Ten minutes later, in one of the halls of the Redwing palace…

Cycelia is heading towards her room when two maids that are seemingly going to pass her approach her.

「Your highness, welcome back…」

They bow politely with their frilled hats on their heads.

「Ah, thank you.」

Cycelia nods back, a little surprised that the maids went out of their way to stop for her.

「There are quite a few letters are waiting for you in your room, your highness.」

The maid with a cold face remarks.

「Letters? Ah! From King Rankor!…」

Cycelia's chestnut head perks up, her emerald eyes opening wide in realization.

「Yes… King Rankor had also sent a messenger while you were away. He was informed of your absence.」

「A messenger?… That's old-fashioned…」

Cycelia tilts her head, lightly confused with her brows gently furrowed.

「Quite… We've heard King Rankor supposedly plans to pay you a visit, your highness, but we were not there and we cannot confirm. You'd have to ask Sir Vinis.」

The cold-faced maid nods faintly, and replies.

「Thank you… I'll go read those letters now. I'll ask him about it later.」

Cycelia nods, and steps aside to head to her room. The maids bow towards her.

「Goodnight, your majesty…」

Despite the maid's frigid expression and her tone devoid of emotion, the maids refuse to turn away or even straighten out of their bow until Cycelia moves a decent distance away…

…

A few moments later, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia enters, shutting the door behind herself. Her baggage is sitting upright in the center of the room, closed and waiting to be unpacked.

「I suppose I could leave the books with Tolwick…」

She thinks out loud before her eyes turn to the massive pile of unopened envelopes on her desk. They are nearly spilling off the desk's side, occupying half of its surface.

「Ah! They weren't kidding! There's so many!…」

Cycelia jogs up to her desk in an unwarranted haste, takes a look at the letters for a few seconds, then pulls the chair out and sits down. She pulls out a small letter opener from the drawer and takes the first letter that catches her eye near the base of the pile. Careful to not upset the large stack and send it tumbling, she lifts the envelope up and cuts it open, cautious not to damage its contents. She then pulls the folded piece of paper from within, sets the empty envelope aside, unfolds the letter proper, and her emerald eyes scan left and right as she begins reading…

…

A few months ago, in the Rankor Kingdom, in the king's room…

A young man sits at his desk, quill in hand and with a blank sheet of paper in front of him only bearing the words「Dear Queen Cycelia,」at its topmost part.

He looks at the golden drake featuring Cycelia's non-existent portrait, staring intently at her serious, faintly smiling face.

「…I'll just trash this letter if it doesn't come out well.」

King Nide shrugs, and begins writing more words below the initial salutation.

「I hope the previous letter has reached you well…」

He quietly utters out as his quill scrapes on the paper.

「However I have not received a reply. I am writing another, in case the letter from two weeks ago has not reached your…」

The young man continues mumbling as he writes, and his voice trails off as he pauses writing. He lifts his quill and straightens out. Staring at the letter, he rests his head on his hand.

「Is it a good idea to be that bold?…」

He thinks out loud, tapping his temple with his finger as he looks at Cycelia's eyes on the old golden drake.

「…The future belongs to the bold.」

The young king declares, and begins writing again.

「…Has not reached your… Assuredly beautiful eyes… Heh.」

He smirks, reading what he wrote before quickly resuming.

「…For whatever reason it may have been. I have been, and I still am, anxiously and earnestly waiting for your reply. Please do not feel hurried, but please do not keep me waiting…」

King Nide continues writing as a candle burns away steadily through the night…

…

A few days later…

King Nide is sitting at his desk, quill in hand, staring pensively at the half-written letter.

「…What if she's just ignoring me?」

He thinks out loud, staring intensely at his letter.

「I can't write a clueless letter like this! It'll reek of desperation!」

The young man exclaims as he suddenly takes it into his hand, crumples it up, and throws it aside. He takes a new sheet from the drawer and begins writing again.

「Dear Queen Cycelia, I am rather saddened by your silence. Your last letter to me brightened my day, now your lack of response to mine makes them overcast…」

The young king writes, his hand moving more the less he thinks.

「…This is not what I had expected when I read your words. I hope the delay in your reply is caused by the delivery itself, rather than the lack of intent to do so…」

…

A few weeks later, in the hallway of Rankor palace…

「Has there been a reply from the Redwing Kingdom yet?」

King Nide asks an aging man as he passes by while on the way to his room.

「…No, your majesty.」

「Then I will write another-」

「Your majesty, please wait…」

The man says, holding his hand out to the young king. The young man turns around, looking at him with his brows furrowed.

「…I think you shouldn't do that for a while. You've sent… At least a dozen letters by now. I wasn't counting.」

The graying man calmly says as he places his hands behind his back.

「So?」

King Nide asks, gently shaking his head in confusion.

「…So, I think it's a lack of decorum, your highness. Queen Redwing may be too occupied to respond.」

The man explains, nodding his head a little.

