The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 142: Violence should not be endorsed, but sometimes...maybe?

Chapter 142: Violence should not be endorsed, but sometimes...maybe?

Priest of Judgment was what people used to call Valmeier--humans and demons alike. It was mainly because he was the holder of Alveitya, however. He did not actually ’judge’ anyone, just straight-up killing demons.

Well, of course. He wasn’t even tapping into his druid power at that time.

But I could. So I would utilize it.

Oh, no--it wasn’t something fancy that would help me weigh the crime and deliver perfectly just punishment according to the law.

What it would do was balance the punishment I gave; when it felt the punishment was reasonable, it would make sure the punishment was delivered correctly; if the punishment was too severe, it would weaken said punishment, or strengthen it if the punishment was deemed too weak.

"Is that...a Royal Scepter?" Natha asked in surprise. There weren’t many things that could surprise him, so it was a rather pleasant feeling.

"It’s the one they used for Trials," I replied.

"A Trial? What trial?" the Incubus, who regained his wit once he saw that Alveitya was no longer a spear, asked dumbly. Look at this demon; he didn’t even know what he was here for. "I thought I’m just here to explain?"

"Which you couldn’t provide," Natha responded, crossing his arms beside me.

"I haven’t even tried?!"

"You’ve lost your chance once you insult my bride’s chastity."

The Incubus dropped his jaw. "You can’t just do something like this to a Lord!"

"’Those who practiced crime onto a Lord, whoever they might be, are eligible for sanction should they be caught in said Lord’s territory,’" I quoted the demon realm’s law that Eruha had been crammed into my brain. "’The manner of such sanction shall be ordained by the inflicted Lord or the Lord’s proxy.’ Surely you’re not too stupid to remember this simple thing, mister Lord of Lust," I said mockingly.

It was a simple law made in accordance with the practice of snatching the Lord’s Key away from the reigning Lord. It gave the Lord the right to immediately punished or killed those who made an attempt at them. This was why no Lord would make any attempt to attack other Lords personally, and they would typically be wary of coming to other Lord’s territory, because any Lord could twist this law and claim another Lord guilty of an assault on them.

Certainly, this young Lord had no brain capacity to consider such things. Or he just lack common sense. Either or both were a lousy quality for a Lord.

"What crime?!" the Incubus, hearing my words, opened his mouth in shock.

Yeah, he really thought he had done nothing wrong, huh? I didn’t think any explanation was even needed.

The one who answered the Incubus was the Lord of the territory himself. "Illegal trespassing into the Lord’s private quarter, sexual harassment of the Lord’s spouse, emotional violence toward the Lord and his spouse," he said, coldly. "Ah, showing no remorse during the trial."

Hmm...sounds about right.

"Wha..." the Incubus looked even more perplexed. He turned his head toward his half-sister, his Chief Secretary. "Aleena, why aren’t you saying anything? Are you okay with having your Lord be treated this way?"

"To avoid war?" the Succubus tilted her head, looking at her Lord Brother impassively. "Yes."

"War? Why are you talking about war?"

Ahh...it felt almost comical and pitiful how ignorant this supposed ’Lord’ was. Even I wasn’t that bad, despite being only in this world for less than a year, and living for...a few decades less than him, surely.

But this had been dragging on for too long, so I cleared my throat and grabbed the Incubus with my mana, yanking him forward and putting him on his knees--you know, like your average offender--and tied him with ivy again.

He struggled and groaned and cursed as I focused on opening the scroll in front of me. Coincidentally, what was transcribed on the scroll was something very fitting for this very event. I still couldn’t read it manually, but the content automatically entered my mind anyway, just like the previous scroll.

"What is that?" Zia asked from the side, in a voice that was almost like a whisper.

"A manual," I said with a smile, eyes never leaving the struggling demon.

"For what?"

I waited until the Incubus looked at me before replying. "For curses."

Needless to say that my words rendered them speechless. And it was understandable. Hex and curses were actually Drow’s territory. They were like the witch doctor of the realm of nature. So it wasn’t something that one expected to come out of a druid’s scroll.

But this was a guide that took a part of Drow’s cursing technique and merged it with Druid’s trait, which was to stay true to the law of nature. Rather than hex or curse, it would be more precise to call it ’enforcing karma’.

But ’curse’ sounded more scary, so that was what I used.

"Y-you’re going to curse me?!"

"Sush," I flicked my fingers and sent a cluster of leaves to close his mouth.

With one hand placed over the scroll, and another pointing the scepter toward the Incubus, I tapped into the druid’s soul and mana inside me, and infused them into my voice. It came out in a string of druid’s tongue; like a breeze of wind and the trickling of water, like the crackling of fire and the creaking of wood.

[In accordance with the crimes as stated by the Lord of Greed, the sentence imposed upon offender Ra Zir’Kal shall be...] I paused for a bit, looking inside the widened amethyst eyes keenly, coldly, before continuing. [...Involuntary Abstinence]

Even though I was talking in the druid’s tongue, it would be translated automatically to the one attending the courtroom--in this case, the courtroom was the Lord’s reception hall. And as the one at the receiving end of the ’curse’, the Incubus gasped.

"...what?!" he howled through the leaves, belatedly, after realizing fully what the punishment entail. I heard the others gasp too, especially the succubus sisters, but I just continued my judgment.

