This is your punishment
<the Kingdom of Aria, House Rowan>
[Alright! Stop! Stupid porcupine, I already said sorry!]
Yue shouts, "How do you expect me to move in this body when I have no essence! You are so mean!!! Vita is worse... You bunch of ungrateful have forgotten about me!!!"
Yue cries while attacking Kyrie with her spikes. Ian is still surprised that a porcupine can talk stayed silent watching their ongoing dispute.
"You sometimes will disappear, I really thought you would be able to go back," says Kyrie apologetically.
"No... I can only move locally now... I lost all my essence bringing you here! Waaahhhh!!!" Yue cried harder.
"Just how did you get rounder, though?"
"Your fans would bring snacks..."
"What?" intercepts Ian finally into the conversation while looking at Kyrie.
"They just like to feed me a lot. Ian? Ian! I am sorry... Look what you did, you stupid porcupine!" Kyrie says while following Ian, who left the room.
Yue, satisfied, sticks out her tongue while Kyrie left the room.
He huffs, saying, "Serves you right, you ungrateful!"
Kyrie catches up with Ian and grabs his hand. Ian turns around, pouting. Kyrie looks at Ian and felt like an arrow stroke at his heart again.
[These days... My heart has been suffering from constant attacks. Ian's jealousy is rather cute.]
Kyrie hugs Ian, who was sulking about his female classmates feeding him. He places his hands on Ian's face and says, "I don't like wasting food, but I don't mind that you become the only one to feed me."
"But I don't know how to cook," Ian sulks even more.
"Then, I will cook for you," says Kyrie, chuckling.
"Kyrie... You know how to cook?" asks Ian with some doubt.
Ian looks around and sees the fancy mansion that Kyrie lived in. This is not the place for some young master like Kyrie to need to learn how to cook. Of course, that would be true if Kyrie lived here all his life. But, Kyrie, in his previous world, worked in all kinds of part-time jobs to keep himself afloat. He has tried everything: sowing in a factory, answering calls from a hotline, cooking for restaurants, administrating for a senior house, and so on.
"Yes, quite a bit! How about I make some dessert for this afternoon?" says Kyrie while taking Ian's hand and guiding Ian towards the kitchen.
"Sure. What are you making?" says Ian.
"How sweet do you like your dessert?" asks Kyrie happily.
---
After Kyrie finished making desserts, Marchioness Rowan got the idea of having afternoon tea with the sweets in the flower garden. Marquis and Marchioness Rowan have taken a liking to Ian and energetically guide Ian around the garden while striking a conversation with him. Ian looked troubled at first, but then, as time passed by, Ian is more comfortable talking to the caring couple.
At first, Kyrie racked his brains on how to introduce Ian to his parents. After all, this is not your usual relationship- Vita's paladin and the prince of a foreign kingdom, both men at that. However, Kyrie's parents were rather sharp when it came to relationships. They discover the nature of the relationship between Kyrie and Ian in just one day. Of course, Kyrie just does not get how obvious they are, but that would be recounted for another time. Now, both parents' attention is on Ian, leaving Kyrie and Yue behind in the picnic table.
[Seems like they have forgotten that I am their actual son... But I don't really mind it!]
Kyrie gazes at Yue, who is devouring the desserts like it's some competition in that tiny body.
"Slow down, stupid porcupine! You are going to stuff yourself to death!" says Kyrie looking disgusted at Yue.
"You ungrateful! You should at least be proud that I like the stuff that you make!" says Yue with her stuffed face.
Kyrie sighs at the unsolvable case and looks at the joyful expressions of his parents alongside Ian. He feels grateful that all the people that he loves are in harmony with each other. He picks up his cup of tea and takes a sip. The laughter and chatter fill the garden. Even the servants that were just standing around were in a good mood looking at them. Nothing feels so beautiful than these kinds of moments.
---
"Kyrie?" Ian utters out of surprise.
Kyrie puts the finger on Ian's lips and signals him to quiet down, so Ian nods in response. Although Kyrie and Ian have different bedrooms, Kyrie sneaked into Ian's room when his parents withdrew for the day. Kyrie waits till no sounds are coming from the outside and hugs Ian.
Kyrie guides Ian to the bedside and gestures him to sit. Ian sits down while Kyrie kneels in front of Ian.
"Were you able to enjoy your time today?" asks Kyrie looking up at Ian.
"Hm! Your parents are really friendly, and the desserts were delicious! I never knew that you would be so good at making desserts," says Ian. He goes on to talk about which dessert Kyrie's parents liked more and which one he liked as well.
"I really liked Napoleon! The crunchy texture and creaminess are the best combination!" says Ian enthusiastically.
"If you like it, then I will bake for you whenever you want," says Kyrie.
"hehe... Okay. No taking backs!" Ian chirped, extending his arm to hold Kyrie's hand.
