Chapter 90 – Sophia’s weakness

While Maya was trying to teach the princess fire magic, Sophia met Ellie, Anna's three-year-old little sister. She instantly took a liking to the adorable little girl, and the two went to play together. Once the cat-girl found out about this, she immediately searched for them to ensure her girlfriend wasn't in any danger. Maya knew how stupid it was, but her brain tends to short-circuit when she gets jealous, and she just couldn't help it.

"Ah, there she is!" It didn't take Maya too long to sniff her out.

"Oh, Ellie's really with her... So unfair!" Anna's expression changed when she spotted the duo. Sophia was sleeping while leaning against a tree, taking advantage of its shade, but that wasn't the problem. Her little sister was sitting on Sophia's lap, equally fast asleep, and leaning against the bigger tiger-girl while being tightly hugged by the blonde. "Outdone by one of my own..."

"My, how adorable." Queen Kira had followed them, and her expression grew gentle when she saw the two peacefully sleeping together while embracing each other.

"Hmm..." The cat-girl was still deciding how she should feel about this. After watching this innocent display of affection for a while, she began to smile as well. "Y-Yeah, this is alright. It's cute." Something about this sight made her feel all warm and fuzzy.

"Guh... Wait, since when's Ellie this good with strangers?"

"Ahh, that's Sophia's fault..." Maya sighed. "Wherever she goes, girls are drawn to her, fawning over her. Very irritating." There was some spite in the last part.

"As if something like that's possible." Anna didn't believe her.

"..." One cat-girl and one queen stared at the princess with cold eyes before Kira continued. "Dear daughter of mine, I recall that a certain girl had absolutely zero interest in romance just two days ago. The same girl is now enviously looking at her little sister hugging someone she fought for to marry."

"A-Ah..."

"Lost horribly, I'd like to add." Maya rubbed salt in the wound.

"Urgh..."

"Sophia's charm is way too overpowered..."

"That must be hard on you." Kira looked at the cat-girl.

"Mm-hmm."

"So, you always have to keep the competition in check?" The queen gestured at her daughter.

"It's a full-time job."

"Any plans for a vacation yet?" Anna tried her luck.

"None!" Maya got angry and shot a tiny ball of fire towards the princess.

"Stop it with the FIREBALL!" Her response was a little heated while she thrust out her arms to defend herself against the flames. "E-Eh?!" Opening her eyes again, Anna noticed that the fire had changed direction and was flying back towards Maya.

"Oho." The cat-girl seemed impressed as she stepped aside to dodge the flame. "Though I have my doubts about the motivation, not a bad job, princess."

"Huh? D-Did I do that? Seriously?!"

"Yep."

"N-No way..." Kira couldn't believe it. "That's incredible."

"A-Amazing..." Anna was shocked. "I... I really used fire magic? Thank you very much! You're awesome, Maya!" Emotionally all over the place, she jumped at the cat-girl and tightly hugged her.

"My, aren't you two good friends now?" A new but very familiar voice joined the conversation. "Here I am taking a quick nap, only to wake up to my girlfriend hugging someone else."

"A-Ah!" Anna was the one who reacted. She let go of Maya again and took two steps back. "I-It's not how it looks like! You're the one I want!"

"Princess, shut up." Maya glared at her. "And Sophia, who's the one who ran away with a girl and slept with her in a tight embrace."

"Wow, that sounds really bad without context... Wait!" She stopped to think about it. "It's even worse with context! She's three, you know?! Okay, I do want to keep her, but..."

"You're not keeping my Ellie." Kira instantly shot down her wish.

"Aww..." The blonde looked genuinely sad.

"You can keep me, though." Anna was on a roll.

"No thanks."

"So close."

"Not at all." Maya disagreed with her claim.

