The narcissist that became a dragon’s bride in another world – Ch 1

Hey guys, we hope you enjoy this ~
This story has roughly 40 chapters 😉

Author: Kiyo Date (伊達きよ)
Original Title: ナルシスト、異世界にて竜の嫁になる

TL: overd.o.se
TLC: Fairy
Editor: ThePlanesKeeper

Whether I stand, sit, or walk: I’m as beautiful as a rose

The bell chimes five in the evening. The sound is dull and slightly melancholic from the aged speakers of the countryside town. Beyond the mountains the sun is setting, and as the day ends, the colors in the sky change from orange to purple to a deep blue.

As Setsu opens the front door with an elementary school bag on his back, his grandmother is bundling up the harvest gathered from the fields with twine. 

“Granny…”

“Oh my, you’re covered in mud. What happened? Come inside and we’ll fill the tub with hot water.”

“….”

“What’s wrong? Hey! Take your shoes off…”

“Granny…is there something weird about me?”

“Weird?”

“Everybody says so. They say I’m weird. I wonder if I’m different from everybody else… Am I weird, Granny?”

“…Setsu…”

His grandmother takes the mud-covered Setsu into her arms, not minding the mud caking on her own clothes. The tears flow endlessly out of young Setsu’s eyes. It’s the tears that he had held back earlier, when he hadn’t cried in front of the classmates that had been teasing him. 

(Stop it…)

Setsu knew that he was seeing himself in a dream. As he saw the grandmother and grandchild embracing each other, he was driven by the urge to tear open his chest. 

(Stop…!)

Little Setsu was bawling his eyes out as he clung to his grandmother. His grandmother was gently brushing young Setsu’s head. “You’re not weird Setsu. Your hair and your eyes are very cute. You’re the cutest boy in the whole world,” she repeatedly whispers in his ear. Little Setsu just sobs “Grah-hnny…” as he kept clinging to her. 

Watching this, Setsu covered his mouth with his hand. It wasn’t because he couldn’t bear to watch this heart wrenching scene though.

(Ey, past me! Instead of crying at the situation like a baby, train to get back at the bullies! Go run to the mountains behind the village right now! Build up your basic physical strength! Train your endurance too! Don’t build too much muscle! Past me really is pathetic! If you’re me, fight back like me!)

He wanted to shout at his past self so bad, he was grinding his teeth in his sleep. But because the shape of his mouth doesn’t look pretty when he grinds his teeth, he covered his lips with his hand. Since it was in a dream, he wasn’t actually grinding his teeth. Only in spirit.

It was always the same when he had this dream. He always woke up chewing out his past self. And today as well, at the same time as always, he was suddenly brought back to the real world.

“…Mh?…”

Before getting up, he first did some stretches in his bed. Deep breathing to prepare his nervous system and exercise to raise his metabolism. After waking up from the dream, Setsu exhaled with his eyes closed, let his stretched out hands meet over his head, and twisted his lower body. Doing so, he noticed something was off.

“What the hell is he doing?”

“Well, uhm. I do not know..”

There was a uniquely boyish soprano voice. Why was there a stranger’s voice here inside the house?  He lived alone.  His back also hurt far too much from laying in the bed.  The cause of this was definitely not his beloved mattress that he had personally picked out. 

Setsu snapped his eyes open.

“Ah, he woke up.”

“Ye- Yes…!!

A young boy was intently staring down at Setsu. He had wavy black hair, skin that was so white it looked almost transparent, and cat-like eyes that were imbued with golden irises. A type of boy that he had never seen before. Next to the boy was a man with black hair and black eyes, who was dressed in a black robe-like thing that covered him from top to bottom. He quite looked like a sorcerer. He was also staring at Setsu.

“Don’t gawk at me, just because I’m so beautiful waking up.”

“…Did the Language Conversion spell not work on him?”

“Uh, no. It definitely worked, but,”

“Ah! Boy! Mirror, you’ve got a mirror?! First thing in the morning I have to check my face. Also, I’m not done with my stretches yet. And I have to do my muscle training, too… Ahh! Mornings are essential for bodybuilding! I can’t waste a single second!”

Setsu resumed his stretches while chattering breathlessly.  The boy watched for a bit before turning a questioning gaze to the man next to him.

“The Language Conversion spell is really working?”

“That is certain…”

The man mumbled as he wiped cold sweat off his forehead. When Setsu finally properly finished his stretches, he stood up with satisfaction, and turned his head to look at his surroundings.

