The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 179: Adventure doesn’t always led us to things that we want

Chapter 179: Adventure doesn’t always led us to things that we want

Crawling through a dark place, I found Jade throwing a tantrum on the floor, rolling around and slamming its wings, surrounded by the echoing sounds of its chirp.

I scooped the little bird and stroked it with a laugh, praising the kid for accidentally founding the passage. After Jade calmed down, Ignis hopped off my head to the path so we could see the place better thanks to its flame.

Surprisingly, the path was pretty well made. It didn’t feel crude, and polished adequately. Perhaps the one who build this knew the path might be used by important people--like the Lord. There were even several unlit torches along the way, although we let them be because we had our own unlimited torch walking ahead of us.

Based on Natha’s brief explanation, this passage was supposed to be an emergency measure, I think. Whether it was to temporarily hide from assaulters or to escape from the mansion. If I recall correctly, the path led to the other side of the mansion, to the east wing that was separated by the garden. Usually, to reach that place, we would need to circle around the back side of the mansion, so this could be used as a shortcut too.

I committed this detail to memory so I could share it with Natha later, during our dinner. The path dipped at some point, beneath the garden, and as we reach the center of the garden, there was a t-junction; one path led to the east wing and the other, I guessed, led somewhere outside. Perhaps to the hill behind the mansion? Or someplace on the riverside?

I would like to find out where the exit point was, but I worried it might take a longer time than I had planned. Once again, I didn’t want my guards and attendant to think I was missing. So I decided to head to the other wing instead.

That wing was supposed to be where the guests were staying, and the courtesans whom Rubha invited here were treated as guests, so they were staying there. They would go out in the evening for their ’work’, carefully so people did not realize they were staying in the Lord’s mansion.

From what I gathered yesterday, however, only three would stay here today. The other four went straight to their ’workplace’ after our shopping spree yesterday, and wouldn’t be coming back until they had several off days.

So...basically, this mansion was their vacation home, huh? Way to utilize the Lord’s house.

I got it though; it wasn’t like anyone would dare to look for them in the Lord’s mansion, right?

Anyway, after a while, we found a stair, so it meant the garden path was over. The wall changed to a stone wall, and no longer a straight path. Since the east wing was mostly filled with guest rooms, I guessed the path was made to follow the structure, zigzagging until we reach the other entry point. I began to see the maker’s intention with this hidden passage. The two entry points were made so the residents on both sides of the mansion could get out in case of emergency.

But perhaps this side of the path was made in a hurry, because it was less polished than the other side. I could still see some raw foundation, and could hear the sounds coming from the other side of the wall. The servants were bustling, cleaning the rooms thoroughly, and I heightened my senses to try to find some familiar voices of the courtesans.

No, no--I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop or everything. I was just planning to surprise them later by suddenly popping out of nowhere after I found the entry point.

And I found them right in the room where the entry point was!

I raised my brow in fascination. Wasn’t this...amazing? I didn’t know if they had any idea about the hidden passage, but if they didn’t, wouldn’t it be good if they knew? They might be able to use the hidden passage to go in and out of the mansion more secretively.

I almost couldn’t hold my giggle as I tried to figure out how to open this entrance from this side. Meanwhile, the three of them--the cat lady, the rabbit, and the short male if I wasn’t mistaken--seemed to be lounging casually in whatever room it was supposed to be.

"...anyway, I feel bad saying this, but..." the rabbit muttered, suddenly sounding quite dispirited.

"Why?" the male demon--was his name Arhat?--asked.

"Hmm..."

When the rabbit wasn’t answering clearly, the cat lady offered an answer. "Is it regarding the sweetheart?"

What?

By sweetheart, did they mean...me?

My hands, which were scouring the wall to look for a button or any kind of trigger, froze. I blinked, and, reflexively, crouched down closer to the edge of the wall.

"Mm, yeah..."

Oh? I glanced at Jade and Ignis who tilted their head. Should I listen to this? There was always a dilemma when you know someone was talking about you. You would feel curious about it, but also scared that it would end up being something unpleasant.

While I was stuck there wondering what to do, the conversation resumed.

"I mean...I can see that the Lord adores him very much, but I can’t help but think back about ’that’," the rabbit continued cryptically.

"That..." the male demon made a pondering sound, before I heard him snapping his fingers. "Ah--that!" he exclaimed, before adding in more detail. "The name he always called out when he was in deep, right?"

"Yeah," the rabbit replied. "I’ve only serviced him once, so I thought he was just talking nonsense," the voice paused, and then it got lowered slightly as if the rabbit was whispering. "But when I mentioned it in passing to the one who did it before me, they said the same thing..."

At that, the cat lady responded nonchalantly. "If you asked the one who serviced him before he became the Lord, they’d say the same thing."

It took me a while to realize what they meant--that Natha was always calling for someone’s name consistently for many years, more than half a century, during his rut, when they were...

At this point, I was sitting on the floor, leaning back to the wall and forgetting all about finding the hidden trigger. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t go. I was rooted there, torturing myself with information that I might be better not knowing. Ever.

I vaguely felt Jade and Ignis nudged on my face and arms, but was frozen still. It seemed like only my hearing still functioning at this point, receiving more and more crippling information.

"I couldn’t recall what it was though, do you remember?" Arhat asked, and I found myself focusing even more.

Did I want to know the name of the person Natha always called out during his rut? Honestly, I wasn’t sure. But at this point...it was already too late, wasn’t it?

"Nope," the cat lady, however, did not provide a satisfactory answer. And so was the rabbit, who said they had no idea too. "It’s not weird for clients to call out someone’s name, since we are just a substitute for the one they really yearn for anyway. So I learned to just tune it out when they started to do that," the cat lady continued, and then pausing for a while, as if she was thinking hard about something. "But...there’s one thing I know for sure..."

There was a dread coming down on me so suddenly, a cold feeling crawling on my spine, as if someone walked over my grave. I gripped my clothes tightly, waiting for the rest of the words.

"...he’s not calling for Valmeier."

Ah...

It was truly as I feared.

"Well, it’ll be weird if he called the sweetheart’s name before the boy was even born, right?" the male demon said, and the rabbit replied immediately.

"But the Lord also didn’t call for his name three years ago,"

"Hmm..."

"So they must be two different people, right?"

"Should be..."

They reached for conclusion, and fell into silence for a while. I should probably get back at this point, right? I already heard too many detrimental points so what was the use of staying here? I should have gone back if I was smart.

I wasn’t smart.

Also, I couldn’t breathe and my legs felt like jellies.

"Maybe His Lordship finally moves on after meeting the sweetheart?" the male demon offered a conjecture after a few minutes.

"It’s good if that’s the case," the rabbit replied with a sigh.

"Why? You don’t think so?"

The one who answered was the cat lady this time. "Do you think it’s easy moving on from someone who is constantly on your mind for dozens of years? When he constantly called out to that name every time he was in a daze?"

"Uhh..."

"Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy if the Lord truly forget that person after meeting the sweetheart, but..." the rabbit said hurriedly, with a voice that seemed to be saddled with worry. "It’ll be too sad if that sweet boy is just...another substitute."

That was when I hit my thigh with my fist and ran away from that place. I ran, and ran, through the dark path that was only illuminated by a living flame, while questions were flooding my clouded mind.

Why? What happened? What did this mean?

I thought...didn’t he say he never loved anyone but me? No, okay, he might say it to Valmeier, but still...

Even then, it wouldn’t make sense because he only met Valmeier during the war. Even if they did meet before, Valmeier was only twenty-four this year.

Who?

Who?

Who was this person? The name he always called?

Who...

The questions kept swirling in my mind without answer.