Long-Awaited Desire (12)

Rurin blinked.

Once. Twice. Three times.

She slowly looked at the ring in her hand, then glanced at El again, and then looked at the ring once more.

She looked at El again and swallowed her saliva.

“Ughhh.”

She tried to say something, but all that came out was, surprisingly, a moan.

She couldn’t speak. Her throat tightened. And tears began to fall endlessly.

Her face turned completely red.

It was the opposite of the face that had just turned red from her high blood pressure. Her face was now flushed, and it seemed to burn, like an illusion of white smoke rising.

-Rurin has to meet a good person and get married?

-Calling him “you”, just as mom said?

-Yes. Because Rurin deserves to experience everything mom couldn’t.

In the end, Rurin couldn’t say anything, and just nodded strongly, very strongly, while tears fell.

Anyway, she nodded, so it was an approval.

El smiled and kissed Rurin’s lips.

It wasn’t a deep kiss. Just a light peck on Rurin’s lips.

Rurin’s lips were so hot.

Especially since the sunset was blazing in the background.

El pulled his lips away from Rurin’s and spoke.

“Rurin, no matter how tight your throat is, you have to answer. Do you love me?”

“Of course I love you!”

Rurin shouted loudly.

So loudly that the entire sanctuary seemed to echo.

Rurin’s great-grandmother, Saryn, passed away recently. She was of an advanced age.

It was said that after I visited, she heard the story of the Dragon Lord and passed away smiling.

Since it was a death that had lived a full life, Medidana explained that he was able to send her off with a smile.

I don’t have parents.

I don’t have grandparents either, so I had no family to seek permission from.

But since Rurin had a grandfather, it was only natural that we visited Medidana together as a matter of courtesy.

Medidana had already returned to the sanctuary after receiving treatment from Elena.

Rurin and I returned to that sanctuary.

The gatekeeper of the sanctuary, upon seeing me, was startled and opened his mouth.

“Wh-what is this? No, what’s going on?!”

The completely different reaction continued.

I smiled lightly and was guided by the Elder.

It was only natural to inform our friends about the wedding.

This world didn’t require formal invitations, and since we planned to hold the wedding ourselves, I thought we would just inform our friends briefly, which would serve as an invitation.

Inviting humans, dragons, and other races would become too troublesome.

It was also a report to Medidana, and a request for permission for the marriage.

Of course, if he didn’t grant his permission now, the Elder might die from the pressure of an exploding Rurin.

Medidana had returned to the sanctuary and was extremely busy handling the aftermath of the recent events.

“Are you okay? You should rest, why are you already out here and working so soon…?”

“You human! I’m a dragon. I’m still in my prime!”

“Hmm, well, I can’t really argue with that.”

“Besides, I can’t die until I’ve tasted that secret liquor of yours.”

“Oh, Elder! I want to drink it too! The secret liquor!”

“Oh, I can drink with my granddaughter?”

The Elder answered with a bright face.

“No… You can’t drink anything other than beer, you’ll get drunk after just one sip!”

“Yes! Now it works!”

Now, what’s the basis for that?

Watching that, Medidana chuckled. Rurin was clearly happy about inviting him to drink. Since he was polymorphed, his expressions were more visible.

“Finish the cleanup quickly and I’ll step down from my position as Elder.”

“Huh? You’re stepping down from the Elder position?”

“It was a position I’ve been holding onto out of obligation. It’s no longer necessary. I’ll step down and live in seclusion. I’m tired of being a shield, and being the bad grandfather.”

“I see.”

“That’s right. It’s time to rest.”

Medidana laughed with relief. His face made it clear that he couldn’t be stopped.

“I see.”

“Being an Elder is no good. You thought well, Elder.”

Rurin nodded too.

“Wait, Rurin, you can’t call him ‘Elder’ anymore, right? How long are you going to call him that?”

“…I don’t know.”

At my words, Rurin completely ignored me.

She had just asked to drink together, but now she seemed embarrassed to use the title.

Maybe it was the backlash from acting like an enemy?

“Well, anyway, I married Rurin.”

“What? You’re married? Not even ‘We will marry’?”

“Well, it turned out that way.”

I scratched the back of my head. Then Medidana shook his head and laughed.

“Well, I don’t like it, but it’s the natural result, kid. Why do you think I entrusted Rurin to you? Even having you build a lair was for this moment!”

“Wait a minute. If that’s really the case, shouldn’t you have contributed to the cost of building the lair?”

“Hahaha. You cheeky kid! If I die, all the treasures I’ve gathered will go to Rurin anyway!”

“Oh! Grandpa… Do you have a lot of treasures?”

She shouted “Grandpa!” but then the rest of her words were interrupted by Rurin’s shout, thanks to her dragon’s gleaming treasure instincts.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Hehe, then it’s settled. Then, Grandpa!”

Then, having lost to the treasure, Rurin finally called “Grandpa” out loudly.

I also visited Sereina and Elena.

The first people I needed to inform about the marriage were naturally these two.

“Ugh, it’s Red!”

As soon as Rurin barged into the clinic, she kicked toward Sereina.

Even other dragons and I couldn’t avoid the kick, but Sereina was different.

Sereina had become the person most accustomed in this world to Rurin’s kicks.

So Sereina easily dodged the kick and frowned.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m kicking.”

“A kick that doesn’t hit isn’t really a kick, you know?”

“Ughh.”

Sereina laughed merrily.

Rurin, falling for the provocation, tried another kick.

