The Dragon King's Hated Bride
Chapter 92: First Direct Meeting

Chapter 92: First Direct Meeting

>>Ariston (During the War)

The water was cold, but it didn’t bite. Not anymore. I’d grown used to the chill, almost welcomed it. It numbed the places I didn’t want to feel.

I stood hips-deep in the pond, the full moon hanging heavy above me like a secret. It filtered down through the canopy in wide, silver beams, dusting the clearing in a kind of quiet magic. The stream that fed the pond trickled gently around me, and for once—just for this moment—there was no sound of war. No clash of steel. No barked orders.

Just the forest. Just the moon. Just me.

It wasn’t much, but the temporary peace meant a lot to me.

I dipped my hands into the water and brought them up to my bare chest, scrubbing at the black blood that had dried against my skin. It clung to me like tar, sticky and stubborn, streaked across my arms, caught in the crooks of my elbows, crusted beneath my fingernails. I didn’t even remember which monster it had belonged to. It didn’t matter. They all bled the same in the end.

I dipped my hands again, rubbing harder this time, watching the dark water ripple out from me like a stain. It wouldn’t come off. Not easily.

I hated this.

Not just the blood—

The hiding.

I glanced down at my own body, at the parts I’d always kept covered. The ones that made me a walking contradiction in the eyes of the world. I sank a little deeper into the water, until it touched the bottom of my ribs. Out here, I didn’t have to bind, didn’t have to tuck and tighten and adjust. Out here, I could just be—even if only for a few stolen minutes before someone started shouting my name.

Even bathing had become a luxury. A secret.

I could feel the tension in my shoulders, the kind that never really left me anymore.

The war had been dragging on for over a year now. A year and a half, actually. I remembered because I’d joined right from the start.

I volunteered as a soldier because I had to come here. I had to.

People didn’t expect me to last. I didn’t look like a man after all. I had soft looks and a body different from a man’s. But no one knows how I was raised

But they noticed how I fought. How I won.

Now, I had stripes on my armor, people who followed me into hell without question, and enough kills under my belt to keep even the generals from asking too many questions. Funny, isn’t it? How fast things change when you’re useful.

But it came with a cost.

They were always looking for me now.

Always watching.

Always needing something.

I couldn’t even strip down to wash blood from my skin without keeping an eye on the treeline.

I leaned forward, palms flat on the surface of the water, and exhaled. The breath came out rougher than I intended, shaking through my chest like something broken loose.

This wasn’t why I signed up.

It had never been about glory. Or revenge. Or duty.

I joined the army because I was looking for ’him.’

And I thought maybe—just maybe—if I walked into the fire, I’d find him there, standing among the ashes.

"..." I brought my body back out of the water

But there’d been no sign of him. No whisper. No shadow. Nothing.

Just the war.

And more blood.

I splashed water against my face, letting it run down my neck, over my collarbones, trying to wash the disgust away. Not just the blood. Not just the dirt. But the feeling of it all. This life. This mask. The lie of being something solid, when I was nothing more than splinters held together by will alone.

I looked up at the moon again wondering when this nightmare was going to end.

It was quiet and I breathed in the peace

But the stillness broke all at once.

!!!

A sudden jolt shot through me—sharp and hot, like a spark cracking beneath my skin. My breath hitched. The water around me splashed, rippling violently as my legs stumbled beneath me and I swayed, catching myself with trembling hands. A low, startled sound escaped my throat, one I barely recognized.

My heart stuttered. My chest rose and fell, shallow and quick, and heat began blooming low in my belly, seeping outward like fire licking up my spine. I gritted my teeth, digging my nails into my palms, trying to focus—trying to hold on.

But I knew what this was.

I knew the signs.

The slow, cruel burn creeping through my limbs.

The way my skin suddenly felt too tight, too sensitive.

The hunger curling beneath the surface.

I was going into heat.

Panic flared in my throat. My eyes darted toward the trees, wild and searching, expecting—fearing—footsteps, voices, anything. But there was no one. Only moonlight. Only water. Only me.

Thank the stars.

I forced myself to breathe, dragging the air in slowly. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.

Again.

Again.

But it didn’t stop the warmth from building. Didn’t stop the way my skin flushed or the shivers that chased down my spine like fingertips.

I wrapped my arms around myself, holding tight for a moment, like that might contain it. Like I could will it away with force alone. But it was already too late.

The ache was blooming. Deep. Familiar. Unrelenting.

