The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 116: You can expect a merchant to pull bullshit negotiation even with a child

Chapter 116: You can expect a merchant to pull bullshit negotiation even with a child

Thankfully, I didn’t get sucked anywhere this time, and safely crossed the gate.

Natha had waited for me in the garden, and once I saw him...I don’t know--I just ran over and hugged him, laughing joyfully. I didn’t even know what I was laughing about; that there was no incident even though I stepped through the gate alone? That I would officially start a new adventure by living here?

Anyway, I just felt happy, and even Jade did not chirp in protest at how I jumped at Natha first thing, probably sensing the joy inside my heart.

"Welcome," Natha whispered against my lips, as if it was my first time there, with silver eyes sparkling beautifully under the sun.

Jade gave us about a minute long for intimacy, before finally chirping in protest and demanding attention. This time, Natha relented easily without even insulting the little bird, which made me rather suspicious.

And my suspicion was proved not long after.

Once we arrived at the Lord’s private quarters, Natha immediately took us somewhere I hadn’t seen before. Somewhere near the pantry where the servants prepared our meals that came from the kitchen, was a small circular staircase leading up. It led to somewhere even further up from the bedroom, as if we were going to an attic.

Wait--were we actually...?

But when we arrived at the end of the stairs, what I found was a room that felt like a fairyland--you know, like the one in D**ne* or something.

It was a room, but with a very tall ceiling that it almost felt like an open space. The window was a stone arch that allowed us to look at the scenery outside, and with another window at the top, the room was flooded with more than enough sunlight. And then there was the content of the room;

Greeneries, ivy, and climbing roses replaced the wallpaper; soft grass covered the floor like a carpet; an artificial waterfall surrounded by white stones flowed to a small pond filled with sparkling little flowers; shrubbery shaped like a bed and small, stout trees that seemed to be perfect for birds to...

No way.

I turned my head to stare at Natha, who was hiding his smile as Jade dazedly hovered into the space, as if being hypnotized. The little bird flew and perched on the stout, bonsai-like tree, and chirped at me.

[Master, sit here!]

With its little foot, Jade pointed to a cradle made of wood and roots and ivy, hanging from the ceiling. It was obvious that the swing-like cradle was made for me, but the room was for Jade. I stepped into the soft grass that suspiciously felt real, and gently took a seat on the cradle. Jade jumped off the branch and landed on my lap--we could see outside the window clearly from here, and we might be able to see the stars at night.

I could hear Natha approaching from behind, but his voice arrived first. "Since Jade is no longer a child, it should have its own room."

[What? This Jade room?] the little bird chirped in shock, the beady eyes looked even bigger as it turned around to stare dumbfoundedly at Natha. [Nightmare give Jade room?!]

How funny. The little bird was more shocked at the notion of Natha gave it something rather than the room itself.

"Here, do you see this lever?" Natha touched a handle jutted out from behind the climbing ivy, shaped like your average random branch. But there was a little bell hanging at the end of it, and when Natha pulled it down, the bell made a small sound. "If you pulled it down like this, someone will send you sli--jellies."

[Jelly?!]

Just then, we could hear the sound of footsteps from the stairs, and all of us just waited wordlessly, even Jade. And when a servant came up with a covered plate in his hand, Jade flapped its wings and hovered in the air energetically.

The servant was stunned for a second, before smiling slightly and putting the plate down on a ’table’ that was shaped like a log. Once he uncovered the plate, Jade instantly dove into the jelly, while the servant bowed once before retreating.

"You can ask for them however much you want. Just be considerate at night, because the servants need their sleep too," Natha said with a benevolent smile that not only got Jade open its beak in shock, but also me.

[Nightmare so weird!] see, even Jade became suspicious. [Why Nightmare so kind to Jade?]

"As you said, you’re not a child anymore," still with that kind and charming smile, Natha continued his bullshit. "It means you have to sleep in your own place and be able to order your own food, like a proper adult. Only children sleep with their Master and demand to be taken care of, right?"

[Ungg...really?] Jade tilted its head in confusion and dilemma.

"Like Zidoa--she sleeps alone and orders her food by herself, right?"

The beady green eyes narrowed, but Jade could also see the logic behind Natha’s explanation. [Succubus sleep alone...because succubus not a child?]

