By this time, the twin maid sisters had already prepared a fresh, steaming dinner for Beatrice.
She quickly washed up in the bathroom and returned to the living room wearing a loose, comfortable bathrobe. Sitting down beside Flandre, she pulled the little girl into a snug embrace.
"It feels so wonderful having little Flandre waiting up for me at home!"
After hugging Flandre and taking a few deep sniffs, Beatrice finally picked up her utensils and began to devour her meal.
Watching Beatrice eat at a rapid pace, Flandre picked up a glass of warm Milk and handed it over. "Drink some milk, Sister Beatrice! Don't choke!"
Looking at the glass, Beatrice's face instantly lit up with a radiant smile. "Is little Flandre worried about me?"
Flandre nodded earnestly. "You're eating too fast; it's really bad for your digestion."
Beatrice took the glass and downed the milk in one big gulp. "Flandre is so sweet!"
After finishing her dinner, Beatrice curled up on the sofa beside Flandre, happily listening to the little girl recount her travels after leaving Ursus.
"Is Kjerag really as beautiful as they say?" Beatrice asked, resting her chin on her hand.
"It's covered in continuous snow-capped mountains—super white and dazzling, but so, so beautiful!" Flandre explained with animated gestures.
Beatrice stroked her chin thoughtfully. "I've heard of that region. But isn't Kjerag completely landlocked and isolated? How did you even get in?"
Having spent time in Victoria before, Beatrice was well aware that Kjerag was a mountain territory bordering Victorian soil. She knew that Victoria had attempted to project influence into those treacherous ranges in the past, but all those efforts had ultimately come to nothing. She was curious about the legendary snowy peaks, but even more intrigued by how Flandre's group had managed to cross into territory that Victorian scouts had failed to explore.
"By flying straight over, of course!" Flandre replied, giving Beatrice a look that clearly said 'What kind of silly question is that?'
Beatrice slapped her own forehead as realization struck. "Wait... you mean your family can all fly? Sister Patchouli and Sister Hong Meiling too?"
"Otherwise? Walking is so slow if you can fly!" Flandre answered matter-of-factly.
Beatrice rubbed her temples. The Guard Department naturally held tactical files detailing Flandre's flight Arts, and specialized Tianshi had even analyzed the footage. Their conclusion had been that while airborne mobility was possible through high-grade Arts, it was functionally unsustainable for long-distance travel. Unless an operator utilized an industrial-grade Originium Casting Unit, the continuous activation of flight-type Arts placed a massive metabolic burden on the body.
Because of this, even individuals capable of levitation typically relied on ground vehicles or foot travel for long distances, reserving flight strictly for tactical combat or extreme emergencies. Hearing that Flandre's household treated levitation as their standard, everyday mode of transit left Beatrice brimming with envy.
Flandre continued to chatter away, describing their adventures high in the mountains.
When she brought up their encounter with Kjeragandr, Beatrice's eyes widened in genuine shock. "Kjerag actually has a real god?"
"Not a god! She's just a lifeform with great power!" Flandre immediately corrected her, shaking her head.
"A person with great power!" Beatrice automatically translated the term 'lifeform' into 'person'—a concept far easier for her to grasp. After all, having never encountered a Feranmut before, she had no mental baseline to imagine such an existence.
As Flandre mentioned that Letty had chosen to stay behind in the snows, Beatrice asked with a touch of concern, "You left this Miss Letty all alone on that freezing mountain? Aren't you worried she'll be lonely?"
Flandre looked at Beatrice in pure confusion. "Why would I be worried?"
"Because living all by herself on a desolate mountain must be so lonely!" Beatrice explained.
Flandre shook her head, explaining Letty's unique condition. Only then did Beatrice learn that Letty possessed a very special physical constitution that couldn't tolerate room-temperature environments, requiring sub-zero conditions to stay comfortable. Back when they were with the Reunion Movement, Sister Patchouli had used continuous cooling Arts to maintain her personal environment, allowing Letty to travel with them for a time.
While maintaining that localized Arts wasn't difficult for Sister Patchouli, it severely restricted Letty's freedom of movement, preventing her from wandering far on her own. Thus, after asking for Letty's own preference, the group had escorted her to Kjerag.
As for loneliness... Letty didn't feel lonely at all. She had Kjeragandr to keep her company, along with countless mountain animals. For Letty, living in those endless snows was the ultimate expression of freedom.
Hearing this, Beatrice fell silent for a moment. She realized she had projected her own assumptions onto Miss Letty, assuming that living alone in the mountains meant unhappiness, without considering that personal freedom far outweighed the mild discomfort of solitude. Who was she to judge whether someone else was happy based on a few surface details?
Shifting the topic, Flandre began to describe their next destination: Kazimierz.
"Oh, I've been to Kazimierz before!" Beatrice chimed in, her expression darkening slightly. "Back then, I heard the business environment there was amazing and that it was a paradise for capital investment. But when I actually went, it turned out to be a complete scam!"
"Kazimierz's entire commercial trade is ruthlessly monopolized by the Commercial Federation. Foreign investors don't just have to pay exorbitant 'partnership fees' just to register—all trade must be heavily supervised by the Federation, pricing must strictly follow their mandates, and a massive cut of the profits must be handed straight to them."
Beatrice gritted her teeth, baring her two sharp tiger fangs in a fierce scowl. "In other words, I had to pay them for the right to enter, build facilities on their land using my own money according to their rigid blueprints, and then pay them a fee for every single transaction! What's the difference between that and blatant highway robbery? In the end, I scrapped the whole plan!"
Clearly, that deeply unpleasant business trip to Kazimierz had left a sour taste in Beatrice's mouth.
"Later on, I did a deep dive into their system," Beatrice continued, raising her chin proudly as if disdaining to associate with the Commercial Federation. "That place is nothing more than a giant, nation-sized casino run by corporate executives."
"That said... if you're just going as a tourist or a consumer, I have to admit Kazimierz does a fantastic job. At least they guarantee you get what you pay for—transparent pricing, zero scams, and as long as you have enough credit points, you'll receive top-tier service."
Despite her disgust for the Commercial Federation's corporate greed, Beatrice still respected their sheer organizational efficiency. Being able to broadcast the Major Knights Tournament across the entire continent—to the point where even secluded rural provinces in Yan watched the matches—proved that the Federation wasn't just made up of short-sighted thieves. They knew exactly how to maximize profit.
However, in Beatrice's view, the richer Kazimierz grew, the more precarious its position became.
After all, their northern neighbor Ursus was hardly a peaceful, saintly power. If the Dzwonek Fortress weren't situated so close to the border—where any major troop movement could be interpreted as a direct assault on the fortress itself—the Ursus military nobility would likely have marched south and swallowed Kazimierz whole long ago.