The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 153: Perhaps it’ll be good to start paying attention to the papers

Chapter 153: Perhaps it’ll be good to start paying attention to the papers

Do you know carriages could be convertible?

I didn’t. But still I stared at an open carriage, when I was sure it was a closed one before. Hmm...

Before I could marvel at this newfound fact, the sudden realization of me riding that carriage came, and I tried hard not to fiddle with my tunic in nervousness so as to not crease it.

Because...by God--looked at all those demons. The citizens gathered outside the field, flanking the road that the carriage would take so they could see their Lord.

And I was supposed to sit beside him.

"Are there usually this many crowds during Lord’s visits?" I asked Opti and Arta, trying my best to sound normal.

"Not really," Arta answered me while fixing my clothes. "It’s an annual occurrence, so there were usually crowds, but not so much. They knew His Lordship would come to visit their region anyway."

"Huh..." I peeked at the crowds behind the carriage. I didn’t know how many demons lived in this city, but it felt like most of them were here. There should at least several hundred demons there. "So why are there so many this time?"

"Why, it’s you," Opti said while leaning on the carriage I was supposed to ride with Natha.

"Me?"

Opti smiled mischievously before explaining. "It’s because you’re here, Young Master," he winked. "His Lordship announced his future spouse after decades, of course they would like to see what you looked like with their own eyes."

He glanced at the crowds and deepened his smile, lips curled upward as he added. "Don’t you see they actually looking in this direction instead of His Lordship’s?"

I looked at the crowd again, surprised, and what do you know--he was right. I couldn’t say everyone, but those who I happened to see were looking at me; from the old to the children, and especially adult females.

"Oh," I bit my lips and turned so I didn’t have to face their stares. Even though I already experienced the same thing during the banquet, the number of eyes this time was greater. "But...how do they know about me? Or that I am coming?"

"Through the papers of course," Opti shrugged.

"Like...newspaper?"

"Duh. His Lordship brought you to the banquet, so, of course, the newspapers would be filled with your articles,"

"Tabloids too," Arta chimed in behind me, now fixing my hair that got messed up a bit by the wind. She added in a whisper and giggle; "You know, the gossipy one--some juicy stuff there, very imaginative, maybe a bit delusional."

"I...had no idea..."

Honestly, I only ever glanced at Natha’s papers, but he usually read the heavy stuff, and sometimes just brought them to his office instead of reading it during breakfast.

Also, newspaper articles were still too advanced for my current reading comprehension.

"It went beyond the realm of greed too," Opti added. "I read about it when I was in Gluttony."

"What?" I almost yelled in surprise, but ended up in a sharp hiss. "What...what did they even talk about?"

"Oh, nothing bad, Young Master, you don’t have to worry," Opti waved his hand nonchalantly. "Most only said you’re a human-druid hybrid, but none talked about you being the Priest of Judgment."

Now, I wondered if that happened because Natha controlled the type of information that could be spread, or that they genuinely had no idea that I was Valmeier. I chewed the inside of my cheek when I thought about that, wondering which was worse.

"Do you think they’ll...mind, if they know?" I asked them, twisting the ring on my fingers to avoid messing with my clothes.

"Maybe, I don’t know," Opti replied slowly. He moved from the carriage and walked toward me. In his form now, he was shorter than me, so he could stare into my eyes even when I lowered my gaze. I saw him smiling, more gentle than mischievous now, as he continued. "But even then, I don’t think it’ll be anywhere as bad as you think."

I wondered. I knew the castle staff had used to my presence there, and some had started to openly greet or approached me on my way to the research tower or the training ground. I created some bonds with the soldiers since I sparred with them a few times already. But it was all a gradual process, and we reached that point because they saw me a lot, and had time to realize I wasn’t about to go around slaughtering demons.

But these other demons would only see me once, maybe, and there must be those who saw me as suspicious, undeserving, or a hindrance--just like those Elders.

So I couldn’t help but doubt.

"You’re sure?"