“By the way, you, where are we and who are you people?”

He didn’t recognize the extremely spacious and dim room at all. Here and there, there were fires lit, and the flames flickered and wavered. On the bed where Setsu had slept, there were several characters, along with round symbols and complicated looking shapes written. He couldn’t read any of it. It seemed like a room that was used to hold summoning rituals for something.

“… I will explain, please follow me.”

The boy smiled broadly after a brief silence, and beckoned Setsu towards a door at the far side of the room. Setsu followed obediently, since he didn’t want to be left alone in a room like this.

“After this, kid, I’d like a mirror please?”

“…Understood.”

For an instant the boy returned to a serious look, then he nodded with a sweet smile floating across his face. The smile was like a mask, freezing his facial features in place. It was so cold and terrifying that it could make a person shake with fear if they really noticed it. (The one shaking with fear was actually the man standing next to him) Setsu, who didn’t notice anything, happily expressed his thanks to the boy.

As anyone – Himself, Shima Setsu, included – could agree, he was a narcissist. He was also gay. Ever since his very first love, he had been attracted to members of the same sex. Because of his troublesome personality (even though he didn’t see it that way himself), he had never had a real romantic partner before, but he thought that for a man of his caliber, it would be destiny that a fitting partner would appear in due course. Unexpectedly so, this prediction would turn out to be right on the money. Well to be exact, he was summoned by that destined partner.

Believe it or not, but Setsu’s destined partner was in a different world. Of course, he nodded, it was only natural that they had never met before then. 

“Destined Mates?”

“Yes.”

“You’re saying my destined partner is from this country, and has summoned me here…”

“Yes. That’s right.”

In front of him, the boy was elegantly sipping on his tea, as he confirmed Setsu’s questions. This room was much different from the dimly lit room before. It was a magnificent room with intricately crafted furnishings. On the walls hung paintings and tapestries. The latticework over the illuminations and the windows were patterned in a Chinese style, but the tea set was made up of Western style cups and saucers. This slight imbalance further created an atmosphere of a foreign country.

According to his explanation, Setsu had been summoned to a world that was completely different from his own. As was to be expected, Setsu exclaimed “Jesus, what are you talking about,” at first.  He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but when the sorcerer made him look outside the window, he finally accepted the story. Or rather: He was forced to accept it. It was night outside, and two moons were hanging in the sky. It was too dark to see clearly, but Setsu seemed to be inside what looked like a castle. Several watchfires lit up towers and walls that were all part of the castle. And if his eyes didn’t play tricks on him, there was a big “thing” flying in the sky. Since it was about as big as a human, it couldn’t be a bird.

“This really is a different world from the one i was in, huh.”

“Yes. Apologies for summoning you so abruptly.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s my fault for being unprepared…”

“…Unprepared?”

“I have an attractive face and body, I’m an all-around athlete, and I have a brilliant mind. Whether I stand, sit, or walk, I’m as beautiful as a rose. It’s not that strange that I’m needed in an alternate world. I should’ve thought about the possibility of it coming to this.”

“Hahaha,” the boy laughed at Setsu with his hands on top of his head, as though he was looking at a strange creature. But Setsu didn’t notice the way the boy was looking at him.

“So who is this Mate of Fate?”

Setsu looked all around his surroundings. In the lavish room where only the (man that seemed like a) sorcerer and the boy. Maybe he was waiting in another room, Setsu thought, and twisted his head, but the boy quietly raised his hand.

“…your Destined Mate is me.”

After a short moment of silence, Setsu laughed so hard his body bent backwards. Without even twitching an eyebrow, the boy watched Setsu’s exaggerated laugh, as the (suspected) sorcerer looked on anxiously.

“Kiddo, I’m sorry but I’m not a pedophile. I fully understand that you can’t help but fall for my charm, boy, but I can’t reciprocate your feelings. You can hit on me again 10 years from now.”

The boy let out a gloomy sigh at the wink that Setsu threw him.

“10 years from now? If that’s the case I’ll be 160 years old. I’m unfortunately trapped in this childlike body, so even if 10 or 20 years pass, my body won’t grow to become an adult.”

“160 years old?”

Setsu tilted his head to the side at the boy’s unexpected words. His slightly long hair brushed over his cheek. He brushed the hair away with a slender finger, tilted his head back upwards, and then took a long hard look at the boy’s face.

“Who is?”

“I am.”

“160 years?”

“Well to be accurate, right now I’m 150.”

“150 years? Who?”

“Me.”

“15?”

