Ronak
A few days had passed, and it seemed like Micha was getting more comfortable with living at the estate. We'd attend classes, and once home, he'd usually follow me to my office while I worked, or sometimes we'd brew potions together. We'd even harvest herbs or wander the greenhouse before dinner, and settle down for the evening in our room. Overall, it wasn't that bad having Micha in my life. He sorta followed me around like a kitten. Maybe he was getting too used to living at this estate, though…
I had noticed it started with one. Then another, and a few more. This, though, this was starting to get out of fucking control. Just what was he doing with the little bit of Elutra wages I was giving him?! He sure the fuck didn't have some of these in his dorm… Did he get them while out shopping with his friends?
"Micha…" I stared at our bed for a moment before glancing over to the sofa set. My attention was then drawn to the dressers. Fuck. There's even some on his dresser now…
"Yeah?" Micha wandered over from his nightstand with the book he had been reading the past few nights.
"I know our bed is large, but…" I couldn't help but glare at the stuffed animals that had slowly started appearing in our bed and all around the room. Just how many of those fuckers did he have in his storage?
"But what?" His golden eyebrows knitted together, and he stared up at me with wide eyes. Don't fucking stare at me like that. You sure as hell know what I'm talking about.
"Why is our bed being slowly taken over with stuffed animals?" Micha looked at me for a moment, then over to the bed, and then back at me. He looked puzzled, like I was the one being the goddamn weirdo.
"We only sleep on that side…" Micha pointed to what was considered 'my side' of the bed. It was true that we normally sleep over there, but that didn't exactly answer my question. "Where else would they go?" He asked, while looking around. Into your damn storage…
I let out a long, excruciating sigh. If anyone saw our room, I'd never hear the end of it. "They are to stay on that side of the bed, and they are not to be spread around the estate." Micha almost instantly got fidgety. I narrowed my gaze on him, and he looked away as uncomfortableness swirled around inside him. "Where is it?"
"C-currently in my storage… b-but I bought this for your office. It's custom-made…" Micha held out his hands, and a stuffed animal appeared in them. It was clearly a cat, but it was far more cylindrical and was a deep crimson color, with golden eyes. "I-I wanted to use it as a pillow while I'm in there… I made sure it wasn't too cutesy, a-and I even had it made in this red color." Micha squished the large red cat against him as he stared up at me with his large golden doe eyes.
No. No. No. That cat isn't fucking staying in the office. I have fucking vendors and employees that come in and out of there! I don't need them seeing that thing when Micha isn't around!
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My eye twitched slightly as I sat across from Thorn and Blade. "Pft! I-I can't anymore! How do you expect me to take you seriously, like this?!" Blade snickered, and a vein throbbed inside my neck as I let out a growl. Even though I was growling, Blade still found it in himself to softly chuckle. That bastard. I should kick his fucking ass.
"I think it's nice to see some personality around here," Thorn said as he took a sip of tea and glanced at the vase Micha had put on the coffee table. Micha even would swap out the flowers with new ones from the greenhouse when these started looking shabby.
"You're telling me that you can look at the master sitting on a sofa alongside that thing, and you can keep a straight face?" Blade turned towards Thorn with an annoying look of surprise.
"It is a rather weird thing to see, but he has an omega in his life now. We can hardly expect things to remain the same."
I glared down at the red plush cat, Micha managed to smuggle into my office. I told him to get rid of it at first, but I fucking caved when he sadly said he thought I would like it. Damn it! Since when do I cave?! I'm a literal archduke now. I shouldn't be giving in just because Micha's a bit cute. His pleading golden eyes came to mind, and I had to shake my head to rid myself of their alluring gaze.
"Enough." I snapped.
"Where, perhaps, is he?" Thorn asked casually as if not listening to me literally tell him to shut up.
"Yeah, you two are usually attached at the hips. Is he napping?" Blade asked as he leaned forward to steal some sweets off the plate. Damn, I wish those had been laced with poison.
"He's having a tea party with his friends." He had been nervously fretting about it all week, but it must be going smoothly because he's only been experiencing positive emotions. Gerard hasn't reported in either, so everything must be fine in the greenhouse.
"Aww, and you're hanging out with us?! How nice!" Blade grinned as his scar-covered mouth munched away disgustingly on cookies. He fucking came from a high-ranking noble family, how the hell are his manners worse than Micha's?!
"I wouldn't describe reporting in as hanging out," Thorn grumbled.
Were these two going to make my eyes twitch the entire time? "Shut up already. Just give me your reports."
"No fun as always." Blade mumbled.
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Micha
"I have that bi-annual ducal cabinet meeting in about twenty minutes. What are your plans?" Ronak asked as we left our alchemy lecture. Oh right. He mentioned it this morning, but I didn't put much thought into it after saying I would…
"I don't have homework, and I think Terra is busy, so… I'll just go back to the estate." Jade had loaned me a book so I might sit around reading that. I let out a surprised yelp as Ronak grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. Gosh, a little warning would be nice before you drag me into your travel spell. I let out a little sneeze as the red scarf Ronak had purchased for me tickled my nose.
Ronak's eyes instantly darted down to look me over. "You're not getting sick, are you?"
"No." I giggled. "My scarf tickled me." As overprotective as always. "How could I get sick when you keep me so warm?" I held up my glove-clad hands as proof. These, too, were given to me by Ronak, and of course, they were red.
"Good, your thick winter cloak should come in with the next delivery of clothes. Be sure to wear it as winter approaches." Yes, mother hen. Pft, he was so cute, always worrying about me.
"How long is your meeting going to be?"
"Longer than it needs to be," Ronak grumbled as we exited his travel spell. "I swear the ducal meetings are the worst, even though it's just five of us." I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. He says that about every meeting. "If I'm not back by dinner, make sure you eat." Ronak looked down at Olivia, who had arrived to help him change. "And it better not all be sweets."
"I wouldn't dare feed the little lord only sweets." Olivia chimed as she started unbuttoning his uniform with her speedy fingers.
Ronak's lips dipped down into a frown. "That's pretty ripe coming from the person who lets him sneak down to the kitchens to eat cookies all the time." I-I don't do it all the time. That's pretty mean… I only go eat cookies once… okay fine! I go eat cookies a few times a week!
"I thought you told me to let the little lord do as he pleases in his free time. Besides, wasn't it you who told the kitchen staff to keep some sweets on hand at all times for the little lord?" Ronak told them, too? Are we sure we're talking about the man who prevents me from eating sweets all the time?
I glanced over at Ronak, whose cheeks had turned a bit pink at the top as Olivia buttoned up his new shirt. "I only said that so when I want to give him some, I can. They're not there for someone to sneak into." His eyes darted over to me, and I flinched slightly. D-don't look at me like that! I pulled my favorite stuffed animal over on the bed to block Ronak's view of me.
"Sooo… do you want me to tell the kitchen staff to stop baking cookies?" No! Not that!
I nervously peeked out from behind my kitty to see Ronak still watching me. The blush in his cheeks had disappeared, which was a shame. It's cute when Ronak blushes. Ronak rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. "No, but have them prepare smaller batches. Micha doesn't need to be eating eight or nine cookies when he goes down there." I couldn't help but grin. Hehehe. Olivia took a step away from Ronak, who was looking all handsome in his fancy clothes. "I'll be back." He said as he wandered over to the side of the bed and stole a quick kiss. Gah! Not in front of Olivia!
"Oookay." He gave me a funny look before he melted down into his red goop and disappeared under the bedroom door. Uck, so goopy.
"What are your plans then?" Olivia asked as she turned to me.
Hmmm… I didn't feel like brewing potions; I was still feeling a bit shy after my last experiment made me hurl. Ronak chastised me for hours about drinking something when I didn't know what it would do, but he still held my hair out of my face as I puked. Pft. Hmm, I also didn't want to sit around here. I thought about reading, but it was so early in the afternoon. I wanted to stretch my legs a bit… "Can you help me into my adventuring gear?"
"I don't think my lord wanted you roaming the capital." She said as she folded Ronak's uniform. Not her too! I wasn't some child that needed to be babysat! I have plenty of combat abilities! I even learned a new spell that allows me to push enemies back with a large shimmering wave. I have to admit I was rather inspired by some of Jade's water spells.
"It'll be fine! I won't take any quests that are dangerous or take me out of the capital. If anything scary happens, I'll teleport right back!" I batted my eyelashes at Olivia and did my best to sound convincing.
"Maybe I should ask-"
I quickly jumped off the bed and grabbed Olivia's arm. "D-don't do that! He'll say no!" If she contacts him, he's just going to tell her that I need to stay here at the estate.
"Then doesn't that mean you shouldn't be going?" She raised an eyebrow and gave me a perturbed look.
