DMHS 92

‘Why is an earth spirit lying asleep in the shade?’

A spirit feels comfortable when it stays close to its element. A water spirit must belong to water, and a wind spirit must belong to wind, if it wants to rest naturally.

So for an earth spirit like a gnome, hiding deep underground would be the best rest. But that gnome was sleeping under a tree in plain view, calm and unbothered, as if showing off to the students.

‘Don’t think too deeply about it.’

Kian shook his head and walked toward the storage room. Lucien stopped him with a startled voice.

“What are you planning to do now? You didn’t even hear anything clear from the spirit.”

Kian shrugged his shoulders.

“The spirit told us to grow corn. When we cultivate on a large scale like this, it’s better to plant the seeds directly than to sprout them first. The spacing between each clump should be about thirty centimeters, three seeds per hole, and plenty of water afterward. And of course, we should plant them parallel to the furrows.”

Kian walked into the storage room ahead of him. He picked out corn seeds from a drawer filled with different kinds of seeds, then chose a hoe for digging the field.

“I saw earlier that you spread a lot of fertilizer already. It’ll be better to plant them all at once and water them after that.”

When he didn’t hear a reply, he turned around. Lucien was staring at him with his mouth open.

“How do you even know all that?”

“It’s nothing special. You learn things naturally while living.”

But Lucien’s cheeks slowly turned red.

“…You’re cool.”

Kian doubted his own ears.

“What?”

“I feel like I could live well anywhere as long as I’m with you.”

‘Isn’t it the same for you too?’

Dragons were the species standing at the top of the food chain.

Dragons in the Dragon World were said to command low-level monsters from the moment they were born. They only needed to glare once, and the lesser creatures would obediently bring them food.

Even without that, dragons never needed to grow crops.

With that body and ability, how could a dragon ever fail at hunting? Even if food became hard to find, a being made of the essence of mana wouldn’t die after going hungry for a month or two.

But Lucien’s words didn’t mean that.

“Later, we could move into a mountain village and live alone together. Right?”

“……”

“I could hunt wild animals, and you could farm. It’d be nice if we lived together like that somewhere no one ever comes. Ah, then cooking might be a problem? I’ll learn from Frederick. He’s in the Magic Culinary Arts Department right now, so…”

Noticing Kian’s silence, Lucien laughed awkwardly.

“Are you worried about housework?”

That pure bright face looked good to see.

Kian didn’t argue. He agreed with him instead.

“That’s right. We’d have to make our own clothes and light fires for fuel. That’s not all. We’d have to build a house, and if heavy rain collapsed it, we’d have to repair it too. There’d be no end to what we’d need to do.”

“I’ll try practicing those things too. It might take time, though.”

“Good. Now that you have a goal, you’ll do well in class today. Let’s go plant the corn.”

Lucien frowned and tilted his head. The thought “Is this flow right?” was written on his face.

Without thinking, Kian flicked his forehead with his finger.

“Let’s go.”

Lucien’s eyes widened.

“What was that for?”

“Because you’re cute.”

The that thoughtless comment made Lucien’s ears turn red again.

“I’ve grown this much, and you still think I’m cute?”

He realized that was true. Kian smiled as he watched Lucien, whose height now matched his own.

“I guess it’s something like a first impression.”

Lucien caught his words.

“So? Was my first impression cute?”

“Now that I think about it… I didn’t find you cute back then. I just thought you looked beautiful.”

“You thought I was beautiful? Which part? How much?”

“All of you. Your skin was white like snow, your hair shone like gold, and your eyes were bright and clear.”

“And then? What else did you feel when you saw me?”

If he let him go on, he’d probably talk for hours. Kian put tools into Lucien’s hands and walked out of the storage room.

His guess was right. While they planted corn, Lucien kept chattering like a child.

But his voice asking this or that didn’t sound unpleasant.

‘When I see this, it’s clear his interest in me hasn’t faded.’

As Kian dug the ground mechanically, he thought it was a good time to ask something he had wondered about.

“I think I’ve said enough about my side. Then how about you, Lord Lucien? Was your first impression of me only that I was pitch dark?”

“The words I said before didn’t mean it like that.”

“Either way, what you said was that I was just some dark guy, right?”

“It’s very… wrong.”

Lucien stammered as if he didn’t even know where to start correcting. Kian used that pause to bring up what he really wanted to say.

“It’s already in the past, so it’s fine. More importantly, how have you been these days? For example, after I took the potion or something like that.”

