Chapter 267 – Deadline

Chloe had come back from her shopping trip and met Anna and Ari, who were currently staying in the mansion, as well. As she was a rather likable character, the two got along with her pretty well from the get-go. Unfortunately, because she has a curious nature, just like Sophia, her filter when it comes to asking embarrassing questions is just as non-existent. Thanks to that, the princess and her jaguar suffered from many accidental blows. It even went so far that the topic of eloping had come up at some point.

“By the way,” After a little while, Chloe was the first to speak up again after everyone had taken a slight break from the previous conversation. “Is that cake in there?” She pointed at the big white box on the coffee table in front of the girls that Anna had placed there before. "I smell chocolate. Lots of it. There’s also a hint of hazelnut… and some, let’s see…” She closed her eye while sniffing the air again. “Raspberries?”

“Wow.” The princess looked impressed and happy to change the subject. “That’s exactly it.” While saying so, she opened the box. "A chocolate cake with a hazelnut cream ganache and decorated with a generous amount of raspberries.”

“That’s a fox for you, huh?” Ari also looked at her in admiration. “Your nose is something else.”

“Ehehe.”

“I smelled that, too, though?" Sophia tilted her head. "Okay, I wasn't sure whether it was raspberry or blackberry, but other than that…”

“That’s just because you love chocolate and fruits… or food in general.” Maya just looked at her.

“Ah, I see, makes sense.” The blonde nodded. “I do love food, after all.”

"Is that really how it works…?" Chloe wasn’t sure if she could follow that logic.

“Should we eat a bit?” Anna pointed at the cake again.

“Yes!” The voices of the fox and Sophia overlapped.

“I’ll get some plates.” Maya also wanted some.

“Thanks!” They overlapped once again.

"Is it just me, or are the two of you quite similar…?" The jaguar glanced at the duo with a complicated expression. “I don’t know if I can handle two of that sort.”

"A-Ah…” They just looked away.

“You have no idea…” The cat-girl let out a sight while rolling her eyes before disappearing towards the kitchen.

“It appears that we do share some personality traits, yes.” Chloe tried to sound a little academic.

“I do believe this to be the case, indeed.” Sophia nodded a few times.

“I’m tired…” Ari already had enough.

“By the way,” The blonde then faced the pink-haired girl. “Where’s Fennyfenny and Aura? You took them with you, didn’t you?”

“Ahh, yeah…” She nodded once before continuing. “Aura showed me the fluff protect spray for my tail, but they then decided to head out on their own.”

“Date?”

“Sounded like it, yeah.” Chloe had the same guess.

“Must be nice to do that so openly…” Anna suddenly sounded envious.

“You and Ari look like you were doing just that the entire time you’re out, though.” Sophia just stared at the couple.

"W-Well, that is that, and this is this or however the saying goes…" Her face turned slightly red. "N-Now that we are actually t-together… I get self-conscious…”

“Aww~.” The fox-girl liked the bashful princess.

“Yep, that’s a definite aww~.” The blonde joined in.

“S-Shut up…”

“Though Fenfen’s also quite adorable.” Chloe smiled even more. “It’s still fresh with him and Aura, too, so he also gets all bashful~. He was adorable when Aura decided on their date earlier.”

“I missed that again?!” Sophia got loud.

“Eh?!” Anna suddenly got confused. "That sounds a little like... Wait, Fen and Aura aren't dating for multiple years or more already…?"

“I thought so, too!” Ari looked equally confused. “The two look so close and in tune with each other?!”

“…” The blonde stared at them while slowly shaking her head.

“Are you two for real…?” At the same time, Maya came back from the kitchen, holding some plates, forks, and a knife. "You have no right to notice that with others.”

"A-Ah…” They only now noticed the issue and immediately hung their heads. “W-We’re sorry…”

“Good.” Sophia and her cat started smiling again.

"A-Anyway, let's get to the cake!" Anna wanted to change the topic once and for all.

“Yay!” The blonde and Chloe took the bait immediately.

“Sure, I’ll cut it.” Maya also didn’t want to continue on it. Afterward, she prepared the cake and gave each of the girls a plate with a slice of it.

“Yummy!” Two of them couldn’t wait and immediately went for it.

“Hmm…” Ari, on the other hand, was watching the fox-girl and Sophia while they were happily munching on the cake with a complicated expression. “That’s almost weird…”

“Yeah…” The cat-girl just nodded. “Almost is putting it lightly.”

“The cake is super yummy, though!” Anna, while having the same blissful expression as the duo while eating her slice of cake, didn’t see the issue.

“Because you’re the exact opposite of a quirky and easily excitable character, right?”

“…” The princess decided not to answer that and simply continued to eat her cake.

“By the way,” Chloe suddenly tilted her head while tilting her head. “Was there a reason for this high-end cake? Or is something like that normal around, uhh… royalty?” She glanced at the two tigers especially.

“Err…” Anna and Ari only scratched their cheeks.

