Chapter 78 – The Carpet Sentry.

The following morning at the Bastion of Arcane Greed dawned crisp and clear.

In the manor kitchen, sunlight poured through the wide glass window, illuminating the counter where Aurelia-Elysia was finishing pouring fresh coffee. Kael sat at the table devouring a slice of bread with cheese, while Seraphina organized ink vials at the corner of the counter.

That was the moment Rhea came downstairs.

The hybrid girl no longer harbored the slightest trace of the magic fever or instinct haze from the previous day. Diana's ice mint and moonlight herb infusion had fully regulated her biological cycle.

Rhea's consciousness was clear, sharp, and one hundred percent lucid.

And that was precisely the problem.

The millisecond her foot touched the kitchen's ceramic floor, every memory of the previous day crashed over Rhea's mind like an avalanche of cosmic shame:

She remembered walking into Diana's office without knocking.

She remembered wrapping her tail around the Commander's thigh.

She remembered purring loudly into Diana's neck, resting her head on her lap for three straight hours, and whimpering like a shameless pup.

Rhea froze in the middle of the kitchen.

Her face turned so absurdly red it looked like a glowing fire-apple. Her silver ears flattened completely against her head, pinning to her hair, and her tail curled between her legs in a spasm of pure dread and humiliation.

At that exact instant, the stairway door opened and Diana entered the kitchen wearing a comfortable gray shirt, holding an empty cup in her hand.

“Good morning.” Diana said in her usual calm voice. “Rhea, are you feeling bett-”

Eeeeep!

Rhea let out a high-pitched, piercing squeak that sounded like a pressure kettle exploding.

With Agility 103, the wolf girl transformed into an invisible silver blur. She vaulted over the dining table, slid through the open kitchen window without brushing the sill, and bolted into the inner courtyard in less than half a second, ducking behind the trunk of the purple willow tree.

Kael nearly choked on his piece of bread, Aurelia-Elysia covered her mouth to keep from bursting into laughter, and Seraphina stared at the open window with wide eyes behind her glasses.

Diana remained standing with the cup in her hand, looking at the curtain still swaying from the vacuum of Rhea's speed.

“Did the mint tea cause an allergic reaction in her motor reflexes?” Diana asked with genuine clinical concern.

Aurelia-Elysia rested her forehead on the kitchen table, laughing until tears streamed down: “It's not an allergy, Commander… your scout's dignity just fled through the window!”

***

Throughout the remainder of the day, life at the Bastion was a showcase of tactical comedy.

Rhea had begun operating like an invisible entity that flatly refused to come within five meters of Diana.

If Diana entered the living room, Rhea slipped out onto the balcony with shadow steps. If Diana went up to her office to review the maps of the Volcanic Glass Gorges, Rhea invented that she needed to help Kael polish the shield rivets in the courtyard.

Whenever her amber eyes crossed paths with Diana's dark ones, the wolf girl blushed all the way down her neck, buried her face in the collar of her new blue overcoat, and averted her gaze, her heart racing against her ribs.

Diana, whose Intelligence 151 mind calculated dungeon routes and market flows with absolute ease, still couldn't fathom why the girl who had spent the previous afternoon glued to her neck was now fleeing from her as if facing a Level 50 monster.

***

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Midnight in the Second Floor Hallway

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Dawn drew near over the Ivory Citadel.

The manor lights were turned off around eleven at night. In the master bedroom, Diana had finished calibrating her Intelligence 151 mana reserves and was about to lie down on her soft linen bed.

Feeling her throat dry, the Commander walked to her bedroom door and turned the bronze knob to head down to the kitchen for a glass of cold water.

Thud.

The wooden door bumped into something soft and heavy leaning against the outside, on the dark hallway floor.

Diana furrowed her brows, pulling the door open slowly and looking down.

Seated on the velvet hallway runner, leaning directly against Diana's doorframe, was Rhea.

The hybrid girl was wrapped in a thick wool blanket, a feather pillow in her lap, and both Dragon Daggers resting sheathed across her crossed legs. Her silver ears were perked, attentive to the house's slightest echo, though her eyes were heavy with sleep.

Diana paused on the doorway threshold, staring at the scene with her mouth slightly open.

“Rhea…” Diana called in a low whisper. “What are you doing sleeping on the hallway floor?”

