Eve and Sophia were still having a great time chatting with each other, and the tiger found out a lot of exciting things about her girlfriend. As it turned out, Maya has many weaknesses that the blonde will have a ton of fun exploiting in the near future when her cat gets too sassy for her liking. Afterward, the duo also finally managed to bake Sophia’s chocolate chip cookies, the alleged reason why the two went to the kitchen in the first place.

“You two sure took your time.” Maya addressed them the moment they arrived in the living room.

“Bonding takes time, you know?” Eve just smiled at her.

“Exactly!” Sophia did the same.

“Judging by those smiles, it worked, huh?” Maya looked a little happy. “Does that mean I get a passing grade on my girlfriend?”

“Passing grade?!” Her mother just stared at her. “I’ll disown you if you ever let her go.”

“T-That’s good to know…” She got a little flustered. “Sophia, why are your first impressions on others always so extreme?”

“No idea!” The blonde had no explanation for it, either. “I’m quite happy about it, though!”

“I wasn’t exactly complaining. Well, too much, at least. I am also happy you two like each other.” She smiled at the duo. “Though, if you two get along that much, I’m a little concerned about some little things in the future…”

“For example?” Sophia tilted her head.

“I really don’t feel like telling you… This won’t end well for me…”

“Ahh! Like how you’re terribly afraid of ladybugs, for example?” The blonde understood her implication.

“MOM!” Maya got incredibly loud in an instant while she glared at her.

“Don’t worry, dear.” Eve just showed her a gentle smile. “It’s not like I spend the last hour telling my future daughter-in-law all the little secrets I remembered that you’d never tell anyone on your own~.”

“Definitely not~.” Sophia’s smile was dripping with sass, though.

“D-Dad…” Looking slightly desperate, she looked at her father for help.

“Future daughter-in-law…?” Theo was interested in something else, though.

“Eh?!” Maya seemed to have missed that part because she was busy getting flustered.

"A-Ah…” Sophia quickly joined her cat in being embarrassed.

“Just some future plans~.” Eve smiled at her husband. “We’re going to keep this tiger.”

“Oh, I see.” Theo didn’t seem to mind at all.

“D-Don’t you think you bonded a little too much with my mother?!” Maya lightly glared at her.

“W-Well… It’s hardly my fault that she likes me so much, is it…?”

"Of course it is!" She got loud again. "You're an extremely loveable girl!"

“Thank you…?” The blonde wasn’t sure how to take this insult. “I-It was Eve’s idea and her way of making me pay for all the royal mess around me… Like you and your parents now also being kinda noble, for example… I properly told her that it’s too early for all this stuff…”

“You weren’t against the idea, though~.”

“T-This and that are different things…” Sophia couldn’t match Eve’s gaze while replying to her.

“I really can’t ever leave you alone, can I…?” Maya sounded a little defeated and tired.

"I was serious about disowning you, you know?” Her mother looked straight at her. “You better change your opinion on the matter!

"Seriously, why do you like her better than me already?!" The cat-girl kept being loud. "Also, if I would change my mind now, it would mean it wouldn’t h-happen!"

“Oh?” Eve’s expression turned into a full smile. “That’s very good to hear~.”

"A-Ah…” Maya noticed her mistake.

“You were blaming me for what again…?” Sophia just looked at her while slowly shaking her head.

“I-I’m sorry…” She only looked down at her feet in response. “C-Can we bring up this subject at another time again…” The cat-girl eventually glanced at her mother again. “Let's say, in a year or two…? I’m not ready for this yet.”

“E-Exactly!” Sophia nodded a few times.

“Sure!” Eve smiled at the two. “It seems the thought’s already in your heads, so I'm more than happy with that for now~. I'll be expecting some grandchildren soon after, though!"

“W-Will you shut up already?!” Maya finally had enough while her entire face had turned crimson by now. “I mean… Could you please stop…?” She decided to change her tone a little.

“Of course.” She was still smiling. “Well, I just wasn’t expecting you to suddenly be so involved with romance, so I maybe got a little too happy and over-motivated here.”

“Urgh…” Maya had nothing for a comeback here.

"How about we take a small break and enjoy Sophia's cookies? They should be cooled by now, and they were already delicious when I tried a fresh one earlier.” Her mother then looked at Theo. “Would you mind helping me so the two can cool down a little?”

