The blonde tiger continued to be confused over the different ways of using magic. She just couldn't understand why activation words exist. She hoped that Ari could explain it to her, but it only ended up with the jaguar being confused, too, combined with a slight loss of her common sense. The black-haired girl suggested baking some cookies to change the topic and recover some of her sanity points. Sophia knew she would be no help, but the prospect of getting freshly baked cookies made her very motivated.

"You said you can't bake, but what about cooking in general, Sophia?" The duo had arrived in the kitchen, and Ari glanced at the tiger while collecting the ingredients she needed.

"I'm relatively confident that I might not die after eating whatever I managed to cook in one way or another."

"Wow." She had no other words.

"No, it's not quite that bad. I can boil some simple things like pasta or pot-, podadoes. I might even be able to stir-fry some veggies or grill meat in a way it's not, uhh... dangerous for consumption, but that's not really cooking... More like, surviving."

"Well, I guess that's at least something."

"Yeah... Maya's an amazing cook, so I get away with it."

"Oh? I would like to cook with her eventually, then. That could be fun to cook with someone who likes it just as much. We might could even learn something from each other, too"

"That'll most likely happen relatively soon. The princess and Maya got really heated over that, and we decided to have a contest between the two of you to see who's better."

"Ehh...? Do I have any saying in this matter?"

"Nope."

"Those two are pretty similar, aren't they?"

"Yep, both are super stubborn and kinda stupid." Sophia couldn't help but smile while saying so. "And I'm allowed to say this because I'm the queen of stupidity."

"Despite everything, you're fairly self-aware, aren't you?"

"H-Hey!"

"Ehehe~." The black-haired girl let out a soft and gentle giggle before continuing. "Well, I'll prevent it from turning into a competition, but the idea itself sounds lovely." She wanted to cook with Maya, too, after all.

"You don't know any easy recipes to teach an idiot, do you?" Sophia faced Ari while asking. "I love Maya's food, and she enjoys cooking for us, but I feel bad about her always doing it on her own... I at least want to be able to help her out without being a hindrance instead."

"Aww, aren't you sweet?"

"T-Thanks..." The tiger got a little bashful after hearing it. "It would be amazing if I could surprise her with a simple dish or so."

"I can't say no to that now, can I? Not with such a reason as your motivation." She seemed to like such romantic gestures.

"G-Great!" The blonde got even more embarrassed.

"I have some ideas that an absolute beginner should somehow manage. How about we start tomorrow or the day after? I'd like to make the cookies today first. You can try and help me a bit there, too, if you want."

"Really?! Yay! Thank you very much!" Sophia's face lit up after hearing that the black-haired girl actually wanted to teach her.

"W-Wow, for a moment, I thought I was talking with Anna..."

"Eh?" Sophia tilted her head. "Stripes, ears, and tail aside, the princess and I really don't look alike. Among many things, she's much bigger than I am, after all."

"In various aspects." As Ari's height and overall figure were close to Sophia, she could freely say such things. Comparing them to the incredibly tall and well-endowed princess was impossible. "No, I meant because of your personality. Anna also gets extremely excited over such small things, and you reminded me of her cute antics."

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"You're quite smooth, aren't you?"

"Huh? Am I?" Ari hadn't noticed it herself.

"Absolutely. You say some pretty charming things from time to time. Especially when you're talking about the princess."

"I-Is that so?" The jaguar's cheeks turned slightly red. "I'll, uhh... have to watch out for that in the future."

"Ehh~? Where's the problem? It just means you're fond of Anna, right?"

"Of course..."

"Oh, is it because you're a maid and have to keep your distance...?" Sophia focused her gaze on the girl's maid outfit. "Something like no being flirty inside the royal castle?"

"No, that is fine. I mean, I'm the daughter of two of the head maids. It doesn't get much flirtier than that, I would say."

"Oh, yeah... Wait, what?" Sophia paused when she heard those words. "Two of the head maids...?"

"Yeah?"

"Anna mentioned you being the daughter of them, but I somehow seemed to have missed the plural form there. I didn't expect you to have two moms."