[The offender, Ra Zir’Kal, shall not indulge in carnal pleasure until he comprehends his wrongdoing. He shall not receive carnal satisfaction until he sincerely experienced love]

The Incubus was trembling now, finally looking morbidly frightened.

[Thus shall this decree be judged upon his soul] I finished the incantation, and the green jewel pulsed strongly, vibrating the air with a wave of mana that enveloped the Incubus and seeped into his skin, his core, and eventually settled in his soul. It didn’t take long, and the glowing mana receded, fully absorbed into the Incubus.

"Oh, it works," I exclaimed cheerfully. Should the punishment be deemed to be too severe, the mana would have dispersed, or not getting absorbed fully. But since everything was settled inside the demon, it would mean the scepter, the proxy of nature’s judgment, deemed the punishment to be just.

"What works?! What does it mean?!" the Incubus screamed frantically, in panic, trying to struggle out of the binding ivy.

I let him go, since there was no need for restraint anymore, and kindly explain after telling Zia to cover Jade’s ears. "It means you won’t be able to get it up anymore, dear Sir."

"Lies!" the Incubus howled, grabbing his head and looking down at his crotch.

You see, I might be a virgin, but I knew the concept of erectile dysfunction.

I looked at Aleena shrugged. "I did not castrate him."

She pressed her lips and closed her eyes--I had no idea whether she was lamenting or holding back her laugh. Perhaps both.

"How...how can you treat a lust demon like this!" the Incubus stood up abruptly, probably meaning to lunge at me. But Aleena already grabbed the demon tight and yanked his back--a wise decision that probably sprouted from the fact that Natha was already standing behind me, with a dose of coldness blasting. Still, the Lord of Lust screamed in anguish. "How could I live like this? I’d rather die!"

"Then die," I replied dryly, prompting him to shut his mouth. Staring at him coldly, I shrugged my shoulder while adding. "Or you can try to castrate yourself. Who knows, maybe the curse will get canceled then."

The way the Lord opened and closed his mouth was almost pitiful if I wasn’t so exasperated. "I’m...I’m a Lord! You can’t do this to me! How can I function without...without..."

"You should probably think about that before you invade another Lord’s bedroom and touched his bride,"

"You...you cruel little human!!"

"Kal!"

The Incubus was angry, which I understood. But that wasn’t such a good way to proceed with an irate Natha standing behind me.

So again, Aleena had to restrain the Lord of Lust herself, who mumbled pitifully in shock and sorrow. "My...what should I do without my..."

"Not my business," I scoffed. At least I didn’t castrate him, so as long as he achieved what I stated--realizing his mistake and understanding what love was--he would be alright.

I looked at him one last time before sending the scepter back inside my palm and the scroll back inside my ring. "Goodbye, now. I have a fitting to attend."

I left the Incubus there, with his babysitter, and headed back to the bedroom. As a matter of fact, I did have a fitting. Natha was staying in the reception room to talk with the Lust’s demons, but Zia followed me inside along with the little bird.

"Jade, do not ever make your Master angry, okay?" I heard her whisper.

*chirp?*

* * *

[Master, what apstinens?]

"Abstinence," I corrected the little bird, contemplating for a bit before answering. "It means you can’t eat your candies and jellies anymore,"

If a bird could gasp, Jade would have. The look of sheer horror in its beady eyes was quite entertaining. At least it quelled my rage and made me smile as Arta and Panne helped me put on that midnight blue outfit for the banquet.

[Incubus must be very naughty!]

"Yes, yes he is," I nodded delightfully. Jade didn’t really know what was going on, just that I was very very upset at the Incubus.

"What’s Jade saying?" Zia asked from the side. Unsurprisingly, she supported my punishment wholeheartedly. After all, Zia was the advocate of true love.

"That your brother must have been very naughty for me to punish him as such," I replied nonchalantly, and Zia laughed in response.

"Quite right too," she said joyfully. Jade flew to her then, joining her merriment without knowing the context. It was fine, being happy was good.

I was still kind of upset, however; a leftover rage, I supposed.

"Haha, but I really never thought you could be that..." she paused, and I stared at him expectantly. "Bold," she finished with a grin.

"Is that a compliment?"

"Of course!"

I thought about it, and what I did was probably rather brutal for a ’mere’ kiss. But no--Natha told me to be firm, so I tried to be. The fact that my ’curse’ worked was a testament that he must have done a lot of similar things like that in the past. And Natha had told me he didn’t mind the punishment--although there was a suspicious glint in his eyes that told me he probably wanted something more...brutal.

Zia’s word got to me though. Other demons who had heard so much about Valmeier’s feat in the war wouldn’t think much about it, but someone who only knew me as...me, like Zia, wouldn’t expect such a tendency from me.

That I didn’t hesitate to use such violence.

And all I could think of when such a topic came out was my Grandpa. He was a stern, violent man whose job revolved around the use and management of violence. He was never violent to me, though--on the contrary, he was sweet to me, probably because I inherited Grandma’s hair and eye colors.

Perhaps it was something genetic. Or perhaps my brain just registered such things as normal. I wasn’t sure. Honestly, it kind of scared me now, that the adrenaline had receded. And it left some unsettling feelings in the pit of my stomach. At the same time, it also relieved me that at least, I knew I had the backbone to stand up for myself when I need it.

Confusing.

Unfortunately, I had no time to dwell on that because Arta had finished fashioning some dewdrop gemstones into my hair, and announced that her work was done.

Ah, did I forget to mention? I’d be attending the banquet tonight.