"No taking backs," says Kyrie while intertwining his fingers with Ian's.
He takes Ian's hand and kisses it. Ian blushes and smiles shyly. Holding back, Kyrie smiles and stands up. He leans in and kisses Ian's forehead.
"Good night. Sleep early, you had an exhausting day," says Kyrie as he turns around to walk towards the door.
Ian grabs the corner of Kyrie's clothes and stops Kyrie on his way out. Kyrie sighs and turns around with a smile while running his fingers through his hair.
[Rechallenging my self-control...]
Ian blushes and says, while looking away, "You didn't come to stay?"
"Why? Do you want me to stay?" says Kyrie with a teasing tone.
"Hmm." Ian grabs the corner of his clothes tighter.
Typically, this would have gone into a steamy situation. That also has matched with Kyrie's thought, but that is not what happened.
In a more strict sense, nothing happened. Kyrie looks at Ian, breathing profoundly and feels his slightly injured yet infuriated soul.
He feels played.
To think that they were actually just really sleeping next to each other was the last thing that came to Kyrie's mind with Ian's suggestive words. The innocent bunny, Ian is sleeping genuinely unaware that next to him, is a wolf training vigorously for his self-control. Kyrie covered his face with his hands in embarrassment for thinking too far away.
[Damn it... *tear*]
Kyrie leans closely and kisses Ian's neck. He smiles with satisfaction and whispers, "This is your punishment."
In the morning, everyone's eyes seem to be drawn first towards Ian then towards Kyrie. Some would crack a small smile struggling to hold back.
When Marchioness Rowan saw it, she stared at Kyrie with threatening eyes. That is when Kyrie finally remembered that he left a hickey on Ian's neck. Kyrie looks at his father and saw a smile of approval on his part.
[Damn it... It's kind of embarrassing when others see it... It seems that Ian has yet to discover it!]
"Did I do something wrong?" whispers Ian while leaning towards Kyrie's ear.
Kyrie leans towards Ian's ear and whispers, "No, not really." Then kisses Ian's ears.
Ian trembles from Kyrie's shamelessness and stumps at Kyrie's feet. Kyrie holds his scream in and shakes from the pain.
[Ian is becoming so violent...]
After breakfast, Kyrie goes out to train his light magic. He has not slacked off despite also enjoying his time as well with Ian and his parents. Now, his mastery of light magic is significantly better since he can do all kinds of enchantments. Besides light magic being handy towards corrupted magic, it can also use as healing magic.
Kyrie breathes out and concentrates by closing his eyes, centring all his mana into a single place. He lifts his sword in front of him and focuses on the steady flow of mana circulating his sword. He opens his eyes and sees a stable aura around the sword.
"Good job! Now you can use light magic when fighting," says Yue while chewing a cookie.
Kyrie smiles in satisfaction and executes a set of sword fighting techniques using light magic. Wind gathered around Kyrie as he swings the sword, then he releases it, the wind gushes outwards around Kyrie.
Then, a scream echoes around the mansion.
Kyrie releases his flow of mana from his sword and looks at the building where the cry came from.
At a distance, loud footsteps were heard rushing towards the garden. Ian blushes enough to compare to a tomato, picks up a sword from the weapon stand, and propels towards Kyrie. Kyrie intercepts the sword with a satisfied smile while Ian is in the point of tears.
"Kyrie! How can you this?" says Ian while swinging his sword.
"What do you mean?" Kyrie feigns ignorance as he intercepts Ian's sword.
"Why... why... why do I have a hickey on my neck?!?" Ian asks, flustered at the thought again.
"What? You don't like it there?" Kyrie teases.
The servants around start to blush at Kyrie's words. Some of them begin to fangirl at Kyrie's boldness.
"Don't make others misunderstand!!!" Ian shouts while clashing his sword against Kyrie's sword.
"What is there to misunderstand about us?" Kyrie asks while swinging up his sword strong enough to take Ian's sword off his hands. Ian stumbles back, and Kyrie prevents Ian from falling by hugging his waist.
Ian, out of words, frowns and pulls at Kyrie's collar towards him. Ian kisses Kyrie deeply while getting back his footing. Then when he moves back, Ian smirks at Kyrie, whose face blushed equally as red as a tomato.
Kyrie bursts into laughter at Ian's boldness and hugs him. Kyrie then lifts him in his arms and turns around in circles.
[This is why I love him.]
Yue, in her porcupine form, sighs and looks at her cookie that is the same size as her. She pats at the cookie and says, "Kyrie has Ian now, and I have you, good pal." She takes a bite more from the cookie and looks at the cloying couple.
---
<Town of Bistol>
Saskia looked down at the lit up town while floating in the night sky. She smiles while humming, but her eyes are filled with wicked intent.
"Where are you, my dear specimen?"