The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 177: To do or not to do, that is the question

Chapter 177: To do or not to do, that is the question

"Oh, you’re ba--"

"What did they do to you? What did they say to you?"

Before I could even greet Natha properly that night, he was already rushing at me, grabbing my forearms and asking me those questions with worry and a dash of panic.

Hmm...was this how it was like to see someone get flustered when the lover met the ’friends’? He must have heard that I spent the whole days with the courtesans, and he must have been worried that I would get a misunderstanding or two.

So I, of course, told him honestly.

"Ah, hmm...about how they used to take care of you when you were in your rut?"

He deflated so fast, sliding into the floor and burying his face on my lap. Oh...this was fun? Just when I was about to teasingly touch his horn, Natha suddenly raised his face and looked at me with utmost seriousness.

"Sweetheart, I swear--"

"I know," I stroked his cold cheek, which got even colder from the outside air. He was probably rushing here the moment he was done with his work, right?

The silver eyes blinked at me, and it was quite fascinating how he looked so dumbfounded at my reaction.

"It’s fine," I told him with a smile. "You only do that when you were in a rut, right?"

"...yeah,"

"And it’s not like I expect you to never do any sexual activity before--I mean...you’re way older than me," I giggled, and finally saw Natha let out a breath. What, he had been holding it the entire time?

He stood up and shook his head with a chuckle. "You’re calling me old?" Natha scoffed, seated himself on the sofa and hauled me to his lap.

"If you’re a human you’d be facing a death door at this point," I stuck my tongue out playfully, and he caught it with his lips; tongue, lips, mouth, everything.

I laughed into his mouth, and he peppered my face with more kisses after, ending it with a whisper in my ear. "I only ever fall in love with one person, you should know that."

As he pressed his lips on my neck, I almost flinched. If he still doing that thing where he sensed my thought, he would know that my mind instantly went through a storm and blizzard in the few seconds he took to say those things.

Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice, or perhaps thought it was merely my physical reaction to having him seducing me as usual.

That one person...

Could I say that it was me, or should I know my place and accepted that it was Valmeier?

"Sweetheart?"

"Nnm?" I woke up from my daze, looking at the silver eyes that were observing me.

"What is it? Did they say anything else? Anything disturbing?" his perfect brow began to frown, and I welcomed the distraction by recalling what else we did today.

"Uhh...they dragged me through several clothing stores," I craned my neck to the ceiling. The memory of today’s adventure flooded in again. "I think you might need to check the expenditure today because Arta bought a lot of things and I don’t even how much or how many they are until now."

He chuckled as I let out a sound of exhausted groan. Taking a homebody like me to more than two stores was truly an evil thing to do. Evil, you hear me?

"Just hearing them talking drained me so much," I laid my head on his shoulder, and he embraced me closer.

"What did they talk about?"

"Just--"

I paused, recalling again what we were talking about this afternoon. What they imparted onto me.

Scratch that. This was NOT a good distraction.

"Why are you stopping?" Natha asked curiously, but I was too flustered and only pressed my face harder to his shoulder. Even without looking at the mirror, I knew how red I must have looked.

Unfortunately, I was too stupid to remember that Natha could still see my nape and ears, and they were almost as red as my cheek. For whatever reason, he stroked my nape and brushed my ears until I let out a strained squeal that I tried so hard to suppress.

I felt the cold hand on my nape tighten, and in the next second, I was getting pulled off his shoulder to face a fascinated face that stared at my flushed one.

"Agh!" I let go of his shoulder to cover my face with my palm, groaning.

"What exactly..."

Natha did not finish his question, perhaps because he already realized what kind of talk a group of courtesans might do to a virgin.

"Sweetheart..."

"Hngg!!" still buried in my palms, I shook my head wildly--half trying to get rid of their ’advice’ from my mind and half telling him I didn’t want to talk about it.

