As the festival drew to a close, the office remained profoundly silent, a stark contrast to the mansion bustling with an untimely commotion over a disappearance.
Two knights, having realized Lily’s disappearance, stood before the lord, pressing him for answers.
They sought to uncover the truth about his daughter and the county, a truth the lord had meticulously concealed.
As he began to speak, his face seemed etched with a mix of fury, frustration, and deep regret.
“To summarize, am I to understand that you have been concealing her—your daughter, who also happens to be a witch?”
“Should this come to light, you would undoubtedly be excommunicated by the Holy Church for violating its doctrines, and your entire lineage would face annihilation for treason against the royal decree.”
“P-please, spare the territory…”
The male knight, a faint smile playing on his lips, narrowed his eyes.
Though he harbored no intention of intimidating or pressuring the lord, the aura surrounding him and his past were more than enough to instill fear in anyone who witnessed his smile.
Yet, Sion, the smiling knight, was preoccupied with an entirely different train of thought.
He was, in essence, merely a knight with no current ties to the Holy Church, and as a direct subordinate of the Princess, he enjoyed a degree of freedom from royal decrees.
His sole purpose in standing there was to locate Lily, the captain of their knight order; he had no desire to waste time on irrelevant matters like the lord’s daughter possessing a demonic eye.
“Since, by an unfortunate coincidence, our captain seems to be with your daughter, we might as well handle your affairs simultaneously.”
He simply wished to clarify the chain of responsibility through this conversation, as he found it utterly distasteful for a mission issued under official command to be delayed by such a terribly bothersome complication.
In essence, he was delivering a straightforward message to the lord: ‘Your personal sentiments have ruined my official duties, so you shall bear the responsibility.’
Amidst their conversation, Goldie, the blonde, golden-eyed dragon, who had been diligently searching for Lily through magic, finally managed to speak.
“Uh… I tried using magic, but it seems Adelia’s anti-tracking spell is making it hard to pinpoint their location…”
“This incompetent dragon.”
“No, but seriously, she’s with a demonic eye user; how am I supposed to find them instantly? I think they’re roughly somewhere near this mansion…”
Individuals possessing demonic eyes typically wield immense magical power, granting them resistance to most magical interventions, which consequently makes them exceedingly difficult to locate with standard tracking spells.
Even merely identifying their approximate location was a feat bordering on the miraculous, a testament to her being a dragon.
Upon hearing her excuse, the knight smiled, then turned his head toward the lord.
“Shall we go search together then? Are you familiar with the mansion’s secret passages?”
“Y-yes, yes, sir.”
****
As one of the kingdom’s oldest and most historically significant families, the Sitri Earldom’s mansion naturally boasted an abundance of hidden rooms and secret passages.
Despite spending hours meticulously scouring every conceivable hidden spot, they continued to uncover new, clandestine areas, a testament to the mansion’s labyrinthine nature.
Reaching the absolute limits of her patience, Goldie proposed a radical solution: demolishing the mansion.
“Seriously, are we playing ‘Where’s Waldo’ in this mansion? How much longer do we have to search, damn it? Can’t I just obliterate this place with my breath?”
“Now, now, mind your language. You’re supposed to be a proper Royal Guard Knight—or rather, a dragon.”
“Me, dragon, breath here, us, happy!”
“Do you intend to kill our captain with your breath?”
“She’s incredibly tough. Breath wouldn’t kill her, probably? She’s not captain for nothing.”
“If she gets even a scratch, the Princess will have our heads.”
Leaving the incessantly grumbling Gold Dragon behind, the knight began rummaging through a newly discovered space beneath a staircase.
“Oh?”
“Ooh! Did you find something?”
“Just a palm-sized spider.”
“Get rid of it.”
“Just kidding. There’s a door on the floor. Which means there might be a space underground, and the area we need to search has more than doubled. Ha… haha…”
He let out a hollow laugh, a sound born of utter despair.
For over an hour, they had confined their search to the above-ground interior of the mansion, yet even that space seemed to endlessly reveal new crevices.
To now realize they also had to contend with the underground levels was enough to drive anyone mad.
The nonsensical ramblings of the Gold Dragon from mere minutes ago suddenly pierced his mind.
‘Should I really just flatten the whole thing?’
Underground spaces were notoriously difficult to gauge in size, and since most lacked external light or ventilation, meticulously searching them proved an arduous task.
Thus, the kingdom typically handled such situations by organizing professional exploration teams or employing adventurers for preliminary surveys, but with the urgent need to find the girl currently trapped inside, such a leisurely approach was simply out of the question.
“Seriously, Adelia put some really strong magic on her, so she’ll be fine.”
“If you flatten the basement, the mansion above ground will collapse.”
“If I breathe gently, it won’t collapse as much.”
While Sion didn’t particularly trust her, he did place his faith in the magic supposedly cast by his superior.
Moreover, he harbored the same complacent thought: ‘Surely, our captain wouldn’t be so weak as to be unable to withstand a mere breath attack.’
“Well, then, let’s try firing from here to there… Ah, wait, if you suddenly release your polymorph like that…”
“Hahahahahah! I finally get to destroy this wretched hovel!”
