A refined, elegant smile forms on Rosaria's face while she enjoys her tea, sitting by a small, round coffee table in the living room.

「Mmmmm... Percibell, I say, what an improvement! You've matched my taste exactly with this batch, splendid work!」

「T-thank you...!」

The elf is standing at the side hugging a silver tray and bowing. Her ears are wagging up and down like a dog's tail, until sounds of approaching footsteps are within earshot. She freezes.

Shanii scans the room while Xal walks past and nonchalantly sits on the couch across Rosaria. He looks at Percibell and orders in a commanding tone, 「Maid! Get me some tea too, remember to prepare for our guest as well. Make it swift.」

「Y-yes certai— ouch!」

The maid drops the tray and a loud crash reverberates through the room while it bounces around. With shaking legs, she puts her hands over her mouth and tears gather at the corner of her eyes.

「Oh gosh, are you alright? Did you bite your tongue?」 Rosaria asks with feigned worry.

The elf nods and her ear tips turn red in embarrassment.

「Iam sorrehh,」 she tries speaking through the pain.

Rosaria turns her attention to Xal, 「You just couldn't have been nicer?」

Xal rolls his eyes, disregarding her accusing look.

「Oh shu-」 he is about to say before sealing his lips when he spots Shanii giving him a death stare.

He lets out a sigh and rubs his forehead,「You're right. I'm a little bit on edge, Princess. I apologize little elf, please go fetch us some tea」

The maid picks up the tray and leaves the room, taking care to keep a distance from Shanii while the guest walks forward and gets down on both knees, bowing.

With her head dipped, the guest says, 「Your Highness. I believe proper greetings are in order」

「Took you long enough. What, did your tentacles get caught in his zipper? Oh, I must say, I hope they did.」

Rosaria takes a sip of her tea with an uncaring face, her smile long gone and eyes cold. She puts one leg over the other, sets the cup aside, and crosses her arms.

「Your Highness...」 Shanii's voice sounds taken aback, head still pointing towards the floor.

「Oh drop the pretenses, will you? What in the world did you come here for? You saw the barrier did you not? It's there to keep unwelcome guests out.」

「Yes, certainly, Your Highness.」

At this moment, brisk steps interrupt them. In strolls Percibell, balancing two teacups and a can of tea on a silver tray. With all attention having shifted to her, her hands tremble slightly while putting the two cups on the table and grabbing the handle on the can. Her ears seem to act as indicators of the cups' fullness, getting increasingly red with each centimeter of poured tea while everyone in the room closely studies her. Beads of sweat form on her forehead and her legs shuffle while she tries her best to neither break the silence nor spill anything.

「Well? Are you going to tell me?」 Rosaria suddenly prompts.

「B-but... Your Highness...!」 Shanii nods distressed towards the maid and exchanges looks with Xal, the latter only responding with a shrug.

The princess takes a look at Percibell and her fine eyebrows move up for a brief moment as the realization hits her.

「Oh, you shall not worry about her,」 she says while exchanging looks with Xal, 「She's... part of the household now, we are going to tell her everything at some point.」

Percibell keeps her head down, focused on pouring the remaining tea with drooping ears.

Shanii straightens her back and with hands resting on her kneeling thighs, she looks straight at the princess.

「As Your Highness wishes. My orders, Your Highness, given to me by Xalvari, were to stay and monitor the situation back at home, and then... follow him five months later.」

She pauses to take a breath while exchanging glances with expectant-looking Rosaria and Xal.

「I come bearing news about the Hero.」

The faint sound of pouring tea disappears, and the room is hit with a deafening silence.

Xal casts his eyes down and bites his lips. Trying to keep his trembling hands still, he puts them together but fails to hide the motion, instead tugging slightly on the tablecloth.

Rosaria notices and looks at him with a worried face. She reaches over the table and puts a hand over his, but Xal pulls away, rejecting her caress.

「Continue,」 Xal commands.

「Certainly.」

Shanii tries to keep her face still while her voice has turned monotone as if in a trance.

「The Hero had... taken months to assemble a search party,」 she says and pauses for a moment as if trying to find the right words, 「Not just any search party, but one he filled with the Kingdom's most trusted assassins, including... Master Kharan. He armed them with the best weapons and sent them with a company of first-rank mages, and...」 Shanii purses her lips nervously, 「he gave them an order to not come back without Her Highness.」

Percibell widens her eyes and squirms uncomfortably, eyeing the exit.

Xal raises his head without uttering a word only to notice how Shanii is looking at him, with eyes full of pity.

「W-what about Xal...?」 Rosaria asks, her own hand starting to tremble as well.

「Your Highness...」 Shanii begins before taking a deep breath. As she is about to continue speaking, a loud smack pierces the air as the tea set on the table falls over, knocking the little cups and spilling the brew all over.

