Although Ruri was finally able to get out of bed, she had not yet made a full recovery and was under doctor’s orders to remain on complete bed rest, so it was difficult for her to even get a chance to leave her room. As unfortunate as that was, Ruri herself knew better than anyone that she wasn’t well enough to stroll around the capital, so she couldn’t object.
Just after that, Riccia came in with the baby clothes. Initially, she’d made them for a human child’s body, but the baby had come into the world with a dragon’s body instead. Ruri thought her mother would be shocked to see a nonhuman grandchild, but one would expect from Riccia, her ability to adapt was so outstanding that she was thrown off for less than a second before quickly growing overjoyed.
“Omigosh, so cute!”
At the time, Ruri had still been out of sorts from the effects of childbirth, so she hadn’t seen her mother’s initial reaction, but she could easily picture it in her head. Kohaku, the epitome of a normal man, had been a bit perplexed at first, but he was the same person who’d come to this world as Riccia’s husband. He accepted the surprising situation much faster than Ruri had expected and rejoiced in the birth of his dragon grandson.
The only problem was the error that Riccia had made. It was for a human figure, so the size and shape didn’t fit the baby at all. Still, she wasn’t about to give up and pulled an all-nighter to make a pillow for Citrine to sleep on more comfortably, as well as a onesie that would fit his dragon body.
It didn’t take much time, because Citrine was so small, but she used cloth that she had scrupulously selected based on information she’d gathered via the spirits. Riccia said that she would eventually be launching a baby brand for other demi-human children as well, so this was partially fueled by her business acumen. But since Citrine was growing faster than she’d expected, she’d left Heat to tend to the store in the capital and was holed up in her room to make clothes that fit.
Even though she didn’t need to go that far, Ruri knew that her mother was thrilled about Citrine’s birth, and that made Ruri happy. Knowing that, she wouldn’t dare stop her mother. Riccia’s motivation would probably remain at full force for a while.
While Riccia went into overdrive, healed-up Ruri looked at Jade with envy as he cradled Citrine. “I want to feed Citrine mana too,” she said.
Jade had always given Citrine mana, and Ruri had never done it even once. It wasn’t like he was unaffected by Ruri’s mana, since he’d taken her mana during childbirth, but that was a different experience altogether.
Since many humans lacked mana, it wasn’t absolutely necessary for both parents to give it to their child, but after sitting back and watching Citrine beg Jade for some, it was only natural that Ruri wanted to play a part in helping her son grow as well. From Jade’s troubled look, however, it was clear that he was opposed to the idea.
“I can’t?”
“I’m not saying that, but you’re still recovering. You should wait till you’re back in shape.”
“Sure, I’m still a little sluggish, but my mana has recovered more than enough.”
“Since I’m in tune with you, I can sense that just fine, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m worried.”
“But...”
“Just be patient until we know you’re completely fine. For my peace of mind as well.”
“You’re too overprotective,” Ruri said with an awkward smile. She could sense that he was firm about not backing down no matter what he said.
Jade had only ever known about childbirth as a concept. He knew that it was hard, hard work from what he read and from secondhand experience, but he had no idea that Ruri would sleep as much as she had. Now that it was his turn to actually experience it firsthand, he learned what childbirth truly meant.
That was why Jade was in such shock and why he was staying with Ruri the entire time she was confined to bed. The reason Euclase had been in such a big rush to have Jade finish any work that required his personal seal was that they had assumed Jade would be attached to Ruri at the hip once the baby was born. Euclase had many friends who were dragonkin women, so they probably knew how hard the effects of childbirth would hit a dragonkin husband.
Sure enough, that had been the right call, as Jade had turned out to be deadweight—too concerned about Ruri to do anything. Even now, he was clinging to her, leaving most of the work to his retainers, and no matter how many times she told him he could prioritize his work, he wouldn’t budge.
But since no one was complaining about the king abandoning his work to tend to his wife, it was probably totally natural behavior to the dragonkin. It seemed to be common knowledge among them that it was more for the sake of the mate than the baby.
“I’m totally fine, though...” Ruri assured him.
Jade was a real worrywart. Ruri smiled exasperatedly and gently petted Citrine. Since he was a dragon, he wasn’t as soft and pudgy as a human baby, but he was softer in a more elastic way than an adult dragon. His scales weren’t hard and slippery like those of an adult, and the smooth texture made her want to keep touching them.
As she petted him, he nuzzled his tiny nose against her fingers. The adorable gesture struck her through the heart. “That was so cuuute! Did you see that little thing he did, Jade-sama? It was too cute!” Ruri was tempted to pick him up and nuzzle her cheek against his, but he was sleeping so comfortably that she didn’t want to wake him up, so she abandoned the idea with a sigh. “My boy is the cutest in the whole world.”
Ruri was in full doting parent mode. She looked over Jade, who looked dissatisfied.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“While I’m happy our child was born, I’ll be honest that I’m not a fan of you giving Citrine too much attention, just looking from afar,” he replied, exposing his jealousy.
“Are you seriously jealous of Citrine?”
“Grk...” Jade didn’t deny it.
Ruri giggled. “It’s not very mature of you to be jealous of your own child.”
“That is one thing and this is another. I dislike it when your attention goes toward anyone else, regardless of who it is.”
“Well, that is an annoying trait.”
“That is how dragonkin males are. Just accept it.”
“Sure, sure,” Ruri said, smiling in a bemused yet joyful way. She said it was annoying, but she also found it cute that Jade was jealous of a child.
Ruri suddenly wondered something as she removed her hand from Citrine.
“So, wait, how long do dragonkin children have to grow before they can change into human form?”
Ruri didn’t know if this was the case for all dragonkin, but as far as she knew, they lived their daily lives in full human form, indistinguishable from humans. They only changed into dragon form if there was some reason to do so, such as flying or fighting. It was common to see demi-human children with imperfect human forms, or those who weren’t able to take human forms and had left over demi-human features. But these dissipated as they grew up, and adults were able to successfully take on complete human form.
Beastmen were an exception, as they retained the appearance of beasts without taking on full human form, but Ruri wasn’t quite sure of the differences between races who could and couldn’t assume human form.