The tranquil waters gently rock the small boat bobbing along the lake within the Jo Estate, carrying Yuri’s tiny figure, a stuffed hamster in hand, and in front of her a tall, teenage boy, Dongmin—both of them with blissful smiles on their faces. Dongmin grips the oars with his calloused hands as he steers the boat wherever Yuri asks.

This place doesn’t cease to calm Yuri. It’s her favorite place in the entire world—which isn’t saying much as her whole world merely consists of the estate and sometimes, the palace whenever her father would have matters to attend to with the King. 

The little homey wooden boat is in the very heart of the gardens. The location makes it extra special since the only people who have ever ridden this boat have their way into Yuri’s tiny heart. Like Wonyoung and Dongmin.

“Sir Dongmin, you said you have something to say?” Yuri asks, looking up at Dongmin, who seems lost in his thoughts as he looks at a faraway tree situated somewhere in the garden, his gaze distant.

“Oh.” He snaps out of his stupor before looking back at Yuri with his usual smile. “It's just… this may be our last hangout.”

When his words sink in, Yuri gasps, a frown forming on her small face as she grabs the hem of her sundress. “What?! Why?”

“I’ve been promoted within the ranks of the Griffin Knights. I'm afraid I won’t have much free time to spare playing with you anymore,” Dongmin says with a bittersweet smile on his lips. “Promise me you’d always be a good girl? Lady Miyeon would appreciate that, I’m sure.”

Yuri looks at the bottom of the boat, at her tiny shoes, downcast. She has only been able to deal with her bossy sister Miyeon because of Dongmin. He negotiates with her sister with sound advice that has always worked in both of their favors. 

He’s kind of like the third Jo sibling that their mother brought from outside one day.

It would be nice if their parents agrees to adopt Dongmin. He handles everything better than Miyeon.

Yuri raises her head to look at him. “But… that’s unfair! You won’t even get to visit?”

He nods. “I’m afraid I won’t even have an inkling of time left in that position. Maybe I can visit every year? During the Founder’s day?”

Yuri purses her lips as she hangs her head once more, disappointment welling up within her guts. On one hand, she wants to protest against the setup—Dongmin is part of the family! 

On the other hand, Dongmin says he’s getting a promotion… It's a good thing, isn’t it? It would be selfish of her if he halts him just to have him visit every few days like he always has.

The sensation of her hand being cupped on both sides snaps her out of her thoughts. Dongmin is holding her hand like it’s the most precious thing, cradling it within his rough hands.

“It doesn’t always have to be this way. One day, you can stay by my side forever, do you want that?” Dongmin asks, his voice gentle and warm, his gaze lingering into hers.

Yuri blinks, her demeanor brightening up. “Really?”

“Didn’t Lady Yumi and Lord Migyeong already tell you? Someday, you will be my wife,” he says, his voice slow, deep.

“Wife? As in someone you k-kiss?”

Just the thought of kissing someone sends shivers up Yuri’s spine. Like, what if she gets pregnant? Even at this age, she knows that she and Miyeon were born since their parents have kissed at some point!

Dongmin laughs heartily at her question. “Yes, someone you’ll kiss, hold, and love forevermore. But not now. I’ll come back to you years later, and we can be together forever.”

“Forever? I only won’t see you once a year?” Yuri asks, her eyes wide.

“Definitely. Once we get married in the future, we will be part of each other’s family.”

Family. Dongmin gets to become her family for real. Yuri’s heart swells. If marriage assures that very fact, then she would gladly do it. “Okay! Then let’s get married!”

“That’s great. Then I’ll surely grant that promise, my Yuri.”

A world where Dongmin would always be there during dinners, playing with them and telling them all sorts of stories. It's a dream world. And she would get to secure that with marriage!

Yuri is more than glad. She didn’t know it was that easy.

★彡

“Mhm,” a small whimper escapes Yuri's lips as she feels a bump on the trail, slightly sliding off the leather saddle. 

She then feels someone’s warm and robust grip secure her body from falling off the horse. “Oh! You alright there?” Yena asks, concern coating her voice as she traps Yuri's body in between her arms. She feels her back press firmly against her familiar’s chest as she grips the reins tightly. “Sorry that woke you up. I didn’t see that hump on the trail.”

“No, it’s alright. How long have I been sleeping?”

Yena looks up in thought, her lips forming a pout. Clearly, she hasn't been paying attention to the time that elapsed—typical Yena. The slight absent-mindedness makes Yuri’s lips twitch up a bit in amusement. “A few hours, maybe? Anyway, you had such a peaceful smile on your face as you slept. Must be nice.”

“To be fair, I didn’t realize I fell asleep,” Yuri says with a yawn, rubbing her eyes with her right fist.

“Can’t blame you. You haven’t been able to sleep much last night. I can feel you squirming in the tent. You always do that when something bothers you,” Yena says off-handedly. 

The fact that she casually discloses her sleeping habits like it’s second nature somehow makes Yuri feel nice. Like someone is closely paying attention to her.

“After what happened last night… It's hard to sleep. Whenever I drift off, those men’s faces somehow creep up to my subconscious, and I end up awake,” Yuri admits, her eyebrows creasing at the memory of the deaths she witnessed last night still fresh in her mind. “Were you also used to seeing death? You seem to have handled yourself just fine.”

Silence hangs in the air before Yena eventually replies. “Nope. It’s my first time too. Back in my world, bandits just jumping in to kill you like that isn’t the norm. I mean, there are criminals, but with cameras– er… eyes, everywhere, people are more cautious in performing crimes in the open like that.”

Yuri’s eyebrows quirk. “Really? But you were so calm?”

“I wasn’t. But seeing you all shaken up like you were at that time snapped me to get my act together,” Yena admits sheepishly. “As your familiar, I have to protect you no matter what. You told me that when we met.”

