Chapter 403: No… don’t think about it…

Kael’s shaking eased, his ragged breathing calmed down a little. Lavinia, who observed all these effects, felt her chest tighten. She held him even closer, pulling his body even closer to hers without shame.

Her one hand began stroking his damp hair, her cheeks were still red, but the embarrassment no longer mattered.

Because in that moment, she realized it—

It didn’t just feel good.

It felt right.

It felt like… Kael belonged in her arms.

As Lavinia continued doing what she was doing, Kael’s nightmare eased even further. Just as Vitaria said, the nightmare—if it could even be called one now—no longer had the running Stonefangs, crying children, or Kael’s Bonds. Now it was just Kael and Lavinia.

“Yes, you are doi—”

Vitaria tried talking to Lavinia, wanting to praise her actions and instruct her further, but suddenly, a gentle wave of wind pushed her away from Kael, breaking her Magic. And before the Fox could realize what happened—

“I’ll be taking care of things from here.

All of you should return to the Sanctuary.”

Lavinia’s voice was heard as her and Kael’s body was covered by a barrier that did not allow anyone to see or hear what was happening inside.

“…”

“…”

A large silence fell in the room.

The Bonds, especially Vitaria, couldn’t believe what happened and just stared at the barrier Lavinia cast in disbelief.

“What is she doing, I need to—”

The first one to come back to her senses was Cirri. The little Sky Dragon quickly tried to rush forward and break the barrier that the Mage had cast, only for the Fire Dragon to grab her tail and lift her in the air.

“Stop it.”

Igni spoke in a calm tone.

“But brother!”

Cirri raised her voice despite hanging upside down in the air.

“She said she will take care of everything.”

“But why did she create that barrier!? She is hiding something!”

Cirri accused.

“Yes, she is hiding something.”

Igni nodded.

“You should know what that is as well.”

“…but what if she hurts Father!?”

Cirri countered after a short pause, her entire body moving like a pendulum because of how much force she was using.

The scene was quite comical.

Igni barely controlled his urge to laugh out loud and with a gentle smile on his face, he looked into his sister’s eyes and—

“She wouldn’t hurt him.

You should know that as well.

Her condition isn’t any better than ours.”

He spoke in a calm voice.

“It is probably worse than us.”

Vitaria, standing next to Cirri, shrugged at that statement. She didn’t even have to think too hard about this.

Yes, all of them were extremely attached to their Father, so much that even the thought of losing him terrified them but…

Lavinia was worse.

If to them, their Father was their world, someone who gave them endless love, to Lavinia… Kael was everything.

To her… he wasn’t just the source of love, he was the source of relief, he was the solution to her loneliness, light to the darkness, cure to her depression.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Kael was very much Lavinia’s lifeline.

She wouldn’t be able to survive without him.

Hurting him…?

Lavinia was completely incapable of that, and every single one of them knew that. This was the reason the barrier Lavinia had suddenly created was still present. Otherwise, these children would have destroyed it the moment it was created and separated the two of them.

“Let them spend some time together, Cirri.

Father needs it as well.”

Vitaria spoke as she glanced at Cirri.

The hanging Cirri narrowed her eyes as she stared at the Fox,

“You did it on purpose, didn’t you, Fox?”

The Dragon questioned.

“Did what?”

“Father’s nightmare. You could have solved it using your Magic, but you didn’t because you wanted this to happen.”

Cirri accused and Vitaria…

“I did.”

She nodded.

Cirri’s mouth twitched in annoyance.

“Why!?”

She questioned even more loudly, her entire body now moving even more. If Kael was awake, he would have already grabbed the Sky Dragon in his arms with stars in his eyes—that’s how adorable she currently looked.

“Don’t be a fool.”

The Fox just shrugged as she turned towards the barrier Lavinia had created.

“Have you seen the two of them?

This would have happened eventually.”

“Yes, this would have happened eventually, not today, when Father’s sick.”

Cirri’s answer was quick.

“Father will be fine, she will take care of him.”

