Epilogue
With the party over, and with no further reason to stay in the castle, Chelsie decided to go back to the forest. Not only did Claus and Joshua come to see her off, but so did Quartz.
“Sorry for all the trouble I caused,” Quartz said, apologizing to Chelsie for the mess he had caused when he’d kidnapped Ruri.
Chelsie smiled, albeit rather awkwardly, like a mother dealing with a fussy child. “You didn’t do anything to me. If Ruri has forgiven you, then there is nothing I need to say. And it’s not as though I couldn’t understand how you felt either. It’s just great that you were able to reunite with your mate.”
“Yes, it really is great,” Quartz said as he met eyes with Seraphie, who was standing a small distance away, happily grinning at him.
Chelsie was relieved to see Quartz looking so elated. Next, she turned to Ruri.
“Chelsie-san, are you going back so soon? You could always stay a little while longer.”
“I only came here to check out the tournament. Well, and to check on you. Now that I know you’re doing well, I’m going to head back.”
Ruri had gone through so much that she hadn’t been able to sit down and talk with Chelsie at all. She was displeased by this, and it showed on her face.
“Come now, child. All I have to do is come see you if I feel like visiting. Also, I suspect I’ll be coming back soon enough anyway.”
“Oh, why is that?” Ruri asked, not understanding what Chelsie was implying.
“For your wedding with His Majesty, of course,” Chelsie explained, causing Ruri’s cheeks to flush. “You get along with His Majesty, now. I’ll come running to celebrate when the time comes.”
“Okay, but I’ll come visit you before that, so you’d better treat me to some of your home cooking when that time comes.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be waiting,” Chelsie said. She then left, making her way back to the forest.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The tumultuous past few days had come to an end, and Ruri could finally take it easy and relax. It had been a long time since she’d enjoyed a nice comfortable sunbath in the garden with the spirits. The small spirits lay on Ruri as she used Kotaro and his big fluffy coat as a pillow.
“Mmm, it feels like forever since the last time I was able to relax this much!”
“Yeah, yeah!”
“For sure!”
Ruri had a feeling that the spirits were as relaxed and nonchalant as they always were, but it was cute to see them agree, so she took their words at face value.
“Especially after all that business with Yadacain, Dark, and Light,” Rin said, landing on Kotaro’s head and staring off into the sky.
“Yeah, it was pretty hectic, but I sure am glad there was a happy ending to all of it.”
“That’s true. You and the king have finally admitted your love for one another too,” Rin added. “Seeing you dawdle around forever and wondering when you’d eventually hook up with him was getting annoying. Isn’t that right, Kotaro?”
“I’m fine with whatever Ruri desires—whether that means being the king’s mate or refusing him,” replied Kotaro.
“Oh, my. You say that, but you were happy to hear the news, weren’t you?” asked Rin.
“If Ruri is happy, then I’m happy,” Kotaro stated, sounding like an extremely faithful canine companion. His tone caused Ruri to giggle.
“Humph, if he picked a brat like you as his mate, then I doubt his tastes.”
Of course, the one to put a damper on the mood was the individual sitting beside Kotaro—Heat. Ruri furrowed her brow and grunted. Heat, who would normally be chasing tail, was joining Ruri and the others on a whim.
“Humph, you’re the last person I want to hear critiquing people’s tastes, considering your very loose standards in women,” Ruri retorted.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Not just anyone will do for me. I evaluate whomever it is and attempt to romance them. Which is why I haven’t attempted to romance you.”
“And I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly fine without you making passes at me, Heat-sama. I already have Jade-sama.”
“Hah, then you’d best keep hold of him. If you let him get away, you’ll lose the one man in the world willing to court you.”
“Grk, what I’d give to punch you,” Ruri murmured, clenching her fist. She resisted the urge to deliver a knuckle sandwich to Heat’s face.
Rin chuckled and said, “You stand there and tease Ruri with all those sarcastic quips, but you were terribly worried about her when she was kidnapped. You actually do like Ruri when all is said and done, don’t you, Fire?”
“Have you gone daft, Water?” Heat spat. “Why would I worry about a brat like her?” He stood up with a “hmph” and turned to walk away. However, he stopped, adding, “Well...maybe just a little. I’d be out of sorts without the brat around to provide her insightful and snippety back talk.”
