“What?”
“……”
“Ah?”
Xuefei got it.
Did she want to use her dragon form to latch onto it?
One had to admit, it was a bit over the top!
But there was nothing wrong with it—after all, you needed a humanoid body to nurse.
Xuefei rather liked her daughter’s soft little tongue. Her kids were plenty gentle even in dragon form, but they surely wouldn’t try to swallow the whole thing… right? They wouldn’t, would they?
Chesia woke to the scent, sprawled atop Leia’s massive tail. She watched Xuefei with careful intensity, her eyes brimming with hunger. She’d told Tilly not to bother Mama, but oh, how she craved that fragrant milk.
Of course, Tilly wasn’t one to listen.
When her belly started rumbling, she had no idea how to ask for what she needed, so all she could do was let out plaintive whines.
The more Xuefei thought about it, the more her heart ached. She beckoned with one hand, and Chesia floated right up to her face. Gazing at the two giant dragons before her, Xuefei could hardly believe they’d come from her own womb—and that fully ninety percent of their nourishment had come from her, too.
A strange sense of accomplishment welled up inside her.
“Mama~ Just give in to us~”
In the face of Tilly’s coquettish pleading, Xuefei didn’t have a single reason to say no.
Tilly gently pawed at Xuefei with her claws, wrapping her tender wings around her to hold her steady against Leia’s enormous body. Her own frame was just big enough to pin Xuefei in place while she savored their mother’s bounty (meow meow~).
Chesia sidled up a touch shyly, clambering onto Xuefei as well. The two little dragons pinned her from both sides, trapping her in the warm cradle of their bellies.
And so began their grand feast.
The long wait had left them ravenous.
The mamas had run off for some fun on their own, leaving the little ones without a proper meal all day. Lunch had been a mere few dozen pounds of roasted meat—barely enough to tide them over.
“Woo, you two little dummies… If—if… mmph, if you’re ever that hungry again, you have to tell Mama, okay?”
The two little dragons chirped their cheerful agreement. Chesia brimmed with guilt, wondering how she’d ever beguile her mama again without causing trouble.
She didn’t want to be a burden, but her stomach hurt so much.
“I’m sorry, Mama.”
“Hm?”
“I shouldn’t have… waa, I shouldn’t have made Tilly hold back. It’s all my fault.”
Truth be told, Chesia had been just as sleepless with hunger that night as Tilly.
But she hadn’t wanted to disturb Mama’s rest. Instead, she’d watched Tilly in secret, torn between restraint and desperate hope for more of Mama’s nourishment.
She wasn’t sure if she’d end up bawling her eyes out from the sheer unfairness of it.
Ever since turning into a little dragon, her tear ducts had grown ridiculously sensitive. She couldn’t tell if it came from Leia’s genes or Xuefei’s. By the time she snapped out of it, it felt like her entire life as the War God had melted away in the womb and the eggshell—leaving only faint echoes of her power and battle instincts.
She had always been timid, terrified of troubling Xuefei, of being scorned by Leia, of having this gentle wife reject her and cast aside the empty shell she’d become.
She’d always assumed her feelings for the Demon God King would steal Leia’s love away, so she’d moved with utmost caution in everything she did…
…Even in those sweet moments of suckling. Even in those warm embraces.
It was only when she realized her actions wouldn’t make the pink collar around Xuefei’s neck twitch even slightly that she began to let her guard down.
It was a boundary. A shackle.
Her own interpretation of familial “affection,” which solidified her resolve: her craving for “love,” her demands on her companions and family. She was grateful to Leia—no less than to anyone else besides Xuefei.
“Don’t overthink it. I get it, Chesia.”
Xuefei often came off as carefree, even lazy.
But she understood everything.
She just loved her children so fiercely that it made her seem a little dim sometimes. Just like she had been thousands of years ago.
“Chesia, you’re just like me. Don’t forget what Leia told you.”
Tilly shot the two of them an odd glance before shutting her eyes to keep enjoying herself.
Xuefei snuck a hand up to stroke Chesia’s little dragon head.
Cradled in Mama’s body, amid all that tenderness, she gradually forgot her restraint.
She knew just how lucky she was. She’d inherited the Demon God King’s will, worn down over endless years, and yet Xuefei had accepted her all the same. Even if Xuefei remembered that despairing “abyss,” her face likely wouldn’t betray the slightest hesitation.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I’m so sorry…”
“……”
Xuefei’s attempts to hush her didn’t stop Tilly’s apologies. She lost herself in Mother’s gentleness, reveling in sensations she’d never known decades ago. If there was any difference from the usual, it was the stark contrast that Tilly—used to all this by now—had never felt.
Those who have never experienced despair naturally cannot appreciate the small joys of everyday life.
~~~
Xuefei’s consciousness was a blur as she opened her eyes. It was already morning.
She had only a vague memory of the night before and woke up mildly surprised to find herself in human form.
“Hey, hey, Little Ya—why hasn’t it gotten any smaller when we’ve eaten so much from Mom?”
“Maybe there’s still plenty more~”
“You think? But what do we do if it stops tasting good…”
“If she doesn’t wake up, we won’t have any food left, you know?”
“Wait—Mom’s waking up!”
Xuefei sat up from the ground.
A mix of cold and warmth enveloped her. She groped around nearby, found her clothes, and yawned in a daze.
She had half a mind to whine and accuse her ungrateful little brats of wolfish behavior, but then she thought better of it. Daughters couldn’t be expected to think rationally when they were nursing, and with Leia right there, no one could have peeked at her anyway. No harm done.
Xuefei was utterly shocked by how thoroughly depleted her reserves were.
What should have lasted her through the morning had been licked clean by the two ravenous little dragons.
“You two little rascals—transform into human form right now so I can give you a proper scolding…”
“Eh?”
The two little dragons exchanged a bewildered glance.
“I thought Mom already scolded us last night,” one said. “She even shoved us away several times. It took all our strength to climb back into her arms.”
“When was that?”
“Just last night,” Chesia said in her soft voice. “Doesn’t Mom remember?”
“Yeah, yeah! I even thought a ghost was fighting us for it (meow~)…”
Xuefei let out a sigh.
Drained dry as she was, she hadn’t been able to wake up at all—how was she supposed to notice?
But she didn’t sleepwalk. And even if she did, a human like her couldn’t possibly shove the little ones aside—let alone giant dragons.
“Little Xuefei, you’re finally awake?”
Leia looked down at her with a chuckle, head tilted.
Unlike the two little dragons, Leia had taken human form as well.
Xuefei realized she’d been using Leia’s soft, pillowy breasts as a pillow—that explained why she’d slept so soundly.
But there was something odd about Leia’s expression.
Leia cupped Xuefei’s chin and murmured, “Last night really was a wonderful night, wasn’t it?”