Looking at my expression, Opti smiled widely and stroked my shoulder, as if cleaning an invisible dirt. But it felt like he was patting me. "It’s just that the war is still fresh. But soon they’ll forget about it all. Especially because they already know you weren’t doing it of your own volition," he said.

"Mm..."

"It takes time, but we’ll walk with you, Young Master. You can be sure of that," Arta tightened the silk cord tying my hair, as if telling me her resolve.

I looked at them, and at Panne who smiled and bowed his head slightly to show his agreement. In the distance, I saw Caba among the guards, and he almost waved his hand before opting for nodding instead, although I was sure he couldn’t hear our conversation. And on my shoulder, Jade finally chirped after being silent all the while.

I took a deep breath and finally let out a more relaxed smile. "Thank you."

"Everything’s good?" a smooth voice and a pair of cold hands on my shoulder broke the small pep talk, and I looked up to give Natha a smile for an answer. He kissed the top of my head lightly and gave a signal to the staff to get ready before helping me get inside the carriage.

And then we roll--I mean, the tour began. The carriages moved, and realized that they opened the top part so that the citizens could see their Lord clearly. And me.

Yeah, I felt it now, just like during the banquet; the many stares directed at me. It was unnerving because unlike with the banquet, they were so... enthusiastic? There was a different energy here, that made me feel like they might cross the guards flanking the carriage and grabbed it--grabbed me.

What grabbed me, however, was Natha’s arm. Cold and protective on my shoulder, even while he was busy facing those demons and accepted their greeting.

Oh, I would so like just spend my time looking at him, but that would be unbecoming, right? So I repeated what Natha said to me on the banquet night again in my mind, and started to really face the crowds.

The first pair of eyes that caught my gaze was that of a child, being carried by her father. She widened her eyes a bit when she realized I was looking at her, before slapping his father and laughing. The laughter caught the attention of the demons around her, and as she waved her adorable short arms at me, I unconsciously waved back. She screamed in delight, and before I knew it, the children around her did the same, and I found myself unable to lower my arm because of that. The waving spread to the adult too, and before I knew it, the demons on my side of the road were all waving. Even Jade was waving its wing back, copying me.

Well, not all--some were whispering, or looking at me with narrowed eyes, but they were pretty obscured behind the waving arms so I didn’t really have any time to mind it.

[See, you’re doing good, Young Master]

I almost flinched when I heard Opti’s voice in my head out of nowhere. He was inside the carriage on the back, grinning along with Arta as they watched me.

I didn’t know how long it was, but the crowds finally thinned when we approached the bridge--because obviously, there was no place to stand. So I could finally put down my arm, which already started to feel numb. And then, when I turned to the side, I realized Natha was staring at me.

"How is it?" he asked, fiddling with the hair falling on my shoulder.

"Not...bad?" my answer was filled with hesitation because frankly, I was too overwhelmed to be able to give honest thought.

"Care to elaborate?"

I put my hands together, tapping my fingers against each other in contemplation. "I guess...I’m glad there’s no riot or something?"

Natha chuckled at that. "Do you think I’d let that happen?"

"Probably not," I laughed briefly. "I...don’t know what to expect, honestly. I didn’t think much about what your people would think about me before we landed. I was just excited about going around the territory with you."

"And there’s nothing wrong with that," Natha said, as if he knew I was feeling rather immature about being insensitive. "So what do you think now?"

"It was fun when they started to wave," I confessed, and he laughed softly at my answer. It might seem narcissistic, but it made me feel like they were accepting me.

But something at the back of my mind was still nagging me. I looked at Natha’s smiling face and asked carefully. "Do they know who I am?"

"They know you’re my bride."

"But do they know I’m the Priest of Judgement?" I gripped his coat, staring into his eyes to try and find out if he was truly controlling the information.

But what I got wasn’t an answer, it was a question. "Are you the Priest of Judgment?"

I froze. My heart felt like it dropped to my stomach. "What?"

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