In no time, a pixie fluttered over like a drifting petal and handed the room key to Yue Liuyi.

It wasn’t so much a key as a piece of art, gleaming like dew on jade. It was a lily carved from jade—green for leaf and stem, white for the petals.

“Honored guests, please keep this safe,” the pixie chimed, voice light as a wind chime. “It’s the key to the Lily Room. We’ll collect it at checkout, so don’t lose it~”

This wasn’t the fancy Pink one from before, but a plain little pixie, her pale wings like a moth’s under moonlight.

So it seemed these pixies were the Forest Fortress’s staff, flitting between boughs like leaves on a breeze.

“Thanks!”

Dixue accepted the key with courteous grace, sunlight in her smile, then eagerly tugged Little Yue’s hand like a brook pulling reeds. “We’ve been at it all day! Come on, let’s rest a bit~”

“Huh? Right now?” Her doubt rose like mist from cool water.

“Mm. We’ll talk plans over dinner,” Dixue said, gentle as a lantern glow.

“Um… Liuyi… Sister Dixue…” Ailuna tugged at Yue Liuyi’s skirt hem from behind, timid as a fawn in tall grass. “Pink said… she arranged something really fancy for me. But I’ve never been in a place like this…”

“Eh…?” The sound was soft as a bell tapped by wind.

Seeing Ailuna shrink like a shy bud, Yue Liuyi understood at a glance, her empathy spilling like warm tea. Ailuna was timid at heart. She knew it wasn’t dangerous, but it was her first time here. A lonely room would feel like a cave at night.

“Let me think…” Her brows gathered like clouds before rain.

But when she went over the keys in her mind, roommates were already scattered like birds.

Ji Wan had bolted straight for the presidential suite like a comet.

Dawn Goose and San Hua Zhi took a standard room, steady as paired cranes.

Maria and Lingwei paired up for a deluxe, glittering like twin stars.

Zaocun was dragging Breeze to the “Little Fish Snack Room,” happy as otters with shells.

Xia Jiajun was pushing a small cart toward the medical room, quiet as moss in shade.

That left only Ailuna, a lone petal in a big pond.

She looked so pitiful, pink hair drooping like rain-drenched peonies, that Yue Liuyi couldn’t abandon her to silence. She glanced at Dixue, eyes asking like lanterns at dusk.

“LittleSnow…?”

“Mm… fine~ Ailuna can stay with us,” Dixue said, nodding like a willow in soft wind.

She was just about to make it official when a scream tore the air like a cracked gong.

“Wh-why!!!!!”

“What happened?” The words hit like thrown pebbles.

“It’s Ji Wan!” The three girls traded a look, eyes bright as sparks, then sprinted toward the sound like deer through underbrush.

Moving inside the Forest Fortress was an experience painted in green and sky. Rooms weren’t linked by closed corridors, but by galleries woven from branches and vines, braided like living bridges.

At first step, Yue Liuyi felt a prickle of vertigo, fear rising like cold fog. The branches soared almost a hundred meters high, and there were no handrails, only open air pouring down like a well of blue.

“Don’t be scared, Little Yue,” Dixue said, voice calm as a still lake. “Magic trees have built-in protection. If you slip, branches will catch you like a cradle. And the World Tree Maiden? This place would never let her get hurt.”

“Really?” Her hope flickered like dawn.

“Mm.” Dixue took both Yue Liuyi and Ailuna by the hand, matching their steps like a dance on leaf-shadowed paths. They crossed only a short distance and reached the magic tree where the scream had bloomed.

Ji Wan lay there in a maid outfit, collapsed like a kite without wind, her dragon-girl aura heavy as damp charcoal.

“Ji Wan, what’s wrong?” The question moved like a cautious leaf.

“Wh-why does a lady like me have to sleep in a doghouse! You’re bullying a dragon!!!” Her outrage crackled like lightning trapped in a jar.

“A doghouse?” Yue Liuyi followed Ji Wan’s gaze and saw a delicate wooden cabin perched on the fork of the magic tree, quaint as a birdhouse in spring.

It bore the tag “Presidential Suite” and had many rooms with a sweeping view of the Forest Fortress, grand as mountains after rain. But… it clearly wasn’t made for people.

The cabin stood only a meter tall. For the orange-haired girl to get inside, she’d have to curl up like a sleeping fox. It was possible, but dignity crumpled like paper.

“What seems to be the matter, miss?” A pale-yellow-winged pixie drifted in, carrying a towel like a ribbon of cloud.

“It’s obviously a doghouse! Why call it a Presidential Suite? Even if I starve, I won’t stay here!” Ji Wan’s eyes shone like embers about to pop.

She had hoped for treatment fit to match her status, a dragon’s pride bright as a banner. Instead, she got this, small as a joke.

“It isn’t a doghouse,” the pixie explained, gentle as rain on moss. “It’s a dragon room. The elders say a great one once raised a hatchling here named ‘President,’ so it’s the Presidential Suite.”

“A… dragon’s nest?” The words trembled like a string.

“Mm. Inside are furnishings for dragons—shining gold like sunlight on waves, crystal orbs of many colors, and bone toys and such. You’re dragonkind, so you’ll surely love it.”

