The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 157: Sweet and warm and all those tingly feelings

Chapter 157: Sweet and warm and all those tingly feelings

[Candy!!]

The moment we entered the store, I had to endure double noises of loud chirping and even louder thoughts sent to my brain. I swiftly held Jade to prevent the little bird from flying around the store.

"Calm down," I pinched the cheeks of the pouting bird--didn’t even know that bird could pout. "I’ll take you around to see everything, but you can only pick one kind, so choose carefully."

[Whaat? Only one? Why?]

"Because we’ll go to other candy stores next week, and you can choose another one there," I explained while approaching the nearest shelf. "Let’s pick something for Zia too."

[And Darkie?]

"Mm, let’s buy some for everyone."

[What about Nightmare?]

I raised my brow and looked at the little bird, tilting my head in surprise. "You want to buy some for Natha?"

[Be...because Nightmare give Jade jelly...]

Oh, gosh--my baby is so cute! I laughed and patted the green head. "That’s right, we have to return other’s kindness."

[Mm!]

The little bird nodded its head adorably, and I put Jade on my shoulder again before starting to look around the store. It was more or less resembling the store in the town I visited during the summer festival. But perhaps because this was a village, it wasn’t only selling candy, but also other snacks, local ones.

Hmm...this was dilemmatic. I told Jade to only pick one kind, but there were many snacks here that I had never tried before, and I wanted to try them all. But as I stared at the blue rose cakes and aroulnut cookies and pastries with colorful jams, a clerk lady came out of the kitchen bringing trays full of warm new sweets that got me salivating.

The lady halted her steps when she saw us--or rather, me--blinking in surprise. But maybe because she saw me drooling at the sight of the tray and the absolutely divine smell coming from it, she swiftly came out of her shock and resumed her walk.

"Would you like to try the warm one, Sir?" she asked, voice as gentle as that warm souffle on her tray.

"I can?" I replied dazedly.

"Of course," she said with a smile. "It’s the best when it’s still warm."

I looked at Arta and Opti, as well as Panne who followed behind us. They gave me a nod, and the lady brought the tray closer. Curiously, excitedly, I took a pastry with light blue jams and rose petals and took a bite eagerly.

It was warm and sweet, as warm and sweet as the lady’s smile while looking at me devouring the pastry. "Would you like more?" she asked, and I nodded eagerly. I took a small cake slice, and then a cookie, and another pastry while the lady arranged the other stuff on the shelf. I would have taken another one if not for Jade’s yelling.

[Master said only one!]

Ugh--this was why negotiating with a kid was hard; you gotta set an example first!

"It’s okay because I eat them here," I muttered in defense.

[Jade can eat all if Jade eat here?]

"Nuh-uh, you can’t buy only one candy,"

[Not fair!]

Not fair indeed, and yes, you could buy only one candy. But I wouldn’t let a little bird outsmart me. Unfortunately, Jade was sulking and chirping and stomped my shoulder in protest, so I relented and told the little bird it could eat one candy here and buy another batch to be taken home.

While I was negotiating with Jade, the clerk lady laughed softly, and I looked at her in surprise. I was so focused on the snacks earlier that I didn’t truly register what happened; I was interacting with demons outside the castle, without wearing any disguise. It was because everything felt so...normal. Aside from the initial halt, she offered her food and spoke to me just like how the demons in the castle did.

The laughter stopped when she realized I was staring at her in silence though, and suddenly she was getting pale, stepping back and bowed low. "Oh, pardon me, milord--I’m being impertinent."

Oh no--it was so nice earlier too. "No, no, no, please don’t be like this," I grabbed her upper arms to stop her bowing. "I’m just a customer buying your wares, please."

[Buying Jade candy!]

"Please be at ease, Miss," Arta popped behind me, and with a grin, helped me reassure the lady. "Our Young Master will feel more uncomfortable with you acting like that. Just consider us regular tourists."

"Y-yes, that! we’re just tourists!" I nodded eagerly, and after looking at the other demons, she finally let out a timid smile.

"Is that so? Then, I’ll...I’ll do that," she bowed again, but just once, and not too deep. "Umm...would you like another pastry? My husband just baked a new batch..."

Oh, I would love to! But Jade was eyeing me suspiciously, so I turned to Arta for help.

"Why don’t we take some for His Lordship and the others?" she said while giving me a wink. We knew Natha didn’t like stimulating flavor like sugar, so his portion would become my share, basically--as expected of my trusty snack provider. "As a souvenir, along with little Jade’s candy."

"Yes, let’s do that!"

[Jade choose souvenir too!] the little bird exclaimed and hopped off my shoulder, flying to another shelf that only displayed candies.

"Our...our stuff will be eaten by the Lord?" the clerk lady gasped. "R-really?"

Oh, shoot--now I had to make sure Natha ate that. Maybe I could make him take a bite and eat the rest myself. "Of course, can you pack something that’s not too sweet?"

"Yes, Sir! Right away!"