"Is there something up with that?" Ari wasn't sure where the tiger's confusion was coming from.

"Not at all! I'm just surprised."

"Really? It's pretty common to have two moms, though? Don't you plan to have kids on your own somewhere in the future? Seeing how attached you are to your cat and your general, uhh... let's say vibe, I have some huge doubts that there would be a father involved in your family plans."

"Err..." Sophia wasn't sure what to react to first because there were several comments she wanted to make. "There's 100% no chance that there'll ever be a father in my future." She decided to address the most important thing first. "Say, how much do you know about my past?"

"Absolutely nothing." The jaguar shook her head. "After we made up, I asked Anna, but she refused to tell me. It even seems like his Majesty put something like a gag order around you..."

"He didn't need to go that far... Well, whatever." She felt it was a bit excessive, but Sophia wasn't against Menzor trying to keep her circumstances as unaddressed as possible. "You see, long story short, I basically only ever had Fen since coming to the world. I received some basic education from him, but the focus always laid on surviving in a harsh environment and magic in general. My common sense seems weird to most because I never had the chance to learn any of that."

"Uuh... I-I'm sorry to hear that... I had no idea..." Ari's voice turned somber, and her expression became apologetic. "I-I hope I didn't hurt you when I made any comments on your behavior or tried to fix it."

"No, as I said, don't worry about that. If anything, I'm grateful for it because it's helping me out."

"I see..."

"Anyway, because of that, I only knew about the biological way to have children. That one's kinda self-explanatory, after all. Even after finally meeting other people and getting together with Maya, I still had no idea about this blessing magic. I mean, where would that topic come up besides when you actively address it."

"That's fair."

"I only learned about that when coming to the capital. To be more precise, when the king urged Maya and me to have a kid because my specific tiger traits are something special, and they have to be preserved in his eyes or whatever..."

"W-Wow..." Ari needed a moment. "In more ways than one."

"Well, he initially wanted Anna and I to..."

"E-Eh?!"

"But that topic was faster off the table than he could even react. That's never going to happen, after all."

"G-Good..."

"Yeah... So, that's why I still get surprised when someone tells me they have two moms. I never thought I would be able to have my own child, after all."

"I see now why it's surprising for you. In that situation, I would be pretty shocked, too. But as I said, it's actually fairly common. I'm sure you'll get used to it soon. Still, I watched you playing with princess Ellie a lot from the sidelines and saw that you were having a great time. Well, I noticed when I wasn't being busy with silently being angry at you, at least..." The jaguar awkwardly scratched her cheek. "Judging from that, I guess it was a happy and fortunate revelation for you, huh?"

"Absolutely!" Sophia gave her a big nod. "I love kids, and having my own eventually sounds lovely. Not anytime soon, though. Like, at all. That'll be a topic for the very far future."

"Understandable. It's not something we should think about in our age."

"Yeah," The tiger didn't bother correcting her. "Anyway, where were we again?" She felt the need to change the topic. "Right! If even relationships that led to children are allowed in the castle, what's the problem with being a little flirty with the princess? Oh, is it because she is the princess, and you're a maid?" She didn't know whether their social standing could be an issue.

"No, that's not really a problem, either. In the first place... me being a maid, is, uhh..." Ari didn't finish her sentence and awkwardly looked away.

"Hmm...?" She looked at the girl for a while before it eventually clicked. "You're just playing a maid, aren't you? Wow, today's really just one shock after another!" It was a very eventful day for everyone.

"I-I'm not playing. I'm just not officially one. The other maids are also really happy because I'm the only one who can handle Anna as she's pretty high maintenance. E-Except in name, I'm basically the personal maid of Princess Anna."

"Sounds like excuses from someone who wants to play maid to me."

"I-I don't!"

"Ehehe~." Noticing that she had won, Sophia looked pretty smug before she continued. "So, again, why is being flirty with the princess no good?"

"W-Well, now that you made me aware that some of my behavior might be naturally flirty, it's gotten super embarrassing!"

"Ah." There was absolutely nothing that the tiger could say in this situation.

Afterward, the duo finally dropped the topic and continued the preparations to bake cookies together.