REFDL 40

I am a frail little baby dragon. I am a frail little baby dragon. I am a frail little baby dragon…!

I staggered, propping my forehead with my front paws. Wilted like blanched spinach. I even made my cries deliberately pitiful.

Then, toward the Emperor whose expression looked strange, I sent fervent signals with my eyes.

Please notice me!

“…Well, being a youngling, his stamina is still quite weak. We should take him inside to rest.”

Nice!

“Ah! Surely His Majesty Kremlis isn’t… ill somewhere…!”

“Not at all. He’s always been like this when tired. Why, they say baby dragons are much like kittens. They spend over half their day sleeping.”

“Ah. That’s a relief!”

The old nobles beamed.

They urged us to go quickly, promising to leisurely finish the story about that person afterward.

Their dull eyes sparkled as if rejuvenated. It was almost the gaze of a predator eyeing its prey.

I realized. This was the extent of their dignity.

A chill ran down my spine. If I left now, they wouldn’t even glance toward the banquet hall.

“…Let’s go.”

The Emperor seemed to share a similar sentiment.

He reluctantly nodded and led me out of the banquet hall.

Some of the guard knights waiting by the door naturally followed.

When I glanced anxiously at the knights, the quick-witted emperor quickly dismissed them.

Now, only the emperor and I remained in the dark corridor.

“What on earth is going on…….”

[Something’s wrong with Kaelus.]

“You can talk……!”

[There’s a problem.]

[The Fourth Prince. He did something.]

Tortan’s bewildered expression changed.

“I’ll investigate. You stay somewhere safe for now…”

[I’ll go first.]

“Wait…!”

I kicked off the emperor’s shoulder and jumped down. I spread my wings and swiftly glided down the corridor. A frantic hand reached out, grazing my tail.

His voice, filled with frustration, called out to me desperately as it faded into the distance.

Sniff

I sniffed.

Second floor.

Rooms lined the inner corridor away from the banquet hall. Kaelus was in one of them.

The door was closed but not locked. I hung onto the antique bar-shaped handle to open it.

I stepped inside.

I didn’t need to search.

Kaelus was clutching the sofa as he sprawled on the floor.

[Kael!]

No response, even after calling loudly. I jumped onto the sofa and smacked his cheek with my forepaw. He still didn’t move.

His forehead was covered in cold sweat, his brow furrowed as if in a nightmare. He groaned, unable to regain consciousness.

The image of that slimy bastard flashed before my eyes, and a wave of heat surged through my body.

Bastard!

After all I did to save him…!

If I hadn’t stepped in to save that bastard back then… No.

That’s not it.

Responsibility. Priorities.

I couldn’t let myself get confused.

And this isn’t the time for useless thoughts like this!

I stopped pacing anxiously back and forth on the sofa. I slapped Kaelus’s cheek again, then closed my eyes and bit his earlobe hard enough to draw blood.

Still no response.

…There’s nothing I can do.

Even if I returned to my original body, there was nothing I could do. I was powerless.

Grrr!

All I could do was cry desperately, hoping the people the Emperor sent would discover this place.

‘…….’

I felt helpless c

……If I were still a child, I would have been swept away and that would have been the end.

I would have remained as a dirty beach, covered in useless, filthy residue.

It was exactly like back in the swim team days.

Debris? Just clean it up. Hate the waves? Lift yourself up and move back a little. Even if the water doesn’t touch you. The sand by the sea is still a ‘beach’.

I learned that as I grew older.

I learned how not to be swayed by others.

In the end, I became numb.

I learned how to kick away the residue left behind and feel anger.

Therefore.

I was furious.

Furious that I hadn’t been wary of the Fourth Prince. Furious at myself for being helpless in this situation. I reveled in the feeling that the surrounding applause made me seem like some great being. But that wasn’t the case.

In fact, I could do less than when I was human.

What’s the big deal about being a dragon! I should’ve reincarnated as a human after all……!

I thought fleetingly, yelping pitifully.

“…….?”

And then, it actually happened.

“……?!!”

