Chapter 39: Kiss
Although it was only a dream, to be fair, everything Veles displayed within it made one thing perfectly clear: vile dragon blood truly did run through his veins—
Just look at how that sinful tongue showed no mercy as it slurped, sucked, licked, and toyed back and forth with the frail, innocent black-haired mage. One had to remember that a dragon’s tongue is densely covered with scent glands. As it wound that disgusting thing around Alan, it wasn’t merely trying to taste him; it was using every possible means—taste, smell, and of course touch—to wring out every last trace of the mage’s presence.
There was also its utterly undisguised fantasy of imprisonment. The ocean of coins was so vast it was nearly boundless, yet in this dream the only place Alan could possibly take refuge was the dragon’s palm. Not to mention Veles’s dream-form itself—huge as a mountain range, ferocious as a demon. One should know that the form a person manifests in a dream is often closely tied to the dreamer’s soul, and the terrifying shadow towering before Alan at this moment was undoubtedly a reflection of Veles’s inner mind.
Despite his desperate attempts at concealment, that dense, surging evil and greed still overflowed uncontrollably from the cursed dragon’s every movement.
And yet now, this evil and ferocious monster was pinned firmly in place by a single sentence from the mage.
The pupils in its massive olive-shaped eyes shrank instantly into thin slits; its tail went rigid, stretched straight like a long spear. It stood utterly motionless, like a dead lizard nailed in place by an arrow.
Then the dragon’s form began to grow hazy, to crumble into powder, at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In only a few breaths, the enormous dragon completely dispersed into dust scattered on the wind.
As the draconic shape collapsed, the only thing left before Alan was a tall man, frozen in shock and unable to move.
And unlike the flamboyant, glittering figure from the very beginning of the dream, the man now could only be described as clumsy and panicked.
…Of course, judging purely by appearances, Veles was as handsome as ever.
At least, that was how Alan saw him.
It was just that compared to the last time Alan had seen him in the real world, the Veles in this dream displayed his draconic traits far more clearly.
His pupils had completely transformed into those of a reptile, and his build looked even taller and more ferocious. A layer of fine, dense scales stretched from the man’s broad back all the way to his lower abdomen, while everything below his thighs had unmistakably morphed into the distinctive hind legs of a great dragon.
And then there were…
Alan had to make a tremendous effort to stop himself from staring fixedly at the enormous pair of dragon wings on Veles’s back. Each wing looked as though it alone would be enough to wrap Alan up entirely; through the thin membrane, one could clearly see bizarre, dark teal veins and delicate, fine scales. Even so, Alan couldn’t deny that he found Veles’s wings so beautiful they almost made him drool.
With great difficulty, Alan tore his gaze away and met the silver pupils of the dragon in human form.
“Mr. Veles.”
He murmured softly, his heart pounding violently, his face burning hot.
Alan knew very well that he might have just done something extraordinarily bold. The words “I like you” could certainly be taken as an expression of emotional closeness, but they could just as easily be understood as a confession.
And a confession between two men, at that.
On this continent, where same-sex love was regarded as an extreme form of blasphemy, what Alan had just said could very well count as a kind of offense.
Alan had never felt as uneasy as he did now.
“…Y-you… what do you think about us… being together… from now on?”
When Veles still did not respond after a long while, Alan could only stammer out the question again, halting and incoherent.
What Alan did not expect was that when Veles finally reacted, the man appeared utterly flustered and at a complete loss.
“No.”
Veles’s lips trembled, his face deathly pale.
“?”
“It’s my fault… How could Mr. Alan possibly like someone like me…”
Veles looked at Alan in despair, his eyes reddened.
“You were bewitched by me—that’s why this happened. In this world, no one should ever fall in love with an evil dragon. Especially not you, Mr. Alan. A good person like you should never be reduced to something like this.”
“No mind-affecting magic works on me,” Alan took a deep breath and said to Veles. “…So the fact that I like you comes from my own heart. It has absolutely nothing to do with any so-called draconic charm.”
“But if your mind hasn’t been twisted by magic, then how could you possibly love a dragon, Mr. Alan?”
When he first heard Alan’s explanation, a faint glimmer flickered in Veles’s eyes. But almost immediately, the light within them dimmed once more.
He let out a bitter, broken laugh and murmured softly as he slowly stepped backward.
The expression on the man’s face struck Alan as strangely complex—on that pale visage, Alan saw both utter heartbreak and greedy, lingering longing at the same time.
The dreamscape abruptly grew dark and dim. Alan even had the illusion that in the very next second, Veles would be completely swallowed by those pitch-black shadows.
That was why Alan had no choice but to reach out—and with a ferocity and swiftness he’d never shown before, seize hold of him.
“Damn it, can’t you let that bullshit charm magic go to hell already?! Why do you always obsess over this?!” Alan’s cheeks were taut as he stared straight into Veles’s inhuman eyes and demanded, word by word, “You only need to answer me one simple question.”
“Mr. Veles—I like you… do you like me?”
As he spoke, Alan ground his teeth, unable to fully rein in his agitation.
The black-haired mage did not think of himself as some dull, narcissistic fool—when Veles had turned into a dragon, he hadn’t bothered to hide it at all. Those hot tongues, the licking and rubbing, the heavy possessiveness and desire had almost been so intense they seemed ready to melt into syrup and spill straight out of the dream.
But now? Just listen to those infuriating words—once again it was that same nonsense about “you must have been charmed.” Alan felt himself on the verge of getting angry.
“I’ll give you one chance only. You’d better answer seriously, Mr. Veles.”
Perhaps emotions were harder to control within a dream. As Alan spoke, he glared fiercely at Veles, while the latter stared blankly at the suddenly forceful little mage.
No one knew what this future demon dragon thought of in that brief moment, but a few seconds later, the man’s gaze turned wet, and a flush of damp crimson rose along his cheekbones.
“Of course I—”
Alan didn’t wait for him to finish.
He simply rose up onto his toes, hooked an arm around Veles’s neck to pull the tall idiot down, and then, anxious and rough beyond all courtesy, pressed his lips hard against Veles’s.
“Good. I love you too.”
The dream shattered.
Alan sprang up from the bed, his face burning red. He stared for a moment at his small cabin, still bathed in moonlight, before finally covering his face and letting out a long, low groan.
“Idiot—”
If the mental impact was too great, even a dream constructed through magic and divine power could collapse in an instant.
For a mage, this was basic common sense. And after finally managing to meet again in a dream, Alan and Veles had still had so, so many things they wanted to say—yet just now, in the dream, Alan had still… well, he hadn’t been able to hold back.
Alan pressed his fingers to his lips, where traces of Veles’s touch still seemed to linger.
Compared to the searing heat and hardness of the dragon form, Veles’s lips in human shape were surprisingly soft and cool.
And clumsy, too.
…That wasn’t Veles’s first kiss, was it?
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh—!”
The very next second, Alan let out a short, sharp scream and pulled the blanket over his head, as if steam were about to come puffing out of his ears.
