The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 173: Playing with fire in a fun way

Chapter 173: Playing with fire in a fun way

The play ended spectacularly with a roar of fire. It almost looked like they performed a play about a dragon rather than Salamander.

Wait--were they related?

Anyway, Jade and Ignis were very much enjoying themselves, and I did too. But without even resting, right after the finale flame was launched, the majestic music by the band on the side transitioned seamlessly into something brighter and more festive, with a faster beat of the drums.

As if mirroring the music, the audience’s applause for the majestic ending turned into a joyful cheer of excitement as they stood up and started to dance to the music.

I was pretty flabbergasted, not gonna lie. The demons, especially the ones that belonged to the traveling caravans, were sitting on the ground before. But now they were standing and jumping and spinning around while laughing and cheering loudly. The actors were either dancing on the stage or jumping down and dancing among the audience.

It was so bizarre simply because the play was so dramatic and filled with tension, but right after, it was all jolly and festive and...honestly, it was wonderful.

The last time, during the banquet, the dance was neat and elegant, even while spectating it from a distance. But this one felt more wild and free and the boisterous beat made my feet tingling.

And then, suddenly, I was pulled on my feet and into the crowd, Arta laughing as she held my hand. "Come, Young Master!"

I was still blinking in a daze when Arta started to move my arms and made me sway. Her friends, those performers, cheered and surrounded me. They already shed their bulky costumes, but still had their makeup on. It was like suddenly being pulled into a masquerade and I was bewildered.

But Jade was chirping cheerfully, and the good-natured laughter was contagious. Before I knew it, I already jumped and pinned and moved just like them.

Well, no--not like them. Obviously, I had no idea how to dance, moreover like these demons who did this often. All I did was just move my body, and (trying) to follow the rhythm of the percussions and flutes.

Arta still held my hands--just so I didn’t end up spinning out of control maybe--but soon it changed to the performers, and then Opti came and the dance got even faster. At some point, I was spinning around with Jade, who was chirping and shrieking joyfully, creating water bubbles all around us.

Ignis, who was apparently ’too cool’ for something like this, played with the bonfire and made it even more colorful. The sparks turned into butterflies, some surrounding me, and some filled the night sky like lanterns.

It was oh, so wonderful. And as I dizzyingly laughed after spinning too much, my back bumped against a cold chest. I didn’t even need to look to know who it was, and just pliantly getting turned around by my waist.

With the flaming butterflies around us, I could see his silver eyes gleaming softly. He took one of my hands, while the other still perching on my waist, and I suddenly remembered our dance above the lake.

Oh, God...I was truly in love with this demon.

Again, I found myself in a daze as I stared at him, didn’t even realize my body had started to sway as he moved me, just like that night. Didn’t even realize that the widely beating drums had been substituted for strings and woodwind. The butterflies followed us, and the crowd was giving way. It took me many minutes later to realize we had become the centerpiece of the festival, with the colorful bonfire as the background, and the dancing flame butterflies decorating every move we took.

Time felt like it had slowed down as he took me for a spin, trapped in the moonlight of his eyes, and the gentle smile that made me feel like I was the protagonist of this world. A smile that made me feel special, and loved, and oh, it was so glorious.

I didn’t even have a leeway to feel flustered, because my sight, my senses, my consciousness, everything centered on Natha. I felt like floating, and I think at some point, I did float, with a wisp of wind beneath my feet, so that I didn’t have to crane my neck so much to look at him.

When I realized it, I gasped, grabbing his shoulder in surprise. He laughed softly and bumped his forehead gently against mine, pulling my waist even closer until I was practically in his embrace. Circling my arms around his neck, forgetting where we were, I leaned closer and touched his cold lips with mine.

Here, between the fire and darkness, I basked in his cold and moonlight eyes.

* * *

"Oh, my God!"

I buried my face in my palms and screamed into my hands.

"It’s fine, Young Master. People in their honeymoon phase always forget their surroundings," Arta patted my hunching back, which was curling in embarrassment as I recalled what happened last night.

"That’s true," Opti followed, and even though I couldn’t see him, I could hear his playful tone. "It’s just a kiss, not a big deal."

"Oh, my God..." I said again, a bit more devastated than before.

And it wasn’t just a kiss. I mean...it began with a simple peck. But when Natha kissed me back, it soon turned deeper and deeper and...

Well, let’s just say it wasn’t appropriate to be done in front of a kid.

"Yeah, it’s not like you were jumping at him," Lesta added, and I yelled with a glare.

"Shut up!"

They laughed again, just as Natha and Caba came back from an early inspection of the burrows that Lesta found yesterday.

"Something’s fun?" The Demon Lord asked with an arched brow--probably because the others were laughing while I felt like dying in embarrassment. It was like waking up and remembering the shenanigans we did when we were drunk.

But this was worse, because I wasn’t drunk.

"Oh, just relishing some memories," Lesta replied with a grin, and I threw a cushion at him. "Fun and risky memories."

"I told you to shut up!"

Natha must have caught up at this point, because I could see his little playful smirk--because it was thanks to him recounting the night in a whisper this morning. So I pursed my lips and crossed my arms to prevent him from teasing me any further.

"Alright, let’s stop teasing my shy bride," he said while sitting beside me for his late breakfast. "Get ready to depart after this."

"Oh, we’re leaving already?" I turned my head to Natha, forgetting about being sulky.

"Well, we’ve done everything already," Natha said while receiving a thick tea from Arta. "And we’re a bit behind schedule."

"Ah..." I pressed my lips, hands falling into my lap. "I’m sorry..."

"It’s not your fault, Young Master," Lesta was the one to reply because Natha was in the middle of drinking his tea. "It was something crucial to the realm that needed to be done. We should be thankful that it doesn’t become a bigger problem later."

"Yep!" Arta nodded, putting my sliced fruit dessert in front of me. "Otherwise, we would have to work overtime in the winter--the horror!" she shook her head with an exasperated face, and then added. "Besides, we were allocating more time in our next destination, so all we have to do is just cut it short."

Well...I was glad I didn’t bring too much trouble along the way. "Why are we spending more time there? Is it a big place?"

"It’s not bigger dan Lu’ann, but it’s busier," as usual, Lesta took up Eruha’s role of explaining things to me. "It’s the second most important commercial district beside L’Anaak, and also thrives in tourism."

"Oh?"

"It’s a port city, so there’s a lot of goods being distributed there," Arta added. "Lots of clothing stores too, Young Master!"

Why were you keep on trying to take me to a clothing store?

"But the reason why we’re spending more time there is because the place used to be His Lordship’s home."

I turned to the side so fast that the fruit in my fork fell to the dirt. "To be exact, it was where I spend my early mercantile days after I was done playing mercenary," Natha said while taking the fork from my hand and stabbing another sliced fruit. "It’s where I start doing my business, and I know a lot of people there personally. So I guess you can call it my home."

"Oh, wow..."

Perhaps because I had been perceiving his lair as his home, I forgot that he didn’t have it before he became the Demon Lord. And he couldn’t come back to the Realm of Lust because he was still stigmatized before taking his revenge and drove the Spectres away.

But wow...the place where Natha spent his early life...

"Do you have a house, there?" I asked excitedly. I didn’t dare ask him about the house he grew up in, but this should be alright, right?

"Hmm...you could say that..." Natha said, for some reason looking hesitant.

"What do you mean?"

"How should I say this," he leaned back and tapped on the armrest with a troubled expression. "There’s a fox that occupied the place and refused to move out."

"Huh?"

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