Morning Cuddle

After Yrhan and Caerus had left, Gale just laid on the bed quietly as she stared at the ceiling.

"In every full moon, you need to drink the potion that I will concoct using both of your blood." Yrhan reminded her. "You must never skip drinking it, not even once. Besides that, within the first two months, you shouldn't part from His Highness in no more than a hundred meters."

Gale frowned and she quizzically glanced up at the High Priest and pointed out. "But, I'm fine right now even though he's not with me."

"That was because he's just next door and It's not even fifty meters." Yrhan retorted. "Anyway, we'll meet quite frequently so that I could fix your mana pool as soon as possible. Just rest up for tonight."

"So basically, I am a patient who needs to get treated every now and then, huh... like someone with a terminal illness..." she pouted before burying her head on the pillow. "This sucks..."

Before long, with the comfortable bed and an unexplainable tiredness, she fell asleep.

...

The next morning, Gale gained consciousness feeling pleasant and warm. That cozy feeling made her want to snuggle closer to the source of such warmth, thus she cuddled closer to it without much thought.

Then, she felt the 'warm thing' wrap around her as her lips landed onto something flat and hard, yet smooth and nice to the touch.

She frowned as she slowly opened her sleepy eyes.

What greeted her was a fair, muscular chest that was exposed from a partly open robe.

"Holy..." she gulped as she looked up at the face of the chest owner.

Sure enough, the man beside her was Alexander, the Crown Prince himself.

He was peacefully sleeping while his right arm served as her pillow and the other one was wrapped around her as one of her own legs was entangled with his.

She suddenly felt her throat drying and her heart beats faster as if it's going to burst out.

Gale slowly moved, trying to release herself from him.

Yet, when she shifted her body, the Prince groaned, hugging her tighter than before.

She bit her lips as his manly scent with a hint of earthy aroma wafted through her nose.

The balsamic, sweet, woody fragrance coming from him was rich and creamy that was both alluring and sophisticated. The scent of sandalwood made her want to bury herself in his embrace.

"Hmmm... sleep more." the Prince whispered as he was half-asleep. His husky bedroom voice made her weak in addition to his breath tickling her ear.

She placed her hand on her ear while blushing, thinking that it was fortunate that she wasn't standing for her legs felt like jelly. Then she felt the short fringes of her hair.

As if she was splashed with a bucket of cold water, Gale was reminded that she was now a full-fledged male.

Being too sensitive and aware of the Prince wouldn't be good to her.

'Get yourself together, me.'

Then, with Cedar's full strength, she pushed the Prince off of her.

"Your Highness, enough of your pranks!" remembering that the Prince would sometimes do such 'inappropriate' skinship to get a reaction from the former Cedar, Gale was ashamed of herself and oddly, she was irritated and ended up admonishing him.

Alexander, on the other hand, only blinked his drowsy eyes and smiled sleepily.

Then, as usual, he pulled Cedar's arm in an attempt to kiss him.

Experiencing that familiar move again, Gale swiftly covered Alexander's lips with a hand and pushed the Prince.

Alexander was at the edge of the bed, thus when he was forcefully pushed while still in a half-conscious state, he seemed to lost his balance.

Then, he grabbed Cedar's robe, causing them to fall onto the floor with a loud thud.

"Enough! Wake up already!" 'You kiss maniac!' Unable to notice the subtle smile at the corner of Alexander's lips, she scolded the Prince.

At that same time, the bedroom door opened.

The manservant, Roki, together with the High Priest, entered the room and witnessed their 'intimate interaction'.

Cedar was on top of the almost half-naked Prince whilst he himself had his robe loosened and his shoulders were exposed.

Roki immediately turned his head to avert his gaze from the scene.

Yrhan, on the other hand, glanced down at Cedar and paused for a few seconds before turning his heels with a deadpan face.

"Sorry. We didn't see anything. We'll come back later." he uttered in a composed manner.

"Wha!" Cedar panicked and stood up in a hurry. "Wait! Yrhan! It's not what it see—Wah!" He stumbled when he lost his balance. And as he tried to hold onto something, he grabbed the High Priest's outer robe, making Yrhan fall with him as well.

Fortunately, the Elf was quick on his feet and immediately gained his footing with a little help from his gravitational magic and turned, removing his robe off of him and before catching Cedar in a hug—everything happened in a blink of an eye.

"Ugh... really, you..." with an irritated and dissatisfied look, the High Priest grumbled. "Making me waste my precious magic for your idiocy..." Yrhan moved his fist with the intention of lightly hitting Cedar's head.

However, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Thank you for helping him." The Prince smiled at Yrhan as his grip got a bit tighter.

"Heh~" The High Priest Elf smirked as his wrist blurred for a moment and was released from the Prince's hand. "All pleasure's mine."

"With that magic of yours, you seem to be more fit to fight than to heal!" As Cedar catch a glimpse of his ability, he praised Yrhan.

"Oh, please spare me. Although I am definitely better than any magician, I can't be bothered with those foolish political affairs of you humans." Yrhan answered as Cedar was taken away from his arms by the Prince.

Truthfully, the Elves were neutral species. They were known to be a peace-loving race and their abode wasn't easily reached.

However, due to some circumstances involving King Kraveil himself, a High Priest was sent to the Palace.

At the same time, a god appeared in Yrhan's mind, telling him a rather ridiculous story and divine mission.

"Again, I'm sorry for interrupting you." Yrhan bowed lightly, still intending to leave the two alone.

"As I've said!" Cedar stressed out with quite a loud voice. "It wasn't like that! I only lost balance and unintentionally pushed His Highness! It was an accident! An accident!"

"...sure. I believe you." Yrhan flatly responded.

Gale wanted to cry already. This guy seemed to really think that she's attacking the Prince!

'What the heck? I ain't that sexually deprived!'

'Wait, I AM deprived but... I want it to be normal!'

She protested in her head as her brows twitched while looking at Yrhan.

"Eherm..." breaking the awkward atmosphere, Roki cleared his throat. "Reporting to Your Higness..."

Turning his head, Alexander prompted him. "Speak."

"We've already investigated the poisoning incident and found out that the last person seen leaving Cedar's quarter was Ms. Isabella from the Moonlight Tavern." As Roki was reporting, the Prince eyed Cedar.

The latter then nodded in agreement. "That's right. Although my memories of that time was quite fuzzy, I remember that I saw an Armagunda flower from her pouch."

"So, where is this Isabella?" Alexander asked with a cold tone.

"That..." Roki hesitated for a moment as he glanced at Cedar since he knew that the girl was the Knight's lover.

"Is she caught?" Cedar also inquired with a curious look.

Seeing that the man involved was calm about it, Roki continued. "She was found dead at the eastern border."

Hearing the news, Gale was surprised. She never thought that Isabella would end up dead that fast.

"Also, her body was dismembered, and we found her body parts apart from each other as if she was still escaping till her limbs were cut off. Additionally, there were numerous wounds on her body aside from the place where her limbs were cut. It was evident that she was heavily tortured to death."

Gale shivered at the description as she remembered the trauma of her male counterpart.

"H-He's insane..." she mumbled.

She doesn't need any evidence.

Gale could already guess who the culprit was.

"Ignis..." she hissed under her breath. "...you bastard..."