“Did you two fight by any chance?”
“What?”
“How should I put it, the atmosphere seems a bit like that.”
Naro was flustered. They had conversed on the balcony, but that wasn’t particularly a fight. Even now he was acting no different from usual, yet it was amazing that Mellian had picked up on the subtle current.
“It’s not like that.”
“Really?”
“Yes! Right, Ray?”
Naro looked at Ray with a forced smile. Ray, who had briefly made eye contact with Naro, nodded.
The carriage entered the ducal estate without issue. Bern and Hayla had been waiting in front of the estate for the carriage coming through the darkened night road.
“Mellian.”
Bern first examined his daughter’s condition as she got off the carriage. It seemed he had been waiting continuously out of worry even after sending her to the banquet. Naro approached him and briefly explained that she had attended the banquet well today, there were no particular problems, and they had left midway because she seemed very tired.
“Naro, Ray, thank you so much. Ah, you two come in as well. Rest at the estate tonight.”
“No, sir. It’s not that late yet, so we’ll return to the inn.”
Though Bern looked regretful, he instructed the coachman to safely take the two to the inn. Naro said he would see them the next time he visited the estate, gave his farewells to Bern and Mellian, and got back on the carriage with Ray.
No words were exchanged between them while the carriage was moving. Naro kept glancing at Ray unnecessarily. Ray had his arms crossed and was leaning against the carriage with his eyes closed. It seemed fatigue was indeed accumulating day by day.
The carriage passed through the plaza and was running down the road to the inn when it suddenly stopped with a screech. The coachman’s voice could be heard shouting something toward the front. Naro opened the window connecting to the driver’s seat and stuck his head out.
“Is something wrong?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. There seems to be a crowd ahead because a fight broke out.”
Just as the coachman said, a group blocking the carriage’s path could be seen. The voices cutting through the air from here and there were sharp. Seeing that curses were mixed in, it seemed a fight had really broken out.
“Then we’ll get off here. The inn isn’t that far, so we can walk.”
He didn’t know how long it would take to wait for the fight to end, and he was worried about Ray, who looked tired. In cases like this, it was faster to just walk.
“I’m really sorry.”
Telling the apologizing coachman once again that it was okay, Naro shook Ray awake. Ray, who had barely opened his eyes—whether he had fallen into a deep sleep during the journey—pressed firmly on his eyelids.
“You’re tired, right? Let’s hurry.”
“Yeah.”
The two who got off the carriage walked through the gathered people. Glancing over, several people were pointing fingers at each other and fighting with loud voices. Judging by their state, they were definitely drunk.
They were barely making their way through the people interestedly watching the drunks’ fight when Ray suddenly groaned lowly with an “urgh.”
“Ray?”
Naro stopped and examined Ray. He was frowning and holding his forehead.
“Ray, have you turned back into a dragon since coming to the capital?”
Ray shook his head. Naro couldn’t help but be shocked at what he had suspected. It had already been over two weeks since Naro and Ray came to the capital. To think he hadn’t turned back into a dragon even once during that time.
Until now, Ray had never maintained his human form for more than five days maximum. Usually, he would definitely return to his baby dragon form when sleeping, once every three days. But if he had continuously maintained his human form for well over ten days, it made sense that he was this tired.
“I told you it’s okay to return to dragon form when I’m sleeping.”
“Because I have to protect you if something happens to Naro.”
At Ray’s sunken voice, Naro couldn’t say anything. How could he say anything when Ray had pushed himself that hard to protect him?
“L-let’s hurry.”
“…Sorry, Naro.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t think I can hold out anymore.”
“What do you…”
It was before he could even finish speaking. Ray’s figure that had been filling Naro’s vision disappeared without a trace. Bewildered for only a moment, when he looked down, he saw the figure of a baby dragon sitting on the ground. The clothes Ray had been wearing were also scattered around.
Naro’s eyes widened. His heart felt like it had dropped all the way to the bottom, he was so shocked. Naro quickly looked around. Very fortunately, the people in this area right now were distracted by the drunks’ fight.
