Well, listening to gossip wasn’t limited to the nobility. Seeing that, I knew it was only a matter of time before rumours spread throughout the palace. Not that it mattered much – there were already rumours that Zetak and I were lovers. So I didn’t pay much attention and kept talking.

Well, it’s not just the nobles who keep their ears open for gossip. When I saw her reaction, I realised it was only a matter of time before the rumours spread throughout the palace. Not that it mattered – there were already rumours that Zetak and I were having an affair. So I ignored it and carried on.

“If the stimulation of moving up and down is too intense, we could start with a little rubbing. If it’s too hard for you at first, I’ll hold the tentacles for you. Once you’re used to that, we can move on to kissing… or perhaps it would be more accurate to call it oral s*x. Doing it at the same time might be a new experience for you.”

“….”

Zetak covered his eyes with his hand and let out a deep sigh that seemed to come from deep within his chest. I heard him mutter.

“Damn, why is all the embarrassment mine?”

He seemed shy. But was he aware of something, I wondered – that despite his initial refusal to undress, he was now discussing intercourse with me?

Since he hadn’t argued further about the prophecy, he seemed to believe what I had said, at least to some extent. Perhaps not completely, but enough. If that was the case, then perhaps he also believed that he would grow. It felt like a needle piercing a corner of my heart. What I had said was a lie. He wouldn’t grow.

***

When we got back to the dormitory, Zetak went straight to the bathroom. I followed him, and as he filled the bath, he looked back at me. His expression clearly asked why I had come in. I shut the door and leaned against the wall.

“I said I’d watch, didn’t I?”

“I never said I’d show you.”

“You’re changing your words. Didn’t you agree to put yourself inside me?”

“Please, for the love of—could you stop saying that with such a straight face?”

Zetak let out a breath, as if to calm himself, and looked at me. He always mumbled and clung to me during the act, so why was he so reluctant afterwards? Was it really just a problem with his lower body? I looked down at him.

“I was the one who washed you when I brought you from the temple. Are you embarrassed now?”

“Embarrassed…”

Zetak’s expression seemed to twist with discomfort. The truth was, although I’d bathed him after I’d brought him back from the temple, I didn’t really remember much about that moment. At the time, my attention had been focused on Zetak’s scars and snake scales. His g*nitals hadn’t bothered me in the least.

“Why do you want to see my body so badly? If I say I don’t want to, do you have to?”

Before, it was just because I didn’t think it was fair that I hadn’t seen it.

But now I had a specific reason: I wanted to find traces of the experiments he’d been through. If I said this openly, he would definitely refuse to undress.

“Alright, I understand.”

I pushed myself away from the wall and approached him.

“I’ll take my clothes off too. That way you won’t be the only one embarrassed.”

“What the – are you crazy…?”

“If we wash together it might be less embarrassing for you.”

I said as I unbuttoned my clothes, and Zetak looked up at me in disbelief. But his words were less forceful than before.

“I can’t believe it… You want to do that in front of a demon? Instead of running, you talk about holding tentacles. How can you say such things so easily?”

“Isn’t it possible?”

“The future you claim to have seen… Well, let’s say it’s true. But if you’re using that vision as a reason for this kind of contact, it’s not necessary.”

I was puzzled by his refusal. Before he came back to the dormitory, he seemed to respond positively to our relationship. Why did he suddenly say this?

“You change your words. In the palace, you said you would use your tentacles rather than your g*nitals – not that you wouldn’t do anything at all.”

“That was just me getting caught up in Your Highness’s wordplay. You said you could see the future, right?”

Zetak let out a small sigh.

“You said I cared about you. No, if I did, I wouldn’t have hugged you like that. Even if… damn it. Fine. If I ended up with a deformity, I would never use my g*nitals for a relationship. If I really cared about Your Highness, I wouldn’t.

“….”

“I don’t know what kind of situation would lead us to such a relationship in the future, but if that future is true, then I don’t care about you.”

There was a hint of self-loathing in his muttered words. I hadn’t expected him to interpret it that way. The mention of the future seemed to have backfired.

“Aren’t you jumping to conclusions?”

I added bath salts. Since he didn’t seem inclined to help me undress, I started unbuttoning my clothes myself, looking at him.

“Even for a couple it’s not always perfect. There will be times when we fight. Maybe in the future you were angry and that’s why you held me like that.

“If I couldn’t take care of my partner because I was angry, then it’s not a real relationship. It would be more plausible if my future self was just using you to satisfy my desires.”

He stepped back, muttering under his breath. In a way, it was a rather perceptive answer – for it was closer to the truth.

“If that future is true, it means I will treat you that way eventually, even if I don’t want to now.”

“Well… that’s fine, I suppose.”

After all, it would be a different future to the one I had seen.

“Fine, you say?”

Zetak’s expression turned dark. But I paid no attention. Even if I asked why, he wouldn’t answer. He tended to hide his thoughts completely when he looked like that.

“Why are you just standing there? I’m already undressed. If you’re not going to undress, at least help me.”

Zetak looked at me for a moment before he let out a small sigh. He scooped up a large amount of water and poured it directly over my head.

“There. All done. Now get in.”

“Rude. You know it was hot, right?”

“I added cold water. You must be mistaken.”

He had scooped the hot water right in front of me – when had he supposedly added cold water? Seeing his expressionless yet shameless behaviour, I found my hand unconsciously moving to the back of his neck. But what could I do? He seemed to be in a bad mood, so I had no choice but to let him go.

I massaged my neck and stepped into the tub. I waited for Zetak to undress and join me, but instead he stood at a distance, his expression dark as he occasionally clicked his tongue.

“What are you so hung up on? If you don’t like this future, just change it. Whether you succeed or fail, isn’t it better to try than to do nothing?”

Zetak looked at me. His red eyes narrowed slightly.

“Change the future…”

He repeated my words quietly, his expression calm but somehow cold. After a long moment of silence, he looked at me.

“The future you said you saw…”

Zetak spoke slowly. Though I had tried to comfort him, his gaze seemed even more subdued than before.

“…It’s kind of amusing when you think about it. It seems the gods have too much free time on their hands.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“No more important prophecies to give, so they decide to give a vision about someone’s love life”.

Isn’t that right? It wasn’t really a question – it was a rebuke. It felt like he was asking what else I was not telling him.

Hearing these words, I realised there was a rather glaring error in what I had said – a ridiculous inconsistency that was obvious if you thought about it for a moment. Prophecies and visions weren’t just handed out.

The consequence of impulsively saying whatever came to mind, I suppose. Zetak was sharp, and it seemed he now fully believed that I had had some kind of vision. And he probably also realised that it wasn’t the sweet future of lovers I’d described.

“You said there was blood everywhere. What exactly did you see?”

He repeated my own words. How much had he found out? Probably not everything. He wouldn’t be able to deduce everything just from the fact that I saw the future.

But he had certainly understood that something significant enough to warrant a prophecy was going to happen in the future – and that I was trying to change it.

I expected him to press me further, but Zetak remained silent. He didn’t glare at me, nor did he show any sign of malice. Instead, he just stared quietly into the distance. What thoughts were running through his mind? After a long moment he spoke in a low, almost inaudible voice.

“…What I wanted to do.”

There was no emotion in his voice. What he was going to do… Was he referring to the plan he seemed to have in the future I saw? Or was he simply talking about his goal of killing me? Zetak shifted his gaze to look at me.