A few hours earlier, in front of the Redwing palace gate…

Heading towards the open gate, a nobleman's carriage rolls down the main street with a large group of heavily armored knights trailing behind it.

「Halt! What is your business here?」

The plumed guard holds his armored gauntlet out at the driver as he approaches the carriage.

「Make way for King Rankor and his majesty's carriage! He has come to visit Queen Redwing as his majesty's runner had announced!」

The driver announces in a loud voice with his head held high.

「King Rankor?… Stop the carriage over there and wait. We will let the queen know.」

The guard points to a spot within the palace perimeter, off to the side by the path to the door while he walks inside the gate.

He raises his hand to a guard patrol passing by nearby and beckons them with a wave of his arm. They glance at each other, then run up to him and the carriage.

「Yeah?」

One of them asks, their plumes trailing behind them as the rest catches up.

「This is King Rankor's carriage. Let the queen know he arrived. One of you go get a handful of maids, and the rest, you're honor guard with me.」

The gate guard explains, nodding his head towards the stopped carriage.

「Alright.」「Got it.」

The patrol guards nod, and two of them run off towards the palace while the rest approaches the carriage. They stand at the sides of the path at attention, staring ahead.

The driver opens the carriage door, and peeks inside.

「Your highness, we're here.」

He declares, and steps away. A young man with a disdainful gaze steps out of the carriage with a long, fur-trimmed cape of purple, far longer than his height. Behind him, two more men hop out of the carriage, holding the edges of his cape so that it doesn't make contact with the ground. At the same time, three maids arrive with the palace guard that left to fetch them. They bow low, and the guard joins the rest at the sides.

「King Rankor, Queen Redwing welcomes you… Please come with us, her majesty will see you shortly.」

The maid in the center says with her head bowed before straightening out. They attentively watch and wait for his response.

「Very well. Lead.」

Without paying any attention to the maids, King Rankor replies, lightly nodding his head with his mouth slanted as he looks around the courtyard at the decorative shrubs and flowerbeds off to the sides. The knights in his tow approach the carriage, and briefly exchange glances with their counterparts of this kingdom through their helmets' horizontal slits. The maids bow again, and turn for the palace door. He follows them in a leisurely, measured pace while taking the surroundings in, completely unrushed, and at his own speed while his attendants carry his cloak.

Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack…

The honor guard face right, and march alongside him with an intentionally noisy step of armored feet. The king's knights make no intentional effort to make more noise, and yet sound like a drawer full of kitchen cutlery being violently shaken all the same. The maids hold the doors wide open while the one in the lead enters, King Rankor following right behind her. The palace guards funnel into the door, forcing the knights to wait their turn and causing them to audibly grunt in frustration, or let out exasperated sighs…

…

Five minutes later, up the stairs…

The maids stop and turn around to face the king behind them. One of them opens a room beside her, and the other maid stands at attention with her hands held in front of herself by the open door's side in the hallway. The plumed royal guards spread out along the walls, likewise standing at attention and facing each other. With the path cleared, the king's knights draw closer and look around, their helmets swiveling left and right. A few of them walk past him and the maids, securing the front, while a handful secures the back. The remainder stays near the young man.

「Her majesty will arrive shortly to meet you. Please wait here.」

The lead maid says, and points at the door held open by another maid.

「I am not a patient man… She better not keep me waiting long.」

King Rankor declares, and swaggers into the room with two of his cape-carrying attendants in tow. The lead maid follows them in, while everyone else remains outside. The king takes a seat in the grand, highly decorated and cozy room. While it appears a lot like a contemporary living room, it's at least four times larger than any reasonable living room could be, and yet, it appears to be solely furnished for a one on one talk. There is a repeating pattern in how the room is arranged. A chair facing another chair across a short table, a couch facing another couch, two large comfy seats right by each other facing an unlit fireplace with a small, square table between them.

The king decides to walk up to one of the rather rich yet unassuming-looking chairs.

「Off.」

He says in a demanding tone, without even looking at them, and one of the attendants quickly rushes up to him. He very briefly fiddles with the cloak's golden clasp resting on his chest.