Naro moved quickly. He spread out the outer coat Ray had been wearing, covered the baby dragon with it, and lifted him into his arms. Ray had already fallen fast asleep, his eyes tightly closed in slumber.
“N-no one saw, right…?”
Naro gulped and kept looking around repeatedly. Fortunately, there were no people nearby. He felt like thanking the drunks who had gotten into a fight.
Naro carefully left that area and quickly headed to the inn. And not long after Naro disappeared, a silhouette suddenly popped out from atop a nearby building. That silhouette, staring intently at the spot where Naro had been standing just moments ago, persistently watched Naro’s back as he disappeared into the inn.
Naro, who had hurriedly entered the inn, panted as he headed for the stairs.
“Hey!”
Just as he was about to pass through the cafeteria, someone waved their hand toward Naro. It was that lodger he always ran into there. He had ordered a lot of food today too and was occupying a seat.
“Ahjussi.”
“Just getting in? But where did hyung-ssi go today looking so fancy? You’re all dressed up?”
Naro was still in his banquet attire. He’d agreed to return the clothes borrowed from the ducal house separately later. The man looked at Naro’s different appearance and even clapped, saying it suited him very well.
“But why are you alone today? Where’s that well-built hyung-ssi? Huh? But what are you holding like that? It looks heavy, want me to help?”
“N-no!”
When the lodger tried to stand up, Naro yelped. Even other lodgers passing nearby looked over in surprise.
“Th-thank you for the compliment. I’ll head up first.”
Even in the midst of chaos, Naro didn’t forget to greet him and immediately went up to the third floor. And he entered Ray’s room rather than his own room, 302. Only after closing the door and even engaging the lock did his tension release. Strength drained from his entire body and at the same time, relief spread.
“Ray.”
Naro set aside the clothes that had been covering Ray’s body and examined Ray first. Both eyelids were firmly closed, and regular breathing sounds could be heard. It seemed he had just consumed a lot of stamina, and fortunately there was nothing wrong with him.
Naro spread out the blanket on the bed and carefully laid Ray down. Then he went into the bathroom, filled a tray with warm water, and brought it out along with a dry cloth.
He placed the items on the nightstand beside the bed, soaked the cloth in hot water, then wrung out the moisture. Then with the cloth warmed to just the right temperature, he slowly wiped Ray’s body.
“Like a fool… when did I ever tell you to protect me while pushing yourself like this?”
Naro gently stroked Ray’s scales with meticulous touch.
“I’m sorry, Ray. I should have noticed sooner.”
He had felt that Ray was tired, but he hadn’t actively stepped in. Between Mellian’s matter, information investigation, and on top of that, the change in his feelings toward Ray—Naro had been overwhelmed lately. So even while vaguely knowing that Ray had been maintaining his human form for a long time, he hadn’t actually thought to check on him.
After finishing wiping his body, Naro sat beside him and endlessly gazed at the baby dragon sleeping soundly.
Night gradually deepened. When it became the wee hours of dawn when everyone had fallen asleep, as if the noisy fight that had broken out in the plaza had also concluded, the world became quiet.
Moonlight seeped in gently through the window.
Ray’s tail on the bed twitched, then his green eyes slowly revealed themselves. Waking from sleep, Ray lifted his head and first gazed at the moonlight. Then he turned his head and took in Naro sleeping beside him.
“…”
He gazed at Naro endlessly. Scanning various parts of Naro’s face with deep green eyes, he slowly approached his side.
As the distance closed, the regular breathing sounds could be heard even better. Ray lowered his head and checked the distance of about a span between himself and Naro on the bed. He tried to completely close that distance and nestle into Naro’s arms, but in that moment, the words he had said came to mind.
‘I think it would be good to re-establish the sense of distance between you and me.’
“…”
Ray couldn’t approach further and lay his body down as is. Without taking his eyes off Naro until the very end, he curled up his tail and went back to sleep.
