Free and Unfettered 90 Claiming Marks

"Mmh," Nocturne murmured, sleepy. "Nine?"

Nine laughed, landing a kiss on his cheek. "Don't get up. I'll just go out first."

Nocturne rubbed his eyes and unintentionally closed them again, drifting back into dreamland.

°•°•°•🐢. . . .

Nocturne snapped back into awareness, shooting off the bed. Moments later, he collapsed back onto the bed, aching everywhere. Stunned, he just stared up at the ceiling. Why was his body aching in places he never thought they would? Especially his lower back area.

He tried to recall what happened the previous night. Did he…did he sleep with Nine? Did that mean he gave up his ass virginity to Nine? Why couldn't he recall anything?!

The memories of last night slowly trickled back into his mind, causing him to flush a bright red. He looked at his hand and found the ring that Nine slipped on last night. The smile on his face couldn't be stopped, and he pressed a happy kiss to the ring.

"It really wasn't a dream!" he murmured to himself.

Nine smiled at the myriad of emotions Nocturne's face cycled through in a scant minute. She could almost read the commentary going on inside his head.

The blue-haired prince pressed the cold glass of milk to Nocturne's face, smiling wider at his little flinch.

"Thank you," Nocturne said calmly, hiding his beating heart. He took the glass of milk from Nine and finished all of it, unable to look Nine in the eyes at this moment. It wasn't that he didn't want to, but all the embarrassing things he did the previous night was rushing to the forefront of his mind right now, so there was no way he would be able to look at Nine without his face turning scarlet.

Nine, feeling his embarrassment, decided to help him along slightly. She leaned in and pinched his chin between her fingers, turning him face her. Nine pressed firm lips to his, licking his bottom lip.

When Nocturne gasped, she pressed in, exchanging a passionate morning kiss with her man. Satisfied, she licked her lips and pecked him on the cheek. "I'm going for morning court now. You can sleep more if you want to."

Nocturne tried to catch his breath from the unnecessarily hot morning kiss that he just received. He inwardly wondered how he was going to function at all today, watching Nine teleport.

Getting ready for the day, when he looked at himself in the mirror, he got a shock at the trailing line of hickeys down his neck. His formerly pale skin instantly flushed, touching the tender skin.

Nine must have injected venom into those little bites yesterday… Well, in any case, healing them up wasn't even an option, but keeping these under his clothes made him feel like he was being naughty.

Helpless but unable to bring himself to get rid of the claiming marks, he pulled on a shirt that had a higher collar, leaving to have his daily morning spar with Seyton and Shade, as well as the people from the Mage Tower, also known as Nine's hardcore fans from the Verities.

When he arrived at the training grounds, Seyton and Shade were already there, staring at him strangely.

"Nocturne, you…" Shade started off, unable to bring himself to say the full sentence. "You…"

Seyton studied Nocturne, his expression dry. "So, you finally consummated your marriage with Master. Congratulations."

"Congratulations," Shade echoed, clearly awkward with this entire conversation.

Nocturne's face instantly went up in flames, but he didn't deny it. If he could, he would already be boasting about it from the high heavens, but he didn't even want to share even the tiniest detail about it with anyone else, so he didn't.

"Thank you," he said, faking calmness.

Nearby, one of the Verities' mouth dropped open.

"Hey! Did you hear that or not!" he whispered furiously to his fellow fan beside him.

"Hear what?"

"The Crown Princess and our idol just had sex! Sex!"

The other fan was baffled by this random conversation. "Yeah, so what. They've been married for a while now, so isn't that a given?"

"No, you don't understand," the first fan groaned, shaking his friend. "Our! Idol! Got! Stolen! By! A! Man!"

"A man??? What!"

"Ugh, are you blind. The Crown Princess is a man, got it? But, I kind of admire him. He loves our idol so much that he's married himself in as a Crown Princess."

"Ahh, the Crown Princess is a man… agh, why wasn't I that lucky!" the Verity said, shedding tears.

The Verities whispered with each other, unsure what they should be feeling right now. More and more of them joined in, both male and female, sneaking badly disguised glances at Nocturne. There were some glances that were clearly unfriendly that their idol had been stolen away by another man.

Nocturne, Shade and Seyton stood in a triangle formation, feeling awkward.

"…They don't know we can hear them as clear as day, do they?" Shade said speechlessly. "Well, ignore them. Or if you want, you can just beat them up in a spar. Want some help?"

"It's fine," Nocturne said, not even feeling any annoyance from the reaction of Nine's fans. In fact, he felt kind of smug that he had Nine all to himself.

He was barely containing his grin from showing on his face. That was how happy he was. Nothing could bring him down right now. He was on top of the world.

Within the blink of an eye, Nine appeared beside Nocturne.

"Hello, dear wife," Nine said teasingly. She pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek.

"Hello, dear husband," Nocturne relied back, his face lighting up instantly.

The Verities nearby descended into a chaos of hushed whispers, nearly exploding from the overload of information they were receiving right now.

"Oh my god, did you see that? The Crown Prince was so sweet with his wife!"

The Verity hugged her friend, nearly dying from the cuteness overload. "Not only that. Did you see how soft our idol was when he was with the Crown Princess?! Ah, if only I was able to have that look directed at me!"

Another fan squeaked. "Ah, I ship it!"

"They're so cute together!"

"Eh, but the Crown Princess is a man, right?" one questioned, looking hesitant.

Nine overheard them and raised a brow. She looked at Nocturne, who was blushing softly with pink cheeks. She let out a laugh.

"Ah, being able to hear our idol laugh… The Crown Princess has blessed us!"

"Yeah, guys. Shut up. We're only able to hear our idol laugh and see him smile because he's with the Crown Princess!"

"But that 'Princess' is a man!"

Nine looked that last fan who kept insisting that Nocturne was a man in the eyes as she kissed Nocturne fully on the lips, sweeping him into her arms. She hugged Nocturne's head to her chest as she winked at the Verities, pressing her index finger to her mouth as a sign that they should keep quiet about Nocturne's identity as a male.

There was some distinct swooning in the background at Nine's actions. Their idol was behaving so charmingly today!

"I'll only ever have Nocturne by my side until the day I die. He's the one and only lover I'll ever have, so be kind to him for me, okay? Help me take care of him if I'm not around," Nine said, flashing a smile at her fans.

"Okay," they replied dreamily.

The one fan that was outwardly jealous Nocturne was a man felt light-headed. "Ooh, if the Crown Princess makes our idol happy, then we'll just support them by the side, right guys?"

"Right," they echoed back.

Flashing them a teasing smirk, Nine whisked Nocturne away from the crowd, leaving Seyton and Shade behind as well.

Chapter end