“Now you say that... Ah, is it because of sweat?”
“Your clothes.”
Only then did I look myself over.
The clothes I’d gotten from the Spirit were a wreck. The original beige was gone; they were caked in blood, sweat, and dirt.
The blood smeared all over the front belonged to the bastard who tried something vile and died with a knife stuck in his neck. Realizing that much made wearing this feel filthy.
I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment. Varen’s eyes narrowed even further.
“Who was it. Who left all these marks on your body.”
“...Why are you saying it like that?”
Blood spilled from a knife wound was a “mark” in a sense, but there was something off in Varen’s nuance.
Afraid the mood would turn strange for no reason, I turned my head and averted my eyes.
Varen stalked toward me in heavy steps.
“Who. Who was it? Tell me now.”
“And if I tell you?”
“I’ll find him and kill him.”
Pressed by Varen’s headlong # Nоvеlight # charge, I unconsciously stepped back.
I pressed a fingertip to his forehead to tell him to stop coming closer.
“I already killed him. Enough.”
“A step too late.”
Varen bit his lip as if truly incensed. I let out a breathless laugh at the absurd reaction.
Every time, I think dogs are better. At least Berry didn’t get jealous over the smell of blood.
Shaking my head, I spoke in a thin voice.
“You, let me check your condition too. Looked like your wing had an issue back there—”
“Take it off.”
I froze at the two flat syllables.
I turned my stiff neck and met his face.
“...What did you say.”
“Take it off. Now.”
Of course I didn’t want to keep wearing clothes soaked in someone else’s blood.
But I didn’t have a change of clothes, and I couldn’t just stand around bare.
I was thinking ahead, but Varen charged in without before or after.
“I don’t like another male’s scent on you.”
Varen yanked up my top without mercy. In a blink my stomach and chest were bared.
When a rough hand and hot body heat touched bare skin, gooseflesh raced down my back.
“Argh! You lunatic, I said don’t!”
Men stripping to the waist together is nothing, but exposure without mental prep is mortifying.
Face flushing scarlet, I tried to stop him, but if words could stop him, he wouldn’t be Varen.
He had my top rolled up to my armpits already and snapped, irritated.
“Arms up, Ceryl. Take it off. Now.”
“If I take this off, what am I supposed to wear!”
The backpack the Spirit gave me had a spare set, but I’d lost the pack when I was abducted.
Even if it felt filthy, if I took this off, I’d be walking around naked while it dried.
If I were alone, baring my chest wouldn’t be so embarrassing.
But with Varen here, I all the more couldn’t sit around undressed.
I clamped my arms tight to my sides like defending a last gate. I gripped the hem snagged in my armpits and shook my head.
“Don’t, you bastard!”
“Take it off.”
“I’m not taking it off!!”
“Take it off.”
“I said I’m not!!!”
My voice climbed and climbed without end.
A childish back-and-forth, repeating the same lines, went on and on. In the end, the victory went to the stubborn dragon.
Varen tore the front placket of the rolled-up top. With a ripping, satisfying sound, the fabric split.
I stared at the scene with vacant eyes. A rasping voice fell out of my mouth.
“...I said I wouldn’t...”
Varen grabbed and ripped the fabric across my back as well. It felt like my pride tore away with the clothes.
Strength drained out of my upper body, which had gone rigid in total defeat.
With my wits gone and me sitting still, Varen stripped off everything still snagged around my arms.
“There’s still another male’s scent, but it’s much better.”
At the satisfied lilt in his voice, I glared upward.
I clenched my fists at that fresh, pleased face. Of course, I didn’t have the courage to punch that boulder.
Instead I crossed my forearms in an X and covered my flat chest. Standing stark naked in a vast mountain made me feel like an exhibitionist.
“You rotten bastard... does whatever he damn well wants....”
I muttered it loud enough to hear.
Instead of taking a hit from my words, Varen started undressing himself this time. He loosened the thin ribbon tie that closed in front, and a bursting chest came into view.
Unlike my eyes, shaken by confusion, Varen didn’t take his straight gaze off me.
“Y-you—why are you... why are you undressing.”
I stammered without meaning to. I asked Varen, but I half knew the answer.
It wasn’t my first rodeo with that bastard. If he strips me by force and strips himself, what else could it mean.
I can lay down my life for a dragon, but I can’t lay down a man’s last shred of pride.
Ready to drive my palm into his nose and run if it came to it, I edged away.
But Varen held out the shed garment to me.
“Wear it.”
“......”
I couldn’t say it was only my fault.
