During the audience with the king of the beastfolk, Sophia was offered to marry his oldest daughter, the first princess of the nation. Obviously, Maya couldn't let that slide, but Sophia naturally wasn't a fan, either. Unfortunately, Princess Anna was, though, because she had taken a liking to the blonde. She had gotten rather competitive, and it ended up with her challenging Maya to a match with Sophia's hand as the reward.

"Is this going to be alright?" King Menzor looked at his daughter and the cat-girl with a worried expression.

"Yeah. You know, in a way, Princess Anna reminds me a bit of Maya. She, too, challenged me to a duel the day we met and refused to listen at all. If it wasn't for, uhh, me, I think the two could've become good friends."

"Who knows, maybe they still will once my stupid daughter calms down."

"Or if a certain someone would've asked me about the matter first before mentioning anything to his daughter, and, more importantly, listened to our complaints…"

"Ah." Menzor had an awkward expression.

"Well, it would be nice, them becoming friends."

While they had a conversation that sounded a bit like two fathers complaining about their idiot daughters, though it couldn't be further away from Sophia's relationship with Maya, said idiots finally started their match.

"Okay! I hope you had a good time with Sophia because she'll be mine soon!"

"I sure had~, and I sure will for a long time~." As usual, the sass was strong in her. "Well, try me, princess."

"Your overconfidence will be your end, cat!"

"I-I'm sorry for my daughter." The king seemed embarrassed.

"N-No..." Sophia was trying not to laugh instead because this exchange resembled more and more her first meeting with Maya.

"O powerful wind, heed my call and cut this girl!" After the princess' short chant, two medium-sized air blades shot toward Maya with moderate speed.

"Well, that's disappointing…" After a small yawn for extra mockery, Maya simply stepped aside to dodge the blades.

"Grr."

"Is that all, princess? There's a limit to underestimating someone!"

"Are you really saying this, Maya?" Sophia had to make a retort from the sidelines.

"S-Shut up! I've changed since then!"

"Ahaha." She couldn't help herself. "True enough."

"T-This was just a warm-up!" Anna's face turned red. "Windy whirlwind, trap her!" As the name implied, a precursor to a tornado formed and tried to entrap the cat-girl, but she was well accustomed to this type of magic.

"Tornado." Not feeling the need to resort to chantless magic, Maya used one of her classics. Immediately after, a much stronger whirlwind formed and swallowed the magic of the princess.

"S-So you're capable of using activation words only, huh?"

"Of course? You've felt my power, didn't you? Why would activation words surprise you?"

"Seriously?!" The blonde was still commenting on their match.

"A-Alright, I'll stop holding back!" Anna seemed a bit flustered.

"Mm-hmm." The cat-girl was not the least bit intimidated.

"Prison!" After the princess shouted the word, Maya was trapped inside earthen walls that had shot out of the ground.

"How's that?! You can give up if you want."

"Hmm... No, I'm good." Sounding unfazed, Maya let a door appear in the walls Princess Anna made and stepped in front of her as if nothing happened.

"W-Wha-?! Completely unharmed?!" She was shocked. "Wait, I didn't hear a chant or activation word?!"

"Of course. I used none of that, after all."

"Eh?! H-How...?"

"Huh? Have you never heard of chantless magic?"

"O-Of course I have! You can actually use it?! Even father can't do that!"

"Well, I'm still in the middle of learning it, but so far, I can use it for four different types, err, categories."

"Y-You can use four different types of magic?! I thought I was special for using two?!"

"Déjà vu?!" Sophia still couldn't stay silent on this exact copy of her match with Maya from back then.

"A-Ah!" The cat-girl just now made the full connection to the couple's first meeting. "Ahaha."

"Uuh," The princess sounded desperate. "Is there anything left I can do?"

"That depends. Do you want to be set on fire? Cut in pieces by wind? Crushed by earth or drenched by a couple of thousand liters of water? Those are my answers to your next attack."

"I-I don't like any of these options! M-Maybe the water… I-I mean NO!"

"You could also give up."

"B-But then... Sophia won't..."

"Princess Anna," The cat-girl sighed. "We love each other, and even if you would've won, this wouldn't have changed. You had no chance since the beginning."

"Urgh."

"Your girlfriend sure is harsh, Sophia." The king was impressed by her ruthlessness.

"W-Well, she's normally pretty gentle, but your daughter might've hit a nerve."

