The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 138: We shouldn’t use violence in front of a child

Chapter 138: We shouldn’t use violence in front of a child

"Who are you?" I asked with a frown, at this creature that used Natha’s face in front of me.

He widened his eyes slightly, looking surprised just for a second before putting out a confused look. "Are you still dreaming?" he tilted his head, as if observing me. "Don’t you recognize me?"

"No," I replied firmly, grasping the blanket between us and trying to remain calm. "You are not Natha."

And I was sure of it.

I knew I was just waking up, but there was no way I wouldn’t be able to differentiate the dream and reality. I could sense everything; the flow of mana and Jade’s beating heart.

So no--I knew this wasn’t a dream, and I knew I was sober enough to realize this person wasn’t my lover.

First of all, Natha had never called me ’baby’. He would never put on a charming face when he knew I was just woken up from a nightmare. He wouldn’t try to convince me that he was him, or ask me if I was still dreaming.

The real Natha would soothe me, wordlessly, patiently waiting until I came back to my sense. Even if I didn’t recognize him, and questioned his identity, he would just smile and tell me who he was, letting me digest it slowly.

And he would never, ever, try to flirt with me when he knew I was in a panic.

He would embrace me, telling me it was okay, it was fine, that he was here. All in his soothing, protective way that I had grown to rely on.

But who...

Who was this person? How could he end up here, in this room, the Lord’s private quarter?

As I stared at this person, who was still hovering above me, I realized he would be able to come here if he impersonated Natha. The guards wouldn’t question their Lord entering the private quarters after all.

But who would dare to impersonate Natha in his own castle? It would be either because they were strong, or sent by someone who was powerful enough to face the consequences.

Was he someone from other realms? Or...could it be one of those ’rats’ Natha mentioned before?

While I was frantically trying to figure out what was going on, he was already reaching out his hand to my face again. "It seems like you’re still dreaming," he said in the sweetest voice that nearly made me falter, brushing the back of his hand on my forehead. "You do have a slight fever, perhaps it makes you delirious--"

"Get your hand off me!" I growled, slapping his arms away from my face--I didn’t even know I could growl.

How dare he--that hand wasn’t even remotely similar to Natha. There was no coldness that I was so familiar with, which I should feel even more because of my fever.

Strangely, even though I felt angry, and sober enough to give a semblance of a fight, I couldn’t sense any disgust, which I should probably have felt. In fact, I should have immediately shoved this person away, getting out of there and screaming for the guards.

But I couldn’t.

Every time I started to think about doing all those things, something was persuading me that I didn’t have to do that. That he wasn’t dangerous. That I was just having a silly suspicion.

That this person could do no wrong.

"That hurts," he frowned slightly, staring at the arm I had just slapped. "But it’s okay, you can hurt me."

He smiled gently, with downturned eyes that shook in dismay, as if the one that got hurt wasn’t his arm, but his heart. And I nearly choked because of that. Making that kind of expression on Natha’s face...

It was like showing me how he might look like if I told him that I wasn’t actually Valmeier--that I wasn’t the person he fell in love with.

It got me frozen in dread, and I couldn’t react when he started to rub my trembling lips. "Are you upset because of your nightmare?" he said softly, in the most charming, sympathetic way that nearly made my lungs cease functioning. I couldn’t breathe at this point, and could only stare at him wordlessly as he leaned closer.

"Why don’t I help you overcome that, yeah?" he whispered, voice laden with honey, sweet and gentle and alluring, in the face and the voice of someone I loved the most in this world. And before I could muster any willpower to overcome this strange pull that was almost hypnotizing, his lips touched mine.

SLAM!

In a blur of a moment, I mustered a force made of pure mana to push the shapeshifter off me and threw him to the wall. All the rage and disgust that I should have felt way before surged all at once, and it allowed me to ignore whatever it was that kept me in check before--that voice that persuaded me to stay still and think this person was Natha.

With my resurfacing rage and wit, I could tap into my power again. Before the shapeshifter could regain his bearing, I leaped from the bed and called out to Alveitya.

"How dare you!"

The first thing I should do was probably rung the bell and called for the guards. But in my swirling rage, all I wanted to do was crushed this shapeshifter to bits. It wasn’t enough that he impersonated Natha, but he also...he also...

"You’re actually hitting me?" the shapeshifter made a surprised face that looked genuine, but I couldn’t care less about that. I raised another ball of magic energy and hurled it to him, but he was quick to react, and rolled sideways to dodge. The bastard even had the audacity to chuckle and blinked to the other side of the wall--the one with the balcony door.

It was clear that he was trying to escape, and doing so while laughing without remorse. It seemed like he was no longer trying to convince me that he was Natha, but he still did not undo his transformation. And with the face of the one I loved, he grinned and spoke joyfully. "Oh, come on! It’s just a prank, you don’t have to give me--Aaagh!"

