I did not think Dem would be teaching me on the first day. I thought I would not be able to focus. Whenever he was near me, it always felt like everything else was gone and it was just him and I. I would get flustered for nothing in particular and could not focus on anything. It felt like high school shoujo romance manga.
And I was proved right and wrong at the same time. When he was right behind me, holding the sword over my hands, I felt like my heart would burst. No matter how much time we spent together or how many times our bodies met each other, I would always get flustered near him. But when he started to talk about techniques, I truly did not get flustered anymore. Rather, I was more determined to focus on his words and moves.
"Straighten your back, darling, and don't tighten your grip too much," he said from afar as I was swinging the wooden swords as he told me.
'Stop calling me darling for god's sake... At least, not now!'
He had been doing that for a while. I told him not to, but he kept calling me 'darling' for quite a while.
"Swing it in a natural way. You look stiff," he said.
"Ack... Sorry," I muttered.
"No need to apologize, my wife. It's your first time. Just be careful and try not to stiffen your body. It will only hurt yourself," he said calmly.
Today the first two of his buttons were undone. The sight of his hint of muscular chest made me blush. I should get used to it, yet I never could. He was always someone who managed to surprise me even though he was the person I was most familiar with.
"Is my chest too hot, my wife?" he smirked.
"Eee! No, it's nothing... I'm not looking at your chest... I was just... I was... Never mind!" I said, being totally embarrassed. Even if he noticed, he could have just kept quiet. But he had to go and embarrass me. So typical of him...
We had practiced for three hours without stopping. I felt like I was dying. When I could not move as much as I was supposed to, he made me run around three trees combined twenty times. He said it was warm-up, but I felt like I was dying.
But the good thing was he ran with me as well. It felt less stressful since he was doing it with me. It would have been a great day if my heart did not almost get to the verse of exploding several times. I was confident about one thing that if I kept on doing it every day, I would die or I would become too strong. The first option was more obvious to happen.
"You did well," he said and kissed me sweaty forehead. I could not even stop him as I was panting badly.
"I... I am... sweaty," I managed to say.
"I know. You look cute," he chuckled and wiped my sweaty face with his sleeve. "Your face is so red. It was hard, wasn't it?"
I nodded. "But... it was fun!" I grinned at him. It was true that I had a lot of fun. Though it was hard, it was amazing and since he was with me, it felt even more special.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "You're too cute."
"Eh?" I turned bright red. I still had to find out the strategy he used to say things like that as easily as breathing.
My back was hurting along with my hands and legs. It was as if I would break apart at any moment. I was still panting badly. He had called the maids to bring water and towels for me. It was so cool that they could communicate through their minds. I wished I could do that too. But since I was a human, it was impossible.
He took two towels from them and wiped my face, neck and other revealing parts. It was embarrassing that he was spoiling me in front of others, but it seemed like he paid no heed to that.
"Your heart is beating like a drum," he said.
"Thanks to a teacher who made me work like a bull," I muttered.
He laughed. "I prefer wolf," he said. "Your breathing seems to come to normal a bit."
"Hmm, I can breathe..."
"But your face is still flushed. That's cute."
"Wha... Please refrain from saying such things in public."
"Why? Are you shy, my wife?"
"I'm supposed to be, right? If you talk like this..."
"But I like to tease you."
"Remember you told me that you won't tease me in public?"
"Ah, that's right," he said. "Then I will do it in private. And you can't get away from it in any way."
'It definitely was a trap.'
"They really suit each other. Did you see how sweetly His Highness treats Her Highness? Aww, it's so sweet."
"They are perfect. They even stay every night together. It's my first time seeing a king or queen only focusing on themselves and having no concubines."
"His Highness is always so scary, but I heard he smiles at Her Highness."
'What kind of saying that? Isn't smiling natural for a person?' I thought as I heard the maids whispering to themselves behind us. I wished they would stop saying such things. I could hear them clearly. And I was sure Dem could hear them as well. Moreover, he could even read their mind.
Nonetheless, it made me feel better that most of the people here were taking our relationship properly. Of course, there were others who did not want us to be together. But still, I was kind of happy.
"See this, my wife? Even the maids saying how perfect we're for each other," he said. "Should I spoil you more in that case?"
"What? No! You really are spoiling me more than enough. It's too much," I said.
