DMHS 68

The one who stopped the worst from happening was Lucien.

‘Did he run away?’

When Kian turned back, Lucien had already picked up on the dance people were doing and was stepping along with them. Left, right, left, left. His steps touching the ground were light and quick.

Kian could not help but be shocked.

‘A dragon can dance too?’

If he thought about it, Hellenos had also danced. He could not hide his overflowing excitement at Rowan’s flute.

‘Every time he jumped the ground shook, and Betias got scared.’

Taking advantage of the people’s gazes being drawn to Lucien, Kian sat in an empty spot. Once he put his backside on the floor, he felt a less nervous. Kian propped his elbows on his raised knee and watched Lucien dance.

There was nothing refined about Lucien’s dance. He had not practiced much.

‘It feels like he’s just copying what he saw.’

Even so, Kian found it hard to take his eyes off him. His blond hair, catching the late afternoon sunlight, shone like stars. His slightly flushed cheeks were red.

Between mimicking the moves of the couples around them, whenever his eyes met Kian’s, Lucien beamed. As if just because Kian was there, or as if that alone was reason enough to dance.

Kian smiled too.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Heat that spread from his chest ran through his whole body.

‘So this is how overwhelming it feels when affection you cannot hide comes out.’

For once, Kian did not hate the effect of the potion Frederick had given him. It felt like the world was filled only with this one person.

‘It really feels like I married him.’

The feeling he never had at the kingdom wedding was strange. Back then, even kissing in front of many people did nothing to him, but now just meeting eyes made his fingertips tingle.

That was why just holding hands felt good. A kiss would feel even better. Just imagining it made his lips dry.

‘I’m crazy….’

Kian pushed his bangs back and focused on the sight in front of him.

When their eyes met while dancing, Lucien playfully winked. Kian answered with a wink of his own. But Lucien, after seeing that reaction, did something sudden. He charged at Kian who was sitting.

“Uh, uh uh uh?”

Lucien lifted Kian up into his arms. Caught off guard, Kian hugged his neck so he would not fall. The scent of spring flowers rushed into his nose.

“Wow!”

The excited people cheered all at once.

Other grooms dancing also picked up their brides and spun them around. The line broke down and everyone danced as they liked.

Doom, doom, doom, doom.

The drumbeat grew faster. The flute’s notes also rushed toward a climax.

Piriririri.

Now no one looked around. Everyone just found their close ones and shook their bodies together.

Lucien’s face drew close. He pressed his forehead to Kian’s and murmured in a low voice.

“Why did you smile?”

Hearing the honorifics he only used at night when his body was large¹, spoken in daylight, felt different. It felt like his throat was dry and like chills ran up his back.

Kian slowly swallowed.

“Did I smile?”

“Yes. A lot. You smiled so prettily, your eyes went like this.”

He had no chance to ask what that meant. Lucien kissed the corner of Kian’s eye.

“Why do you keep smiling at me today? Even your gaze is too kind….”

‘So that’s it.’

That was why he had seemed so happy all day. He had smiled, joked around, and in the end the reason was Kian’s reactions.

“I can’t get a grip.”

For someone who said he could not get a grip, Lucien’s eyes were dripping with sweetness. Kian chuckled and provoked him.

“You shouldn’t be like this for just that. Should I really make you lose control?”

“What?”

In Lucien’s eyes two emotions mixed, fluster and expectation. His wide eyes looked cute.

Kian pulled Lucien’s neck closer and kissed him. The body heat raised from dancing was welcome. His lips were soft, like ice cream melting.

A tingling sensation ran down his spine. It was as stimulating as he had expected.

It did not take long before their breaths tangled wildly. His head turned hazy and euphoria rose.

‘I feel good.’

Kian had always liked kissing Lucien.

Lucien’s saliva had an excellent aphrodisiac effect. The heat rising from the point of contact was something he could feel in real time.

On top of that, he knew how to control intensity to draw out excitement. When focus seemed to slacken, he lightly caressed the weak palate to heighten sensitivity, and after pushing he also knew when to pull back.

But today’s kiss felt different.

Why did Kian’s chest feel so tight not from the lewd way their tongues tangled, but from Lucien’s smiling face?

If he thought about it too much, he felt he would get an answer he did not want. Kian forced himself to erase those thoughts.

‘Let’s just enjoy this moment.’

The sky that seemed endlessly high was blue and clear without a single cloud. People all danced in excitement. Laughter echoed everywhere.

Even for Kian, who had lived long years, a day like this was rare. Kian engraved today’s sight into his eyes.

***

“We will come to escort you when it is time for the banquet. Until then, please rest comfortably.”

Bashim closed the door and left. Lucien, who returned to the room they had stayed in earlier, looked around.

Kian leaned on the chair and yawned, tired from being dragged around by the ceremony. But when their eyes met, he raised the corner of his lips and smiled.

“I saw you dancing earlier. Did the butler teach you that kind of dance too?”

Lucien knew it obviously wasn’t true, but he found the question cute and played along.

“Of course. Walter is great at wild dancing.”

“…Pfft.”

Kian laughed, Lucien knew the reason without asking.

‘He must have imagined the old butler flailing his body to the music.’

Lucien sat on the chair opposite and crossed his legs.

“You could have danced too.”

“There were too many eyes on me, so I felt nervous. If you hadn’t danced, I would have started the kingdom sword forms.”

“What?”

It was unbelievable.

“Why would you do sword forms in the middle of dancing?”

“You know, when you feel pressured, like you have to do something….”

“And your answer is sword forms?”

“Well, it’s still moving the body.”

Kian, who was still speaking nonsense, stood up. He steadied his breath and lowered his hands in a familiar stance.

The kingdom sword forms, said to be created by Yan, were the first patterns children learning the sword encountered. They were built by linking basic strikes and thrusts while shifting the body’s center.

Before Lucien could stop him, Kian started the forms. He brought his hands together as if he was holding a sword, moved forward and back, then swung his arms down from above. He bent his torso back to avoid an attack, then swung the imaginary sword again with movements that clean and without meaningless steps.

“Ah….”

Lucien forgot his bafflement and focused on Kian’s motions.

Before he knew it, he could see a sword in Kian’s hands and the enemies rushing at him. In the middle of being surrounded, Kian deflected blades aimed at him and subdued those around with strikes and thrusts.

It was nearly at the level of art. Everything was measured, simple, and precise. With no wasted movement, Kian’s sword pierced the enemy’s vital points.

At last, when Kian returned to his starting position and caught his breath, every imaginary enemy had already fallen.

Lucien felt almost entranced. He clapped.

Kian raised his thick brows and smiled.

“Now that you’ve seen it, what do you think? I could have done this instead of dancing, right?”

“No. Sword forms instead of dancing would still be strange.”

Kian had expected support from the good reaction, he awkwardly scratched his cheek.

“Is that so?”

Lucien stood from his chair. When he reached out his hand, Kian placed his own on top as if he had been waiting for it.

“Since we’re on the topic, I’ll teach you dancing. Once I complete my coming-of-age, you’ll have to attend a banquet.”

“Ugh, a banquet?”

Kian immediately frowned.

“Have you ever been to a banquet held in the palace?”

“…Would I have had that kind of chance? Just hearing about it makes me nervous.”

‘So he has not.’

Whenever his partner acted like this, Lucien grew curious about his past.

‘If I ask, he’ll surely run away.’

Because the reaction was predictable, he never asked.

“Put your hand on my shoulder.”

Lucien taught Kian the basic posture.

“Let’s start with the easiest waltz.”

Lucien took out a music box from his subspace pouch. Placed on the table, it began to turn by itself and played a waltz in three beats.

“The beat is this. One, two, three. One, two, three.”

As someone skilled with his body, Kian picked up the steps quickly. The problem was the mood.

‘Why does this feel like sword forms instead of dancing?’

His expressionless face gave off killing intent. His movements, cut short and exact, suited a training ground more than a ballroom.

Lucien held back his laughter again and again, forcing himself to focus on the lesson.

The two moved close together, matching their breathing to the music box’s tune. Left to right, right to left again. They moved across the room prepared for them.

“Good. Next, let’s try a turn.”

Lucien raised one of Kian’s hands and spun smoothly in place. After the turn, he stepped in close again, not forgetting to narrow the distance.

Now it was Kian’s turn. He spun around in place just as Lucien had.

Lucien fought hard to hold back his laughter. But he could not stop the sound that escaped.

1. Lucien normally doesn’t use polite speech with Kian. He only switches into honorifics at night  ↩︎