“I’ll fix it.”

As Orbis lightly rubbed Litania’s slender arm with his fingertips, new flesh grew on her skin that had been blotchy with burn marks, making it smooth.

Though he had healed her aching body perfectly, instead of being grateful, she glared at Orbis as if looking at something even more horrible.

“Monster…”

“Should I not have healed you?”

“If you consider me your bride, show me more respect.”

“I’m not killing you, am I?”

“You’d find it laughable if I said the same thing to you.”

“Dragons don’t feel such complex emotions. We simply remove what bothers us from sight.”

It was a vicious conversation. It felt like they were pointing swords at each other rather than bathing together. Of course, he was the one holding the sword, and she was the one with it at her throat.

Litania, with a gloomy face, fidgeted with her hands underwater. Though fearful of him, she spoke as if determined to say what needed to be said.

“I came here as your bride.”

“I know.”

“Husband and wife are one flesh.”

“I said I know.”

“So killing me would be like you committing suicide.”

It was a forced argument. But as if dragons don’t mind small contradictions, he nodded slightly, saying, “Is that so.”

“Cherish me like you cherish yourself.”

“…How does one cherish?”

As if she hadn’t expected him to agree so readily, she looked at Orbis with a slightly surprised face.

“If I teach you, can you do it?”

“There’s nothing I can’t do.”

He answered not with confidence, but as if stating an obvious fact.

“Try speaking like me.”

“Like this?”

Litania shuddered at his ill-fitting tone and corrected him.

“You should say, ‘Like this, you mean?'”

“I see.”

“…”

“Is something wrong?”

She had said it thinking to see how far he’d go since it was so absurd, but surprisingly, Orbis spoke to her quite skillfully using honorifics. Dragons didn’t use honorifics not because they didn’t know human courtesy, but because they hadn’t felt the need to.

“How much do you know about humans?”

“Enough to maintain a human form.”

“…What about human couples?”

Orbis blinked slowly.

“I know how they reproduce, at least.”

“…”

“Though I’ve never done it myself.”

He had knowledge about humans but didn’t understand them.

It was like knowing everything about ants but being unable to become one. No matter how perfectly a human imitates an ant, to the ants, it would still look like a giant human flailing about.

“Copy me.”

Litania reached out and slowly caressed Orbis’s face.

Then Orbis caressed Litania’s face as well. His fingers slowly traced from her forehead to the tip of her nose, cheeks, chin, following the line of her neck and touching her collarbone.

“It’s called a marital relationship, not reproduction.”

“Marital relationship.”

“It’s an act of fulfilling desires while respecting each other.”

Their faces drew closer. Since they were already immersed in water together, it didn’t take long for them to press against each other, becoming one shadow.

Fine golden hair and soft brown hair became disheveled on moist skin.

As she twisted her body, ripples spread around her and misty vapors shimmered.

Hot breath.

The sweet steam that rose tickling the air spread like fog, and then all vision faded away.

Dazed consciousness gradually lightened as if floating to the surface of water. Litania rubbed her still hazy eyes with the back of her hand and slowly sat up.

It was still dark around. She could see candlelight flickering outside the translucent canopy.

Litania noticed a dark shadow on the wall. It looked stable as if seated in a chair, so Snow must be nearby.

“Mmm. Snow, water…”

“Let me get it for you.”

Litania, who was about to call Snow out of habit while reaching out beyond the canopy, screamed in surprise at the unexpected male voice.

“Eek!”

Shuddering and pulling the blanket, Litania wrapped herself like a chrysalis and stuck out only her head to shout.

“Why is Orbis here?”

“You were quite intoxicated, so I stayed by your side thinking you might suffer from a hangover.”

The tall shadow swayed lightly and then suddenly grew taller. Golden hair, looking slightly reddish due to the candlelight, flowed down. There was a sound of Orbis, who had approached the bed, putting something down on the console.

It was the glass of water she had asked for.

“But you woke up earlier than expected. Does your head hurt?”

