Sophia had finished installing her heated floors in the rooms of Ellie, Ari, and Anna. Afterward, the couple kept chatting with the tall princess and the jaguar for a while but eventually decided to head back home. The blonde still planned to visit the elven village, after all.

“So… phia! Maya!” The two ran into another duo on the way out of the castle. While holding her daughter’s hand, Queen Kira came back and ran into them in the entrance hall.

“Ellie~!” Sophia happily waved back.

“Hey~.” So did the cat-girl before facing her tiger. “You totally planned this, didn’t you?”

“W-What? There’s just no way that I was monitoring them with my detection magic and said goodbye to Anna and Ari at the exact right moment to run into the little one here!”

“Is that so?”

“Absolutely!”

“Hug!” Ellie didn’t care about their conversation and walked towards them while demanding cuddles.

“Of course!” The couple happily squatted down and welcomed the little princess with open arms.

“Yay!”

“So… What are the two of you doing here?” Once Kira noticed that the trio was done with their greeting, she looked at the couple.

“School ended early today, and we decided to spend some time with Ari and Anna.”

“It ended early? Did something happen?”

“Well…” Maya pointed at her tiger. “This one happened.”

“I thought you were supposed to not break the students’ common sense just yet?” The queen immediately knew what was going on.

“E-Eluna asked me to do a demonstration!” Sophia got loud. “And…”

“It’s alright. I don’t need to get any more of an explanation.”

“Urgh…” The blonde flinched at how predictable she got. “I also installed some of the underfloor heating I invented in a few rooms.”

“Really?!” The queen got a little excited.

“Only in Ellie’s, Anna’s, and Ari’s rooms, though.”

“Ellie’s room is warm now?!” The small princess liked what she heard.

“Yep, all toasty and comfy now!”

“Yay!”

“W-What about the room of the king and I…?”

“I wouldn’t dare to step into the royal bedroom without authorization…” Sophia had a handy excuse ready. “Also, I ran out of materials…”

“T-That can’t be…” Kira looked devastated. “There was no need to equip both rooms of the idiot couple, either!”

“Idiot couple?” The blonde tilted her head.

“Anna and Ari, of course.”

“They are no couple, though?”

“I have eyes, you know?” The queen stared back at her. “Neither am I as dense and oblivious as those two.”

“F-Fair point…” Sophia had nothing she could add here.

“So, anyway, they have been sleeping in the same room for quite a while already! There was no need to give both of them the gift of underfloor heating!”

“I’m sorry…?” She wasn’t sure how to react to any of that.

“You better be!” It seemed to be fairly important for the queen. “You’re coming over again the moment we get new materials!”

“S-Sure…” The blonde didn’t feel like she had any other option here. “Anyway, does that mean you’re okay with Anna and Ari being, err… becoming a couple?”

“Of course!” Kira immediately answered her. “If I wouldn’t, I would’ve done something years ago. After all, the jaguar’s always been incredibly bad at hiding it.”

“Ahaha…” The couple could only laugh in response.

“Everyone knows that Ari’s been in love with her for years already. Well, everyone except Menzor and Anna herself, even though it’s so obvious. That idiot really takes after her father when it comes to being dense beyond belief… You should’ve seen through how much I needed to go before Menzor realized what was going on…”

“Is that so…?” Sophia felt a bit sorry for them.

“Tigers, am I right?” Kira looked at Maya while saying so.

“Absolutely.” She nodded in response. “Though, there seem to be some exceptions, huh?” She looked back at the queen. “Maybe it’s tigers who are into girls that are too stupid to understand those things?”

“Ahaha, that might be it!” Kira liked her answer.

“H-Hey!” The tiger in their group that is confirmed into girls, the blonde one, raised her voice.

“Complaints are only allowed if they’re justified!” The queen and Maya were on the same page.

“I-It got better, right…?” She had no justification for her complaint.

“So did Menzor. We’re talking about noticing advancements being made on you by someone interested in you.”

“A-Ah…” Sophia paused for a moment. “Y-Yep, that’s not my specialty…”

“Definitely not.” The cat-girl gave her a nod.

“I even tried to give Ari some tips because I love her.” Kira continued. “But that idiot was way too dense to get any of that. Or too much in denial, I don’t know… I also didn’t want to interfere too much because it’s their thing, not mine.”

“I’m glad that you’re supporting the two~.” The blonde was happy that Kira wanted it to happen, too.

“Of course!” She nodded. “I always loved Ari! She’s also the only one that can keep my idiot somewhat on course… I like you, too, Sophia, but I was actually quite happy that you turned Anna down. The two of you together… it honestly would’ve been too much chaos for the capital to handle.”

“True.” Maya had to agree with Kira. For various reasons, that is.

“Ahaha…” Sophia could only awkwardly scratch her cheek.

“You turning her down also seemed to have awakened Anna’s feelings of love, and Ari finally got her chance. Anna finally looking at her in a different way really had a huge effect.”

