When Lunaria woke up, it was already evening time and close to dinner. This made her realize how long she had already slept, but it wasn't enough to quell the sadness and pain in her heart.
Sniffing gently as memories of her discussion with her father resurfaced, Lunaria wiped away the tear stains on her face that had leaked during her sleep. She knew that regardless of what happened, there was no point crying about it unless she tried to do something about it. With a huge sigh, Lunaria sat at the side of the bed and stared blankly at the wall in front of her for several minutes before getting up to refresh with a shower.
"Oh?"
"K-Kaze?"
Lunaria, being in a daze, did not realize that her bathroom was occupied. When she opened the door, Kaze, who was inside taking a shower, heard her entering and turned around, revealing his fully nude body. This gave Lunaria a slight scare as she didn't expect anyone to be inside, causing her to unintentionally avoid looking at him with a huge blush on her face when she would normally just smile from his nude body.
"I didn't know you woke up already. I finished training with Lunatea and came for a shower," Kaze told Lunaria, not minding her weirdly shy expression as he continued scrubbing his body while water rained down on him. "If you still want to sleep, I have already made arrangements with Tuarle and Ilesta to bring you your dinner."
"N-No, I want to stay awake," Lunaria stammered, fanning her face with one hand to calm down from the image of Kaze's abs in her head. "W-Want me to join you?"
"Come on in then," Kaze nodded, washing off the soap suds from his hair. "Are you alright?"
"Mm… not really," Lunaria shook her head and hugged him gently, allowing the water to flow onto her from above too. "Sleeping seems to only delay the pain."
"I see…" Kaze stroked her head while saying so. "Does hugging help to ease the pain?"
"A little," Lunaria closed her eyes to enjoy his warmth. "After dinner later, please follow me. I want to vent my frustration."
"Okay," Kaze nodded, not minding where they were going. "I love you, alright? Nothing's going to change that."
Without a word, Lunaria tilted upwards and leaned in for a kiss, answering his words with an action of her own.
- - - - - - -
"Thank you for dinner."
Lunaria stood up from the table and left the dining room first. Everyone watched her leave in silent, feeling bad for the Crown Princess. Kaze had told them what Lunaria did to herself upon realizing what the impact on Kaze was from the new letter. This was expected, especially when it caused her appetite to severely decrease to the point that she barely ate anything and left without saying a word throughout dinner.
However, nothing hurt more than knowing that this was going to be their last dinner together at the palace before departing the next day. They had decided to leave after breakfast as a final meal together with the royals and thus return to Aravel. With the mood being so sour from the recent few announcements, nothing seemed to be helping their case in finding a solution to either keep Kaze there or have Kaze return with them. Yuuji had suggested an appeal to the school but even that might not work if it had been discussed by the school board and went against Aldwolf himself. As such, the assumption was that Kaze would return with them to Czech, leaving Lunaria and the others.
Kaze soon finished his and went to meet up with Lunaria at the place they had discussed. Laevia gave him a knowing nod before he left, which he responded with a forced smile. Their secret message did not go pass his friends' eyes, leaving them slightly confused with what Kaze and Laevia had signalled to each other. Still, this didn't stop Kaze from leaving to meet with his lover.
"That was quick," Lunaria commented once he showed up. "I figured you would have taken longer to eat since this is your last meal."
"You are my current priority, Lunaria. I value time with you more," Kaze stated with a wry smile. "Shall we?"
Together, the two left the palace through a side entrance so that there would be fewer guards around. They headed for the forest behind the palace, where the palace garden was. It was also where they stumble upon Kaze's ability to make the Phoenix Orchids excrete its seed.
However, that wasn't the real reason they came to the forest. As Lunaria had said earlier, she wanted to 'vent her frustration', meaning that she must have something in mind that required him coming along with her. They passed through the thick forest filled with all sorts of plants and trees that blocked their view of the surrounding. Just like before, natural light emitted from plants lit their way, guiding them through the trudges of the forest.
When they came into an opening, Kaze realized they were close to a cliff behind the mountain. If he turned around right now, he could see only a few faint lights on the huge dark body of the mountain, barely illuminating its massive size. The clouds blocked the moon tonight, casting a massive shadow of darkness over the town itself. Towards the very right of the cliff was the town, its illuminated night self nearly unrecognisable from where they were. In front of them, beyond the cliff, were ranges of mountains afar that make up the rocky landscape Aravel was situated in.
"You never saw this part of the palace before, have you?" Lunaria asked Kaze upon seeing his stumped face. "I'm not surprised. Generally, the only good thing you get out of traversing through the garden to come here is only the view of the mountains afar. It's unimpressive, to say the least."
"I wouldn't say that. Sure, compared to the views from the dragon's nest or the stables atop, this is but a sneak peek at the beauty Aravel has to offer," Kaze shook his head. "If not for the moon getting blocked tonight, maybe we could have a rather good view."
A weak smile came from Lunaria's side. Setting aside the magic crystal she brought to illuminate their way, Lunaria stopped Kaze from walking any further.
"Wait here," Lunaria looked aside in shame. "I… don't want you to get hurt accidentally."
She then walked towards the opening leading up to the edge of the cliff. There, a single tree existed upon the rocky landscape. From where Kaze was, all he could see was the dark outline of her body getting smaller and smaller under the darkness. Her figure then rapidly expanded, morphing into a being that would terrify all lifeform in this world as its true power was known by all. The ground trembled as the morphing came to a halt, representing the power of the creature before Kaze with each step it took.
Lunaria had morphed into her dragon form. It was also during this time where the clouds broke apart temporarily, allowing the moon to cast its light onto the land below. The light also illuminated the being before Kaze, showing off its majestic form. The scales on her fully white body reflected the light of the moon, giving her a glow that represented what sort of being a dragon was: ancient, mystifying, all-powerful, fearless, beautiful.
