The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 112: Aren’t you too old to bicker with a few-month-old child, my Lord?

Chapter 112: Aren’t you too old to bicker with a few-month-old child, my Lord?

The next morning, I woke up with Natha spooning me on one side, and Jade curled up beside me on the other side.

My mind and body felt refreshed after sleeping early, and I woke up feeling even better with the two entities that connected with my soul flanking me. They would probably bicker again the moment they woke up, so I wanted to enjoy this as much as I could.

I pulled Jade’s small form to my chest, while sinking my body deeper inside the Lord’s embrace, sighing contentedly. I could feel Natha’s soft breath on my nape as he chuckled quietly, and pulled me even closer. But he didn’t say anything, just kissing my neck gently.

Ah...what a nice way to start a day.

But soon, the kisses on my neck felt ticklish, and I couldn’t help but giggle in response. The vibration coming from my chest eventually jolted the little bird awake, who sat there and blinked its beady green eyes, as if trying to remember where it was.

Cute.

I watched Jade slowly regain its bearing, until the little bird dove into my chest again. [Master! Good morning!]

"Yeah, good morning too, Jade," I patted the green head with a laugh and asked Natha. "When did Jade come back last night?"

"Not long after you fall asleep," Natha gave me one last peck on my nape before getting up. "We decided to have a truce so you can rest well."

I rolled my eyes at the Demon Lord and the elemental bird whose first greeting toward each other was a sharp, narrowed gaze filled with competitive spirit. "Are you in a war or something?"

[Nightmare don’t like Jade sleeping with Master!] the little bird told me with an annoyed huff.

"Hmm...is that so?"

"I can’t bully you in bed with that brat around," Natha responded from the usual table that held our morning drink.

[Don’t bully Master!]

"Bully..." I could only mutter with red face when Natha gave me a smirk.

Jade made a gasping sound and flew to my shoulder, tapping my reddened cheek with its turquoise wings. [Why Master red? Master sick?]

"N-no," I replied swiftly, clearing my throat and thinking about how parents might feel about their child finding them flustered from being flirted upon by their partner.

Or...how parents might feel when they wanted to do some...special hugs...but their child was around. Certainly, I didn’t want to contaminate Jade’s mind with adult stuff--the bird was just a few months old!

"I’m going to erect a barrier next time," Natha smirked while handing me my herbal drink, which prompted Jade to chirp furiously, and once again, they started to bicker.

So much for a truce. So much for a peaceful morning.

At any rate, the day ceased to be peaceful when the Lord’s door was slammed open just as I sat down for breakfast, and Arta almost tackled me with a hug. "Young Master!" she lifted her face at me and I was surprised to see tears glazed in her eyes. "Are you alright? What happened? How could it happen when I wasn’t in the Castle?!"

As I patted her head, I made a mental note to never let Zia know about this incident, because I had a feeling that the succubus would respond even more dramatically.

"I’m alright, just a little unplanned detour," I told her. I wasn’t sure the extent to which I could tell people about what transpired yesterday. Would it be alright to tell them about the divine abode? But I didn’t want to create even more topics inside the Castle, so I’d just stick to being vague.

"Are you sure?" Arta stared at me keenly, observing my face and body. "You don’t feel anything weird inside? Even if there are no external injuries--ouch!"

Arta’a rumbling ended abruptly with a harsh knock on her head. "Even if he has no external injuries now, there might be later with how tight you’re holding him," Lesta scolded his twin. "Stop bothering Young Master."

With a sad sound, Arta retreated her hands from my waist and arm, so I patted her head again. "I’m alright. His Lordship would already do something if I’m not well, don’t you think?"

"Well...it’s true..." Arta let out a sigh, and told me the reason behind her frantic reaction. "I only heard about you disappearing when I got back to the Castle in the evening, but His Lordship refused my visit..."

Natha, who was silent all this while, finally responded. "He needed his rest," he said defensively.

Well, I did fall asleep immediately after finishing my sandwich, when the sun was barely setting. So it was understandable for Natha to reject any visitor. Still, I didn’t think I would get this kind of reaction, this kind of teary face just because she couldn’t visit me right away.

"Thank you, Arta, for worrying about me," I said with a grin, half to further show that I was fine too. I patted her head again, and looked at the other vassals that were there too; her siblings, Lesta and Malta, and the one peeking out secretly from the door, the bald hound. "The others too..."

"Young Master..."

*chirp!*

Suddenly, as if announcing that it was there, Jade chirped loudly from my shoulder. The demons looked at the little bird automatically, and Jade tapped on my cheek, asking to be introduced.

