“What are you thinking about?”
Assad asked, lifting Cayden’s chin with his fingertips. Judging by his furrowed brow, he seemed somewhat irritated.
Embarrassed at being caught in his thoughts, Cayden smiled awkwardly. He lowered his gaze. Assad’s hand against his skin felt so hot that his face instantly flushed.
“What’s this, were you having indecent thoughts? Your face is hot.”
“…It’s not my face, but Your Highness’s hand that is hot.”
Cayden muttered while checking Assad’s reaction.
He’s the one who’s hot from head to toe, yet he’s always telling me my face is hot, my hands are hot. One moment he says he likes that my body is cool, and the next he’s saying I’m hot…
Cayden felt wronged. As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly lowered his eyes again.
Assad stared at his own hand cupping Cayden’s face. Then he looked at the closed lips visible above it, the neatly arranged eyelashes matching their owner, and the dark purple eyes.
A fierce impulse, half confusion and half heat, pushed Assad forward again today.
Assad kissed Cayden. He felt an overwhelming affection for the man who willingly opened his mouth to him. He felt joy.
Cayden’s eyes narrowed. Despite anticipating what would happen, it was hard to completely shake off his bewilderment. Yet as he accepted the familiar temperature, he gradually became more at ease.
The tongue sweeping inside his mouth was hot. As expected. Everything about Assad was hot. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single cool spot on him. This thought made him laugh inwardly.
Assad pulled Cayden’s body closer. Cayden tried to keep his hands from touching Assad’s new clothes. He attempted to hide his hands that had been hovering in the air behind his back. But he was soon caught by Assad.
Unlike his flawless, beautiful face, Assad’s hands were different. Those strong, rough hands that held a sword interlaced fingers with Cayden’s. It was a persistent entanglement impossible to escape from alone.
“Ah…”
Cayden tightly closed his eyes at the sensation of a tongue grazing his palate. His mind went blank when Assad’s fingertips teasingly scratched down the back of his hand.
Every part of him that touched Assad felt unbearably ticklish. He was afraid he might make a sound without realizing it. He didn’t want to ruin Assad’s mood with his own pleasure. He was scared. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to push Assad away. He wanted to remain held by him like this.
He could smell the pheromones. It was Assad’s scent, which he had become somewhat accustomed to now.
As the gentle yet rough kiss lingered, Assad’s pheromone scent grew stronger. The sweet fragrance, which made him feel it wouldn’t be bad to die drowning in it, seemed to kiss him once more.
Cayden found it strange that these were pheromones embracing him rather than pinning him down. And it felt indescribably good.
Assad’s pheromones were trying to protect him. At least while kissing him, he felt assured he needn’t tremble in fear.
In this comfortable protection he had never experienced once in his lifetime, Cayden felt a sorrowful ecstasy. Because he knew it was a comfort he could never possess.
“As you said, the truly hot one… might be me.”
Assad whispered in Cayden’s ear. He frantically pressed his lips to Cayden’s closed eyes, his cheeks, his lips again. He lowered his head to bury his nose in Cayden’s neck, savoring the faint scent. Unable to resist, he kissed there, then bit down gently.
“…”
But soon he pulled back. Though he still didn’t release Cayden’s hand.
The kiss was over.
Cayden opened his eyes but didn’t look up. It was difficult to face Assad after a kiss. Assad’s eyes were too hot and bright, and the longing in them felt too vivid. Cayden couldn’t look into that clarity. He was too embarrassed.
“I want to kiss you again.”
Assad drew small circles on the back of Cayden’s hand with his thumb. Like a playful child, he repeated the same action several times.
“But… I can’t. We have to attend the wedding tomorrow.”
What did attending the wedding have to do with kissing now? Cayden stared at Assad as if seeking an answer. But Assad seemed to have no intention of giving one. He also appeared somewhat troubled.
“So. We should stop here for today.”
This was all he whispered to Cayden, who could only blink like a fool.
Cayden didn’t add more to Assad’s conclusion. Instead, he just smiled silently. Assad’s voice, tinged with lingering attachment, somehow reassured him. It was a strange comfort.