"I hope I didn't surprise you," Lunaria's voice echoed in his head telepathically. "I didn't want my dragon form to accidentally squash you."
"N-No, its fine," Kaze gulped, his head tilted all the way upwards just to get a glimpse of her full form. "Uhh… I thought dragonkins weren't allowed to randomly transform into dragons?"
"That only applies for those who haven't mastered the art of transformation. Otherwise, anyone can turn into a dragon as they wish but they can't do it in the face of the Emperor and Empress without permission," Lunaria stated, taking a small step forward. "So, how do I look?"
Accompanying her question, Lunaria lowered her head to the ground, almost as though her dragon self was kneeling in front of Kaze when in reality she just wanted to lower herself to make it easy for Kaze to see her. Each flap her wing made to stretch itself casted huge gusts of wind in all direction, causing Kaze to shield his face to prevent the wind from hitting him directly. This was the second time he had seen her, albeit in a controlled and gentle manner, yet it never failed to faze him as much as it had the first.
Now that Lunaria had her head lowered and inches away from him, Kaze was able to get a good look at the structure of her dragon features. Even in a non-human form, Lunaria was definitely an immensely beautiful dragon. The way her body was coated fully in white with the occasional difference in colour making up other parts of her body truly showed off what 'purity' meant, a stark contrast to the Lunaria who had already been tainted before. From the way her eyes, now much bigger and emphasized to resemble a cat's iris, to how her nose and mouth looked like, Kaze could feel her breathing from her nostrils that he could easily fit his arm into. Everything about Lunaria was so massive, it made Kaze question how she could be so gentle in this form.
"Come on, let's go for a ride," Lunaria told him, her physical self grunting softly. "I want you to be the first one to 'ride' me."
"Uhhh… are you sure this is safe?" Kaze gulped, feeling worried to even touch her. "Won't I fall off?"
"Just like with the wyverns, I will take extra care of my lover," Lunaria convinced him. "You can touch me, don't be afraid."
With slight trepidation, Kaze reached out one hand to touch her skin. How her dragon scales felt were both tough and smooth, almost like a shield that had been meticulously made. He rapped it lightly with his knuckle twice, only for it to produce a blunt tapping sound unlike any material he ever heard before. After taking his time to observe her, Kaze walked to the left side of her face where her edge of her mouth was. Seeing her teeth barely showing under her lips made Kaze gulp for he knew what those teeth of Lunaria's were capable of. At the same time, he trusted Lunaria enough to know that she wouldn't hurt him. This allowed him to lift the upper layer of her lip gently, feeling how heavy it was to just lift a thin layer of skin covering her mouth, and touched one of her long daggers. It was quite surreal that he could do all this with a real dragon, simply because said dragon was his lover.
"How do I climb up?" Kaze asked, looking around her. "You're so huge I don't think I can possibly scale the side of your face."
"Hmm, maybe I should get father or mother to teach you this next time," Lunaria murmured. "For the time being, I will use magic to lift you up."
Kaze felt his body levitating off the floor to a height where he was barely hovering over the top of her head. With a plop, Lunaria released her magic and Kaze fell right onto the crown of her head, in between of where her smaller horns were. Kaze instinctively grabbed both of them, treating them as a way of securing himself when she flew. It was very much like holding onto the ropes round the neck of a horse when riding one, except this time he had to ride a dragon.
"You should lie flat on your stomach and hold onto them," Lunaria taught him the proper way to ride her. "Since you will be on the top of my head the whole time, it is much easier for a beginner like you to lie flat in case you can't control your balance well enough yet."
"Okay, like this?" Kaze nodded, switching the way he sat on her and got comfortable. "Strangely enough, it doesn't feel hard to lie down like this."
"Here we go."
Lunaria got up from the floor to stand on all fours, creating a huge tremble from the top of where Kaze was. The way how he was suddenly sliding left and right was quite alarming for someone who hadn't experienced dragon riding before, but he held on for dear life and trusted in Lunaria to be careful.
With a few strong flaps of her massive wings, they were off.
The first few seconds for Kaze went by in a blur. As soon as they took off the ground, all that met Kaze was a huge swirl of wind blowing into his face. Lunaria quickly enchanted a wind barrier around Kaze to deflect as much of the wind as possible from hindering him, allowing Kaze to retighten his grip on the horns.
After those few seconds of terror and ascension passed, Lunaria hovered mid-air, allowing Kaze to timidly open his eyes and realize where he was. The terror of being so high up in the air quickly disappeared the moment they were above the clouds, creating a sort of peaceful feeling of them flying so high up that even the clouds were below them, with nothing but an empty sky full of stars accompanied by the light of the moon. It was almost like a different world altogether.
"It's so quiet up here," Kaze uttered, feeling Lunaria gliding her wings across the sky as she allowed the uplift to do most of the hovering work where she needn't flap her wings. "Like an escape of sort."
"That's why I love to go on lonely flights alone when I feel conflicted emotionally," Lunaria stated as she eased the wind barrier around Kaze. "It serves as a disconnect from the world below, away from the reality of life."
"This is a luxury only dragonkins can have," Kaze smiled wryly at this. "Not even the wyverns are able to fly so high up here."
"Yes. Keep in mind that you may have difficulty in breathing if we remain up here for too long," Lunaria told Kaze. "Seeing that this is our last night together, I wanted to do something special that only I share with you."
"This much is plenty, Luna," Kaze lightly patted the top of her head where he sat. "I don't know where else I can replicate an experience as magical as this."