But Sereina dodged again. Her movements were very light. In front of the triumphant Sereina, Rurin got angry again, but this time she couldn’t attempt the kick because I grabbed her by the nape.

“What’s going on today with both of you? The great human who almost wiped out all the dragons. Well, you’re my enemy too, so I’m thankful, though.”

“What about Elena?”

“Elena? She’ll be here soon. She went to the market for a bit.”

“Really?”

“It’s boring because you dodged the kick.”

Rurin sat down right there and giggled while alternately looking at the pink ring and the black ring.

Her face was filled with a blissful expression.

Sereina looked at Rurin with a strange expression and furrowed her brows.

Then Rurin proudly showed her palm to Sereina as if to boast.

She was still giggling.

Sereina, in her own way, was forcing herself to ignore it.

A silent battle of nerves unfolded.

Screech—!

In the end, it was two people glaring at each other.

But there was someone who broke that tension in an instant.

“Oh my, when did you get here!”

Elena returned to the clinic and smiled brightly at me. In the tense atmosphere filled with the glares of two battle-ready dragons, her smile was like a beam of sunlight in the room.

“I just got back.”

“I’ve heard about it. How is the Elder? His wounds have completely healed, right…?”

Elena asked about Medidana, whom she had treated. She used to be so respectful and quick to bow before dragons, but recently, she had become much more resilient.

“Yes.”

“I see. I’ve heard most of the story. You…must have had a hard time.”

Elena, hesitating, came closer to me. Recently, she had become more awkward, and I didn’t know why.

“Elf!”

Rurin, seeing Elena, stood up from where she had been sitting.

“We, marriage…!”

Just as she was about to show off the rings and boast, Rurin was tackled by Sereina.

“Ughh! What’s going on?!”

“Shut up, you oblivious one!”

“What do you mean ‘oblivious’?!”

Sereina blocked Rurin from showing the rings and began to fight with her.

As soon as Rurin mentioned marriage, Sereina shut her down, confirming that they were indeed enemies.

“Stop it, Sereina.”

“Sigh. You both are so oblivious.”

However, Sereina shook her head at me and then flipped Rurin over, piling all sorts of junk on top of her.

Boxes and chairs.

“Sereina?”

“I’m busy right now!”

Elena looked at Sereina, who was busy by herself, with a confused expression.

Sereina sighed deeply before speaking.

“Elena.”

“Yes?”

“They’re getting married, I think.”

“Whhaaat?!”

Elena’s eyes widened greatly. Her elf-like clear eyes seemed like they were about to pop out.

“Seal! Sealing magic! Seeeeal!”

Sereina then cast sealing magic on Rurin and stood up proudly.

Elena, shocked, slowly turned her head toward me.

“Well, it’s true. It happened. I guess that guy spoke up for me because he’s quick to catch on.”

“Ah, th-those…yeah… I guess so…”

Elena stuttered, and Sereina suddenly shoved Elena’s body from behind.

“Eeeeek!”

I reflexively caught Elena’s falling body, ending up in an embrace.

But Sereina didn’t stop there.

“Hey, look at Rurin!”

“Huh?”

Then she teleported behind me and tripped me.

The balance I lost while trying to catch Elena, and my momentary lapse in attention.

All those factors combined, and I fell backward.

And at the same time, something very soft touched my lips. Of course, that softness was very brief, and soon Elena’s teeth tore at my lips.

I was headbutted as I fell, so the brief softness ended in intense pain.

But the problem was that Elena’s lips clearly touched mine.

“……”

Maybe because of that, Elena froze.

The surprising thing was that she froze on top of me and started crying.

“Miss Elena? Hey, Sereina? What’s this?”

I looked at Sereina with a shocked expression. Sereina shrugged and then turned to me.

“I thought it was a gift.”

Then, when Sereina finally helped Elena stand up from her frozen position.

“Ha ha ha! Finally escaped! Where’s the Red one?!”

Rurin, having escaped from under the junk and sealing magic, shouted loudly.

“You’re such a fool. Why didn’t you confess at least?”

At Sereina’s question, Elena shook her head.

“No, I… I want to stay here. I never want to be uncomfortable. I’ll do it…before I die. That’s it.”

“Whattt?!”

‘What else can I say to this elf who says she wants to confess before she dies?’

“Then don’t spend the whole day crying, alright? Honestly, those two have already been married for a while, so why make it such a big deal now?”

“Well, that’s true…but thank you anyway. You did it on purpose, didn’t you? I can still feel it.”

“Oh my, I can’t stand it.”

“You can’t die. You need to live here, with me, near El, in this clinic!”

“Ah, really? Isn’t that basically a confession asking me to live with you for life? Why are you saying it to me?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Alright, fine. Who else is going to take care of you but me? Instead, hand over the jewel that you’re clinging to in that pocket.”

Sereina snatched the pink gem that Elena had been holding.

“Oh, no, don’t!”

Thwack!

Enraged, Elena lightly gave Sereina a playful knock on the head. The gesture had become more natural for her.

“Hey…?”

Sereina, stunned, opened her mouth in disbelief, and Elena snatched the jewel back.

“Tsk, tsk. Our elf has completely lost it.”

“Yeah. She’s lost it!”

Sniffling.

And Elena started crying again.

“Sigh. We should go on a trip. You can’t keep facing each other like this. You need to calm down.”

“A, a trip?”

Elena touched her slightly cracked lips and nodded. Sereina, while brushing Elena’s hair back, responded.

“Come on, lean on me. You cute elf.”

Sereina opened her arms.

Elena nodded, her mouth tightly shut.