"Everything will be fine! Before meeting Ronak, I used to wander the capital tons, and nothing ever happened." Please, please, please! Don't tell Ronak, and don't cause a fuss!
Olivia let out a sigh and looked over at me. "Fine. If you think everything's going to be okay, then you can go. However, you really can't leave the capital, and you have to be back by dinner. No exceptions." That only gives me about three hours… I should be able to get a quest or two done in that span of time…
"Okay!" Yippie! This was going to be way better than sitting around here, and it would also help me get closer to Ronak's blue rank. Hehe. I'm so excited!
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"He's going to know the moment you teleport," Olivia said as she clipped the last part of my outfit on.
"Yeah, I know, but he's in a meeting. That should distract him a bit, and besides, I might be bonded to him, but I'm not a pet that needs to be kept in a cage." I did a little twirl in front of the mirror. This outfit was a bit bolder than I was used to, but it really did look good on me. "I'll be back by the evening bell for dinner!" Before Olivia could get me to change my mind for the umpteenth time, I snapped my fingers and headed off for my own little adventure.
My surroundings went from peaceful and quiet to instantly loud and boisterous. Of course, when I appeared out of nowhere, quite a few people gave me surprised stares, but I tried to ignore them as I headed to the quest board. Guess I was getting used to being the center of attention. The academy was probably to blame. I swear I couldn't go anywhere alone at the academy anymore because I'd get bombarded by people I didn't even know. Ronak made sure to stay by my side as much as possible to prevent it from happening, but it still occasionally did. I don't know what people found so fascinating about us…
Hmmm… There were quite a few gathering quests for local apothecaries and doctors that were in the orange quest area… Apparently, gathering quests weren't very popular because it was midday, and that's what made up a vast majority of the quests on here. I reached up to grab a quest I picked out, but a voice behind me froze me in my tracks. "Hey, isn't that the mighty demon tamer?!" W-what? I slowly turned around and pointed a finger at myself in confusion.
"Are you talking to me?"
"Of course! You're Micha the Demon Tamer, aren't you?" The boy had to be around my age, but he had quite the scruffy appearance, and quite the large double-sided ax resting in a harness on his back. His bright blue eyes shone with excitement, and his reddish-orange hair looked like it hadn't been combed in days. It stuck up in all sorts of directions. His armor was some basic plate and leather gear mixed, but it wasn't anything to get excited about. Apparently, he must have realized that I was too shocked to say anything because he just kept talking. "You haven't been seen in a while, so I thought I wouldn't get the chance to see you, but golly! You just appeared out of nowhere!"
"Y-yeah… that's because I have a teleportation spell… I'm sorry, what's this business about me being a… demon tamer? I-I think you have the wrong person!" My face turned a bit pink. The closest I had ever gotten to a demon were the imps in the dungeon. They were so pathetic, though, that Ronak said it was offensive to refer to them as demons.
"You're the only adventurer who wields light magic and can teleport. You've been the talk of the guild!" That… didn't answer my question… I blinked in confusion a few times, but didn't get a chance to ask again as a woman wandered over and bopped the guy upside the head.
"Charon, what's taking you so long?" Her eyes moved past him to me, and she faltered. "Huh?! G-greetings, demon tamer!" A girl with a set of daggers on her waist and a long, dark purple braided ponytail gave me a shocked look as she finally noticed me. I really liked her dark purple hair; it was incredibly pretty, and it paired nicely with her light pink eyes. Her gear was mostly leather, but it was in far nicer condition than Charon's. To my absolute horror, she bowed when she noticed me.
"D-don't bow!" I don't even know you! Why would you do such a thing?! "A-and can one of you explain why you keep calling me demon tamer?"
"You're the only person who's ever received kindness from the Red Demon. It's completely astonishing." I looked off into the distance for a moment with a furrowed brow. Red Demon? Red... Demon… Who… Oooooooh… Pft!
"He's not that bad." I snickered. He's even been a smidgen nicer to Terra after my constant nagging. I think the number of people he punches per week has gone down as well… Actually, that probably has something to do with him spending more time around me than idiots…
Charon looked completely horrified by my comment. "He's sent more adventurers to the doctors in critical condition than quests have in the last year and a half." Can't say I'm surprised.
"Yeah… he does that…" I rubbed behind my ear while feeling uncomfortable. It's not like I can stop him from doing that, but I'll be with him now, so maybe I can get him to cut back on hurting dummies. "Anyway, c-can you not call me that? It's embarrassing." I probably earned that title when I put my stupid binding ring around Ronak's neck. Gah! Why did I do that?! I still want to beat some sense into myself!
"It's a great honor to receive a title. Only top adventurers have them! Right, Larune?" Charon was way too excitable for my tastes. His personality was like a slightly calmer version of Elyas's.
"Charon, leave her alone. If she doesn't want the title, she doesn't have to use it." Larune glared slightly at Charon, who seemed absolutely confused. Yep, he's super similar to Elyas.
I cleared my throat and scratched my chin a little. "I'm sorry about the confusion, but I'm a guy." I doubt Ronak would like it very much if I don't correct them now. For some reason, he's more sensitive about people getting my gender right than I am. Heh, he's so cute. I glanced back up at Larune and Charon, and their faces had gone red.
"You're a guy?! B-but you're hot!" Charon stared at me with a slightly agape mouth. Ummm… was he implying that I'm too good-looking to be a guy? Rude. Also, embarrassing! He's so lucky Ronak wasn't around to hear him! He'd be one of those adventurers who gets sent to the doctors in critical condition.
"Charon! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Larune reached over and smacked Charon upside the head with a surprising amount of force. "I'm sorry, I assumed!" She bowed again, and I nervously waved my hands in front of my face.
"It's okay! People confuse my gender all the time!" I would have thought that the very open V-neck on my outfit would have clued them in, since I'm incredibly flat-chested, but apparently not. "Especially because I'm an omega."
"Ah, then that might explain why we were confused!" Larune patted her cheeks as if to cool them down.
"Do you want to come do a quest with us? We're both yellow adventurers!" Was Charon trying to downplay his incredibly red face by asking me a question? "If you're orange, you should be able to come on a yellow quest with us!"
"I can't, sorry-"
"Aw! Come on! Give us a chance!" Charon clasped his hands together and stared at me with pleading eyes.
"Charon! I swear, can't you leave people alone when they say no?!" Larune smacked him upside the head again, but it didn't seem to deter him in the slightest. I don't even think he registered the smack.
"It's not that I don't want to, but I can't right now. Also, going questing without Ronak would feel odd. I look forward to questing with him, we treat it like a date…" Yeah, we were killing monsters, but we got lunch afterwards, and got to spend a lot of time chatting. I liked it a lot.
"You actually like that guy?!" Charon's eyes were massive as he gave me another shocked look.
"Of course I like him… he's my alpha…, and we're engaged…" I held up my hand with my engagement ring on it. Was it so odd for me to like Ronak? I know he's a bit rough around the edges, but he wasn't that bad once you got to know him. M-maybe it's our bond, but we had grown rather close ever since I moved into the estate with him. "What did you think this mark was?" I asked as I pointed to my collarbone.
"I-I just thought you had a fancy tattoo…" Charon grumbled as his face became red again. "Engaged to him?!" He mumbled under his breath.
"Oh wow." Larune's eyes caught sight of my ring and widened before drifting off to my mark. "I didn't realize bond marks were so big."
"We're dominant, so our marks are big. He's mine, and I'm his." Gosh, now my cheeks are going pink. Why did I say that? I-I mean, it's true, but it's embarrassing to say out loud!
"You really are a demon tamer." Charon wiggled his finger at me, and my face turned an even darker shade of pink. Wh-what is wrong with you?! Who says something like that in public?! You weirdo!
"Charon! I swear you have no filter! You can't say things like that!" Larune reached up and grabbed the neckline of Charon's armor, dragging him down to her height. "Sorry for bothering you! I'll take this imbecile out of your sight!" She turned and started dragging Charon away from me, but I could hear her grumble at him, "If you piss him off, you're going to have the Red Demon coming after us, you moron!"
I wouldn't ever send Ronak after someone! Gosh! He wasn't an attack dog, and there wasn't any way I was going to repeat what you said. So there's no chance of him coming after you. I turned and grabbed the few quests I had been looking at in the orange section and headed off to the front counter. Hopefully, no other interesting characters run into me. I'm going to run out of time and not have a single quest completed.
"I have a question." I approached a girl at the counter, and when she saw me, her eyes went a little wide, and she looked around as if looking for Ronak. "I want to accept these quests, but do I turn in the ingredients here, or do I take them to the address on the quest?"
She looked over the quests I had brought to her, and her brow furrowed slightly. "You have to deliver the herbs to the person who requested the job." She pointed to the addresses on the papers. "Then you return with the guild token that represents your success. Do you plan to take all of these then?"
