After finishing her little cake, Furina propped her chin up and admired the Regent Themis diligently working. She felt immensely proud.
Look at this! This is her Regent!
The best and most perfect Regent in the whole world!
Furina was filled with joy, occasionally letting out silly giggles.
This left Themis puzzled—what was Furina imagining in her head again?
But since Themis wasn't great at guessing, she decided to quickly finish her documents so she could devote herself entirely to Furina, doing whatever she wanted.
For example, reading the latest novel with her, growing little mushrooms in the bedroom, or hosting tea parties with her and her blue friends.
Ah… that last one was a headache.
Originally, Themis had seen Furina sitting alone in her bedroom, looking pitiful without company, so she pulled some strings with Focalors and, based on Furina's fantasies about three characters in a story, created three blue companions.
The creation was a huge success—so much so that if she couldn't suppress them, Themis was sure they'd even gang up on her.
Under Furina's bright, expectant gaze, Themis was practically operating at full power.
My god, a little blue-and-white kitten looking at you with big, watery eyes—what two-legged creature could resist that?
Excited heart, trembling hands.
If not for the fact that outside the door, Neuvillette was pretending to pass by—despite having already "passed by" at least a dozen times—Themis might have already pinned Furina to the sofa, braced her hands against Furina's ears, and smothered her with kisses, indulging in her adorable blue-and-white cat.
Neuvillette, still pacing at the door, thought his five-hundred-year-old dragon self was hiding it well.
Every now and then, he would pass by, using his non-human Elemental Dragon King eyes to peer intensely through the crack of the door.
He even activated his elemental vision for a clearer view, all in the name of assisting Themis.
Seeing Furina kicking up a fuss on the sofa? That was expected.
Seeing Themis cover her face?
The innocent five-hundred-year-old dragon baby Neuvillette: !!!?
Face stern, but internally panicking and pacing in circles.
Seeing Themis return to normal and Furina happily eating her compensation cake, Neuvillette sighed in relief.
"Ah, this is fine, as long as everything's okay."
Just as the dragon was about to turn and leave, considering his "passing by" mission complete, he noticed something through elemental vision—Furina's water element surged.
…Huh?
Now he was completely lost. Were the minds of gods and mortals always this complicated?!
Just as Neuvillette held his breath, the ever-reliable Regent flawlessly resolved the crisis.
Able to keenly sense emotions, Neuvillette finally let out a breath, feeling at ease.
Very good, dear visitor, love comes from Fontaine!
(Far away in the desert, Apep, the Dendro Dragon King: Is this what the power of a Dragon King is meant for!? This is embarrassing! Get out of the group chat!)
At the door of Palais Mermonia, Neuvillette kept pacing. The palace clerks cautiously looked up, their eyes darting between him and Themis' office door.
"Lord Neuvillette, are you here to see Lady Themis or Lady Furina?"
"Is there an urgent matter you need to discuss?"
Finally, one of the clerks, unable to contain their curiosity, cautiously whispered the question.
Neuvillette paused, then swiftly covered the clerk's mouth.
But he immediately realized this was too impolite and lowered his hand.
"No, I'm just passing by."
The five-hundred-year-old dragon declared this with a completely serious expression, lying through his teeth.
The clerk, whose mouth had just been covered: ???
"Passing by"? You mean your repeated pacing with a fixed number of steps at fixed intervals?
You call that "passing by"!?!
Scratching his head, the clerk was utterly baffled.
But out of respect for Lord Neuvillette, he chose to stay silent, assuming there must be some deep meaning behind his actions.
"Anyway, just mind your own business."
Since he had confirmed Furina was properly comforted and that there was no relationship crisis caused by a piece of cake, Neuvillette no longer needed to stay.
But before leaving, the dragon turned to the group of clerks still curiously watching and reaffirmed:
"I was just passing by."
"Really, I'm not lying."
The clerks exchanged glances, confusion evident in their eyes.
They might not understand, but in times like these, nodding should be enough!
Seeing them nod, Neuvillette nodded as well, seemingly convinced that they believed him.
"I used to imagine how the mysterious Chief Justice Neuvillette would make his entrance in a story."
"Back in the courtroom, he seemed so polite yet aloof, like Fontaine's version of a noble and courteous hero..."
"But now…"
CatCatEatsNoMedicine clutched her chest, breathing heavily, her expression utterly indescribable.
"Wait—seriously…"
"Fontaine people, are you all out of your minds!?"
"You actually believe a lie this flimsy!?"
[I originally thought this was a Fontaine love triangle. The reality? The head of the trio is shipping his own superiors.]
[I'm dying, he's so serious on the outside, but his inner thoughts are all over the place!]
[In Fontaine, I bow to no one—except Neuvillette! As a devout supporter, I acknowledge him as the true leader!]
[Now tell me, are you rolling for Neuvillette or not!?]
The dynamics between the three top officials of Palais Mermonia had the audience in stitches.
Triangles are indeed the most stable—when the third person is constantly working to maintain the relationship between the other two, always on edge and ready to intervene, how could it not be stable?!
"I feel like Fontaine has reached the peak of governing through fandom obsession."
"Except instead of idol culture, Fontaine citizens ship everyone—from historical figures to top officials to prisoners, everyone is fair game!"
CatCatEatsNoMedicine couldn't help but roast.
[I can't help but suspect this is the result of Fontaine's five-hundred-year-long serialized romance novels.]
[Considering all the different versions of love stories between the Regent and the Hydro Archon, it's no surprise the entire nation is brainwashed—Fontaine has been pickled in shipping juice!]
[I bet Fontaine citizens learn to ship before they even learn to speak.]
[Out of all the nations I've visited, Fontaine is the most blatant about it! I can't help it—I'm dropping everything to write a fifty-thousand-word fic about this right now!]
[I can't keep watching this—I'm a single dog taking a hundred thousand emotional damage!]
CatCatEatsNoMedicine ranted, shifting the perspective back to Meropide Fortress.
And then, she felt even more miserable.
Her Traveler was still stuck in the fortress, trying to survive prison life.
Mentally breaking down, CatCatEatsNoMedicine couldn't hold back anymore.
The livestream chat erupted in laughter.
No one was going to let her off the hook—especially after she had so confidently declared that she would single-mindedly support Themis.
But now Themis had a partner.
So of course, the chat had to roast this heartbroken loser—ah, no, this rejected catcat.
-
Lumine lay on her bed, tossing and turning, reluctant to rise.
Help me! Why am I still working here? Wasn't I supposed to have been sent down after grease-money was used to smooth things over?!
Before, during her leisurely wanderings, she could still tag along with Tartaglia everywhere he went.
But now that it was time to work, she found herself grinding parts in the machinery district.
She and the mechanical pieces would stare at each other intently, while Paimon cheered her on from behind.
With painstaking care, she controlled her strength, barely managing to avoid reducing the machines to scrap within a few strikes before finally mastering the technique and force required.
Since they needed to investigate the cause of the Vision malfunction later, Lumine also had to earn Meropide Fortress's vouchers by working here. These would offset the physical labor she'd have to do in the future.
For this purpose, Lumine had forcibly transformed the prison simulator into a corporate drone simulator.
When Tartaglia passed by and saw the Traveler working so diligently, he mistakenly thought she was sharpening her combat skills.
"No wonder you're my partner! Even in prison, working here polishing parts, you still don't forget to train your combat skills!"
"Alright! Since you're working so hard, I have to be even stricter with myself!"
Lumine, with a pair of dead fish eyes, watched as Tartaglia enthusiastically threw himself into his work beside her.
He was full of energy, practically bursting with passion.
But Lumine only felt the urge to curse. The problem was, Tartaglia had just sincerely praised her.
So annoying! I'm going to die from the sheer absurdity of Tartaglia's thought process! I just want to beat him up!
However, in the fortress of Meropide, fighting outside the boxing ring was considered an additional crime, leading to an extended sentence.
So Lumine could only think about it in her head.
Every time Tartaglia punched a machine that wouldn't turn, the impact made her scalp tingle, and her ears nearly went deaf.
As yet another polished part was placed in front of her, Lumine—who could uproot entire trees—fell into deep self-doubt.
From a certain perspective, she was a delicate and beautiful young girl. So why was she working so hard in this grueling job?
Oh, right… because of her damn sense of responsibility!
Sure, she might have misjudged Tartaglia, but wasn't there already a precedent for his behavior?
With tearful eyes, Lumine really wanted to slap her past self. What kind of ridiculous situation is this!?
Honestly, the previous prison visit was better. She could have just fought Tartaglia on the spot! Given his brain and principles, he definitely would've spilled the truth!
So why did she agree to getting locked up with him in the first place!?
Paimon: "Hang in there, Traveler! This part is almost done!"
Lumine's killing intent surged. Ah, now she remembered—who was the one who instantly agreed to Themis' brilliant suggestion of going to jail?
With a loud boom, her fist smashed into the machine.
Wearing a dangerously kind smile, Lumine turned to look at Paimon.
"How about we have charcoal-grilled Paimon tonight?"
Paimon: "...!"
Shivering, Paimon hid behind Tartaglia.
Tartaglia caught the "incoming blade" with his bare hands. "Partner, calm down!"
Paimon shot into the air. "Uwaaah! Your Grace, save me—!"
Up on the second level, Wriothesley chuckled as he observed them.
"Haha, you guys sure are lively!"