“Ray!”
Ray sank down to the floor with a thud. His thick tail swayed weakly and swept the floor.
“Why did you suddenly change? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Ray shook his head from side to side. When he was in baby dragon form, he couldn’t speak, but he could still understand what was said.
“Then why… Ah! Could it be…?”
Come to think of it, Ray had said so earlier at the library. That he’d fixed the door and the apothecary with his own power. But since his power hadn’t fully returned, he hadn’t been able to restore them perfectly.
“Is it because you used too much power?”
As Naro muttered to himself, Ray nodded his head vigorously. It seemed to be the right answer. More than that, Naro was a bit curious about the process of Ray transforming into human form.
First of all, Ray’s true body was a dragon. So this baby dragon form could perhaps be called his true appearance, but when Ray was human, he transformed into the form of an adult, not a child. Only now did he wonder about the difference visible between his human and dragon forms.
Just as Naro was lost in thought, Ray waddled over and plopped into Naro’s arms. When he gently stroked Ray’s head, steady breathing sounds came from Ray’s mouth. It seemed he was tired from using too much power.
Naro watched this fondly, then this time he himself carried Ray and walked to the bed to lie down together. He’d woken up early today and had run around everywhere looking for Ray, so he planned to rest his eyes for a bit.
The body heat he felt in his arms was warm. Who would have thought he’d miss this feeling so much after just one day of not sleeping while holding him?
“Sleep well, Ray.”
Naro smiled warmly and whispered softly. Then he closed his eyes while holding Ray tight.
* * *
One thing Naro learned about Ray was that his learning ability was incredibly fast.
“You already memorized all of this?”
“Yeah.”
In just about a week since he’d offered to teach him the Imperial language, not only had Ray finished the basics, but he’d reached a level where he could write a letter to someone right now. Considering that it had taken Naro a full two years of struggling to learn the Imperial language, it was definitely an incredible speed.
“Amazing.”
Ray was languidly touching the corner of his book when he flinched at Naro’s voice coming from beside him.
“You’re really smart. Are dragons naturally intelligent? Or is it just you who’s particularly like that?”
Naro marveled with a bright smile. His gaze looking at what Ray had studied was full of life, his eyes sparkling.
“I’m amazing?”
“Of course! The Imperial language is one of the hardest on the continent, you know.”
Hmm, Ray thought about something intently, then soon pushed aside the books spread out at length on the table to one side.
“Hm?”
With his arms resting on the desk, Ray turned his body to meet Naro’s eyes.
“Then praise me.”
“Uh… what?”
“I’m amazing, so praise me.”
Haha, Naro laughed awkwardly and raised his hand to stroke Ray’s head. Exactly five times at that.
“Good job.”
“Not that.”
“Huh?”
“I did something amazing, so you should give me amazing praise.”
“Wh-what’s amazing praise?”
Naro asked, trying hard to swallow the anxiety creeping up.
“Fangs.”
“……”
“I didn’t get to suck them last time.”
When Ray brushed Naro’s lips with his thick hand, his shoulders trembled involuntarily.
“Make that the praise.”
He was still thinking about that? The way his eyes gleamed fiercely was somehow even chilling. Thinking that if he stayed like this, Ray might block him from moving at all like last time, Naro jumped up.
“That’s not allowed.”
“Why not?”
“Well…”
Naro thought for a moment. He doubted whether he could make Ray understand that such acts shouldn’t be done carelessly in human society. Moreover, he also worried that if he just vaguely said it wasn’t allowed, it might dampen Ray’s motivation to study.
“Ah, this! You need to study all of these too. Right now you’ve only learned language, and you still don’t know much about humans.”
Naro picked up several books that had been neatly stacked under the dining table and placed them on top.
“Then keep studying. I’ll go to the apothecary for a bit.”
Feeling a gaze burning sharply into the back of his head, Naro quickly entered the apothecary as if fleeing.
“Whew.”
Only after separating from Ray did a sigh of relief escape. Naro went inside and first checked on the condition of the dried medicinal herbs.
But what if Ray doesn’t give up? Should I just let him suck them once and be done with it?
“No. That’s not right. What am I even thinking?”
Naro shook his head, startled by his own thoughts. He was already dying trying to get used to the kisses every morning when he woke up, so there was no way such a thing was possible. Kisses were somewhat better if he thought of them as affectionate expressions a mother gives to a child, but where in the world was there a mother who would let a child suck on her fangs?