「Anything else, your majesty?…」

The attendant asks as he steps away and helps the other man fold the purple cape up into a neat square on his arms.

「No. Hide yourself somewhere aside…」

The young king replies, and takes a seat.

「While you wait, would you like tea and some snacks, your highness?」

The maid asks as she stands in front of the table.

「…I am a little thirsty. Very well. But do not think for one second you can pacify me with some treats. I am not a dog.」

He briefly thinks on it, and shrugs, crossing his legs at his knees and lazily propping his head up on his fist, elbow on the armrest.

「I will return momentarily. Please wait.」

She bows politely, and leaves the room with a quick step. Just moments later, the young king lets out a large sigh, and begins to impatiently swing his foot hanging off his knee while looking around the room for nothing in particular, just something to occupy his mind for a few seconds at a time. A painting of a landscape here, a potted plant there, a quite fancy rug on the floor here. A brief, faint murmur of the guards comes in from the hallway.

「Ah. King Mide. Good evening.」

Cycelia stops in the doorway, appearing a little surprised, but not displeased by the sight of the man sitting in front of her. Up until now, he was oozing with confidence.

「…Do the thing.」

He stares at her face for a few seconds in silence, before quickly peeling his eyes off of hers and orders his attendants. The empty-handed one takes a large step closer towards him.

「Your majesty! Heir of the Rankor throne, ruler of the Rankor Kingdom, King Nide Rankor!」

The man points his hand at the young king in the chair, speaking in a loud and pompous voice with his head held high as he introduces him

「Nide?…」

Cycelia's head perks up, and her smile grows a little awkward as she blinks a few times in mild confusion. The maid in the hallway gently swings the door shut behind Cycelia.

「Queen Cycelia. Will you join me, or do you plan to run?」

King Nide asks, and points at the chair across. She nods, and hurries towards it.

「Eheh… No, no…」

A little amused, she smiles gently and sits down, brushing her skirt towards her legs before she does so.

「I have to say, King Mi- Nide, this visit is rather unexpected…」

Cycelia briefly stumbles over her words and corrects herself. She stares at the young man's face with a tight-lipped grimace on hers to check if he noticed.

「…Are you saying that I am unwelcome?」

He asks, furrowing his brows with an expression that is hard to decipher, sounding almost accusatory, yet lacking any hints of anger in his voice.

「No! No, not at all! It's just…」

She shakes her head and waves her hands in response, before lowering her gaze down to her lap as she looks for the right words.

「…If I knew you were coming a little ahead of the time, I would have prepared a more substantial welcome…」

Cycelia explains, shrugging her shoulders and spreading her hands with an innocent, gentle smile. King Nide stares at her face in silence, creating an awkward pause.

「…Despite it being so recent, it's been quite a while since the border war, hasn't it?」

She idly remarks, tilting her head as she tries to break the uncomfortable silence.

「…Yes. Although I'd rather not discuss the war. I am aware of my wrongdoings against you, and you are aware I regret them…」

The king replies, turning his disinterested gaze aside.

「…But now you haven't been quite right by me either, Queen Cycelia.」

He adds, turning his eyes back to hers. She tilts her head further, and blinks her large, confused emerald eyes at him.

「…Hm? I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand… In what way?」

Cycelia asks, furrowing her brows.

「You haven't replied to my letters for the past two months. I assume mine have reached you well?」

King Nide replies, tilting his head a little, rolling his cheek across his knuckles.

「Ah.」

《…I haven't read them all yet, though.》

Her jaw drops, and the realization slowly dawns on her. She lets out a large sigh, and her shoulders slump, while the king's brows rise a little.

「You see… I actually sent you a letter explaining all of it, and I was hoping it would reach you before you departed your palace.」

「You have?…」

「Yes…」

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Cycelia explains. The king's brows rise further in surprise, and she nods her head as she quietly confirms with an awkward smile.

「…I suppose there's no harm if I just explain it again in person. You see, for the past two months, I was enrolled as a student in the Academy of Magic.」

She shrugs, spreading her hands, calmly explaining her paper silence.

「So that would explain the…」

King Nide rubs his chin, turning his head aside as his brows furrow. His face grows troubled.