How much have I been through that I’d get scared he was going to jump me.
It was a relief I didn’t speak the mortifying way I’d gotten ahead of myself. I pressed a hand over my pounding chest and took the offered clothing.
“Ahem, I misunderstood. Anyway—thanks.”
“I don’t care, but I don’t like others seeing your body.”
I wanted to say, you don’t get a pass either. But I didn’t want another answerless round of bickering.
Varen seemed unbothered even with his upper body bare.
Well. If I had a body like that, I’d just be proud.
On the other hand, the nude show was mortifying for me.
He’d already seen it all, but I still turned my back to Varen and slipped on the new clothes. I slid my arms into the sleeves one by one.
Varen’s garment was too big on me. I had to roll the sleeves and sleeves again to free my hands.
What fit the hulking dragon was a swaddling cloth on me.
Still, beggars can’t be choosers. This wasn’t the time to pick hot or cold rice.
But against my intent, the gown-like garment that closed in front was hard to fix in place. It kept slipping and skewing on my body.
While I floundered, failing to close the loose garment properly, two arms snuck in at my sides.
“I’ll dress you.”
I didn’t even know when he came up—Varen had already taken a back-hug position and set my clothes straight.
He spread the front panels wide and wrapped them neatly to fit my body. Then he brought the tie from the back around and knotted a ribbon near my navel.
“You’re a lot of work, Ceryl.”
A voice anyone would call cheerful whispered at my ear.
I’d always treated Varen like a kid, but with the situation flipped, my face crumpled.
“Sorry to be such a lot of work.”
“It’s fine. I’ll do it.”
I turned my head just a little. At the satisfied curve of his mouth, I let out a disbelieving breath.
“Happy now that you forced your way? Huh? Happy?”
With my pride creased, barbs got into my words.
To the sharp question, Varen answered gently.
“Yeah. I’m happy.”
The excessive honesty left me speechless.
Varen cinched the ribbon once more and then wrapped my body in his arms.
I got spooked, thinking he’d squeeze tight enough to choke me, but he didn’t this time.
Instead, with hands that trembled minutely, he made fists and held me carefully.
The teasing air shifted. Varen’s voice turned forlorn.
“Ceryl, it was only a moment... but I thought you ran away from me again.”
My brows knit on their own at the word “again.”
Back at the facility, Varen had also mistaken me for running away from him.
Well, unfair as it was, I could understand. Jed had even driven a wedge.
But now was different, wasn’t it.
“Hey, why would I run. Do you distrust me that much?”
I thought enough trust had piled up between us. Guess that was just my delusion.
I snapped back curtly, but the more I chewed on it, the more it stung. Before I knew it, my lower lip was jutting.
“I do trust you. But... because of what I said before going into the Eterna Nest...”
Varen mumbled in a way that didn’t suit him. Just his voice sounded like it was crawling.
Puzzled, I turned my head to face him.
“What you said? What did you say?”
I tossed it off lightly, but Varen stayed silent.
He urged me with his eyes, as if to say, Find the answer yourself.
I stared with a grave face and dug into thought. What had Varen said before going into the Eterna Nest.
After half a day of going through every kind of thing, this morning’s conversation felt like ancient history.
Blinking blankly, I rummaged through the blurred afterimages of memory.
At some point he’d said he could feel the Eterna Nest by instinct, and he’d thanked me for coming with him... and then, out of nowhere...
“Ceryl Aylos. I love you.”
Varen, done waiting, jumped the gun.
Faced head-on with the confession, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Regardless of my reaction, he drove the nail once more.
“I love you from the depths of my heart.”
Varen spoke each word with weight, stamping it like a seal.
The low voice rang at my ear, and the heat against my back grew hotter.
I’d received a heartfelt confession, but answering readily was hard. Awkward, I only pushed my hair back for no reason.
“Ah... uh, right.”
Failing to find the right words, I hedged.
Love. That couldn’t be the name of what lay between Varen and me.
Different species, same sex—how was a romantic feeling supposed to take shape.
“Hey... Varen, listen.”
I wetted my dry lips once and opened carefully.
Turning down an adolescent dragon’s feelings was a careful, difficult task for me, too.
Even so, I had to draw a firm line.
“Mm, I—”
“Ceryl, you don’t have to answer.”
Just as I managed to choose my words and start, Varen cut me off, firm.
Then, like someone being chased, he hurried the rest out.
“After I lost you, I understood. Having you at my side is enough. Just don’t run from me. Don’t leave me, Ceryl.”
