A few weeks had passed since Kaze had parted ways with his friends from Czech and lived his life in Aravel. Within those few weeks, many occurrences changed the way Kaze was introduced into Aravel.
First of all, Kaze was now officially a citizen of Aravel. After all the formal procedures and acknowledgment, he was admitted as someone engaged to the first princess of the nation, Lunaria. This meant that there was no excuse for exiling him or keeping him, nor would there be any complaints warranted towards him. In the first place, with the powerful backing of the Emperor and the rest of the royal family, no ordinary person could target Kaze unless they had a death wish. In a nation essentially isolated from everyone except for a selected few, it was easy to ignore any form of retaliation outside since the only ones who would know of this were the citizens of Aravel. As far as Czech was concerned, some guy who was partially responsible for the destruction the devils had caused disappeared following weeks of lack of any news.
Kaze now attended Leiscatie Academy as an official student. As he had already been acquainted with the school when the exchange programme was conducted with his other friends, it only made sense for him to continue receiving proper education now that his official source of funding had been cut off. All forms of communication and access to the outside world were severely restricted due to him being in Aravel and his status as a potential royal suitor in the future, which was something expected the moment he got engaged to Lunaria. It wasn't hard for Kaze to get attuned to studying with a group of students composed of mainly dragonkins and different races either, for the curriculum was not much different in terms of quality. The only thing that really stood out from the human empire's method was the amount of depth that was being taught in each class and how much time they had to focus and relax. Perhaps it was due to the fact that dragonkins were a race with a longer lifespan, hence why there was no rush to the schedule of their classes.
As the fiancée to the nation's first princess, he received immediate attention the first few days he attended the academy. Students instantly befriended him, which wasn't a difficult task considering he already met most of them when his friends from Czech were here prior. It was hard to remember that Aravel was a nation with a population nearly one-tenth that of Czech, which meant the size of the academy itself had a much smaller student population. Naturally, this also meant subjects would overlap with teachers teaching different ones. Lune-sensei, for instance, taught most of Kaze's classes. However, this was different in that Aravel only had one school that taught upper-class subjects, whereas Czech had multiple schools doing the same job. It was also why there seemed to be more students than the school in Czech, as all the students at his level of learning were concentrated there.
What mattered, most importantly, was that everyone was rather welcoming of him. There was no sense of hostility after he and his friends gained their trust before departure. It was a great look into what cross cultural experience would be if not for the current status that sealed Aravel away from the rest of the world. Kaze, just like Lunaria, was now the odd one out in a place where he would once be someone that no one would care for. After all, most of his predicaments could be attributed to Lunaria influencing his every word and action.
For now, he was free.
- - - - - -
"Kaze-sama, please wake up."
"Mm…"
Kaze groaned as he sat up from the bed. Blinking hard, he glanced at a clock on a small table by the side of the bed and sighed.
The one who had gently stirred him from his sleep was Tuarle, the dragonkin maid who served the rulers of Aravel. With a small smile on her face, she set down a tea tray at the side of the table.
"Tuarle… isn't it too early for waking up?"
"Now, we don't want a repeat of what happened last time, do we? Last I recalled, you two nearly overslept as a result of your 'night battles'. Laevia-sama was the one who requested me to do so."
Looking to his side where his fiancée laid, Lunaria had her body curled up to his side. Her right hand rested across his waist, which slid from the top of his chest when he sat up. This was the normal posture that she would take when they two slept since they usually cuddled with each other. Tuarle must have tried to shake the dragonkin awake, only for Lunaria to give no response at all.
It was no surprise to the royal family and servants that Kaze and Lunaria were a very passionate couple. The number of times they were caught flirting with each other over the past weeks had become uncountable. While this could be attributed to how clingy Lunaria naturally was, Kaze was no better. He was weak to Lunaria's charm every time she manipulated him into cuddling with her. The maids in the palace often gossiped that their princess had her fiancée all figured out and trapped within her grasp.
Kaze's sleepiness gradually disappeared the longer he stared at Lunaria. A small smile broke the mundane look on his face, reaching over and gently stroking her head. As soon as he extended his arms, he winced slightly at the throbbing pain from the top of his shoulder, and his body jerked by reflex. Tuarle took note of his rather unnatural reaction and walked to his side of the bed to have a look.
"Ah, Lunaria-sama seems to have been rather… passionate the night before. Again."
"… I knew it…" Kaze muttered as he tilted his arm to have a good look.
