Aravel

Chapter 20

Kaze and Lunaria sat side by side on the bed with a one gap distance between them, neither one speaking since the last 10 minutes.

Darkness that engulfed the room since earlier prevented Kaze from making out what sort of facial expression Lunaria had on right now. Even so, he could feel her body radiating slightly more heat than usual. This was probably because Lunaria used the shower before coming over to meet him. Kaze was often told that Lunaria enjoyed long showers, which was why he made such a guess. It might had sounded perverted if he blurted it out when in actuality did not have any mean intention behind it.

Feeling his palms sweating immensely, Kaze's heart was about to jump out of his chest from the tensed atmosphere between them. First of all, he did not expect this to happen on the first day of him moving over. It was over midnight, most of his friends were already asleep, leaving the two of them awake together. This type of scenario was normally ideal for 'things' to happen between couples. Second of all, Lunaria staying next to him in such a revealing outfit just made the whole situation even more suggestive. He was sure that if this were to be told to Sera and the others, he would be assassinated in his sleep.

The only reason he was doing this was because Kaze wanted to know Lunaria's reason for staring so passionately at him during the evening. She had never looked at him that way before, no one had. However, he couldn't deny that he probably had the same stupefied look as well and it could be the reason Lunaria felt conscious of his gaze. Was that why she acted so differently? Perhaps she never expected him to be charmed by her after so long, whether intentional or not.

"... I'm sorry, I was preparing myself for what I am about to tell you," Lunaria finally broke the silence with her voice slightly quivering.

"No, it's alright," Kaze's worries dissipated as soon as he heard her. "Lunaria, are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm just... remembering something from the past," Lunaria quietly wiped away the minimal amount of tears that stained her eyelashes. "Kaze, whatever I'm about to tell you, I hope this doesn't affect our current relationship. Just... treat it as a story."

Kaze let out a stifled gasp when he felt her holding his hand tightly. He could feel it trembling, reminding him of just how small her hand was. Due her status as a princess and someone very capable, it was often easy to forget that ultimately, she was still a girl at heart who suffers from the same problems a normal person would.

In return, Kaze tightened his grip with his fingers crossing between her finger gaps, her hand on top of his. Lunaria widened her eyes at this and whipped her head over to look at him.

The clouds outside just so happened to move out of the way of the moon, allowing the moonlight to creep through his window. From Kaze's perspective, he was finally able to see Lunaria from the light of the moon alone. Her previously sexy look disappeared along with that idea, replaced with the image of a goddess in tears before him. Her fragile self was starting to show, proving that she trusted him enough to not hide her current self. If what she said was truly as important, Kaze intended to take her words with equal respect.

"It's alright, Lunaria. You can speak," Kaze gave her a reassuring smile. "I won't judge you for it."

"... Mm," Lunaria finally melted into a teary smile, the moon disappearing behind the clouds once more.

Once, there was a dragonkin girl as the princess of a nation.

From young, she was considered to be a prodigy as she showed signs of intelligence since young. As dragonkins had a long lifespan, they were free to learn whatever they want since they had many years ahead of them. Unlike other species with only about a hundred years to fulfil their life achievements, dragonkins had a slower concept of time with no rush to develop and lived in peace.