Ari had shown Sophia and Maya the letter from her parents in which they mentioned that half the castle had heard them during their first night as a couple together. After having heard that, the two felt so sorry for them that they agreed to let them stay in their mansion for a while until everything cooled down a bit.

“I’m back~!” Roughly an hour had passed since the group had decided to take a break from the whole relationship chat when they heard the front door open before the voice of a cheerful girl echoed through the entrance hall.

"And that's Chloe." Sophia smiled at the couple before looking towards the door of the living room they were in. "We're in here!"

“Okay!” The fox replied to her. “I’ll bring my shopping upstairs and be there in a minute!” Immediately after, the group heard her storming up the stairs.

“I wonder if she’s trying to hide a bag from that store.” Maya found it a little suspicious that she decided to do that first before going to the living room first. “It sounded like she really was in a hurry to go up there~.”

“Do you think she actually went there?” The blonde tilted her head.

“What would you have done?”

“Err…” She paused for a moment. “I guess we better not give Anna and Ari the guestroom right next to hers, huh?”

“Ahaha.” The cat-girl liked her reply.

“What is this about…?” Anna naturally couldn’t follow their conversation.

“Uhh…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “Let's save that for another time." She didn't feel like talking about that right now.

“Okay?” She got even more confused.

----------------

“Hello~. Oh?” A few minutes later, Chloe had come downstairs again and entered the living room. There, her eyes immediately fell on the new couple. “Hello, I’m pleased to meet you! My name’s Chloe. I’m currently staying for a little while with Maya and Sophia as they let me stay in their mansion during my visit of the capital. I’m honored to meet the first princess of this nation and her… maid up close." She had to pause while looking at Ari because the couple was sticking so close together.

“She sure has her act together.” Sophia sounded impressed while she leaned over to Maya.

“Absolutely.” She nodded. “Makes one wonder how we befriended her, huh?”

“Yep, we’re complete opposites, after all.”

“True.” The cat-girl had no reason to disagree.

“Fluffy!” Seeing her for the first time, Anna and even Ari opened their mouths without thinking.

“Ahaha…” Chloe scratched her cheek while chuckling a little before looking at Maya and her tiger. “See? Everyone has the same reaction.” She remembered how the cat-girl felt bad about having done the same.

"A-Ah!” The jaguar was the first to notice what she had just done. “I-I am really sorry about that! That was terribly rude of me…

“It’s totally alright~.” The fox-girl waved her hand and moved around her tail a bit. “I am fluffy, after all." While saying so, she sat down on the free sofa and almost fully occupied it with her tail alone. "It can be a little inconvenient at times, but I like it and take great pride in it. If anything, it’s a compliment for me.”

“T-That’s reassuring to hear…” She looked a little relieved. “As you seem to know who we are, an introduction might be unnecessary, but not doing it would be rude. It's nice to meet you, too. My name is Ari, and I'm indeed the private maid of the princess."

"More like cosplaying as that…" Sophia leaned over to Maya while saying these words.

“Pfft!”

"Shush!" The jaguar just glared at them.

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“Anna~.” The princess’ introduction, funnily enough, was the least formal one. “Please don’t mind the whole princess thing. It’s incredibly tiring…”

"Especially if said princess ran away from home." This time, Maya leaned over to Sophia.

“Pfft!”

“S-Shush!” It was the exact same exchange as before.

“Hmm…?” Chloe looked at the gossiping duo as she had naturally heard every single word. “Did something happen…?” She decided to ignore the cosplaying part.

“S-Something happened at the castle and, uhhh…” Ari tried to answer her, but her face turned ever so slightly red while she had to squeeze Anna’s hand before continuing. “W-We would rather not go back there for the time being…”

“I see…?” The fox-girl paused for a moment while looking at the couple, both sticking close together while holding hands and blushing more and more with each passing moment. “Someone got caught during something, huh…?” She was a sharp one.

"…" The two in question just turned their heads away while steam rose from their heads.

“Congratulations!” Chloe started smiling instead. “I was really confused when Sophia told me that you two aren’t a couple. It looked very different to me the few times I saw the two of you when I was in the capital before. I guess her information was a little outdated?”

“It wasn’t outdated when I corrected you!” Sophia felt the need to defend herself.