"It's a bribe," Maya answered her. “The two want to stay here for a while until their… togetherness won't be causing such a fuss anymore, and they decided to pay Sophia and me with this lavish cake.”

"A good try, I want to add~." Sophia liked the bribe. Literally, as she was still happily munching on it.

“Yep, I would totally accept such a bribe, too~.” The fox-girl also took another bite.

“The story we got told was just as sweet, though~.” The cat-girl had preferred something else.

“S-Shush!” Anna didn’t want to talk about that.

“I don’t know…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “I think the story was too spicy for a cake~.”

“S-Shush!” Ari had the same reaction as her princess.

"A fair point.” Maya nodded a couple of times while looking at her tiger.

“S-Shush!” Now the two were in perfect sync.

“What actually happened…?” Chloe got more interested. “It’s fairly easy to see that you got caught during something, but I thought it was during your confession or maybe a kiss…? I get the feeling there was a lot more that happened?”

“…” The couple naturally didn’t give her an answer. Besides the extreme blush that had appeared on their cheeks in an instant, that is.

“Did you get so into it after the confession that you went all the way afterward, and someone walked in on it…?" She took a wild guess. “Or did you forget to tone down your voice? I imagine that a castle has some grand hallways where even the slightest bit of sound can easily travel through half of the place.”

“…” With an even brighter blush, the two turned their faces away because they couldn’t look at her anymore.

“W-Wow…” Chloe’s cheeks also turned a little pink because she took it as a clear confirmation.

"I-I found a letter from my parents the next day…" As there was little reason to hide it anymore, Ari eventually glanced at her with a bright red face. "A-Apparently, they and half of the castle had heard us… T-They also wanted to see us, so we decided to, uhh… run away…”

“You better let them stay as long as they want here!” The fox-girl immediately addressed Sophia and Maya after hearing that. “Else, I’ll take them to my place with me!”

“T-Thank you…” The couple was a little happy that she felt so much for them.

“Don’t worry,” The cat-girl answered her. “We already agreed to it. You picked the first guestroom when entering the hallway, right?”

“Yep.” Chloe nodded. “It was the closest to one of the baths, after all~."

“Okay. Anna and Ari can have the last room, then. They're far enough apart, and now that you know that holding back a little is a good idea, noises shouldn't be that much of an issue~."

“W-We wouldn’t do that in someone else’s place!” While their faces were turning redder once again, the couple got loud.

“We don’t mind at all~.” Sophia and Maya just smiled at them. “Power yourselves out~.”

“S-Shut up.”

“Speaking of,” The cat-girl then glanced at the fox-girl with a mischievous expression. “Did you visit the store?”

“…” She needed a moment to think of an answer. “I-I got everything I was recommended… I really can’t wait to test… the fluff protection spray!” Her expression was all over the place during her reply.

“I see~.”

“Uuh…”

“Hehe.” Sophia also liked the response, but she didn’t feel like teasing her about it. “Back to the staying here topic…” She then got back to the couple. “I don’t mind that you two stay here for however long you want, just like Chloe, company’s great, after all!” She was happy that the house was so lively. “Still, weren’t your birthdays the week after next…? That's what I heard, at least. You have to show your faces in the castle for that, don’t you…?”

“Urgh…” The couple in question only reacted with yet another groan.

“Yes…” Ari weakly nodded. “My birthday’s on the Monday after the next and Anna’s two days later on Wednesday…”

“Did your parents plan that…?” The blonde tilted her head. “It’s a little too close to be a coincidence, isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes, they actually did…” Anna answered her. “Our parents are pretty close, and Ari's parents wanted to have her for a while already, and after mine decided to have me, they tried to time it…”

“They wanted to have a playmate the same age for their kids…” The jaguar added a bit to the explanation.

“Aww!” Sophia and Chloe had the same reaction.

“I wonder if it was this type of playmate they had in mind~." Maya's reaction was a little different.

“…” The two decided not to give her a reply. Judging by their expressions, they also didn’t seem to want to know, either. The whole thing was way too embarrassing enough already.

“Even worse…” The princess eventually looked at Sophia again and returned to the actual topic. "Mother's birthday is next week already…”

“Wow, it’s just one birthday after another lately!” The blonde sounded excited. “Maya’s just was, and now there are three more coming up! Chloe, when's yours?"

“It’s still ways off. It's on March 12th.”

“Seriously?!” She got even more excited. “Mine’s on the 15th there!”

“Ohh!” The fox-girl also raised her voice a little after hearing that it’s so close together.

"Freaky…" Not sure how to feel about them being so similar even there, Maya got back to the initial topic. "You can't skip the queen's birthday now, can you?"

"Yes…" The two only nodded. "We can't..."

“We have a deadline of under a week…” Saying that, Anna hung her head again, and they decided to have another small break. This time, it was accompanied by cake, though.

Teanam

A big thank you to

- Amy Zala -

for supporting the story on Patreon to make more art possible! Enjoy the extra stuff there!