Figuratively smiling to herself, Lunaria dipped her head lower to allow her body to cut across the tip of the clouds, This gave Kaze the chance to stretch his hand out and 'grab' at the clouds, although it really just past by his hand and left his palms slightly moist. The rush of adrenaline that followed as Lunaria picked up speed with a few consecutive flap of her wings made Kaze's heart pound excitedly. Together, the figure of a human riding a dragon broke through the clouds, blending in with the night sky as they soared around the nation.
Lunaria let out a huge cry in her dragon voice, making a screech that seemed to travel for miles and miles away. This could be seen as a cry from her, a shout that released all of her pent-up frustration at once. She repeated this cry multiple times in the direction away from the town to prevent disturbing the resting town below. Each time this happened, a shiver ran down Kaze's spine from the sheer energy that came from a single cry alone. He was instantly brought back to the time where Lunaria defeated the devils with an energy beam from her mouth followed by a similar cry, although the emotion behind the cries had an audible difference.
A huge swoop downwards quickly followed the last of her cries. Once she reached a turning point, Lunaria swerved her body back upwards and shot straight through the clouds again. Kaze followed each turn and swerve Lunaria made, each time getting more skilled at handling himself on her head. As someone who already had the support of magic to ensure that his body didn't get carried away by the wind, Kaze was able to handle himself well without Lunaria needing to intervene. It was almost natural to him.
By the time Lunaria decided to return to the cliff they came from, an hour had passed unknowingly. Kaze got too engrossed in being up in the sky with her that all form of worries disappeared, even when they landed and returned to reality. He was still exhilarated by the whole ride, especially with Lunaria being in her dragon form. While this was merely the first time he saw her transform willingly and showing off her body to him, it was also the start of his appreciation towards a dragon's beauty.
"How was it?" Lunaria asked upon turning back to her human form. "Was it worth spending some alone time together?"
"Definitely," Kaze nodded. "I don't think anything can replace the experience for that."
"Then I'm glad," Lunaria smiled, a hint of pain hidden within it. "Should we return?"
Reaching out to hold his hand, Kaze accepted hers and together they went through the forest to return to the palace. The entire time they walked was filled with nothing but silence and company for each other.
Lunaria's flight with him was a gesture of her love for him and the need to do something together before he left, one that resonated loudly with him. Throughout the past few days, it had been obvious that she had done so much and went through a lot for him. It was proof alone that Lunaria's love was no less than anything she had shown him before. In fact, it only grew stronger after all the turmoil they experienced, whether the root of the problem regarded Kaze or Lunaria.
Kaze felt guilty that he could only do so much in return for what he had received from Lunaria. Considering that this was their 'last night' together, he wished he could offer her more than the sadness that had clouded her heart the whole day. But he knew that if he were to do something, it would ruin their moment together.
As such, the two went to bed with the rest of the group, everyone wondering what the future will bring tomorrow.
- - - - - -
When morning came, Kaze was nowhere to be found.
The first to notice was Lunaria, who woke up to find that the spot he laid in bed empty. She immediately cast a quick scan with her magic sense to the surroundings to see if he was within the palace grounds, only to find that his presence was not found.
One thing led to the next, and soon everyone came together to look for him.
"Laevia-sama, are you sure Kaze is alright?" Sera asked the Empress, who simply sighed at the group of students who came busting into their room with her daughters in search of one person.
"Does this have something to do with you, mother?" Lunatea followed up.
"Let's just say I gave Kaze permission to head into town, alright?" Laevia answered carefully. "Don't worry, he isn't missing or banished from the nation. I assure you he is safe."
"That Kaze… I can't believe he left without telling any of us other than the Empress."
"Right? I understand if he's angry about the current state, but he can't disappear just like that."
"Well, if Laevia-sama said he is fine, I suppose we should leave it at that."
"Have you packed your bags?"
"Yeah, I left them upstairs."
The flow of the conversation as the group descended to the breakfast table went like so. It was a mix of various different topics together with the occasional mention of Kaze. Lunaria, the person who was the most worked up over Kaze going missing, looked to have calmed down after getting personal reassurance from her mother that he was fine. Judging by how irregular his action was, Lunaria simply took it as Kaze wanting to be left alone before he departed from Aravel. After all, everyone else was in a good condition compared to him.
During the entirety of breakfast, Kaze still hadn't showed up. It was then that Lunaria started to get a little frazzled again. It almost felt as though Lunaria was unable to function if Kaze's status was unknown to her. Then again, she wasn't the only one who felt uneasy with the absent of Kaze's presence in the room, seeing that even Lunatea and Lucentia looked a bit down than usual. Each one of them assumed the worst for him, for they didn't know when the next time would they be able to see him again.
When the time came for final farewells, Reginsleif and Laevia showed up at the front entrance where the others were. Since Lunaria wasn't going to return to Czech, there was no need for Sera, Rena, or Shoko to follow suit, meaning that only the humans of the group were leaving. They still chose to show up and watch their friends leave out of respect, just like anyone would after getting along so well for the past few months.
"So this is it, the end of our trip," Mitsui sighed, loading up the last of her luggage onto the carriage that would take them back. "It went by so quickly."
"I don't want it to end too, but we got to return," Noel consoled Mitsui. "Until the day when Aravel opens its borders, we may have to wait for us to get special permission to visit once again."
"Which probably will be in eternity," Chris chuckled and gave the outside of the palace one last look. "I will miss this place. The food was amazing, the experience was great."
"Not to mention the weather," Irene nodded at her boyfriend's words. "Every day is so cooling here, even the sunny days without clouds. Though I would agree the food is what I will miss the most."
"Our chefs are very skilled, after all," Luniel grinned from hearing Irene's compliments. "They have the flexibility and room to both improve their skills while also prepare whatever they feel like on the day. We don't have many chefs and maids for nothing."