"Yeah, if I can."
"Okay, but they all have to be completed by tonight. Otherwise, they'll become open for others to take tomorrow morning." She pulled the papers back into a stack and handed them off to me.
"I'll have them finished really soon. Do you have a map of the capital? I have a tendency to get turned around." I knew where certain things were in the capital, but I had never been to the locations I needed to go for the quest, and I didn't want to waste valuable time looking for them. Getting a map was the best choice.
"Of course. It's not terribly detailed, but here's a map." She pulled a colored inkwell out from under the counter, along with a map. I was surprised when she even marked the locations that I needed to go on it. Neat! That will save me even more time! "Here you go. Those are the rough locations of those shops for you."
"Thanks!" I practically skipped out of the guildhall, I was so excited. I unfurled the map and started on my very first solo quest. This is so exciting!!
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Ronak
"I just can't believe that you settled down. Didn't take you for the type in the slightest." Duke Bernagar of the north said as he rifled through the documents in front of him. I wanted to roll my eyes or grunt, but instead I chose to ignore him. Can't these old bastards just start the meeting already? We don't need to sit around talking about personal stuff.
"His little omega is even from your territory, Bernagar." My uncle said with a grin. What's he trying to do? I glared over at him, but his smile only widened.
"She is?" Bernagar raised his eyebrow slightly.
"He. Ronak's omega is male." The emperor corrected. That really got everyone riled up. Especially Duke Jurdi of the south. You'd think that fucker collects omegas; he has so many that follow him around. Fucking disgusting.
"I wasn't aware that there was a male omega living in my dukedom."
"That's probably because his parents are only lords. Real shame though, Ronak really stole a diamond in the rough out from under all our noses."
"Are you going to prattle all evening?!" I snapped.
"Why? Is it because you want to get home to your cute little omega?" My uncle grinned, causing my eye to twitch. Maybe, who fucking cares?!
"I'd much rather spend time with him than you old bastards." Despite my rude comment, my fucking annoying uncle, and the three other dukes all laughed. I was about to open my mouth again, but something caught my attention. Micha… disappeared for a split second and reappeared further away. Did he… leave the estate? "Olivia."
"Yes, my lord?"
"Is Micha not with you?"
She hesitated for a second before responding. "No… He is not."
"Then where the fuck is he?!"
"He went to the guild to do a few quests before dinner-"
"What?!" I didn't need to physically see Olivia to know she was cowering slightly from my irritation.
"I told him he should have asked…"
"And you just fucking let him?!"
"I wasn't going to, but he really wanted to…"
"That's not something you get to decide."
"He said that while he is bonded to you, he's not a pet that needs to be kept in a cage." Fuck. Did… Micha think of the estate as nothing more than a cage? My stomach churned a bit, and I noticed Micha's emotions turn a bit embarrassed. This fucking brat.
I glared at the documents before me, completely ignoring my uncle as he rambled on about something I didn't care about. I… don't want Micha feeling trapped…, but I also don't like him wandering about alone. Especially right now. I don't think word has gotten out of my plans, but I can't risk anything. Not when Micha's safety is involved. I tapped my finger on the desk and looked over at the clock. He has to be back by dinner, huh… That's only in about two and a half hours… Micha's embarrassment grew, and the nervousness inside me grew alongside it. What to do… What to do…
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Micha
It took me two times to find the place, but I made it! Ronak better not find out about how directionally challenged I am, or he'll never let me live it down. I opened the door to the apothecary, and a little bell jingled overhead. Woah! This place is cool! It had all sorts of medicines in jars lined up along the walls, and plants growing in pots. It was incredibly cozy. I could have spent a while browsing the medicines they had available, but I had other things to do. The only odd part was, I didn't see anyone. "Hello? I'm here to deliver herbs."
"Ah, sorry about that, honey. I was just finishing up some medicine for arthritis in the back, and didn't hear you come in." A charming old lady hobbled from the back of the store and looked at me through her spectacles. "Did you say you were bringing herbs?" She gave me, and my empty hands, a confused look. "You don't have anything on you."
"You wanted silvertongue, right? Did you want the herb or the powdered version?" I held out my hands, and brought not only the amount of herbs she wanted, but a jar of dried stuff that I processed a while ago. I was fine with giving her either.
The woman yelped in surprise and took a step back from her counter. "Blasphemy! You need to warn someone before you start pulling things out of thin air, honey!" I-I did?
"S-sorry! I didn't mean to startle you! I forget that commoners aren't used to magic…" I tried to apologize, but the woman simply stared at me with her wide green eyes.
Eventually, she turned her attention to the supplies I had put on the counter. "Completing jobs by buying the supplies seems a bit wrong, doesn't it?"
"I didn't buy these. I picked these herbs a while ago from the glades on campus. My spell freezes time, so they're as fresh as the day I picked them. The powdered version I dried and ground myself a couple of months ago." I smiled proudly at my hard work. Ronak tended to scoff at me for going to all the extra work when I could simply buy high-quality items now with the money I was earning from Elutra, but I felt like the stuff I produced was a tad bit nicer. Plus, I knew exactly what the product was. I wasn't hoping that the distributor didn't do something odd with it.
The old woman leaned forward and inspected the herbs and then the powder. "My, my. How splendid. I rarely get the opportunity to see something so high-quality. Unfortunately, I can't accept this."
"Wh-what?! Why?" They were so nice! Why wouldn't she want them?!
"Had any other adventurer accepted this quest, I would have gotten mid to low-quality herbs. Accepting something that's this high quality feels wrong." Huh?! That… made absolutely no sense! "You won't be receiving market value for them if I take them off your hands. They're worth far more than one silver coin."
"I-I don't care about the money… I just wanted to raise my guild rank from orange to yellow to impress my alpha…" I sadly whimpered. I-I didn't realize that people wouldn't accept the stuff from my storage… "P-please, will you take these herbs for the quest?" I slid the herbs towards her, and she stared at me with wide, startled eyes.
"You're just going to give these to me for the measly silver?"
"Yeah. I have tons more in my storage, so I don't really care…" It's not like I can't harvest more at the academy for free.
"This better not come back to bite me." She grumbled as she bent down and retrieved something from under her counter. She stood back up and slid two coins over to me. The first was the silver, but the second was what I really wanted. It was wooden with 'AG' carved into it. The other side had some sort of insignia that I was going to ask Ronak about last time, but forgot. Oh, well. "Here's your silver and token of completion."
"Thanks!" I held the wooden coin up excitedly for a moment before collecting the silver and putting both back into my inventory. "My first solo quest is complete!"
"What guild level are you trying to get to?" I turned my attention back to the old woman who had a warm smile on her face.
"Oh, he's blue, and I'm currently orange. I want to catch up to him." It's going to take a while, but I'm willing to put in the effort! It sounded a bit scary to do difficult quests, but I thought it would be like the dungeon accident. We could learn to work together. I knew we could get it down if we tried.
She let out a bit of a scoff, but her eyes still had a warmth to them. "You have a long way to go, sweety."
"I'll catch up in no time!" I couldn't help but grin. "Thanks for accepting those!"
"Alright, off with you, ya' little lovebird." My face turned a bit pink as I left her shop. L-lovebird, huh? I-I don't know about that…
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Ronak
Micha's emotions were all over the place. One second, he was confused, the next mildly frightened, followed by despair, and absolute joy. That didn't count all the smaller emotions mixed in along the way. It was driving me insane.
"Is everything okay? You seem distracted." My uncle gave me a perturbed glance, but I didn't spare him an ounce of attention as my fingers strummed the table.
I… can't take it any longer…
"Something has come up." I snapped as I rose to my feet. This is driving me insane. I haven't listened to one thing this meeting is about. How does Micha expect me to focus when he's wandering the capital?
I didn't even explain myself. I simply melted down into my travel spell and took off. Where is that fucking brat?
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Micha
The other four quests I had accepted gave me similar problems. None of them felt terribly comfortable accepting my high-quality herbs. It took a ton of convincing to get them to take them, so much so that I was running worryingly close to my evening bell deadline. If I wasn't back at the estate by the time the bell tower chimed, I'm pretty sure Olivia would personally kill me or at least never let me leave again.
I decided against roaming the capital on foot since I didn't have time to get lost. Yeah, I could have teleported back to the guild, but I didn't want to draw anyone's attention, and I was pretty close, so I chose to traverse the sky. I doubt my five coins would make my card change colors, but I was pretty proud of getting five quests done in such a short time span. If I keep it up, I'll reach blue in no time-
My foot went to touch the next platform as I leapt over to it, but the moment I made contact, it shattered. Wh-what?! Due to my momentum, I began free-falling towards the ground. I was about to snap my fingers to teleport to safety, but a large force smashed into me. Fear coursed through me for a split second until an all too familiar set of arms wrapped around me. They wrapped around me a little too well, though, because I couldn't snap my fingers to get either of us to the ground. I closed my eyes in fear as we free-fell down to the ground, but the impact never came. If anything, we landed relatively gently.
"What the fucking hell do you think you're doing running off, and completing goddamn quests by yourself?!" I peeked my eyes open to see Ronak's angry red eyes staring down at me. His eyes were cat-like, and I noticed his wings behind him shuffle slightly as they tucked in and disappeared in a red mist.
"Wh-what are you doing here? Don't you have a meeting?"
"I left it because you had me fucking stressed." He snarled. His fangs slowly disappeared as he talked, and I noticed that his claws, which were holding onto me, turned back into hands. He didn't even need to explain himself; it was obvious from his clothes that he came straight from his meeting. Though… I never noticed that he was stressed… Maybe at one point, but I was busy dealing with my own problems.
"I-I didn't think it would be that big of a problem-" Ronak pulled me into a hug, making me fall silent.
"You moron. You don't know what's happening behind the scenes. It's dangerous for you to be alone right now. I'm not trying to keep you caged, I'm trying to keep you safe." Olivia told him what I said, didn't she? Hearing him say that made me feel incredibly guilty.
"I-I only said that because I was feeling frustrated…" I grumbled into his chest. "I'm sorry."
Ronak released me from his death grip hug and pulled my chin up so I could look at him. "I don't care if you go places alone, but at least tell me in advance so there's a plan. Don't leave me in the dark like that…" Ronak let out a grunt, and his gaze softened. "No, no, no. No crying." Ronak gently rubbed the sides of my eyes with a slight frown as tears welled in my eyes. "How did your quests go?"
I hiccuped and shimmied my hands up so I could summon my wooden guild coins. "I did five." I knew that Ronak was distracting me from my tears, which was cute. I admit that it was rather helpful.
"That's pretty impressive. What sort of quests were they?" He asked as he looked over my coins. He still looked pretty perturbed, but he wasn't swearing anymore.
"Request fulfillments. Instead of going to pick herbs, I just gave them some spare ones I had in my storage from a while ago." They weren't from Elutra, and they weren't from the estate, so I didn't think there would be a problem.
Ronak's small smile looked incredibly relieved. "Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah, it was pretty fun getting to wander the capital and talk to people."
"That's good. Just warn me before you go in the future." Ronak started petting my hair like I was a big cat, and I couldn't help but snicker. "Don't laugh, you little brat. You're in trouble."
"You're cute." I giggled as I snuggled against his broad chest.
Ronak scoffed at my laughter and pinched my ear. "Let's go turn those in and head home for dinner. I need a fucking drink because of you."
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Ronak
Micha thinks I'm cute? Absolutely fucking ridiculous. I doubt my own damn mother would describe me as cute if she were alive. He's so odd.
Speaking of odd, I've noticed that when I growl as of late, Micha's eyes slowly drift to my neck. He's obviously curious about something, but I don't know why he doesn't just ask whatever's on his mind.
It was a little odd being at the guild in formal attire, but it's not like I was staying, and these people would have to be daft not to know who I am. People were staring a bit more than normal, but that was probably my fault. As punishment for making me stress, I had my arms wrapped around Micha's shoulders, and had my nose buried in his hair as we waited in line to turn in his quests. Not that I fucking cared, but it made Micha a bit uncomfortable. Shit, he's going to struggle so much when he becomes a fellow archduke.
My attention was drawn away as Micha waved. I glanced over and noticed two adventurers quickly looking the other way. "Who are they?"
Micha flinched slightly, which was odd. "They're just two adventures I met earlier. They invited me to go questing, but I told them no." Hmm, I didn't know that Micha knew how to say no. He was usually a yes person.
It was finally our fucking turn at the counter, and the girl working it looked rather flustered to see me holding onto Micha. She knew better than to piss me off, so she turned her attention to Micha. "You're back. Did you need additional directions?"
"No, I completed the quests, so I'm turning these in." Micha slid the five wooden coins onto the counter, and the girl seemed almost puzzled. Was it that damn odd that Micha got the quests done quickly? She glanced up at him in confusion, but the moment she saw my scowling face, she looked away.
"You're surprisingly speedy, but I guess you can teleport. Please hand me your guild card." She inserted the five coins into the slot on the counter and held out her hand, but Micha instantly became fidgety. Was his card not in his storage?
"Heh… I left it on the coffee table. Just a second." The girl looked fucking confused, and I don't blame her. My little golden sunshine peeked up at me with pink cheeks. "Could you let go for a second?" Ugh, if I must.
I released Micha, and with a snap of his fingers, he was gone. I can't believe this little airhead. He was so incredibly smart, but sometimes I wonder if he lodged all his smarts into a few skills and ignored the rest. After an uncomfortable moment of glaring at the receptionist, Micha returned, and his face was incredibly pink. Waves of embarrassment were assaulting my senses like crazy, and I had to roll my eyes.
"Sorry about that! Here it is!" Micha handed over his card, and I pulled him back over to me so I could continue enjoying the scent of his head.
"Only you'd forget something like that." I snickered. "Do tell, why's it not in your storage?"
"I-I was looking at it while waiting for Olivia, and forgot to put it back into my storage…" Heh, and he calls me cute? This airhead would forget his head if it weren't firmly attached to him.
"Here is your guild card back." The girl said as she presented Micha with his orange card.
A small wave of disappointment hit me from Micha, so I reached my hand up to pinch his cheek. "Don't feel so disappointed. It takes more than five quests to turn yellow. Plus monster hunting quests give more stamps, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember. Shall we go home?" Despite agreeing with me, Micha was clearly disappointed.
"Yes." Micha didn't even hesitate to raise his hand and snap his fingers. By the time I opened my eyes, we were back in our room.
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Micha
Ronak wrote a letter to the emperor, and got changed into lounging clothes, like I did. I thought he was being a little melodramatic as he flopped onto the bed beside me, though. I scooted a bit closer on my knees and poked him in the side. "I have a question."
Ronak tilted his head to the side and slightly glared at me. "I've told you that you don't need to ask permission to talk to me." Yeah…, but I'm not always sure if you're in a talking mood…
"Can I ask why it's not safe for me to be alone in public right now?" I feel like I have a right to know since it involves me.
Ronak was silent for a while before responding to my question. "As you can probably imagine, the previous duke surrounded himself with people of a similar constitution. Slugs like being surrounded by other slugs, and it's time to apply some salt to the dukedom and rid ourselves of the slugs." I wasn't sure why he started comparing all the gross people to slugs, but it was a tad bit funny. What he was implying sure wasn't funny, though. "Getting rid of slugs will make people upset with me, but I don't care. I don't want my sun's rays looking upon such gross slugs." W-was he trying to say that this is partially because of me? Ronak reached up and pinched my cheek, distracting me from my thoughts. "Wipe that worried look off your face. I was going to get rid of the slugs before you came along, but I just consider it far more important because the sun appeared in the sky."
"Y-you're trying to say cute, and creepy things at the same time… It's leaving me all confused." I didn't like the idea of Ronak taking out the 'slugs', but I also understood that as the archduke, he couldn't ignore the problem…
"Then don't worry about it, my little sunshine." Ronak rolled to the side and grabbed my face. "Only focus on the cute things, and leave the nasty things to me."
"I-I don't like the idea of you dealing with difficult things on your own…" He struggled quite a bit after overthrowing his fake father. He never expressly said much, but he didn't need to. His distant stares and the waves of uncomfortable feelings I got from him said plenty.
"Mmm, I won't be alone. I have an army of well-trained knights and plenty of nobles who are loyal. Besides, at the end of a hard day, I have this really cute and really squishy omega that will cry a river of tears on my behalf." Ronak teasingly squished my face each time he said really. I couldn't help but frown at him, though.
"I don't cry on purpose…"
"I didn't say you did." Ronak released my face, but I didn't like the smug look on his face. I reached over and angrily poked him, but all that did was make his smug smile widen.
Silence fell between us for a second, and my attention slowly drifted elsewhere. "Umm… I have another question…" The way he abducted me out of the air reminded me that I forgot to ask last time… I had gotten so irritated with him that I never asked.
Ronak rolled his eyes. "Yes, my curious little sun?" I couldn't help but blush as he continued referring to me as his sun. He was so dorky sometimes, but… I really liked it.
I pushed through my irritation and embarrassment in order to ask the question that's been bothering me for weeks. "Y-you never told me why your mana is red."
Ronak's obnoxious smirk became absolutely massive, and even a wave of amusement washed over me from him. "I guess you are my omega now, aren't you?" I couldn't help but glare at him. The big meanie. I knew he would do this. He touched my face, so I leaned over and angrily poked his cheek as payback.
