At the cooled red eyes, Reina showed her regret but obediently stepped back. It was the first time Ruan showed such obsession. Reina recalled when a rather long letter from Ruan had arrived.
She’d thought he’d become talkative after becoming the Demon King, but ten pages were packed full of stories about Beni rather than about himself. Even thinking about it again, that side of Ruan was amusing, so she swallowed her laughter inwardly. Then she looked at Ruan and Beni, who was completely hidden by his body with only white hair and the tips of his ears peeking out.
“Alright. I’ll get going then. I am getting a bit tired now too.”
Having arrived yesterday evening and spent time drinking up the alcohol in the castle and chattering since they’d met after a long time, it was natural to be sleepy. Reina stretched and scooped up Noah, who was sleeping on the sofa. Reina carried Noah, who was much bigger than herself, without any sign of difficulty and leisurely left the bedroom.
“See you later then.”
A cheerful greeting echoed in the corridor. Ruan confirmed that Reina had completely disappeared before slightly loosening the strength in the arms wrapped around Beni. Beni was still being held obediently with his rabbit ears out. The feeling of his chest repeatedly inflating and deflating greatly was transmitted, as if his breath was a bit blocked.
“Beni.”
When he called quietly, only then did Beni slightly lift his face. When the long ears drooped down and looked up at him, Ruan shut his mouth tight. Ruan had also only often seen Beni when he was completely a rabbit until now; he’d almost never seen partial animal transformation like this.
No, except for their first meeting, was there just none at all? He couldn’t judge well. Because he’d looked at the portrait he’d drawn of Beni’s appearance on the first day so often.
“Your Majesty?”
“Beni. Even if Reina asks to see your ears, you must never do that again.”
At Beni’s call, Ruan barely came to his senses and gave a firm warning. For someone else to so easily appreciate what even he could only see once in a while by chance—it was an unacceptable thing. Beni, unaware of the Demon King’s inner thoughts, wondered if it had been an undignified act as a personal attendant and hurriedly nodded.
“Yes! I’ll keep that in mind!”
The moment he tried to put away his ears, Ruan, who keenly noticed, rummaged through Beni’s hair with his fingers and lightly pressed with his fingertips where the scalp and ear connected.
“Ngh…”
Perhaps because it was a place no one had touched before, it was a strange sensation that seemed ticklish. When Beni, whose shoulders trembled finely, looked up questioningly, Ruan sent him an eye-smile as if satisfied.
“No need to put them away now.”
Ruan closed the bedroom door that was still open and took Beni’s hand to move. Realizing that direction was the bed, Beni tilted his head and asked,
“Are you going to sleep?”
“I’m a bit tired today.”
Ruan stopped in front of the bed.
“Ah, then I’ll come back later to wake you.”
It seemed natural he’d be tired since someone who slept a lot seemed to have stayed up almost all night. Beni was organizing his thoughts about what time to come back to wake him and that he should also send word to the dining room as he pulled his hand free, when Ruan, who had lain on the bed, rustled and lifted the blanket.
Then he tapped the spot next to him with his hand and raised the corners of his mouth slyly.
“I said let’s sleep together, Beni.”
“What?”
At the question, instead of answering, Ruan lightly tapped the sheet once more. Beni unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.
Honestly, he was sleepy from barely sleeping, and more than anything, because he already knew how warm and cozy it would be if he lay there, it was hard to shake off Ruan’s temptation.
Dignity, he had to maintain dignity… A personal attendant shouldn’t lie down together when he couldn’t even assist his master properly… Moreover, the Demon King’s mate was currently in this castle too. No matter how lowly a beastkin half-breed he was, the mate might be displeased if they found out. Reina… didn’t seem like that kind of personality, but you never knew.
When Beni seemed to hesitate more than usual for some reason, Ruan narrowed his eyes and stretched out his arm to grab his wrist. At the unexpected strength, Beni was pulled helplessly and ended up falling face-down on the bed.
“Ah! Your Majesty!”
“I sleep better when you’re here, Beni.”
Ruan easily flipped Beni’s body over, then subtly massaged past his thighs to his calves while taking off his shoes. The places his fingertips touched tingled strangely. Both shoes fell with a thud below the bed, and Ruan laid Beni on his side, wrapped his waist, and made their bodies overlap.
In the position of being embraced from behind, Beni couldn’t keep his gaze still. No, it was hard to keep his whole body still. Lying in Ruan’s bed in his true form rather than as a rabbit was still awkward and tense. Was it because there were more parts touching him?
