Chapter 120
Draco let out a weary sigh as he walked into the familiar kitchen, the many grocery bags rustling in his hands.
Carefully, he placed them on the countertop, mentally running through the list of ingredients he needed for Vasiliki’s requested meal.
To his dismay, many of the needed items were not present in the bags he had brought.
"Guess I'll have to wait for the rest," Draco muttered, shrugging off his cloak and taking a seat at the kitchen table.
The sound of footsteps soon drew his attention, and Draco looked up to see Bahamut entering the room, a worried expression etched across her delicate features.
Immediately, Draco's senses heightened, attuned to the subtle shifts in the goddess's demeanour.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice tinged with concern.
Bahamut's tail swayed nervously, her ethereal wings fluttering slightly.
"Does it look like something is wrong?" she replied, her eyes shifting away from Draco's gaze.
Draco narrowed his eyes, his keen observation skills picking up on the subtle tells.
"Did something happen after I left?" he probed, recalling how he had hurriedly departed, leaving Bahamut, Eleni, Clair, and Dimitra behind on the street to avoid Eleni’s probing questions.
Bahamut's shoulders slumped, and she let out a heavy sigh.
"I...I may have done something insensitive," she confessed, her voice filled with a touch of guilt.
Draco felt a twinge of dread in the pit of his stomach.
‘Please don't let it be related to last night,’ he silently pleaded, bracing himself for the revelations to come.
"What is it about?" he asked, his tone laced with reluctance.
Bahamut could sense Draco's hesitation, but she felt that he needed to know.
"I...uh, got a bit carried away and revealed what happened yesterday night and this morning to the girls," she admitted, her face flushing with embarrassment.
"In detail?" Draco pressed, his curiosity piqued despite his reservations.
"No, just the last part," Bahamut hastily clarified, her cheeks burning with a deeper shade of crimson.
Draco let out a resigned sigh.
"So just the kissing and confession part, huh?" he muttered, the memory sending a wave of heat to his own face.
Bahamut's wings flapped nervously, and her tail swayed with increased vigour.
"You didn't need to say that out loud," she chided, her voice tinged with embarrassment.
"Ah, sorry. I voice out my thoughts sometimes," Draco replied, offering an apologetic smile.
Bahamut took a deep breath, steadying herself.
"Anyway, after I revealed it, I walked a distance and observed the girls. Eleni and Dimitra were surprised as expected, but Clair..." She paused, her expression becoming more troubled.
"She seemed even more lost." she said.
Draco listened intently, his brow furrowing in thought.
"At the time, I was hoping to spark some jealousy, forcing her to sooner confront you instead of avoiding you like she has been doing since yesterday," Bahamut continued, her gaze downcast.
"But...she ended up more confused." Draco could sense the frustration in Bahamut's voice.
"I am quite new to this love thing, so I fear my actions might have been insensitive and unnecessary," she admitted, her wings folding in tightly.
"Thinking more clearly, I should have taken it a bit slower with her instead of trying to speed things up, but I guess I didn’t want to hide such a thing from her. It felt like cheating" She paused, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.
"Does this make me seem childish or foolish?" she asked,
Draco could see the turmoil in Bahamut's expression, and he reached out, grasping her shoulders firmly.
"Calm down," he soothed, pulling her into a comforting embrace.
Bahamut's body tensed for a moment, but she soon relaxed, leaning into Draco's warmth.
"But..." she tried to protest, but Draco cut her off.
"I can somewhat understand what you were trying to achieve," Draco said, his voice low and reassuring.
"You wanted to present yourself as competition to Clair, hoping it would force her to confront her own feelings and her relationship with me." Bahamut nodded, her expression a mixture of relief and uncertainty.
"Sadly, Clair didn't react as I expected, and it seems her situation has only worsened," she murmured, her wings drooping slightly.
Draco considered her words, his brow furrowed in thought.
"Love is a complex and delicate matter," he said, his tone thoughtful.
