The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 101: Rainbows and flowers and what it meant to be healthy

Chapter 101: Rainbows and flowers and what it meant to be healthy

"It’s so red..."

I mumbled in a low tone as my eyes stared at the condition of my inner thighs. They were as red as a blooming flower, creating a line from the rigorous movement befalling upon my skin last night.

How many times did he end up doing it last night? I wasn’t counting, and my muddled head couldn’t think properly anyway.

"Sorry," I heard his insincere apology, accompanied by a light-hearted chuckle as he embraced me from behind, rubbing the area near the reddened part.

"Don’t!" I warned him with pursed lips, to which he responded with a kiss on my cheek. But he didn’t move his fingers further, just stayed holding the outer part of my thigh.

Don’t misunderstand--I didn’t scold him. I just wanted to try something.

I stared at the reddened parts and reached down, touching them lightly. It stung for a bit, like a leftover feeling of a bruise. But I circulate my mana, calling out the wood’s regeneration and the water’s rejuvenation, pooling it into my palms and my thigh.

Slowly, a soft glow in green and light blue danced around my hands, and when they receded, my thighs had returned to their normal condition, and when I pressed on it, there was no stinging feeling anymore.

Hmm, it was as if nothing happened last night.

"Oh, I did it..." I giggled quietly. It was the first time I tried direct healing with a druid’s skill, since there was no need for me to do that before. It was nothing big, but I was still glad that it was a success.

I was rewarded with another kiss on my neck. "Good job," Natha said while fixing my nightwear back; pulling my pants and tying the cord neatly in place. He didn’t let go of me after that, however, placing his palm above my abdomen. "Your circuits have stabilized. I think you’re in better shape compared to before you got sick, even."

"Really?" I wouldn’t know, since I woke up with this body already in tatters.

"Well, aside from the mana gates, which haven’t opened completely. But you’ll probably be back in shape before spring," Natha leaned back and ran his fingers through my hair, combing it as usual. "You still drink the herbal tea diligently, right?"

"Of course," I almost nodded in response, before remembering that Natha was in the middle of fixing my hair. "I think I’m so used to it now that I will continue drinking it even after I completely healed."

The thing about elixir, or any medicine, really, was that our body built up resistance against it naturally. So even while Natha gave me the Amrita every week, it only melted the blockage a little bit at a time. The potency was getting lower and lower with each dosage, so it took longer than we expected for my mana gates to get back to normal.

But it didn’t matter, though. It wasn’t like we got some urgent deadline, especially if, as he said, I was actually in better shape than Valmeier ever did. Perhaps because I managed to tap into that royal druid sealed gene.

And the matter about being the bride...it didn’t really matter anymore, for obvious reasons.

It would be best, however, if I managed to heal completely before the Hero ever set foot in this area. But I feel like I would have enough time, since the man was still busy with that rebel force business. I didn’t think it would be resolved quickly, so even though the Empire was only like...two regions away from the realm of greed, he probably wouldn’t be here any sooner than spring.

"Anyway, since we indulge the kids yesterday, I’m going to kidnap you today," Natha said after he fastened a cord to tie my hair. I turned my head and looked at him curiously, and he continued after kissing the center of my raised brows. "You need to try going through the portal too, since we don’t know if you’ll get a side effect or not."

I blinked and turned my body this time, swiveling atop his lap. "There’s a side effect?"

"Sometimes," he nodded. "Nothing too serious though. If the construction of the spell formation wasn’t too good, there might be a headache or nauseating effect. Although it also depends on the user’s constitution."

Hmm...so it still worked like many other modes of transportation. The side effects also seemed similar to motion sickness. Well, I heard teleportation spells also had that kind of effect, depending on the proficiency of the casters.

"So let’s test your reaction to it, we’ll have an afternoon tea in the greenhouse with the siblings."

"Oh, with the twins?"

Natha nodded and added with a smile. "You haven’t met the oldest yet, right?"

"Her too?" I let out a high exclaim unconsciously.

I got kind of excited. Among those on the ’friendly’ side, Malta was the only one I haven’t managed to encounter. Apparently, she was kind of like Natha’s chief secretary, so she was the busiest one among the vassals.

"Hmm...in that case, wouldn’t it be alright to bring Zia too?" I tapped my chin in pondering. "But Jade might sulk then..."

Just as I said that, chirping sounds suddenly filled the room. It was as if the bird knew I was just mentioned its name. Jade flew through the window that was no longer getting blocked by Natha’s barrier, and sent out a series of aggressive chirping toward the Demon Lord that felt like a string of curses.

Perhaps it was.

"Heh, what are you gonna do about it?" Natha tilted his head and smirked childishly, as if he knew what the little bird was saying to him.

Although it was possible too, since Natha could just sense Jade’s thoughts.