For a moment, I couldn’t speak.

I blinked my eyes open, and my field of vision suddenly widened. 

The sensations of my body had changed too.

An oval mirror with a wooden frame, sitting in the corner of the room, caught my eye.

A man in his early twenties, wearing a completely dumbfounded expression. That was me.

Yes.

I had become an adult, a human, a man…!

“……this is insane.”

I was dressed in gray pants and a white shirt.

The age was similar to my past life, but this wasn’t my original body.

For starters, the face was different, and the physique and build were completely different too.

My original physique was quite good. It was the kind of body people pictured when they thought of a swimmer.

Broad shoulders and developed arm muscles. Overall, the fine muscles stood out, giving anyone who saw me the clear impression of an athlete.

But this body had nothing.

“……”

It didn’t have muscles

The limbs were skinny and bony, my waist thin.

My skin was frighteningly pale.

Long hair, reaching down to my waist, shone with an unearthly mix of red and gold.

What the hell… a ghost…?

The momentary shock at the unexpected body swap service was fleeting.

Kaelus!

My runaway reason returned home, calling out Kaelus’s name.

I couldn’t believe I took my eyes off an emergency patient! But there was no time for guilt.

Kaelus had opened his eyes and was staring at me with that familiar piercing gaze.

…I nearly fainted.

I wish he’d stop getting up without a sound and staring at me like that.

I pressed down on my pounding heart.

And then Kaelus lunged forward.

“Mn?!”

Our lips met.

Kaelus… had pinned me down.

“Mmmn?!!”

* * *

‘……It’s hot.’

It was the only sensation Kaelus could register.

His body felt like it was burning.

‘I’m sure…… I was in the banquet hall.’

He blinked, but he couldn’t see anything. His vision was blurry, and the surroundings were dark.

“Huh. Haa.”

All his senses felt dull.

It felt similar to when he had a severe fever as a child. Even swallowing water was difficult, and his body felt like it was boiling.

His head hurt.

His stomach churned incessantly.

His body was rocking.

“…?”

Why was his body rocking?

Creak. Creak!

Squelch squelch!

He heard wet sounds.

A sensation he hadn’t recognized slammed into his lower abdomen.

“Haaah!”

His lower belly tightened and strength surged into his hips. Every muscle in his body twitched. Clenching his teeth, Kaelus finally realized.

It wasn’t someone shaking him.

It was the opposite.

He was shaking someone else.

“……!”

His swollen, excited cock was buried inside another person’s body.

It repeatedly sliced through the wet folds and tore inside.

“Ugh.”

Kaelus clutched the body as he gritted his teeth.

He rubbed his forehead against the sheets and shook his hips in small jerks.

The man’s insides felt insanely good. So good he thought that it would be fine to suffocate and die like this while buried inside.

A shocking pleasure stimulated his spine every second.

The heat that had gathered in his head had already migrated to his lower body. More precisely, to his cock. To the very tip.

It gathered into a single point.

A ball of fire pierced the man’s insides.

The sensation felt no different. The man, whose untrained inner walls were being invaded whimpered and cried. His wrists, like birch branches, gripped by iron-like hands.

The writhing wouldn’t stop.

The futile fluttering was endearing.

“Huh-uh. Uh-huh. Huh-uh.”

The moans soaked his ears like an aphrodisiac.

“Haah. Haah. Ahh. Ahh! My ass. My ass feels like it’s gonna break apart……”

“……”

Kaelus slowly straightened his waist. He pulled his body back just a little, drawing his long, thick cock out.

He didn’t pull it out completely.

Carefully. He made sure just the tip remained inside the man.

He didn’t want it to break.

Absolutely not. He didn’t want that.

Squish.

“Haahh!”

The hole, stimulated by the slowly retreating shaft, clamped down on the tip and twitched. It seemed to beg him to stop pulling out and thrust back in.

Kaelus clenched his teeth so hard his molars nearly shattered. He endured it somehow.

It was astonishing self-control.

And finally, he properly examined the man who had taken his cock all this time.