"What the hell do you think you’re doing! You snot-nosed brat!"
I forgot Kallen and Leobin were sleeping and exploded. The cave’s echo slammed my own shout back into my eardrums.
Varen was shameless to the core. He looked straight into my eyes and even swallowed, audibly. The brazen act made the nape of my neck throb.
"Don’t yell. I only put my power into you."
Each word bounced off my skull. A hard conviction took hold that every word out of that disgraced dragon’s mouth was nothing but excuses, lies, and fraud.
"Cut the crap, you little punk. You think I don’t know you’ve been pawing at me since—"
"I told you. A dragon’s saliva has healing power."
Had I ever said that? Now that I thought about it, I might have heard it.
"I even treated you. Did you forget?"
Ah—now it came back.
On the day we escaped the Facility, Varen had cleaned up my wrecked body as if nothing had happened.
It was impossible to forget. How humiliating the report was that he had licked me all over while I was unconscious.
The belated, vertiginous memory dropped my heart into ice. I staggered back and pressed my forehead.
Then I calmly checked my own condition. Damn it. I’d been exhausted a moment ago, yet my state had lifted in a strange, upward tick. That made it even more miserable.
"Your life force is leaking away, so I restored you."
"..."
"You don’t need to thank me."
A short kiss really did feel like it had brought my stamina back, so why wouldn’t my legs take any weight?
I slid down and sat on the ground. I drew my legs together, knees up, and buried my wrecked face.
"Don’t do that again..."
My voice mumbled into my knees. Even so, the dragon understood it perfectly and answered.
"And if you collapse after all your life force is taken?"
"...Didn’t you say I have a lot of life force."
"Treating that corpse-like human will take a considerable amount of it."
I lifted my empty eyes. Maybe it was my imagination, but Leobin looked like he was getting some color back.
"Are you going to let that human die?"
I couldn’t. I couldn’t let someone I at least knew by face die.
Besides, he was the only character who knew Ceryl Aylos’s past. Why on earth had he called me his lord, what exactly was I—I had a lot I wanted to ask.
Fine, keep it simple. This wasn’t anything high-minded like a kiss.
I gave Leobin my life force, and Varen restored me. It was just a kind of perpetual motion.
"Only when it’s really bad... do it..."
"Understood. I’ll put my mouth to yours when you’re struggling."
"..."
"Say the word anytime."
Varen smiled in triumph.
***
Leobin didn’t die and only slept like the dead.
You can’t put a patient with broken ribs on a horse, so we decided to stay in the same cave for the time being.
His condition was dire, but there was nothing more to do. All we could manage was changing bandages and wiping off cold sweat.
But just sharing the same space with me improved Leobin’s state. As expected, it was a phenomenon modern medicine couldn’t explain.
And what Varen said had been true.
Being in the same space as Leobin made me more tired than usual. Standing watch was out of the question.
By the third day, I didn’t even have the strength to lift a spoon.
If ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) you have no teeth, you use your gums. Since I couldn’t lift a spoon, I bent my head and shoved my nose into the bowl to eat.
Then the broth went up my nose and refluxed, and I aspirated properly. After coughing for over ten minutes in this flimsy body, my ribs throbbed.
Why did I have to live like this. I hadn’t lived that virtuously, but I wasn’t a bad human either.
"Ceryl, you don’t look well."
"...I’m fine."
"Why are you being stubborn."
Damn it. I had no choice now but to accept it—my situation.
Leobin was asleep, and Kallen had gone with Ella to gather herbs. Rami was no doubt off somewhere hunting with great enthusiasm.
Even so, the cave made me uneasy. It wasn’t a suitable place to get a life-force charge from a dragon.
"Look at me for a second."
"I’m looking."
"Come outside."
I grabbed Varen by the wrist and dragged him out. Then I headed deeper into the forest.
For how heavy my steps were, Varen’s were light as air.
"Any humans around?"
"None."
"Haah... Kallen? She’s far, right?"
"Yes. She’s gone quite far."
Even with a firm answer I was uneasy and scanned the surroundings. There was nothing to interfere.
The place was set, the partner was set, everything was ready—only my mind wasn’t.
As I hesitated facing him, Varen snorted.
"Why did you call me out?"
The feigned ignorance grated.
When he was the one who’d fallen ill and collapsed, I had nursed him so thoroughly. The injustice of this was staggering.
But as they say, the thirsty one digs the well; I was the one in need, so I had to bend.
"Let’s... do it."
"Do what."
"You said you’d restore me. So... that. Let’s do it."
I barely spat the shameful words. I couldn’t bring myself to look him straight in the face.
"You want to kiss me?"
"..."
"You said you hate it when I’m in human form."
The leisure in his voice tugged at the back of my neck. I shot him a glare; a smile tinged with quiet amusement greeted me.
That look made strength I didn’t have well up. I grabbed Varen’s collar with both hands, firm.
"Ugh, just—give it!"
"Give what..."
"Does it wear you out? Does it?! You’re acting awfully precious!"
I lunged, seething, and Varen actually stumbled back in surprise. Then he took my shoulders and let his head drop.
I’d expected him to retort with anything, and the limp reaction threw me.
Could it really wear him out? Well, he did have to use a dragon’s power for it. Maybe I’d made a needless request.
While I just blinked awkwardly, Varen lifted his head again. He smiled wide enough to light up his whole face and even snickered.
"It isn’t precious. Not with you."
It was the first time I’d seen him laugh like that. Even at his best mood he’d only ever shown a faint smile. Laughing out loud, he really did look young.
I even forgot I was irritated and just stared blankly at his face.
After laughing awhile, Varen dipped his head slightly for me. Even so, he was still higher.
"I’ll give it, so take as much as you want."
Why did the voice I heard all the time feel so ticklish today. I frowned for no reason and yanked his collar once more.
"Lower. Do I have to stand on tiptoe just to kiss you?"
This was my last pride. I didn’t want to be a man kissing—no, scrambling to charge life force—on tiptoe.
Varen obeyed properly. He lowered his head a little more and offered me his lips.
With them right in front of me, a surge of mixed feelings rose. I’ve really gone off the deep end. Self-disgust swelled.
I clenched my fist hard. Even so, if I held out for a moment, I’d be steadier for days. More than anything, if I was going to transfer life force to Leobin, this was the only way.
"...Hey, close your eyes."
"No."
"It’s bad manners to kiss with your eyes open."
"That’s a human’s manners. They don’t concern me."
Our faces were close enough for our noses to touch. He didn’t look like he intended to close his eyes at all.
I was about to say one more thing, then gave up; kissing with my eyes screwed shut sounded ridiculous in its own way.
Nerves sent my heart into a frenzy. I prayed this thundering wouldn’t be mistaken for some other feeling.
I cautiously set my lips to his. For all that the rest of the dragon was hard as stone, at least here he was soft.
I had, in fact, pressed our mouths together, but I didn’t have the nerve to put my tongue in. We only kept our lips touching, hesitating, when a vivid sensation came from behind my back.
Something moved slow and looped naturally around my waist. Without thinking, I lowered a hand to feel it.
I thought it was a tail, but it was Varen’s forearm. The rock-hard cord of muscle tightened and drew me into his arms once more.
"Mm—"
Startled, I sucked in a short breath. He slipped his tongue in through that gap at my lips. I’d been through this once, and still I couldn’t get used to it.
Something hot and wet swam through my mouth. There was no technique in the movement. He just stirred around inside as if to spread saliva into every corner.
Inevitably, the two pieces of flesh grazed and knocked. The sensation was too much; I tried to shy away, but there was nowhere in the narrow woods to go. If anything, he only pressed in thicker.
And gulp. The saliva Varen had passed to me slid down my throat.
Maybe that’s when my head began to fog. One swallow of dragon saliva and a rabid thirst ignited.
A late-woken taste chased sweetness by instinct. The hand gripping his collar moved on its own to catch his jaw.
I opened wider, took his tongue deeper. A human body drained of life force craved a dragon’s power.
It was a kiss close to a loss of self. I heard nothing; I focused only on taking Varen in.
"Haah... Ceryl..."
Our mouths parted for a moment and a name sweeter than saliva slipped out. As if it were a magic spell, my eyes opened on their own.
Blue eyes met mine and wavered. I couldn’t look away from them, and I couldn’t stop kissing either.
Half-lidded, we gazed into each other and our lips sealed again. The arms banded around my waist tightened, drawing me flush.
Even though it wasn’t night, even though the moon wasn’t up yet, Varen’s body grew progressively hotter. The heat spread into me where we were sealed without a gap.
"Hhh... mm—"
My already scant breath turned ragged. A low sound leaked from my throat on its own. Every time it did, the hands on my waist clamped down harder.
