#100: Dancing In Moonlight (5) — And So, One Hundred Years Later, The Magician Noi Galenée Becomes a Bride (WN)

“—Kardia. Do you want to try a kiss?”

“Absolutely not.”

The proposal she mustered by scraping together every ounce of courage was denied without a beat.

“Just once.”

“No.”

Kardia was adamant. Unlike a moment ago, his face was gradually going pale. Noi apologized honestly: “I’m sorry.”

“I won’t force you. I’m sorry for saying something that made you uncomforta—”

“What if I threw up and it got on you, Noi?”

“…Huh?”

“I’d rather sink right here and die than have you hate me.”

Pale-faced, Kardia said it dead serious.

Confused, Noi asked him:

“Wait, isn’t it that you don’t want to feel sick from kissing me?”

“How is that different?”

“It’s completely different.”

To Noi, it meant something entirely different.

“I don’t mind getting covered in puke.”

“That’s a lie. No girl would say that.”

“Even if it got on me, I’d wash it off right here immediately! It’s called the three-second rule!”

“I’ve never heard of such a rule.”

“I just taught it to you.”

“…”

Kardia fell silent with a sour look.

Noi cupped his cheek. Kardia flinched, then his face slowly flushed. When she peered at him with peppermint eyes, he turned his red face aside with a vexed knit of his brows.

Bolstered by that expression, Noi asked once more:

“Just once. I’m sorry, but endure it one time. If it’s no good, I won’t be selfish anymore.”

Kardia, his cheek still in her hands, turned only his gaze toward her while keeping his face averted.

“…By ‘not selfish,’ you mean you won’t go to the capital, right?”

“…Does it mean that?”

“It does.”

“—All right. Then if we try kissing and there’s even the slightest chance, I’ll do my best to win you over here.”

Nodding with a grim face utterly unlike someone about to kiss, Noi agreed.

“You don’t have to do any of that. All that I am already belongs to you…”

Noi tugged him sharply by the face before his muttering could go on.

“It’s a promise!”

“Understood.”

She stepped down from his arms. If she pressed him from above, Kardia would have no escape route.

Rising on tiptoe, Noi yanked at Kardia’s clothes.

He bent toward her, letting it happen.

But the instant she saw his face up close, Noi’s own flushed bright red.

(…I thought I could do it.)

Kardia looked at her as she ducked her head, cheeks blazing—and he too flushed red.

“Noi? Should we stop?”

At his crimson face and pained grimace, Noi shook her head hard.

“We’re not stopping…”

Her voice was so thin it trembled.

Rousing her pathetic courage, she tightened her grip on Kardia’s clothes.

Sensing she meant to kiss him, tension ran across Kardia’s face as well.

“H-here I go.”

“…Okay.”

Her over-tense hands quivered.

Mustering her courage, Noi rose onto her toes again. The two shadows reflected on the lake overlapped into one.

It was a gentle kiss, just a touch.

They parted before either could even savor the softness of the other, and Noi set her heels back on the water’s surface.

She let go of Kardia’s clothes at once. The place their lips had met burned.

(I feel like I might cry.)

It was as if happiness had been pressed in through her lips.

Head bowed, face scarlet, Noi flapped her hands.

“H-how is it? Do you feel sick?”

Sweat gushed over her whole body. She was terribly agitated, elated, aching.

“…I couldn’t really tell.”

“Eh?!”

“Maybe we didn’t actually make contact.”

“What?!”

Kardia touched his mouth; Noi jerked her head up in surprise.

(We touched. We definitely touched.)

There was no rumored lemon taste, but she had felt lips on lips.

(…But maybe—this is a chance to do it again?)

Cheeky Noi stole a glance at Kardia.

But doing it again meant Noi would have to screw up her courage again.

She set her resolve and nodded.

“O-okay. Then this time for real—mmph.”

Before she could finish, Noi’s lips were covered.

The lips sealing hers were Kardia’s. This time, they lingered longer than before.

“H—how—”

As soon as their mouths parted and Noi tried to ask, Kardia’s lips covered hers again.

“Mm—nn—mm.”

His lips grew warmer and softer by degrees. Their mouths slid with slick saliva, sending a tremor up Noi’s spine.

When instinct made her body pull back, Kardia caught her slender waist. Even arched so far she nearly bent backward, those glaring deep-crimson eyes chased her.

Such a feral gaze—like he would bite if she touched him, like their eyes would trap her if they met.

Noi’s back shivered with a different thrill than before.

(He’s going to devour me.)

Their lips kept breaking apart, only to be sealed again each time.

Breaths spilled from both of them; heated, pained gazes tangled. Touching again and again, their mouths learned each other’s softness.

Noi’s body no longer held any strength. Her feet were entirely off the surface. Limp and boneless, she was cradled in Kardia’s arms.

By the time their heat finally drew apart, Noi’s lips were tingling. Puff-soft and swollen, they had been licked and sucked to his heart’s content.

Their breathing was like beasts’.

Kardia hugged Noi tight—not with the usual one-armed hold, but wrapping her with his whole body.

Their bodies rose and fell together. She thought, strangely, that it would be nice if their breathing and heartbeats became exactly one.

“…Ka-r-di-a…”

Kardia looked at Noi with a glittering, predatory gaze she had never seen.