"Yeah, she's good at that. She takes after her mother, after all."

"I don't think so, dear. She's much more like you used to be." Next to the king, a woman suddenly appeared. She was the exact copy of Anna, or rather, an older version of her with medium-long and slightly wavy hair. A beautiful tall, and well-endowed tiger-lady, who seemed to be rather intimate with the king. She appeared to be roughly around his age, or maybe a couple of years younger.

"K-Kira?! Where did you come from?"

"I heard that something interesting was going on in the training area, and I came to take a look. It seems like our pretentious daughter got a small reality check, huh?" She looked pretty satisfied. "Who is this cat-girl she lost so badly against?"

"Oh, she's called Maya. She's the partner of Sophia over here." He stepped aside to bring her into full view.

"A-Ah." She was still bad at talking with people for the first time. "I'm Sophia. It's n-nice to meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine. I'm Kira, wife of Menzor and mother of our stupid Anna, effectively the queen of this country." She then took a better look at her. "So, you're the girl from the rumors, Sophia?"

"That, I am…"

"Oho, indeed, you're cute." As it turned out, the king might've been right about who the princess takes after. "I've never seen a tiger with blonde hair before. It looks great, though. So do the white bits."

"T-Thanks..."

"So, why were those two having a duel?"

"Well-" Both, Sophia and the king, awkwardly looked away.

"Dear, what did you do?"

"I wanted to integrate Sophia into the family because she's special, and I couldn't afford to let go of her. Marrying Anna was on the table. Our girl liked the idea, Maya, uh, not so much."

"Obviously! Which girlfriend would like this? Why did you even suggest something so stupid?!" Kira got angry at her husband.

"I didn't know the two were a couple when the idea came up."

"A relatively solid excuse. You might want to get your eyesight checked, though, dear. Still, why are they fighting? It's not like a duel would suddenly change their feelings."

"Our daughter wanted to fight for Sophia's hand, as in the loser has to back down."

"And my Maya got a little angry about her wanting to steal me away."

"You gave her the last push, though."

"A-Ah! You didn't have to mention this, your Majesty!"

"I'm not going down without you."

"S-So unfair."

"You two get along great, huh?"

"We bonded over a common source of problems."

"Yeah..." As they said so, the king and Sophia looked at their daughter, respectively girlfriend.

"A-Alright, I accept defeat." While the queen was chatting with the two, Princess Anna finally gave up with a mortified expression.

"Good~." Maya's expression, on the other hand, was one of pure smugness.

"Maya, stop playing with your prey already. You've won."

"That's not what I'm doing!"

"Really? Sure seems like it, though. Just looking at you makes me want to catch something so I can play around with it."

"That's just because you're super instinct-driven!"

"Urgh!" Sophia took a lot of damage from her reply. "I-It's not that bad."

"Compared to your feline instincts, I might as well be a fish."

"Uuh..."

"You have strong instincts?" The king seemed interested in the topic.

"W-Well-" She had a hard time answering.

"Ignoring her looks, which is hard because she's gorgeous, Sophia also could be an actual tiger at times." Maya couldn't stay impartial while addressing her looks.

"A-Are you holding a grudge against me for some reason?" She was wondering why the cat-girl was teasing her so much.

"I would never~." Her voice implied otherwise.

"E-Even though I lost, you can still choose me, Sophia! I wouldn't treat you like this!" Princess Anna had yet to step down on her chase.

"Hmm~." She put a hand on her chin to think about the suggestion.

"S-Sophia?!" Maya instantly panicked.

"Ahaha, getting back at you is fun~." Her expression loosened again.

"A-Ah."

"I'm sorry, Princess Anna, I'll stick with Maya. I enjoy our bantering."

"No fair!"

"Perfect victory!"

"Maya, stop this stupid competition and be nice to her!"

"I-I'm sorry. Wait! You're the one who gave the last push for the competition!"

"She's usually a good girl, princess." The blonde ignored her protest. "If not for her jealousy, that is. I have a feeling that this is going to be weird, but, well… a relationship is impossible… S-Still, I would be happy if we could somehow become f-friends regardless..."

"I'll settle with that for now. Ah! l-I mean, yes, I'll gladly become your friend!" Anna quickly corrected herself.

"S-Sophia, you mustn't! She's dangerous!" Maya definitely wasn't a fan of this budding friendship.