Rhea jolted startled, her ears trembling in midair. Seeing Diana in her light shirt standing right above her, the wolf girl's face flushed in the dark, her hands clutching the blanket up to her chin:

“D-Diana!” Rhea stammered, shrinking her shoulders in pure embarrassment. “I-I… I'm not in my biological cycle anymore, okay?! It's just that… my wolf instinct said that… that I needed to stand guard at your door… to make sure no assassin or spirit invaded your room while you slept…”

Diana stared at the girl for five long seconds in total silence.

“Rhea.” Diana said, her voice calm and level. “We are on the second floor of a walled stone property worth twenty gold coins, protected by a Level 25 magic barrier, in the city's most guarded sector. There is no assassin in the hallway.”

“B-But… what if there is?!” Rhea insisted softly, lowering her head to hide her flushed face between her knees. “I'm your scout… my job is to protect you…”

Diana let out a long sigh, running her hand across her temple.

She understood now. Even after the biological fever passed, Rhea's primal pack instinct had left a residual need for protection and physical closeness that the girl's proud mind tried to rationalize as a 'sentry mission'.

***

Diana stepped forward into the hallway, knelt down, and held Rhea's slender wrist with the gentle firmness of her Strength 18.

With a firm tug, Diana lifted the wolf girl off the wooden floor, pulling her into the master bedroom and kicking the door shut behind them.

“D-Diana?!” Rhea nearly lost her balance, clutching her pillow tightly.

“You are Level 35, with one hundred and three Agility, and you are the lead scout of the Arcane Greed Faction.” Diana said in a stern tone, leading Rhea to the edge of the king-size bed with soft sheets. “I refuse to let an asset of my squad catch muscle chill sleeping on a cold hallway floor over silly embarrassment. Lie down on this bed.”

Diana carefully nudged the wolf girl onto the soft mattress and draped the heavy linen blanket over her.

Rhea sat on the edge of the bed with knees bent, hugging her pillow, gazing at Diana with immense, glowing, entirely disarmed amber eyes.

“Diana…” Rhea whispered, her voice trembling with pure vulnerability. “…you… you didn't feel disgusted by me…? Because of the way I acted yesterday in your office… glued to your lap like a shameless animal…?”

Diana paused beside the mattress.

She looked at the silver-haired girl curled in the sheets.

Diana remembered the first time she had seen Rhea: bloody, malnourished, with an iron collar cutting her neck in a filthy wooden cage in the First Circle. She remembered seeing Rhea leap into the Mana Devourer's eye to save her life, and she remembered Rhea holding her hand while she herself wept in anxiety panic.

Diana sat on the edge of the mattress beside Rhea.

The Commander slowly extended her left hand and rested it gently atop the wolf girl's head, stroking her silver hair and the soft base of her ears with a calm, patient, infinitely sincere tenderness.

“I bought your freedom when you were broken, Rhea.” Diana said, her voice soft, lacking her usual military chill. “I've seen you bleed for me dozens of times, and you held my head when I nearly died in that ravine. Do you really think a little attachment and some purring on my shoulder is gonna make me look at you any differently?”

Diana looked into her friend's amber eyes:

“You are my first companion in this world. You can sleep in my lap, in my bed, or wherever the fuck you want. I will never be ashamed of you. Now stop talking nonsense and go to sleep.”

***

Rhea stared at Diana.

The warm tears the wolf girl had held in all day trickled silently down her cheeks, washing away the last remnant of shame and fear from her chest.

Rhea let go of her pillow, leaned her body forward, and wrapped her arms tightly around Diana's waist, hiding her face in the chest of the Commander's gray shirt, letting out a long sigh of pure relief and peace.

“Thank you, Diana…” Rhea whispered against the fabric. “Thank you for being my leader.”

Diana gave two awkward pats to the wolf girl's back, letting her settle under the bed's warm sheets.

Rhea lay on her side, pulling the blanket up to her chin, and in less than two minutes fell asleep with a calm, sweet smile on her face, breathing in a gentle rhythm.

Diana lay on the other side of the spacious bed, pulling the sheet over her body, listening to the night's quiet tranquility.

—See that? The System's voice echoed in her mind, in gentle black gold. A little honesty doesn't cost a single silver coin, Diana.

Shut up, System. Diana replied mentally with an imperceptible smile on the corner of her lips.

The balance of 310 Silver Coins (31 Gold Coins) remained untouched in the vault. The confidence in her squad was absolute. And with the heart of the Bastion in perfect harmony, Diana closed her eyes, ready to march toward the Volcanic Glass Gorges at dawn.

FInal Notes:

Cheese, I really love cheese, a lot. It's SOOO good! I ate a divine one today.