Have I… gotten a little heavier?
Sitting behind Shirayuki, Fujiwara Chiya pinched her waist and held the girl in his arms.
Recently, Shirayuki had been under a lot of pressure studying for her senior trainer license. Every day, she ate piles of sweets to soothe her nerves. After more than a month of that, Fujiwara Chiya could feel that Shirayuki's weight had increased just a little.
With her sitting on him, he could vaguely feel the soft pressure from her body.
Shirayuki had definitely gained a bit.
Feeling the softness beneath his fingertips, Fujiwara Chiya patted Shirayuki on the head.
It had already been over half a year since he married himself. Gradually, Fujiwara Chiya had started realizing certain problems.
When it was just him and Shirayuki, their self-control became terrifyingly weak.
Their appetite was like that.
Their intimacy was the same.
Shirayuki's desire for closeness was absurdly strong. She needed to cling to Chiya at least once every day. If she was in high spirits, that number could climb even higher.
Because of that, Shirayuki had been lectured by Seiun Sky and the others more than a few times. They said she had become too feminine, that normal girls were not that needy.
But Shirayuki simply could not control herself.
Even when she occasionally tried to restrain herself for a few days, her body would get restless, and she would end up crawling onto Fujiwara Chiya again.
Thinking about it carefully, they were already husband and wife. There was nothing strange about wanting to be close. They were not some couple who had just started dating. Between spouses, wasn't that only natural?
With that thought in mind, Shirayuki would happily nestle against Fujiwara Chiya every night, fully satisfied, then fall asleep.
No matter what anyone said, she did not listen. She just wanted to satisfy her own desires.
Wasn't that exactly what poor self-control looked like?
There was no disagreement between them. That meant Chiya and Shirayuki did whatever they wanted. They ate as much as they wanted, stayed close as long as they wanted, and stopped only when they felt like stopping.
But after Orfevre and the others said Shirayuki seemed to have gained weight, and after Fujiwara Chiya could clearly feel the change himself, he finally realized he had been letting things slide for too long.
It was time to manage himself.
Taking out a wooden comb, Fujiwara Chiya began brushing Shirayuki's hair. Her hair now reached her back, the snow-white strands as smooth as silk. He gathered it neatly, tied it up, and draped it over her shoulder.
By now, Shirayuki had graduated from beautiful girl to married woman.
Everyone's way of addressing her had also changed from "Miss Shirayuki" or "Empress" to "Mrs. Fujiwara."
When Shirayuki had first heard that title, she had been a little shy. But now, her heart was filled with nothing but happiness.
Besides the way people addressed her, Shirayuki's face had also changed slightly. She looked more mature now, and even more charming.
Fujiwara Chiya had not deliberately done anything to Shirayuki, yet every movement she made, every glance and smile, carried more of a wife's aura than the simple cuteness she once had.
He did not know whether the female emotions inside him had changed after marriage, or whether his mindset had shifted.
But whatever the reason, Fujiwara Chiya thought this change was wonderful.
He liked Shirayuki even more than before.
After combing her hair, Shirayuki lay on the bed and lightly lifted one foot.
Fujiwara Chiya held her small, elegant foot in his hand. The soft sensation beneath his fingertips shot straight into his head.
Now, Shirayuki's training volume had already dropped to the minimum standard for an uma musume. Her physical ability was only around seventy to eighty percent of her peak. Asking her to win another Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was nearly impossible. Even in an ordinary GⅠ race, Shirayuki might lose.
But her current task was not to win races.
It was to participate in the Dream Trophy and repay the fans who supported her.
The first time Shirayuki joined the Dream Trophy, she stood on the same stage as Air Groove and Symboli Rudolf. It helped her recover a little of the feeling she once had while racing.
But only a little.
Relying on that to reignite her passion for training was still too difficult.
Compared to Shirayuki herself, Chiya was actually in a better position.
Fujiwara Chiya did not know whether the Three Goddesses had noticed this problem, but after he became an uma musume, he did not seem to have a set period of full maturation. His strength was still slowly growing.
At this rate, in another year or so, Chiya himself might have the ability to challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
If Chiya won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe himself and shocked the entire world, things would get very interesting.
Even Orfevre and the others had said that since Trainer was this strong, maybe Trainer should just race from now on.
Akikawa Yayoi had even proposed to Central the idea of allowing men to participate in races.
Of course, the proposal had been rejected.
But Akikawa Yayoi still believed her younger brother was no worse than any uma musume. She was determined to send him onto the track, even if that meant dressing him up like an uma musume and sneaking him in.
That was really asking too much.
In the past, he and Shirayuki had been a trainer and an uma musume, complementing each other.
Now, they were an uma musume and a wife.
The roles did not line up at all.
Fujiwara Chiya hoped his sister would stop causing trouble. Did she have to throw him into a skirt and shove him onto the track to be satisfied?
Orfevre and the others would laugh until they passed out.
Fujiwara Chiya could already imagine the embarrassing scene of everyone at home unanimously calling him the "Male Emperor."
The female Shirayuki was the "Empress."
So naturally, the male version would be the "Male Emperor."
That was way too humiliating!
Just thinking about it made Fujiwara Chiya want to die.
Better not think about that nonsense.
Fujiwara Chiya brought his attention back to Shirayuki.
Right now, Shirayuki was only doing the bare minimum of activity. Her career as an uma musume truly had reached its final stage. Once her two years in the Dream Trophy ended, Shirayuki could come to Tracen and officially become a trainer.
With Fujiwara Chiya's current knowledge, getting an ordinary trainer license would be simple. But he wanted Shirayuki to earn a senior qualification and begin her career as a senior trainer, directly skipping two ranks.
Originally, that was not allowed.
But after Akikawa Yayoi did some negotiating, Shirayuki smoothly obtained the eligibility.
Fujiwara Chiya could feel the convenience of having connections.
If veteran trainer certification did not require enough actual results, Fujiwara Chiya would have wanted to take that exam directly and break the record for youngest veteran trainer again.
Unfortunately, that was not easy.
Because of the partnership with Paris, Central's trainer education had also changed. The exam questions were completely different from before. There were many things even Fujiwara Chiya had to relearn, so it was not exactly relaxing for him either.
Otherwise, Shirayuki would not be stress-eating sweets like her life depended on it.
Fujiwara Chiya gently massaged Shirayuki's foot to help his own body relax.
So comfortable…
It was not only Shirayuki, the one being massaged, who felt comfortable. Fujiwara Chiya, the one doing the massaging, also felt relaxed.
It was not because of shared sensation.
It was because Shirayuki's feet were unbelievably soft.
Ever since she learned that Orfevre used honey soaks to make her feet softer, Shirayuki had started soaking her feet in honey every day too. More than a year had passed, and her skin had become impossibly delicate.
Fujiwara Chiya stared for a moment, then realized his thoughts were drifting in a very dangerous direction.
I really am getting more and more hopeless.
Well… there was nothing wrong with being a little hopeless, as long as there was a girl willing to tolerate it.
Shirayuki turned over and lightly nudged Fujiwara Chiya's cheek with her foot.
Then she smiled.
Today, she would tease Chiya just a little.