*chirpchirpchirp!!*

I had no idea how a chirping sound could feel like a growl, but that was what happened. Natha just laughed in response though, as usual. "Too bad, brat. Blame yourself for not getting strong eno--"

SPLASH!

What...I stared blankly at the splashing sound of a water ball blasting Natha’s face. The Demon Lord also paused and blinked in surprise, looking stunned as water dripped from his hair and face, wetting the front of his loose nightrobe.

The first one who made a sound among us, of course, was the culprit. *CHIRP!* it was a haughty sound full of mockery.

"What the--"

"Oh my God!" I stood up on the bed and lurched to grab the chubby little bird. "Did you just...you can cast magic now?!"

*chirp!* Jade replied proudly, wings stretched out above my hands that were holding it.

I gasped loudly and raised the little bird high, twirling atop the big bed. "Oh my God, my baby! You’re so smart!"

Jade did have the ability to sense mana or communicate with elementals, but it was more like an instinct and basic trait of magical creatures. Intentionally casting magic like this was new, not to mention it was the water elemental that we only got recently, so I couldn’t help but feel excited.

I laughed merrily and brought the chubby bird to my cheek, where it chirp mirthfully and nuzzled my face while sending rainbows and flowers to my mind. "Such a good bird! Who’s a good bird? Who’s a smart bird? You--yes you! My cute baby!!"

We rubbed our cheeks against each other, laughing and chirping together. From our connection, I knew that it was the first time Jade successfully casting magic, and it was probably triggered by his annoyance at Natha.

It was funny, and I laughed some more, jumping off the bed and running around the room like a child.

I knew I might look like I was overreacting, since Jade inherently was a ’pet’. But Jade wasn’t a pet, it was a familiar. And with familiar, I could feel a different level of understanding since we were connected by our souls. Jade’s growth felt like my growth, and its innocent, pure, childlike happiness flew inside me.

It felt so nice, like the world was such a fun place. I didn’t even know if I ever felt this happy when I was a child. I wasn’t sure, because surely, I wouldn’t forget about it if I was ever this happy.

I was filled with so much joy that for a moment, I forgot about the victim of the water ball attack, who suddenly asked me out of nowhere.

"Do you want to have a baby?"

The question made me pause in the middle of my twirling motion, and I stopped to look at Natha, who, for some reason, looked at me with keen eyes.

"No," I answered honestly, without hesitation.

"Why not?"

I raised my brows at his response. "Because I’m a man with male preference in terms of romantic and sexual relationships," I answered diplomatically.

"And?"

Again, I blinked before answering. "...and that means it’s impossible for me to have a baby?"

"Why do you think it’s impossible?"

I let go of Jade then, who surprisingly kept silent, and flew to the nearest cabinet without protesting. Perhaps It sensed a weird mood between me and Natha within this strange, out-of-nowhere, sudden interview.

In my silence, Natha continued with a follow-up statement. "You can have something like adoption, even if you can’t conceive a baby."

Ah, well...that was true. I tilted my head slightly, contemplating the answer I was about to give him. I couldn’t completely tell him what I was thinking, but...staring blankly at the sky outside the window, I muttered a reply. "I never thought about that,"

"Why?"

"...because I didn’t think I’d manage to reach adulthood," I told him quietly, honestly. But I was sure he had no problem hearing me.

Yeah...even with my grandpa’s support and trust fund, I wasn’t confident that I would be able to step into adulthood. Even when I did manage to, I still lived my life on a sickbed, getting too weak to even move around, getting too numb to even taste and feel anything...

How could I even think about taking care of others when I myself constantly in need of a caregiver?

"But you did," Natha’s low, soothing voice snapped me out of my thought. I blinked and turned my head slowly, belatedly realizing that he was already standing beside me. Water still dripping from his hair and brows, but he was absolutely beautiful with the sunlight pouring in through the window. "You’ve reached adulthood, and you’re healthy now."

Of course, I knew that Natha took it from Valmeier’s perspective; that he was shoved into a war at a young age, a condition where he could die anytime. And then he ended up with a severe affliction that killed him--although I was the only one who knew about it.

He might not know about me; about my bedridden condition and my death; about years of giving up on a future.

But it would be alright to think that he talked about ’me’ instead of ’Valmeier’ right? At least at this moment, it was okay to pretend that he knew my condition and talked about me, right? Because right now, more than ever, I needed that silver eyes that staring tenderly at me to belong solely to me.

It took a while for me to respond. Not because I needed to digest that statement, but because it suddenly put me into perspective. Oh...so there were still that many things I could do now that I was healthy.

Oh--so that was what it meant to be healthy.

The joy of doing something that you want, and the joy of finding something that you might want.

As I stared at Natha blankly, he smiled and waited patiently for my response while caressing my cheek. The question was still hanging in the air, and my heart was suddenly filled with something so...

So aching yet wonderful at the same time.

"Yes," I replied slowly, to that dazzling smile in front of me. "Yes, I think so."