"Stop grinning." I snapped.
"Can't. I'm afraid I'm far too pleased about stealing the sun from the sky." Gah! I tried pinching his cheek, but his grin didn't disappear. "Your anger is only amusing me more."
I let out an annoyed huff and folded my arms. How is my anger amusing?! His anger sure isn't amusing. "Are you going to answer my question or just keep teasing me?"
"Teasing you is awfully fun, but I guess I can tell my omega the answer… Though… I don't know if you're going to like the answer. It might scare you." Scare me?
"Huh?"
"You might be creeped out, and not like me anymore." Ronak reached over and grabbed my left hand. He fiddled with my ring for a moment before looking up at me. "What if you don't like me anymore?"
My brow furrowed. What could possibly make me not like him? It couldn't be worse than how he behaved before marking me… "You haven't chased me away yet…"
"I guess that's fair… Hmm…" Ronak released my hand and rolled so he could stare up at the ceiling. "Just as you are incredibly rare for being a male omega that uses light magic, I guess you could say I'm rare too." I raised my eyebrow curiously. Where was he going with this? "I don't technically wield dark magic."
Huh? He doesn't? How's that possible? I definitely wouldn't describe his magic as fire magic… I don't think there's another type of magic…
Ronak snickered after watching my face scrunch up. "It's considered to be in the dark magic family, but it isn't true dark magic. It's called demon blood magic." My left eyebrow slowly drifted up as I listened to him. I haven't ever heard of such a thing before…
"Are you teasing me again?"
Ronak's smile returned as his eyes drifted over to me. "Why? Does it sound like I am?"
"Obviously." Did he really expect me to believe something like that existed?
"Well, I'm not. I promise nothing I say from here on out is a joke." Ronak held out his pinky, and I stared at it for a moment. Did he really want me to…? I reached forward and grabbed his pinky with my own and shook it. Pft, what has gotten into him tonight? Feeling so smug has really gone to his head, hasn't it? "Anyway, think of my magic as a relative to dark magic or an offshoot. In the past, the emperor was the only one to wield this magic. His son, who was born with it, would inherit the throne, and so on."
"Is that why the emperor is always heckling you about becoming the next emperor?" I had heard Ronak grumbling countless times about how annoying his uncle was. I thought it was incredibly odd that the emperor wanted to usurp his own son, but it made a little more sense hearing that.
"Yeah, he won't leave me the hell alone because of tradition. Fuck tradition." Ronak snarled the last bit under his breath, but I was easily able to hear him.
"Did Elyas not inherit that magic then?"
"Mmm, his magic is a rare offshoot of fire magic, but it's not the same. That's why the purists have tried siding with me." Ronak rolled his eyes and slightly snarled as he spoke.
"I see… Why did you think that I'd be bothered by knowing this?" If anything, it was pretty interesting to hear that there were more types of magic than I thought.
"I'm not done explaining. Have you ever heard those old stories about the ancient holy war?" Huh? What did that have to do with anything?
"The ones they tell kids?"
"Essentially yes. They weren't just stories, though. Apparently, there was a real war that raged between angels and demons. After the dust settled, the world became what we know it. Omegas originated from angels, and alphas from the demons. Betas were created from the combined ashes of their remains. Alphas and omegas were forced to rely on one another as punishment for starting the war. They were blessed with the usage of magic, though…" Yeah… I knew the stories. My parents would tell me about all this sort of stuff when I was little. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I paid close attention.
"They're not just… stories?" Saying it out loud felt weird. Like part of me already knew they were real, and I was just second-guessing myself. What an odd feeling…
"Nope. According to imperial records, that stuff really happened. Unfortunately, it's been treated as folklore for so long that it gets regarded as nothing but stories." Ronak glanced over at me, and our eyes met. "The imperial family is direct descendants of the demons, that's why my magic is prized." Ronak is a direct descendant of a demon, huh… Actually… that seems about right… "Are you thinking something rude?" His eyes narrowed on me, and I flinched.
"Noooo." Nope. Not at all. Totally didn't compare Ronak to a demon.
"You better not be." His gaze lightened and drifted back to the ceiling. "I'm the lucky soul who inherited the blood demon magic for this generation, but I really don't care to take the throne. Managing a dukedom is enough of a headache."
"I still don't get why you'd think I'd be scared…"
"Aren't you rather impatient? That excited to be spooked?"
"I… don't know…" I wouldn't say I'm excited, more like I'm simply curious.
Ronak held out his hand and transformed it into the clawed version he fights with. The claws themselves were an inky black, and that blackness extended to his first knuckle, where it slowly faded to red. Right now, the red was only going to his wrist before fading to his normal skin tone, but I knew it usually bled all the way to his elbows. "You're rather odd. Not only did I just tell you that the imperial family has tons of demonic blood running through their veins, but you're not afraid of my transformation."
"Isn't it just a spell?" I asked as I played with his clawed hand. Eep, they're so sharp! How does he not cut himself?
"I'd almost describe it more as a skill than a spell. It doesn't take mana at all to transform. It's called true form…, and as you're aware, I can transform all the way." Mmm, it was pretty dark at the time, so I didn't see much, but he did look like a full-blown demon. Ronak fiddled with my hands for a moment as if hesitating. "My spells don't get much better. You know about my twin blades, thorn rupture, and hellfire. There's more that I rarely use."
"Like what?" Gah! Ronak clamped down on my hand and gave me a puzzled look.
"You're not bothered in the slightest?"
"Well… I'm trying to be a good listener… It would sound a bit crazier had I not seen you transformed. N-not that I could see a ton in my dark room, but still… I don't know, I don't feel all that concerned…" Did he expect me to be freaking out or something?
"What a weird little omega you are… Where was I? I have two summoning spells. One's called raise dead. I used it once to grab your leg when you kept running away, but I can summon a lot more than an arm. Basically, I can form my own platoon of undead knights."
My face scrunched up slightly. "Are they like the undead we encountered in the dungeon?" We took out quite a few draugers and undead on one of the dungeon floors we cleared. I didn't hate them, but they sure creeped me out.
"A little. They're a whole lot less dried out, though." I couldn't help but snicker. Yeah, I guess those undead were a bit on the crispy side. Ronak's lips curled slightly into a smile, but it disappeared as he went to talk again. "I can also summon demons. They're drastically different, though. The undead are mindless and obey my every command. They can also be summoned and un-summoned. The demons, though, are far more complex, and summoning them is rather hard. They're incredibly smart and live just like the two of us. I've only ever done it twice."
Twice? Then shouldn't they be around Ronak if he has two summoned demons? Ronak must have noticed my furrowed brow because he softly snickered.
"Oh, come on. You like them quite a bit." Ronak's grin was not helping me think.
I like them?! What was he talking about? That's only suceeding in confusing me further! "What?" I finally managed to ask.
"They're not particularly scary like my transformation skill, or at least they don't look scary normally. You've talked to them multiple times, and probably never realized that they're not human." Ronak was only managing to make me more frustrated. "Haven't you ever noticed that Gerard and Olivia are always oddly available? No other butler and maid can make themselves present at the perfect times. Also, did you never stop to think that it was odd that I could communicate with them in my head?"
Ronak being a demon was one thing, but Olivia and Gerard, too? That was just too much for me to process. "Y-you're just teasing me, right?"
"No. I told you that I wasn't going to tease you. We even shook on it." Ronak wiggled his pinky around in my motionless hands. "Olivia, and Gerard. Come here." Ronak didn't raise his voice in the slightest. I'm not sure what I was expecting to happen, but it sure wasn't this. Red mist swirled around at the side of our bed, and from within the mist two forms appeared, scaring the life out of me. Standing before us in polite bows were none other than Gerard and Olivia.
"You called, my lord?" Gerard rose first from his bow and gave the two of us a puzzled look. Olivia followed suit afterwards and smiled broadly.
"You can return to what you were doing. I was just telling Micha about my magic. He was having a hard time believing me, so I figured summoning you would clear up the confusion." Ronak waved his hand dismissively, and Gerard nodded his head.
"Is that wise? He looks startled." Olivia said while watching me.
"He'd find out eventually, and besides, should you be passing judgment after letting him leave the estate today?" Ronak's gaze turned harsh as he looked over to Olivia.
"It was my mistake, my lord. I will resume my duties." Olivia bowed her head and disappeared into a red mist, leaving only Gerard.
"I, too, will resume my duties; however, dinner is almost ready. Would you like to eat here or in the dining hall?"
"Here. I don't feel like leaving our chambers." Ronak lazily let his hand fall to the bed as if he ran out of energy.
"Of course, my lord. I'll have it delivered." With that, Gerard disappeared into a red mist too, leaving me feeling speechless.
"B-but they seem so normal…" I said under my breath.
