"You were staring at that dancer though."
Adira mumbled in a pout as her husband carried her in his arms and the latter could only raise his brows in utter confusion.
"Well, I did stare at you tonight."
"I'm talking about the woman before me."
Casimir stopped to think about this woman Adira was saying he was staring at, which started this whole fiasco, but couldn't even remember what she looked like.
"I.. don't remember this dancer that you're speaking of."
"Don't lie to me, Casimir! I clearly saw you staring at her and then smiling oh so handsomely! Don't you dare make a fool out of me!"
Adira said as she punched the man's chest angrily. It was one thing to stare at another woman and another when he tries to lie when she clearly caught him.
"I wasn't staring at her! Maybe I looked like I was but I wasn't looking at her! Damn, I don't even remember what she looked like. I was thinking about something else."
He defended himself against his wife's accusations and straighten things out once and for all.
Though he loved seeing Adira jealous of the women around him, who didn't even cross his line of sight, he didn't want her thinking he was cheating on her.
Even if he bet his life on it, he knew very well that he would never be able to cheat on Adira.
"What could you've been thinking of that made you smile like that?! Huh?!"
She clutched his collars and pulled herself up to his face to somehow try and intimidate him—though she knew it was a futile attempt.
But Casimir only smirked at her burning ash-like eyes before stealing for himself a kiss on those sweet cherry lips before answering her in a suavé manner,
"You."
And the woman, even after they've been together for so long and still hopelessly weak to that smile, could only blush, melt and surrender in his embrace.
"I hate you."
"I love you too."
Casimir chuckled softly at the cuteness of his wife before he felt someone kick him in his achilles' heel. He peered down and saw Heise pouting his cheeks in jealousy.
It seems their son had reached his limit of allowing him to monopolize her, but not yet. He still wants her in his arms just for a little bit longer.
"Mommy's tired so Daddy is taking care of her."
"Daddy's bullying Mommy, baby. Avenge me, my hero."
Adira retorted to Casimir's words and, once again, played the damsel-in-distress—but now, to Heise.
And this adorable little dragon puffed his chest out and started to attack Casimir's back, which of course did not hurt him at all.
They had such a very happy and warm atmosphere around their little family that made it difficult for anyone to cut in their conversation, so everyone left them alone.
...
So the next few days, Heise had complete monopoly of Adira's time and attention due to Casimir having some business with the newly crowned king, his royal majesty King Raidyn Cathan Astor Bycrest, and his constituents.
They visited many shops, played around a lot, bought loads of stuff for Casimir, Heise and also her brother, father and mother. She bought souvenirs for all of them.
As usual, Alexander accompanied them when Casimir was away and Roman accompanied the man when the wife was away.
But on their last day of visiting the Bycrest Kingdom, the King threw a tea party for his guests that came for his coronation.
It was just a simple party held on one of the castle gardens. But truly, it was just another socialization and fostering connections with other noble families under the guise of a party.
Adira stepped out of the stuffy social circle of those haughty nobles with Heise and went to the bridge near the garden they held the party in.
It was a tall bridge and, just looking at the strong rivers below, it was an absolutely terrifying sight to see.
Feeling light headed, Adira stepped away from the edge and accidentally hit someone.
"I'm so—"
"Hello, Princess."
"You—Your majesty." Adira almost blurted out a curse when she, fortunately, got a grip of herself immediately and curtseyed stiffly instead.
However, it didn't slip anybody's eyes the way she trembled while facing this man.
"Did I perhaps.. do anything that you didn't like, princess?"
Raidyn asked carefully. It wasn't the first time that she bumped into him and trembled this bad. If he did her wrong, he hoped she would let him apologize for whatever it was.
"Oh. Umm... No, your majesty. I just... Maybe I just had too much coffee this morning."
Adira lied as she averted her gaze away and even as she tried to stop the shivers, she couldn't. Her body remembered every single torture she suffered on his hold.
"Oh! Please, be careful over there—"
He tried to reach out to her to pull her away from the bridge's edge, when she flinched away and felt incredibly nauseous when he approached her.
Trying to find her balance, she tried to stabilize herself by leaning on the bridge a little bit.
Little did she know that by stepping away from this man, though unconsciously, she neared the edge and slipped through the outer edge of the bridge and fell out.
It was a little bit high of a drop and Raidyn rushed forward in an attempt to catch her but it was her that didn't want to be held by him.
Heise, wide-eyed and shocked with the sudden turn of events, was overcome with alarm.
He couldn't turn into a dragon there since Adira strictly told him not to turn into one in public—especially now that they were on foreign grounds.
So, he could only turn to the other person that could definitely save his mother.
"Fa... Father!!!"
Casimir, who was talking to a few noble heirs and heads of their own household, heard a very distressed, high-pitched and childish voice cry that seized his attention.
And the first he saw was Heise's alarmed expression while pointing at something below the bridge where he stood and his missing wife.
He felt as if his world darkened or blacked out when a scary thought pervaded in his mind.
It couldn't be that his wife...
"Mommy!!! Mommy fell down!!"
After being frozen momentarily with fear and shock, he ran towards the child. And while he was approaching, he saw the king attempting to stop a man but the latter jumped in anyway.
...
"What do you think you're doing showing yourself?" Raidyn caught the golden-eyed man's arms, who only glared at the king, to ask him as well as stop him.
"She can't swim!!!"
He cried, which reached Casimir's ears, and yanked his arm from Raidyn's hold and jumped down.
He beat Casimir into rescuing Adira as the latter could only feel his rapidly beating heart—and his overflowing fear—while watching the man save his wife.
He hurriedly ran down to the bank near the river where the man swam to and reached out his hand to help them up.
Adira lost consciousness, maybe from the fall or from fear or from something else, but she was breathing fine so it was a load off Casimir's chest.
"Thank—"
Casimir looked up from his wife to thank the noble that saved her when who he saw made him pause.
"Leon?"
Notes:
I'm sorry for being absent for a while 😅 I was a little bit busy being lazy. Lol! No, really, I was busy with school so I couldn't find time. Anyway, I look forward for your comments my lovelies, okay? Love you guys! 😘😘😘 Banzaaaiii 🎉🎉🎉