Wriothesely's POV
Luckily, I was able to go to bed without having to see Neuvillette for more than just a few seconds.
I also managed to figure out what exactly it was that the girls wanted to do.
When I went to wish them good night I found them all sitting on the floor amidst the pillows and blankets.
The girls were surrounding Neuvillette. One of them was braiding his hair, and the others seemed to do everything in their power to sabotage that as subtly as possible.
Still, even such small actions couldn't escape the Chief Justice's eyes and the only thing their actions earned was a scolding.
Now that I was lying peacefully in my own bed the only thing that I had to do before sleeping was...
Getting the picture of Neuvillette in pyjamas out of my head!
But really!
His usual clothes and this...
That's like a complete 180!
A loose-fitting shirt that was one size too large at the very least and pants that I still think are way too tight to sleep in.
Archons!
What am I? Some touch-starved teenager?!
What the hell am I thinking about?!
...
Apparently, I fell asleep at some point while I was arguing with myself as the next thing I knew was waking up to the sun shining in through the window.
I took a much-needed shower and when I went downstairs after, I couldn't help but frown.
Taking a look at the clock confirmed that I wasn't going crazy and it was already pretty late, so where are all of them?
They should be running around getting ready for work around this time.
I crept up the stairs and slowly opened the bedroom door to see-
Ah, good god!
I nearly slammed the door shut at the sight.
Taking a deep breath I peeked behind the door once again to make sure I wasn't hallucinating.
And oh, how I wish I was.
You know what?
Yesterday when I said I figured out what the girls had wanted from Neuvillette...
Yeah.
Forget about that.
That never happened.
This definitely wasn't anything remotely similar to what I had thought.
The girls were lying amongst the pile that they had built the night before. This was to be expected.
What was anything but that was that Neuvillette was there as well.
And that wasn't even all of it!
He had embraced one of the girls close to his chest while another was lying on his other, outstretched arm.
Another one of them was sprawled out on top of his legs.
I also found Sigewinne lying in a weird position next to the pile, most likely having rolled off in her sleep.
The thing my brain was having problems processing though, was where the last two were lying.
That is...
On top of Neuvillette's tail.
It was at this moment that I was once again reminded that the man before me was a dragon.
A dragon!
I really want to go back to yesterday's me and ask him how on earth he stayed calm through that conversation.
The more I looked, the more things I discovered.
Blue scales ran down his half-exposed arms as well as his waist that lay exposed by his loose-fitting shirt.
Those blue streaks in his hair looked a bit different as well but I couldn't quite put my finger on the how.
I took a few more seconds to calm myself down before gently lifting Sigewinne away.
The second I did so, Neuvillette frowned and his tail twitched.
I'm guessing had it not been for the two lying on it, I might have had the chance to experience what it's like getting slapped by a dragon's tail.
But I was successful in the end.
I took Sigewinne and slipped downstairs before waking her up as gently as possible.
"Hmmm... Huh? Your...Grace?"
She blinked a few times, sleepiness slowly disappearing from her eyes.
"Good Morning, Sigewinne."
"Good Morning. Wait. Morning?"
She looked around in confusion before her eyes came to a halt on the clock.
"Sigewinne, at what time should the others arrive at work?"
Please don't say seven.
Please don't say seven.
"Seven o'clock. Why?"
Ah, damn it.
"Would you mind looking at the time again?"
"Sure...? It's six thirty. What of it?"
What of it?
Is she really not worried?
Wait.
Maybe...
"Neuvillette isn't awake yet. And neither are the rest." I explained the problem.
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Mosieur Neuvillette didn't wake up? That's impossible! Especially if you managed to bring me downstairs without waking him up! Is he sick? Did something happen? Did-"
"Sigewinne. Have you ever considered that he was just tired? There was quite a big mess yesterday after all."
She calmed down a bit at my words, nodding slightly while mumbling something incomprehensible.
"Now the question is, should I try to fish out the rest of them as well or should we just wake him up?"
"Let's not wake him up. Or at least try not to. If he's sleeping so deeply it must mean he needs it."
And so, we snuck back upstairs and commenced mission: free the melusines.
I managed to remove the two lying on his arm and leg without too much trouble aside from the small threatening twitches of his tail that had Sigewinne flinching behind me
I also managed to get the two off his tail, though, had I been any slower, I might have ended up with at least a broken bone with the strength that the scaly limb shot out at.
Now the biggest problem...
The little one lying in Neuvillette's embrace.
No matter how deeply asleep he was, I doubt I could get her out of the without waking him up. Hence, we opted for something else.
Sigewinne crept closer to the sleeping pair and with a few pokes woke the melusine up.
She blinked in speely confusion as Sigewinne tried her best to explain the situation without making a noise.
The thing that did the trick in the end was frantically pointing to the clock that now read 6:40.
It turns out this was the best method to get the last one out as she climbed out of the sleeping dragon's embrace quite easily and without getting threatening swings from his tail.
And now...
We all rushed downstairs and while the girls took an incredibly quick shower and got dressed I somehow managed to put together five decent lunches.
It can't compare to Neuvillette's cooking but it will do.
I checked if they had everything they needed and readjusted a wrongly buttoned-up coat before sending them off barely in time for them to get to work on time.
"Make sure to come back for dinner otherwise Neuvillette might just beat me to death for letting him sleep through the morning."
I was merely joking but all five of them nodded seriously. So much so that a bit of worry surfaced in my mind.
He wouldn't beat me to death, would he?
And just as I was about to let out a breath of relief-
"You Grace?" Sigewinne came stumbling over.
"Are you alright, Sigewinne?"
I knelt down next to her frowning as I saw her eyes falling close again and again.
"You remember that explanation about the symptoms of this particular illness?" She mumbled.
"Kind of?"
"Well, the part about unhealthy sleep cycles means we tend to fall asleep at entirely random times. It also means that I would like it if you brought me back to bed now..."
Her voice got softer as her eyes closed and she fell over into my arms.
She fell asleep just like that?
How did Neuvillette handle this when there were 48 of them?
As per Sigewinne's request, I brought her back to Neuvillette's room to sleep.
Just as I thought that sneaking a melusine into bed would be easier than sneaking one out of it-
"Woah!"
The second I came close, Neuvillette's tail wound itself around my waist and yanked me down into bed.
Now I was stuck lying in front of him with Sigewinne between us.
She groaned once landing a pretty strong kick on Neuvillette's stomach.
This caused the sleeping dragon to shift away slightly, giving her more space, which seemed to be what she wanted as a smile surfaced on her face and she fell into a peaceful slumber.
Now both of them were asleep.
But I wasn't!
I wriggled slightly, attempting to escape his hold only for it to tighten even more.
Oh, come on!
What the hell am I even supposed to do in the current situation?