Naro swallowed his worries today as well and busily moved his hands.
Thanks to Ray neatly organizing the interior of the apothecary, work had become much easier. He’d also procured unusable medicinal herbs to some degree, and it seemed he could slowly start working again now.
“Should I stop here for today?”
By the way, who had made Anton like that? He was the kind of person who would have made enemies here and there, but now that it had actually happened, he couldn’t help feeling a bit uncomfortable. Moreover, it seemed like Garnet ahjussi had been trying to say something about that matter back then.
Naro came back inside the house while mulling over his faint doubts. Despite it being nearly dinner time, Ray was still sitting in front of the table obediently reading a book.
Watching this fondly, Naro quietly brought out milk from the food storage. As he poured milk into a cup with the intention of preparing one for the hard-working Ray, he felt Ray’s obvious gaze.
“Hm? What?”
“Can Naro get pregnant too?”
Naro’s mouth fell open with a pop, and at the same time, milk overflowing from the glass fell to the floor.
“Naro, that’s overflowing.”
“Ah…!”
Only then feeling the coldness at his feet, Naro discovered the milk soaking the floor and hurriedly wiped it up. Wondering why on earth Ray had asked such an absurd question, he looked and saw that the book he was reading was about the human body.
“Ray, I’m a man so I can’t get pregnant.”
Naro let out a deep sigh and handed Ray the milk he’d poured for him.
“Doesn’t it say that in the book too?”
“That’s right. But Naro is pretty.”
“Huh?”
“You look pretty, so I thought you might be able to get pregnant.”
Naro hung his head deeply, unable to say anything. He knew that Ray wasn’t human but a dragon, so he shouldn’t treat him with the same common sense, and he well knew there had to be differences in their ways of thinking, but still, every time he directly faced moments like this, he just couldn’t get used to it.
“I see. So human males can’t get pregnant.”
Ray muttered softly while concentrating on his book.
“Then are dragons different?”
Ray slowly raised his head.
“Dragons?”
“Ah, yeah. You’re a dragon, Ray. Since you’re a different species from humans anyway, I was just wondering.”
Ray fell into thought for a moment. He even moved his lips as if about to say something, but he didn’t give a clear answer and shook his head.
“I’m not sure.”
Not sure? Ray himself was a dragon, not anyone else, so how could he not know such a thing? He wanted to ask more, but since Ray really seemed not to know, he decided not to ask further.
“Then keep reading that. I should start preparing dinner soon.”
Naro went into the food storage. Wondering what to make today, when he looked around, there were hardly any ingredients worth eating in the storage. Originally he would go out to the plaza and do the shopping in advance before supplies ran out, but recently so many things had happened that he’d forgotten about shopping.
“Ray.”
Naro came back out of the storage.
“We don’t have much in terms of ingredients, so I think I need to go out to the plaza to do some shopping.”
“Shopping? Who’s that person you’re suddenly going to see?”
Naro, who had been slowly mulling over Ray’s words, let out a small laugh with a puff. Then Ray’s brow furrowed slightly. Just who was this person that made him laugh so happily at the mention of going to see them?
“Um, so what I meant was I’m going to buy food ingredients.”
Naro carefully explained to Ray the meaning of the word and its usage. Fortunately, being quite intelligent, he seemed to understand it all at once.
“I understand. Then I’ll guard the house while Naro is gone.”
“Huh? I thought you’d say you’d come along.”
“If you do things the person you like dislikes, they’ll hate you. It says so here.”
Ray picked up the book he’d pushed to one side. Looking at the cover, it seemed to be a book that focused on human psychology.
“Naro is troubled when I appear in front of other humans.”
“Ah…”
Perhaps Ray was still concerned about the time Garnet had visited before. Even back then when Naro had thought Ray had disappeared, Ray had said he’d gone out early in the morning to find Garnet. Could it be that even that was instinctive action, sensing that at an early hour he wouldn’t be noticed by other people?
“Ray, it’s okay now. I was troubled back then because I wasn’t prepared, but now I don’t plan to hide you being human away. So let’s go together.”
“I can go too?”
“Yeah, I was planning to ask you to come along anyway.”
Ray jumped up from his seat. Seeing his eyes sparkling, it seemed he’d wanted to follow along after all.
