The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 154: On another thought, my Demon Lord does seem to be that petty

Chapter 154: On another thought, my Demon Lord does seem to be that petty

"What?"

"That’s what the kingdom called you," Natha said. "But do you consider yourself that--the Priest of Judgement?"

Ah...for a second there, I thought he found out that I wasn’t Valmeier. I almost bit my lips in fright, wondering if Natha could sense how tensed I was for that short moment.

I shifted my gaze to the scenery; the river and woods flanking the road, reminding me of the first place I called home. "No," I said. "I’m not a priest, and...I don’t like casting judgment on other people."

"No?"

I bit my lips and continued quietly. "I know it probably looked like I was having fun when I cast that curse on Zir’Kal, but--" I took a deep breath, fiddling with the cord on my sleeve. "I kept agonizing over it before I did it, and then after, wondering if it was right, if it was truly just."

"Wasn’t the spear deemed it as so?" Natha asked as he gently took my fingers off the button.

"And that’s the only thing that helps me sleep better," I shrugged. If it wasn’t for that reassurance, I wouldn’t be able to sleep, I think. I wondered if judges had this kind of trouble too. And then I realized something and turned to look at Natha. "Do you...do you feel like that too, when you are presiding over a trial?"

While the realm of greed had its own judicial system, some cases like the martial court and the noble court would have the Lord as one of the presiding judges, so Natha would have his own share of deciding someone’s punishment. Not to mention toward his subordinates.

"No," he answered, and I almost slumped in a sense of patheticness. But he caressed my hair and brought my gaze back to him. "That is because as a Lord, I need to be impartial, and it’s easier to numb yourself from any kind of feeling that might hinder that impartiality rather than trying precociously to balance between compassion and cruelty."

"Oh..."

"And sometimes, we become so drunk on that power where we can decide other’s fate and obsess over it," he continued. "And it turned us into a monster."

His eyes were cold as he told me that, and I wonder if becoming Lord was a lonely job. But then he looked at me and the coldness was gone as he brought my hand up and kissed my knuckles. "So I think you’re doing good, thinking about the good and bad of things. It’s fine to doubt yourself, but don’t dwell on it too much, and talk about it with someone rather than keeping it to yourself and stressing about it."

"Even if it’s not with you?"

He smiled, and the caressing hand moved to pinch my cheek. "Even if it’s not with me," he said. "You might be my bride, but you are also your own person, so you have the right. Just--" he paused, frowning slightly as his eyes seemed to recall some stuff. "Just don’t hide things that put you in danger. Like the time when you’re turning into water, and how you suddenly decided to test a new weapon--"

"I--" I bit my lips and shrunk on my seat. "Just so you know, I didn’t do it because I knew it was dangerous. Everything is unintentional, okay?"

"Hmm..." he tilted his head to look at my face and I pursed my lips in response. "Then I guess you’re just the type that always ends up in danger. I wonder if this trip is a good idea after all," he sighed, and I looked at him in fright.

You wouldn’t suddenly ground me again, would you, my Lord?

Looking at my horrid face, he laughed and patted my head again. "It’s fine. I’ll do the worrying, you just do what you want."

My eyes narrowed at that; so I guessed I found out why I felt so many shadows lurking around me these past few days. That was what you meant by ’doing the worrying’?

Well...since I was the one who kept unintentionally plunging myself into danger despite going nowhere...I wasn’t in any position to protest.

Must have been hard, huh, worrying about your bride on top of worrying about your realm.

"Natha," I looked at him as a thought suddenly flashed in my mind. "Why do you become Lord?"

He raised his brow and looked at me in surprise, since the question did seem like it came out of nowhere. But the way Natha talked about power and corruption earlier made me think that being in a place of authority wasn’t his ambition. Even his past never once showed that he had aspirations of becoming a Lord. If it was for revenge, he already achieved that before even becoming a Lord. And I didn’t think Natha would be so petty that he’d become a Lord just to spit on those who made him swear off the position.

Natha stared at me in silence for a while, before responding with a smile and curled eyes. "Hmm...maybe so I can meet you?"