"Sooo..." King Menzor wasn't sure what to say and came back to the previous topic again. "What was that about you and your feline instincts?"

"A-Ah, that's embarrassing..." Her face turned slightly red. "Basically, the instincts of my tiger-side get really strong from time to time. To the point of them even taking over for me in some situations. Really, so embarrassing." The shade of her cheeks turned even darker. "Even my ears and tail are hypersensitive."

"Really?"

"Mmh~. Oh, if you try to touch either of them, especially my ears, I won't hesitate in even attacking a king of a country, you know?" Her expression suddenly turned cold.

"Don't worry, he wouldn't dare. Right, dear~?" Queen Kira had the same expression for some reason.

"I-I would never!" He backed off a couple of steps from the two in defense. "I wouldn't dare to touch the ears of a fellow feline, especially one in a relationship, even more so because I'm married. Happily, so!"

"Good." The expression of both girls returned to normal again.

"I-In the first place, that wasn't what I meant! I was talking about your instincts, Sophia. I know from the records that our early ancestors had pronounced instincts, as well. Still, nowadays, they're more on the unobtrusive side in the tiger-family. At least the offensive-oriented instincts. It's the same for you, isn't it, Kira?"

"Yes. Actually, in my lineage, they might be even weaker. General feline instincts and the sense of duty are still strong, though."

"That's true."

"Really? I'm so envious!" Sophia wasn't a fan of her instincts running wild most of the time.

"Quite the opposite. I'm envious that the tiger blood in you is still so thick."

"Nonono, losing your reason in the middle of a hunt is far from desirable, if you ask me… Going for your prey purely on instinct alone." She remembered the baor hunt shortly after turning herself into a tiger.

"Wow." He sounded impressed. "You might originate from an ancient tribe of the tiger folk, Sophia. Probably a very long-lived one, judging by just how extreme your magic power is. That would result in way fewer generations over time. You could be some sort of primal type of tiger-girl. "

"I-Is that so?"

"This could also partially explain your hair and fur… From the records, the founders of our capital from many centuries ago were of a lighter orange, as well, and it started to darken over the generations. Still, your full blonde hair with only a hint of orange could very well mean that you're from an even more pure line than the founders…"

"R-Really…?" She had no idea how to reply. In a sense, she actually was something along those lines. Sophia was the first tiger in her lineage, but this was a pretty far stretch. The reason Sophia's instincts are so aggressive is because she turned herself into a full-fledged beast-girl, a pure one, without any watering down over generations. Not that the blonde girl could admit to any of those at this point. In a way, she was a fake, but she also was the most real tiger-girl there is. A complicated situation.

"Ahhh..." The king sighed. "Is it really impossible for you to accept our Anna? A primal tiger-girl, together with our daughter. Your offspring would bring the tiger folk to new heights!"

"It. Is. Impossible!" Maya answered for her in a very direct and absolute tone.

"Y-Yeah, I love Maya and Maya only. Wait, what…?" Something in the king's plea had confused her. Greatly.

"I have to accept that. I won't drive a wedge between lovers. I need to wrack my brain about how else I can include you in the family. No, I have to find a way you want to join… Maya," Menzor suddenly faced the cat-girl. "The tiger-side of the parents is the dominant one in their offspring if both are feline. That's how the royal family was kept alive for so long. I would be glad if I could count on you for that somewhere in the future."

"H-Huh?! T-That's... that's way too early, your Majesty! Along with many other things to c-consider here…" Maya had gotten incredibly flustered. "I-Impossible!" She had to repeat herself.

"I didn't mean right now."

"Uuh..." Her face was bright red by now.

"Wait a moment…" Sophia got only more confused. "Princess Anna and my Maya, together with me, as well… No matter my partner, we'll always both be girls. There won't be any c-children between us. That's impossible, after all."

"It's not, though?" The king objected with a calm voice.

"What?" Question marks started to float above her head.

"Blessing magic takes care of that for same-sex couples. It's fairly easy and common for two women."

"E-Eh?!" Completely bewildered, she looked at Maya for confirmation.

"..." Still deeply embarrassed by the king's request, the cat-girl couldn't look at her directly and only gave a slight nod.

"W-Whaaaat?!" The shock was way too big for her. After this revelation, the group had to take a small break because the two guests of honor got put out of commission for a while.