"Sometimes, the best intentions can lead to unintended consequences."
Bahamut's tail swished back and forth, her eyes filled with a hint of vulnerability.
"I just want to help," she whispered, her voice laced with a touch of desperation.
"I care about Clair, and I don't want her to keep hurting." she said.
Draco nodded, understanding the goddess's sincere desire to help.
"I know. Your actions, while well-intentioned, may have added to Clair's confusion. But that doesn't make you childish or foolish. It just means you're still learning, just like the rest of us." he said, his hand gently caressing her cheek.
"We'll figure this out together, but we need to approach it with care and patience." he said.
Bahamut's eyes widened slightly at the tender gesture, and she leaned into Draco's touch, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"Okay," she murmured.
‘To think that all this stemmed from the thought that her love confession to me would be unfair to Clair and considered cheating if she didn't tell her about it. That is probably the other half, besides wanting to help Clair, that she tried to convey,’ Draco reasoned.
Right now, the petite dragon goddess in his arms seemed rather small and endearing.
‘You truly are an enigma, huh. Sometimes, you are so mature, and yet other times you do quite a few silly things. It makes me wonder where the mental line between the gods and mortals lies," Draco mused, gazing down at Bahamut's form, nestled against his chest.
They remained in the same position for a while before Draco spoke up.
"Have you calmed down now?" he asked, his voice soft and gentle as he looked into her face, buried in the folds of his shirt.
"Hmm," Bahamut replied, her body fully relaxed in his embrace, the tension from earlier having dissipated.
Draco let out another sigh, this one tinged with a hint of resignation.
"At the root, all this isn't your fault. It's because I've been unclear about relationships," he admitted, his expression thoughtful.
It was high time that he presented the familia with a set of rules regarding intimate relationships.
These rules would apply to everyone fairly, without exception.
He also needed to make his stance clear to Clair and Bahamut, for the sake of the future.
"Can you let go of me now?" Bahamut requested shyly, her voice barely above a whisper.
She could feel something hard pressing against her belly.
"Oh, sorry about that," Draco apologized, quickly releasing his hold on her.
He realized with a start that it was his own body's reaction to their close proximity.
"It's fine," Bahamut murmured, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Clearing his throat, Draco quickly changed the subject.
"By the way, where are Vasileios, Michalis, and Nikolaos?" he asked.
"They went to repair the damaged dungeon equipment as you instructed," Bahamut replied.
"Huh, that was supposed to be scheduled for tomorrow. Did I make a mistake in the note I left this morning?" Draco furrowed his brow, puzzled.
"Hmm, you mean this note?" Bahamut asked, pulling a crumpled piece of paper from a nearby kitchen drawer and handing it to Draco.
Draco quickly scanned the note, recognizing his own handwriting.
He had indeed made a mistake in the instructions, failing to specify the exact order and timing of the tasks.
Additionally using vague terms like "sometime in the afternoon" and "maybe before the evening." was obviously going to be confusing when mixed in.
"Come to think of it, Michalis kept mumbling about something you said in the morning about 12 noon. I think that's around the time the boys left to repair the dungeon equipment," Bahamut added.
"Ugh, it's my mistake," Draco muttered, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
'No matter, the day is still salvageable. It's still early,' he thought, determined to set things right.
"By the way, have you levelled everyone up?" he asked Bahamut, curious.
"No, they all insisted on waiting until you returned," Bahamut replied.
"What?!" Draco exclaimed, surprised.
He had expected the familia members to hound Bahamut to level them up after the built up excitement from their impressive feats the previous day.
'Another blunder,' Draco thought, a frown creasing his brow.
'I really need to choose a vice-captain soon’ he thought.
‘Speaking of a vice-captain, I haven't documented each of their feats in writing yet, and then there's the reward for the competition too. Ugh, so much work.' he mused.
Just then, the sound of footsteps interrupted his thoughts, and both Draco and Bahamut turned to the source. It was...