"They do indeed. I was pretty surprised when I first summoned Gerard. I thought for sure he would look like a demon the entire time, but no. They, too, have transformation skills." Ronak reached over and poked my stomach with the flat side of his clawed hand. "You're still handling this information rather well."
"I just feel baffled…, but you probably already know that…" What other sort of secrets did I not know about?
"Hmm, what else to tell you…" Ronak seemed to be hesitating, which I found odd. In his silence, my mind ended up wandering.
"I wanna see…" I quickly covered my mouth. Gah! That was supposed to be an inside thought!
Of course, Ronak wasn't going to let me get away with mumbling such a thing. "See what?"
"N-nothing!" I squeaked before covering my pink face.
"No, clearly it's something. Come on, tell me." I peeked through my fingers to see Ronak sitting up on his arm. He grabbed my wrist and dragged it away from my face. "If you don't tell me, I'll just strip you naked and make you do something embarrassing." Gah! A-anything, but that! Ronak got the strangest ideas, and I sure didn't want to know what had been brewing around in his head.
"I-I was just curious about your bone and muscle structure when transformed! N-nothing else!" It was only a mild curiosity! I was wondering how his wings worked and how they connected to his body. It wasn't a dirty request at all!
"You really are odd if you want to see that, but I'm not going to deny your request." Ronak's voice dipped in tone for a second as he morphed before my eyes. His crimson mana drifted around in the air before solidifying into his new appendages. His pupils slowly elongated and became cat-like while dark crimson scales began to form on his face. The crimson on his arms started creeping up his elbows as they both finished their transformation. Of course, the things that drew my attention the most were Ronak's wings and tail. His wings were dark along the fingers and had crimson webbing connecting them. His tail was being a bit more elusive, but as Ronak sat up on all fours, I saw it flipping back and forth. Ronak crawled towards me and leaned in close. "Are you satisfied-"
I couldn't help it anymore. I was just so curious. My hands moved as my brain became overwhelmed with questions, and I ended up grabbing Ronak's face so I could touch his scales. "Ah! S-sorry!" I popped my hands off the sides of Ronak's head and used them to cover my own. "I-I just wanted to know what they feel like! Y-your scales, that is."
Ronak laughed and flopped back down onto the bed. "It's rather rare for you to startle me like that." He grabbed my hand and pulled it down to his side. "You can feel away, I don't mind."
"C-can I use my god's eye?" Ronak looked confused, so I explained myself. "It's the spell that lets me see inside someone. I use it to identify problems, but it can also be used just to see."
"I guess if you want to." Ronak stretched like a cat before closing his eyes.
I was pretty embarrassed, but curiosity won out, and my finger slowly snuck closer to Ronak. He let out a bit of a grunt as I traced along part of his bond mark that was visible. "Your bond mark is black in this form…" My finger paused as his jagged mark disappeared under his black robes. It was a bit odd that the comfortable clothes he was wearing just disappeared, and were replaced by this thing. "So, where do your other clothes go?"
"Don't know. Haven't really ever thought about it before." Ronak mumbled.
"Where does this one-"
"Too many questions," Ronak grunted before rolling towards me. I quickly scooted away as he rolled to his stomach. "I doubt I have answers for you."
"Okay…" But I have so many questions. I couldn't contain my curiosity anymore and reached forward to touch Ronak's wing. Huh. It was leatherier than I was expecting. "Can you feel me touching you?"
"More so when you're touching the main arm, less so when you're touching the webbing. Because I have a feeling you're going to ask, it feels like moving around an additional set of arms." Ooooh! I was so preoccupied with what I was doing that I only mumbled in return, but I was highly interested in what Ronak said.
I was curiously looking at the wing's inner workings when- Eep! Something that felt like a snake snuck over, and wrapped around my waist. I was in quite the panic until Ronak started laughing.
"It's just my tail." The tip of his tail slid up my chest, and Ronak twitched slightly as I grabbed hold of the black leather spade. Huh, it was firm like cartilage, but full of nerve endings. "My tail is rather sensitive." Oh? A small smile formed on my lips. I massaged my thumbs around on its wide sides, and not only did the rest of his tail constrict around me like a snake, but Ronak twitched even more. Ronak pushed up onto his arms and turned slightly to glare at me. "The hell did I just say?" No, no. I heard, but your slightly flushed face is only making me want to do it more…
My fingers wandered to the center of his tail, where the bones were, but the moment I slightly pinched, Ronak freaked out. He let out a loud snarl and popped up off the bed.
"I told you to fucking stop." Wah! Ronak used his tail to slam me into the bed as he turned to glare at me. His tail was surprisingly strong for the small number of muscles running along it. He brought his wings in, and his tail released me as he crawled to hover above me. "You're going to find yourself in a lot of trouble if you don't learn to listen." I probably should have been scared, but my eyes caught sight of his tail whipping back and forth behind him like an annoyed cat. I wanted nothing more than to grab it and see how he'd react, but that wasn't an option.
My eyes widened as Ronak's clawed hand pulled my chin up. "I-I was listening…" Totally listening! I wasn't distracted at all…
"There's a literal demon on the bed with you, and you're feeling brave enough to not pay attention to me?" I couldn't help but look at his fangs as he talked. Huh, they were a bit longer when he was fully transformed- Gah! What am I doing?! I shouldn't be thinking about that in this situation!!
"I-I-"
There was a knock on the door, drawing Ronak's attention away. "Dinner is ready… Am I interrupting something?" Gerard raised an eyebrow as he noticed us on the bed.
"No," Ronak grumbled. I used this as an opportunity to escape. I quickly rolled to my stomach and scurried out from under Ronak. He didn't make a move to stop me as I fled the bed, but as I glanced back, I was surprised to see that Ronak had transformed back into his normal self.
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Ronak
How peculiar. I thought for sure that Micha would be freaked out by everything, but the only thing that really sent him spiraling was finding out that Gerard and Olivia were demons. Not even me hovering over him with my fangs bared sent a shiver down his spine. Even now, I can tell that he's completely enraptured. He's hardly eating.
"If the spell is called true form, does that mean you're more demon than human?" He batted his eyelashes at me, and it took everything in my power not to glare back. What kind of fucking question is that?
I raised an eyebrow and watched as Micha poked around his pasta. "Don't know…, but I doubt it. My mystery father was probably human, and the demon blood running through the imperial family's blood is rather thin by now."
"Right, that would make sense…" Micha's big, curious eyes glanced up at me. "Why can't you fly?" Ugh, too many questions.
"Just can't"
"Have you tried?"
"A little, but if you're asking if I have tired jumping off a tall object like a baby bird. I have little desire to find out." Micha ended up snickering into his food as he listened to my answer. Fuck, he was cute.
"I wasn't going to ask that." He giggled. "Buuut, can I ask why your tail is so sensitive?"
"It just is." Damn, he really was bursting at the seams with questions. I didn't mind them, but I didn't have good answers. It's not like I asked to be born this way.
"It does have a lot of nerve endings…, but that doesn't imply that you'll have a strong reaction… Does touching it hurt?"
"No. Are you going to eat, or are you just going to ask questions?" My eyes drifted away from his golden gaze over to his fork of pasta, which was probably cold from him waving it around as he spoke. He needed to fucking eat. I swear he's going to wither away if I don't keep an eye on him.
Micha shoved the pasta into his mouth and chomped away on it like the adorable little disaster he was. I'll have to find him a teacher when we get to Ebonhold. I might find it oddly charming, but it wasn't going to be acceptable now that he's in the eyes of the public. I will not tolerate him being ridiculed for something that can be corrected. I thought for sure that he was going to ask me questions with his mouth full of food, but he didn't. He did, however, immediately ask a question after swallowing his pasta. "Then what does it feel like?"
I figured he'd ask. "I can tell you after dinner, but you have to eat all your food first." His brow wrinkled up in confusion, but he nodded his head and complied with my request like a good little omega.
"O-okay." He grumbled before taking another bite of pasta. He acts like it's going to fucking kill him to eat food. He's so odd sometimes.
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"Now I'm stuffed!" Micha groaned as he rolled around on the bed next to me.
"Good, it will put some meat on your bones. You should come train with me, and we could work on your stamina." I couldn't help but grab Micha's hips and haul him over to me. He became a bit startled, but didn't resist.
"Work on my stamina? Why?"
I ground my hips against him lightly, and a shiver passed through him. "So you have more energy for activities." A funny squeak escaped Micha, and I couldn't help but grin.
"What?!" His voice climbed in octaves as he processed what I said.
"You heard me. Now… I believe you have a question whose answer is still pending, and now is a far more appropriate time to answer it."
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Micha
"Ronak!" I squealed as he slid his hand down my pants.
