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Chapter 189
After waking, Kinain devoted himself to recovery for a month. His tattered body had become good as new the moment he’d returned from death. The reason Kinain couldn’t move wasn’t his body but his soul, so recovery magic was no use.
He didn’t properly remember what had happened in between. He wasn’t awake more than two hours a day, so it was only natural.
But he remembered one thing: whenever he opened his eyes, Asad was always beside him.
After a month, Kinain could move more or less like before. And once he could pull himself together, other things began to bother him.
For instance…
Where did the temple that was here go?
The temple that had been behind the dragon palace, for instance — it was gone.
The building, a little worn but sacred and dignified, had long since become a pile of cold rubble.
There was only one being who could do such a thing in the dragon’s domain.
Asad, this was you, wasn’t it?
…Yes.
Hearing the quiet assent, Kinain added “restore the temple” to his mental list.
The things Asad had done after he died… small ones were accidents, big ones were calamities.
Asad seemed to wish Kinain didn’t know what he’d been like, but unfortunately the scale of what he’d done was too great to pretend not to know.
When he’d heard that the dragon who had been a symbol of protection and peace in the human realm had become a symbol of calamity, Kinain had thought he should fix that side of things first. Not so much for others’ sake as because he didn’t want Asad to become an object of fear or hatred. Knowing how deeply the days when he was called Helio had scarred Asad, Kinain didn’t want him to go through such things again.
First clean up, then keep doing good deeds, and the gazes on Asad would change — he believed that.
Asad himself didn’t seem to care much, though.
Let’s rebuild the temple.
“…Do we really have to?”
Huh?
“It’s just something that’s been there, so I left it. It’s a space with no use at all.”
Asad spoke as if being rational, but he was full of personal feeling. He had gone to every temple in the world to save Kinain. But the gods had given no answer. Then why did gods or temples need to exist?
But he didn’t want to tell Kinain even that. To be precise, he never wanted to speak again of what had happened from the moment Kinain’s breath stopped until just before he opened his eyes. So he had no choice but to put up with looking like a whiny child.
“Th—that one’s not unnecessary…”
Jet was the one who cut in. Asad made an unpleasant face, but said nothing because Kinain was there. When Kinain nodded, Jet gained courage and continued.
“A dragon’s wedding is held in a temple. Only if the gods accept the marriage can the mate also go to the divine realm without trouble.”
Kinain’s fingertips twitched almost imperceptibly. That meant there were times when it was *not* accepted, didn’t it?
A dark shadow crossed Kinain’s face, but it vanished quickly before anyone could notice.
That’s quite… human.
More precisely, like a difficult parent. If they didn’t like the bride, would they drive her off?
Well, he and Asad had imprinted, so the chance was low… Actually, what bothered him was that even that imprint was still incomplete.
Kinain hesitated, then asked.
“Are there times when the gods don’t accept the wedding?” “Of course there are. Recently too, ha—!”
Jet quickly covered his mouth, but Kinain had already heard.
Recently?
Surely he wouldn’t call the previous dragon’s era “recent.”
There was no other dragon besides Asad, so the only dragon who had wed “recently” was one.
Kinain slowly turned around.
Your Highness…
There was Asad, already on his knees. His face was pale as a condemned criminal’s.
Ah, that’s right.
With that, Kinain slipped out of the past memory.
He must have chuckled without realizing it; the tense Illiya went rigid. He seemed to think Kinain was mocking him. But it was because he’d thought of Asad solemnly confessing his crime that day. As sorry as he was to Illiya, he couldn’t help laughing when he thought of Asad.
That day’s Asad had acted as if he’d committed high treason, but it was nothing of the sort. Rather, it meant Asad had been that cornered mentally — and unlike now, Kinain hadn’t been able to laugh back then.
Flustered trying to soothe Asad…
“Then let’s have a proper wedding with me!”
He’d been flustered enough to say that.
Fortunately, Asad seemed to forget even his self-reproach at the hasty proposal, and everything after had proceeded smoothly, bringing them to where they stood now.
“Illiya, I…”
Kinain tried to soothe Illiya before he grew more anxious. He knew Illiya had done it for him. Above all, it had only been attempted — the wedding had never happened. Kinain had no reason to feel hurt or angry. If anything, he was only grateful to Illiya for making such a decision for him.
But before Kinain could continue, someone else cut in.
“Please forgive Illiya. This child only truly wanted to save Kinain!”
“Lord Hwei!”
Illiya was startled at the man who had come to his side without a sound. He hadn’t thought his chief would intervene here.
“If you forgive Illiya’s wrongdoing, I too shall swear the Tail Clan’s eternal loyalty to the mate. And in addition, I offer a lifetime free-use pass to Gold Pot.”
Ah.
Kinain couldn’t help smiling inwardly. He’d seen through the fact that Hwei wasn’t sincerely asking for forgiveness.
Hwei had already noticed that Kinain wasn’t angry with Illiya. And yet he was speaking this way only to curry favor.
And since the other spirit clans had all given the same gift, he must have thought he couldn’t be the only one left out. *Of course* he had a few more tails than Illiya.
It made him want to tease him a little, but seeing Illiya’s tearful face, the mischief quickly faded.
“Illiya.”
Calling his name again, Kinain reached out and pulled Illiya into an embrace. At the unexpected gesture, Illiya’s eyes widened.
“I know you did it for me.”
“Thank you, Illiya.”
“…It’s what a friend would do.” Illiya sniffled and hugged Kinain back.
Once the mood had settled somewhat, Hwei sidled up to Kinain.
“Since the mate has mercifully forgiven us, I shall keep my oath.” A fragrant grassy scent brushed his nose. Kinain checked his reflection in the mirror. The ornaments had increased again, as expected. Earrings and a necklace and bracelets, not just the hair ornament.
Ramu looked Kinain over carefully and nodded in satisfaction.
“We won’t need any other ornaments.”
Ramu was right. The prepared ornaments had each been treasures fit for a nation, but the ones gifted by the spirit clans were beautiful and, above all, meaningful.
Until now, the spirit clans had competed to have a bride selected because the clan that produced the bride received the dragon’s protection. But now Kinain wore the symbols of every spirit clan, which could be taken to mean he would protect them all without favoring one. That was possible because Kinain was a human belonging to no spirit clan, before he was the bride candidate chosen by the Wing Clan.
The Tail Clan chief had jumped in competitively for this reason too. Kor and Igni had probably given theirs out of true gratitude and apology, but it wasn’t hard to guess that Biche’s and Hwei’s gifts carried some of this intention. Especially for the Scale Clan, there would be fear that the dragon’s anger might turn on them again.
Of course, Kinain had no intention of letting Asad destroy the Scale Clan.
Not for the Scale Clan’s sake — for Asad’s. Kinain had no intention of standing by and watching Asad be consumed by anger and hatred.
What he wanted to give Asad was the exact opposite of those things.
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