That was all Heat said before taking his leave. Ruri watched him walk off, stunned.
“Was that Heat-sama’s...sweet side?” Ruri uttered, blinking in disbelief. She had just witnessed an astonishing turn of events.
Rin then asked her, “Ruri, weren’t you going to go see Time?”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Ruri cried, suddenly sitting up. All of the small spirits who’d been lying on her body rolled right off.
“Huh~?”
“Eeek!”
“I’m falling~!”
Carrying tea and snacks, Ruri headed to Lydia’s place for a little girls-only gathering. Lydia seemed happy since it had been such a long time since their last tea party. As they ate pastries, their friendly conversation veered toward Jade, Ruri’s new romantic partner.
“Tee hee hee, my heart sank when I heard that you’d been kidnapped, but perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing if it gave you the courage you needed.”
“Well, I guess you could say that.”
“So, tell me, Ruri. Are you happy now?”
Ruri had been summoned to a strange new world with no one to rely on, cast into the forest, and left with no way to return to home. Be that as it may, here she’d met Jade, Chelsie, Lydia, and the other spirits—so many people who she considered near and dear to her. She might not be able to return to her world ever again, but Ruri’s heart was filled with satisfaction.
“Of course I am!” Ruri replied with confidence, a sparkling smile stretching across her face.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
Ruri and Jade had officially confessed their love to one another. The spirits were pleased, but no one was more pleased than Agate and the other elders, the very group who’d been trying to arrange a wife for Jade for years. Tears streamed from their eyes when they heard the good news, and they jumped for joy.
“Oh, Ruri, we are so glad... We are so very glad that you’ve made up your mind. There was a good moment there where we fretted over how you might respond... Alas, none of that matters now. Your joyous time as a royal mate has finally come. At long last, His Majesty has a mate!”
“Yes! We would admonish His Majesty till we were blue in the face, but he showed no interest! Now he has a mate!”
“Yes, there was a time when we worried his romantic interests might lie with men instead! Now he has a mate!”
“Oh, this is a delight!”
The elders all cheered and reveled in their good fortune—all the while paying no mind to Jade, who was growing increasingly perturbed.
“Oh, how should we express this joy?! We must notify the people of the castle of this posthaste!”
“Let’s celebrate!”
“With liquor all around!”
“There’ll be no sleeping tonight for sure!”
Though the elders were overjoyed at the news, Ruri felt uncomfortable.
“Right, everyone, now is the time to unveil what we’ve had in store!”
“Yes, the time has come!”
“Excellent idea!”
The elders stormed out of the room, chattering excitedly down the hall.
As soon as the gaggle of gray-haired vassals left, everyone in the office let out a long sigh of relief. They’d known that the elders would be happy, but they seemed so giddy that they would eventually collapse where they stood, which was...concerning, to say the least. It was time for them to start acting their age.
Despite how trying it was, their crazed display was a testament to just how much effort they’d poured into finding Jade a suitable partner. From what Ruri had heard, Jade had been desperately trying to stop the elders from playing matchmaker ever since they’d learned that he had given Ruri his dragonheart. He had been worried that they would sour things if they meddled too much.
Jade definitely felt that their interference had forced his efforts to take some convoluted detours, so he’d made a wise decision to rein them in. However, their euphoric state now was the release of all of their pent-up frustrations from having been relegated to the sidelines. Then again, they had indirectly involved themselves by going through with wedding preparations and renovating the queen’s room.
Jade stayed extremely cool, assuming that the elders would calm down in due course. In the meantime, he held Ruri in his lap—in human form instead of her usual cat form—which put him in an extraordinarily good mood. While the elders were thrilled that Ruri had officially become Jade’s mate, no one was more genuinely thrilled with all of this than Jade.
Ruri wouldn’t have minded sitting on Jade’s lap in her cat form, but doing so as a human was mortifying enough to make her want to get off. Nevertheless, Jade insisted on keeping her near, emanating an aura of happiness all the while.
She glanced at him, and he looked back at her with a sugary sweet smile. She flusteredly averted her gaze, unable to look at him or his grin directly.
Euclase, who was also present, said, “Albeit not to the degree of Agate and the elder vassals, but I’m honestly glad that you’ve become His Majesty’s mate, Ruri.”
