“Very well. Shall we head out, then?”
“……”
Luce stared at Mikhail with a sullen expression before finally opening his mouth.
“Well, going out is fine… but are you really planning to just charge out blindly?”
He gestured with a nod toward the door they were leaning against. Mikhail might not have grasped the gravity of their current situation. This wasn’t exactly the time to be making idle plans.
“Of course not. It just so happens I know a spell that conceals one’s presence—”
Mikhail’s face lit up for a moment as a particular spell came to mind, only for his expression to darken again. He fell silent briefly, then slowly shook his head from side to side.
“There is one spell I know, but… it won’t work.”
“Why not?”
“…It only works on the caster. If I wanted to hide your presence too…”
Luce raised an eyebrow at Mikhail’s uncharacteristic hesitation. There was no way they could hole up in this dusty storage room forever. If there was a spell they could use, they should be using it. He furrowed his brow, clearly annoyed, and pressed him again.
“Why not? What is it? Just spit it out.”
“……”
Mikhail bit down on his lip before answering.
“It’s a spell that erases one’s presence, but the effect is bound to the caster’s breath. Meaning… it only works while my breath remains in your mouth.”
What a pointless restriction. For a dragon who had always used magic freely, it sounded incredibly inconvenient. Still, it seemed like the perfect spell for sneaking out of the warehouse undetected.
“Really? Got it. Why’d you hesitate over something so trivial?”
“……Hmm.”
Seeing Luce’s unconcerned expression, Mikhail tried to explain again.
“Are you sure you understood everything I said? I have to… place my breath in your mouth.”
“Yeah. If we want to avoid a tracking spell, we need to cast it before a mage shows up. So let’s do it now.”
“……”
Mikhail quietly met the dragon’s unflinching gaze.
“Right now…”
To place his breath in another’s mouth meant they would have to press their lips together. That might be nothing to a dragon, but for Mikhail, it meant something entirely different. Still, no matter how he looked at it, there was no other way.
The dagger in his hand might get him out of the warehouse, but not away from it. He bit his lip anxiously—then clenched his fists in frustration. He didn’t want his first kiss to be wasted on something like this.
Opposite him, Luce wore a face that practically screamed, “Well? What are you waiting for?”
At some point, the sounds of the thugs outside had completely vanished. They had probably gone to inform the others that the prison cell was empty.
There wasn’t much time left to hesitate.
Mikhail let out a faint sigh, then slowly reached out and cupped Luce’s soft cheeks in his hands. At the same time, he murmured the incantation for the concealment spell under his breath.
In an instant, his ears rang, and it felt as if a layer of invisible water were slowly rising from his feet to the top of his head. Their presence was being erased.
To maintain the spell, Mikhail had to hold his breath. One cast wouldn’t last long; they would need to find inconspicuous spots along the way to recast it as they moved.
No… that’s not the point right now.
Staring at Luce’s lips just inches from his own, Mikhail tried to clear his mind of every thought. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if willing all distractions to vanish, then gently pulled Luce forward with the hands still resting on his cheeks.
Their faces, nearly the same height, lined up perfectly—just the tips of their noses touching.
“…Ah.”
Even though he had been the one to pull Luce in, Mikhail gasped in surprise the moment their lips made contact.
And just like that, the breath he’d been holding slipped from his mouth. The concealment magic unraveled silently, as if it had never been there at all.
“…Why did you stop casting halfway?”
Luce narrowed his eyes at Mikhail, suspicion clear in his gaze.
“I’ll do it again.”
“……”
Mikhail murmured the incantation once more and brought his lips to Luce’s. His thumb, still resting against Luce’s cheek, grazed gently across his lips. In response, Luce slowly parted them. Mikhail leaned in and exhaled a warm breath into the opening.
Mikhail’s breath was warmer than expected. Luce’s sharp jawline tilted slightly as he took in every bit of that breath. Since they had to move while holding it in, he needed to draw in as much air as possible. As he inhaled Mikhail’s breath, a dull pressure rang through his ears, and it felt as though an invisible veil wrapped around his entire body.
The concealment spell had worked.
After confirming the spell had taken effect, Mikhail slowly drew his lips back. Then, perhaps out of embarrassment, he brushed the back of his hand gently over Luce’s lips where his own had touched.
Holding his breath, Mikhail turned away sharply and opened the warehouse door in silence. The tips of his ears were flushed red.
***
The hideout of the thugs—who had never dreamed Mikhail could use magic—was thrown into disarray.
[Huh? I swear I just saw two people over there. Aren’t those the guys we’re after?]
[Where? I came from that way and didn’t see a thing.]
Hah… hah…
Mikhail and Luce leaned against a back alley wall, struggling to catch their breath. Moving while holding their breath had been more exhausting than expected. Even if they held it as long as they could, the distance they could cover was short, so every step had to be calculated.
Mikhail gestured toward a nearby cluster of bushes. Luce immediately understood what he meant and nodded. It wasn’t a marked path, but that only meant it was more secluded.
“…Then.”
“Yeah, let’s move again.”
They had kissed several times on their way here already. Now, it had become almost natural—Mikhail would reach out his hand, and Luce would lean in until their lips met.
Panting from their sprint, Luce brought a hand to Mikhail’s cheek to draw him closer and breathe in as much of his breath as he could. Mikhail, in turn, offered a faint smile, as if to say he’d done well.
[There they are!]
Someone spotted them mid-kiss and pointed with a shout. In that instant—whoosh—the two vanished from sight.
[Shit! What kind of spell is that?!]
[They keep getting spotted—so it’s probably not a long-range teleportation spell. Keep searching the area!]
[Yes, sir!]
***
Huff, huff…
Once they were deep enough into the forest, the concealment spell became unnecessary. Mikhail and Luce had no time to figure out exactly where they were; they just kept running, desperate to put as much distance as possible between them and the place they’d been abducted.
At first, Luce had matched Mikhail’s pace without difficulty, but without access to his dragon strength, he began to slow down less than half an hour in. Eventually, he came to a stop, gasping for air.
Mikhail kept watch while Luce caught his breath. Once Luce finally looked up, wiping his mouth, Mikhail extended a hand.
“Let me help you.”
“Hah… I’m fine.”
Luce brushed his hand away and started running again. He refused to be a burden.
Then, mid-stride, Luce abruptly stopped and tilted his head. Amid the birdsong of the deep forest, another sound reached his ears.
“Running water.”
He could hear the sound of a stream somewhere nearby. Following it would likely lead them down the mountain more easily.
“Let’s go that way.”
“Yes.”
Mikhail agreed with Luce’s confident decision and quickly scanned their surroundings.
No one was tailing them yet, but the forest was probably within the enemy’s territory. If they got caught again, it would be over in an instant. They had run nonstop to get this far, but they hadn’t yet escaped the woods.
“……”
When Mikhail turned his head, he saw Luce still leaning against a tree, panting heavily. While he didn’t doubt Luce’s reasoning that following the river was the best course of action, he wasn’t entirely sure they were putting real distance between themselves and the hideout.
No—truthfully, Mikhail just wanted to give Luce a bit more time to recover.
Just as he was about to gesture that he’d scout ahead in the direction Luce had pointed—
Thwip—!
A sharp whistle cut through the air as an arrow flew past them and embedded itself into the tree beside Luce with a jarring thunk, wobbling from the impact.
[You missed!]
A shout rang out from somewhere in the distance. At the same time, Mikhail spun toward Luce, grabbing his arm tightly as he shouted— “Let’s go!”
He’d wanted to let him rest a little longer, but that chance had just vanished.
They kissed several times omg so sad it’s not being adapted in the manhwa tho