Kaya stared at the diary for a brief second before grabbing it and hurling it straight at the wall.

Damn.

It struck hard enough that a small crack bloomed across the surface—God knows how a stupid book managed that. She didn’t flinch. She only looked at it with pure, unfiltered hatred before brushing the dust from her hands, as if touching it for even a moment had contaminated her.

She couldn’t believe she had wasted so much time reading this crap.

Yes—crap. Absolute nonsense. From start to finish, it felt like something scribbled by an obsessed otaku or a delusional novelist trying too hard to sound profound. To hell with it.

Ever since she came here, she’d been forced to listen to the same story over and over again. Different mouths, different tones—but always the same core. Thousands would be an exaggeration... fine. Four or five times. Still unbearable. And every version twisted itself just enough to pretend it was new.

She was already sick of it.

One look at that diary was enough to tell her how intense the hatred surrounding it was. Thick. Suffocating. And Kaya wasn’t some gullible fool who would swallow this nonsense about a god who couldn’t even protect his own daughter.

How ridiculous.

What kind of god was that?

The simplicity of the tale—oh, the tragedy, the sacrifice, the inevitability—made it even worse. Empty words dressed up as fate.

Huh.

In the end, it was nothing more than nonsense.

Kaya sighed and let her gaze drift to the other books stacked nearby. She didn’t have the mood to read anymore. Not after that book. Her anger was already simmering, thanks to it, and Elara Kaya had never been on friendly terms with excessive reading anyway.

If it was a storybook—and if it was interesting—she might indulge. Otherwise? No chance. Not every book deserved her time.

With a sharp motion, Kaya grabbed the diary, shoved it into the drawer, locked it, pushed the drawer shut, and walked out as if nothing had happened.

The moment she opened the door, her voice rang through the house.

"Veer!"

At her call, Veer rushed forward—or at least tried to. Ever since Kaya married him, she had to admit one thing: this man was always at home. Right now, he wasn’t cooking—thankfully, because he cooked terribly. And he wasn’t doing anything productive either.

He had been sleeping.

Still half-dressed and clearly disoriented, he blinked and said, "Yes, yes, honey—yes, baby—I mean, Kaya."

Kaya stared at him with unmistakable hostility... then smiled.

The contrast was terrifying.

In a voice so sweet it bordered on dangerous, she said, "Let’s go on a honeymoon."

Veer froze.

Behind him, Cutie’s spoon slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor. Even the sparrow pecking at pumpkin seeds on the windowsill stopped mid-bite, wings stiff.

"...What?"

.

.

2 hours later in middle of sky.

Veer was in his vulture form, completely stunned, flying on pure instinct rather than sense. He didn’t even remember when he had taken off—only that one moment he was half-asleep at home, and the next, he was cutting through the clouds like his life depended on it.

Kyoti, perched beside Kaya in his rabbit form, looked no better. His ears twitched uselessly in the wind, eyes vacant, as if he, too, was still trying to process how this had turned into a honeymoon. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The sparrow on Kaya’s shoulder was in even worse condition.

Moments ago, he had been sitting peacefully at his table, pecking at seeds, minding his own business. Now, Veer was flying so fast that the wind whipped through his feathers, scattering them wildly. Feathered or not, it made no difference—his brain had completely checked out.

None of them knew what they were doing here.

There had been no warning. No preparation. One moment Kaya had dropped the word honeymoon like a bomb, and the next she had pulled out a travel bag—God knew when she’d packed it—grabbed all of them, and launched them straight into the sky.

Sparrow desperately wanted to shift back into his human form and ask the only reasonable question.

Why the hell are we even following you?

But one glance at Kaya stopped him cold.

Her expression had darkened, her eyes sharp and unreadable, the kind of calm that warned of consequences. Veer also swallowed the question, kept flying, and decided—wisely—that now was not the time to challenge her.

They had been flying for so long that even the sky seemed repetitive.

Eventually, Veer tilted his head mid-flight and glanced back at Kaya—a silent question etched into the movement. Where now?

In response, Kaya calmly reached into her handbag and pulled out a map.

Yes. A map.

Just two days ago, she had grabbed Veer’s father and forced him to make one. Unfortunately for her—and fortunately for him—he already had one prepared. He handed it over without hesitation, mostly to get her away from him and stop her from irritating his life. The man truly despised seeing her face.

Still, Kaya had to admit something.

The map was impressive.

There were no signs of civilization marked on it, but every tribe’s territory was clearly pinpointed. It made sense—Veer’s father was a vulture, after all. He had flown across lands most creatures had never even seen. While it didn’t cover the entire planet, and certainly not every region, Kaya had to begrudgingly admit it spanned nearly half of it.

"God," she muttered inwardly, impressed despite herself.

She folded the map slightly, patted Veer’s neck, and said, casually, "To the turtles."

Sparrow, the soldier perched on her shoulder, twitched.

He very clearly wanted to correct her. Tortoises, not turtles.

But Kaya shot him a single glance—cool, sharp, final—before returning her attention to the map.

The correction died in his throat.

Not that it mattered. He couldn’t even speak properly in this form. And Veer didn’t need the clarification anyway. One look at the map was enough for him to understand—the Tortoise Tribe.

He adjusted course immediately.

They reached their destination a day later.

Normally, at their usual pace, the journey would have taken two and a half days. But Kaya had instructed Veer to fly as fast as he possibly could, and he hadn’t dared slow down.

By now, Kaya had grown accustomed to his speed. The wind no longer bothered her, and with her hair cut short, it wasn’t even an inconvenience anymore.

Just endless sky, rushing air, and a destination she had already decided upon.

.

.

"Didn’t I tell you not to walk in to the Tortoise Tribe like that?" Kaya said flatly. "It’s not a good thing to barge into someone’s house."

The words hung in the air.

Veer—now in his human form—slowly turned to look at her. So did Cutie. Even the sparrow, still very much a bird, tilted his head.

All three of them wore the same expression.

Has she lost her mind?

This was the same woman who had barged into countless tribes without warning. The same woman who had walked straight into Veer’s father’s house without so much as announcing her name. And now she was lecturing them about manners and propriety?

Suspicion immediately crept into their eyes.

This was not respect.

This was strategy.