"But seriously... Ellie's so adorable!" She gave the little tiger-girl, still sleeping on her lap, another squeeze. "And so full of energy! The piggyback went on for a while. We ran a ton together, played tag, hide and seek, and much more until she finally got sleepy. Okay, we got sleepy... "

"It seems like someone powered herself out while playing, huh?" Kira pat the head of her youngest daughter. "Ellie seems tired, too."

"Ahaha."

"But you sure are good with kids, Sophia."

"Ehehe~." She gave the princess in her arms another squeeze. "Well, I always liked them, so I'm glad that it looks like that. Though, Ellie's really easy to get along with because she's so lively."

"Except the part where she's usually bad with strangers when it comes to beyond introducing herself."

"Ehh?" Sophia was surprised because that didn't match the impression she had whatsoever.

"It's because it's you she got so attached." Kira recalled what Maya told her earlier.

"Ehehe~." She giggled again. Somehow, she was really happy about that. "Oh yeah, good job with the fireball, Princess Anna. I woke up when you were bickering with Maya and saw it."

"Ah, t-thanks... Also, sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry, you didn't. It was just a coincidence."

"Really?"

"Yeah." The cat-girl answered to her. "You need more than that to wake Sophia up. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience..."

"Exactly! I normally put even the sleeping princess here to shame." She gave Ellie, who showed no sign of waking up anytime soon, yet another hearty squeeze. She was very huggable, and Sophia enjoyed doing it very much.

"That's nothing to be proud of!" Maya loudly complained, fueled by the daily struggle to wake her tiger-girl up.

"Ellie loves to sleep like 16 hours a day, though." The queen didn't believe her to be as sleepy as her daughter.

"That sounds great!" Sophia felt even closer to her.

"Well, I literally kicked my girl out of the bed this morning, and it still took her over half an hour to actually get up." No matter what the topic is, Maya always likes to get competitive.

"The wooden floor was surprisingly comfortable, nice and warm." The girl in question was totally alright with it.

"Okay, that's something else." Kira accepted defeat.

"Hehe."

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The group chatted a little longer before going back to the castle to report Anna's magic progress to the king. As Sophia didn't want to wake up Ellie, she placed her on her back again and gently carried the little tiger-girl to the meeting room. There, she sat down on the sofa and got into the same position as before, embracing Ellie from behind while she was sleeping on her lap.

"I'm repeating myself, but you're not keeping her." The queen warned her while looking at the two.

"I-I know..."

"I'm starting to have some doubts about this."

"Mm-hmm..." The cat-girl and Princess Anna weren't sure how to feel about Sophia fawning so openly over another girl, no matter their age.

"W-Well, it's still adorable, so…" Maya was especially torn about it.

"What... is going on here?" King Menzor arrived and looked rather confused, even more so after seeing his youngest daughter.

"Ahhh, hello, dear. Sophia here has taken quite a liking to our Ellie. Though, as you can see, it's rather mutual."

"That was an outstanding job, your Majesty. You have one adorable daughter there."

"Hey!" The first princess jumped at the way she had worded it.

"T-Thank you. Kira, uh-" The king wasn't any less confused.

"We took a stroll through the garden and ran into her. Ellie got attached to Sophia, and they played together a lot."

"Ah, so that's why she's sleeping so soundly. Not that she ever needed a reason for that. Still, since when's our girl..." Menzor was surprised at how close the two got. "Sophia, you sure are popular with my daughters."

"Too popular..." Maya glanced at Anna. "Are there any other princesses I have to be wary of?"

"We have only have another son, but he's currently not in the capital."

"A son? Nah, that's fine. Right, Sophia?"

"Hmm?" Because she was busy petting Ellie's head, she wasn't even listening.

"These two have a brother, the prince of the country."

"Cool...?" Sophia tilted her head. "And?" Her interest in him was clearly zero.

"Yeah, a prince is safe."

"Soo... Why are we here?" The king dropped the topic.

"Maya attacked me with a fireball."

"Context, princess! Context!"

"What did you do?" He looked at Anna instead.