"What? I'm answering your question." Ronak chuckled into my shoulder, and I attempted to remove his hand, but it was too late. Ronak's fingers clamped down onto me and began rubbing me rather aggressively. "Someone's a little excited about their alpha touching them. You naughty boy. Do I get you riled up that much?" I thought my brain was going to explode. Within seconds, Ronak had me cross-eyed and panting.
"T-too much!"
"You sure didn't care when you were touching my tail." What? H-he's telling me that touching his tail feels like this?! He pinched my tip between his fingers and rolled it around. I let out a loud cry, but Ronak didn't relent.
"S-stop! Mphf! Ngh! S-stooop!" I desperately cried. I wanted to bust, but the pressure was preventing anything from happening. It was awful.
I thought Ronak was going to relent as his hand slid out of my pants, but to my horror, his clawed hands wrapped around me, locking me in place. "Oh, no, no, no. We're just getting started." I gasped sharply as Ronak's long fangs dug into my shoulder. I curled up like a ball as a wave of absolute pleasure washed over me. It hurt yet felt so good.
Ronak's claws dug into my chest a bit as his hands squeezed me. I let out a soft whine from the pain, but that didn't stop Ronak from doing it. He only paused long enough to pull my pants down.
I let out a loud cry as a leathery object slid right between my thighs and pressed against my dick. H-his tail?! "Careful, you can't squeeze your thighs that hard." Ronak shoved his knee between mine to prevent me from crushing his tail. That only made me squirm more, though. I-I can't take it anymore!! "See? You need more stamina." H-he expected stamina to prevent me from bursting?
"T-too many pheromones!" It was like I was drowning in an ocean of tart cherries. Ronak's pheromones were so much more tart when he was in his demonic form. I couldn't handle it. They were driving me crazy, and I was about to burst into flames.
"I'm barely putting any out…" I managed to wriggle in his arms to face him. His wings were gone, but the rest of him looked fully demonic. Wh-why was I feeling so incredibly turned on? Ronak kept calling me weird, and I guess I was because I wanted nothing more than for Ronak to keep touching me.
I pressed my hips forward and paused. It was like a cup of cold water was splashed onto me. I'm just imagining things, right? R-Ronak isn't… bigger, is he? Th-there's no way. He's already big enough to cause me pain for days after… "Micha, if you keep rubbing against me, it's me who's going to be going feral in a second." Eep! I scooted away, but Ronak's laughter drew my attention. He sat up and pulled his robe off, revealing an odd-looking pair of underwear. I didn't get too long to gawk, though, because he slid them down, and my jaw almost fell off. I-it is bigger… H-how?!?! "Calm down. I'm not going to try anything until you're nice and stretched."
"W-wait!" I cried as Ronak pushed me back onto the bed and pulled my legs up. "W-we can't!"
"Why not?" He asked as he whipped my pants the rest of the way off and tossed them across the room. A jolt ran up my spine as Ronak's knuckle rubbed against me.
"I-It's not going to f-fit!" That thing was thicker than my arm! If it goes inside me, I'm going to die!
"Sure it will, have a little faith, my little angel." Ronak's brow furrowed as he stared down at me. "Though these are a problem." He held up his clawed hand, and instead of just morphing it back into a human hand, he bit down on his claw. With a disgustingly loud snap, his hand came free, and he spat the claw remains across the room. He continued to nibble on his nail until he was satisfied, but honestly, it was freaking me out. It didn't help that he did it to not one, but two of his other fingers as well. "How does this feel?" He rubbed his now clawless fingers against me, and while it was still a bit rough, it wasn't that bad.
"They're smooth-ish…"
"I'll have them cleaned up later."
"Wh-why not transform back?!" Why risk plunging those inside of me?! Wasn't it bad enough that he wanted to, but his behemoth dick in me?!
"Can't. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but when I have strong emotions, I get a bit stuck in this form. Usually it's anger, but someone has me a bit too turned on." Ronak's grin was frightening. He didn't even hesitate to spit on his clawless finger and press it against me. I let out a shameful moan as his finger wiggled its way inside. W-we're his fingers even slightly bigger?! "Speaking of big emotions. Admit it, you're loving this."
I bit my lip, and my jaw quivered as I avoided the question. Ronak, however, wasn't having it. He kept swirling around, and around my favorite spot without touching it. H-he wants an answer, doesn't he?! "Y-yeah, mphf!" My legs quivered, and I let out another loud moan as Ronak jabbed his finger into the spot he was avoiding.
"Naughty, naughty." Ronak plunged an additional finger inside, and I thought I was going to pass out. Despite Ronak and me making love literally yesterday, this felt incredibly different. Like I was cheating on Ronak with another guy. The thought of cheating never crossed my mind, but his body was so different while transformed that it was hard not to think about it that way.
Ronak's scent wasn't helping either. Just one whiff of his irresistible pheromones, and I was desperate for more. It was so incredibly familiar yet different from his usual smell. Like someone increased the tartness. I wanted him closer so I could smell him more, but Ronak was far too busy to be close to me.
It's like his goal was to shove his entire hand into me. I felt so incredibly full with his three fingers, knuckle deep, inside of me. His grunting and light growling weren't helping the situation in the slightest, either. I thought for sure just his fingers were going to tear something as he went about stretching me out. I let out a loud whine as Ronak tugged exceptionally hard. "Too much!!"
"If we don't, it will hurt more in a moment." Ronak's words were slightly drowned out by me crying out again. "Hmm, there, that seems right." It was like my vision was turning white. I-I'm not supposed to be stretched like that! No, no, no, no, no!!
Despite being able to sense my emotions, it didn't stop Ronak at all from pulling his fingers out and pressing his tip against me. I kept trying to clench my legs closed, but Ronak grabbed my knees and thrust them apart with a growl.
All the warning signals inside of me were going off as Ronak slowly pressed his tip into me. He might as well be gouging me out with one of his spikes. At least those were tapered. His tip managed to make it inside, and Ronak let out a loud, pleased growl as I shivered uncontrollably.
"Fucking hell, you're so damn hot." Ronak leaned over me as I tried to regain my senses, and he clamped down on my shoulder. I let out a defeated whimper as my body shivered against his. "Yeah, you're mine, all mine." He mumbled into my neck as his hips started pressing further in.
Every vein struggled to enter and pressed tightly against me, making me all too aware of how much bigger he was in this form. I thought I was going to pass out as he violently pressed against multiple tender spots inside me. "W-wait!" I managed to whine. My hands grabbed hold of Ronak's sides, and he did indeed stop for me. After panting into his shoulder, I managed to find my voice again. "Too f-full. Need m-move."
Ronak sat up and gazed down at my pathetic attempt to pant for air for a moment before sitting up on his haunches. He did as I asked and pulled out, making me gasp. "Do you want to lie on your stomach?" All I could do was nod my head. With Ronak's assistance, I managed to roll to my stomach. Before he could try anything, I pulled my legs in like a frog and pulled the pillows down to help act as a cushion.
Yeah, I was sort of presenting my butt to him, but it's not like I was getting out of this situation, so what's the point in struggling? If I've learned anything about Ronak, it's that I don't stand a chance of resisting him. Especially when he has such amazing pheromones drifting around the room.
Ronak leaned back over me and pressed his tip against me. It didn't hurt as much this time, but he was still incredibly large. He might as well be trying to shove his fist inside. "Is that better?"
I managed to nod my head in response and noticed Ronak's hand pressed into the bed next to my head. I reached over and grabbed his wrist, tugging on it lightly. As if being able to interpret my odd request, Ronak moved his hand closer to my face, which was probably a mistake. The moment it drew close, I selected his pointer finger and chomped down. Ronak let out a little grunt, but didn't pull his hand away. If anything, it felt like he picked up the speed as he pressed into me.
I let out many muffled cries and breathed through my teeth as Ronak squeezed inside. I thought at one point I would pass out, but as if sensing that, Ronak paused, giving me a break. I wasn't sure how much more he could fit inside me. It felt like he was going to burst through my stomach at any moment. His hips finally touched mine, and I would have breathed a sigh of relief if my breathing didn't currently sound like a death rattle.
Ronak let out a pleased grunt and ran his free hand up and down my back. "Fuck Micha, I might burst just from this. Bite me harder." I obliged by chomping down harder on his drool-covered finger. His hips started to wiggle, but that wiggle quickly turned into a swing. "Who's a good little omega?" I moaned in response, and Ronak praised me with a rough smack of his hips.
Every time Ronak plunged in and pulled out, it felt like he was pulling me up from the inside. I was no longer experiencing pain and instead felt overwhelming ecstasy. I wanted more, I wanted him deeper, and I really wanted Ronak to keep talking dirty to me.
I managed to release his finger and take a proper deep breath. I sat up on my haunches, and Ronak grabbed hold of my chest to help support me. "M-more! Ngh! I-I want more."