"Yes, whatever you’re thinking right now, it’s probably true," Natha nodded in agreement, which prompted Jade to roll around the plate of jelly in deep contemplation, as I looked at the Demon Lord with narrowed eyes.

You...you just want Jade to stay away from the bedroom, weren’t you?

Natha glanced at me, and returned my gaze with a wink. Haa...I couldn’t believe this Demon Lord use trickery and deceit just to secure private bedroom time.

Should I help him a little bit?

"Woow...so cool!" I clapped my hands. Jade immediately stopped rolling and jumped to its feet, staring at me, so I continued clapping while swallowing my giggles. "You have your own room! Like a proper adult! Wow!"

"Wooow..." the Demon Lord, the center of this trickery, had the audacity to clap his hands too, even looked earnest while at it.

Jade was confused, but the bird knew from me and Zia that clapping meant something good and done when we were happy, so the confusion soon turned to joy, and the little bird jumped happily with loud chirping.

[Jade no child!] this time, the sentence wasn’t uttered in annoyance, but glee. [Jade have room!]

"Mm, yes, you have your own room now," I nodded in agreement. "It means you’ll sleep here, you do understand that, right?"

[Mm...Jade want to be with Master] the little bird whined lowly for a second, head dipped in sadness. But then, the green head lifted up and Jade put on a soldier’s face. [But adult sleep alone!]

Oh, God--it was so hard to keep myself from laughing out loud, my poor innocent baby. "Yes, that’s right. Grown-ups sleep alone."

Jade nodded its head firmly. But then, after a few seconds, while I got up from the cradle, the bird threw out a difficult question.

[But why Master and Nightmare always sleep together?]

* * *

"Is there a book on parenting or something here?"

Lesta and Eruha paused to look at me, blinking at the unexpected question. We were on a break in the middle of my linguistic lesson with them, so my question probably felt like it came out of nowhere. But we were in the library, so...

"I didn’t know you already have a child with His Lordship..."

"What are you talking about?" I rolled my eyes at their display of shocked faces. "We’re physically incapable to make a child on our own."

Eruha raised his brow, somewhat dubiously, and chuckled at my response, before finally asking me in earnest. "So why are you looking for that kind of book, Young Master?"

"It’s for Jade..."

"Your familiar?" Lesta tilted his head in even more confusion. "Why would you need a parenting book for an elemental bird?"

I bit the inside of my cheek and recalled the question Jade threw out yesterday, which got me and even Natha quite flustered. In the end, Natha ran away to go back to his office, and I had to distract the bird with the jelly and a little candy bribe.

"Jade had become more talkative now that it can express its thought in words, and become...more curious," I let out a sigh. "It’s getting harder answering those questions."

The two demons looked at each other and leaned closer. Lesta, especially, narrowed his eyes and asked in a quiet voice. "What questions?"

I bit my lips in hesitation, before answering slowly. "Things like...why do I sleep with Natha in the same bed, or...why do we...kiss and...things like that..."

The room was silent after that, and when I looked at them, the two demons were pressing their lips. "Just laugh, why don’t you?" I pursed my lips, feeling the heat creeping on my cheeks.

Lesta stood up instead, and in a trembling, subdued voice, told me that he was going to try looking for the book in the library before bolting out of the private room we used as our mini-class. Since the room was sound-proofed, I couldn’t hear anything after he closed the door, but I bet he was laughing his ass out there.

Hmph--I prayed for the chief librarian to find him and box his ear for that.

Eruha was calmer about it, but I still saw the way he pressed his twitching lips together. After looking at my pouting lips, he finally let out a chuckle and diverted the topic.

"Here, Young Master, why don’t you try to read this while we wait for Eta?" he shoved a book in front of me. "This is a material they used to teach in school here. It’s written in simpler words and structure so it can be understood by the youngsters."

Oh, that should be nice. My comprehension had already gone past the children’s book, but yet at the level where I could read normal books, much less those academic theses that Eruha set as the goal. The school book should be in the middle, in terms of difficulty.

As I picked up the book, it felt lighter and I found out it wasn’t bound and covered in studded leather as the other, perhaps to lower the cost. The title printed on the hardcover was the history of the demon realm, which got me raising my brows in response.

"Perhaps you would like to read the shorter and simpler version of His Lordship’s adventure."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.