With one firm swing, I hurled Alveitya into the wall, stopping his advance toward the balcony.

"Hey, hey, you’re using a weapon now?" he stepped back with a grimace. "Why are you so angry over--"

Flicking my wrist, I pulled Alveitya off the wall and immediately stabbed it into the shapeshifter’s face. He dodged with a shriek, by pulling his head away. But the tip of the spear already caught his coat and nailed it to the wall.

"Who are you?!" I glared at him as I walked over, rousing my mana and moved the plants inside the bedroom, ordering them to bind this impersonator.

"Ugh--ghh!" unfortunately, he was too busy squirming and trying to break free of the bind.

Impatiently, I pulled out the spear again, with my hand this time, and raised it high in the air. "Stop using his face," I hissed in fury. "Undo your transformation!"

Unsurprisingly, he just smirked, probably because he started to loosen the bind and thought he would be able to escape soon. Oh, I would so like to rip that smirking lips apart, for so many different reasons. And I truly was about to, as I brought my hand down along with the spear, the tip just inched away from the startled face--

[Master?]

--but then I heard the sound of dazed chirping and I shifted the spear, lodging the tip right beside his ear.

I heard the sound of flapping wings, and took a deep breath. Jade sounded almost disoriented, which meant the little bird probably also fell under the influence of whatever trick this impersonator did to make me pathetically docile earlier. My fury climbed even higher, but I didn’t want to draw any blood or reap any life in front of Jade.

And I couldn’t bring myself to use Alveitya on Natha’s face, honestly.

[Master?] Jade still sounded dazed and confused, perching on my shoulder wobbly. It must have been confused about the state of my emotions, because feeling this much rage was new to me. I didn’t even know I was capable of physically hurting someone--something I had never done before. My grandfather had no qualms about it, though, so maybe I inherited it from him.

[Master is angry? Why Master angry?]

Fortunately, Jade brought me a semblance of sense, to not be so blinded by rage. But that didn’t mean I would forgive this person for what he did.

[Master?]

I would like to reply, but I didn’t think I could speak calmly yet, so I just pressed my lips, silently glaring at this impersonator who still maintained Natha’s form. But he seemed to finally realize his predicament as he stared into the spear. His widened eyes told me that he recognized Alveitya, at last.

"W-wait!" he stuttered, eyes darting back and forth between the Spear and me. "Th-this is...Is this the S-Spear of Judgment?!"

[Huh? This one not our Nightmare]

Of course he wasn’t--how could he use Natha’s face to make that pathetic, frightened, cowardly face!

I tightened the binding ivies on him, more and more and more until I could hear a slight creaking sound of his screaming bones between his screaming voice. His face--Natha’s face--contorted into pain, and I hated it. "Undo it!!"

I yelled--shouted, screamed, I didn’t care. Just stop using his face! I gripped the shaft of the spear hard and channeled my mana there, and the impersonator yelled in fright.

"Wait--wait! Okay!" his form started to shift then, and the way the transformation unfurl reminded me of that time with Aleena.

Soon, I was no longer looking at Natha’s face, but at someone with lavender skin and rich amethyst eyes. The horn shrunk back, disappearing into slick, dark hair.

[Huh? This one like a Succubus, but not!]

As Jade said, this one was not a Succubus, but an Incubus. Objectively, I would have called him handsome and reasonably attractive--a movie-star kind of attractive. But I wasn’t in the mood of being objective right now, so he only looked like those asshole playboys who’d partake in dating scams. I also realized the reason I couldn’t fight back earlier was because of Incubus’s inherent trait; charm.

"Who are you?" I asked again, with a quieter voice this time. But I made sure to put as much fury as I could in my still hoarse voice. "What’s your purpose?"

"Y-you don’t know me?" he looked surprised instead. "Me? You don’t know--"

"Val!" suddenly, I heard footsteps from the stairs, and the door burst open with Zia on the frame. "Val, I heard a loud sound, what happe--"

The girl paused in the middle of the room, looking at us with widened eyes, frozen. What surprised me more, was the reaction of the Incubus.

"Zia?"

What? Did he just call...

"Zia, what happened? I heard--" this time, it was Aleena, along with a few guards and Panne. Just like Zia, she too, paused in front of the door.

"O-oh...you’re here too? I thought you’re all at the banquet..." the Incubus laughed awkwardly, before pointing to the spear in my hand. "C-can you tell him to remove this--"

"What...what the fuck are you doing here?!" Zia screamed angrily, even more than me. Her purple eyes glared at the Incubus, face filled with annoyance but also disbelief.

I frowned in confusion, but before I could ask who he actually was, Aleena already asked coldly.

"What’s the meaning of this...brother?"

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