Volume 10 - CH 3

Chapter 3: Falling 

“If I act like I want to, he’ll do it,” said Aisha. 

“With me... he can’t do it without the help of alcohol,” Juna sighed. 

“I end up kissin’ him myself,” Roroa grinned. 

They were accepting what she’d said with surprising ease. 

Hang on! Just a minute! I was shocked. No way?! Am I the only one who hasn’t kissed Souma yet?! 

With Excel’s class over, and having received the aforementioned black notebook, I decided to ask the other fiancées for details. 

When, as a part of that, I told them I still hadn’t kissed Souma, they were all visibly surprised. 

“Whaa?! Ya haven’t kissed him yet, Nadie?!” Roroa’s eyes went wide. 

I was the one who really felt this was unbelievable. “For me, it’s weirder that you’re all acting so normal about it. I know Liscia’s already had his children, but when did the rest of you kiss him?” 

“For me, it was in the town near the border with the Star Dragon Mountain Range where we met up with you,” Aisha said. “With Lady Liscia’s consideration, I was allowed to sleep by his side for one night... Hee hee.” Perhaps remembering what had happened then, Aisha’s face broke into a silly grin. 

Ohh... That time... 

It was after Lady Tiamat had torn them apart, when Liscia had arranged for the exhausted Aisha to be with Souma. 

I had been told they hadn’t done anything, out of consideration for Liscia, but it seemed they’d sneakily been having a little fun, after all. I’d underestimated her. 

“For me... it was in the Republic of Turgis,” said Juna. “When I was caring for His Majesty, after he passed out at a hot springs inn in Noblebeppu... um... he was so vulnerable, I couldn’t help myself...” 

Juna squirmed bashfully as she spoke. 

I had a racial weakness to the cold, so I hadn’t been able to join them on the trip to the Republic of Turgis. To think an event like that happened there, in secret... It was a bit frustrating. 

Maybe I should have bundled up and gone with them. 

“It was the Memorial Festival in Van for me,” Roroa grinned. “When he said, ‘I will protect Princess Roroa for the rest of my life’ during his speech, I got so emotional, I ended up kissin’ him hard.” 

She puffed her chest up with pride as she said that. 

...Hard? 

“Isn’t that a weird way to say it? Isn’t a kiss soft?” I asked. 

“Nah, I got so carried away, I ended up smashin’ teeth with him.” Roroa was laughing about it. 

Even that memory of failure was already, at worst, a bittersweet memory for Roroa. I was super jealous. 

Then Liscia gave me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, Naden. I never realized. Normally, as the first primary queen, it would be my job to manage things and make sure that none of us was being treated unfairly.” 

“It’s not your fault, Liscia...” I said uncomfortably. “It’s just that Souma hasn’t kissed me even once.” 

“I think the fact you’ve never done it before is the cause of that,” Juna said with a pensive look. 

Some days later, my chance finally came. 

Today I was going to be flying around with Souma to see what the weather would be like for the week. 

“Okay, let’s go, Naden,” he told me. 

“Roger that!” 

Having changed into my ryuu form, I had Souma get on my back, and I swam up into the sky. 

Then, hanging in the sky in predetermined places, I predicted the weather using my ryuu whiskers, and Souma wrote the results down on paper. 

During that routine work, I kept thinking furiously about where I would try to kiss Souma. 

Should we stand on top of a mountain? Or beside a pretty lake? Or maybe set down on a little island...? 

While watching the terrain flow by beneath me, I agonized over what to do. 

I must have been pretty out of it, because Souma got suspicious. “What’s wrong? Your head’s in the clouds today.” 

“...We are in the sky, after all.” 

“Oh! Hey, that was clever.” Souma let out an impressed laugh. 

It looked like I’d dodged the issue. 

I refocused, got back to work, and we were at the final stop. 

“It’s going to be clear six days from now, and seven days from now, too,” I said. 

“Okay, and done. That’s everything, huh...? Whew!” 

Having finished taking down everything I told him about next week’s weather, Souma let out a tired yawn, and held his forehead, probably because of his tired eyes. 

“You okay? You look even more tired than usual.” 

“Yeah... Cian goes to sleep easily, but Kazuha’s always crying at night. I’ve been taking turns checking on them with Liscia and Carla, so I’m a bit short on sleep.” 

“You’re the king. Couldn’t you leave this to the maids? If you collapse, the country’s going to be in serious trouble, you know.” 

“I know, but... Liscia wants to watch after them herself, without leaving it to a wet nurse. I can’t make her go through all the trouble alone, and, as a father, I want to take part in raising my own children. It’s tiring, but... Well, I’m just happy to be able to see the children’s faces.” 

Seeing Souma smile like that, I felt a frustration building up deep inside my chest, and it was hard to be there. 

Happy just to see the children’s faces... I think that was the right way for a parent to feel. But, just as Souma was Cian and Kazuha’s father, he was my knight, my king, and my life partner. I didn’t want him to be satisfied with just the happiness he got from Liscia and their family. 

I brought myself close to Souma’s flustered face, and locked lips with him. 

We couldn’t stay close for long with our bodies like this, of course, so it was only a light kiss, but Souma turned bright red and his eyes went wide. 

“I-Is now the time?!” 

“Well, I heard I was the only one you hadn’t done it with yet.” 

“But still... Mmph!” 

I pulled him in and kissed him again. While repeating that process, the ground got close, so I turned into my ryuu form and got Souma on my back. 

Finally released from free fall, and with an exhausted look on his face, I stifled a laugh as I asked Souma, “Well, how was it? Your first kiss with me.” 

“...I’d rather have my feet firmly on the ground when I kiss someone,” Souma joked with a serious look on his face. “In more ways than one.” 

“Ahahaha!” I burst out laughing. “Hee hee! If you don’t want another kiss in the air, make sure you kiss me regularly from now on, okay?” 

“...I’ll remember that.” 

With this, I was sure we’d made a memory we’d never forget. 

Hee hee! I wonder what kind of face Liscia and the others would make if I told them about it! 

I hummed to myself in ryuu form as I danced up into the sky.