"I feel spoiled for choice here, honestly," Albert stated. "The number of things we have done over the past two weeks really opened my eyes to Aravel. Are we allowed to say anything at all back in Tristania regarding what we have learnt?"
"You should check with Yuuji on that. As someone who would report to his parents, I believe he is most well-versed in that," Laevia told Albert. "If there has been anything that we explicitly told you not to say, like with the dragon island, then please continue keeping that a secret."
"Mother, where is Kaze?" Lunaria asked Laevia once again. "It's almost departure time and he has been absent the whole morning."
"… He should probably be here soon," Lunaria answered. "Have faith."
"Have we decided on what to do if we return to Tristania and Kaze gets arrested by the army?" Irene looked at Yuuji, hoping for an answer from him.
"Well… we help him," Yuuji simply shrugged. "I honestly don't know any other way we could use to stop the military from capturing Kaze if that is their true purpose. All we can do is stall for time."
"I don't think you need to worry that much," Shoko pointed at the front of the gates. "You could just ask the man himself."
At her words, the few of them looked towards the direction she pointed and widened their eyes in surprise when Kaze showed up.
"""""Kaze!""""
Kaze instantly attracted a lot of attention from the group, everyone rushing up to him to find out where he had been. The person who reacted the most was Lunaria, who practically jumped right at him in a tight hug. Even Laevia and Reginsleif walked up to him, wanting to know what he had been up to the entire morning that warranted leaving the palace uninformed.
"Kaze, I won't forgive you if you don't tell me what you were doing, where you went, and why," Lunaria warned him with a huge pout, her hands grabbing his cheeks and tugging on them. "Spill it."
"A-Alright, please let go of me," Kaze tried to stop Lunaria from pinching his cheeks, which she eventually did after getting her fill. "Ouch… you didn't hold back at all."
"Of course I didn't! You suddenly disappeared without telling anyone," Lunaria stomped her foot in frustration, tears spilling down the side of her cheeks. "How can you expect us to just accept you leaving?"
Kaze had a guilty smile on his face as he watched Lunaria sob in front of him. Reaching into his pocket, Kaze took Lunaria's right hand and slipped a ring into her ring finger.
"… E-Eh?" Lunaria widened her eyes at this, everyone else completely freezing up by his casual act that carried significant importance. "K-Kaze?"
"You see… last night I made a secret promise with Laevia-sama," Kaze explained, still holding onto her hand. "I already made up my mind to stay in Aravel. For that to happen, that would mean me getting a citizenship, which is impossible unless we got engaged. So… this morning, I left to buy you a ring with some borrowed money."
The ring that Lunaria had on wasn't anything fancy. It was silver in colour and made from an ore that resembled gold. Although it hadn't had any ornaments or decorations on it, there were miniature engravings carved onto the tiny surface of the ring, representing it as an engagement present that was only used for the purpose of getting together with a person of the opposite gender.
Suddenly, everything clicked for Lunaria. The reason why he hadn't said anything about leaving tonight even when she outright spoke about it was because he had this intention in mind. If he said anything at all, it would give away the surprise planned for her.
"I know this is a very inappropriate time for me to do this as it would feel like something done out of desperation, but I assure you that I have made up my mind properly," Kaze clasped both her hands, Lunaria too stunned to even respond to his words. "Lunaria, after everything that has happened, I believe that you deserve the right to something more, something better than what we have been doing so far. I want us to take our relationship to the next level. Lunaria, I love you. Please, get married with me."
His words caused his friends to howl and shout out loud, completely blown away by his sudden marriage request. Only Laevia, Reginsleif, Sera, Rena and Shoko didn't seem surprised by it, for they already anticipated their engagement to happen as a method of resolving their current conflict. Lunatea and her sisters all smiled wryly, awaiting the response from their eldest sister. Even if they were rivals, they respected the fact that Lunaria deserved this moment.
"… Y-Yes. Please… take me as your mate…" Tears of joy started spilling as Lunaria nodded, agreeing to his proposal. "Mou… w-why didn't you just ask me last night… Y-You had me worried this whole time…"
"Sorry. I wanted to make our proposal in front of everyone to have witnesses that our engagement isn't faked," Kaze looked at Yuuji, who still had his mouth wide open. "Yuuji, please tell your father for me that I am officially a citizen of Aravel. I won't be returning to Czech anytime soon."
"… Good grief, you do the most insane things sometimes," Yuuji got over his shock and cleared his throat. "I admit witnessing this proposal and acceptance by the princess of Aravel. Kaze, take care of yourself."
"You too. Sorry for imposing this on you," Kaze gave Yuuji a tight hug. "Say hello to Sir Ethan and Kathy-sama for me."
"Will do, buddy," Yuuji lightly punched Kaze's shoulder, a small smirk showing. "Your proposal game was trash, honestly."
"You should have consulted us for advice," Irene frowned, hands on her hips. "Is this a way to get back at us for keeping you in the dark about monitoring you and Lunaria in Leiscatie?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Kaze chuckled, hugging Irene in response. "Take care, Irene."
"You too," Irene returned the hug. "I can't believe you're really marrying the princess."
"It's only an engagement, Irene," Chris told his girlfriend before giving Kaze the next hug. "We will write to you and let you know what's happening."
"Please do," Kaze nodded. "I will miss everyone here."
"Don't forget about me," Mitsui grinned, giving Kaze a courtesy kiss on the cheek. "I will ask Luniel to tease you in our place."
"Please, I will never forget you," Kaze accepted Mitsui's jokes with a laugh. "After all, we did survive the centipede attack together.