From the side of his nape all the way down to his shoulders were small red bruises that trickled all about at random. They were signs of affection from his partner when they got intimate the night before, but it seemed like Lunaria was a tad bit too aggressive this time. One mark, in particular, stood out from the rest, right where he could roughly feel the pain. This one was a much deeper red than the others and slightly bigger in diameter, small trail marks dug into his skin to form the circumference of the oval-shaped love bite. If her teeth marks were visible after a night's worth of rest, they must have been really into whatever they were doing to the point that she had to bite down hard.
Still, that didn't mean that Kaze and Lunaria were down bad every single day. It was only on the rare occasion that they would deviate from their normal plans of snuggling together to getting down in action. It made Kaze blush every time he recalled what had happened the night before, as he was still able to vaguely hear Lunaria's cries by the side of his ear. Of course, it made Kaze more 'vigorous' in what he was doing, and it became a perpetual cycle of pleasure.
"Please wake Lunaria-sama up at your earliest convenience. I have to return to work. If you need any assistance regarding the source of the pain…"
"Mm, thank you Tuarle, but I think I will be fine for now."
"If you say so, Kaze-sama."
With a polite bow, Tuarle took her leave.
Kaze took his time to take in Lunaria's beauty under the morning sun shimmering in between the gaps in the curtain. Even while she was sleeping, Lunaria radiated such charm that Kaze had a hard time holding himself back from touching her. It was already something he should have gotten used to by now, but who in the world would be possible to when someone as pretty and vulnerable as Lunaria was right now lying by his side?
His eyes shifted to the side of her nape, where similar red marks were seen spreading all the way down to her bare chest. While they weren't as numerous as the ones on his body, they were still quite visible as an aftermath. It only made him feel even more embarrassed than he already was, causing him to temporarily avert his gaze by staring at the ceiling.
Sighing, Kaze stretched his arms over his head and got ready to get out of bed.
"Mm~"
Lunaria surprised him by suddenly wrapping her arms around his body from the back, pulling him onto the bed yet again. By the time he had turned his head, she had already planted a morning kiss on his lips.
"G-Good morning, Luna."
"Hehe~ morning."
"Tuarle said she had a hard time waking you up. Did you avoid getting up on purpose?"
"Maybe~"
Lunaria giggled as she buried her fiancée's face into her bosom with a big hug. Even though he tried to stop Lunaria from being so cheeky so early in the morning, there was no hiding his honest reaction the moment his face was buried into her chest. She began stroking his head while feeling his breath down her body each time he exhaled, enjoying his warmth from the cold morning air that filled the palace.
"… Oh."
"O-Ouch."
Kaze winced when Lunaria ran her fingers down his back, feeling pain spreading across various parts of it. Lunaria made a troubled look at his reaction, not liking what she saw. She applied healing magic on him and instantly, an icy feeling grew on his back before it faded gradually along with the initial pain.
"Scratch marks?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry. But how could I not accidentally claw you when you were so rough last night…"
"H-How was that my fault? You kept asking for more."
"…!! That's true, but… M-Mou! If not for the sound barrier, my sisters would have stormed into the room and asked us to keep it down."
Kaze and Lunaria both blushed at their own words. It was true that he would not have had her clawing down his back when he did the deed by being gentler, but it was hard to stop himself when she was the one teasing him by whispering all those naughty words into his ear. After all, they hadn't done it in a while and finally found time to indulge themselves. Lunaria from the night before was absolutely the sort of image that he absolutely could not risk anyone finding out. Not only would it be devastating on Lunaria's end, but he also wanted to keep the 'other' side of Lunaria all to himself.
Lunaria must have figured out what he was conflicted about when he remained silent after his words trailed off because she ran her hands down the front of his bare chest to examine the 'damage' she had done. Instead of healing them, she made a wry smile and kissed him. It was her way of saying that she was sorry for purposely agitating and harming him, as it was inevitable she would get a little rough as a dragonkin. It was also a known fact between the two that Lunaria was fine with Kaze being kinky, which was gradually developing the more they became intimate.
When their lips made contact, they embraced and shared a long kissing session in bed. At some point, Lunaria slipped on top of Kaze's body and lay there happily. Her soft skin and body scent became an anchor that made it ten times harder for Kaze to will his mind to get out of bed and get ready for the day.
"Luna… we have to go…" Kaze tried to persuade her while stroking her cheek. "If we don't hurry, your mother will be mad at us again."
"Muu… fine," Lunaria made a small pout and got off him. "Come back from school quick so we can cuddle again."
"You mean after breakfast?" Kaze asked with a teasing tone as he slipped out of bed.
Lunaria didn't give an answer, instead sporting a light blush on her face as she followed him to the bathroom.
Washing up together, Lunaria ran the bath while Kaze brushed his teeth by the water faucet. It didn't take long for Kaze to join his fiancée in the bathtub, already filled with warm heated to the right temperature with fire magic. It had become a habit for him to shower after waking up, thanks to Lunaria's influence after living together. Bathing also became an excuse for the couple to delay their entry into their daily life, allowing them to remain in each other's private company for a little while longer.
Lunaria's tail swirled in the water as she threaded to his side from the opposite end of the bath, sticking close to him even when Kaze was trying to flush his pores with clean water as a result of their night battle. Spreading apart her wings to enjoy the warm water, Lunaria sat on Kaze's lap and wrapped herself around his body. At this point, Kaze was already used to it and stroked her tail while she did so.
"Kaze…" Lunaria moaned softly when he captured her lips, making out tenderly.
Clearly, Lunaria wasn't the only one crazily attached, for Kaze was equally obsessed with her. It felt weird if he was unable to see Lunaria for longer than 5 hours at a time unless he was hard at work doing something else. In Lunaria's case, she made sure to take every chance she had to have him within her sight, if not for him needing to go to class or anything else. This made it quite difficult for her sisters, namely Lunatea and Lucentia, who were competing for his love to make a proper move, which oftentimes relied on Kaze actively noticing their hesitancy to hint at Lunaria to make way. It was a rather pitiful sight at times, especially knowing that Lunaria was purposely trying to make it hard on her sisters, but at the same time refreshing that Lunatea and Lucentia weren't easily deterred. At the end of the day, Kaze's fiancée was still Lunaria, so of course he was going to be more biased toward her.
When Kaze got out of the bath first, he got changed into his uniform for class. The outfit was a lot more formal than the one he wore in Czech with an additional layer and an outer coat. Since the weather in Aravel was a lot colder as they were located on a more elevated plain close to the mountain regions, it made sense for his clothes to consist of more layers that were made to insulate heat from the cold.
A knock came from Lunaria's door before it swung open gently just as Kaze was finishing his tie in front of the mirror.
"Good morning Kaze," Lucentia walked in, leaving the door ajar behind her. "Already awake I see. I'm surprised Lunaria-nee didn't force you to stay."
"She did, I had to push her away, regrettably," Kaze smiled as Lucentia planted a light kiss on his cheek. "Were we… a little too noisy last night?"
"I didn't hear anything, neither did the others," Lucentia shook her head. "Lunaria-nee must have learned her lesson after the last time."
"Ah, that makes sense," Kaze's smile faltered a little at her words, instead replaced with a nervous chuckle. "I suppose we were that loud."
"Hmph."
Lucentia pouted at his words, feeling jealous that Lunaria was able to have a monopoly on him as his fiancé. She gently tugged on his clothes so he would face her and helped him with his tie. Kaze allowed Lucentia to fiddle with it as much as she wanted to while looking down at her. It felt weird having multiple princesses helping him all the time, but he wasn't going to try to argue his way as someone capable of doing these miscellaneous tasks by himself. The last thing he wanted was for Lunaria and her sisters to fight over what they could do for him, hence why he allowed Lucentia to help him with something as miniscule as his tie.
"Done," Lucentia said after a short bit. "Will… you be busy after class today?"
"Not really, I only have to rush back for lessons with Laevia-sama," Kaze recalled his schedule from memory. "Do you want to go on a date?"
"No, b-but I won't reject you if that's your offer," Lucentia lightly blushed at his words. "I wanted to ask you to come over to my studio and watch me… I need some inspiration."
"That's fine, but you will need to let me know when you want me to be there, assuming I can make it afterward," Kaze walked over to the table while talking to collect his stuff into his bag. "Is this regarding your latest work?"
"It's a new song," Lucentia nodded. "You will be the first to hear it, as usual."
Lunaria came out of the bathroom while Lucentia and Kaze were chatting. Noticing her younger sister there, Lunaria didn't seem to mind the company as she drifted her clothes over to her with magic so she could get changed. On paper, Lunaria and Kaze were engaged, but he was also dating the others, which really didn't change the way they normally acted around each other. In reality, Kaze would be 'engaged' to the rest of Lunaria's sisters based on the way they treated him like their lover. It just so happened Lunaria was entitled to more benefits per se as she was his first lover and main wife-to-be.
Together, the trio left the room to get some breakfast. On the way there, they came across Lunatea, who was headed in the opposite direction. She was dressed lightly with her sword slung next to her, meaning that she must have gotten up early to train before returning to have breakfast too.
