The Dragon who became my Wife(Volume 1)

Part 4: The Family and The Childhood Friend

"M,m,m.m,marry you?!" Henry stuttered, taken aback by Fresia's sudden proposal. He immediately jumped away, freeing himself from her bear hug. He was having a panic attack and a flashback to his childhood.

"Is there something wrong, darling?" Fresia said in a sweet tone, her frown from before has suddenly turned into a bright smile. "I,we, we don't, we haven't even known each other for long! How could you suggest something as bold as marriage?!" Henry protests, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Why not?" Fresia asked with a confused expression on her face. "We dragons do this all the time." She smiled. Henry was surprised. They did this all the time? Dragons? "You mean dragons have always married any random dragons you meet in your journeys?" He asks nervously.

"Yes." Fresia said, nodding. "We female dragons are polygamous, and my father and all of my siblings' fathers are all different dragons." She explains that she was the second child out of the five her mother had. . Then she saw Henry's confused face and giggled slightly.

"Is this all too hard to understand for you?" She jokingly said, as Henry scratches his head, trying to take in all this information she told him and process them. "I, uhh, a dragon's life is a lot more complicated than I thought." He replied.

"We dragons don't just pillage and plunder and eat your cows and virgins, you know?" Fresia laughed, as she mouthed of all the usual things human usually associate to dragons. "Come, We're almost there, right? To your home?" She beckoned to him, running cheerfully up the little hill in front of them.

"Wow!" Fresia shouts, as the visage of the village comes into view little by little as she ascends the hill. The village was a small one, surrounded by a little stone fence around it, two roads lead into it, both crossing over a small river on bridges made of wood and stone.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Henry asks, slowly approaching, then standing right next to Fresia. "Sure is." She replied, once again wrapping herself around Henry's left arm. He blushed. "Come, I'll show you where I live." He told her,and the two of them resumed their walk going into the town.

"What's that deer statue for?" Fresia asks, looking at the bronze statue of a stag standing in front of the entrance into the village. "That's the icon of this area,the Hestian Antelope. They can only be found in the forest where I met you. and the same type of deer that you ate just before. Fresia stared at the statue's unblinking eyes for a few seconds. Somehow she felt as if the stag statue is observing her every move.

"There you are, big brother!" Henry heard someone called out from behind. He turns to find Elis, his younger brother, running towards them from down the road. "Hey there., little brother." Henry greeted him. "Who's this?" Elis eyed the girl standing next to his brother. She is pretty cute, Elis thought.

"She's, a friend." Henry hesitated at first, but then guess no harm can be done if his little brother sees Fresia with him "Oh yeah," Elis remembered something, after kicking a small pebble on the side of the road. "Mum told me to go get you. Lunch's ready. She figured you'd be back from your hunt by now.

Henry then suddenly remembered something. "Hey Fresia, could you follow my brother to our house first? I had some business to take care of. These rabbit has to go to the butcher's shop." He points to his backpack.

"Sure, I'll wait for you at home, darling." Fresia said with a smile, choking Henry and attracting Elis' attention. "Uh, ok then. One thing tho, could you please not speak a word about that to my family?" Henry replied,nervously glancing at his little brother who is now paying full attention to the two of them.

"Sure" Fresia replied with a nod and a smile. After Henry left, she turns to Elis. "Here, follow me. Our house is this way!" Elis said, as he begins walking down the road towards the west of the village. Fresia followed right behind him. "So, what's up with you and Big Bro Henry?" Elis asks curiously. "You want to know?" Fresia smiled, then lowers her head and whispered into Elis' ears.

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"Ah, Henry!" The butcher greeted him as Henry enters his shop. "How're you doing today?" He asks. "Good. Here's today's haul." Henry replied, pulling the rabbit out of the bag one by one. in the end, a total of forty rabbit carcasses lay on the table, still fresh with blood,as if it was just recently killed.

"That little bag of yours is really useful, you know?" The butcher said, inspecting a few of the rabbits Henry brought in. "Thanks for your business. Here's the pay." He took out a small pouch and hands it to Henry.

"Eh?" Henry weighs the pouch in his hand. "Isn't this a bit too much for this much rabbit?" He asks. "Bahahaha!" The butcher laughed, "A little gift, from me. I know you didn't catch any yesterday. And your mother's apple pie she gave me yesterday was delicious." he turns his attention to the rabbit and began skinning one of them.

"in that case, thanks!" Henry said, as he heads towards the front door to leave. "Oh, by the way, Henry. Did you see anything out of the ordinary when you were hunting yesterday?" the butcher said as Henry was about to leave. "Like what?" Henry replied

"Oh, I don't know. Word around town is that some people from a town not far from here saw a huge creature flying in the direction of this town, and a farmer said he heard something crashing somewhere around the middle of the forest a few nights ago.

Sweats ran down Henry's forehead. "They must be talking about Fresia!" He thought. "Nothing, nothing of the sort. I guess it might have landed somewhere else. Okay, I've got to go. Mum said it's lunch time." Henry said,and walked out of the front door.

"tell your mom thanks for the apple pie yesterday!." The butcher's voice rings from behind the door. Henry meanwhile dashed straight home. He was nervous about what the man had just said. Someone saw Fresia? The thought ran inside his head. This could be trouble.

"Fresia!" Henry shouts, bursting through the front door of his house. To his shock, he found his parents,Elis, and Arianne, all huddled up around Fresia, who is sitting there in the middle of them, a cup in her hand, smiling.

"Hi Darling!" She cheerfully greets him. "I was just about to talk about your family about how you proposed to me in the middle of the forest." At that moment, all eyes shifted towards Henry, and Arianne's gaze was particularly sharp and menacing. "Oh boy, What did I just walked myself into?" Henry asks himself.