“You are, Euclase-san?”
“Well, of course. His Majesty did hand you his dragonheart without your approval. A dragonheart can be removed from a dragonkin’s body once, and only once. If you had refused, then His Majesty wouldn’t have been able to have a mate. Also, if you had chosen some other man instead, His Majesty surely would have gone on a rampage.”
“And the only person capable of stopping His Majesty should he ever go on a rampage would be Master Quartz,” Claus said with a chuckle.
Ruri laughed at Euclase and Claus’s jokes, thinking that would have never happened. Still, they were both very serious. The strongest dragonkin, the Dragon King himself, going berserk would have been terrible. The reason they could all laugh it off now was because Ruri had become his mate.
Before long, Agate returned to the royal office with his vassals—with goods in hand.
“Feast your eyes on our masterpieces,” Agate said, presenting several glittering pieces of jewelry and accessories. There was a tiara and necklace, both with huge gemstones surrounded by a large number of smaller gems. A pair of earrings completed the look. The accessories’ designs were the definition of grace and beauty. Ruri was captivated by the custom-made, matching set. The gemstones were quite large, and the thought of how much this one set had cost made her head spin.
“What are you doing with these, Agate?” Jade asked quizzically. He seemed to be unaware that Agate and the others had been making these.
“We received the gemstones from Lord Spirit of the Earth and had them made.”
That reminded Ruri that she had asked Chi to make some gemstones for her. She had wondered what they were going to make with the leftovers, but now it made sense. However, when Agate had first asked for the gemstones, she’d had a bad feeling. He hadn’t said anything about it being for her or the wedding.
“Oh, and we’ve made these as well,” Agate added, taking out a small box and opening it to reveal two matching rings. “Ruri happened to tell me that it was customary to exchange rings at weddings in her world.”
“Is that so?” asked Jade.
“Yes, I said that, but I’m surprised you remembered,” Ruri replied.
“Heh heh heh, an ode to our perfect research so we can make this wedding the best it can be,” quipped an elder.
“All right, now to get right to preparing!” shouted Agate.
The rest of the gung ho vassals pumped their fists into the air and yelled back in reply, “Here here!” No one in the office had the means to stop them from pressing forward.
“Yeesh, things made an awful lot of progress while I was away, eh?” commented Joshua. “Since when did you and His Majesty get so intimate?”
After things in Yadacain had wrapped up, Joshua had finally taken a vacation. When he returned, he’d stumbled upon the elders making a huge to-do out of Ruri and Jade’s wedding.
Joshua naturally had already known about Jade’s dragonheart adorning Ruri’s neck, so he’d known how Jade felt. But Ruri’s feelings had still been up in the air. He could really feel that he’d been gone a long time since the marriage talks had already progressed considerably by the time he came back.
“Well, you were gone the entire time,” Ewan said. By comparison, he had spent a lot of time with Ruri. That also meant that he understood why Ruri had been so awkward and indecisive about Jade. “It’s been really rough, I’ll tell you.”
Ruri didn’t think that Ewan had anything to do with her situation, but apparently Ewan thought he did.
“All I did was accompany Ruri as her bodyguard, but His Majesty gave me the stink-eye like mad. ‘Oh, you’re getting too close.’ ‘Oh, you two sure are having fun chatting.’ ‘Oh, you’re spending more time with Ruri than I am.’ His eyes said it all,” Ewan explained.
Finn, who was standing next to Ewan, patted Ewan on the head for a job well done.
Ruri looked at Jade, but Jade quickly averted his gaze. She wondered if Ewan was referring to when she had intentionally avoided Jade. While it was true that she’d spent more time with Ewan, she never would have imagined that Jade would get jealous of Ewan of all people.
“Jade-sama...” Ruri said, exasperated, but Jade still avoided eye contact.
Admittedly, it was uncouth of Ewan to divulge that here and now, but the situation must have been problematic enough for him to go airing it out to begin with.
“A dragonkin’s jealousy ain’t nothing to scoff at,” Joshua said.
“I’d say so,” Ewan agreed.
Both were fellow dragonkin, meaning they could comprehend how Jade felt.
“Welp, it’s better than spurring his jealousy and getting confined to the castle,” Joshua commented with a chuckle, though in reality it was no laughing matter. “Anywho, congrats, Ruri.”
