“Who’s that? Doesn’t look like a villager.”
“I’m Naro’s. Naro is mine.”
Ray answered instead, but unfortunately that only put Naro in an even more difficult position.
“Huh?”
“M-my cousin!”
When Naro shouted out loud, silence swept through once again. Ray stared at Naro with a face that said, What’s a cousin? Is it something you eat?
“Ah, I see. Naro, you had a cousin too?”
“Yes! Surprising, right? He, he actually lived in another country for a long time and just entered the Empire recently, so he’s going to stay at my place for a while. He’s not very familiar with the language or the Empire’s culture in many ways.”
“I see. By the way, your cousin is quite tall, isn’t he? He’s handsome in a different way from you, Naro.”
When Garnet looked at Ray and laughed heartily, Naro laughed along. They were complete opposites, after all. Needless to say, Ray was much bigger in height and build, and there wasn’t a single thing about them that looked alike. No, there couldn’t be. They weren’t blood-related family.
“I’m the village chief here, Garnet. Welcome to our village. May I ask your name?”
Garnet extended his hand to Ray with a kind smile. But Ray neither accepted the handshake nor answered. He merely glared at his hand with eyes full of hostility.
“Why are you asking my name? That’s something Naro personally gave me— Mmph.”
“His name is Ray! Ah, he must still be half asleep. He’s a bit of a late riser.”
Naro covered Ray’s lips and explained instead. Ray’s gaze turned icy.
“I see, so it’s Ray. Either way, you won’t be lonely since you’re not alone for the time being.”
“Yes. Ah, but Ahjussi, what you were trying to say earlier…”
“Ah, I’ll tell you later when I’m more certain. I can’t disturb your breakfast any longer, so I’ll be going now. Ray, it was nice meeting you too. If you have any questions about the village or need help with anything, feel free to come find me anytime.”
Naro said goodbye to Garnet as he walked away. Only when he disappeared from view did a sigh of relief escape involuntarily.
“Ray, why did you do that?”
Once they were alone, Naro asked with a frowning face.
“Why did you carelessly tell that guy my name, Naro?”
“What?”
“It’s the name you gave me yourself. It’s mine. Why did you carelessly tell him my possession?”
“That’s how people greet each other when they first meet. They ask for names and tell their own.”
Even with Naro’s explanation, Ray still seemed not to understand and just looked blank. Of course, Naro had expected him to be unfamiliar with human culture, but not to this extent.
“That’s not the problem right now. Ray, we agreed you’d wait quietly inside the house. Why did you come out?”
“That guy tried to touch Naro’s head. The head is a vital spot, so it’s dangerous if someone touches it.”
“Touch?”
What was he talking about? Thinking back, Naro remembered Garnet had tried to remove something from his head earlier.
“That’s because something was stuck in my hair.”
“Naro is mine. So I have to protect you. No one else can touch you.”
When Ray repeated the same words as before, Naro let out a deep sigh.
“R-Ray. You keep saying that, but I’m not yours.”
People weren’t possessions in the first place. Naro ran his hand through his hair in frustration. At the same time, Ray’s face filled with shock, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“And the villagers don’t know about your existence yet. I wasn’t ready to introduce you either, so this is troublesome.”
“…Naro finds my existence troublesome?”
“What? That’s not what I—”
That’s not what he meant—he was about to say he wanted to let Ray be welcomed in a more normal situation when Naro paused for a moment. Ray, who was usually expressionless, was frowning as if he were terribly sad.
“R-Ray, that’s not what I meant.”
“I’m sorry for being troublesome.”
Ray turned around abruptly and went back inside the house, stepping over the broken doorframe.
Naro stood there for a while, looking up at the sky. Unlike his gloomy mood, the sky was exceptionally clear today. He needed to tell Ray that wasn’t what he meant. The broken door, the pharmacy that still wasn’t cleaned up, and now this incident on top of it all—his head felt like it was going to split with complexity.