"H-Hey... I just wanted... with Sophia..." Having no way to defend herself, she could only squirm a bit.

"Alright, I get the gist of it." Menzor didn't want to hear it.

"Uuh... Anyway, let me finish, father! Maya attacked me with that fireball, and I got angry, as well. Then, I managed to throw the flame back to her! She dodged it, though..." Anna mumbled the last part.

"W-What?! You used the magic?!"

"Yes! I was able to control it!"

"Incredible! I-It's actually possible...? Anna, I'm so proud of you! Maya, thank you very much!"

"Ehehe~."

"The princess still needs a lot of training, though. A lot."

"Urgh..."

"Maya... Sophia, I have no idea how to thank, no... reward your group. If this catches on, it'll change the usage of magic in the kingdom from the ground up."

"It's not that big of a deal..." Sophia didn't see the significance.

"IT IS!" All the others loudly disagreed with her.

"Shhh! You'll wake her up." Not caring about their reactions, Sophia put a finger on her lips while her other hand continued to caress Ellie's head.

"..." The royal family couldn't believe her lack of situational awareness, while Maya only rolled her eyes, being used to it.

"No, I'll need to think of a suitable reward. Also, can I ask you to continue teaching Anna?"

"Hmm..." The cat-girl needed to put some thought into it. "We could try out water-based magic, but... We would need to do that without Sophia around because your daughter gets too distracted by her."

"What's even the point, then?!" She wasn't helping her point.

"No problem. I'll play with Ellie during your training." The distraction in question didn't mind at all.

"Why do I feel like I got replaced?!" Maya didn't like the sound of that.

"I did pay a lot of attention to you today, though." Sophia didn't understand the issue.

"T-That's true..." Maya remembered what happened in their room earlier that day.

"I also want some attention!" Anna only got even more jealous.

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After everyone finished ignoring the princess, Maya agreed to teach her some more. As the couple wanted to explore the capital a little more, they called it a day. The two were about to leave when Kira suddenly stopped them.

"Sophia."

"Hmm?"

"Leave Ellie here."

"A-Ah" She looked down at herself and noticed that she was still literally princess-carrying the little tiger girl princess. Once she, very reluctantly, handed her over to the queen, they finally left for good.

"You know... Ellie might be the key for Sophia to stay." The king looked at his daughter when he was alone with Kira. Anna had gone shortly after the couple, as well.

"I'm not giving her away! No matter how much they like each other or how it would benefit our kingdom!"

"No, that's not what I meant. They seem to really get along, and if Ellie's here, Sophia might simply doesn't want to leave."

"Oh, yes. I think our girl here would also be delighted if she were to stay."

"So... phia...?" Right on cue, the little one started to wake up. "Where is So... phia?" The name was still a little too complicated for her.

"She left a little while ago."

"So... phia left? No! I don't want So...phia leave!"

"Don't worry, she'll be back soon." Kira tried to calm her down.

"How soon?"

"Very. Maybe in the evening?"

"Yay! Ellie wants to stay with So... phia!" Her voice turned really happy again.

"You should tell her that the next time you see her." The king wanted to try his chance.

"Dear, don't use our daughter. Any of them."

"Y-Yes..."

"Do you love her that much?" Kira faced her daughter.

"Yes! Ellie likes So... phia very much!"

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"Brrr… Huh?" While walking through the capital, Maya suddenly shuddered, sensing that someone else wants the blonde, too, though in an entirely different way.

"What's wrong?"

"No idea..." Totally unbeknownst to the couple, the biggest question mark in Sophia's plan to turn down the king's offer about staying in the capital had arrived. She didn’t see any benefit in becoming a royal herself, but being near Ellie all the time might make her reconsider.

Teanam

Anyone interested in an illustration of Ellie~?

It doesn't match the scene at the beginning where Ellie sits on Sophia's lap while they're napping, but it's close enough.

There's also a version with different lighting:

And another one with the background being an open field: