The streets were decorated with flowers and colorful banners, and most people in the Capital were in a jovial mood by now. It was early morning, yet many citizens were already gathering at the giant square before the royal pace, getting ready to witness as Aerthus IX took off his crown, pcing it on his son's head, signaling a new chapter in the Empire's history.

  "Up, up, sleepy head!" Anya ughed as she came into Ren's room, pulling away the curtains while her daughter only moaned, pulling the bnket back over her head.

  "Who wakes up this early… uggghhh…."

  "You, Young Lady! Come on!" She pulled it off her a second time. "You need to get ready; we need to be there in an hour; you will meet up with Leinor, then accompany Feynor as he is crowned!"

  "Why me? Let the pervy one do it!" Ren moaned sulkily as she sat on her bed while her hair resembled a bird's nest.

  "He will be there too. Only the Second Prince refused to come home for the event."

  "Ugh, I got the creeps from the Third… But I'm curious about the Second. It's a pity he won't be coming back..."

  "Don't be too hard on Prince Reignar; he is still of royal blood and the brother of Leinor," Anya warned her.

  "Huh? I thought you would be harsher on him." She said with genuine surprise in her voice.

  "I would have been, but after seeing his reaction when he regained consciousness…." Her mother held back a ugh. "Well... No matter."

  When they brought back the unconscious Reignar, and when he finally woke up, he started to tell them what a bad dream he had… until he saw Ren walking in. When she smiled at him, releasing a fragment of her aura, the Prince screamed before fainting again. Then, the next time he was woken up, he quickly excused himself and escaped the mansion, having not been seen since then.

  "Well, true… It was funny. I won't mess with him that much. Promise!" She giggled pyfully, "At least he may act decently for a while."

  "Go, wash up, then put on your dress!" Anya added, pulling her out of bed, "The ceremony will only take an hour or so; afterward, there will be plenty of fun activities around the city. You can have some leisure time with the others, and in the evening, we will go to the banquet hosted by Aerthus X in the pace."

  "Got it. What about Emi and Niji?"

  "Xendar will take them to the ceremony in disguise so they can witness it. For the banquet, they are invited by Aerthus X and will be introduced to the participants by him as ambassadors from the forest. Only the leading figures of the Empire will be there; they ought to know what is going on."

  "I bet they are more nervous than Feynor, hehe!" Ren giggled as she smacked her lips.

  "Emi masks it well." Anya hummed, thinking about it, "Niji… A little better, but he says he is used to it, as he was performing before humans when still young."

  "Tsk… then they are no fun... Well, whatever! Oh, I'll wear the new dress I bought!"

  "Don't you dare!"

  "Why?" She puffed up her cheeks immediately, seeing her mother's vehement obstruction.

  "Don't you dare parade around in those indecent-looking… things! You look like a dancer in one of those cheap brothels! What were you thinking buying them?"

  "Wha-?! Mom! That's a cute dress! Isha helped me pick it out! They fit me really well!" Ren protested, honestly disagreeing with her, seeing no issue with those clothes... they were... sexy. Showing a lot of... things. Curves.

  "That's the main point! You should have asked me, not her! It shows too much skin!"

  "Come on… it covers my chest and privates." She crossed her arms before her chest. "It's fine!"

  "No, and only those parts are hidden! Until you bend over! Everything else is out in the open! You lean a little, and the skirt part just flips up! What kind of dress is that?! Also, it is almost transparent!"

  "Just almost!"

  "Enough!" Anya said forcefully, "Wear it for Leinor if you want, inside the bedroom, but forget that I will let you step out of the house wearing that… thing!"

  “Tsk… you are no fun…” Ren sulked, knowing she'd lost the argument right then... Yet, she was looking forward to wearing it, surprising everyone, but it seemed her mother shot down everything right from the start.

  "I'll get your clothing ready. Go wash up!" Anya ended the discussion, not even letting her try something tricky.

  "Oookaaaayyyy..." She answered, giving up, while Anya just looked at her as she disappeared into the bathroom.

  "Poor Leinor…" Anya muttered to herself, "You will have your hands full; she is just like her father…." She smiled, shaking her head while getting Ren's white-blue, one-piece dress ready for the ceremony.

  …….…..

  Saynur and Frenir were already at their posts long before anybody would arrive. While Saynur set up his easel and got ready with the canvas, Frenrir helped prepare the paint.

  "We are so early…." Frenrir yawned, rubbing his eyes.

  "You said there will be no compining." Saynur smiled at him as he rubbed his head and gave him a hot chocote that made him smile immediately. "We need to be early. I want to capture the feeling of anticipation of the people and also have the best pce where I can paint the best possible picture."

  "What if the Emperor notices the painting and he likes it? Wouldn't that be awesome?"

  "Hah, sure, but don't dream too much~!" Saynur ughed, and he had no hope of being noticed by the royal family. He was pleased that some minor nobles were already interested in the paintings and curious about the final result, rather than thinking about anything more than that. "Did you bring all the brushes?"

  "Yes!" He said as he showed his bag.

  "Mmm… then where are the thicker ones?"

  "Um.. um… oh… ah… they may be on the… um… counter?"

  "Silly!" He sighed but didn't look frustrated. "This is why we came early. Go back home and grab them!"

  "Right away!" Frenir smiled and saluted as he rushed off.

  Sadly, he didn't get far because just after turning around the first corner, he collided with something really soft, nding on his butt.

  "Ouch… Sorry!" The little boy said, looking up and seeing a beautiful, red-haired woman standing before him.

  "Ahaha, no problem, kiddo~!" Isha ughed happily, helping him up. "What's the rush?"

  "I need to go home for stuff for my brother! He will paint the coronation ceremony and also the wedding next week!"

  "Oh? Will he? What is your brother's name?"

  "Saynur!" Frenir said proudly, babbling on, "We have a shop not far from here!" he grinned happily, giving away the name and address of the shop before jogging away, looking back a few times as he had never seen such a beautiful dy up close…

  "What's up?" Zern arrived, fixing his formal attire and smiling at Isha, who wore a fine, white silk dress with a short, snted skirt.

  "Nothing." She smiled as she leaned in and kissed him on the face. "I just saw a cute little boy. Maybe I want one."

  "Want… one?" He gulped loudly. "We just… started to…."

  "Ahahaha, look at you! Usually, you are quiet and strong-willed, but it seems you show your real side before me, huh? I'm starting to like the flustered Zern more and more~!" She kept giggling, grabbing onto his arms. "Rex, I'm just teasing you. I bumped into a boy; he said his brother would paint the two ceremonies. I'm thinking of getting one wedding picture and gifting it to Lady Anya, and maybe the others would get a copy too. If they behave~! What do you think?"

  "That's a good idea. Well, if you say you see a new side of me now, I think I just saw a side of you they don't know~ I think they will be surprised, especially Leinor."

  "Well… I may ask the painter to swap their clothes on the painting… that would be funny." Isha added, smirking.

  "Okay, that would be something you would do..." Zern sighed, shaking his head.

  "Ahaha~ I think Ren would appreciate that." She ughed a bit louder as she held Zern's hand between her bosom, making his face blush. "What~? Last night you weren't this shy~ My hip is still sore, and my breasts tingle as I feel your strong fingers gripping onto them~!"

  "Hmf. You deserved it!" He said while grabbing her waist, pulling in close for a kiss, "You easily get too cocky; you need some firm punishment!"

  "Now you are speaking my nguage~" Isha whispered, leaning on him with a satisfied expression.

  …….…..

  When noon came, the square was packed. What Emi saw from her seat beside Xendar was only a sea of human heads bobbing up and down.

  "So many… our tribe would only take up a small square in this city… We can only match their numbers if we count the lesser tribes without proper intelligence…." Emi told herself, feeling a bit nervous, "Individually, we are stronger, but… an all-out war… task. If those damned cats overpower the dogs, we will have bloody times ahead of us. I need to report this back to Lady Rumira..."

  While she watched and battled with herself, Niji did the same, looking on as Feynor appeared beside Dermitos. While his father gave a speech about how proud he is to have been their Emperor for so long and how excited he is to pass it down to his son, Niji was lost in the memories of how the other side of the world handled such coronations. They were simir yet... different.

  "The air around here is more prosperous and has more cohesion than in the Kingdom of Ten." He sighed to himself, "The people look more unified. Interesting… so the human kingdoms do differ this much. I never believed it completely..."

  "I once toured around there. Not far in, of course... Just barely... They are unified by interests only. If we were gone, their kingdom would colpse into internal bickering and scheming, fighting for control." Xendar said with apparent disdain in his voice, "The true, ruling family is what keeps tem…" He began, but stopped, while Anya just pced her hand on his.

  "It's okay. You are right." She nodded her head, "And I was cast out; I have no connection to them and no feelings for them, you know that."

  "Their ruling family maintains its power by constantly dividing the other families, pying chess, constantly keeping them at a certain level." Xendar continued in the end, given permission for it, "The others are always trying to strengthen their own powers, making alliances, waging secret wars behind the curtains, smiling at each other while holding a dagger behind their back, ready to strike. The only thing preventing them from going into complete anarchy is us. The fear of being swallowed up by us has been etched into them for 2000 years... Pathetic."

  "I never thought of it this way. But we are the same, aren't we? Since we evolved, we waged war against the old kingdom of your kind, and ter on, we saw every human the same way." Niji spoke his own honest thoughts, making Emi's ear twitch, but she remained silent.

  "What we know about that," Anya hummed, "Is that it was mostly the ents doing, destroying the Old Kingdom-"

  "Still… It wasn't only them." Niji shook his head. "They evolved the fastest; most of the ents leading their tribe now are still the same ones who gained intelligence back then. However, the first demon folk who followed them were still responsible for it. Back then, we had just awakened... The centuries we had spent realizing our pce in the world and how we were hunted and cut down for resources had kept fanning the ents' rage and ours too... The rest is history, as you humans say."

  "I can understand; I would be furious if I realized I am no more than a raw resource." Xendar nodded.

  "The ents still carry a deep hatred. They do not even trust other demons, just another ent." Emi added, breaking her silence. "They... are very much isoted from everybody else."

  "Are you in danger?" Anya asked, raising her eyebrows.

  "Not really. They don't venture out of their territory." She answered. "But they tend to keep an eye on the rger tribs."

  "Maybe they will watch us the same now," Niji added. "But don't we have an ally who is now crowned Emperor?" He smiled after it, asking nobody in particur.

  "My daughter is yet to be crowned." Xendar grinned, knowing the primary motivator in this alliance was not Feynor but Ren.

  While they were joking around, Emi silently listened to them, mulling over their conversation, trying to sort her thoughts. When she heard Feynor, now Aerthus X's speech about his pns to negotiate peace and cooperation with the demons, telling about his dream of peace, no more hordes from the north, straight to the people, she was unsure what to think. Still, her eyes unconsciously wandered to Poli before finally turning away.

  …….…..

  "There…" Saynur let out a big sigh, watching the completed, colorful, lifelike painting of the moment when Dermitos pced his crown on Feynor's head. The ink was yet to dry on the canvas, giving it a mirage-like appearance when viewed, making it even more beautiful. The ceremony ended about an hour ago, yet the square was still packed as people celebrated and were having fun. There was music, pys, and many stands, selling food and drinks of all kinds.

  "You're so great, big brother! I have never seen you paint so fast!" Frenir giggled, holding up a water bottle to his brother, who was sweating hard and looked exhausted yet happy.

  "At least I am good at something, aren't I?" He ughed, taking it and emptying it at once.

  "I hope the beautiful dy will come back to buy this..."

  "You said that a million times already. Are you sure you described her to me correctly?"

  "Yes! I wouldn't forget her!" Frenir replied proudly.

  "You should, because if you are correct, she was Lady Isha. My memory is great at remembering faces."

  "Ah!" Frenir froze up hearing him, remembering who that person was, watching her fight in the competition years ago.

  "If you didn't just daydream the whole thing."

  "Well, he was clearly dreaming when he bumped into me," came a soft ugh as Isha and Zern came closer.

  "Whoa! I told you, big bro!" Frenir yelled, almost screaming, with stars in his eyes, softening Isha's heart immediately.

  "My Lady, Lord!" Saynur bowed, greeting both of them.

  "What, Lady or Lord? Easy there!" Isha snorted, "I'm no nobility, and neither is he. Don't act like this! We came to check out the painting, and your little brother did not lie; it really is something."

  "T-thank you!" Saynur trembled.

  "We are here to order a few copies." Zern smiled, speaking up. "Also, we want to hire you officially to paint my Master's wedding. If it's not too te, the General's residence will pay any expenses, so please order the best quality canvas, paint, and tools."

  "R-really?"

  "Yes." Isha nodded, looking at them. "Lady Anya really liked the idea; she wants the original painting for herself, so she is willing to pay you handsomely for it. Also, we will need copies, too; every expense is ours to pay, just name the price."

  Saynur did not believe his ears at first. He didn't anticipate anything like this; his pn was only to earn a good amount of money to invest in expanding his shop, but when Zern passed on the coin purse containing half a year's earnings, he almost fainted.

  "This is for the expenses you may have had. Lady Anya will pay triple for the first painting. Any consecutive copies will be paid double their original selling price, which you wanted to put them on sale."

  "T-this is too much…."

  "Not in her eyes." She shook her head with a warm smile.

  "Please… thank Lady Anya in my name!" Saynur bowed, and Frenir followed his example, trying not to squeal from happiness.

  "Ahaha, no problem. When your little brother is coming of age, send him to us! We may be able to help a little!" Zern patted his shoulder before leaving.

  "You little rascal…." Saynur grinned, looking at his brother, who was still mesmerized by what was happening. "You may just have bumped into our family's biggest fortune!" he patted his tiny head with excitement, feeling that his family's future may be, just maybe... forever changed.