“Is this the place?” Tafel muttered to herself. “It should be, right? With all the guards and fancy buildings, this definitely has to be the palace.” She nodded and took a step forward, nudging Emile out of the way. He squawked and flapped his wings before glaring at Tafel.

Tafel rolled her eyes at him. “Didn’t I tell you to stop sitting on my feet?”

“But they’re comfy!” Emile said and jutted out his beak. Then he glanced around at the dwarves milling about. “Why are we here?”

“To see my husband,” Tafel said. She approached the gate of the palace, and two dwarven guards stepped forward to intercept her.

“Halt. State your business, stranger.”

“I’m here to see Vur,” Tafel said. “He told me he’d be waiting for me here.”

The guards frowned. “Vur? His Gloriousness?”

“His whatness?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow.

“My brother-in-law sounds very narcissistic,” Emile whispered to Tafel, cupping his wing over his beak. He flew up onto her shoulder and preened himself. “He suits you.”

“How does a narcissist suit me!?” Tafel asked, her head turning towards Emile so fast that her hair whipped him across the chest. “What part of me matches a narcissist?”

Emile coughed and looked away. “Well, I mean, you spend so much time putting stuff on your face to try to look prettier,” he said. “If it’s not because you love looking at yourself, then why do you do it?”

Tafel pinched Emile’s wings and spread them apart as she held him up in front of herself. “What do you mean try, huh?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “And putting on makeup is a very normal thing to do. Almost all women do it!”

Emile tilted his head. “Almost all women are narcissists?”

“You’re coming to the wrong conclusions!” Tafel said with a snort. A ball of lava formed in the space between her and the baby phoenix. “You were much cuter when you used four-word sentences to communicate. Drink your lava like a good boy and reflect on your actions.”

Emile drank the lava while the two dwarven guards stared on with baffled expressions. One of the guards whispered to the other, “She really might be looking for His Gloriousness. Didn’t he say his wife might come visit? And isn’t she just as barbaric as he is?”

Tafel’s eye twitched. “If you’re going to gossip about someone, make sure she can’t hear you first.”

“Y-yes!” the dwarf said and saluted. “I’m also sorry to inform you, but His Gloriousness is currently not available. He went on a journey to find Zilphy, the leader of the wind elementals.”

Tafel furrowed her brow. “How about Lindyss?” she asked. “She was supposed to be here as well.”

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“His Gloriousness’ aunt?” the dwarf asked and frowned. “I think I saw her leave yesterday as well. She was going to one of our dungeons with Erin.”

Tafel scratched her head. “Then they’re both not here? Do you have Zilphy’s location?” she asked. “Or Vur’s.”

“No,” the dwarf said. “Zilphy is difficult to track down, so His Gloriousness is searching all the likely places she’d be. It shouldn’t take long, maybe three weeks at most. Why not wait here for now?”

Tafel sighed. “How about Lindyss then? Do you know which dungeon she went to?”

“That, I do know,” the dwarf said with a nod. “She’s currently at the Abyssal Alley of Alliance-breaking Anti-Allies.”

Tafel and Emile blinked at the dwarf. “Right,” Tafel said. “And which way is that? Do you have a map?”

“I’ll get one for you right away,” the dwarf said and gestured for his companion to go inside the palace. “But can you prove your relationship with our king? If we sent an enemy after his aunt, even if we were tricked, we’d be executed.”

Tafel bit her lower lip. “Proof…”

“Anything,” the dwarf said and furrowed his brow. “A matching wedding ring perhaps.”

“Our rings weren’t teleported with us when we came to this continent,” Tafel said and sighed. Her eyes glinted. “How about matching suits of armor?” She lifted her shirt, revealing the blue leviathan-scale armor the fishmen had crafted for her. “Does that work?”

“Uh, His Gloriousness doesn’t wear armor,” the dwarf said and scratched his head. “Or a shirt, for that matter.”

Tafel’s expression darkened. “Didn’t he tell you some way to identify me?”

“His Gloriousness is not that responsible,” the dwarf said, lowering his head. “We were given no way to identify you.” He raised his head. “Ah! E might know. I’ll ask him.” Before he could leave his post, the guard that had went to fetch the map returned. With a silver dragon in tow.

“This is the person claiming to be Vur’s mate?” Lulu asked, a grin on her face.

Tafel retreated a step, the hairs on the back of her neck stiffening. A chill ran down her spine as Lulu leaned forward, her neck extending towards Tafel. Lulu’s nostrils flared as she sniffed Tafel before frowning. “Are you sure, dwarf?” Lulu asked, looking at the trembling guard. “She smells like a phoenix. Dragons and phoenixes don’t mix well.”

“S-she said she was,” the dwarf with the map said. The map dropped to the ground as his hands stopped working, his whole body freezing under Lulu’s scrutiny.

Tafel crept forward and picked up the map while holding her breath, careful to avoid drawing Lulu’s attention.

“So, little phoenix person?” Lulu asked, turning her gaze onto Tafel. “What do you have to say for yourself? Are you Vur’s mate or not?”

Tafel stuck her chest out, her knees trembling. “That’s right,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m Vur’s wife!”

Lulu’s eyes narrowed as she chuckled, taking a step forward. “Vur’s a very fine dragon, you know? I’ve set my eyes on him,” she said. “So fight me for him.”

“Vur’s not property we can fight for,” Tafel said, biting her lower lip. A bead of sweat rolled down her back. “Vur chose me as his wife. It was his decision, and even if you beat me in a fight, it won’t change the fact that he loves me.” She took a step forward. “B-besides, his parents also approve of me. They’ll definitely fight you if something happens to me.”

“It seems like you don’t understand how dragon customs work,” Lulu said, standing on her hind legs. Silver flames leaked out of the corners of her mouth. “We don’t fight with words. We—”

Tafel’s horns glowed silver. “Ah! It’s Vur,” she said, turning her whole body to the side.

Lulu blinked and turned her head, following Tafel’s gaze. There was nothing on the horizon. She squinted and shielded her eyes from the sun, but she still couldn’t see anything. Her head turned back towards Tafel, but the demon was gone. Lulu blinked, the flames in her mouth dispersing. “Uh, where’d she go?”

“S-she teleported away while you weren’t looking,” one of the guards said.

Lulu stared at the space Tafel had occupied. “The heck? How rude. Well, if I stick around Vur long enough, I’m bound to meet her again.” She scratched her head as she lumbered back towards the palace. “But why did Vur fall for someone so weak?”