《Shit, shit, shit! I made myself look like an idiot!… And she's so much cuter than on her money! Her voice is so warm and soft!…》

He covertly clenches his fist as he stares at a potted plant with a gaze intense enough to quite possibly kill it with a nonchalant, calm face

「Yes… I'm sorry I did not inform you, it completely slipped my mind. I was worried I'd miss packing something important, or that I'd arrive late…」

She shrugs her shoulders again with an apologetic smile.

「No, no. I understand completely. Please do not be worried, Queen Cycelia…」

The king holds his hand up, lightly shaking his head.

「…How was it? Did you teach them something?」

He asks, smirking a little as his voice takes on a joking tone.

「Ahaha… You jest, King Mide…」「…Mide?」

Cycelia giggles softly, covering her amused, smiling mouth with her loose dainty fist. The young king's brows furrow a little and his head tilts, but he is quickly disarmed by her face.

「…Actually, I made as many as three new friends there!」

She proudly declares with her index finger extended, and a large smile on her face.

「…Are they kings?」

King Nide quickly asks in a serious, urgent-sounding voice with his eyes narrowed.

「Eh? N- No… Two of them are princesses…」

A little taken aback by the abrupt and very specific question, she gently shakes her chestnut head in denial as she explains.

「Oh that's good to hear…」

He quietly speaks over her, nodding in approval in a complete reversal of his tone.

「…And one of them is a commoner of low birth. He left north-」

「Eeuhhh… You'd call a commoner a friend?…」

King Nide interrupts Cycelia with an utterance of disgusting, looking at her with an incredulous look, eyes narrowed, and mouth open a little in shock.

「…King Nide, of course I would. I do not look down on people because of their birth. He's a good person. He is as good as a friend as he is a mage. Is that a problem?」

Cycelia's face grows cold as she picks her words and measures out her response, before replying in a calm voice. Some anger seeps through regardless of her attempt to veil it.

「N- No. I'm sure he's a good man… Just most of them aren't, that's all…」

Sensing that the conversation is taking a vastly undesirable turn, the king quickly explains himself. The queen's expression slowly softens.

「…I think you should spend more time with the common people, King Nide. They are very kind and generous, even if a lot of them are not very smart…」

She remarks, turning her emerald eyes aside for a moment as she thinks.

「…They are simply doing what they can, with what they have. I think that's very admirable.」

「…Of course. Of course.」

She adds, and King Nide begins nodding with fervor in a tepid agreement after a brief silence, as if he missed his cue to do so. The door opens, and a maid arrives.

「Ah, your majesty… I brought tea and snacks for King Rankor. I thought it would take you longer… Would you like tea as well?」

She asks, looking into her emerald eyes as she sets the tray down. Upon it, there is a teapot and a singular cup, along with a few plates of assorted baked snacks.

「N- No, thank you. I'm fine…」

「Very well… I will be just outside the door. Please call me if you need anything.」

Cycelia shakes her head, smiling warmly at the maid. She bows and exits, closing the door behind herself.

「You thank your servants?…」

King Nide asks, furrowing his brows with a deeply confused grimace on his face.

「Yes, I do.」

「…Why? They're doing their duty.」

She nods in reply, shrugging her shoulders. Further confused, he lightly shakes his head as he asks.

「…That may be so, King Nide, but if someone is doing their utmost to do their duty, I believe they deserve at least kind words. Do you not?」

Cycelia asks in a completely calm, neutral tone, but her emerald gaze sharpens as she stares at his face.

「Ah, er… Yes, that makes sense… Um… Why don't you tell me how was your time at the Academy, and about your two friends?」

「Three. And it's a little long of a story…」

The young king's facade of confidence is quickly evaporating, and he deftly changes the subject. Cycelia swiftly corrects him, then shrugs her shoulders with a sigh.

「I like long stories. Please.」

King Nide insists, leaning in as he nods his head. The two briefly look into each other's eyes, before she shrugs once more.

「Very well… Maybe I'll start from the interesting part. Three days after Straf and I arrived, we-」

「Who's Straf?」

He asks with his sharp gaze narrowed.

「Oh my… I'll have to start from the beginning, then…」

Cycelia lets out a long, resigned sigh, and a troubled smile appears on her face…

…

Now, in one of the guest rooms…

Straf is sitting in a cozy chair in front of a lit fireplace, his ankle resting on his knee. Greaves and his party are sitting on the nearby couches by a table.

「Sit.」

He says, pointing at the ground in front of his chair while looking at Stripe. She returns a weak, resigned nod, and walks to the couches.

「Uh-uh-uh! I said sit!」

Straf wags his finger at her. She stops in her tracks with a confused look on her face as he points at the floor in front of himself again. She points at it too, furrowing her brows.

「Yup. Get over here.」

He demands, and crosses his arms. Stripe lets out a large, depressed sigh, and complies.

「Is this really how the rest of my life will look like until you execute me?…」

She asks, or perhaps think out loud, and kneels down in front of him, just slightly off-center. Will, Greaves, Lian and Alicia look on with varying degrees of confusion and concern.

「Man, I can't believe I have my own catgirl slave and I didn't even need to buy you off some fat shady guy!」

Straf remarks with a grin, stifling a chuckle.

「I am not a cat. I am a beastman.」

Stripe replies with a cold glare of her golden eyes and a scowl.

「Yeah? So what are you, then? Your ears are striped… Kind of like a tiger…」

He asks, rubbing his chin as he looks at her fluffy black and yellow-striped ears. The yellow stripes are of dull color, as if her ears were black, and stained with mustard by some pestilent prankster. She has remarkably few or no animal features Straf can insofar tell, other than her ears, her slit pupils, eyes of unnatural color, and claws on her fingers which may be very easily confused with long, black fingernails.

「…You know about tigers?」

She asks, and her scowl turns into a somewhat surprised expression. Her brows furrow.

「Yeah. Why? They're rare around here, or something?」

Straf nonchalantly asks, spreading his hands with a shrug of his shoulders. Her head is nearly entirely black, if not for the sparse mustard-colored tufts of hair between her ears on the very top of her head, which were previously hidden by her cloth hat. To a casual observer, with her head covered, she really does not appear to be as anything but an ordinary, human woman.

「…They're common in the east.」

Stripe reluctantly replies, lowering her gaze with her hands on her thighs in loose fists.

「…How did you know? How did you know I'm from the Eastern Kingdoms? How did you figure that out from just my kunai?」

Her angry gaze turns back up to Straf's lightly smirking face.

「I guessed.」

「You gue-!?」

Straf casually declares with a shrug of his shoulders. Her jaw drops, and her golden eyes widen in shock.

「So, if you're not a cat, what are you? A tiger?」

He asks, nodding his head up at her. Her gaze drops down to her lap again.

「…I don't know what I am.」

Stripe quietly replies with her head lowered.

「Huh? Are you getting philosophical on me?」

Straf squints with one eye, tilting his head a little.

「No, stupid!…」

Her glare briefly makes a return as she raises her voice, but her sullen mood quickly takes over.

「…I was abandoned as a child to die, so I don't even know what tribe I'm from. A spy from the Eastern Kingdoms took me in. That's what I am. A beastman spy…」

As she explains, her gaze remains fixed downward.

「Hmm…」

Straf hums, gently nodding his head with his arms crossed. They unwrap from each other, and dart for her ears.

「…So don't call me a cat! I'm not a cat-! Ah.」

「Hmmmm… Hmm. Hm.」

She raises her voice again, but her shout is immediately cut silent when Straf grabs onto her ears and starts massaging them. She freezes up, blankly staring ahead while Straf hums.

「…I was expecting them to be floppy, but they're actually nice and firm. Kind of thick, too…」

He remarks, grimacing slightly as he rubs and fondles both sides of her striped ears.

「Ah… Ahhh… Mmmhhh…」

Her shoulder slump, her perfectly straight back bends minutely, and faint moans of pleasure escape through her nose while she blankly stares ahead.

「Mmmhhhh… Nnnhmmmm…」

Subconsciously or not, Stripe lightly tilts her ears forward to give Straf a better access to them. Slowly, his brows raise a little while she continues to moan…