Wriothesely's POV
"Hey... Hey, Neuv."
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he continued to place featherlike kisses anywhere he could.
It's been hours at this point and I didn't really want him to stop either but...
"We're going to worry everyone to death."
The kisses stopped as he buried his head in the crook of my neck.
"I don't want to."
"Don't want to go back?"
"I don't want to let go of you."
Oh...
A blush quietly ran up my neck.
"I didn't say you had to let go. I just think we should first go back and reassure everyone that we're fine. Or at least Sigewinne. She definitely figured me out."
There was a short chuckle.
"It would have been weirder if she had not. You're a horrible liar, Wrio."
"Hey! Weren't you the one who told me that I'm an exceptional liar?"
"To other people, perhaps. Not to the girls. Even I have a difficult time doing that."
"What about you?"
He tilted his head slightly, looking into my eyes with a smile.
"That depends."
"Depends on what?"
"Depends on how much I want to indulge you."
I could feel my face turning impossibly more red.
"You- You- We should go back. We can cuddle more later."
"Alright."
That seemed to satisfy him somewhat, but the second I tried to leave his embrace, I was held tighter instead.
"Hey, Neuv- Woah! Put me down!"
"No."
Before I knew it, he had already stood up, carrying me in his arms.
In a princess carry no less!
Argh!
I can't be seen like this!
"Neuv. Neuv, please. The inmates can't see me like this!"
"I will have to return your gesture. Objection overruled."
"Neuvillette!"
Before I could protest more, the sights around us changed and we were somewhere, incredibly bright.
Wait...
Bright?
No place inside Merpide is this bright.
I opened my eyes and sure enough, we were not in Meropide but rather in Neuvillette's office.
"While I would love to go to Meropide, if Furina doesn't get informed first, she will kick up a fuss bigger than you can imagine." He smiled apologetically.
"That's fine."
He put me down on the couch and walked towards the door.
He opened it and called out.
"Sedene. Could you- Woah!"
He staggered a few steps backward, the door flinging shut.
Hmm?
What happened?
And then I heard it. A small sob.
"Sedene. Sedene dear, it's alright."
Ah...
Well, this was incredibly predictable.
"Never again! You can't leave like that again!"
"I'm not. Never again. I'm staying right here."
"Waah!"
Just as Neuvillette knelt down, wanting to draw the little one into his embrace, another figure burst through the room.
"You- Neuvillette! You stupid- Ugh! You idiotic lizard!"
And just like that, Lady Furina too burst into tears, only to get drawn into Neuvillette's arms along with Sedene.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." The dragon mumbled.
Bet even through Neuvillette's continuous reassuring words, the two continued to sob and Lady Furina kept throwing out one curse after another.
It took them a full half an hour to calm down somewhat.
When they did, Sedene climbed out of Neuvillette's embrace and ran over to me.
"You... He's stupid so take care of him." She said before running straight out of the office.
Wow...
"Your secretary just called you stupid. How do you feel about that, Neuv?"
"It was well deserved."
"Oh, so you know?"
"Wriothesely."
The words 'don't tease' were left unsaid, but I could recognize the intentions behind that tone.
"I'm gonna make it clear now. You're going to keep hearing about this little stunt of yours for an eternity."
"Ugh..."
Pfft!
As I was about to tease him some more, Furina's head popped up over his shoulder.
We locked eyes, but almost immediately her eyes narrowed in on my left shoulder.
What is she looking at?
There was nothing there.
Even the wound from Neuvillette biting me had completely healed already.
"Say... Neuvillette. Just how long will this one live exactly?" She smiled.
"About as long as me-"
She frowned before her hand shot to Neuvillette's ear and she pulled on it.
Hard.
"So you did have a solution to the problem and instead you ran off like that?! You stupid lizard! You had me worried to death!"
It was quite obvious that Lady Furina wasn't aware of why Neuvillette didn't want to go through with this in the first place.
And it looked like Neuvillette wasn't planning on telling her either.
"You're right, Furina. I apologize."
"Hmph! Hmph! Good that you know! Now, as for your punishment-"
"Punishment?"
"Right! No work for you for the next week. Not a single corner of a document will be touched, got it? You will just have to watch it piling up without being able to do anything about it!"
"Furina-"
"I'm not listening to a single word of protest! Now, you go get your ass down to Meropide with your little... boyfriend! As for you."
Now she turned to me.
"Go and quickly marry this stupid lizard!"
"Excuse me?"
"Marrige?"
We both looked at her utterly baffled.
And I think we can both agree on that...
"I don't think that will be necessary."
"It's just incredibly troublesome."
It's just a bunch of ceremonies for appearance's sake.
But Lady Furina seemed to think otherwise.
"You know that if you get married at least half of the love letters along with the saying will stop, right? Most people in Fontaine are decent enough not to court married men." She commented.
And you know what?
"Marriage suddenly seems like an amazing idea."
"I wasn't aware it had such an effect." Neuvillette mumbled.
Right!
Let's get married.
But...
"Lady Furina."
Now I'm annoyed.
"Yes?"
"Could we speak for a moment?"
"Are we not doing that-"
"In private."
And thus did Neuvillette find himself kicked out from his own office.
Left to listen to the two muffled voices made indecipherable by Furina's barrier.
The voices grew louder and just a few minutes later Furina stormed out the door.
"Fine, fine. Whatever. It was just a piece of advice. How is it my fault?" She mumbled as she walked past the dragon and up the stairs.
Neuvillette found Wriothesely outing inside, mumbling similarly to Furina.
"Tsk! Stupid archon! She ruined my chance to propose."
"You had a proposal you wanted to tell me about? Rest assured, even if Furina disapproves-"
Neuvillette's words were silenced by a kiss.
"Yeah, maybe not completely ruined just yet." The warden laughed.
"Wrio?"
"Don't you ever change, Neuv."
While the dragon was left confused and doubting, Wriothesely had already started formulating some plans.
"I have to do it quickly before someone accidentally enlightens my sweet little dragon." He mumbled.
~
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I will remind everyone that there is still a running plot in the background everyone probably either didn't notice or forgot about.
The story will thus not be ending anytime soon.