Lilia's Tale

Chapter 26: Lilac

I stared at the dress, more precisely at the patterns on it, for what seemed to me like a few minutes. I decided I would wear that, wondering why I didn't wear it more before. I grabbed a pair of panties and went to take a bath.

When I entered the front room, I noticed clothes had already been prepared. However, by the time I realized it meant someone was already inside, the door opened, revealing a bare Kyo.

"Lilia!?" he shouted, rushing to cover his crotch with his towel.

"Oh hi. I didn't know you were in, I'll let you change," I said, calmly closing the door behind me.

The first thing I noticed was that his body was quite muscular, indicating some intense training, but also some maintenance of it.

"Why are you here?" he asked through the door, likely as he was changing."

"I was going to take a bath. Did I really stay in my room for that long?"

"Both Kouji-sama and I have taken our baths now. Have you not taken yours?"

"I really stood in my room for too long. Sorry, I didn't notice time go by."

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked as he opened the door, clothed, with a worried tone.

"I should be," I replied, with as convincing a voice as I could. "Although, if everyone already took their baths, I'll sleep in, I think. I'm a bit tired from the travel back home, so relaxing in the water will be nice."

"Won't you drown?"

"I won't."

"Is that because you're a water dragon?" he asked after a short pause.

"I think so. I just know I won't drown, I never tested. After all, if I actually can, it would be dumb if I died that way."

"That is very true. Well, enjoy your bath," he said as he walked away. "Oh, and don't tell anyone about what you saw, please."

"I won't tell anyone about your highly-trained muscles," I replied with a smug face before entering the bathroom and closing the door.

I stretched, placed my overwhelmingly time-consuming dress where I usually place my clothes, undressed, and headed into the bath. The water was the same that Father and Kyo used, so I decided to change the water before heading in.

While the bath was being renewed, I took a shower, wondering on why I was so mesmerized by simple lilac. What seemed to be the most simple answer was the similarity with my name, but it felt insufficient. The deeper I thought about it, the more my inability to find any answer bothered me.

As I was diving ever so deep into my own mind, I suddenly felt water on my feet, allowing my senses to come back to reality. I looked on the floor and noticed water flowing. I checked towards the apparent source, and saw that the bathtub was overflowing. I rushed to get up and stop the water, but slipped on the watery floor and hit my head hard and loud on the floor.

To my surprise, I didn't feel any pain on my head. I carefully got back up and stopped the water. Shortly after, I heard a knock on the inner bathroom door.

"Lilia, did anything happen?"

I recognized the voice to be Father's, and he sounded very worried.

"Yeah, I accidentally let the water run for too long and overflew the bath. I ended up slipping and hitting my head on the floor. I'm fine, don't worry," I explained.

However, right after I finished my sentence, the door opened, with Father at the other side. Before I could even greet him or say anything, he rushed to me, knelt in front of me and put his head very close to mine, his hands on my cheeks, his eyes locked onto my forehead.