“150.”

“150?”

“Yeah.”

Watching the endless exchange, the sorcerer had turned pale. He looked back and forth between Setsu and the boy so often, he couldn’t even say whose face he was turned towards anymore. His head only went back and forth.

“This world is a terrible one.”

After asking for confirmation over and over again, Setsu finally slowly nodded. He seemingly had accepted that this other world was beyond his own comprehension.

“Well… I don’t think I will court you 10 or 20 years from now, so please don’t worry.”

“Hm?”

“I realized that meeting my Destined Mate doesn’t mean that I will become an adult, so I have no use for you.”

“What?”

“I will send you back to your world at the next double full moon, rest assured. Well then, excuse me.”

Smiling widely, the boy got up, and before Setsu could take in what he had just been told, the boy turned towards the sorcerer and said “Xiao Ya, you take care of him.” Then he stepped out of the room, the heavy doors closing with a loud bang.

“….ahh…”

Xiao Ya, the sorcerer, let his shoulders drop with a heavy sigh. He glimpsed at Crown Prince Li Huang’s Destined Mate.

“You have to be kidding me…!”

When he looked at the “Destined Mate’s” astonished expression, Xiao Ya’s heart sunk. 

Despite how much of an oddball he was, being abruptly summoned to a different world, only to immediately be pronounced “useless” had to be a shock. Although it wasn’t like Li Huang was just being malicious. He was usually more composed and would have been able to handle this properly. However now, various impressions and information had piled up, and must have worked him up to a point where he lost control over his emotions. Xiao Ya understood this, but if you saw it from the destined mate’s point of view, it didn’t matter at all. 

How should he comfort him? How should he explain? What should he do now? He awkwardly tried to call out to him.

“Um…”

“He left without giving me a mirror! Uh, I’m sorry but could you possibly bring me one?”

Seemingly Li Huang’s words hadn’t shocked him. Setsu had instinctively stood from his chair, and turned his face towards Xiao Ya to solemnly asked him to bring a mirror.

“Uh,… I will arrange a mirror for you, but,… are you alright?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Well,… I mean…”

Xiao Ya threw a fleeting glance at the closed doors. Setsu nodded “uh huh”.

“He must have been very angry. It was surely my fault. This was the first time we met and even though he is my senior, I wasn’t polite with him. No matter how beautiful I am,  I can’t be allowed to talk like that. I just subconsciously treated him like that because of his appearance.”

“I… I don’t think he minds….”

Setsu’s misguided speech made a smile twitch across Xiao Ya cheeks. Now that he mentioned it, Setsu had been using polite language with him from the start. Xiao Ya and Setsu looked to be about the same age, but Setsu must have realized now that you couldn’t judge someone’s age by their appearance. 

“Okay, the next time I’ll see him I’ll apologize,” Setsu nodded, and surprised Xiao Ya into replying “Let’s see if there even is a next time…”

For the time being he took a drink of tea to ease his parched throat, and then resolutely spoke to Setsu:

“For, for now I’ll get the mirror. After that I will talk to you about this country, about Prince Li Huang, and about what happens thereafter.”

“Li Huang?”

“The Crown Prince… He was just here a moment ago… uh?”

Suddenly Xiao Ya realized that the two hadn’t exchanged names.

“Crown Prince?”

And that he himself also hadn’t informed him. Xiao Ya held his painfully throbbing head with one hand, and managed to squeeze out more words.

“There’s a lot of information I will have to give you. Uhm… What’s your…?”

“My name is Shima Setsu, but everyone just calls me ‘Setsu’.”

“So, ‘Lord Setsu’?”

“‘Lord’ really isn’t necessary…”

“No, no. The Crown Prince’s Destined Mate has to be addressed properly.”

“I see…. Alright.”

“Ha… Hahaha…”

Internally Xiao Ya thought about how this Destined Mate might be sent back to his own world soon, and he let out a dry laugh. The Destined Mate in front of his eyes was clearly confident about his looks, and they truly weren’t bad. They were exceedingly beautiful. He had flowing golden hair, blue eyes, pale skin and slender, long limbs. His complexion, as well as his figure made him seem like a first-class human doll.The word “Adonis” perfectly suited his brilliant beauty. 

“Setsu, Setsu…, Setsu. Yes, it’s a name you can listen to over and over again.”

However, there unfortunately were problems with his interior. As he watched Setsu, who was absorbed in whispering his own name, Xiao Ya let out a sigh so heavy, it would have been able to blow a hole through the floor.