“Well, we helped out a lot here…” The cat-girl let out a sigh. “Both of them needed more than just a gentle push. Both of them are a huge pain to deal with…”

“Yeah…”

“That’s what happens if both are dense on top of one not being interested in love before and the other being too timid to try anything.”

“A bad combination…” Maya let out yet another sigh.

“Very…” So did Kira. “So, I’m happy that you gave my daughter a kick in the butt and made Ari more confident with herself. Seriously, how could she ever think that her hair is not amazing…? That timid idiot refusing to listen to anyone…”

“Mama! Stop talking already! Ellie wants to see her room and take a nap!” The little princess finally started complaining and got loud. She didn’t care about the adults talking about things she didn’t understand and wanted to do something that really was important. Testing out the heated floor in her room, that is.

“Ahh, sure…” If anything, Kira seemed impressed that she held out so long. “Only if I can join you, though.”

“Yes! Mama can take a nap with Ellie!”

“Great! I might even sleep with you tonight because my room is still cold.”

“Okay!” Ellie seemed to be okay with it.

“Is the rebellious phase over already?” Sophia remembered how the little one was a little colder when it came to spending time with her mother the other day.

“With me, at least. I played and cuddled with her a lot lately, and we got over it.”

“Ellie’s no rebel, after all!”

“Sure~.” Kira smiled at her daughter. “What about daddy, though?”

“A-Ah…” The little one turned her head away. “Daddy’s too busy to play with Ellie, so… Ellie’s maybe a little rebel…”

“One of the downsides being a king, huh?” Maya looked at the queen.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Though, he’s especially busy lately because he and his personnel are trying to figure out some territorial changes that make no sense…”

“Territorial changes…?” Sophia tilted her head.

“There was a huge plain around 150km south of here that we wanted to turn into an outpost city next year. A little while ago, we sent some ministers and cartographers to measure the place and make plans for that… Only for them to come back saying that the plain’s gone and got replaced by a gigantic lake… Can you believe that?!”

“A-Ah.” The couple instantly froze up.

“Unbelievable, right?”

“Y-Yes…”

“A few days ago, Menzor and I actually went there ourselves, and it’s true! The plain doesn’t exist anymore. Instead, a beautiful lake appeared with a beach and all… Nobody has a clue about what happened.”

“…” Sophia’s expression had turned very complicated.

“Some believe that it has something to do with the earthquake that happened some time ago, but that wouldn’t answer all of the questions either. Because of that, the king and most of his men are wrecking their heads every day to find out what’s going on. It mostly only ends with a headache for everyone at the end of the day…”

“T-That really sounds w-weird…” The blonde had started sweating bullets by now.

“Hmm.” Kira suddenly started staring at her.

“Mama! Nap!” Luckily, Ellie saved the poor girl.

“I’m coming!” As she didn’t want to make Ellie wait any longer, fearing that she would turn rebellious again, the queen ended the topic and decided to grant her daughter’s wish.

“So… phia! Maya! Ellie wants to play soon again, but now… nap!” She was very eager about it.

“S-Sure…” The couple could only wave after her while she dragged Kira further inside the castle.

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

“That sure was something…” While the two were walking back home, Maya started another conversation.

“W-What part…?”

“Yes.” There were too many to narrow down.

“Indeed…”

“Poor king.” The cat-girl smirked at her.

“S-Shut up…” Sophia didn’t want to talk about it.

“Hehe.” She continued to look smug for another moment before changing the topic. “I’m so happy that Kira supports the relationship of the two idiots.”

“Yes!” The blonde agreed.

“I also managed to talk Anna into kissing Ari. It took a while to convince her, but I managed to beat it into her thick skull.”

“Good job!”

“We also planned the event a little, so all should go well. Okay, relatively well… Probably.”

“That sounds very confident.”

“Anna’s a piece of work, after all. She looks confident with everything, but when it comes to Ari, she’s way too timid when deciding things…”

“That sounds hard. Again, good job on trying your best~.”

“What do you sound so smug for?” Maya didn’t like the blonde’s joyful tone. “The jaguar’s even more work, isn’t she? I mean, she basically was about to give up on her, after all.”

“You’d think so, right?”

“It’s not?”

“Not anymore~.” She got even smugger. “The moment we were alone earlier, the first thing she said to me was how badly she wanted to kiss the princess and wanted to know how to do it.”

“Seriously?!”

“Yep.” Sophia nodded. “She finally noticed that, with how Anna’s acting lately, they don’t feel like just friends anymore, and she wants to go to the next step.”

“Way to go!”

“Absolutely!” The two were happy for them.

“I also can’t wait for Ari to tell me everything afterward~.”

“You really enjoy that, don’t you?”

“Yes!” She answered with a big nod.

The couple continued to chat while they were walking back home, where the two finally reunited with the wolves they hadn’t seen for a few days.