"They will force you. At some point, they will send a beastman whose rank is so high that you will not be able to resist his aura. He would be neither kind nor young.

And then you will have no control left over this land."

All color drained from Mirabelle’s face.

Until now, she had not understood how serious the situation truly was. It was something not even the former Mirabelle had foreseen.

"I understand."

Her mother squeezed her hand.

"You may take your time. Zasar’s ruler is aware that this is a difficult situation and decision for our female nobles. As long as you appear willing, they will show consideration and patience.

Be clever and use that to your advantage. Find the right strategy."

Mirabelle nodded again.

She would have to come up with a plan.

A war plan.

"Thank you. I won’t let them corner me."

"The Queen already suspected as much. The royals assumed that many females would not choose the first candidates."

"That is why she arranged a ball in every duchy, where all female nobles and the beastmen from Zasar were required to attend. Your presence is mandatory."

Mirabelle sighed quietly.

"When?"

"The day after tomorrow. The only advantage is that it will be held at Rotwald."

The Duchy of Rotwald lay directly along their inland border. The journey would take only half a day, since Castle Luchsenstein had been built as far from the mountain border to Zasar as possible.

"I will send the court tailor to you tomorrow, so he can adjust one of the dresses for you."

_____

The corridors were not lit by candles. Instead, fireflies drifted near the windows and around the plants.

It was enough light for her predator’s eyes to see everything clearly. With the moon high in the sky, everything was bathed in a dim, twilight-like glow.

Mirabelle paused and stepped toward one of the arched windows. Her fingers brushed over the rough stone as she looked up into the sky.

The moon did not look the way she remembered it. Close enough to be familiar and yet different. In her world, it had cast a warm light. Here, it glowed with a bluish hue, spreading an almost ethereal shimmer over everything.

Once again, a sense of longing rose within her. Everything here was so foreign — even though she remembered it so clearly.

For a moment, she simply stood there — caught between two worlds.

It was hard to grasp everything that had happened that day.

Just hours ago, she had been preparing for her next pitch: a major project involving the planning of an entirely new district. She had been looking forward to the challenge.

’Maybe I should treat this like a project.’ 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The former Mirabelle was the Duchess’s heir. Now she was. At least as long as she remained in this body.

’In that case, this entire territory is my project. And my goal is to develop it as well as I can.’

For the first time since she woke up that morning, she no longer felt like she was suspended in midair.

People always said you needed a North Star to find your way. It was probably the same for beastfolk.

With a newfound lightness, she continued toward her chambers. As she walked, she found herself appreciating the design of the corridors, which gave the entire castle a magical quality.

The combination of refined architecture and closeness to nature satisfied something within her she had not even realized was missing.

Falling back into old patterns, she began to analyze the effects this style of construction and design had on both the castle’s inhabitants and the environment.

Both stone and plants retained moisture, creating a strong cooling effect in the summer. The corridors facing the inner courtyard had open windows without glass, increasing air circulation — though that could become problematic in rain or cold.

At that moment, memories surfaced: beastmen with control over air had placed a kind of barrier over the windows, keeping heat out in summer and in during winter, while also blocking rain and snow.

Wait.

There was something like magic here?!

She froze in place once more.

What the hell. None of this could be explained by any physical law she knew. Not physics. Not chemistry. Not biology.

Then again, the existence of beastmen was already highly questionable from an evolutionary standpoint.

’If you don’t understand it, accept it for now.’

Mirabelle had developed several strategies for dealing with seemingly impossible challenges. This was one of them.

So she shrugged — mostly to convince herself it was not a big deal — and kept walking.

Her gaze drifted back to the plants.

The climbing vines would inevitably damage the stone. But even here, beastmen regularly maintained the structure.

’Fascinating.’

Lost in thought, she stood in front of her door

— when suddenly, she felt a presence behind her.

A/N: This Chapter is a bit shorter, but I couldn’t resist stopping here. Forgive me, dear reader (´;ω;`)