(Yuuta POV) Midnight:- 12:30 am
A long yawn slipped from my mouth as I stretched, each joint cracking like an old door hinge.
"…Huh? Where… am I again?" I mumbled, still half-asleep.
Then memory returned in fragments.
"Oh, right… I was talking with Grandpa…"
But something was off.
I lifted my arm—and froze. My fingers flexed easily, no stiffness, no pain. My legs stretched beneath the blanket, moving smoothly.
"Wait… this… this can't be."
My injuries had been too severe. My arms were dislocated, my body broken. By all logic, I shouldn't even be able to sit up.
That's when I heard it—soft, steady breathing.
I turned my head.
There she was.
Erza.
The proud Dragon Queen, leaning against the bed, her cheek resting on her arm. She was fast asleep. Her lips were pale, her skin dull, exhaustion etched into every line of her face. Yet even in that state, she looked… peaceful and Beautiful.
My chest tightened painfully.
She healed me. She must have poured everything she had into me—without food, without sleep, until her body simply collapsed.
I shifted slightly, and her hand moved, tightening around mine. Even in her sleep, she refused to let go.
"Don't leave me, Yuuta…" Her lips trembled, her voice breaking. "I don't want to lose you again…"
A single tear slipped down her cheek.
"…Again?" I whispered, my throat tight.
It hit me then. She had told me before—how she searched endlessly after I vanished, wandering without my name, without proof I even existed. She had carried that pain for more than a year…Raising Elena alone and yet she never gave up on searching. She found me. She chose me. Even though I was nothing special, nothing strong, she never stopped loving me.
Something in me ached. I leaned closer, my lips brushing her ear.
"I love you, Erza… my beautiful wife."
I kissed her gently, hoping she could feel the words I couldn't speak.
Her eyes fluttered open. Voliet, luminous even in the dim light.
"Erza? You're awake? Can you hear me?" I asked softly.
But her gaze… it wasn't steady. Her breathing quickened, ragged and shallow. Her hand pulled me down against her chest with startling force.
"Don't you dare leave me again," she whispered, her voice low, trembling with something I couldn't quite place.
Her body shuddered. Her eyes burned with a desperate hunger I didn't understand.
"E-Erza… wait… what's wrong?" My voice cracked.
She didn't answer with words. Instead, her hands fumbled at her clothes, her face twisted with a mix of fear and longing.
My face burned hot. My heart thundered in my ears.
"T-this isn't right! Erza—stop! Please! Not like this!"
But she couldn't hear me. She was trembling, caught in something far beyond her control. Her breathing grew heavier, her nails digging into my arm as if letting go would kill her.
Then it dawned on me.
This wasn't affection. This wasn't simple love.
Her body was in heat.
"Do Dragon also have Mating season??."
I panicked. Completely. My mind went blank, my instincts screaming that this was wrong, that I couldn't handle it.
"G-Grandpa!" I shouted, my voice shaking, raw. "Grandpa, help me! Please!"
For once, I was the one calling for rescue.
Because in that moment, even though she was my wife… the Dragon Queen's desperate love terrified me.
"Grandpa! Help me!"
My voice cracked, raw with panic. Erza's hands were already tugging at my clothes, her Voliet eyes gleaming with a hunger that was more fear than desire.
"Wait—Erza! Please! I know you're worried about me but this… this isn't right!"
She didn't listen. Her strength was overwhelming, pressing me down with the unyielding force of a dragon. My wrists trembled under her grip. No matter how I struggled, she was immovable, like stone.
At last, her gaze met mine. Her voice was cold, trembling with fury and sorrow.
"You want to leave me again, human? After making me suffer like this?"
My chest tightened.
"You've got it wrong, my dear wife," I whispered, almost pleading. "I would never leave you. Never."
But her lips twisted into something colder, desperate.
"Then prove it. If I take you now… if I squeeze you until nothing is left… you won't be able to run from me."
The words struck me like a blade. Squeeze me dry?
She wasn't joking. She was dead serious.
"Why… why are you doing this?" I stammered. "Love isn't supposed to be like this. Intimacy is something shared… when both of us want it. Not like this—where you're forcing me. I don't even understand what it means for dragons!"
Still, she pressed closer. Her breath was hot against my skin, trembling, broken.
That's when I heard him.
Grandpa's voice, muffled through the closed door yet steady, carrying the weight of command.
"Do not fear, boy. Nothing is wrong with her."
"Nothing—?!" My words broke into a near shout. "Grandpa, she's—she's about to—"
"She is afraid of losing you," he said, firm as stone. "That is all."
"Afraid? Then why—why this?" I demanded, desperation clawing through my chest.
