“Little Moon, up you get! The sun’s already roasting your backside!”

“Ugh... let me sleep a bit longer, like a cat in a warm patch...”

After last night, Dixue still didn’t let the blue-haired girl go; she teased her awhile, then they slept entwined like twining vines under moonlight.

Because of that, Yue Liuyi was spent, like the tide gone out, and still hadn’t risen from the bed’s soft shore.

“Ailuna’s already up!” The call rose like a morning lark above the windowsill light.

“Liuyi-chan, wake up...” Her voice fell cool as dew on a leaf.

Two different touches brushed her cheeks like butterfly wings, and Yue Liuyi opened her eyes to the rippling day.

She met one pair of pale-yellow eyes like dawn, and one of emerald like a forest glade; Dixue sat on her left with a crooked, impish smile.

Ailuna knelt on the floor with hands on her knees, a faint smile like a calm pond, as if last night’s nightmare had melted like frost.

“LittleSnow...? Huh? Ailuna? Did you get out of the iron cage?”

She turned toward the cage’s corner, and saw twisted bars scattered like fallen branches after a storm.

“Mhm... I don’t know how. I woke this morning, and the cage was broken, just like this.”

“That’s great!” Her joy burst like sunlight through thin cloud.

“But the chains on my wrists and ankles are still on...” The words hung heavy as rain-soaked rope.

The pink-haired girl stretched out her arms; her slender wrists were ringed by chains three centimeters thick, cold as winter snakes.

Her ankles were the same, shackled like roots in hard clay; Ailuna could move a little, but still needed hands like warm lanterns.

“Mm, a broken cage is still a dawn. Little Moon, let’s go make Ailuna some breakfast, steam rising like mist.”

Dixue shot her a look, a quick sparrow’s nod, meaning she had words for Yue Liuyi alone.

“Then... Ailuna-chan, stay in the room and don’t wander. We’ll step out and be right back, like a breeze through bamboo.”

“Okay, I understand!” Her answer rang like a bell bead on red string.

Yue Liuyi slipped into a pale beige dress, soft as oat husk, and she and Dixue stepped out into the waking light.

Morning was fresh, a clear spring; many adventurers had begun their day’s labor, like ants busy after rain.

Last night’s drizzle glazed the ground like varnish; the air was sweet with wet earth and flowers, a garden after tears.

They found a quiet nook and sat shoulder to shoulder; doubts fluttered in Yue Liuyi’s chest like moths around a lantern.

“LittleSnow... why say Ailuna is the World Tree Maiden? To me, she’s just a normal girl, unlike Breeze, who hums like a hidden zither.”

“Because Ailuna’s power is shackled; right now she can’t use her magic, so she looks ordinary, like jade wrapped in rough cloth.”

“Shackled? By the Beast-Spirit Cage?” Her question jumped like a pebble on a pond.

“No. That cage is sturdy, but to a World Tree Maiden it’s a reed fence in a storm. What truly binds her are those chains.”

“Chains?” The word felt like iron on the tongue.

“Yeah. They look plain, but they’re tough as a divine tool, a mountain under paint. Not standard magitech—whoever forged them stands beyond the common ridge.”

“Eh!? That strong?” Her surprise cracked like lightning across a summer sky.

“So, let me ask, Little Moon. Do you still want to bring Ailuna into your harem?” Dixue’s smile curved like a fox’s tail.

“Why jump to harems out of nowhere!!!!” Yue Liuyi thumped her arm, mock-angry, like a kitten batting a fan.

Dixue was getting impish, tossing stray topics like petals into a stream, letting them spin.

“Hehe, Little Moon’s hits don’t hurt~ Here’s why: if yes, we’ll be enemies with a nation; if no, we return Ailuna to the elves.”

“Huh? You mean... the elves and humans went to war because humans captured the World Tree Maiden!?” Her hands clapped like sparrows taking wing.

Ailuna tunes the World Tree, a keystone like the heartwood; if someone stole the Maiden, war rising like wildfire makes sense.

“Mm.” Dixue’s agreement was a quiet bell under the eaves.

“But... if Ailuna really is the World Tree Maiden, then this planet’s at the brink, needing her to save it, like rain before a drought?”

“Not really, and that’s the crux. Despite war, the New Land still brims with life, a river far from running dry.”

“Then why...” Her doubt coiled like smoke, unwilling to lift.

“Think back to the TV news we watched. It never said the World Tree Maiden was abducted. Common elves yearn for peace like fields for rain.”

“So why didn’t the Elven Parliament announce it and rally everyone, a drumbeat calling all leaves to one wind?”

“Huh? Afraid of panic?” Her guess wavered like heat haze.

“Nope. Elves aren’t that timid. Truth is, they don’t even know the Maiden has appeared; she was forcibly summoned by someone, like a moon pulled early.”

“Someone... who?” The question hovered like a hawk over a valley.

“Think. Who stirred that battlefield? Who could make a divine-grade device? Who bears absolute dignity? Who could approach the World Tree’s root?”

Yedie Snow guided her, and a name rose like a full moon over pines.

“Huh? The Elven Queen!?” The realization struck like a bell peal.

“Mm. The current queen of the Elven Kingdom—Tisinate.” The name fell cold as iron water.

“Eek!? B-but... isn’t the Elven Queen the elves’ leader? How could she shackle the World Tree Maiden, like caging a phoenix?”

“Simple. Love. Did you notice Ailuna’s wrist marks? Long confinement leaves rings like a tree’s years; even with smooth skin, you can trace whip scars.”

“So I guess Ailuna is Tisinate’s kept captive.” The verdict landed like a stone in a deep well.

“!!!” Her breath scattered like startled swallows.

“The Elven Queen’s love is twisted; with that lens, everything lines up like tiles on a roof.”

With Dixue’s deduction, Yue Liuyi’s view cleared like a rain-washed window, every edge bright.

A queen who launched war by sheer will, a blade drawn against the wind.

Elven commoners who oppose war, unaware the Maiden has appeared, like roots in the dark.

Heavy-handed orders detaining every outside adventurer, nets tightened across a grey sea.

Borders of the Elven Forest sealed, every crossing scrutinized, gates like clasped fingers.

All because she feared someone would spirit Ailuna away, like a thief lifting a candle.

Yet out of reverence for the World Tree, they can’t reveal Ailuna’s existence, the secret wrapped like silk.

So the Elven Queen used war as a veil, a storm to hide a lamp.

“I get it...” Yue Liuyi sighed long, wind through bamboo, and shook her head like a willow. “So Ailuna’s cries last night were because of the Elven Queen?”

“Mm. Short pain doesn’t etch scars like these. Only long imprisonment carves memory sharp as ice. So—do you still want Ailuna in your harem?”

“LittleSnow, don’t tease me now! A harem is impossible... But I don’t want Ailuna hurt either. If we hand her to the Elven Kingdom...”

“Tisinate will imprison her again, no matter what. She’s the Elven Kingdom’s strongest, a mountain none can move.”

“Ugh...” Her hands clutched her head, thoughts knotted like reeds in a current.

Things were turning complicated, spiraling like leaves in a whirl; she didn’t want a cute girl hurt, but troubles piled like hills.

“It’s okay. Letting Little Moon be simply willful is big sister’s duty, like holding an umbrella in rain. If you want to keep Ailuna, we can.”

“Eh?” Hope glimmered like a lantern under fog.

“I’ve long wanted to teach that queen named Tisinate a lesson. She stole my Skyship; that debt needs settling, like ink on ledger.”

Even if it meant standing against the entire Elven Kingdom, Dixue showed no fear, calm as a blade in its scabbard.