「I wasn't asking for your opinion.」

The king replies, glaring at him. The man lets out a quiet, sighful grunt.

「…I understand, your highness, but you may end up pushing the queen away by not waiting for her reply-」

「I will force her to reply! She can't ignore me for long! I don't care how busy she is!」

King Nide declares, and storms off to his room.

Thud!

He slams his door shut behind him…

…

Even later still…

King Nide is sitting at his desk, rubbing his face in frustration, feathery quill in his free hand.

「Nrrghrhhgh… I need to tone it down. Just a little…」

He says as he pulls out another sheet of paper from a drawer and sets it down in front of himself. The young king adjusts himself on the chair, his feet brush away dozens and dozens of crumpled up papers, and he leans over his desk. His quill makes a soft scraping noise as he writes the salutation, and begins the letter proper.

「Dear Queen Cycelia… Your silence is defeaning, and a king should not be treated like this! You have not even given me a courtesy reply, or ordered a servant to do so!…」

King Nide writes and writes, staring intensely at the drying ink with his mouth angrily scrunched to the side.

「…Since my letters are so easily ignored, allow this one to be my forward notice that I will personally visit you soon!…」

He writes, and straightens out for a few seconds, before leaning in again.

「…And in case you no longer read my letters, I will send a messenger to inform you of this directly!…」

The young king adds, and continues scribbling further…

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

…

Now, in Cycelia's room, late at night…

「Uhhhh…」

With her brows furrowed, Cycelia lowers one of the letters. Her eyes snap to the few opened ones off to the side, then to the large pile of the ones she didn't read yet on the other side.

「…I suppose I should finally write a reply. And explain a few things…」

She sets the letter down amidst the rest of the read ones, looking at them with a troubled, tight-lipped grimace.

「I think King Mide might have less friends than I do, at this point…」

Cycelia lets out a troubled sigh as she slowly opens her drawer, pulls a quill, ink pot, and a sheet of paper out, and sets them on her desk.

「…That's really sad to think about.」

She quietly remarks with her troubled eyes staring at the blank letter. She then shrugs, and begins writing…

…

Around the same time, in the capital's bell tower…

Lily shuts the hatch leading down and slides the chest of drawers over it. Just as she approaches her bed to prepare for her sleep-like torpor, she turns her head to the closed window.

…Krrrrkkk… Clack!…

「…There's that sound again.」

She utters out. Her golden twin tails jiggle as she tilts her head at it. Lily approaches the window and opens it, peering outside.

Nothing appears out of place. Patrols of armored Ministry vampires, sparse foot traffic through the magic lamp-lit streets below, and the occasional human Ministry agents passing by. All seems to be in order, and Lily backs away from the window, somewhat confused.

Krrrrrkkk… Clack! Krrrrrrkk!…

「What is that noise?」

She furrows her brows as she looks at the window, trying to make sense of the sound. It continues, seemingly getting closer and closer, louder and louder. It changes every few moments, as if something was rolling across an uneven surface, interrupted by another loud and distinct noise, only for the previous sound to return, but slightly different.

Lily takes a hesitant, cautious step towards the window, then another.

「Pop culture reference!」「Straf!?」

Straf exclaims as he flies in through the window, holding onto a skateboard beneath his feet. Lily jumps aside, though more out of shock than anything, as there was no risk of collision.

Thud!… Thud!

Straf's skateboard wheels land on the wooden floor. He immediately shifts his body to turn it sideways and brake hard, but he and the board are simply going too fast for him to markedly slow down in such a small room. Just before the impact with the wall, Straf lifts the board's side with his heel, causing it to land on the wall with its wheels. As if the exact energy and inertia was perfectly calculated, he avoids kissing the wall of Lily's room by perhaps a finger's length, and spins around on his heel in one smooth motion to face her.

「…Who else would be a noise disturbance of this degree?」

He asks, spreading his arms. A grin appears on Lily's pale face, baring her fangs as she runs up to him.

Fwap!

Lily wraps her arms around Straf's waist, pressing her face into the area just below his ribs. Straf's briefly confused expression quickly snaps into a tight-lipped grimace.

「Lily you're not going to suplex me again, are you!?」

He exclaims, pointing his finger at her golden twin-tailed head below.

「…Suplex? What's that?」

Lily nonchalantly asks with a tilted head, blinking her scarlet eyes up at his with her arms still wrapped around him.

「…You know what? Never mind.」

Straf shrugs and his hand moves to the top of her head to pet her, letting out a large sigh as his grimace returns to his usual bored face, though with mouth in a light upward skew.

「It's pretty unusual for you to get sappy, Lily.」

He adds, ruffling her golden hair. The little vampire's crimson eyes snap open, and she immediately pulls away, turning her head aside and crossing her arms as she does so.

「Hmpf… I simply haven't seen you in a while, so I thought I'd greet you properly…」

Lily says, pouting at the open window, facing away from Straf.