But of course, except for Caba, the other three demons already knew of the little bird. "Oh my, is this the familiar you’re talking about, Young Master?" Arta replied enthusiastically, gasping in the way the elves did yesterday.

Jade, understanding that I had been talking about it to other people, chirped joyfully. It stood proudly on my shoulder, although I had no idea how imposing could Jade be in its round little bird form.

"Yes, this is Jade," I introduce the little bird with a laugh, and Jade chirped again in response.

[Yes! This is Jade!] the bird repeated my words.

"Oh my, what a cute child," Arta swooned at the energetic chirping.

Of course, she was rewarded with an aggressive one. [Jade no child!!]

Honestly, this was Natha’s fault. It was because he always provoked Jade by calling the bird ’brat’ and ’kid’ and things like that, telling the bird that it had to be separated from me often because it was still a baby. And every time Jade whined about it, Natha would say things like ’It’s your fault for being a baby’ and similar childish things.

Now Jade became sensitive about being called a child. But it was also very much a child thing to get annoyed at being called a child, wishing to be an adult as soon as possible so they could do more things, and not being restricted by the adults.

I could see Natha smirking behind his coffee cup, and was tempted to kick his leg beneath the table. Jade would go on strike if it saw that smirk, and I don’t want to have my breakfast sprinkled in bickering sounds.

"That’s not a child, Dhuarta," suddenly, like a savior, Malta told her younger sister. "Young Master already told us that the bird couldn’t follow him here unless it entered its juvenile state."

[Yes, Jade no child!] of course, the little bird would respond enthusiastically. The beady green eyes stared at Malta before Jade nodded approvingly. [Master, Jade like this one!]

Of course, you do. "Malta, Jade likes you," I told her, since the only one who could perceive Jade’s words clearly was me.

Malta bowed courteously at the energetically chirping bird. "It’s an honor, Sir Jade."

Wow, never thought that this overly emotional bird would take a liking to someone who didn’t even change her facial expression for once since entering the room. I bet Jade would like whoever called it something other than ’child’ though.

Well, if anything, this meant Jade was rather easy to babysit--umm, managed.

"Alright, stop loitering around and cluttering the dining table," Natha clapped his hands to pull our attention. He stared at the commotion with unimpressed eyes. "Take a seat or something, Val needs his breakfast."

That’s why? I just realized that when I was busy calming down Arta, the servants had been diligently filling the tables with plates of food, even fetching extra chairs from somewhere for the vassals.

[Jelly!!] the last thing that the servant put on the table was a small plate of Jade’s favorite, which the bird instantly dove into.

For how much Natha appeared to be in an antagonistic relationship with Jade, he still asked the servant to bring a plate of colorful jelly that Jade usually ate during my meal time. Actually, here they called it ’slimey’ since the texture was almost like those little slimes wandering in dungeons. But I had been calling it jelly from day one, and Jade followed me with it.

With Jade flying to the table and sinking its face into the colorful, transparent substance, the siblings started to casually take a sit around the table. There was still someone awkwardly standing at the door, however, unsure of what to do.

"You too, Caba," I waved my hand to call him over, because I thought the thing that prevent him from coming closer was my permission.

"Y-yes? Are you sure?" he took a step forward hesitatingly, but didn’t move further.

"You want my bride to repeat everything again?" Natha narrowed his eyes, probably annoyed because I kept delaying my meal time.

"N-no! I mean--yes, thank you, Young Master!"

Oh, how funny. I said before that I might get nervous if I hear his voice or saw his figure, as an instinctual reaction. But him being a nervous wreck and stuttering in front of me actually gave the opposite effect--it chased away any leftover anxiety in my heart, and rather than feeling on edge, I felt pity instead.

This demon, who was supposedly the Lord’s fearsome executioner, looked like a puppy who just arrived in a new home rather than a hunting dog, looking timid and confused. But fortunately, once we dug into our meal, he wasn’t acting so nervous anymore.

I had a relatively bigger meal than usual, since my long sleep made me feel famished. Jade didn’t need food for sustenance--it only loved the jelly for the colorful appearance, like candies--but the curious bird asked me for a sample bite of everything that I ate.

Hmm...I wondered if grown elemental birds would have more appetite. As I thought about that while feeding Jade a piece of violet berry, Malta suddenly asked in a rather serious tone.

"Young Master, since Sir Jade is able to follow you around now, doesn’t it mean you’ll move here for good?"

Oh...oh, right! I forgot we still had that to talk about that!