Beni was even breathing carefully when air filled with heat brushed past his nape. His neck shrank at the ticklishness, and a low laugh was heard from behind.
“Beni.”
“…Y-yes?”
“Do you dislike having your ears touched?”
He was probably talking about the rabbit ears, right? Did he want to touch his rabbit ears?
He didn’t have very good memories of anyone touching his ears. There were only memories of mainly Trellou or the Count roughly grabbing and pulling his ears like grabbing hair. In the past, Trellou had tried to pierce a hole with an awl under the pretext of decorating his ugly ears prettily. Fortunately, whether he wasn’t serious, when he burst into tears, he giggled and didn’t come at him anymore.
Ruan wouldn’t do such a thing, but still, those were his only experiences, so the words that he didn’t dislike it didn’t come out easily.
“You don’t need to force yourself to allow it. Just tell me honestly.”
“…Actually, I don’t really like it.”
“I see.”
The answer that came back was plain without any sign of disappointment. Nevertheless, Beni somehow felt more concerned and added words.
“But… if it’s Your Majesty, I think it would be okay.”
“Really?”
It was a voice that had brightened remarkably compared to just before. Now that Ruan seemed to like it, Beni laid back the ears he’d been keeping upright so he could touch them better. Before long, he felt the sensation of gently caressing his outer ear.
While the soft touch was nice, Beni somehow felt like heat was gathering inside his body. He found himself wiggling his toes that were covered by the blanket for no reason.
The hand that had been stroking over the fur stopped at the ear tip. The feeling of holding the outer ear and its inside between his fingers and rubbing was unfamiliar, making his whole body tremble. Chilling goosebumps seemed to spread from his scalp to his tailbone.
“Hng.”
Just as he was engulfed in a strange feeling, something damp and hot touched his ear. When the surprised Beni turned his face with a rustle, Ruan was gently holding his rabbit ear and licking its tip with his tongue. At the act that went beyond simply touching, Beni, whose pupils dilated, reached out his hand to try to take back his ear.
“Why, why are you licking that!”
While Ruan had no disgust or displeasure toward beastkin, that didn’t mean the act of sucking an animal’s ear was okay. Beni felt guilty as if he’d made him put something dirty in his mouth. He hastily pulled his ear, but Ruan instead closed the distance further and curved his eyes.
“Does it feel bad, Beni?”
It wasn’t a matter of whether it felt bad or good.
“It’s not that, but it’s dirty. What if fur gets in your mouth, Your Maj… esty?”
The arm that had been wrapped around his waist moved, and his large hand circled over the vest. Then it soon began to undo the buttons. What was happening? He couldn’t grasp whether to stop the hand unbuttoning his clothes, or to stop the tongue that was now starting to lick long inside his ear.
The wet squelching sound pooled inside his ear and was heard explicitly. Feeling like strange sounds would keep coming out, Beni kept his mouth shut and squirmed, but it was useless. Only the intimate sound of the sheets rustling and rubbing came.
Finally the vest came undone and only the shirt inside remained. Could he possibly be planning to unbutton the shirt too? Just as he stiffened, fortunately the hand covered his stomach as it was and kneaded Beni’s flesh that was wrinkled and folded.
‘He’s, he’s teasing me again!’
It was when Beni, who had finally realized Ruan’s inexplicable behavior, made a half-tearful face and tried to stop Ruan’s hand. The hand that fell away before he could block it felt along his ribs and stopped at the center of his chest. Where Ruan’s palm touched was hot enough to burn the flesh. Was it because it was inside the blanket? At that heat, he had the illusion that he was somehow getting feverish too.
“Beni.”
The voice was especially low and resembled breathing. Ruan whispered against the rabbit ear.
“Your heart is beating fast.”
It was nothing much. There wouldn’t be a single demon in this world whose heart would be fine when the Demon King was fondling their body. Yet Beni’s face flushed red as if a secret had been discovered.
“Let go now…”
“Your body’s getting hot too.”
Ruan’s thigh stealthily invaded and spread between his legs. At that moment—thump—Beni’s heart beat violently.
“Stop!”
Beni shouted and sat up very nimbly. It was because Ruan let him go, but Beni didn’t have the capacity to care about that now. With his face dyed bright red, Beni hastily put on his shoes and rushed toward the door without looking back, shouting,
“I-I’ll come back later!”
Beni, who had left the bedroom, gasped for breath heavily and lowered his head. The front of his form-fitting pants was bulging. This was impossible.
