Moonlight

Currently, I have Carla move into my room for tonight. This is mostly because Princess Ofelia is sleeping in her room right now.

Why this happened?

Well it was after we noticed a threat in the academy. Due to the fact that the enemy has infiltrated the academy, it was made obvious that it wouldn't be safe for Ofelia to stay in her dormitory as the enemy is hiding among thr students.

At first I thought it would be better for her to just stay at the dorm and add more guards, due to politics, it was impossible to immediately move a knight order into the city.

So as a solution to that problem, Archie suggested that she should stay in my place. I objected and said Archie's house would be better as he lives in a mansion, but Ofelia said my house would be better as she could have her hidden guards surround it.

Because it was somewhat a better plan, I couldn't say no to it.

Though Carla and Rose are sleeping on the bed, I as Red is sleeping in the living room couch.

Well, I said sleep but I actually couldn't. I've been staring at the ceiling for hours now.

Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I decided to stand up and go outside the yard.

Taking a wooden chair with me, I put and sat on it next to the fence while I look up the full moon illuminating the kingdom.

It was quite the ethereal sight.

The air was cold, but it was not unbearable as my fire magic was heating me inside.

"Winter's almost here, huh."

I said while a cloud of warm air exits my mouth.

As it faded away, I notice a figure just standing on the house's door. After the said figure walks into the light of the moon, I could see her beautiful long hair reflect the moon while the wings on her back closes under her waist.

"Good evening, Red."

"Good evening as well, princess. We're you not comfortable with my sister's bed?"

"No, I'm just not used to the new environment."

Since my chair was long, I scoot over to the side and give Ofelia a space. After that, she sits next to me and looked at the moon in the sky with me.

"I'm really sorry for suddenly intruding in your home."

"I don't really mind. Rather, I should be the one apologizing here."

When I said that, she looks down and giggles a bit.

"I'd love to say I forgive you, but I won't accept it."

"It actually makes me feel better you have a grudge against me over it."

Though we didn't say what it was, it was obvious that we were talking about that thing in the nurse office.

"Well of course I'd have a grudge over it, I am still a woman. I prefer to be treated properly."

"That's cute of you."

When I said that, she hits me lightly with her wing and puffed her cheek.

"That aside, I want to know how my Lust Coax can be useful now that your Mind Magic is weakened."

After asking her that, Ofelia finally looks at me straight into my eyes. And out of nowhere, she uses her wing to touch my face for some reason.

"From what I've read, Lust Coax is a really powerful Mind Magic. It was said that it's a trait that becomes really powerful if Pure Blood demons have them. Though I haven't confirmed it yet, it was said that it pre-dates the existence of Ascension Fragments."

"So basically Trait is more powerful than the fragments?"

"No. Just because it's older doesn't mean it's stronger."

"Sounds like you're speaking from experience. How old are you anyway?"

When I asked that, she slaps me with her wing gently.

"It's rude to ask a woman's age you know."

"Well, I guess we're of the same age."

"Just so you know, we Dragonoids are long lived beings. I just appear to be as young as you."

"You don't act that much older than me anyway."

"How rude, I'm at least older than your mother."

"For a girl your age, you can be real cute."

Again, she hits me with her wings. But even though she's like this, it's better to see her other than frustrated and sad. She's been like that the whole day it got me worried.

Out of nowhere, her face slowly becomes red as she looks at me.

Then I noticed, her wing was still touching me.

"Was it really that obvious?"

"No, it wasn't. But we've been friends for a while now, I can at least tell that much. Also, mind reading is cheating."

Though she was looking away, I could see the tips of her ears reddening from embarrassment.

"M-me aside, talk about yourself."

"Where is this coming from?"

"It's unfair that I've only been talking about myself."

"So you admit being cute?"

She hits me in the stomach a bit stronger than before.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. What do you want me to talk about though? I'm just a plain commoner."

Ofelia turns to my direction and looked at my face.

"Well, you can tell me about how you ended up becoming friends with Archie."

"You can use your mind magic to know though."

When I suggested that, she gets angry and puffs her cheeks. It's cute.

"It doesn't sound as nice as being told the truth verbally."

This princess is quite demanding. But I don't hate it.

"Well, we simply started out as casual master-servant relationship. Mom was his babysitter back when mom worked as a maid in his household. Since we didn't have our own house back in the day, we stayed in theirs."

As I continued to talk, Ofelia continued to listen earnestly. I didn't feel tired talking about myself in front of her being this much of an attentive listener. Though I don't normally do this kind of talk, I don't feel tired at all.

"You're not bored, are you?"

"Not really. I've never had someone talk to me this much so I actually had fun listening."

"For a long lived being, you don't seem to have that much interactions."

"That's kind of true. We dragonoids spend most of our days studying about our own magic."

Then out of nowhere, Ofelia suddenly sticks close to me and rests her head on my shoulder.

Though it surprised me a bit, seeing her eyes looking a bit droopy made me lean on my chair to make her resting a bit more comfortable.

"You told me a lot of things, but there's one thing that you didn't told me which kind of bothered me."

Looking over my shoulder, Ofelia looks straight into my eyes again. Because of the angle, her beautiful eyes under the moonlight became more attractive before that it made my heart skip a beat.

"What do you want me to tell you though?"

"The girl in your life."

It was a simple request, yet for some reason, I could feel something in my throat that prevented me from talking.

"You're quite prideful."

"Am I, really?"

"While I do understand that you've been offended by her actions, from my perspective, you were quite too prideful."

"Was I being unreasonable?"

"To put it bluntly, yes. You were tested of your loyalty, but instead of proving it, you got yourself offended instead. You know you realized it later, but you were too prideful to retract your words. You didn't try to apologize."

It's frustrating. I can't say anything back. Her words were something I didn't want to admit before. I knew from the start that after that argument, I realized I was wrong. I shouldn't have yelled at her.

"That being said, I don't hate that part of you."

With those few words, the murky feeling inside of me that welled up suddenly dissipated. When I looked at her again, I could see her smile that for some reason, looked really beautiful under the moonlight.

"People make mistakes all the time. And from those mistakes, they grow as a person. From your memory, ever since that time, you've become much more kind and understanding. You understood that there's no honor in being too prideful. And because of that, I've come to like you."

I didn't know how to react. I didn't expect her to have that much insight over me. I couldn't help but look up and over my eyes with my arm.

"Are you feeling embarrassed?"

"Who wouldn't?"

Though I couldn't see it, I can feel her smiling over what she did. I wasn't expecting Ofelia to have such mischievous side hidden on her almost emotionless face.

"You know, I went outside to feel tired enough to sleep. I don't think I'll be able to sleep now."

"Apologies to that."

Though she said that, she doesn't sound sorry at all. Rather, it's quite refreshing to hear her laugh a lot. I couldn't help but laugh as well.

After a while of moon gazing, I noticed that Ofelia yawned while covering her mouth.

"We should get inside. It's getting colder now."

Ofelia seem to be hardly awake now. She's barely keeping her eyes open and only responded with a tiny groan.

Since it's like this already, I decided to just carry her.

"I'm sorry, I must be quite heavy."

"Don't think about it too much, just go to sleep, I'll carry you to bed."

While putting her arms around my neck, she leans her head on my arm while falling fast asleep. To be honest, she does look really cute like this.

"You're quite a handful, aren't you, princess?"

I said as I enter the house with her in my arms.

-End of Chapter-