"I look forward to the next time we meet," Albert shook Kaze's hand rather than giving a hug, though a huge smile remained on his face. "Look after yourself."
"Teach me your sword skills next time," Kaze told Albert. "I haven't had the chance to spar much with you yet."
"That's my line, Kaze," Noel approached him with a sigh. "Now that I lost my sparring partner, I have to go back to beating up our juniors at the swordfighting club."
"The next time we meet, I won't lose to you again," Kaze stated, giving Noel a hug as well. "Do come back to Aravel if you have the chance."
"Definitely," Noel nodded, returning the hug. "Goodbye Kaze. Take care of Lunaria."
Once all the congratulating and farewells were said, the carriages to Tristania departed. Together with his new 'family', Kaze watched as the wyverns brought his old friends back to where they came from. Even though they parted ways temporarily, Kaze knew that they would continue their journey properly without him, where he would start a new one in a new nation.
Together with Lunaria, with the Rentarias.
- - - - - - - -
After a rather busy day arranging everything that needed to be done for enrolment into Leiscatie, Kaze dropped his body onto the bed in exhaustion.
After his friends had left Aravel, he was immediately swarmed with work coming from Laevia and the school. He had to register his identity, make new records of himself, fill out forms to enter the school, meet with relevant people. He was so busy to the point he didn't even had time to eat lunch properly, all because he needed to enrol into school under special circumstances that warranted an immediate arrangement to make him a valid citizen.
Now that he and Lunaria were officially engaged, they had to make their engagement public. This would be done over the course of the next few days once everything had been sorted and ready to let the public know, which was one of the reasons why Kaze was so eager to get everything done as soon as possible. Living in Aravel was another hassle of its own, for he had to start from the scratch without any attachments from Tristania.
Later on, he got a good scolding from all five of the princesses for his reckless actions. Getting Lunaria worked up was one thing, but cooperating with their mother's schemes on buying a ring at dawn was another. Further, Lunatea and Lucentia got even more motivated to make Kaze confess to them in time for their engagement. The whole time this happened, Lunaria was the one who lectured Kaze the most for everything he had done, including duping her to think that they would not meet again and 'demolishing her mental health'.
Kaze closed his eyes and relaxed, rewinding about the recent events in his head. It was crazy to think that he had now migrated to another nation. Living with the royals in the palace, his life had definitely taken a different trajectory he never expected it to happen. Leading up from the countryside all the way to Aravel, everything happened because of Lunaria. Even their recent engagement was out of love and respect for Lunaria, not wanting her to suffer anymore by tying the knot with her.
"Engaged, huh?" Kaze muttered, admiring a copy of the silver ring he gifted Lunaria round his ring finger. "Though we would only marry in another 3 years… this feels different."
"Kaze," Lunaria entered the room shortly after.
"Luna," Kaze immediately sat up. "Is something wrong?"
"No, I just decided to call out to you," Lunaria shook her head, taking a sit next to him. "I was worried that you were too tired from work today. You looked like a zombie during dinner earlier."
"Yeah… I wanted to rush the application myself, even though Laevia warned me against it," Kaze chuckled. "I may be tired, but I am glad I did it. Yuuji and the others are making a move, therefore I shouldn't slack too. The next time we meet, I must be strong enough to face them properly."
"Mm…" Lunaria nodded. "I understand that ambition of yours to get stronger. After all, now we are on our own. Without their company, this is going to be different."
"I wonder how that would turn out," Kaze stated, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. "The future is uncertain. What's done is done, we can't change the past anymore. All we can do is look forward and walk together."
"...."
"… Lunaria?"
"Mm?"
"We are going to be alright… right?"
"…. Mm. I won't let anything happen to you, Kaze. Never."
"…. Now that I have time to think about it, what I did was quite insane. Going against a nation on my own… never have I thought that would be possible."
"This is the best choice, Kaze. Nothing will change that, especially our engagement."
"Nothing, huh?"
"..."
"..."
"… Nothing."
With a satisfied smile plastered on his face, Kaze tilted his head to look at his lover. Similarly, Lunaria glanced back at him, a gentle smile floating across her face too. With the addition of the ring on both their fingers, it was a sign of their love, something that had been tested time and time again, only to finally be reaffirmed today.
Kaze reached over to grasp her hand, only for her to pull back.
"You know, I still haven't thanked you for your confession. I was really happy when you did that," Lunaria said, getting to her feet.
"You don't have to. It was Laevia-sama who pushed me to make the move," Kaze shook his head. "Without her advice and monetary support, I could have never made the right choice."
"W-Well… even so, I want to express my gratitude…"
"Lunaria?"
Lunaria had a weird blush on her cheeks when she said so. Standing in front of him, Lunaria made the lights in the room dim with a snap of her fingers. Following this, she began stripping in front of him, dropping her clothes to the floor. Kaze's eyes widened as he watched her revealing what laid under the first layer of clothes she had on.
With her body fully exposed, Lunaria wore what could only be described as an incredibly sexy undergarment. Both her bra and panties were lacy black, a colour she chose specifically to arouse Kaze since it showed off her sexual appeal by contrasting her white hair. There were vertical slits designed into her undergarments, exposing her nipples and pussy for naughty purposes. It didn't help that Lunaria had worn garter belts, a clothing choice that was designed to dig into her thighs that tugged at Kaze's lust.
This was the first time Kaze saw Lunaria wearing something so lewd and inciting. Most of the time when they had sex, it was more of an impulsive thing without preparation. Now that Lunaria had exposed herself wearing something so lewd, Kaze reacted accordingly to his lust and a huge tent was quickly pitched in his pants. Lunaria didn't let this fly by her sight, causing her to blush even more and hid her nipples with her arm.
"A-As expected, was this weird?" Lunaria asked him with a stammer. "I chose this b-because it was recommended, but if you hate it…"
"N-No, it's incredibly arousing," Kaze admitted with a loud gulp. "Did you choose that specifically for me?"
"Mm… Don't ask further, it's really embarrassing for me to expose myself like this… it's too indecent."
"But… I like this indecent side of you."
"?! … T-Then, I will have to show you more of this side of me more…"
"L-Luna?"
Kaze nervously watched as Lunaria approached him with a sexy sway of her hips each time she took a step forward. When she crawled onto the bed, she made his clothes disappear with magic, leaving him completely exposed. Another snap of her fingers made the door to their room lock and a sound barrier was set up, preventing any additional voice from leaking out.
"Hehe… you're really honest here…" Lunaria giggled in embarrassment as she poked Kaze's cock. "It's eager to penetrate me~"
"I-I can't help it when you're acting so arousing," Kaze blushed, his eyes constantly glancing at her jugs dipping downwards due to gravity acting in her favour from Lunaria being on all fours. "Please don't tease me too much…"
"Let me give you your reward then~"
Lunaria wasted no time in coating his cock with a layer of saliva using her tongue, signalling that she would begin with a blowjob first. Having given one a few times by now, she was able to pleasure him much better than the first time she did it. As such, she also learnt a few techniques that she thought would heighten the pleasure better.
The blowjob began with a simple few licks around his cock, almost as if Lunaria was trying to introduce her mouth to it. After she ensured that it was fully lubed, Lunaria started by peeling back his foreskin with one hand, exposing the tip of his cock. It was something she was used to seeing by now, allowing her to dive right in by swallowing the tip. Kaze reacted with a soft gasp, feeling the inside of her mouth and tongue wrapping around him.
Lunaria's hand traced down his length to his base with a gentle stroke before moving to his balls. Feeling the vein under his scrotum supplying blood to keep his penis erect, Lunaria gently fondled with them while she took his cock deeper to the halfway point where she was able to comfortably suck him off. This was where her head began bobbing back and forth gently, starting the blowjob with a slower pace.
As more time passed, Lunaria got accustomed to his length and began taking it deeper and deeper, passing three quarters of the length before using her tongue to stroke the underside of his cock everytime she retracted her head. The way her tongue rolled around stimulated Kaze greatly, making him even more erect and harder the longer the blowjob went on.
At times, Lunaria would stop taking his cock in her mouth if she wanted to rest her jaw. Using her hands to stroke him off, the sound that his saliva-coated cock made when her hands stroked him off was unimaginably lewd. One of her hand was constantly focused on the length of his cock while the other played with his tip, generally around the area where his peehole was. It was where she would constantly get secretion of pre-cum when she jacked him off at a right pace, causing him to groan every so often.
"L-Lunaria… your technique is amazing…" Kaze drooled, watching Lunaria stroking him off. "How are you so good already?"
"Dragonkins are able to adapt to their partners' sexual needs to a certain extent," Lunaria explained, applying more drool from her tongue to coat his cock by sticking her tongue out. "I strive to pleasure you as much as possible, my mate~"
Lunaria repeated this process of alternating between her hands and mouth multiple times. Eventually, his cock was so soaked in saliva mixed with pre-cum that it emitted a really erotic scent that kept Lunaria on the verge of her sanity each time she sucked on it. How he was able to endure an ejaculation for this long was a wonder in itself already. That wouldn't continue, for Lunaria could feel the base of his cock twitching as soon as he was close. This prompted her to suck him off at a faster pace, her head moving as fast as she could to get a large volume of semen to come out.
"C-Cumming!!"
With a loud grunt from Kaze, semen came rushing into her mouth in pulses. The first few pulses were always the thickest, Lunaria receiving each one deep inside of her mouth. Swallowing as much as she could, semen still spilled out the side of her mouth due to how much Kaze was able to ejaculate. It was alarming that as a human, he was this good in bed with a dragonkin, who was supposed to have the upper hand.
"Mm~~~~" Lunaria retracted her head and panted to gasp for air. "Sho thick~"
"S-Sorry," Kaze apologised, his cock twitching post-ejaculation. "Your blowjob was really good, I couldn't hold back."
"Don't be. I love it when you don't hold back," Lunaria stated, giving him a stroke. "It's still quite energetic~"
"U-Use your breasts please."
At Kaze's request, Lunaria placed his cock in her cleavage. Sandwiched by two huge soft moulds, Kaze let out another groan of ecstasy. With Lunaria kneeling at the side of the bed, he sat upright so she was able to give him a boobjob properly.
This time, Lunaria used the pressure generated from her breasts to try and bring him closer to cumming. Since the tip of his cock always stuck out from the top of her cleavage as she moved her breasts back and forth, she stuck out her tongue and pleasured the tip with repeated licking. This created a very lewd sight for Kaze, supplying his horniness with a lasting erection for Lunaria to work her way around. Never would anyone be able to imagine that Lunaria, a princess, was acting this way with her lover002E
"Ah~ not there~~" Lunaria gasped out loud when Kaze pinched her nipples. "I'm trying to give you a paizuri~"
Kaze ignored her pleas and continued touching her nipples with his fingers. It aroused him that she was able to give him a paizuri while licking his cock at the same time, especially so when he was able to get in the act by playing with her nipples. His cock twitched each time Lunaria made a really pleasurable move, something that was happening more and more frequently as Lunaria improved her skill.
"I-I can't hold back anymore…"
"Mm… let's just get into it…"
Lunaria laid on the bed, sprawled in a seductive pose that would undoubtedly hook Kaze in. Spreading her legs wide open, Kaze got a good look at her pussy which had been exposed by the panty slit. He instantly dove right in and began stroking it with his finger, causing Lunaria to arch her back and gasped aloud. The amount of secretion she was releasing was unimaginable, coating his fingers just after a few strokes alone.