"Don’t flirt, I’m being serious!" I smacked his arm lightly, and he laughed.

"Hahaha, ah--look there, it’s the first village," he turned my face to the right, where I could see farmlands and stone walls in the distance.

Oh...oh!

I was rather annoyed because he didn’t answer my question seriously but boy--that scenery! It was worth getting distracted from my question for.

It was like a village straight from a fairy tale; stone walls and brick houses, surrounded by red and yellow trees. The fallen leaves against white roads were picturesque, and the autumn roses spread their scents from every corner, as if trying to paint their presence before the camellia bloomed. The houses were one or two stories tall at most, but the village itself was built upon a hill with elevated terraces, so it looked tall yet balanced.

Just like in the field earlier, demons were flocking the side of the roads to catch a glimpse of the Lord. But since this was a village, it wasn’t as crowded, and many were looking from the balconies, the roofs, or even the trees.

[Master, candy shop there!]

"How can you spot a candy store that fast?"

[Are we not stopping to buy candy?]

"Why are you speaking well when it comes to buying candies?"

[Jade only care for candy and Master!]

Oh, this little bird learn how to flirt too, now? But unfortunately, even if Jade tried to seduce me to buy candy, the carriage wasn’t stopping. Natha cast his gaze around the place, smiling a little bit at the villagers who waved, but our party just went through the main road and exited the place.

"We’re not stopping?" I asked him on behalf of the saddened little bird.

"There won’t be time if we stop at every place," Natha said. "We’re just going to tour the region to see if there’s an immediate issue, as well as look at how the citizens are faring. The villages and towns representatives can speak of their concerns tomorrow in the city hall."

"I see,"

[No candy?]

"You still have candies from Lesta, aren’t you?" I poked the sulking bird. "There’ll be a store too in Lu’ann, so we can buy some there, okay?"

[Okay!]

Natha chuckled at my conversation, and said to me; "You can visit this place again tomorrow if you want."

Both I and Jade turned our heads so fast. "We can?"

"Sure you can, just ask Arta to take you and play, since a hearing session can be pretty boring."

I pursed my lips at that. "But I want to see that too..."

"The whole time? It’ll be held for a whole day, are you sure about that? Not even Arta is willing to be there," he said, and then chuckled at my widened eyes and parted lips.

A whole day in the court--damn!

"You can come and spectate a little bit in the morning if you want, and spend the rest of the day checking places that you want to visit with Arta, how about that?" he stroked my chin and I pressed my lips in ponder. "If you want to see and experience a lot of things during this trip, I don’t think staying in the city hall with me talking with people would help you much."

Hmm...that was true. I did come along to find something to do, and experienced what it would feel like outside the castle. Like the village we passed by earlier--it was so cute and pretty, the kind of place I would like to immortalize through a photograph.

Hmm...should I try researching that phone-like device once we came back?

Anyway, there wouldn’t be much difference if I just stayed inside the city hall. Oh, I was sure there would be a lot I could learn from listening to the citizen’s concerns, but I wouldn’t understand much with my current comprehension level of demon language.

Besides...there would be the Di clan too there, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend a whole day in the same room with them.

"There’s still a lot of places you’ll see, maybe there’ll be more interesting places than that village," Natha said. "Make a list and play with Arta and the others tomorrow. Buy some candies."

[Wow...so Nightmare can be good]

I laughed at that and whispered to Natha. "Jade is praising you."

Natha arched his brow and whispered back. "What about you? Aren’t you going to praise me?"

I narrowed my eyes and he smiled charmingly, so I laughed and gave him a small kiss on his cheek. "My Nightmare is so cool today."

"Just today?" he smirked and leaned even closer, rubbing his cheek on mine and getting me giggling from the feel of his alpha seed patterns.

"Mm, today is extra cool," I giggled and Natha kissed me lightly on the lips.

"That’s all that matters," he whispered with a smile, and it rewarded me with another empathetic telepathy.

[Ahem, ahem--please consider the time and place if you want to flirt. Respect the Singles, please]

This time, it wasn’t just sent to me, but to Natha too. And the Demon Lord responded to that by kissing me longer.