“Yes, we’re glad you two wound up together,” Finn added, congratulating them in turn.
“Thank you!” Ruri replied with a soft smile.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
In contrast to the jubilant elders, there was someone who cried at the news of Ruri’s marriage.
“Hngh, this is unbelievable. Just when I finally get to see my daughter again, she’s getting married!” lamented Kohaku, Ruri’s father. It was a natural complaint for any father with a daughter to have, but it wasn’t that he unsparingly disapproved of their union; he was just sad.
“Don’t moan about it, dad,” chided Ruri.
“She’s right,” Riccia chimed in. “What’s there to complain about? We’ll be gaining a dreamboat of a son-in-law, so I absolutely approve.” She’d called him “son-in-law” despite the fact that Jade was technically older than Ruri’s grandfather.
“And I doubly approve if he’s a strong man!” Beryl added.
In stark contrast to Kohaku, the two of them were extraordinarily pumped.
Ruri had safely reunited with her parents at the castle. She’d assumed that they would be exhausted from being trapped on a mysterious island, living in an unfamiliar environment for months, but much to her relief, her parents had more pep than she’d expected. In fact, Riccia had too much pep in her step. She was bursting at the seams with tremendous vigor. Whereas Kohaku, who wasn’t as brazen or outspoken as Riccia, had probably been a nervous wreck this entire time. He looked to have lost some weight as well, but now that he was living a calmer life at the castle with all of the family together, he seemed to be back in good spirits.
“Actually, dad, are you sure you should’ve come here? I mean, you threw away your entire career.”
“What are you talking about? There’s nothing more important than family.” Ruri felt touched by his fatherly comment, but Kohaku suddenly glared at Jade and leaned in close to the happy couple. “But are you sure, Ruri, that this is the right man? And Jade, will you be able to make my Ruri happy?”
“That’s not quite my intent, good sir,” Jade replied. “I want to be with Ruri because being with her makes me happy. That said, I will expend every effort to make Ruri happy as well. After all, she is the only woman I will ever love.”
Riccia squealed in delight, Ruri blushed, and Kohaku humphed. He seemed a tad frustrated, but he didn’t object. It wasn’t every day that a girl found a husband with such high marks across the board. A part of Kohaku probably accepted that this was what Ruri wanted most of all.
“When’s the wedding? Have you already picked a dress?” Riccia asked, barely stopping for breath.
“No, not yet. Agate and the others are going to take care of the entire ceremony.”
“Oh my! That won’t do! A wedding is every woman’s lifelong dream. You should be more vocal about your requests. You are the star of the show.”
“Of course I’m going to make requests, but Agate and the others are way more passionate about all this.”
“And why are you yielding to them? Don’t worry. I’ll go have a little talk with them. This is my daughter’s wedding. There will be no compromises,” Riccia stated.
“Yeah! This is for my granddaughter, so I’ll fight too!” Beryl added.
“Hold on, Riccia!” Kohaku cried, following after Ruri’s mother and grandfather as they rushed out of the room like bats out of hell.
Ruri looked at Jade and smiled awkwardly. “I’m sorry that my family can’t...settle down.”
“No, it’s good that they’re so lively.”
Ruri and Jade looked into each other’s eyes, leaned into one another, and wrapped their arms around each other.
“I was worried about meeting your parents because I didn’t know if they’d like me, but I take all of that as them approving of the marriage?” asked Jade.
“I think it’s fine. Mom and dad are the type to say they’re opposed to something if they really are.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Still, marriage, huh? I would have never imagined this would happen when I first met you, Ruri.”
“Yes, well, I was a cat at first. That reminds me; I haven’t been a cat as of late. You must be going through cuddle withdrawal by now?”
“Now that you mention it, I haven’t pet you in your cat form as of late, have I?”
Ruri figured now was as good a time as any to pull out her bracelet. She put it on and transformed into a cat.
“You can pet me all you like,” Ruri said, rubbing her nose against Jade.
Jade smiled at the adorable gesture. He lifted Ruri in his arms, sat in his chair, and placed her on his lap.
As he gently stroked her head, she felt herself getting drowsy. She yawned, curled up into a ball on Jade’s lap, and drifted off to sleep.
Jade watched in delight as Ruri fell into a graceful slumber.
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