Once Kaze was sure that Lunaria was ready, he lined his cock against her entrance and thrusted it in. Their cries resonated together as their sexual organs met, his cock completely buried inside of her in one thrust. The way her pussy walls reacted by coiling around him and tightening, as if not wanting to let go, combined with the previous stimulation from her breasts, made Kaze nearly ejaculate upon insertion.
"D-Did you cum?"
"I came~"
Lunaria admitted bashfully that she came as soon as his cock went inside of her. Whether they knew it or not, Lunaria was the bigger pervert between the two of them. It wasn't surprising that she was so vulnerable to sex, especially when it was her lover who was doing it with her.
"Ahh~~ Kaze~! Kaze~!!"
Lunaria's cries instantly flood the room when Kaze began moving. Right off the bat, he did not hold back and thrusted as fast as his hips would allow him. Each thrust caused her pussy to recoil in pleasure, the force of his thrust going right at her womb. Lunaria was once again reminded of how skilled Kaze was at sex too, his cock being able to find her sweet spots every time and delivering the ultimate pleasure with each thrust. It didn't help that her G-spot was easy to locate with Kaze's massive length, causing Lunaria to be the one at the receiving end instead.
After several minutes of thrusting, Lunaria came yet again. Kaze took this chance to reposition himself, allowing Lunaria to get on all fours where he could fuck her doggy style. At the same time, he leaned forward so his hands would be groping her breasts instead of controlling her from her hips. It was almost like he was hugging her from behind and fucking at the same time, causing Lunaria's legs to lose strength and fall onto the bed. This did not stop Kaze from thrusting, instead giving him the advantage of slamming his hips downwards without needing him to remain on his knees and thrust at the same time.
Lunaria buried her face into her pillow, hugging it tightly in an attempt to muffle her moans. Each time Kaze thrusted as soon as she had a mini-orgasm was where the pleasure was worst, leading her to another mini-orgasm that eventually repeated over and over again until she was led to squirt. By now, the bed area where their sexual organs were swaying overhead had been drenched in love nectar, showing how much Lunaria had longed for a good pounding.
"I'm cumming Luna~ I'm cumming!!!"
"Cum deep inside of me~~~~!!!!"
With another huge thrust inwards, Kaze dumped a load of his baby batter inside of Lunaria's womb. Lunaria's body physically shivered as she could feel her insides growing warm from the semen pouring uncontrollably inside of her. This led to her cumming at the same time, her pussy clenching down on his cock in an attempt to milk out as much cum as possible from him.
This repeated for the next few hours. From making lewd poses to fucking, Kaze and Lunaria did it as much as they could without rest.
One moment Lunaria was sucking him off and masturbating at the same time, the next Kaze was spanking her ass while expecting her to shake her hips. As time went on, Lunaria's insides kept on getting filled with his semen to the point that her love nectar and semen got mixed into a messy mixture. When Kaze made her spread her legs and masturbate in front of him, he was able to see semen drooling out from her pussy while Lunaria fingered herself. This would make him aroused and gave her another rough pounding, entering a vicious cycle of fucking and cumming.
Fucking on bed wasn't enough for Kaze. They went to the bathroom where they could get their bodies slippery and wet to prevent making an even bigger mess in the bedroom to fuck. Lunaria laid on the bathroom floor and allowed Kaze to penetrate her snatch yet again, this time even more viciously than he previously had.
Her cries rang out continuously from the bathroom for a good 20 minutes. By the time Kaze carried her back out of the bathroom, she came 5 times from just two of his ejaculation inside the bathroom.
They continued their fucking on the bed once again, this time more passionately and intimate than simply being rough and wild. Kisses, cumming, kisses, groping, cumming… the bed creaked underneath them each time Kaze thrusted forward. By now, Lunaria's head was mushy from all the pleasure and making out they were doing. She didn't even have the energy to call out his name anymore each time she got pounded, her only vocabulary consisting of moans and 'cumming'.
Time ticked by the more they fucked. By the time it was midnight, Lunaria had already been fucked inside out so many times that she forgotten how many times he came inside of her already. Lying flat on the bed with semen oozing out of her pussy and ass, her breasts, tummy, thighs, and face had been equally stained from semen. Kaze sat next to her, masturbating furiously to her and eventually shuddering as he shot out another string of semen onto her face.
"Haa… haa…" Kaze panted heavily from his last ejaculation, placing his cock across Lunaria's face. "L-Lick me clean…"
"Mmm…. Mmmmm...." Lunaria tilted her head to the side and did as he requested, making sure to suck him clean of any residue.
With that done and said, Kaze collapsed next to her, equally as exhausted to continue fucking anymore. This was the second time he fucked Lunaria to this level of intensity, which was impressive in itself since he was able to ejaculate so many times over. Lunaria, in response, turned herself over and snuggled to him tightly.
"Kaze…"
"Luna…"
Through their intense sex session, they were able to grow as a couple even deeper than they had before. It was like a type of bond was being made each time they fucked, allowing Lunaria and Kaze to fall even deeper for each other and develop all sorts of fetishes.
Sharing another long kiss to mark the end of the day, Lunaria used the last of her strength to clean up the mess they had made using magic. She made the bed and both of them clean of any fluids, although the ones that Kaze had ejaculated inside of her was left there for good. For Kaze to fuck her so passionately and dump his essence inside of her, Lunaria wasn't going to get rid of his semen the minute they finished fucking, wanting it to remain inside of her till the next day where she could feel herself full of his love.