She scrambled inside the kitchen again, not at all like her gentle and gracious self when offering me the pastries the first time. I watched her vanishing behind the door, and felt a bit rueful. It was such a nice thing before, when she just interacted normally with me, but I had to ruin it.

I sighed and followed Jade to pick some candy. Well...at least she didn’t scorn me or anything, despite knowing I was a human. So it was still good, yep, no need to put a wet blanket over it.

It took a while to pick the candy because Jade was being dilemmatic and dramatic over choosing the one it could eat here and the one it could bring home. And then the bird got smart and chose different candies as souvenirs for different people; one for Zia, one for Lesta, and even one for Natha, to my surprise.

By the time we finished choosing, the clerk lady and her husband had come out of the kitchen and packed the pastries following Arta’s instruction. I had also asked Arta to pack some for the other castle staff that came during this inspection, and we ended up with a huge haul.

While Panne and the guards moved the box of pastries to the carriage, I sat on the small bench on the terrace. The clerk lady had offered me warm tea as a bonus, and I enjoyed it while Jade savored the candy it chose on my shoulder. We watched the scenery of the autumn rose and reddish trees, waiting for Opti who was in charge of buying a simple sandwich lunch from another store.

And then, as I was sipping my tea, I saw little horns poking behind bushes that acted as a fence for the terrace. The bush shook and wriggled and soon, a messy head of a little girl poked out of the bush. From her teal-colored skin and large black eyes, I could tell that she was related to the couple that owned the store, perhaps their daughter. Just like the clerk lady, she halted when she saw me, pausing inside the bush.

"Hello," I greeted the little demon girl. She reminded me of my ’friends’ in the children’s ward, so my lips naturally formed a smile.

Jade jumped lightly on my shoulder and peeked down. Perhaps remembering what we did yesterday, the little bird moved its little wing to wave. [Hello!]

"My bird says hello too," I added, and she blinked, shifting her gaze at Jade before muttering shyly.

"He-hello..."

"Are you going to stay there?" I asked teasingly, and she flinched. "Isn’t it cold? Would you like some pastries?"

She stared at the small plate in front of me, blinked her large eyes, and then shook her head. I thought it was a rejection, but the girl rolled out of the bush--and I truly meant that; she was doing tuck-and-roll--and stood up, before trotting toward me and said; "I ate that every day so I’m bored now."

She looked at me and then the space beside me, where Arta originally took. But she was gone to look for a bathroom so I gave the little girl her spot. She hopped to the bench and pulled out a small paper bag. "This is better," she said.

Better than her parent’s delicious pastries? I raised my brow and watched her taking out round-ish-looking stuff, like a potato, but longer. It was beige in color, wrinkly, and still steaming slightly.

"What is that?" I asked curiously.

"You don’t know goma, Mister?" she looked at me with a weird gaze, like I was someone out of the loop.

Well, I was indeed out of the loop. "I’m not from around here, you see..."

"But goma is everywhere!" she replied, tilting her head to look at me keenly, before exclaiming. "Ah! You must be from the city! Father said city folks are too fancy to eat tubers."

That kind of felt like a diss that I could even hear on Earth. She looked at me again, and then pushed her goma in front of me. "Do you want to try, Mister?"

"Oh, can I?"

"Mm," she nodded. "I have lots, so you can have one."

"Thank you!" I took the wrinkly potato-looking thing and observed it. As I brought it close to my face, I could smell a delicate sweet scent. There was a sticky feeling on the skin too, as if it was coated in honey.

The girl took another goma from her bag and started to peel it, which I followed. It was so easy, like peeling a wet paper, and that sweet scent became stronger. The inside was golden brown, like honey, and as I bit into it...

I gasped. "It’s like eating mashed potato with honey!"

"It’s good, right?" she giggled at my reaction, and I nodded energetically. Jade chirped and I let the little bird bit into it.

[Master! This is like candy, but soft!]

"You like it?"

[Yes!]

"The birds like it?" the little demon girl asked, and when I put my thumb up, she giggled. I ended up sharing the goma with Jade, and before we knew it, the sweet snack was gone. "Would you like another one?"

I looked at the little girl, temped. But no--I shouldn’t deplete a child’s snack like that. "Mm...it’s okay. Can I buy it somewhere instead?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No one selling goma, Mister. You can find it everywhere in the back mountain. I dug some and brought them to old Eshad in the cabin and he roasted them with his magic--puff!"

Oh, that was too bad. It seemed nice to be eaten in front of a fireplace, so I wanted to bring back some and ate it with Natha. While I was sinking in disappointment, she put another goma on my hand.

"Here, Mister, I’ll give you more," she said. "I was about to eat it with my friends, but they all get sick recently, so I have lots. You can eat them instead."

"Oh, truly?" I bit my lips. Just one...is okay, I supposed. She was the one who offer it anyway. Mm, it wasn’t good to reject a kind gesture, right?

"But, Mister, can I ask you something?"

"Of course,"

Anything for you, my roasted goma fairy.

"Are you a human?"

Uhh...