He had planned to bow and apologize if Lucien said he’d been upset that day.

But Lucien only pursued his lips and avoided answering.

“The same.”

Kian turned his head and cleared his throat. He thought he’d have to say things directly if they wanted to clear the air between them.

“That day, I acted on my own and you must’ve felt offended, right? I know it was because of the potion, but if I imagine being in your position, I think I would’ve felt pretty bad too.”

“…..”

“I don’t think I even apologized properly because I was out of my mind back then. I’m sorry in many ways. I truly regret what happened. It won’t happen again.”

Kian watched Lucien’s reactions as he spoke.

But unfortunately, Lucien’s face didn’t relax. When Kian said things like “I think you must’ve felt offended” or “It won’t happen again,” his expression actually darkened even more.

After a long silence, Lucien finally answered.

“Didn’t we decide to let that day go and pretend it never happened?”

“But you’ve seemed a little different lately.”

“How am I different?”

“At night…”

“At night?”

Kian forced himself not to dodge the subject. He knew that if he didn’t face the complicated feelings between them, the misunderstanding would only deepen.

“It’s even causing me to have wet dreams.”

Kian really wanted to fix the problem. So he gathered his courage and complained.

“You don’t kiss me anymore.”

“Ah…”

“…”

“Ah-ha…?”

If there had been a hole in the ground, he would’ve hidden in it. His face burned with embarrassment, and Kian fanned himself with his hand as he spoke quickly.

“Please don’t misunderstand. I’m only saying this because it feels strange. Before, as long as there was a roof over our heads, we kissed every night. But since that day, all physical affection suddenly stopped. Isn’t it natural to wonder if that’s the reason?”

Lucien plainly replied.

“I don’t misunderstand. It’s just that I didn’t realize I was doing that.”

“What?”

“I didn’t notice it had been that long since I last kissed you.”

This time, Kian was the one surprised.

‘He didn’t even know he’d stopped kissing me?’

That meant he was the only one who had been restless about it.

Lucien’s words drifted in one ear and out the other as Kian stared at him.

“I guess I had things to sort out in my own way. But I swear I wasn’t upset about that day. Did you forget I liked it too?”

‘What on earth did he need to sort out?’

“If you still want to push me down on the bed, you’re always welcome to.”

‘His feelings for me?’

“Of course, you probably don’t want to.”

Lucien’s eyes squinted as he smiled.

But Kian couldn’t properly take in his expression. What he had just heard was too shocking.

‘Was I the one who enjoyed being close to him more?’

It had started as a sort of deal. They had married, and doing nothing would’ve been strange, so he’d decided giving his lips was better than giving his body.

But as time passed, that sense of obligation faded.

Lucien rushing at him had been adorable, and kissing him had felt thrilling.

That wasn’t all. Without the kisses, his heated body showed him strange dreams that stirred up his desire again.

A question he’d never thought about crossed his mind.

‘Do I actually like him?’

Kian quickly shook his head.

‘It’s just the feelings caused by the potion.’

As he had done often lately, Kian blamed it on the potion. And next, on dragon fluids.

‘Physical contact… it’s just because his bodily fluids are special.’

Since both elements affected him together, his body and mind had obviously gotten confused. That had to be it.

Kian parted his heavy lips.

“Anyway, I’m glad to hear you weren’t upset. Is sowing the seeds tiring for you?”

“Since I did it the way you taught me, it’s easy. It’s fine except for the heat.”

Kian wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to sort his messy feelings.

‘It’s nothing. It’ll pass soon.’

That was how many things in the world worked. Even things that once made everything go dark eventually got solved somehow with time.

Emotions were even more like that. Kian thought emotions were like wind.

You just had to close your eyes and feel it. It was foolish to assign meaning to the wind’s direction and chase after it.

Maybe he’d never felt something like this before, and maybe that made it confusing, but that didn’t mean he had to get swept up by it.

The two of them chatted while planting the corn seeds.

Planting was a lonely task anyway. Under the burning sun, bending their backs and repeating the same motion again and again made their heads spin.

‘Wait. Isn’t the Academy supposed to be inside the fog?’

When he looked up, the sun was burning above them.

But the main building of the academy was still hidden in thick fog. Whatever magic they had used, they’d arranged it so that the garden and the fields could grow plants well.

“Ha…”

“Ha…”

At last, they finished planting all the corn in the assigned field.