"Yeah? I can do that." Ronak picked up the pace, but to my surprise, his tail touched my dick, and as Ronak swung his hips, his tail ended up naturally rubbing me from the motion.
I couldn't contain it anymore. Ronak jabbed my favorite spot one too many times. My body convulsed in his arms and became stiff for a second before falling limp. Based on his now wet tail, I must have accidentally burst as well.
"Holy shit. Your insides constrict so tightly." Th-they do? "Fuck, if you get any sexier, I'll have to have my fill of you every night." N-no, not that- My thoughts were interrupted as Ronak pulled my head to the side so he could kiss me. He didn't even hesitate to plunge his tongue into my mouth.
His dick quivered inside of me, and I ground my hips against his. His thrusting became stronger, and he pressed me back down into the bed.
"Shit. I can't take it any longer." Ronak grabbed fistfuls of bedding as he pressed into me as far as he could. A warmth started to fill me, and I let out a satisfied moan. To my surprise, Ronak started growling, and his wings appeared on either side of him. They arched up, and together, as if trying to hide us from sight, as Ronak finished.
I thought that would be it, but to my horror, a new feeling started to grow. No! He can't knot! He's already too big- The sensation changed, and I let out a loud cry of shock. D-did he have spikes or something? Why does it hurt so much?!
"Just breathe! Take a big breath in." Ronak kept trying to tell me to breathe, but it was hard to focus on what he was saying when I had so much pain coursing through me.
Ronak grabbed my hips and rolled to the side, but that didn't really help alleviate any of the pain. "Wh-what the heck?" I managed to blubber as Ronak wound his arms around me. He was still transformed, and I was pretty surprised when his wing dropped across us like a blanket.
"I might have… barbs…"
"Wh-why would you do that?!" Tears started welling in the corners of my eyes. Talk about instantly erasing any sense of pleasure I had gotten. "Stop moving!" Every time Ronak even slightly shifted, his barbs would dig into me, sending pain coursing through me.
"Sorry! I didn't fucking know!" How would he not know that about himself?! As if reading my mind, Ronak said, "It's not like I've had sex in this form before!" That didn't make me feel better! Not in the slightest!!
The feeling backed off a little as the two of us fell silent. Well, sort of silent. I was sadly whimpering every now and then. Ronak rubbing my arm and gently kissing my shoulder at least helped distract me.
"I'm not at all pointing blame, but you sure do get me worked up," I swear, Ronak's the absolute worst at trying to make me feel better. "I didn't realize when I marked you that I'd become so obsessed with the sun. At first, I just wanted the sun to shine its rays at me, but once I got a taste, I just couldn't get enough."
I clenched my arms a little tighter against my chest and scowled. "T-talking all cute isn't going to get you out of trouble," I grumbled.
"No, but," Ronak ran his tongue across the back of my neck, making me shiver slightly. "I'm just telling you why I knot all the time. I just find my little sun so attractive." I couldn't help but rub my feet together as Ronak nibbled on my shoulder. He wasn't biting hard, but just enough for it to feel good, and make my toes curl.
Ronak's wing disappeared in a flurry of red mana, surprising me. "Bear with me, I'm going to pull the blanket over for you." Ronak twisted away from me and returned with a blanket that he snuggled over the two of us. He was still stuck, but at least the barbs seemed to have disappeared. "Go to sleep. I can tell that you're tired." Ronak kept rubbing me, and he was right, my eyelids were feeling rather heavy. With a big yawn, I snuggled into the crook of Ronak's arm and shut my eyes. I can't… believe him…
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I knew this was going to happen. My eyes barely wanted to open as I became conscious. Did Ronak finally break me? "Are you awake?" The best I could manage was softly grunting in response. Ouch, did he rearrange my organs or something? "Open your mouth, and drink this." I didn't move in the slightest; it hurt too much. Instead, Ronak forced my mouth open and poured the vial's contents into my mouth. "No. We're not playing games. Swallow it." Uuuggghhh!
I begrudgingly complied despite being annoyed. He's lucky it tastes alright. Had it been the bitter formula, I would have let it trickle out of my mouth. I managed to open my eyes further and see Ronak sitting on the bed next to me. He was wearing casual clothes, but had papers scattered across the bed, and an inkwell precariously perched on a tray.
I angrily puffed up my cheeks and stared at him. "Are you a puffer fish?" He snickered. I narrowed my gaze, but Ronak simply rolled his eyes. "It was an accident. I didn't know that was going to happen."
"Are you trying to pretend that you're not b-bigger in that form? You should have known that k-knotting would hurt! I'm surprised my poor bum isn't bleeding." The potion was working wonders, so I slid my hand back to feel if my bottom was still in one piece.
"It's not, I checked." My eyes instantly darted back to Ronak and narrowed again. I'm grateful that he goes out of his way to clean me up, but I don't like knowing that he inspected my bum so closely.
I couldn't help but curl into a ball and hide my head under the covers. Not only was I slightly hiding from Ronak, but I was also using it as an opportunity to check myself over with my healing magic. Hmm, nothing seemed wrong, but I could tell it was going to be a while before I felt normal. I was just so exhausted.
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I popped my head out of the blankets and looked around while feeling disoriented. I must have fallen asleep again because the sun was much lower in the sky now.
To my surprise, Ronak was snoozing away on top of the bedding. He still had his stacks of documents next to him, but they seemed a bit tidier now. I reached over and poked his side, but he didn't stir. Huh, this was a rare sight.
Despite wanting to poke him until he woke up, I elected to snuggle closer to him. It felt weird knowing we were sleeping apart. I guess I had gotten a bit too attached to Ronak. I was a bit annoyed at him over the barbs, but I don't think he intentionally did it. At least, he better not have.
I wasn't all that sleepy, but I managed to wrangle Ronak's arm around me and snuggled against his chest. M-maybe I was sleepy. Lying here like this with Ronak was far too pleasant, and my body probably could use the rest after what happened. Yeah, I could get used to this…
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Ronak
Warm. Too damn warm. Hmm, I must have drifted off, but… I don't remember pulling the blanket up-
Oh. I see what happened.
As I opened my eyes, I was a bit amused to see Micha snuggled up against my chest with the blanket poorly draped across me. His mouth was open, and due to the odd angle his neck was in, his breathing was making a soft noise with every inhale. Umm… is he fucking drooling on me? It's far less hot when he's asleep.
As carefully as I could, I moved his head so he wasn't drooling or snoring. The little weirdo. I can't believe he fell asleep like that. Shit… I can't believe I wasted my day sitting here with him. I even took a nap. I never fucking take naps. I wasn't joking in the slightest when I told him I had become obsessed. I barely left the room, and had to change my mind about working in my office. He barely even moved about, and yet, I couldn't bring myself to leave him alone. Fuck.
I jolted in surprise as Micha sat up and rubbed his eye. "Did I wake you?" Technically yes.
"No. I woke up naturally to find a drooling angel next to me." Micha blinked a few times before looking down at my shirt.
His face turned an attractive shade of pink, and his golden eyes went wide. "I-I did that?!"
"I do admit that it's not as fun of a momento as this is." I showed him my finger that had bite marks in it from him. Despite teasing him about it, I found the bite mark fucking attractive. I wish he would do it more often… I'll have to intentionally present my fingers to him when we fuck.
Micha's gaze slowly drifted away from me, and his feelings turned a bit bashful. "That was payback." Damn, he's going to make me hard, behaving like that.
"Then I want payback every time." I snickered while running my tongue over the mark. Micha gave me a slight side eye and blushed even more, but refused to look directly at me. That's not going to fucking work. I reached over and grabbed Micha's chin, pulling his face over to mine. "Damn, I really love you." How is it fair that a guy can be so attractive? I pulled him close so I could give him a kiss. Yeah, he's absolutely cheating. He can't be pretty and taste delectable. He even makes the most alluring sounds when we fuck. Damn, I claimed the best omega, didn't I?
Micha made a rather cute sound as I released him. My kiss ended up being rather long as my tongue played with his soft, squishy one. I swear, Micha doesn't know how to breathe through his nose when we make out. "I-I l-lo-like you too!" Hmm? Was that an attempt at a confession? Heh.
"Still only like, huh? I'd better think long and hard about more fucking embarrassing things to say." Despite having a rather red face, Micha grabbed my cheeks with a scowl. Was it because I swore?
"I-I'm working on it! Also, they're not embarrassing! I really like it when you say cute things!" That doesn't make them not fucking embarrassing. I can't believe I've actually read a few romance novels just for you, but if this is the payoff, then I'll happily torture myself for you.
"Yeah, okay, my little sun. I'll do whatever you want." A pleasant smile played on my lips as I closed my eyes and savored the sensation of Micha touching me. Mmm, we should stay like this a bit longer.