My hands slid down without thinking, fingertips grazing the curve of my waist—soft and flush with heat. My breath stuttered again, uneven now, as the touch sent another shiver racing through me. Everything felt hypersensitive—every ripple of water, every gust of wind against my damp skin, every heartbeat pounding loud in my ears.

This was the side of me no one saw. The one I buried beneath armor and command and bloodstained steel.

I bit down on my lower lip and let my hands rest just beneath the water, palms flat against the swell of my hips. My fingers trembled. My thighs clenched.

It was humiliating—how helpless I felt in this.

How my own body betrayed me without mercy.

But at least... at least I was alone.

Far from camp.

Far from curious eyes.

The heat swelled, molten and consuming, and I let out a breathless gasp as my hand slid down into the water—lower, beneath the surface, past trembling muscle and warm skin, until my fingers brushed the part of me that throbbed with aching need. My body arched, hips twitching, a soft moan slipping through my lips before I could stop it.

I barely had time to touch myself—barely seconds—before a sharp crack split the silence.

!!!

A twig.

My head snapped around, heart leaping into my throat. Panic lanced through the haze of heat as my eyes locked onto the treeline, scanning desperately.

And then I saw him.

A figure emerged from the shadows—huge, solid, and moving with a calm, almost lazy sort of power. He stepped into the moonlight like he owned it, and for a heartbeat, I forgot to breathe.

He was tall—impossibly tall—with broad shoulders and a body made of carved stone, lean and unforgiving. One look at him and I could tell he was a demon.

Black horns curved up from his skull, sweeping back like polished obsidian, catching slivers of moonlight as he moved. His eyes were curiously open and the color of them was just- mesmerizing

Golden.

Burning like twin suns.

They flicked over me, molten and sharp, and a crooked smirk curled his lips.

"Well, well..." he drawled, voice deep and rich like smoke. He took a slow step forward, boots crunching softly against moss and leaves. "It smells divine in here."

I froze, breath lodged in my throat. The water lapped against my skin, suddenly far too loud. Far too revealing.

He lifted his head slightly, inhaling the air as though tasting it. His grin widened. "I was only taking a break, walking around in the forest to ease myself," he murmured, stepping out from the trees entirely now, his shadow stretching long across the pond. "But that scent... Mmm. How could I ignore it? It pulled me all the way here."

My skin prickled as he stared, unashamed, his gaze raking over me with deliberate slowness. I felt exposed, even with the water around me.

His eyes flared brighter, hunger dancing in them.

"It’s like a succubus queen’s gone into heat," he said, voice almost teasing, almost reverent. "The air is thick with it."

He took another step. This time, stepping into the pond

The water rippled. I flinched backward, my arms moving to cover my chest, my body. I ducked deeper into the water, until it nearly reached my chin, cheeks burning, breath coming fast and panicked.

I couldn’t hide the way my body trembled. Or the way I felt feverish and flushed and desperate.

His golden gaze didn’t miss a thing. It swept over me again, this time slower. Deeper. Hungrier.

And then he smiled. A smile that was low and wicked.

"I would’ve never guessed," he said softly, almost like a secret. "That it’d be a human."

My heart pounded so loud I could hear it in my ears. I shook my head, pressing deeper into the water, trying to vanish into it. My arms wrapped tight around myself, trying to hide, trying to hold the heat in—but it was no use.

He had already seen me.

He kept coming closer

"Stay away!" I shouted

"How could I?" He smirked, "Maybe humans can’t smell you that well, but you’d make any demon lose their mind with that scent."

I glanced around, searching for my sword.

Shit!

I spotted it with my wet clothes that I had washed and put on the boulder a little further away from the pond.

One glance and I knew it was too far away from me.

I looked back at the demon and glared at him, "Stay away from me," My gaze grew intense, "And let me bathe in peace."

He chuckled as he stopped a few steps away from me, "Both of us know you’re not going to bathe here anymore." His gaze fell, trying to look at my body through the water.

!!

I felt my body get even hotter at his action and his smile got wider

"And to think," He shook his head slightly in amusement, "That the human commander had a secret like this," He whistled, then licked his lips, "This-"

"Shut up!" I yelled, "And get lost before I kill you,"

He snickered, "You think you can kill me?" He pointed at himself, "In that condition," He then pointed at me, humiliating me.

"Don’t try me," I kept glaring at him.

He seemed thoroughly amused, "How about you let that thought slide and let me give you a hand instead?"

!?!?

"What?"

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.