“…Why, disappointed?”
“No, I’m not.”
But to this question, he quickly shook his head and answered.
“Really?”
Assad turned his head abruptly. His face showed dissatisfaction.
“…The bed is too large.”
Still half-turned away from Cayden, Assad glanced at one side of the bedroom. Then he made a somewhat out-of-place comment.
“Won’t you feel lonely?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“It’s an unfamiliar place. Having to sleep alone in an unnecessarily large bed in a mansion you’ve set foot in for the first time in your life?”
It was a strange thing to say. Assad was the type of person who would have slept alone gracefully even at the age of three. Surely, he would have slept soundly without shedding a single tear. And here he was asking if Cayden, not a three-year-old but a twenty-three-year-old, was afraid to sleep alone. It seemed like he might be joking.
“…”
Cayden stared intently at Assad’s stubborn profile. Watching Assad give him occasional glances, he began to guess his intentions. No, rather than intentions… he came to know the answer Assad wanted.
“Thinking about it again, I might be scared.”
“…”
“I’m fine now because I’m with Your Highness, but when I’m alone, I’ll feel lonely. Everything looks unfamiliar, so I probably won’t be able to sleep.”
“Really?”
Assad’s face, now looking back at him, brightened strangely. It seemed he had given the right answer. He could feel Assad’s grip tightening on his hand.
Cayden smiled slightly, following Assad’s lead.
“You’ll sleep in my bed tonight.”
“Is it strange for me to sleep in the Crown Princess’s bedroom?”
He recalled what Assad had said when he came looking for him the day after the Hirak ceremony.
Since then, they had slept together on the same bed several times. There was no other intention behind it. Assad simply liked to hold him as a cool cushion to sleep with. A somewhat large cushion, but still.
At first, he couldn’t sleep for fear that Assad would hear his heart beating. But now he had become accustomed to Assad’s temperature and his breath. He could close his eyes comfortably at any time. The warmth of Assad’s body against his also made it easy to fall asleep.
But that was in the desert. The North was a cold place even without magic. They needed to spend the night by the fireplace, embracing its heat. At least here in Elba, Assad didn’t need to hold onto his cold body.
But… it seemed the Northern chill couldn’t steal away the heat of the man who would become the desert’s sun.
“I can’t help it. I’ll sleep with you.”
Assad said.
Cayden didn’t answer Assad again. Instead, he smiled once more.
It seemed Assad was embarrassed to announce that he would sleep with him even after coming to Elba. It felt similar to the mysterious feeling of children who keep secret from their friends that they sleep hugging a doll at night. It was something he couldn’t honestly articulate out loud.
Having gained Cayden’s acceptance, Assad suddenly fell silent. After staring at Cayden, he slowly released his hand.
“…I’ll go wash up.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll change clothes too.”
With those words, Assad strode out of the bedroom without a sound.
With a click, the door closed completely. Cayden, who had been blankly staring at the dark wooden door, finally revealed the laughter he had been holding back. It was something more honest that he couldn’t show in front of Assad.
Assad is cute.
Cayden thought, his ears turning red.
For some inexplicable reason, Assad looked cute to him. He thought he should serve as Assad’s cool stuffed toy without complaint until they left Helio.
That night. Cayden didn’t feel even the slightest bit of loneliness. Because he fell asleep in the arms of a man hotter than the dancing fire in the fireplace.
* * *
Emma’s wedding was held in the garden of a large mansion on the western outskirts of the capital. The place that was once Emma’s workplace had now become the home where she would live with her spouse for a long time.
An outdoor wedding in the North, where storms could hit at any moment. Even with summer just around the corner, it was a choice that made one wonder about their boldness.
But even the temperamental Northern weather seemed to want to celebrate Emma’s wedding. A bright sun in the clear sky illuminated the world with a warm face, just like a spring day in the Central region. The flower petals scattered on the white carpet glittered as they absorbed the sunlight. The wind that spoke to the guests gathered in the garden was not chilly but only affectionate.
Cayden diligently took in the purple landscape of the garden where lilacs bloomed profusely. His heart was uplifted as everything before his eyes felt nothing but beautiful.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