The maid, startled, shrieks at the sight, retreating back with a few trembling steps, and hides her face behind the silver tray in her hands.

Xal rises to loom over the table, body trembling while his hand clutches the edge. His face is full of sweat, dripping down his forehead, making a sharp turn at his brow. He blinks twice and then thrice, pose stuck between sitting down again and walking away. Instead, a forced smirk appears on his face.

「Hah...hahah! So he's finally done it. He's coming to kill me! That bloody bastard!」 he shouts, sounding half-mad.

「Xal...! Relax!」 Rosaria shouts, having also stood up. 「You don't know that. They might just-」

「I don't wanna hear it!」 Xal exclaims, scowling at her.

Rosaria's arms clutch onto the trembling man's shirt in an attempt to calm him down.

「Still... This was bound to happen, was it not?!」 she yells him in the face.

Not missing a beat, Shanii steals all the attention with her raised voice, 「Her Highness Lumira is missing Your Highness a lot, and she wishes for both of you to return and... make peace with Hero.」

Rosaria pauses wide-eyed for a moment. Looking at the wall, her eyes seem to be tracing the contours of a decorative cherry frame with leaf motifs behind Xal, but her gaze is distant and longing, directed way past the mansion's interiors.

「Lumira...」 she mutters in a low voice.

She turns her head toward Shanii and reveals a complex expression before asking, 「How is my sister...? Is she well?」

Percibell lets her eyes stick out from above the top of the silver tray, peeking at everyone's faces in turn.

Shanii breaks her placid expression as beads of sweat appear on her purple forehead. She lowers her gaze, reluctant to meet Rosaria's eyes.

「Her Highness Lumira is...」 she pauses and shuffles her legs, 「Her Highness is going through a lot... there's a-」

「Shanii... you shall give me a proper answer.」

Shanii bites her lip with a defeated expression and shrinks her upper body as if stung.

「Princess Lumira is well and healthy, the Hero is protecting her,」 she reveals hurriedly.

「How long do we have?」 Xal calmly asks, his voice cutting through the tension while he removes Rosaria's hands from his shirt.

「Pardon?」 Shanii looks at him, slightly surprised.

「How much time do we have before they arrive, Shanii? Give me an estimate.」

Shifting her legs for a bit once more, she closes her eyes and clutches the cross on her chest.

「Xalvari... Please... t-they should be able to accept it if you surrender peacefully, just-」

「Shanii, I need an estimate to conjure up a plan. Did I ask you to come here to lecture me?」

Xal's voice sounds calm and serious, without a shred of his previous anxiety. His eyes are unwavering and resolute when they stare at her.

「Kazara mak-un...」 she curses and then closes her eyes with a look of resignation before revealing, 「They should be here in another three months at the earliest.」

Both Xal and Rosaria let out a sigh of relief, visibly letting their bodies relax before falling back into their respective couch.

「Rise and be at ease,」 Rosaria orders.

「Thank you, Your Highness.」

Using her tentacles to push onto the floor, Shanii rises in a graceful motion, as if floating.

「Percibell, clean up this mess, will you? And prepare another set of tea for us.」

「Hii~ y-yes!」 startled by the sudden command, the elf almost drops the tray again, catching it mid-fall before hurrying back to the kitchen to fetch a cleaning cloth. Having quickly cleaned up the spill, she puts the set on the tray to go back for replacements.

「Your Highness, may I...?」 Shanii inches forward with both hands clutching her cross. She looks focused, but not gazing at anything in particular. Her mouth moves silently, reciting a verse none other than Shanii would recognize.

Rosaria responds with a puzzled face, and a moment goes by before she realizes what the woman is doing.

「What? A prayer?」 she asks.

Shanii nods eagerly and inches ever so slightly forward, putting her hands together and almost getting down on her knees again, she says, 「Antalarii, Light of mercy, savior of downtrodden-」

「No, don't,」 with a commanding tone and a hand gesture, Rosaria interrupts her and looks at Percibell.

「Prepare one of the guest rooms for her and make sure the bath is ready. There should already be enough water in the tub.」

The elf exchanges glance with her and Shanii, looking dissatisfied. She opens her mouth but a finger preemptively raised by Rosaria, holds back whatever she was going to say. Instead, she mumbles, 「But the water should already be cold.」

Rosaria responds with a slightly cocked head, waiting for Percibell to state her point. The maid instead turns her attention downwards to the floor.

「Well? What are you waiting for? Stop being scared of her,」 Rosaria says slightly annoyed.

「Y-yes!」

The elf trots out with a frantic expression, and a brief silence fills the room once more. The grandfather clock in the hallway announces the passage of an hour with a short chime.