Chapter 9 – I<3U

Synopsis: A trashy lord that excessively flirts with dragons

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Everyone had eyes—they could obviously tell that Fruys had become more powerful.

He was strong enough now that I think he could fly over the Sea of Death without any problems.

It was already one year after we first met, and my territory had become the strongest power in the continent’s northeastern region—but we still could not bear to let him go.

We were basically green upstarts compared to old school warlords like Ansai and the others. We expanded too fast, experienced too little, and gained too many enemies that surrounded us on all sides. It was without doubt that we would sink into extremely difficult circumstances if Fruys were to leave.

To discuss this problem, Andy, my close aides and I held a secret conference where we tried to plot strategies on how to get Fruys to stay with us longer.

However, it was really hard to come up with good ideas to entice someone when they come from a race so rarely seen in the continent, that ordinary people barely knew anything about them.

Andy, who had also been listening to the wandering bard’s stories in our childhood, and I both recalled the two things the bard claimed were what all dragons loved: treasures and princesses.

Frankly speaking, Fruys did not seem all that interested in the valuables in my treasury these days. He would reject my offers and even chide me to use the money to train soldiers and build fortifications instead. As for princesses…

My father was a lord, but he only spawned two sons and no daughters. I, on the other hand, am a lord as well, but I did not even have a wife—never mind any daughters.

As such, Andy came up with a plan: we would pick two rather attractive-looking women and pay them lots of money to go wait upon Fruys.

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I had no idea that Fruys would be so furious, he used his wings to bat away those two beauties.

I could only have Andy come to appease the women while I personally went to console Fruys.

He flew in circles around the roof of my fortress, eyeing me as I exerted a painstaking amount of strength to climb inch by inch up the rooftop to get close to him. The depths of his ice-blue eyes were tinged scarlet.

‘Fruu is seriously mad,’ I quietly murmured to myself while shivering, but I also felt quite exasperated too. Why was he so angry? The ladies were not nobility, but weren’t their other qualities sufficient enough?

Regardless of where the problem lies, I could only coax and comfort him. Straining, I went on my tippy toes to hug his neck. Fruys didn’t dodge my embrace, which I thought was strange. But I jumped up anyways, trying to reach his neck.

Fruys lowered his head slightly which gave me the opportunity to hug him.

I wanted to smile but didn’t dare to. Instead, I lifted my head and gazed at him with regret and sadness: “Fruu, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let Andy do that.”

It didn’t matter if I felt real remorse or only faked it—looking apologetic was sure to be a safe choice.

Fruys gave a ‘hmph’ and ignored me.

I pressed my cheek against his neck and lightly rubbed it against his fine and icy scales: “Fruu, I’m sorry. Will you forgive me?”

Fruys continued to stay silent, but he gracefully alighted on the rooftop.

I tilted my head and pressed my lips to the scales on his neck. My voice was muffled as I spoke with difficulty: “Fruu…”

I thought the dragon race was very strange. They only wanted the daughters of kings and lords and nobody else, but I ought to respect their culture. I thus tried to explain to him: “Fruys, my father really did only have sons…but if you’re still angry then I have no one else to give you but myself. Is that okay?”

When I said this, Fruys finally turned his head around with reluctance and met my gaze, before giving out another “hmph.”

I instantly felt relieved, knowing that his anger subsided. Tightening my arms around him affectionately, I exclaimed, “Fruu, you’re the best. You really are the strongest and coolest dragon I’ve ever met!”

I figured that everything I said wasn’t a lie; after all, I had only met one dragon in my entire life.

Two streams of air once again puffed out of Fruys’s nostrils, but I could clearly see the faint pride in his ice blue and frigid eyes.

I thought to myself that the wandering poet had been right. Dragons were indeed very proud and vain creatures.

Figuring that the two of us had made up, I stopped holding back—and got carried away by utter happiness as a result: I nuzzled, licked, and even lightly bit the scales of his neck. It was all purely on instinct and without any reason.

The neck is the weak point of all living creatures, so when one is willing to give full control of their own neck to another, it represents their trust in each other.

When I thought back to my actions and how he let me do whatever I wanted later on, I concluded that Fruys trusted me intimately.

I barely nipped him twice when a pair of claws made me fall over, and I was enveloped by his large shadow. Fruys loomed over me as he began to lick my face and neck in retaliation, even grazing my lower jaw and the side of my neck with his incredibly sharp fangs.

“F-Fruu…” Slightly afraid and panicky, I shut my eyes and tried to push him away, but could not budge him even a millimeter.

He had easily pushed me over like I was a piece of paper, but when I tried to push him away, it was as difficult as moving a small mountain.

I quietly called his name pleadingly: “Fruu… stop playing around…”

It was then that I felt the weight on my body lighten, and I was picked up and thrown onto his back.

As we weaved through the clouds with me hugging Fruu’s neck tightly, I believed that all was good between us now.

The wind was fierce at this high altitude, so I lowered my body and pressed myself flat against Fruys while I laughed.

Without thinking, I suddenly blurted out the reason for this entire affair and my own personal wish—

“Fruu, don’t leave me, okay?”

The wind was so strong that I couldn’t tell if he heard me.

Translator: toomutchayuzu
Editor: Agent Psyx o7
Translation Checker: blobber
Proofreader: Bunny