Yuri frowns. “I didn’t say you have to it up when something scares you.” 

“Then we would have been a couple of cowering scaredy-cats in the face of crisis last night,” Yena says with a semi-teasing tone, making Yuri slap her arm with a frown painting her face. 

Yena’s laughter rings into her ears. For some reason, that laughter never fails to lift her spirits. It’s cozy and energy-inducing. Her familiar may be insufferable at times, but at times when the world seems bleak, Yena’s presence colors her surroundings wherever she goes.

“Come, give me your hand,” Yena says over Yuri’s shoulder, opening her right hand, now with only her pinky holding the right rein for the meantime.

Her visible palm is quite a magnetic invitation for Yuri to hold the rest of her hand. Not used to such skinship, Yuri hesitantly places a hand on Yena’s. Her familiar's soft balmy hand fits right with hers like a puzzle piece. Yena then wraps her fingers around Yuri’s hand, enveloping it with warmth and softness.

“The next time you need to calm down, just hold my hand like so. It’s a bit cheesy, I know, but trust me, it works.”

It does. Yena’s hand grasping her own feels so homey. She feels… protected. “How do you know these things? Do you hold hands with people a lot?”

The thought of Yena doing this with others is a bit unpleasant if she will be perfectly honest. Someone else enjoying the privileges of holding her hand whenever they can is irritating. It's most likely her possessiveness over her familiar that's making her feel this way. 

Even though Yuri knows she should stop thinking of Yena like she is her property, especially since her familiar expressed her dislike upon that notion back then, it’s just something she can’t avoid from time to time. Nobles usually have inborn avarice. Yuri herself isn’t an exception.

“Back home, this is normal,” Yena says, squeezing her hand gently as she keeps steering Biscuit to avoid certain obstacles on the road. “I remember before taking the CSAT, my friends and I had our hands clasped together tightly before entering the exam halls as we recited formulas as a form of last-minute reviewing.”

Half of the time, Yuri doesn’t know what Yena is talking about whenever she tells stories from her home. However, Yuri doesn’t hesitate to ask whenever she doesn’t understand something. It’s fun listening to Yena. Her world seems to be much larger than Yuri’s, and Yuri loves hearing about worlds from the point of view of others. 

They continue the rest of the ride to the port city like this, Yena’s stories endlessly fascinating her as the warmth of her hand courses through Yuri’s, especially with the lowering temperature as they go higher up in a mountain. 

Soon, Yujin matches her horse’s pace with theirs as she also listens in, bored out of her mind from the ride. 

At first, Yujin ridicules Yena for her ‘made up’ world, but she ends up listening in anyway, providing her commentaries from time to time. She seems interested whenever Yena mentions these things called ‘sports,’ which are intense games involving a kid’s toy, like a rubber ball.

“Oh, so it’s a competition that tests your physical skills,” Yujin muses. “Then it’s just like archery, sword fighting, and swimming? We hold competitions like that too from time to time.”

“Yup, we also call those sports,” Yena says with a grin.

“I join sword fighting from time to time per my old man’s instructions,” Yujin says, a smile on her face as she seems to recall stuff in the back of her head. After a while, her eyes drift down to their hands. “Your hands have been linked for a long time. Are you cold?” she asks cluelessly, her head tilted. “Do you want me to cast a heat spell on your hands? I cast one on mine. It’s pretty chilly."

“No,” Yuri says almost immediately, her hands on Yena’s tightening. “We’re good.” 

She didn’t want to lose the comfort of Yena’s hand just yet. 

Strangely, such a small action like holding her familiar’s hand brings her back to the sensation in her little boat back home. She feels calm, like everything is okay, and the world just melts away as the warmth brings her incredible comfort.

★彡

The Port City of Chunho is small yet bustling, full of commerce and trade with outlanders from different countries selling their wares to the locals of Hwalgeori. Other areas in the harbor receive ships from various countries. Hwalgeori is in the center of the continent, after all.

“Yena, we don’t need a driftcarpet,” Yuri frowns, dragging the starry-eyed girl away from the slick-tongued merchant selling colorful carpets sown with wind mana-charged threads that can make one hover with it. A popular product from Milldale that the man is selling at least triple the price than if you buy them locally. Yuri read about them before.

“But you do, though!” Yena argues as Yuri drags her by the hand. “You can’t fly like Minju and the others.”

“Please take a second to think how dumb we’ll look going around the campus with a colorful carpet.”

“It’s not dumb! I think this orange and yellow pattern will look eye-catching as we go to Herbology Class! That class is too far from your previous one and it could save us from all that walking.”

“You think I’d want to be eye-catching on a driftcarpet?!”

“Hey, hey, look!” It’s Yujin this time, holding up a white dog plush. “Doesn’t this look like Minju’s cute familiar?”

Yena’s eyes shine as she inspects the snow hound plushie. “It does look like Keurim, doesn’t it? Though the real one is a ton times cuter.”

They left the horses by the city gates, and the four of them are now weaving through the city in search of an inn they can stay in to wait for the particular ship Wonyoung wants them to go on to, which is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning. 

Yena can’t just stop getting fascinated over every little thing the foreign merchants display on their stands, and unexpectedly, Yujin seems to get pumped up with her. Yuri wouldn’t have imagined such a scene when they were just at each other's throats a couple of weeks ago.

★彡

“Three rooms,” Dongmin says to the lady at the counter of Anjo Hotel with a straight face. Their heads collectively turn at him as he seems to have miscounted.

“Just three?” Yujin asks, an eyebrow raised.

“I would like to share a room with my fiancée tonight,” Dongmin explains calmly, pushing two gold coins across the counter.

“What? No!” Yena says impulsively, shocking the three of them briefly at the sudden outb