The Velvet Manor had seen many things—Dragon-girl duels, demon engagement announcements. At least three separate holy crusades launched from the dining room table. But today… today it was "Diplomatic Tea Hour."
The parlor, a beautiful room of polished marble floors and velvet curtains, was normally meant for pleasant tea parties with foreign ambassadors. Today, however, it looked more like the set of a hostage negotiation drama.
In the center: a round table.
On one side: Emilia Roseveil, noble childhood friend, now paladin-in-training, armed with tea etiquette and a suspicious amount of holy sugar cubes.
On the other side: Lucivella Nightshade, Demon Lord Supreme, Queen of Smug, sitting like the villainess of every bedtime story who decided tea parties were just war councils with cookies.
And in the middle, strapped once again into a "safety chair" by Rosette, was Rei Velvet, victim-slash-groom-to-be, who wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor and never be found again.
