Reborn: Demon Core Read Free

feel as if they were pushing him away. He had never spent
much time with the guards, but even the maids had started doing it
as well, including those that he used to talk with about Yuki.
    Shortly after he entered the garden, Emelia
appeared at the door of the manor with a large smile. “I’m home,”
Ash said with an awkward smile as he lightly gave Emelia a kiss on
the cheek.
    “That’s all I get?” Emelia said, furrowing
her brow and crossing her arms.
    Defeated, Ash bent down planning to lightly
kiss Emelia’s lips, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and
pulled him into a deep and long kiss instead. “That’s better,”
Emelia giggled after she let go of his lips.
    “What has you in such a good mood?” Ash asked
while he tried to stand up and found that her arms were still
firmly locked around his neck.
    “I just received a letter from the capital,”
Emelia said happily while letting him go and dancing back from him.
“The king sent his congratulations on the marriage and sent his
apologies for missing the ceremony.”
    “Missing the ceremony. I thought we had it so
that he wouldn’t know about it?” Ash asked slightly confused.
    “We did,” Emelia admitted. “But I did it in a
way that looked as if I intended him to learn of it. I sent out
letter months before the wedding. That is why so many nobles were
here, but for some reason the letters sent to the nobles in and
around the capital were delayed due to bandit attacks. Well that is
the story they told anyway, but in truth they were just told to
make sure that by the time they arrived it would already be too
late for the King to attend or properly investigate your
background.”
    “Really,” Ash said as he thought about it.
The king could have still cancelled the marriage but not without
causing a small uproar amount the other nobles so he had
essentially had his hands tied by the tactic Emelia used. “Wait!
Doesn’t that mean that you had the wedding planned months before
you asked me to marry you?”
    “Ah!” Emelia said her face suddenly blushing.
“Well…I just…You need a bath, you smell like ogres,” Emelia said
quickly retreating inside.
    “I was had,” Ash said as Emelia disappeared
through the door.
    As they did every time, Ash and Emelia bathed
together. After they had gotten over their nervousness about their
bodies, they had started talking during this time, but today they
had returned to the uneasy silence. “Are you mad?” Emelia finally
asked, her voice slightly shaking as she washed Ash’s back.
    “I…Am not really mad,” Ash replied as he
tried to sort out his feelings. “I just don’t know why you didn’t
tell me sooner or ask earlier.”
    “It was really hard to ask you at all,”
Emelia said as she placed her forehead against Ash’s bare back.
    “Why?” Ash asked, not understanding. It was
true it was a pretty big favor, but he didn’t see why it would be
so hard for her to ask.
    “Because I…Was afraid you would say no,”
Emelia admitted. “But now I have you and I am not letting you go,”
Emelia added as she wrapped her arms around his neck and brought
her head next to his ear. The feel of her breath against his neck
sent a tingle down his spine.
    Listening to Emelia’s words, things started
to move into place in Ash’s mind. Turning his head, his face was
only inches from Emelia’s and her eyes looked into his while giving
off an intense feeling. “Emelia…You,” before he could finish his
sentence, his lips were sealed by Emelia’s.
    Pulling back, Emelia blushed a light pink all
the way to the tips of her ears. “I…I love you,” Emelia said, her
voice weak and slightly trembling. “I have ever since I watched you
sleeping on the carriage.”
    Ash was stunned by the sudden declaration as
Emelia pushed herself away and hid herself in the bath, sinking so
low that only her eyes were visible. Looking at Emelia lurking in
the water, Ash felt a twinge in his heart. He was the same age