Soul Bonded [Claude De Alger Obelia x reader ]

81. Blissful Days

His arm around you tightened but he remained silent. Huffing under your breath, you made a move to get up only to be pulled against him tightly.

Heh, got you!

Smiling innocently, you tilted your head when he glared at you sharply, realizing your dirty trick. "What?"

"..." His sharp glare turned more sullen at your feigned obliviousness. When you continued to smile cluelessly, he sighed roughly, irritation and defeat laced his face. "Don't you think you are too busy these days?"

"Uh," Blinking at his abrupt question, you shrugged your shoulders nonchalantly. "Athy's debutante is mere weeks away. Of course, it's going to be busy. I need to prepare for everything. Ah, that reminds me I have to meet the seamstress. Guess I should get going--Eek!"

Claude didn't like your teasing much as he grabbed your waist when you stood up grinning and yanked you onto his lap till you were straddling him in an intimate position. "Troublesome woman..."

Laughing softly, you bumped your nose against his as he grumbled under his breath. Claude scrunched his nose, stubbornly resisting you.

You kissed his cutesy wrinkled nose and Claude made a face, sullenly leaning down when you pecked his forehead.

A brief moment of silence passed as you comfortably nestled your nose against his, looking into his mesmerizing blue eyes.

"Sorry, you have to handle my share of work too." Your eyes softened, thumb gently caressing the tired lines of his eyes before you placed a kiss on each of his lashes.

The two Academies you established after returning to your post of Royal Healer a few years ago were thriving. The two academies were basic; one for the magic user who could get training to enhance their magical skill without having to go through the process of entering the Imperial exam and getting eliminated subsequently due to high standards of royalty not letting people with little magic ability to pass, it was beneficial to people with average to little magical capabilities. And another was for the non-magic user who wished to become an herbalist and alchemist such as yourself.

Adding to that, the export trade of the herbal products with healing effects you produced by modifying Nora's research and adding your own little twists was hit among other Empires and was demanded on a high scale.

It required a lot of management and supervision to look over such high-profile establishments thus lots of paper works for you.

But due to you overtaking the preparation of debutante, Claude had to oversee that part of your work. You could only imagine how exhausting it must be for him to handle your paperwork on top of his own huge pile of work.

There was a reason why you were doing everything in your power to strengthen the political, economical and military power of the Empire. The burning ruins of once flourishing Obelia were seared in your mind, the nauseating smell of burning flesh still made you gag. You didn't know why it was in that ruined state in the first place. Whether it was internal factors or external forces that resulted in such devastating destruction you have yet to figure out.

Horror ate away at you as you wondered how many innocent lives were lost, people you cared for, and known, even strangers you met for fleeting moments cruelly perished. One thing was clear you have to prevent it from happening, so many people's lives were at stake.

You snapped out of your thoughts when a thumb brushed against your lower lip, gently stroking it.

"Hmm." His hooded eyes focused on yours and you had to fight back a shiver at the all-too-familiar glint in his eyes.