“You could have taken care of the nightmare more efficiently.”

“Trust me, I wasn’t lying when I said this method is better in the long run.”

Vitaria spoke as she looked at Cirri with a meaningful gaze. Cirri frowned, she finally freed herself from her brother’s hold and sat on top of Nyrri’s head.

“What do you mean?”

She questioned.

“It is not just the Mage who needs Father, Father needs her as well.”

The Fox began, and again, none of the children could go against those words. They had been with Kael all their lives, they knew exactly how difficult it was for him to trust anyone other than them. Even Lavinia needed quite a while to gain his complete trust, and that was when he saw her in Vision and also knew about the Spirits that followed her.

For someone like their Father, developing relationships with other humans was difficult. Lavinia was probably the only person around whom he could fully choose to let his guard down.

“With all the things happening and all the things that will happen in the future, it will be difficult for the two of them to develop their relationship because of how busy they will be.

And although there is nothing wrong with what is going on right now between them, if we leave it like this—

It will take years for them to make progress on their own.”

Vitaria explained, then suddenly, she waved her hand and an extremely adorable illusionary figure that looked like a 5-year-old Kael formed in the air—

“Think about this.

Don’t you want to play with our younger sibling?

Don’t you want to protect and cuddle miniature versions of Father that are running around in our homes?”

“…”

“…”

The rest of the Bonds, especially Cirri, gulped at those words, her amber eyes staring at the miniature version of her Father with a twinkle in her eyes.

“My little brother…”

She muttered lightly.

Even Igni had a difficult time controlling the urge to move his claw and poke the child’s cheek.

“Little Papa…”

Nyrri muttered, the Laviatharid seemed to be lost in his own world.

Only Imperia seemed somewhat normal. The Ant was focusing on the Fox instead, observing how she was constantly casting illusions to fool her siblings.

Despite not knowing illusion magic on her own, Imperia was one hundred percent sure that the Fox was purposefully making the child cuter according to her siblings’ perspective in order to win them over.

“You know what the two of them need to do to turn this into a reality, correct?”

The Fox questioned as the child she created through her power disappeared. Cirri stared at the Fox, her eyes now showing more willingness to listen.

Vitaria chuckled.

“We will let them take it slow, but we still need to make sure there is constant progress.”

She spoke gently.

Then, she pointed at the barrier and—

“And this is progress.”

Cirri and others nodded.

“Now, let’s go to the Sanctuary like we were told to and give this moment to them.”

The Fox muttered and in the end, the rest of the children agreed.

…

Inside the barrier, Lavinia, who was now alone with the sleeping Kael, had a completely red face, unable to believe what she had done.

Her heart felt like it would burst out any moment. To think she would… steal the children’s father right in front of them…

She was so embarrassed that she wanted nothing more than to bury herself somewhere.

But…

“Lav…”

Suddenly, she heard Kael’s soft, sleepy voice as he pulled her closer. Their entire bodies were wrapped around each other, their fingers were now tracing their naked bodies, they were so close that one could literally put them inside a single shirt and they would fit.

The heat Kael’s body radiated now made Lavinia sweat.

What’s worse?

Now that Vitaria wasn’t here, the Mage had no idea what was going on in his nightmare or whether she should continue.

What was the next step?

How was she supposed to help him now?

Does he even need her help now?

His body seemed to be calming down already…

More and more questions appeared in her head, but suddenly—

She felt it—Kael shifted in his sleep, his lips brushing against her forehead.

Her whole body froze.

Slowly, she lifted her head, her heart pounding so loud it felt like it might burst.

And there they were—his soft, quivering lips that seemed like they were demanding something.

’No… don’t think about it…’

She told herself. She wanted to violently shake her head but didn’t have enough space to do it.

Her eyes lingered on those lips far longer than she would have liked, her chest tightened, she tried and tried but…

She couldn’t look away.

Before she realized it, her hand slid into his hair.

She gently pulled him down, closer, closer… until her lips touched his.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep