Asura took a quick shower after training ended and sat waiting for the girls in the hallway on a wooden bench—he found it soothing to watch the passing students and instructors with calm eyes.
He tried remembering information about them or their names like a small game to pass the time.
[You strange boy...]
'It's not like I can do anything else right now, and my mind can focus on my cultivation using parallel thought, meaning I am free to rest.'
[... Don't be a smart ass!]
'Yes, sorry, Brian the wise, I will be a good man and never joke with the elderly again.'
[You should break through near that dragon girl—the power you need should be better filled by her rather than always draining Mu Xue's ice element. Try to boost your wind and earth, too.]
'She hates me...' He replied with a quick complaint, leaning back to see the women all leaving their side of the showers, all with slightly wet hair and floral scents mixed with fruit.
"Master, you waited for me?"
"Bad guy... don't look."
"...."
The princess gave him a faint smile before leaving with her maid as she seemed to want to ask him something but couldn't, her head turning back several times as the other two girls took his entire attention.
Mu Xue looked ecstatic as she didn't even try to hide her slightly damp cleavage and body, moving closer to him and sitting on his right with a proud look on her face.
"Of course, I waited, silly girl."
Since the announcement, she no longer needed to hold back because they acknowledged his superiority.
"Oh, Xavida want to sit here?" Asura teased, patting his lap as she lifted her nose and let out a "Hmph!" but her eyes looked at his hand and didn't leave—instead, she sat on his left as if being rebellious to her normal self.
"Hmmm..." With the soft sound of her lips pressed together, Xavida's hand grasped Asura's and pulled it closer to her lap. Her eyes narrowed with a delighted smile at that moment—it seemed she made a victorious face.
'Two beautiful women want me so badly... Life is good.'
[You are aware the moment that girl sat down, Mu Xue was ready to stab her...]
Life sure is good—a super affectionate lover.
He wanted to break through with Xavida, but the only method his two minds came up with might make Mu Xue upset... so first, he must promise her something and then make plans with Xavida!
[He's beginning to believe!?]
"Mu Xue, our training with Lorem starts in two days, so how about tomorrow after lessons, we visit the city and see the various shops and cafes?"
"Oh, my~ master, are you asking Xue'er on a date?"
She seemed more excited than he hoped as she squeezed his hand and leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling, "Mmmm, let's go... I want to find an outfit, so I'll go first, okay?"
"I might be late because I need to discuss something with Xavida for the assessment. Is that alright?"
"Mmmm~ d-a-t-e~~ d-a-t-e~~ it's fine! Ehehe..."
Mu Xue was strange— she longed for a date far more than he knew, as Asura did not always make time in the future to take her out and let her enjoy a nice meal and time with him outside of training and other things.
She looked back a few times, waving at him and blowing several kisses before her body vanished toward the dorms, leaving the awkward dragon with that red face and the slightly tired but focused Asura.
'This girl's face is so pretty up close... especially from the side as the sunlight fades.'
[You... are a true dragoon! Mount that dragoness!]
'I never knew you were a dirty old man...'
[Who is dirty? You little shit!]
"Practise for assessment?" Xavida looked at him.
Her voice seemed to improve, and the more she talked to him, he felt less strain or stress from her face as her fingers tightly clasped his hand to make the most of him devouring her curse.
"If I could remove a large portion of your curse, would you be interested?"
"!?"
Suddenly, her face became a mixture of dismay and fear, maybe because he could take her curse away. She even wondered if he was somehow linked to her... like fate.
Even if Xavida didn't want to believe that, her mind flashed to their kiss and the feeling he gave her when she fell on his face... Leading to a complicated mixture of feelings as she looked down.
"If you can... please, I don't want to hurt anymore."
'Can you tell me what I need to do?'
'Otherwise, if it's something she's not prepared to do, I won't give her false hope...'
[There is only one requirement... When you break through, she needs to be in physical contact with you.]
[Skin to skin, or to be put more simply. Hugging you naked.]
'Nothing else...?'
Asura was a little taken aback, but most of the extreme emotions related to anger, shock, fear and those that might cause him to become unsightly like the prince earlier today or Cedric, he hid those reactions for now and slowly adapt to them as each day he felt a new sensation because of his growth.
People used to only mock or laugh at me, some even beating me... Now, some people seem to cheer me on...
He looked at Xavida, whose purple eyes watched him with wonder, her hand refusing to release his as she grabbed the edge of the seat with the other, causing it to turn pale from the pressure used.
'She seems to want to heal herself.'
"I can, but... it involves something that might make you angry... Let's go to your room and talk in private?"
Xavida and the foreign nobles were not forced to share rooms for diplomatic reasons, and thanks to the sword Saintess, this rule was even more ironclad for talented visitors like Xavida.
"Mmmm... Let's go, but don't do anything strange..."
She stood from the bench, and like she was oblivious to other people's eyes or words, the dragoness of lightning didn't release his fingers, instead intertwining them in a lover knot, making many people who saw get the wrong idea.
Once the pair arrived at her dormitory, she guided him up the stairs while blushing from the dorm mistress and her strange look and smirk.
"Here... Bad guy, don't look for my underwear."
"Who would look for them? Aren't you already wearing the best pair?"
"!!!"
For the first time, she released his hand, showing a look of regret before she doubled down on her anger and frowned at him, rushing to the bed and sitting down, bouncing with a loud squeak as she watched Asura with narrowed eyes.
"Tell... how to heal curse."
"I can't heal it all, but if we keep doing the same things until the assessment, I can help clear most of it, I promise!"
Xavida looked at Asura with shining eyes—the moment she was cursed, the man called her uncle claimed only he could heal her, the man who betrayed her father and someone she would never forgive.
So she was in despair at first believing it was a weak curse... but the more she travelled to the academy the less magic and power she could use until she was almost struggling to walk and then she met this boy...
"I will... do it!"
"Okay then! Let's get started!"
"What should I do?"
Her eyes sparkled like amethysts in the moonlight as she leaned forward and looked expectant for his answer; as he unbuttoned his tunic, she felt a strange atmosphere but remained calm... her hands grasping her sheets.
"First..."
"First?"
"We need to get naked and embrace each other!"