He laughed then, and with his hands on my waist and back, he pulled me into a delightful embrace. "Well, I could guess."

"Ugh--"

"Don’t think too much about it. You probably could tell already, but they are a bunch of mischiefs," he said with a pleasing sound of laughter still. "Just treat their words as a joke."

"Easier said than done," I grumbled against his chest, and he laughed again.

Wow--he showcased so many emotions today.

Slowly, as I feel the heat receding from my face, I pulled back and took a deep breath. I looked at his smiling face as he brushed the hair off my face.

"Natha," I called out quietly.

"Mm?"

"Was it hard...the last time you have your rut?"

He raised his brow and stopped brushing my hair aside to cusp my cheek. "What spurs this question?"

"Because...Arta said you did not go anywhere the last time," I was a bit too embarrassed to see his face, so I lowered my gaze to his neck, tracing the mithril chain there. "Said you just locked yourself in the bedroom."

"Ah..." he leaned back, hands sliding down around my waist, fingers interlocking behind the small of my back. "Well, there’s no way I would go to anyone else when I have you," he tilted his head and gave me a charming smile. "But it’s fine. Since it’s irregular, it didn’t last that long."

Liar. They told me an irregular rut would feel worse if went unfulfilled. The beast demons told me, since they also went into heat regularly. They said it was like an itch that you couldn’t scratch, multiplied by thousands. Like ants crawling all over your skin, and fire rushing through your vein. Without a release, it was nothing but pain.

So I wouldn’t blame him even if he tried to find relief in any other way. But the fact that he only drank suppressant potions and probably merely jerked off to relieve himself because he didn’t want to betray me...

And he even proceeded to scold me because I didn’t stop him that night.

God--I loved him so much.

"Is...is it true, that..." I bit my lips, clutching the green pendant over his chest to garner more wit. "..that your rut came earlier because...because..."

"Hmm..." Natha leaned forward and put his forehead against my shoulder. "One’s body follows one’s heart," he said with a chuckle. "That is something normal, isn’t it."

So that was true? He did go into rut because of me? I recalled it was not long after we kissed for the first time, although it was blurred by all the fiasco with Caba and Valmeier’s memory of stabbing Natha that traumatized me.

"So..." I fiddled with the pendant and fidgeted slightly on his lap. "What...what if it comes irregularly again?"

Natha moved his face to my ear again, whispering. "I might get it now if you keep squirming above my di--"

"Sorry!"

I pulled back and clasped his mouth shut as the heat was coming back to my cheek. I was about to get off his lap, but he quickly pulled me even closer by my waist, grinning mischievously.

"What are you sorry about?"

I pressed my lips when I got locked up between his chest and his arms, grasping his shoulder for balance. "But if your rut comes again, I don’t know if I could--"

"Don’t worry about it," he patted the small of my back as if it could provide reassurance rather than getting me more flustered. "If it happens, I’ll just do what I did the last time, and you can stay in the Lair until it’s over."

He said that so casually, as if having his rut coming once every few months rather than a few years, as usual, wasn’t something big. He must have said it like that to not make me feel guilty, right?

As I bit my lips, his fingers reached my face and he rubbed my bitten lips with his thumb as if telling me to stop. "Don’t feel burdened, sweetheart. This is an affliction that I have to endure, and it’s not your fault that I got so affected by my feelings for you," he said, voice gentle and soothing, as he caressed my reddened cheek next. "It’s not your fault that I fall for you, so you don’t have to feel like you bear responsibility for it."

I looked up, staring at the soft eyes that gleamed like moonlight, just like the nights we had those dances.

"I told you I’m going to wait," he said, the smile never wavering as he caressed my hair. "And I’d rather you come to me because you really want it, rather than because you feel like you have to."

I grabbed his shoulder and buried my face in his neck, because I might cry any moment now and I didn’t want him to see it.

"Thank you," I whispered against his skin, and every stroke of his cold hands on my back and hair felt warmer than anything.

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