Bery opened her eyes to the smiling face of her dragoness. The kitten was held in Valerie's arms in a princess carry. Bery grinned back, wrapping her arms against the dragon's neck, and kissing her lips.

"Please don't do that in front of me," Emary's voice said. "I thought I said that already."

Bery jumped in surprise, turning to find a vampire and an elf standing in the doorway to their castle. "What are you doing here!?"

Valerie placed the kitten down on the ground. "She was here when we arrived."

Emary sighed. "I've been waiting for the two of you to come back this whole time."

Bery gave the elf a hug. "You have? Why did you wait for the two of us?"

The elf's face reddened. "The truth is...I want to move in here with you two."

"Huh?"

Elanore cut off their grand reunion. "Don't mind me, I was just kidnapped against my will and taken to this place without any warning."

Emary looked towards Valerie with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, none of that is true," the dragoness said, "she wanted me to save her from a horde of crabs."

"Crabs? Oh, did the both of you go towards the Granchin's territory?"

Bery nodded. "This is Elanore."

Emary curtsied towards the vampire. "I am Emary. It's nice to meet you."

Elanore turned her head away from the elf. "Hmph, I am only here until I can leave properly."

Valerie sighed. "You say that, but you can leave anytime you want. Just go back home if you want to so desperately. Nothing is stopping you." The dragoness locked eyes with the elf. "And you, what is this about you wanting to live here?"

"Well I… I can't stay in my homeland anymore. I violated a providence and was forced to leave."

"Don't talk to me about a providence," Valerie said. "If it's really such a problem I can go talk to your father myself."

Emary waved her hands. "Please! I want to stay here!"

"Ah, I see now…"

Bery ran over and gripped Valerie's arm. "Isn't it okay if the both of them stay here?"

"Hey!" Elanore shouted. "Who said I am staying!?"

"You're not?" Bery asked. "I have to teach you how to function normally. Otherwise, you might go back to your thieving ways."

Emary chuckled into her hand. "Are there two klepto-"

Valerie cut the elf off. "Fine, the both of you can stay here. My castle has some rooms anyway. However, none of you can take anything from my pile! I will never allow it." She looked at her kitten's eyes. "Except for you, of course."

The dragoness walked forward with her kitten's hand in hers and pushed the heavy door of the castle open. Home sweet home invited them in, and she canceled the defensive barrier over the place.

Elanore rushed inside the moment the door was opened, looking towards dragon statues on the wall with a grin. "I wonder how much these are worth anyways?"

The glare from Valerie stopped the vampire in her tracks.

"Relax," Elanore said, "it's just a joke. Hmm...Maybe this might be quite fun after all. I will take you up on your offer to stay here."

Bery watched the chaos with wide eyes. Her dragoness rushed forwards and started chastising the vampire.

The kitten looked towards the fretting elf next to her and whispered. "Did your father really banish you?"

Emary shook her head. "He did, but that's only half true. I wanted him to banish me, since I found it hard to stay there. The tenet I broke wasn't even something major, so the banishment was only a year. To my life, that is basically nothing."

"Wow, your father really loves you."

Emary nodded. "It can be a pain sometimes, but I'm glad he's given me more freedom now."

Bery thought back to her own father. She couldn't imagine being in Emary's position. Back then, the kitten would have done everything for her father to love her and protect her. Though, now that the pages were turning in her life, she no longer felt the same way. She looked at Valerie instead.

The kitten held a finger above her other hand and channeled mana to that finger with much effort. A singular drop landed on her palm, and she showed it to Emary.

"Look, I was able to channel water."

Emary grinned. "You've already become so much stronger. I can see it in your eyes and the way you move. Valerie has been a great influence for you…"

The dragoness and the vampire stopped their arguing, the vampire floating towards the adjoining hallways. "With that settled, I will be the one getting the better room over you, elf."

Emary sighed. "You keep making friends with odd ones. It's very rare to see someone like Elanore in this place."

The vampire giggled, waving her hand for everybody to come into the next hallway. "I intend to make the most of this vacation. I will see everything this castle has to offer!"

"I already told you," Valerie said, "there are two rooms that are absolutely off limits."

"I know, I know…You don't want me to go in the pile of your precious treasures, and you don't want me to go in your little lover's room. Whatever…"

Emary looked helplessly at the vampire. "Do you know that you're a guest? You are making all of your people look bad with your actions. You need to watch the way you behave."

"Yeah, yeah, I was already told where the rooms are. So maybe you should join me in this venture? Silly elf. Don't you want to set that heavy bag down already?"

Bery shook her head and grabbed Valerie's hand. "She's already basically claimed this place as hers."

"I know, I should punish her."

Bery pouted and bit down on Valerie's arm. "You aren't allowed to punish anyone else."

"Kitten...I was not talking about those kinds of punishments."

Bery's face flushed red. "Come on, we should follow after them before they wreck the place."

Valerie chuckled. "Yes, we should. I will give you exactly what you want later."

Bery focused her attention on the vampire skipping down the long hallway.

Elanore opened the door to a room, dust attacking her right away. "Hey! What kind of shit is this? Do you make a habit of not cleaning this place?"

Valerie chuckled devilishly. "I gave you the room that hasn't been entered in years. You should feel glad that you get to sleep in an old storage room, considering you love to store other people's things in your pockets."

The vampire frowned and grabbed onto Emary's arm. "Can you believe this? I am already being treated as a storage item."

"You should fit in there fine," Valerie said. "After all, you guys love sleeping in coffins. There are tons of boxes in there."

"Hey!" Elanore yelled, focusing her attention back on the elf. "Come on, you agree this is rude, don't you?"

Emary sighed and placated the vampire by placing a hand on her shoulder. "I have no idea why you've gotten so touchy with me anyway. Do you understand the position we're in? We should take whatever room we're given with a smile."

Valerie moved to the next door, Emary's room, and opened it. It was far nicer with a pleasant view outside. This room had been well-maintained and wasn't half as gloomy as the other room.

Elanore frowned while looking at it. "You were holding out on me!"

Emary sighed again. "You can take the room if you want it."

The vampiress looked at the elf before sliding over and patting her head. "Ah darn, what a conundrum. Oh well, I shall let you have this room. I like dark places better anyways...Even if I will have to be the one to clean them."

Emary's eyes widened in disbelief. "Weren't you the one who was complaining about the room selection in the first place?"

"That was just me being dramatic. It's all a part of my amazing charm, you know? I wouldn't be such a good thief if I couldn't sneak around and scheme in the shadows."

Valerie shook her head. "What kind of good thief steals from innocent crabs? I commend your acting skills, but you're not any good thief. In fact…"

Bery gripped the dragoness's hand tighter. "Oh well, she will have to learn to be better."

The kitten could see something similar to her in the vampiress. She pitied the woman from the bottom of her heart. She had no idea why, but she imagined their situations were quite similar. If that was true…

Elanore's solemn face turned into a smile. She giggled and latched onto Emary. "I guess this one will have to make sure that I don't try to take any of your possessions. After all, every prisoner needs a guard to watch over them."

Emary's face heated, and she pushed the girl off of her. "First things first, you need to learn a little something about personal space."

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