"But I want to," he said with a sulking face.
"You're so cute, Dem!" I said with a grin. "But don't spoil me too much. I might get too used to it and cling to you forever."
"In that case, I will keep spoiling you," he said. "Because, my wife, I want you to cling to me as if I am the only support you have."
"... Let's... let's go back."
"Okay," he said and picked me up from the ground.
"What the... Dem, put me down! I can walk... It's em..."
"Who cares about it being embarrassing? I am carrying my wife because her legs are shaking. Is it a bad thing? I have my reasons. And who cares about what others think? We do what we want. And even if I was to carry my wife without any reason, that would be my choice as well. If anyone thinks of it something, then just let them," he said.
As he said it, it looked like I had lost my courage to argue back. All I could say was, "O-Okay."
"Cling onto me," he mumbled. Did he think I did not hear it? He sometimes said this type of stuff in a whisper and then would go back to being normal again. It was weird. But the weirdest thing was I could understand his personality more than I thought I would. Sometimes I felt like it was just natural.
I had read about these types of things before as well. But it seemed like his feelings were different from 'obsessive love'. It was not to that extent.
'Obsessive love disorder (OLD) is a condition in which one person has an overwhelming obsessive desire to possess and protect another person, sometimes accompanied by an inability to accept failure or rejection. Symptoms include an inability to tolerate any time spent apart from that person, obsessive fantasies about that person, and excessive time spent seeking out, creating, or looking at images of that person.'
It was true that he wanted to protect me a lot, but there were times when he wanted me to be able to protect myself. Though he always tried to do everything by himself, he also did not cross the line in that case. It was also true that he sometimes wanted to possess me though he always tried not to show this side of him. But I was glad that he was trying not to be too possessive.
I liked his possessiveness. Perhaps I was weird, but I truly liked it. Unless he crossed the line, it was kind of cute and tolerable.
Since the first day we met, he made sure that he would not tolerate it if I left him. It was not like I wanted to leave him, but he always kept saying the same thing. It was at a serious stage, but I did not mind him. How could I mind his personality and try to change it? It was not my job to change him; rather if he wanted to change himself, he needed to do that himself. No one could change another person fully no matter how much they tried.
But I did not know if he always thought about me. I mean, he told me that he did, but I did not know what he meant by always.
Nevertheless, I liked him as he was. He was a person who loved me. Now I was sure about it. Perhaps he did not know it himself, but he loved me. I wondered why he could not understand that it was love. When he told me how he felt about me and asked me what feeling it was, I wanted to say 'love'. But then I stopped myself. What right did I have to say something so important like this when I was afraid to say it myself?
What if I gave my heart to him completely to the point that if he did not want me anymore, I would be useless and would not be able to do anything else? If I fell harder for him, I would not be able to live without him then. It was dangerous to fall for him.
Perhaps I was crazy. But I took the dangerous path and was preparing my heart for the worse. I was falling for him more and more each day and I was not even trying to stop myself. For some reason, I did not want to wait too long to tell him that what he was feeling was 'love' and I felt the same way.
I hugged him tightly and rubbed my face against his chest. His deep masculine scent filled my nostrils.
"I thought you were embarrassed. But it seems like you're enjoying this now," he said.
"What can I do when I have such a childish husband? Of course, I have to keep up with him," I said, "since he is the one I will spend the rest of my life with."
Even without looking at him, I could say that he was looking at me with a surprised look. "That's right," he said after a while. "I'm the one you'll spend your life with."
After returning to our room, he took me to the restroom and helped me undress. I did not stop him. For some reason, the look in his eyes stopped me from saying anything.
He scrubbed my skin carefully with soap. I did not know he would bathe me. He was still wearing his clothes as he sat beside the bathtub on a tool. With his sleeves folded and careful hands, he took care of me while I gawked at him like a pervert.
"I am so happy," he said. "You know why, my wife?"
"Why?"
"Because every day, I now have a reason to look forward to. It's hard to believe that you're with me all the time. It still feels like dream."
'It should be me saying that.'
"By the way, you like white roses, don't you?"
"Yeah. They are cute."
"I know. You kiss the petals every time you get one. That's the only flower you do that to," he said.
"Yeah, that's right... Wait! Dem, how do you know that? Don't tell me.... It was you, right? It was you who used to send me flowers!"