Aria went about her activities as usual without feeling anything strange about her. Well, she was thirsty most of the time, and within ten minutes, she had finished five bottles of drinks in the storage.
If she took another bottle of water, she was worried that the evil mistress would find out and punish her in a way she disliked the most.
What should she do? Why did she always feel thirsty and not satisfied with drinking plain water?
After finishing all her duties in this house, Aria decided to go next door to visit her friend.
"Aria! You came just in time!"
"What?"
"Let's go shopping!"
"Eh?" Aria couldn't refuse because now Quinn pulled her hand towards the car.
Wait… isn't that…??
"Morning, Aria." greeted Iona with a cheerful smile and joy as if she had met an old friend.
"Morning. What are you doing here?" Isn't the portal to the werewolf realm closed? How did Iona come here?
"Why can't I be here? I am also human, and I can easily get permission from the lord. Unfortunately, my lover can't make it, and it would be a hassle to ask permission for him."
"Besides, I will be staying at her house tonight. So when she returns to the werewolf realm, I will go with her," added Quinn to further explain Iona's appearance in this mortal realm.
Iona nodded in agreement in response to her childhood friend's explanation.
"You don't need to get permission from Alpha?" Aria thought that ordinary humans also needed permission to enter the werewolf realm.
"It's not like we humans could harm them," revealed Iona. "As long as we don't sneak into the pack territory without permission, we can explore the werewolf realm whenever we want. However, an ordinary human wouldn't be able to activate the portal door without this plaque." Iona showed Aria a dark brown token covered with gold.
"This is my first time seeing the werewolf token." Aria didn't even know that an ordinary human needed this token to open a portal. "Can this token activate any portal door? Including the fairy kingdom?"
"Of course not. This token will only activate the portal to the werewolf realm."
"And this bracelet will open the portal to the fairy kingdom," added Quinn while showing the blue pearl bracelet wrapped around her wrist.
"That's cool! How about to the vampire realm?"
Quinn and Iona looked at each other in surprise. "Why would humans like us go to the vampire realm?"
"Yeah, unless we wanna be their meal, we'd better stay here."
"Aria. Why do I get the impression you're fancy vampires?" Quinn's question made Iona gasp in surprise.
"You fancy vampires? Why? Aren't you afraid they would suck you dry? I heard the rogue vampires are difficult to handle, and they are senseless."
"Yeah. It's still worrying that some rogue vampires were hiding in this realm. Luckily, there is no those creature in the fairy kingdom."
"Yeah, lucky for you. So?" Iona glanced at Aria in curiosity.
"It's not like that. I'm just curious." how could Aria tell them the truth?
She knew the werewolves and vampires had hated each other for ages, and she hated werewolves. It was no wonder if she fancied vampires, right. Well, she hoped she wouldn't become their meal, though.
"Never mind that. So, where are we going?"
The girls laughed and pulled Aria to the car, and they went straight to one of the biggest markets in the mortal realm.
"Here, I have something for you." Iona handed over a small jar of mouth-watering strawberries, making Aria squeal in delight.
"Strawberries!! Are they for me?"
"Of course. I just picked them up in my backyard this morning. Try it."
Aria opened the lid and ate her favorite red fruit voraciously without being asked twice.
The sour taste mixed with sweetness melted on her tongue was so indescribable. It made her sigh in pleasure.
"It tastes so... heaven. I've never eaten this kind of strawberries!" Aria's exclamation made Iona giggle.
"I know, right. You can eat all you want if you stay at my house."
"Ha?" suddenly, Aria's hand that was taking another bite stopped, and her whole body became a statue. "Stay where?"
"At my house and my lover. It will be fun because my mate will be guarding the borderline tonight, and I will be left alone." described Iona, then glanced at Quinn. "So I'm thrilled that Quinn will be with me tonight. I'd be more delighted if you join us."
"I…" Aria didn't know how to reject it.
She wanted to be with Quinn and Iona because she had never been on the girls' night with her friends. But… why does it have to be in the werewolf realm?
"Come on, Aria. It will be one night."
"Two, actually. Tomorrow will be our new Alpha's official ceremony, and the portal door will be temporarily closed to avoid any unwanted chaos."
"That's so cool! Can I watch it?"
"Of course, you can," answered Iona while laughing because, as expected, Quinn was excited when she heard this news.
And she had also expected that Aria would not be excited to hear this. Instead, the girl seemed to be thinking about finding a way to refuse her invitation.
'Please just accept it.' begged Iona in her heart.
She knew that Lyod would make Aria enter the werewolf realm by force sooner or later. It was better for her to come of her own accord than for Lyod to do something that would make her hate him even more.
"So? Would you come?" asked Iona in a hopeful tone but not too eager.
"I… I don't know."
"You can eat the strawberries as much as you like if you do."
"What am I? Am I a kid?" protested Aria, earning an amused chuckle from her friends.
"We can think about that later. Let's have some fun for now!' suggested Quinn, followed by nodding in agreement by Aria and Iona.
When they arrived at the market area, Iona got off first and went straight to a clothing store with a bouncy heart.
"Oh, my. She's overly excited about coming here." Quinn chuckled in amusement to see her childhood friend's merrily manner.