「Yeah, and I feel properly greeted. I almost thought you'd say the cliche-」

「…Welcome back, Straf.」

She adds, and turns her expectant gaze to Straf.

「Yeah, that one.」

Snap.

He snaps his fingers with an amused huff out of his nose, and replies as he points at Lily's pouting face.

「What, do you expect me to say the line too?」

Straf asks as he places his hands in his pockets. Lily continues to expectantly look at Straf in silence. He rolls his eyes, smirking a little.

「Okay, fine…」

He throws his hands up before quickly returning them to his pockets.

「…I'm back, Lily.」

Straf says, and Lily turns her gaze away, nodding her golden head.

「…Mhm. Welcome back.」

She says again, and approaches the window to close it.

「Since you're back, I assume you've solved the barrier problem at the Academy of Magic?」

Lily says, turning back as she heads for her bed, and sits down.

Pat pat pat.

She pats the empty space on the bed right beside her, once again looking at Straf with an expectant gaze.

「Ahhh… Yeeeaah, I fixed it. Or rather, I broke it in a way that fixed it. What I mean is, it's their problem, not mine.」

Straf sighs and reluctantly approaches the bed, standing beside Lily while she's sitting down.

Pat pat pat!

She pats the bed again, more urgently this time. Straf's brows rise as he looks at her tight-lipped grimace.

「And you have caught the perpetrator?…」

Lily asks, tilting her head. Her twin tails jiggle a little with the motion.

「Yeah. Aside from the wraith that was causing the curse shit because a guy got his girl stolen… Long story, Lily… There was this mage guy and his pet vampire that ditched him.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, and sits down next to her.

「Vampire?」

Lily's brows furrow as she tilts her head further.

「Yeah. It was these Diebin and Roskiel guys, and they set up a-」

「Roskiel?…」

She asks, interrupting Straf.

「…Yeah. I punched him in the face.」

Straf nods, and shrugs his shoulders again.

「The vampire's name was Roskiel? Are you sure, Straf?」

Lily's scarlet eyes widen somewhat as her face grows serious.

「…Yeah, that's what the other guy yelled at him. You know him, Lily?」

「Kuh… So he survived…」

Frustrated, she briefly turns her golden head away before she shoots up to her feet and walks to the center of the room.

「So you do know him. Old friend?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands. Lily lets out a huff from her nose, a mix of disdain and amusement.

「…You jest, Straf. He's one of the few who remembers the Night of Fangs.」

She replies with a glare, baring her fang in disgust before she turns her gaze away and begins pacing around the center of the room.

「So he's a thousand-something years old vampire like you?」

「Likely older…」

Lily shakes her head, walking aimlessly back and forth while her golden twin tails trail behind her.

「Didn't feel like it. Complete pushover, honestly…」

「…He was a complete pest and a thorn in my master's side. Never respected my master's territory, had his underlings harass the humans he was sheltering… Even kill some.」

She adds as she paces around, her boots slam heavily on the wooden floor beneath her.

「To think such a worm would survive when my master didn't…」

Lily grumbles, baring her fangs and her clenched teeth. Suddenly, she stops and turns around on her heel to look at Straf, her eyes sharply focused on his unimpressed face.

「…Did you kill him?」

She asks as she walks up to him.

「…No-」「Khhhkh!…」

Straf barely manages to reply before Lily turns around and walks away a few steps, baring her fangs in frustration again.

「…Son of a bitch ran away and left his buddy behind as soon as the situation turned a little sour. Some vampire friend he was.」

He adds, shrugging with his hands with a little smirk on his face.

「Of course he'd run!… Roskiel is a coward and likely was a coward ever since he was born! He'd never show his face, and he always sent someone else to bother my master!」

Lily exclaims, consciously stopping herself from pacing around again as she loudly taps her foot on the floor.

「…Strong distaste for that guy, huh? Me too, honestly. I can understand. I almost had the plot all neatly tied up, too, but he just had to bounce and leave another hook.」

Straf sighs, and shrugs his shoulders while Lily is angrily nibbling at her thumb's claw with her fang. She looks at the skateboard on which Straf had arrived.

「…What is that, Straf?」

She asks, and turns her puzzled crimson eyes to him, anger visible on her face now mixed with slight confusion.

「Ah. You haven't seen it either, Lily… It's a skateboard.」

He nonchalantly explains, looking at the skateboard by the wall with her.

「…What is it for?」

「Skating.」

He shrugs, and she furrows her brows.

「I don't understand. It's a skateboard for skating, but what is skating?」

She asks, quizzically holding her clawed hand up.

「If you're boring, it's getting from point A to point B faster than walking. If you're not boring, it's about doing cool stuff while you're riding around on it.」

Straf explains, and shrugs again, grimacing a little with a light tilt of his head.

「Cool stuff? Like what?」

Lily asks, blinking her scarlet eyes at him.

「…Would you like to try it?」

He asks, spreading his hands with a smirk on his face.