There was a pause, and then Grandpa's tone shifted—graver, heavier.
"Because dragons are not human. When we fear losing our mate, instinct consumes us. We claim them, body and soul. For us, intimacy is not simply love—it is survival. To her, binding you now is the only way to keep you."
His words rattled me. My breath hitched, my thoughts spiraled.
"That's insane," I muttered. "This can't… this can't be the way…"
"Insane to you," Grandpa said. "But truth to us. Listen carefully, Yuuta. She has endured more than a year without you. The longer a dragon denies their bond, the fiercer their instincts return. It will not end quickly."
Silence stretched, broken only by Erza's ragged breathing against my chest.
"…How long?" I whispered, afraid of the answer.
Grandpa's reply was quiet, almost reluctant.
"Perhaps four hours or more maybe eight. Perhaps longer."
My blood ran cold.
"F-four to Eight hours?"
"Endure it, boy," Grandpa said at last. "This is not lust alone. It is her fear. Her love. Her way of anchoring herself to you. Survive the night, and by dawn… she will return to herself, like usually Erza."
I stared at Erza—the trembling Dragon Queen, clinging to me as though letting go would kill her. Her tears brushed my skin, her body shaking as if torn apart by invisible chains.
I closed my eyes, a long, shuddering breath escaping.
"…Looks like I don't have a choice, huh?" I whispered.
Her lips found mine, desperate and trembling. Her arms wrapped around me like shackles of warmth and sorrow.
"Then… I'll accept it, Erza. Even if this love breaks me… I'll endure it. For you."
And so, I stopped resisting.
And let her claim me, Because you can't resist a fully adult dragon who can Turn you into ice.
After the Long Night.
By the time Erza finally stilled, dawn had already begun creeping through the curtains.
Her breathing was steady now, calm—so different from the desperation she had clung to through the long night. She looked peaceful, convinced at last that I wasn't going anywhere.
Meanwhile, I was utterly destroyed. My body was drained to the core, every muscle aching, every bone hollow. I couldn't even roll over.
"…Seriously… why heal me… just to throw me back in bed again…" I groaned.
Still, despite the exhaustion, I smiled faintly. She was safe, warm in my arms, no longer afraid of losing me. With that thought, sleep finally dragged me under.
__________________________
(Erza POV) – Morning, 6:00 a.m.
The morning air was cool against my skin when I stirred. A dull ache pulsed in my head, as though I had fought a battle in my dreams. Yet strangely, my body felt light, refreshed.
I stretched both arms above me, yawning. Then I froze.
My skin… was bare.
Slowly, I lowered my gaze. My clothes—gone. Completely gone.
"…W-what?" My voice cracked. "Where are my clothes?!"
I scrambled around the bed, searching desperately for even a shred of fabric. Nothing.
Then I heard it—deep, rumbling snores.
Turning my head, I saw Yuuta sprawled across the sheets. His chest bare. His face slack with sleep. The blanket barely covered him.
My face turned crimson.
"…N-no way…"
We were both unclothed. In the same bed. Holding each other.
My heart stopped.
"Did… did we… actually…?"
Heat surged up my face. "No! Impossible!"
Without thinking, I grabbed Yuuta's arm and hurled him out of the bed.
"GYAAAHH!" he yelped, crashing to the floor with a solid thud.
"Ow, ow—what was that for?!" he groaned, clutching his head. "Is this seriously how you wake your dear husband?! My Wife."
I froze. "…W-Wife?"
He looked up at me with a weak grin. "Yeah. You're the one who said it last night—that I have to call you Wife from now on."
My jaw dropped. "W-what nonsense are you spouting?!"
Because… I didn't remember. Nothing. My mind was blank. The last thing I recalled was Yuuta, broken and bleeding, my heart shattering at the sight. After that—darkness. And then… I woke up here.
I stood before him. "…Yuuta…" I called him.
He sat up, rubbing his nose—blood running down from both nostrils, his cheeks red, his ears burning.
My heart skipped, and I quickly wrapped the blanket around myself.
"You… you perverted mortal! How dare you lust after my body!"
Yuuta glared back. "Hold on—you've got it backwards! You were the one who forced yourself on me!"
My breath caught. "D-don't lie!"
"I'm not lying!" he shot back.
"You… you foolish, shameless idiot!" I roared, face burning. "I'll kill you today!"
And so, I beat him till my anger went down.
By the time I finished dressing, my face was still red with embarrassment. Yuuta lay on the floor, groaning, his head covered in bumps and his arms bruised.
He deserved it. Absolutely.
The moment I stepped out of the bedroom, my eyes landed on Elena.