“In theory, of course, but…” His expression turned a little complicated. “Earlier, I started feeling my back again, so…”

“Oh,” She looked at him. “Yes, it’s better for you to stay seated until it goes away again, then.” Saying so, Eve then went to the kitchen alone.

"Eh?" Maya tilted her head. "I thought your back was fine again?"

“It is for the most time… Running around all day is no problem, but when I sit down for a longer time, it starts to hurt again every now and then. It also often gets way worse when I stand up during those times. The best course of action normally is to literally sit it out… It usually goes away on its own after a while.”

“Hmm… Sounds like something is pinched? Maybe caused by some muscle tension?”

“Maybe…?” Theo didn’t seem to be too sure about it.

"Does it get any better if you warm or cool the area that hurts?"

“Warming helps a lot most of the time.”

“I see… That sounds like something’s getting pinched thanks to a tense muscle, yeah.”

“Okay?” He only got more confused.

“Is it possible for you to bend forward a little?” While saying so, Sophia went behind the sofa he was sitting on to get closer to his back.

"A little should be fine.” Doing as told, he shifted his upper body a bit.

“Alrighty! Where exactly does it hurt the most?”

"Slightly above my lower back, but not quite the middle, I guess?”

“Let’s see…” Sophia then gently placed her hand on his back in the area he described. “Around here?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Okay, this might feel a little funny, but please don’t move, okay?”

“What are you… Oh?” He suddenly stopped talking while his expression relaxed. “Your hand got super warm. It feels really nice.”

“Happy to hear~.” The blonde started smiling behind him. “Magic is amazing, isn’t it?”

“It really is… You sure are talented at using it without any sort of chant or even saying a single word… I see now why Maya wanted to go with you. Besides her, I’ve never seen anyone as proficient at it.”

“Ehehe~.” The tiger was happy about the praise. “By the way, I also poured quite a bit of healing magic into the warm feeling. I doubt you’ll ever have problems with your back again.”

“E-Eh?!” Hearing that, he sprung up from the sofa in shock. “Wait, it didn’t hurt?! In fact, I feel better than ever!”

“As I just said, I used a generous amount of healing magic on you. I don’t know the exact cause for your pain, but if you just use enough, everything in the area will become fine again~.”

“You can actually use healing magic?!” Theo wasn’t done being loud yet.

"Could you pipe it down a little?" Just at that very moment, Eve returned from the kitchen while holding a plate with the cookies she had baked with the blonde earlier.

“S-Sophia just used healing magic on me! My back feels better than new!”

“Oh, my!” She sounded impressed. “Wait a moment…” After she placed the plate on the coffee table, she tilted her head while looking at the blonde. “Aren’t only people related to a god, goddess, or higher being in general able to use healing magic…? That’s what I heard, at least…”

“Uhh…” She just awkwardly scratched her cheeks in response. “Maya can also use healing magic, you know?” She tried a diversion.

“You can?!” The two then stared at their daughter.

“Sophia taught me how to use it.” She had no plans to be involved here.

“Wow… I mean, you have even more magic power than our daughter, from what I can feel. Much more, it seems. Is that maybe enough to be able to use it?”

“Maybe?” Sophia just shrugged her shoulders. This explanation worked for her, after all. She also had no intention to mention her involvement with Canir here.

“That is very impressive.”

“Maya!” Theo suddenly stared right at her.

“Yes…?”

“I’m sorry, but I have to side with your mother here. If you leave her, you’ll get disowned.”

“So selfish!” She also got loud. “I don’t mind, but have some decency, dad!”

“She’s super nice and courteous, looks out for others, can protect you from any danger by having even more power than you, and now she’s even able to cure any illness you could ever suffer from in the future. She’s perfect, don’t ever let go of her. Seriously.” Their opinion of Sophia managed to soar even more.

“Uuhh…” The tiger only got embarrassed from getting praised so much. “I-It really isn’t that big of a deal…”

“Humble, too!”

“Urgh…”

“Seriously, are you doing this on purpose…?” Maya just looked at the blonde while whispering to her. “I mean, at the end of the day, they aren’t wrong, far from it, but that’s seriously not the image you normally radiate, miss chaos incarnation…"

"Y-You know that I'm not capable of plotting something like this… I'm just a common idiot. A lucky idiot, I want to add."

"Fair enough…" The cat-girl had nothing to say here.

Afterward, because the two really wished for it, Maya's parents took a short break on the whole topic. The group then chatted about some less relationship-y topics while enjoying the delicious chocolate-chip cookies Eve and Sophia had baked together.