"G-Good morning," Lunatea stammered when she noticed Kaze and her sisters. "I will be joining you shortly."
Similarly, she gave Kaze a peck on his other cheek as a quick greeting and hurried off to get changed. Lunaria and Lucentia giggled at Lunatea's shyness when she kissed Kaze, to which he could only respond with a blush of his own. Most of the time, he found it hard to come up with an appropriate reaction to them individually. It didn't help that each sister was so diverse in their own way that it became a little exhausting having to treat them differently from time to time.
Once they made their way to the dining room, they found that Lunaea and Luniel, the final of the sisters, were already enjoying breakfast. Along with their massive plates was a large cup of coffee, evidently because they weren't morning people. They loved staying up late and waking up much later than the others, even at the cost of missing breakfast. The only reason they would even wake up early was if there was something important or if they wanted to stick to their family's schedule.
"Good morning you two," Kaze came to their side first and gave them headpats with both hands since they sat next to each other. "It is rare seeing you here before any of us."
"Good morning," Luniel nodded sleepily. "Lunaea and I have a meeting with some of the designers regarding a big project, so we had to drag ourselves out of bed."
Lunaea said nothing to Kaze's greeting, instead nuzzling her head against his side. She was the type of person to not talk unless needed in the morning until she was fully awake. Sipping from her cup of coffee, Luniel simply gave Kaze a hug and went back to her meal.
Regarding Lunaea and Luniel's relationship status with Kaze, they weren't as obsessed over Kaze as their eldest three sisters. The past few weeks definitely changed the dynamic Kaze had with the twins compared to when he first arrived. After his friends departed, he officially got into relationships with all five of Aravel's princesses, but to varying degrees. Lunaea and Luniel certainly weren't as 'affectionate' as the others were with Kaze, with the exception that this was gradually changing over time. Their love language was more subtle and in different forms, with Lunaea preferring a quiet time together with Kaze. Luniel was more unpredictable; some days she would be extremely pushy, while other days she would be tame as a kitten and wanted pampering from him.
Another thing to note would be the difference between Kaze's and the royal family's eating habits. This was already something he knew since he first met Lunaria, but dragonkins consumed a lot more food than the average human due to their race. Dragons ate a lot more naturally, so any meal meant a large variety of food. Sometimes, Kaze wondered if most of the budget received by the royal family was spent hiring chefs and materials on food rather than maintaining the nation as a whole. This was also great for Kaze, since he could try a variety of food all at once.
Reginsleif and Laevia made their appearance in the hall shortly after. The Emperor and Empress of Aravel, compared to most nations, were much more laid back due to how the work was delegated. Other than being a smaller nation, they were pretty much self-sustaining after being shut to the outside world. In the first place, if they didn't have a system that allowed them to produce more food than what they consumed as a nation of dragons, it would create a big problem. A lot of work went into creating sub-divisions in managing the nation, which allowed the rulers of Aravel to spend more time with their family. It was also what allowed Kaze to be partially tutored by Laevia in administration and foreign affairs, something that an experienced ruler would know best.
"Kaze, how are you today?" Laevia, the ever-compassionate mother concerned about her future son-in-law, voiced out midway through breakfast. "Don't forget about our lessons later today."
"I won't Laevia-sama," Kaze answered politely. "I was just talking to Lucentia about it."
"So I heard. I trust she will arrange her schedule to match yours?" Laevia tilted her head curiously. "Lucentia, try not to create trouble for the others if it doesn't fit."
"I'm mainly working with Kaze alone, so there's no need to worry mother," Lucentia responded quickly. "I was just confirming to see how open my schedule is assuming Kaze can't make it at a convenient time."
With the conversation continuing as such, the twins left the room first to head to work. They were much less chatty in the morning, hence why they didn't really participate in the small family talk. Reginsleif, similarly, was more preoccupied with what he had to do for the day, where he would participate more often during dinner once he had time to unwind than scanning the documents given to him by Ilesta, the royal's personal maid.
Breakfast ended faster for Kaze than the others since he had much less food to eat than they did. He simply excused himself politely and headed towards the doors of the palace to leave for class, but not before giving one last kiss to each of his fiancé. Lunaria, in particular, walked Kaze to the entrance of the palace to see him off.
"Have a good time," she unwillingly let go of his hand once they stepped out of the palace.
"You're more like my mum than a lover at times like these," Kaze chuckled at Lunaria's behavior. "Well then, I'm off."
Lunaria simply smiled as she watched her husband trudging down the stone steps leading away from the palace, ready for another normal day in Aravel.