Cecilia’s plan for today had been straightforward.

She was going to sort out her Inventory, as the System had so helpfully suggested.

The new scenario feature required preparation. She needed to know what she had, what she might need, and how quickly she could retrieve it under pressure. If... possibly, the scenario was going to put her under pressure.

After that, she was going to re-enter the scenario world and finish what she had started. The prologue had been... eventful, after all. And before she left, she wanted to spend some time with real-world Rinne and Arkai.

She would not be able to converse with them once she was inside the scenario, and she did not want to leave without a proper goodbye.

A meal, perhaps. A walk in the winter garden. A quiet hour by the fire, her husband’s arm around her shoulders, her son’s head resting against her knee. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

That was the plan.

That was when Ivy Cassia had knocked on her door with a child dressed in crow feathers.

Well. It would not be too late to talk to Arkai and Rinne afterward, perhaps. The scenario could wait an hour or two. Whatever Ivy had brought to her doorstep, and it was clearly something, demanded her attention.

Cecilia ushered them into the sitting room. She gestured for them to sit and called for tea. The child, Lilyca, perched on the edge of a sofa, her hands clasped in her lap and her silver-white eyes tracking Cecilia’s every movement intensely,

"You must have come in haste," Cecilia observed. "And from quite far away. So, tea first, then we will talk."

Ivy nodded, her smile softening by a fraction, while the child simply continued to stare, her expression full of awe.

Also, as if all that wasn’t enough, again, that was when they turned to the window of the sitting room... and saw the Emperor of Iondora suspended in midair.

For Damon June Iondora, it was his first time being kidnapped by a large, white, flying beast. He hung in the grey winter sky and his imperial robe flapped uselessly around his legs.

His arms and shoulders were clutched in the talons of a massive white bird-beast, which was flying silently in the air.

Cecilia turned to Ivy.

Ah, look at that.

Of course Ivy was still smiling so brightly, brilliantly and reverently.

Cecilia asked dryly, "Should I expect more guests coming in today, Princess?"

Ivy chuckled a little sheepishly and waved her hand toward the window to signal a particular bird to stop showing off.

And stop Magnus did.

"Oh, thank you! Finally!" Damon sighed exasperatedly.

Despite wanting very badly to let Damon simply drop to the ground, Arkai graciously opened the window. The Black Wolf King unlatched the frame and swung the glass panels wide, stepping away to let the two in.

The great white beast adjusted his grip on the Emperor and maneuvered toward the open window. He looked so casual about it everyone could see this wasn’t his first unusual entry into a building.

Damon’s feet found the sill, his hands latched onto the frame, and then he was climbing ungraciously, through the window and into the sitting room, his robes snagging on the frame and his crown nearly tumbling off his head entirely.

He stood there for a moment, breathing hard, and his face pale. "I..." Damon cleared his throat. "I swear I don’t have a part in any of this."

Damon’s day had gone something like this.

He had been attempting to subtly lead Magnus Karas through the formal, mandatory public interactions that were expected between an emperor and a future Beast Tribe Lord.

The palace tour, the diplomatic greetings, yada yada, you know. He had been doing well and managing, distracting the albino crow from the idea of entering his bedroom.

But the moment they had reached another open space, Magnus had subtly guided him away. Away where? Well, away from the ministers and dignitaries, the guards and the protocol officers... away from anything that might have prevented what happened next.

Magnus had begun to transform.

His human shape had dissolved, replaced by the massive, white-feathered form of his true beast. His talons had closed around Damon’s shoulders and his wings had spread wide, catching the light like fresh snow.

He then lifted the Emperor of Iondora into the sky.

"A little friendship flight, Your Majesty?" Magnus had said aloud, in front of the assembled ministers and foreign dignitaries, whose faces had cycled through panic and terror.

After all, Damon was famous for his ruthlessness. If Magnus Karas had offended him, if this was interpreted as rudeness at best and attempted murder at worst, the diplomatic consequences could be catastrophic.

But Magnus, apparently, did not care. Or he cared enough to let the people know he was bringing the emperor for a little ’friendship flight’ to the sky. Just an eccentric excuse!

He was totally not kidnapping him to attend another meeting. Totally.

So, the ministers couldn’t even protest. It was, after all, a very, very important diplomatic breakthrough.

Land mammal beasts had always been more inclined to work with humans since their territories bordered each other and their interests usually aligned. Their cultures too, had spent centuries learning to coexist.

But avian beasts were different. They had different rules and customs, different ways of seeing the world, shaped by the sky and the wind.

After all, the freedom of creatures who could simply fly away from anything that displeased them, almost isolated them completely.

Even land beasts often called them unpredictable. Eccentric.

Polite, right? Yes, the diplomatic language actually meant ’we do not understand them and they do not seem to want to be understood.’

Cecilia had quite an interesting relationship with avian beasts herself. There had been the wereowls, for instance, the ones who had been involved in that business with the ’automatic clock’, the case that had nearly ended in a hostile takeover of the Aquiferra Basin.

That had been the big one.

But there had been smaller encounters too and the experience varied wildly. Some avian beasts were gracious and wise. Some were cryptic and strange. Some seemed to operate on a logic and morals that was entirely their own, following rules that no one else could perceive.

They were, as the land beasts said, very unpredictable.

While this diplomatic mission was not quite the same as her past encounters, she did wonder whether her experience with a dragon would add something new to that category.

Oathran was, after all, the ultimate sky dweller. The Dragon Lord himself. If anyone could bridge the gap between land and sky, it would be him, and by extension, her.

But still...

This encounter was... bizarre.

"I will assume Ivy has explained about me to you, Your Majesty." Magnus Karas, having transformed back into his humanoid form, bowed to Cecilia gracefully.

Then he turned to Arkai and grinned. "Your Majesty, Black Wolf King. We meet again."

"No." Arkai said flatly. "Your fiancée has not explained about you yet. Explain yourself."

"Aw, come on, Your Majesty." Ivy, still seated on the sofa beside the feathered child, beamed once more. "Even without anyone explaining, Her Majesty must have already known. Right?" She turned her brilliant smile toward Cecilia, her eyes sparkling.

Cecilia was speechless.

She turned to Damon, seeking... what? An explanation? An ally? A fellow victim of whatever fresh madness the Cassian contingent had brought to her doorstep?

But Damon simply raised both hands in the universal gesture of surrender. His face was still pale from his unexpected flight. He truly had no part in this.

See? What did she say? The Cassian Twins’ ideas were... chaotic! She couldn’t predict them at all! Inviting them to her board now... it was too risky, right?

Cecilia sighed. "I do know to a certain degree."

She turned to Ivy. Her gaze, hidden behind the black veil but no less piercing for it, fixed on the Cassian princess. So in turn, Ivy straightened up. Her radiant smile didn’t disappear, though.

"Now, Ivy Cassia," Cecilia said measuredly. "Why did you bring the Saintess Candidate here?"

Ivy blinked and tilted her head. She then answered, as if it was something blatantly obvious.

"Of course, it’s to give her to you~!"