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The escorts came right after breakfast and they headed to the royal palace right away. Still, by the time various advance arrangements ended the sky was already taking on the evening hue.

Leaving Tim, who apparently still had things to discuss, behind, Lucella returned to the inn a step ahead. Kafal greeted her in the lobby of their inn which looked more like a high-class apartment building.

“Good work, Lucella.”
“No problem.”

Kafal approached while hiding her hands behind her, suddenly presenting what she was hiding to Lucella.

It was a conical pastry with a bright red paste on top.

“Here’s your reward.”
“Wow. Is this ice cream?”
“I bought it over there. So humans make things like this. It’s so strange. It’s like ice but it’s sweet.”
“So they sell such things at the inn stalls… I have seen it in specialist shops in Kugutfulm too, but…”

As Tim had mentioned, this inn was known for its peaceful ambiance, where the staff refrained from being overly intrusive. However, it still had all the necessary facilities to support the guests’ stay.

The stalls in the lobby offered clothes, foodstuff, lunch boxes and sweets, and even other daily necessities.

It turned out that even ice cream was included among them.

“This seems to be raspberry flavored. It was the most delicious.”
“…the ‘most’?”

Lucella felt something off about how Kafal called it ‘the most delicious’ while acting happy.

“Don’t tell me… did you try all types?”
“Yup. I did while I was staying here.”
“Woah. Does your body have no capacity limit…?”

She could understand the feeling of wanting to try out all of it when discovering unfamiliar food. But actually managing to carry it out put her sweet-eating scale in the dragon class.

—The king would never imagine that the dragon he’s going to meet tomorrow is going around eating ice cream in the city. Maybe the report will reach him later. I bet they are at least monitoring her.

What did the stall owner think when he saw it? Lucella decided to stop thinking about that.

“Take it.”
“Okay, I’ll have some…”

In the corner of the first-floor hall with few humans around, Lucella sat down on the sofa, but Kafal quickly sat next to her, lifted her up, and put her on her lap.

—I wonder how long it has been since I last ate ice cream.

I hadn’t eaten it for a while even before I changed into this form… I was single mindedly focused on working and living, and I couldn’t spend any money recklessly since every coin was needed for Giselle…

Lucella suddenly started looking back on the life she had spent, then looked down at the small artistic sweet in her hand.

Then, she took a bite, delicately savoring it on her tongue.

“…Sweet.”

It was chillingly cold, but had a permeating sweetness.

The sweet and sour raspberry flavor mixed with the dried fruits, delivering a taste that tightened her chest.

Kafal meanwhile was nibbling on dark green ice cream.

Putting it positively, it was hearty. Putting it negatively, it was improper. But analytically speaking, it was truly befitting of a dragon.

“They said this is tea-flavored. It’s a strange taste but delicious. Would you like a bite?”

Kafal moved her ice cream near Lucella’s mouth, which was missing about forty percent after her one bite.

—I wonder when she learned about sharing food… Then again, there are more than enough family groups and couples around to serve as a reference.

After the urging, Lucella took a bite of the ice cream from the opposite side of Kafal’s bite.

“Yeah, it’s good. It’s a little bitter, but it makes the sweetness stand out even more.”
“Lucella, you got some on your cheek.”
“Oh, really?”
“Don’t move.”

The pressure from her soft and elastic chest pressed against Lucella’s back. Kafal arched her back while still having Lucella on her lap, peering into her face. Her breath brushed against Lucella and her crimson hair tickled her neck.

And then, Kafal licked her cheek as if pecking at it.

“Wah!”
“I removed it.”

It was natural but Lucella jumped up when her cheek was suddenly licked.

“Wh-, Mom I told you humans don’t normally do that stuff…”
“Parent and child… was doing it.”
“Ugh… So you saw one… W-Well, there are some people like that…”

Kafal was full of confidence in her decision after seeing humans actually doing it.

She wasn’t wrong there, but it was very situational and also embarrassing to do it in public. It needed a lot of supplementary explanation.

But it was something people understood by feel, so asking for thoughtfulness from her in that regard was a little too soon, and Lucella didn’t want to exactly forbid her from doing it either.

“Jeez…”
“Are you angry? Did you hate it?”
“I’m not, and I didn’t hate it.”

Lucella looked away with puffed cheeks. She didn’t hate it. Dragons didn’t go around licking each other clean regardless of who it was either. To put it frankly, she felt love from that action.

Kafal could do something like that calmly because she loved Lucella. Thinking about it like that made her feel like she was being tickled from the inside.

But she still didn’t really want to be seen in that state by her acquaintances, not to mention people who used to know her previous self.

“…I came here on business but…”

A sharp-looking man in a suit with combed-down hair just stood there. Lucella stiffened as if frozen in place, her heartbeat doubling in speed.

“So you can make such faces.”
“Wait.”
“Sorry for intruding on your parent-child time.”
“Wait.”
“Still, it seems that people can really get used to their situations, huh…”
“Don’t abandon me heree!”

In the intentionally spacious and deserted lobby, Lucella’s scream echoed hollowly.

Author’s note:

The fantasy world I’m writing is intended to be one where the incorporation of magic into everyday life has brought about a civilization level similar to the Industrial Revolution, but with the abundance of “cooling magic,” advancements in technologies like air conditioning, refrigeration, and freezing have progressed even further.

By the way, in real history, mass production of ice cream began around the mid-19th century.

Also, I wonder if it’s acceptable to use “sharing food” in a fantasy world.

…I struggled with this, but I felt that trying to rephrase it would make it too heavy. So, I decided to stick with “sharing” as it is.

Japanese is hard.