Noah immediately put that thought into practice. He stopped thinking and focused on just breathing.

Luckily, the scent tickling his nose was inherently rather soothing.

Mmm, he recognized this pleasant cologne. And this warm and wide chest. And the comfortable embrace that was like a big satin blanket, so cozy he didn’t want to move…

It all made him feel very secure. Like everything was alright. Like he was exactly where he was supposed to be. Doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.

This foreign yet familiar warmth trickled into Noah’s heart, driving away the chill. And the careful caresses patted down all of his metaphorically raised fur. And thus, the turmoil within Noah settled back down as quickly as it had previously risen up.

Seeing his unresponsive darling’s ears finally heat up after a long and nerve-racking delay, Levi let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Phew! If his baby had the presence of mind to feel shy, it meant he was ok now!

And, as if the little one could feel his tension, his two slender arms even wrapped around Levi’s waist to return the hug!

At that moment, Levi’s one-track mind completely forgot his surroundings, and he buried his face into his baby’s hair, leaving kisses everywhere he could reach. His baby bashfully curled up in his embrace but made no moves to escape.

Levi’s trail of butterfly kisses slid lower and lower, his lips slowly approaching those succulent-looking pink ears. Yet, just as he was about to take a nibble, a loud “Ahem!” interrupted him.

Levi’s eyelids twitched, yet no matter how he wished to just ignore this interruption, the source of the disturbance just happened to be one of the only three people in this world he couldn’t ignore – his father-in-law.

And the other two were obviously his mother-in-law and his baby… And the reason why he couldn’t ignore the former two was naturally because either one of them could stop him from marrying his precious darling two days from now…

“Father-in-law… is there a problem?” Levi squeezed between his gritted teeth.

Noah, snuggling within his chest, jolted and shyly peeked out of his burrow towards Cordia daddy, whose forced smile was a strange mix of polite and threatening.

“You tell me. Did something happen here? Were you not in the middle of a call with the peacekeepers?”

Noah, who had just remembered there were still other people present, “…”

The ‘other people’ Fynn, who was still on the line, “…” _(´ཀ`∠)_ He… he had really shot himself in the foot this time… who knew that at home these two would be even more lovey-dovey than at the station?! The sleep-deprived Fynn was on the verge of puking out a mouthful of blood. They were really ruthless! Shooting down all single dogs on sight with their sugar-coated bullets!

“That… yeah… we… are still working…” Noah’s mosquito voice could be heard coming from out of Levi’s chest. “I just… just found out some bad news… so… so Levi… Levi was just… comforting… comforting me…”

‘Comforting you?? How come you don’t look in need of comforting to me?!’ It was now Cordia daddy’s turn to feel the blood rise into his throat. Where are the teary eyes?? The gnawed on lower lip?? The pale complexion? Nothing???

Ah, a married out daughter–ahem, son, was like spilled milk! Lost and gone! Instead of backing up this father, he still found excuses for his beloved!

With great difficulty, Cordia daddy swallowed down his indignation to throw his baby son an encouraging look. “What bad news?” Then before Noah could respond, he opened up his arms wide, “Come let father comfort you instead!”

Both Levi’s and Noah’s expressions stiffened. The former thinking that this father-in-law was really shameless! And openly hostile to boot!!! Just look at that demeanor that said, ‘even if my youngest needs a shoulder to cry on, how can I let an outsider like you comfort him while I’m around!?’

On the other hand, Noah felt so awkward he didn’t know what to do with himself. Why was everyone treating him like a kid? Even if he was feeling down, it’s not like he would burst out in tears without intervention! Was he wearing an “in need of hugs” sign on his back or something??

“Um… thanks, dad… but… uh… no need… I’m feeling better now…”

Cordia daddy, with his arms wide open, felt like he had just aged 30 years in an instant. He barely stopped the reflexive reaction of clutching at his wounded fatherly heart.

Ah, ah! As soon as his son found a sweetheart, he threw away his old man! So heartless! QAQ

‘Son! How can you not understand your father’s good intentions?? щ（ﾟДﾟщ） Don’t you know?! Things gained too easily aren’t valuable! It’s human instinct to value the rare and take the common for granted!’

In other words…

‘Son, you can’t let this scoundrel get into your pants before marriage! In fact, if you could keep him from consummating the marriage for the next couple of years, that would be great…’ (ಥ‿ಥ)

If Levi could hear the thoughts running through Cordia daddy’s head, he would surely flip, ‘Baby, don’t listen to him! (ꐦ °Д°) See, he even dares to use the word “common” to refer to my most precious darling! Simply blasphemy!’

“I… see…” Cordia daddy’s pointed stare was glued to the touching point between Noah and Levi, forcing the former to the point of being too ashamed to continue this hug. Thus, one red-faced Noah slowly edged away back into his seat, much to Levi’s great indignation. Why shouldn’t they, two loving and soon-to-be legally wedded husbands, hug each other?! What kind of logic was this?!

“Then… keep working… I won’t disturb your work…” Cordia daddy nodded towards half-dead Fynn and then ran with his tail between his legs back to his den in the dining room, leaving the room enveloped in an awkward silence.

The silence stretched all the way until Fynn coughed, “That… about Asan being the Ghost… I don’t get it. What meaning is there to his actions? Why go to his own lab using a different communicator number? Isn’t he already in charge of this project? If we found out about the source of the drug, then we would naturally come knocking on his door first.”

Not wishing for his baby to continue thinking about this unpleasant topic, the now rather irked Levi explained in his stead with a sour tone, “Being in charge of a research project – even if you are negligent in your duty – isn’t a crime unless your negligence directly led to the loss of lives or damage to property. Which wouldn’t be the case here. However, providing the terrorists with a bio-weapon is certainly a crime.”

Levi sneered, and his tone turned even more unpleasant, “He couldn’t erase his connection to this project since he was the one in charge, but he could make sure you had nothing on him. As long as there is no evidence of his involvement with the terrorists, you won’t be able to charge him with anything.”

Levi peeked at his darling’s tacit approval, then continued, “And in that spirit, since he was in on the plan, he knew that he couldn’t openly meet with the councilor, lest we later associated him with these acts of terrorism. Thus, he came up with this method, which would not only introduce this unknown character, the Ghost, who should have sent us on a wild goose chase, but it would also give him an alibi. If questioned, he’ll just claim that he had been in another lab the entire time, as proven by the access logs, and had nothing to do with this.”

- Author Note -

Cordia daddy, ‘Son, you can’t let this scoundrel get into your pants before marriage! In fact, if you could keep him from consummating the marriage for the next couple of years, that would be great…’

Readers, "Next couple of years?! (ꐦ °Д°) Begone, foul demon! You shall not interfere with our smut!" Ψ(ꐦ ≖ ‸ ≖)Ψ

Levi, ‘In his pants? Heh heh, (≖‿≖) already been there.’

…

P.S. I know some of you are finding it hard to care about something other than Noah’s and Levi’s romance, so you’ll be happy to know we are almost done with the case. After the next chapter, there won’t be any case-related interruptions until the wedding. So you are in for a lot of laughs and fluff in the following chapters. (ﾉ*^o^)ﾉ*