First, he had to do something about that door. Naro went into the pharmacy storage and brought out several wooden planks.
The door was completely destroyed, so it seemed he’d need to call someone. For now, he did emergency repairs by covering the gaps tightly with planks before going inside.
When he entered the house, he saw the blanket bulging on the bed. When he lifted the blanket slightly, Ray had returned to his baby dragon state and was lying curled up with his tail wrapped around himself. And in the corner at that. When he was in human form he was an adult, but was his dragon form still not fully grown?
“Ray, you need to eat breakfast.”
“…”
But his closed eyes didn’t open. Ray couldn’t speak when he was in dragon form. Then wasn’t this that he didn’t want to talk to Naro right now? Because Ray had voluntarily returned to his dragon state.
Naro reached to touch Ray’s scales but hesitated. It seemed he should leave him alone for now. Naro covered him with the blanket again, then went to the table to finish eating. The soup had gone cold, the bread somehow had a dry texture. Eating breakfast alone with no one sitting across from him somehow didn’t taste good.
After that, Ray continued neither opening his eyes nor moving.
“Ray, I’ll be at the pharmacy all afternoon. If you get hungry, eat the bread on the table. Okay?”
“…”
Still no response. With a slightly dejected face, Naro poured all his time and energy into cleaning the pharmacy again today.
When he came home exhausted, Ray was still the same. Still, one thing that hadn’t changed since Ray entered this house was that they always slept together at night. When Ray was in dragon form, Naro would hold him tightly as they shared each other’s warmth through the night.
Should he try talking to him more when he lay down in bed later? With that thought, Naro washed up and came out looking for Ray. But the bulging blanket had deflated and was now flat. Startled, he looked around and saw Ray lying by the fireplace on the pile of blankets.
That was the nest he’d made so Ray could rest comfortably when he was sick. Even after Ray had opened his heart, Naro had tried to let him continue sleeping there, but Ray would climb onto the bed no matter what. But now being there could only mean one thing.
“…You don’t even want to sleep with me.”
In the end, a hurt voice escaped from Naro’s lips.
“Ray, do whatever you want.”
After snapping coldly, he turned off the light, went to bed, and pulled the blanket over his head. In the quiet stillness, Naro suddenly sat up. Then he took out a thick blanket from the cabinet, covered Ray with it, and returned to bed, hiding under the covers.
He didn’t want to treat him this coldly.
During the time he lived only in the hospital, Naro’s radius of activity was limited, and his relationships were pathetically narrow too, so he was always clumsy at dealing with people.
Even now, wasn’t he upsetting Ray because of that immaturity? No, wasn’t Ray the same way?
Naro grumbled to himself while hiding under the blanket. Then he reached out his hand for no reason and fumbled at the empty space beside him. It felt empty and cold. Had it always been like this?
There had been more days sleeping without Ray than with him, so why did this feel so unfamiliar? Naro fell into sleep while swallowing his distress.
In the early dawn when the moonlight shone brightly.
The sound of Naro’s steady breathing spread regularly through the house. And some time later, Ray slowly emerged from under the blanket. The hard, sharp claws characteristic of dragons touched the floor.
And with each step those feet took, they transformed into human form. Once again human, Ray crouched down in front of Naro’s bed.
“…”
He stared intently at Naro’s sleeping face, mouth slightly open, as if watching him.
“Won’t let me use my fangs, says you’re not mine. Naro is mean.”
Ray lightly pinched Naro’s cheek, not hard enough to hurt.
“Mmm…”
Naro frowned slightly but grabbed Ray’s hand and rubbed his face against it, as if seeking warmth.
“…”
Ray kept kneading Naro’s soft cheek. Human skin was mysteriously soft, as if it would break with just a little pressure.
“Sleep well, Naro.”
After staring endlessly at the sleeping Naro, Ray carefully stood up and went outside.
It was still dawn, before the sun had risen.