“…I’m fine.”

She was too surprised to know if she had a hangover or not. Litania reached out only her hand beyond the canopy to get the water glass and drank. Gulp. As the lukewarm water went down, she felt a little calmer.

“Did Orbis bring me here?”

“…It seems you don’t remember.”

Come to think of it, she remembers asking Orbis, who came to get her from the banquet hall, to drink on her behalf. She also remembers him kissing her hand after that. She even remembers him carrying her and walking down the corridor…

‘Wait. Was it not a dream?’

Litania’s spine chilled as she quickly pulled back the blanket to check her outfit. She was in her nightclothes. It seems Orbis did change her clothes.

‘No way, no way…!’

In the dream, his way of speaking was a bit strange, but didn’t he start using informal speech properly from the middle?

She couldn’t distinguish which parts were dreams and which were reality. What if everything up to Orbis speaking informally was a dream, and from the point where their bodies intertwined was reality?

“O-Orbis! How far did we go?”

“We’re in your room now, but…”

“That’s not what I mean, um…!”

She blushed and stammered, then squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

“We didn’t take off our clothes, embrace each other, and… share a bed, did we?”

“…”

There was no answer from Orbis. They say silence is affirmation. Then could it really be? Litania’s face turned pale.

A large hand pulled back the canopy, and Orbis’s face came a little closer. Litania flinched and pulled her waist back.

Orbis sat on the edge of the bed without touching her, only tilting his head to meet her eyes.

“I don’t know why you think that, but this time I didn’t break my promise to you.”

“By promise, you mean…”

“You said we wouldn’t share a bed.”

Right. That was definitely the condition under which they married.

A relationship that’s officially married but actually just friends. A fake political marriage to free Litania from the imperial court’s interference. In fact, Orbis had never once attempted any sexual contact with her until now.

…Though there had been quite a few embarrassing situations.

“So it was a dream…”

“A dream?”

“Ah, it’s nothing!”

What is she, a teenager going through puberty, to dream about doing such things with a man!

Litania felt so embarrassed she wanted to hide. She buried her face deep in the blanket and groaned, “Ugh…”

“What did you do while I was sleeping, Orbis?”

“I waited for you to wake up.”

“Why did you wait?”

“I thought you might have a hard time with the hangover.”

Did he really just stay by her side out of concern? Litania felt relieved, but for some reason, she also felt gloomy.

‘Am I the strange one?’

While she would have been shocked if she had really spent the night with him, now that nothing happened and he stayed by her side as a friend, she feels disappointed. Why are these contradictory feelings arising? Litania couldn’t understand.

“Orbis, we’re friends, right?”

“Yes, I am your friend forever.”

Friends. When she used to fear Orbis, she thought remaining friends was the only way to survive. At that time, she only wished for those words to be true.

Why does a person’s heart change so easily? Why do other emotions arise once you actually become friends?

Litania clutched the blanket tightly and asked without looking at Orbis.

“You know, if you start wanting to do things that friends shouldn’t do… what should you do?”

“There’s nothing we can’t do between us, Litania.”

Does he know what I’m hoping for when he says that?

He bathes her, feeds her, kisses her fingers, yet seems to have no awareness of it.

‘Because he’s a dragon, he doesn’t understand human emotions.’

If someone told him that kissing between friends was normal human behavior, it seemed he would really kiss her without any ulterior motive.

“No. Friends shouldn’t do that.”

“We can, Litania.”

A large, elegant hand came closer. Long fingers lightly twirled her disheveled hair.

Orbis wasn’t wearing gloves.

“We’d just add one more word to define our relationship besides friends.”

“One more…”

“Yes. One more.”

Lovers.

“Litania. You wished for me to be your friend.”

“Orbis…”

“What you wish for is what I wish for. So if you have another wish, I will gladly comply.”

Orbis’s face drew closer. The woman’s face reflected in his deep blue eyes looked just like a girl in love.

“This time, what do you wish me to be? Litania.”