She was curled up peacefully in Sister Mary's lap, her tiny chest rising and falling in steady rhythm. Mary stroked her hair absentmindedly with one hand while sipping tea with the other. Across from them, Grandpa sat with his legs crossed, a newspaper open before him.
Neither of them noticed me.
I froze where I stood.
Why… why are they here?
I pressed a hand to my head, trying to remember. And then—like a shattered dam—the memories crashed back into me.
Yuuta's blood soaking my hands.
His faint heartbeat slipping away.
My desperate healing that stretched into hours.
My chest tightened, air catching in my throat. I gasped, as if drowning, and nearly collapsed right there in the doorway. Tears welled unbidden, blurring the sight before me.
"I… I remember now," I whispered, my voice shaking. "I almost… lost him…"
Before I even realized it, my feet carried me back into the bedroom.
There he was.
Yuuta stood near the window, the early sunlight spilling across his bare back, dressed only in his shorts. His hair was tousled, his frame thin yet stubbornly upright—as if daring the world to break him again.
Something inside me broke.
I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around him from behind, holding him as though he might vanish the moment I let go.
He jolted in surprise.
"W–Wait! You just beat me up earlier! You can't hug me right after—that's cheating!"
Even now, even with my tears falling against his skin, he said something so utterly foolish. So utterly him.
"Yuuta…" My voice cracked, trembling with the fear I had bottled for far too long. "I'm sorry… I couldn't protect you. I was so scared of losing you."
Slowly, gently, he turned to me. His hands cupped my face, lifting it so I couldn't look away from his eyes.
"Silly wife," he murmured with a faint smile. "Don't blame yourself, Erza. I'm here. Alive. Right in front of you."
"But… I let you die," I whispered, my voice breaking.
"Look closely," he said, his thumb brushing away my tears. "I'm alive. You don't have to be afraid anymore."
My chest ached, the weight of my sorrow crushing me. "I was so heartbroken. What if… what if I lost you forever? What if my strength betrayed me, and you were gone before I could ever see you again?"
His gaze softened, unwavering. "Even if I die, I would reincarnate just to find you again. Do you really think I'd ever leave you?"
A shaky laugh slipped through my tears. "Stupid mortal…" I whispered, my lips trembling.
And then he pulled me into his arms. His warmth surrounded me, steady and secure, and for the first time in what felt like forever, I could breathe.
It was strange—ridiculous, even. I was the Dragon Queen, feared by kingdoms, yet the only place I ever felt safe was in the arms of this fragile mortal.
I love him.
I truly, deeply love him.
I wanted to stay there forever. But—
Ahem.
A throat cleared from the doorway.
We both turned.
Three heads poked in, stacked one atop the other like some ridiculous totem—Grandpa on top, Elena in the middle, Sister Mary at the bottom—all three frozen in place, their eyes wide with guilt.
Yuuta's face turned scarlet. He gave a nervous laugh. "This… isn't what it looks like!"
Elena raised her little hand, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"Mama, Papa has muscles!"
I blinked at her words—then turned to Yuuta.
…And froze.
Somehow, in the middle of everything, his body had changed. His shoulders were broader, his arms firm, the faint outline of muscles showing through his shirt. My cheeks burned instantly.
W–when did he become like this?
Why… why does Yuuta suddenly look so handsome?
I quickly turned my face away, but the heat only spread to my ears. This has to be some kind of aftereffect… right? Some trick of my memory, or maybe even magic.
And yet… my heart was beating far too loudly for such an excuse.
My own face blazed hot. In a panic, I shoved Yuuta away so hard he nearly tripped over his own feet.
"Y–You perverted mortal!"
He stared at me in disbelief. "What the hell did I do this time?!"
To be continue.....
(Yuuta pov- Cough I mean credit Scene)
I cleared my throat loudly. Cough, cough!
"Ahem… dear reader, let me explain before you misunderstand. Yes, you might occasionally stumble on… things in this novel you probably shouldn't be reading without parental approval. But hey! That's not my fault—it was clearly written in the disclaimer that this is an 18+ novel!"
I raised a finger like a serious lecturer.
"Of course, don't panic—it's not that kind of 18+. We hold morals very highly here! We keep things proper, clean, and respectful."
…My eyes darted toward Erza.
"And no, it's not like I'm saying this because I'm secretly afraid of my wife glaring at me. Definitely not. Nope. Not at all."
Her voliet eyes narrowed.
I coughed again. "Cough-cough-cough!! "Anyway! Moving on! Also… thank you all for 600 collections and 205K views. That's huge for us! Please keep showering us with love so we can continue spreading even more love… and, uh, chaos."