"I love you, Kaze, I love you so much…"
A final whisper came from Lunaria's mouth, confessing her feelings of love for him. The lights in their room extinguish as the two drifted off into a long, long sleep, filled with happiness incomprehensible by any being in the world at the moment.
- - - - - - - -
"Yuuji,"
"Yes, father."
"How is Kaze?"
"Well, he had said in his recent letter that he would be starting school next month. I think he is doing quite well for himself."
Currently, Yuuji and Ethan were having a quick conversation with each other over lunch.
It had been 2 weeks since Yuuji and the others returned from Aravel. Upon arrival, they were greeted with an anxious Ethan, who was surprised to find that Kaze wasn't among the group. It was only then that he learnt about Kaze's engagement with Lunaria, throwing him and Kathy for quite the loop.
Following this was a spiral of chaos with the higher-ups. Never had they expected that Kaze would just go and marry a royal of a foreign nation, meaning they could no longer pursue him with the means of settling the issue once and for all. Redirecting their focus at the devils, people soon quickly lost interest in the whole fiasco as time passed. It not only proved that the entire operation was doomed to fail from the beginning, but also showed that the devils should have been the real target all along.
With the end of that drama, Yuuji and the others resumed their studies shortly after. Nothing big happened for the next 2 weeks or so, leading up to the conversation between Ethan and Yuuji.
Stuffing his mouth full of noodles, Yuuji waited for a response from his father. The King was seen with a hand over his mouth in a thinking pose, contemplating Kaze's current condition based on what he had learnt. Ethan and Reginsleif frequently exchanged letters after the situation was resolved, allowing them to plan for the future of their nations while conducting a joint investigation to sniffing out the rat within the nation.
"… I see," Ethan soon nodded and resumed eating. "Sorry, I was just curious."
"No need to apologise father. You have every right to know," Yuuji shook his head. "Kaze did say he appreciate your help for covering for him."
Ethan smiled to himself after listening to what his son had said about Kaze. Even though he felt guilty about not being able to do so much more for his son's friend, whom he knew was innocent and aided with thwarting off the devils, it was great to know that Kaze was in good hands.
"Yuuji, I need you to do something for me."
"Me?"
"Find out if we can get in touch with Kaze's grandfather. According to what I know, he is a recluse who very much dislikes communicating with the outside world, hence why he chose to retire at a countryside."
"I think that's the situation. The problem is, Kaze had never stated before which countryside he came from, meaning that it would be impossible to find which countryside he is referring to?"
"I don't think that's the case. We already have a direction from records of when he first entered Tristania. We just need to work our way from there."
"Alright then. But father, what is the purpose of finding out about Kaze's grandfather?"
"… A hunch, I would say."
A cautious smile appeared on Ethan's face as the afternoon sunlight cast a shadow across the royal family's dining room. Whether they knew it at the time, a storm was coming.
- - - - - - - - - - -
In an unspecified location towards the south of the continent…
Chains were heard scratching across the rock floor. Along with the loud anguished cries that followed, another life was robbed.
"Tch, too weak still?"
A devil with a dark red outer coat grunted, watching a spider mouse suffering a heart attack before him. Disposing of the dead body by casting flame magic over it, the body of the spider mouse combusted and instantly turned to ash.
The devil slumped over in his chair and glanced back at the chart pinned on the wall. With a sigh, he crossed out a certain number in the hundreds. The chart had similar crossed all over the place, showing the number of failures that had passed since starting their experiment. Before he could continue with a new mouse, the door to the room opened and in came a devil of a different rank.
"How's progress?"
"Not good. The subjects keep rejecting the essence after multiple stabilization. None managed to survive more than 12 hours at a time."
"Failure again, huh? He isn't going to like this."
"Well, if he is so insistent on trying to force results, ask him to accept the vial! Does he think it is easy for another species to simply accept the strength of a dragon…"
"You better not let him hear that, or our head will go flying."
"I know, I know. Is the ceremony going well?"
"As you know, without a subject, the ceremony can't proceed. We need to have concrete proof that we aren't mistaken with the procedure."
"No one said summoning a Lord was easy. I would be surprised if we came up with a conclusion in such a short time. After two failures in the past century, I'm starting to doubt if what we need is even a dragonkin's body as a vessel."
"You heard the report: it said that an energy vastly similar to ours was needed. If not that dragonkin princess, then what? Are you saying our report all this while had a wrong analysis?"
"… Back to work it is, I guess."
"Give me that."
From the room where the experiment was conducted, a similar scene was seen in the castle not far away. This time, it was the sound of three devils groaning and moaning aloud, their blood-curling snarls resounding over and over as the shadows casted over the dark walls moved back and forth.
In front of them was the carcass of a dead animal, one that was freshly caught and had its blood drained. With the rest of the carcass cooking over a slow fire, the three devils hungrily devoured what that has already been cooked. By their side was a female devil with slightly different characteristics, her watching over the devils with deadpanned eyes. It wasn't that she was unamused with what she saw, rather she was incapable of showing any emotion because of the way she was born.
One of the devils separated himself from the bunch and walked over to the female. Dragging her along with him by the wrist, he brought her to a separate room and tossed her onto the bed. She didn't resist or even react when violently treated, for she was already used to such actions and though nothing of it. After all, she was to simply serve her lord and make him satisfied.
Looking out the window from atop the castle, a swirling emptiness filled the void in her heart.
"What is your duty?" The devil growled into her ear, awaiting her words.
"To serve… my lord."
"Good. Here's a task for you. Come back successful, and you shall be rewarded."
"Who… is this?"
"A target for our ultimate goal. Do not fail."
With a small whisper, the female caressed the picture of a human male along with papers of records about him.
"Ka… ze…"