The Dragon who became my Wife(Volume 1)

Part 8: Tribulations of Love

"Ah! I can explain this!" Henry panicked, as he stood between Arianne and Fresia, trying to block Arianne's vision of her. "NO!" Arianne shouts drunkenly, still under the effects of the Cintana oil. "Let me take a good look at her!" She cried out, rushing forward and knocking Henry out of her way.

"Hmm..." Arianne looked up and down, scanning Fresia from head to toe. Fresia meanwhile just stood there silently, as if there was nothing wrong at all with her situation. Henry took a glance at her too. A pair of horns was obviously present on her head, its base planted on its forehead as the rest of it curls towards the back of her head.

"Are you done?" Fresia asks to Arianne, her face looking a little bit flustered. Henry swore that he saw her wobble a little bit on her feet. "You're a succubus, aren't you?!" Arianne suddenly flared out at Fresia.

"hehehehe." Fresia just laughed at her words. "What's so funny?!" Arianne shouts back. "What made you think of that?" Fresia returned the question back to Arianne. "Well..." Arianne speech trails off, as she turns to look at Henry.

"I know that loser!" She shouts, pointing her index finger towards Henry. "He's too much of a coward to confess his love to a girl. I know, because for all these years, he had never said anything to me! His childhood friend! Then suddenly he said he's in love with this stranger he's never met before!"

"How can I believe a lie like that?!" She turned back towards Fresia, her hand still stretched out,pointing. "You must've put some sort of charm on him, didn't you? That's the only explanation!" Arianne explains, as she struggles to keep her footing on the ground.

Henry, who stayed silent this whole time, was shocked at what she just said. She wanted him to confess to her? So that's what caused that 'thing' to happen back then? "I..." Henry tried to talk, but no words could come out of his mouth.

"HA.HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Fresia suddenly bursts into laughter, so loud it echoes throughout the forest, and seems to shook the trees around. Arianne and Henry stood dumbfounded, as the force of her laughter seem to shake even the ground around them.

"Sorry, sorry." Fresia finally calmed down, wiping her eyes that went teary from laughing so hard. "FIrst of all," She clears her throat and begin to talk, "I'm not a succubus. They have pitch black horns with blood red veins running through them. look at mine." She points to the horns on her head.

Henry examined them. Her horns were dark brown, with ridges running horizontally through its length. "One more thing, they also have small, bat-like wings growing from their backs. While I have these..." She turned around slowly, exposing her back to the two of them.

Before she could turn all the way around, she suddenly went limp and collapsed. "Fresia!" Henry rushed forwards, and somehow managed to catch her body moments before it hit the ground. "Fresia!" Henry called out to her. Nothing. Her eyes were closed shut. then Henry felt something wet on his hands.

As he pulled one of his hands out from under Fresia, he was horrified to see blood splattered on it. Then suddenly he felt a burning sensation on them. "Argh! What's this?" He cried out in pain, accidentally dropping Fresia's unconscious body into the ground. Her blood was burning through his skin.

He quickly reached into his bag, and pulled out the piece of deer hide he had from that day, and used them to wipe his hands clean. When he looked, he was suprised to find that his palms were blistering, as if he had touched something caustic.

Then his thought turned back to Fresia. "Fresia!" He turned to face her, and found Arianne sitting next to her, examining her closely. "Come here!" She calls him. Henry moves closer, and sat next to her.

"Look," Arianne turned Fresia's limp body around, careful no to touch the blood from before. As her back is exposed, Henry let out a little gasp, "What happened?" A large gash is crossing right on Fresia's back, running from the base of her left shoulder blade all the way down to the waist.