Lilican's wish

"Then, husband, can you grant me a wish?"

Cilestras was ready to offer anything his little wife desired. There was no way he could look into those eyes and say no.

He could build kingdoms and destroy them if he were asked to. He would do it even if he were not asked to.

There was so much Cilestras wanted to say—so many words he could use to profess his feelings. Instead, all he said was, "Whatever you desire."

His little wife smiled even brighter. The dragon felt that his eyes were not worthy of seeing such beauty. He didn't think anything in this world was worthy.

At this moment, a "great idea" started sprouting in the Evil Dragon's mind: he wanted to lock up his wife, to keep his wife secure where only Cilestras could see him. This way, he could always be protected from harm.

His wife would never be injured again; he would never bleed again. The events of this day would never repeat, and he would never have to feel those unpleasant emotions again.

This idea was perfect.

Lilican, unaware of the dangerous thoughts in the villain's mind, raised his two slender arms. He only kept them up for a second before letting them fall back.

These small actions seemed to have exhausted him a lot. His face became paler as he let out a small sigh.

Seeing Lilican's already pale face turn even whiter, Cilestras was deeply dissatisfied. That human healer was so useless, he thought.

He moved another step closer, eclipsing the man in his shadow. The dragon raised a hand and cast another rejuvenating spell.

Feeling the energy coursing through his body, Lilican tried to stop his husband. "It's okay. I'm fine."

Cilestras stopped, but he did not look convinced. Still, he did not argue, silently waiting for his wife to state his wish.

"Give me a hug," Lilican finally said. 

Cilestras didn't move. Now that they were so close, he realized how much his human form towered over his wife. It was not that Lilican is small or short—he was of average height, thank you very much!—Cilestras was just huge.

With a build like this, Cilestras was worried that he would crush his wife if he didn't pay attention.

"Husband, I feel so weak. I have no strength. Can you carry me?" Lilican blinked his beautiful eyes again, openly seducing the Evil Dragon.

The Black Dragon, who had never seen such coquettish behavior before, couldn't resist. He never knew that he was weak to this, but he didn't hate it. He was even looking forward to seeing more of his wife's little actions.

Slowly, Cilestras scooped Lilican in a horizontal position, holding him safely by his knees and back. He remembered that the humans called this the "Princess Hug."

No, now it should be called the "Dragon Queen Hug," as he decided that this would be the only way Lilican would be moving from one place to another.

Once he was certain that his wife would not fall, and that the magical buffer he cast under Lilican's body was activated, he said, "I shall take you to dine."

Then, without looking at his wife, Cilestras took steady steps, feeling like he was carrying his whole life in his arms.

Lilican took the initiative to rest his head on the man's broad shoulders, enjoying the way he was being carried. The dragon's arms were comfortable. Although it was a little hard due to the dragon's muscles, there was an unprecedented feeling of safety within them.

"Host, what are you doing? Why are you pretending to be weak? You have so much energy right now that you could even punch a hole through the wall," asked the system, which was once again puzzled by its host's behavior.

The system really couldn't be blamed for this. Lilican wasn't like this in any of the past missions. He was the type who liked to strike first and wouldn't hesitate to make enemies.

If the system could use only one word to describe its host, it would be: tough.

If it were asked for another word, it would be: strong.

The system almost couldn't recognize the man in the Evil Dragon's arms. If it weren't certain that there could only be one tasker per world, System 948 would have thought that another soul came into Lilican's body.

Lilican could also understand the system's confusion.

At first, he was surprised to hear that the Evil Dragon had poured a lot of power into him. But when he woke, he realized that it was true. The system didn't lie to him.

Although he was pretending to be weak, he actually felt like he could run up and down the mountain and still not be out of breath. Seeing as how his "husband" not only cast healing spells but also rejuvenating spells to save him, Lilican was satisfied.

He also had a scale in his heart. Maybe this "wife" was more important to the Black Dragon than he first assumed.

Very good, he thought. This would make the subsequent steps easier to accomplish.

"It's all part of the plan," Lilican said to the system while looking at the passing decorations in the hall.

Although all of them looked grand and valuable, there was no cohesiveness or theme to be seen. It was as if whoever decorated the place simply put the most expensive pieces together.

"Host, you keep talking about the plan. What plan?"

"What else but a husband training plan?"

He patiently explained to his faithful system what his plan was.

Although the dragon now had some scruples in treating him, Lilican knew this wasn't enough.

One lesson wasn't enough.

Cilestras needed to be constantly reminded that Lilican was just human. Humans could easily die, so if Cilestras wanted his wife to live a long life with him, Lilican couldn't be beaten or exhausted.

A human wife needed more care and attention to survive.

Lilican would remind him of that every day until Cilestras became the perfect husband.

Until then, Lilican wouldn't mind giving a little sugar. Thinking of this, he gently rubbed his face on the dragon's neck.

Cilestras's steps paused for a second, but then he continued walking like nothing had happened.

"Have you forgotten that the dragon is a pervert?"

The system only asked this because it, too, had access to the original owner's plot. This world was originally a book, and even if they only got a small part of it, the system was still able to read it faster than the host did. Even better, the system could remember everything once the plot details were incorporated into its data.

"What do you know? This is called the carrot after the stick. If I don't give him some sweetness, how will he know the benefits of having a 'wife'?"

"Host, are you not doing this because you like his face?" The system was deeply suspicious. It didn't know why, but its intuition and years with the host told it that Lilican had ulterior motives.

Lilican admitted it frankly, "Well, I can't deny that he's handsome."

"But what about the mission?"

"What about the mission?" Lilican asked back.

"What if you fail? We can't fail, host. This is your last mission. The Main System said you only have this one chance. If you fail, you can't redeem the wish you made at the beginning."

The wish—Lilican fell into deep thought.