“That’s the taste of a Western dragon!” Ji Wan’s retort snapped like a twig.

“Would you like to change rooms, guest?” The offer hung polite as a lantern.

“No… I’ll keep this one.” Ji Wan’s chin tilted with stubborn pride, hard as jade.

She shook her head and chose the “President” suite after all. For the orange-haired girl, the room’s status mattered more than comfort. Western or Eastern, a dragon’s rank was the same mountain-high thing.

…

After the brief commotion scattered like startled birds, Yue Liuyi followed Dixue and Ailuna to their own door.

It was a small house ringed with flowerbeds, petals nodding like tiny lanterns. A faint lily fragrance slipped through the door like moonlight through gauze.

“Mmm… it smells lovely~” The praise floated like a drifting cloud.

“Looks like no one’s lived here for ages. Let’s see how it is,” Dixue said, curiosity bright as a fox’s eyes.

A pixie had explained that the Lily Room took rare resources, so no adventurer had rented it for centuries, dust settling like quiet snow.

“Anyone inside…?” Yue Liuyi pushed open the door, the hinges whispering like reeds.

The room was spotless, clean as fresh frost. Even the linens were pristine, no dust or stains, just light as folded clouds.

They stepped in one by one, and the space opened like a small meadow. It had over fifty square meters, an easy sprawl of light. There was only one bed, but it was huge, a soft sea wide enough for many girls to drift asleep.

“Perfect… a great place to roll the sheets and cuddle Little Yue~” Dixue’s teasing sparkled like fireflies.

“I am not a body pillow!” Yue Liuyi’s protest puffed like a pufferfish.

“Liuyi, what’s this?” Ailuna wandered over, curiosity blooming like a new bud.

Besides the bed and a desk, there was a big wardrobe carved with lily motifs, petals etched like ripples.

“Let me check…” Yue Liuyi stepped up to it, careful as a deer.

The wardrobe wasn’t locked. On its side, there was a passage in elf script and a slot like a letter opening, quiet as a mouth in wood.

“This is…”

“Great news, Little Yue! It’s a quick-change wardrobe!” Dixue’s delight chimed like silver bells.

“A… quick-change wardrobe?” The phrase felt new as fresh snow.

“Mm. Step inside, slide your clothing design into the slot, and it dresses you instantly, like a breeze dressing leaves!” Her grin was a crescent moon.

“That magical?” The doubt glimmered like riverlight.

“Want to try, Little Yue, Ailuna?” Dixue’s eyes were stars in dusk.

“O-okay…” Their voices trembled like strings.

…

…

“Eh!? This is—” The gasp fluttered like a startled bird.

“Why’s it so cute!” Awe sparkled like sugar crystals.

“Mm…” A soft sound, sweet as a drop of honey.

Under the girls’ stunned stares, a very cute girl walked into the dining hall, hand in hand with a silver-haired girl, like a pair of swans.

Even more shocking, the blue-haired beauty wore a white wedding dress, pure as first snow.

Long white gloves like porcelain. A white skirt swaying like a calm lake. A headpiece dotted with petals, light as drifting blossoms. The dress made her look both pure and adorable, a moon in silk.

“Everyone, meet my bride—Little Yue~” Dixue’s voice rang like a teasing bell.

“LittleSnow, don’t say stuff like that!” The bride in moonlight white shook her head, face flushed like a peach, and somehow looked even cuter.

“Eh!? Is Sister Liuyi marrying the Butterfly Snow President?” The whisper leaped like a spark.

“No… LittleSnow, why did you put that outfit in there…” Yue Liuyi’s complaint wilted like a soft leaf.

“Hehe, I just wanted to tease Little Yue~ I didn’t expect the wardrobe to run out of energy after one use,” Dixue said, wry as a tilted fan.

“Mm…” Yue Liuyi sighed, the sound a falling petal.

The wardrobe worked by breaking down the clothes you wore, then re-forming them with stored magic, weaving thread like dew. But it had been idle for ages, so after one use, its energy guttered like a spent candle.

“Aw… what a pity. Ailuna wanted to wear a wedding dress too…” Ailuna trailed the hem like a dutiful bridesmaid, sweetness soft as cream.

“If we could take it off, I’d let Ailuna try it,” Dixue mused, mischief glinting like starlight.

Whether by Dixue’s design or fate’s trick, the gown had no buttons, not even a zipper, smooth as water. To take it off, they’d have to tear it, a choice both lewd and wasteful as ripping silk.

And Yue Liuyi didn’t have the strength for it. Asking LittleSnow would be too strange, like inviting thunder, and who knew what unspeakable scene it might turn into.

“Don’t worry, Little Yue! When the wardrobe recharges, I’ll wear the same wedding dress and keep you company.” Dixue’s promise was warm as lantern fire.

“That’d be way too weird!” Yue Liuyi blurted, flustered as a scattering sparrow.

“Eh? Does Little Yue want to see Sister Dixue in a suit? Men’s wear… could be fun~” Her tone danced like a fox.

“No, just change back to normal clothes!”

And so, beneath branches like vaulted green and lamps like low stars, their first dinner in the Forest Fortress began~