“No, when did I say to destroy it? I told you to just breathe gently at the ground to clear away some dirt.”
The Gold Dragon’s breath possessed the power to transmute whatever it struck into mineral.
Consequently, a section of the lord’s mansion, directly hit by her breath, transformed into massive minerals, and under their immense weight, the underground levels began to collapse.
It was then that a hidden room, tucked away in the deepest part of the basement, was revealed.
“Found them immediately! This means I won’t need to fire anywhere else!”
“You witnessed the mansion being utterly demolished and still contemplated firing again? Prepare your letter of explanation, Dragon.”
“Oh, why is it always me?”
Grumbling, she reverted to her human form and kicked open what appeared to be a basement door, striding inside.
What lay revealed before their eyes was a truly shocking sight.
****
“Lily… Lily, wake up.”
“Just five more minutes… It’s not late yet…”
Yuri Sitri gently shook the small, black-haired girl, who was deeply steeped in slumber.
Despite Yuri’s attempts to prod and rub her all over, the girl continued to sleep soundly without the slightest stir, leading Yuri to wonder if the medicinal herbs she had given her earlier might have been too potent.
‘Did I administer too strong a dose? While it’s good that she’s sleeping, we don’t have much time.’
Little time remained for them.
Having re-entered the mansion in anticipation of the territory being sealed off, they now found, for some inexplicable reason, that even the mansion’s interior was being searched.
Perhaps Yuri’s efforts were not in vain, for Lily rubbed her eyes and let out a small yawn.
“Haaah—Rise and shine, early bird!”
“It’s one in the morning, Lily.”
“That’s early enough for an early bird! But… where are we? Did I just fall asleep playing with Yuri?”
As she glanced around with half-lidded eyes, she realized the surroundings were unfamiliar.
Her most recent memories were of them strolling through the festival, eating skewers, and finally watching the fireworks.
And then, Yuri asking her to leave together.
“Yuri, kidnapping is a no-no!”
“This isn’t kidnapping, Lily. I just wanted to tell you how I truly feel.”
Yuri Sitri had no intention of escaping anymore.
Had that been her plan from the start, she wouldn’t have enjoyed the festival; she would have quietly slipped out of the territory once the festivities peaked, concealed her face, cut her hair, and lived in hiding.
Thus, enjoying the festival with Lily was inherently contradictory to such a goal.
Therefore, her only desire was to make a heartfelt confession.
“Lily, I have something serious to tell you. Can a woman (Yuri) love another woman (Lily)?”
“Is it a yuri (TL Note: Yuri refers to a genre of fiction depicting romantic or sexual relationships between women, also known as ‘girls’ love’.) story? Of course it is! Yuri is justice!”
Lily beamed, a bright smile gracing her face.
While she grasped the meaning of Yuri’s words, she utterly failed to comprehend their contextual significance.
Having not heard a yuri story since arriving in this world, her mind was completely captivated by it, and she joyfully thought to herself:
‘Yuri stories are a little embarrassing to talk about outside! Yuri must have deliberately brought us to a secret place for a reason!’
Lily was wildly mistaken.
Yuri Sitri offered a small smile as she observed Lily.
For in Lily’s expression, she saw not the dirty, petty emotions that plagued herself, but only pure, untainted joy.
It was precisely for this reason that Yuri found salvation in Lily.
“I think… I’ve fallen in love with a woman. When I first saw her, I could only think of her as a child, a cute child, but the more time we spend together, the happier and more joyful I become, and my heart feels… strange.”
“That can happen!”
Lily listened to Yuri’s confession, grinning from ear to ear.
It had been a long time since she had received such a potent dose of yuri nourishment.
She remained utterly oblivious as to whom the story was truly directed.
Considering that Yuri had always been confined to her room when Lily first discovered her, and every time she went to visit, it should have been incredibly easy for Lily to understand who was being referred to.
Lily, having exploited her TS (TL Note: Referring to a character who has undergone a gender change, often from male to female, in web novels.) status by always smiling at pretty women, couldn’t possibly fathom that Yuri had fallen for her.
It was a situation of her own making.
“Can someone as pathetic as I am still confess to another? And to a girl, not even a man—the very child (Lily) who saved me? I just can’t suppress these feelings anymore.”
“Of course it’s okay!!!”
“I see… I’m truly happy, Lily.”
“I’m happy too!”
Yuri rejoiced, believing Lily had accepted her confession.
Lily, meanwhile, was moved to witness the birth of a yuri couple.
It was a dramatic misunderstanding.
****
The Gold Dragon, having flung open the door to the secret room hidden in the basement, declared:
“Oh, found them! Captain! And the lord’s daughter is with her too! But… what are they doing?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know!”
“Lily, take this.”
Yuri Sitri, having placed a leash around her own neck, was extending the handle to Lily.
Having never experienced a proper human relationship since the age of ten, every interaction she had through her demonic eye had resulted in either subjugation or rejection.
Consequently, her understanding of love and the way she expressed it inevitably diverged from conventional norms.
“Love is about obedience and devotion, Lily. Now, accept my submission.”
Yuri Sitri was a masochist.
