anna, please warn Kira that she has to watch Ellie better in the future. Now that I have a place for her, I might end up wanting to keep her." Growing up also was one of the hurdles she had yet to overcome.
"Uhh, I know, saw, how strong you are, Sophia, but if you plan to take Ellie away from mother... I can only pray for your safety."
"Ahaha, don't worry, I wouldn't do that. Well, I might want to borrow her for a sleepover, but only with permission, of course."
"You're such a dork." Thanks to her girlfriend's stupidity, Maya managed to recover from the shock and left the rooms behind her while feeling stupid by how affected she got by something that has no relation to her current life.
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"Ehehe." Sophia took it as a compliment. "Alright, time for the main attraction!" She opened the fancy double doors at the end of the corridor. As expected, it was the master bedroom. "Uhh... I, well... I might have to reconsider this whole traveling thing..." One of the walls was made out of floor-to-ceiling windows, which connected the bedroom to its own balcony. Several cupboards, cabinets, and a huge walk-in wardrobe didn't let any room to complain, either. The room even had its own attached bathroom, which was roughly similar to the other upstairs one, just a bit fancier. In one of the corners were two armchairs and a small leather sofa lined around a round glass table. But the reason for Sophia's wavering about her future plans was the bed. It was a huge canopy bed, which was as wide as it was deep, beautifully adorned by a whitish, see-through curtain.
"Oi!" Maya tried to tell her off, but she, too, was drawn in by it. She walked up to the bed and lightly touched it. "W-Woah, it feels like a cloud!" She was fighting a losing battle.
"Eh?!" The blonde reacted strongly to these words and instantly made her way towards the bed. Her afterimage remained for another second in the doorframe next to Anna. "l-It's true!" She let her hand sink deep into the mattress and was mesmerized. "I thought the bed we have in our room in the castle was the best, but... wow. Good luck ever waking me up here, Maya."
"I'll simply kick you out of it." She had no mercy.
"Urgh, my one weakness!"
"One of many."
"Hey!" Sophia stopped for a moment. "I-In bed, I mean."
"..." Maya didn't answer at first. "Sure... Let's leave it at that."
"W-W-What's that supposed to mean?!"
"Who knows~." The cat-girl smirked at her. "There might be a relation to the training I suggested after our... well, you know what."
"Training...?" Sophia needed a moment. "Ahh... the t-thing we both need to get better at. I get it."
"..." There was nothing Maya could answer. The slight blush on her cheeks already said everything.
"S-So..." While the couple was busy with each other, Anna seemed to be affected by something, as well, as her face was even redder. "So... you two are really sleeping in the same bed...?"
"Eh...?" They first looked at each other in confusion before staring at the blushing princess.
"I-I knew you two are dating and even k-kiss... but... s-sleeping together..."
"Hmm..." The cat-girl didn't know what to say at first, but, unfortunately, a grin eventually appeared on her face. "What are you trying to imply, princess?"
"H-Huh?! I mean... you s-sleep in the same b-bed and…" Her face kept getting redder and redder.
"And?" Maya wasn't letting her go.
"W-Well... it means t-that, right...?"
"It means what?"
"Y-You..." She was almost glowing. "You... are d-doing... it..."
"What do you mean by it? Please explain it to me with as many details as possible."
"Stop it, Maya." Sophia thought it was enough.
"F- Fine..." She looked at Anna's bright blush and eventually agreed.
"T-Thank you, Sophia."
"No problem." She knew all too well how it's to be embarrassed, after all, and wanted to end her suffering. "Still, for someone who wanted to marry me moments after we met, not to mention how aggressive you were, you sure are innocent. That's a princess for you, huh?" Unfortunately, she's an incorrigible airhead.
"Uuh..." It was too much for Anna, and she fled the scene.
"Ahh, I see~, you stopped me because you wanted to deal the finishing blow, huh? I couldn't have done it any better myself."
"That wasn't my plan!" Sophia's cry echoed through the mansion.
"Hehe." The cat-girl let out a chuckle. "She's really only a sheltered 17-year-old princess in the end, huh? I tend to forget that because we don't look any older. Younger, if anything, actually. I bet she was only acting tough and confident when it came to you before."
"Yeah, it's a delicate age." Sophia agreed. "Not that we were any better before meeting each other. I was a complete mess, and you only cared about magic. Actually, are we even any better by now? I completely lost it when the lingerie shopping happened, and you weren't brimming with confidence all the time, either."
"We're missing practical experience, that's for sure." She didn't deny it. "Though I think we can talk more openly about these kinds of topics thanks to having more theoretical experience in life. Compared to a teenager, at least."
"Yeah, well now I can, but yeah. Okay, if I have enough time to prepare myself, that is…"
"She'll, too, get there eventually."
"I guess so."
"Speaking of training," Maya came back to the earlier topic and glanced at Sophia's chest. "D-Do you think that..."
"Hmm...?" The tiger needed a moment. "Ah... you liked that I made them bigger to fit the lingerie, didn't you?"
"Yes!" She didn't hesitate.
"Sure, they'll make a return."
"R-Really?" The cat-girl hadn't expected it to go this smooth.
"We should have the most fun during our t-training, don't we?"
"T-Thank you!" She looked really happy. "Though, maybe not all the time. Your breasts, that is. I want to play with normal Sophia, too from time to time!"
"Greedy, aren't we?"
"Yes!" Again, Maya didn't hesitate.
"Ahaha... Well, whatever. Those are comfier, the ones that fit into the lingerie are fun, too. Why not~." It seemed, embarrassment aside, Sophia was looking forward to the training.
"Yay." So was the cat-girl.
The couple explored their new bedroom a little longer while heavily concentrating on the bed. They might or might not have planned some training sessions already. Half an hour later, they thought Anna had cooled down and went to look for her. The two found her in the living room, where the two wolves were taking a nap. The mood was a little awkward, but as nobody mentioned it, the princess got over it eventually. Sophia and Maya also discussed a couple of details with the minister about taking over the mansion. Once everything was taken care of, the group returned to the castle for the time being.