“Wasn’t it just one or two days ago when you said it?" She tilted her head while looking at the blonde.

“Uhh…” Anna reluctantly faced the fox. “It… it h-happened yesterday…”

“Oh my!” Chloe’s smile got even brighter. “That’s lovely! Again, congratulations!”

“T-Thank you…” The new couple had a hard time dealing with the overly cheerful and bubbly girl right now.

“Hmm…” While continuing to stare at the new couple, the fox-girl eventually turned her head, seemingly wanting to ask something.

“Is… Is there something you want to know…?” Ari also had recovered a little and glanced back at her.

“Well…” Chloe seemed reluctant about it. “I feel like I will make things worse if I ask, so I better keep it to myself for now…”

“I don’t like the sound of that…”

“By the way,” Sophia also looked like she wanted to know something while facing her fellow tiger friend. “I tend to forget about it, not to mention that the two of you were a thing in my eyes for quite a while already, but… Isn’t it actually a REALLY huge deal for the first princess of the nation to enter a relationship…? I kinda assume it comes with all sorts of responsibilities and whatnot?”

“That’s exactly what I wanted to ask, too!” Chloe raised her voice. “It totally is like that, isn’t it? Royalty, especially when it’s the first princess, entering a relationship, that has to be something special, right?! Like the commitment one has to have, for example? Being even ready for marriage or something like that?”

“…” Hearing that, the princess hung her head before covering her face with her hands. “Mnnnghh…” A muffled groan was all that could be heard from her afterward.

“And that’s why I didn’t want to ask…” With an awkward expression, the fox then glanced at Sophia.

"A-Ah.” The blonde wasn’t sure what to say. “I-I’m pretty sure your additions to the commitment only made it worse, though…”

"A-Ah.” Chloe had the same reaction.

“Idiots…” Maya addressed both of them.

“…” They had nothing to defend themselves with.

"Ari…" After a little while, Anna whispered her name without even looking at her.

“Y-Yes…?”

“About that traveling idea we had earlier with just the two of us… How about we actually do that…? Like, right now?”

“Uhh…” The jaguar wasn’t sure what to say.

“How’s eloping going to help with anything here?!” This time, Maya got loud. “Especially when the queen and Ari’s parents already gave their consent?!”

“Now now,” Chloe focused on the cat-girl. "Eloping isn't just for when your parents are against your relationship or marriage. Most do that because they don’t feel like dealing with a huge ceremony where you have to invite distant family members you haven’t seen in years or friends you stopped caring about a long time ago just to keep up an image instead of just doing what you and your partner want. It’s about you, not them, after all.”

“Ohhh!” She nodded a couple of times. “I didn’t know that.”

“Sounds like a fun alternative, doesn’t it?” The fox-girl apparently was a fan of it.

“Absolutely!” Maya kept nodding. “Not sure if I would prefer it because I love my family, but it definitely sounds enticing!”

“Do I like this conversation…?” Sophia had some mixed feelings about it.

“How would you do it, then?” Chloe then looked at the blonde instead.

“That wasn’t really my issue here…” She was more wondering what it meant hearing all that from her girlfriend. “Well, whatever… It’s hard to say for me, actually…” The tiger paused for a moment. “Even if I’d love to, I don’t have any family left to invite, so… Also, with the friends and acquaintances I currently have, a room like our living room here would be more than enough… That’s why, it would be up to my partner to decide how big or small the ceremony would be as I can’t contribute much to the numbers right now…"

“…” Chloe and Maya looked at each other for a couple of moments.

"A big ceremony does sound like fun, too.”

“Yes.” The duo had changed their minds.

“…” Sophia wasn’t sure how to feel about that, either.

“T-That’s!” Once the trio was done with their chat, Anna eventually raised her voice with a bright red face. “That’s not at all what I was talking about!”

"A-Ah…” The three immediately started to awkwardly scratch their cheeks in perfect sync.

“I just want to get away from here and have some fun with Ari without having to care about anything because it has become such a hassle in the castle!”

“Sounds an awful lot like Chloe’s interpretation of eloping, though.”

“S-Shut up!” She got loud. Really loud.

Afterward, as things had taken quite an unexpected turn, it was time for another break so everyone could calm down a bit.