The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 192: We should check our surrounding before starting a dramashow

Chapter 192: We should check our surrounding before starting a dramashow

"Valen!"

I stopped on my track and looking back, blinking in surprise. "Natha?" I turned back happily, and was about to run back to the house when I heard his voice again.

"Valen!"

It sounded...scary. Like he was angry and... on the verge of breaking something. Like the time he was so mad at the Lord of Lust. The cold was blasting all the way from the house to the garden.

And it wasn’t the kind of cold that made the winter flowers grow vibrant.

Panne and the guards also seemed to be surprised by the tone, to the point that they even reflexively raised their defense around me. The spreading cold that was getting closer and closer rooted me in place for a few seconds, but Ignis finally flicked its flaming tail on my shoulder, and I gasped out of my stupor.

Immediately, ignoring my entourage, I moved toward the source of the cold, through the stone path of the garden. At the edge of the garden, near the rotunda where I met the courtesans the other day, I caught sight of Natha who was trudging the field as if he was about to march into war. The cold had rendered the gardener, servants, and courtesans around the vicinity crouching and trembling in fear.

As soon as I saw him, I swiftly called for him, as loud as I could. "Natha?"

The moment his name came out of my lips, the silver eyes immediately trained on me, sharp and filled with madness. I blinked once, and he was in front of me already, black feathers scattering around us. Cold palms grasped into my cheeks, full of urgency and desperation that was also thick in his voice.

"Is it you?" I could hear the grunt and heavy breath as I looked at him with wide, unblinking eyes. "Sweetheart, is this you?"

Ah...so he was still scared of that.

"Yeah," I touched his cheek too, stroking the skin that felt colder than usual. "It’s me."

In a split second, I could no longer see his face, which was buried on my shoulder as he embraced me tightly. So tight that it almost felt difficult to breathe. But I couldn’t say anything--didn’t want to. How could I, when I could feel the tremble of his arms, even as he clutched me tightly.

"Valen," he whispered my name, and it sound heartbreakingly desperate. "I was so scared. God--I was so scared."

"Natha," I whispered back, clutching at his arms to make him let go of me. "Would you look at me?"

It took a few seconds more, but he slowly pulled away, scanning me with a keen pair of silver eyes. But I told him without waiting for him to find out; something that I had been wanting to say for hours now.

"Natha," I took his hand and led it to my chest. "I’m whole now."

I told him with a smile, a big one. I should have liked to tell him as soon as I woke up, but as circumstances go, he wasn’t there. But now I could tell him, and I finally felt I was truly complete.

He looked at my chest--my core--and then at my face. After a few wordless seconds, he looked down again, and his fingers were trembling.

"It’s okay, I won’t go anywhere," I assured him again. "This is my body now. My place," I stepped closer, and said it in a whisper that could only be heard by us. "My home."

At that time, for the first time, I saw tears dripping down his eyes. I gasped and wiped the wet cheek with my sleeve. "It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about my soul anymore, aren’t you happy? Why are you--"

My next words were lost in his lips when Natha pulled me in for a kiss. He pressed his lips against mine hard; so hard it felt bruising. I had thought that I was the only one who was desperate in our relationship, but I could feel his desperation and relief in this kiss.

When he pulled away, he stroke my face as if it was the first time he saw me again after decades. "God, you’re so beautiful," he whispered with a hoarse voice. "So beautiful."

"Even though...I’m no longer like I used to be?" I asked quietly.

While I was feeling relieved and happy, there was also this insecurity in the back of my mind. Because he told me why he fell in love with me then, but I was no longer like that. My soul was no longer broken, and I was no longer suffering.

What if he didn’t find me beautiful anymore?

He kissed me again then, softly. "You are every part of what I loved back then, and then more," he stroked my face, and my hair, and my neck and shoulder. He rubbed my cheeks and my lips with his thumb, and even my dense and insecure self could see the affection in his silver eyes.

"I loved you, Valen," he told me with every bit of certainty. "And I love you even more every day."

He didn’t say it as a confession. He said it like a fact that I should never ever question. This time, it was me who was trembling and quivering, and this time, it was me who pulled him into a kiss.

I hadn’t found the courage to say it out loud for now, but I hoped he at least knew it. I hoped he could feel it, until I found the courage. Perhaps later, when it was only the two of us.

Because I suddenly felt conscious of where we had been standing and had this whole heartfelt conversation. The demons that were crouching in fear of Natha’s uncontrollable agitation were still in their place, recuperating their trembling limbs.

So yeah, they were practically witnessing all of our exchange; the hugs and kisses, perhaps even some of the conversation that wasn’t done in whispers.

Including those words of devotion.

And now, I also realized the presence of someone I never met before, and became even more conscious as I ended the kiss and peeked behind Natha’s shoulder. There, standing rather awkwardly near the house, was someone with slightly lighter hair than me, and a different shade of green in her eyes; a druid.

When she caught me looking at her sheepishly, she smiled and bowed slightly.

"Ah," Natha followed my line of vision. "I almost forgot."

You almost forgot bringing a whole person here? I raised my brows and he smiled, finally. I reached up to completely wipe the trace of his tears, and we approached the druid then.

I could see that she was strong and experienced simply by her calmly undulating mana that wrapped around her whole body. There was a sense of familiarity from her, like the time I met Mother--I mean, the Goddess of Nature.

"Pardon me for neglecting my helper," Natha said in genuine regret; his tone was vastly different than the one he used on the elves.

"I don’t think you can call me a helper anymore, since His Highness had woken up."

I flinched at the title she given me. Thankfully though, she didn’t use overly reverent tone like the one the elves used. It was more of the tone my grandmother used when he called me her little prince.

Ah...now that pet name suddenly had a whole other meaning.

"That’s not true," Natha smiled as I partly hide behind him, clutching his traveling coat that smelled like sunlight and jungle.

Don’t misunderstand--it was just the feeling when you were suddenly got introduce to distant relatives, you know? An aunt you had never seen before. I knew it wasn’t very mature of me, but I was fresh out of being called a child and finally knowing what a mother’s embrace felt like, so...yeah...

"Your willingness of coming here to check on him is helpful enough," Natha continued with his praise. I guessed he was really grateful. He was probably so desperate for an answer to my condition, and the fact that an elusive druid was willing to come all the way here must have been big. "Val, this is an Elder Druid, a distant relative of your grandmother."

At the introduction, she bowed again, still with the kind smile on her face. "I am Princess Yuralein’s third cousin. You can call me Amarein, Your Highness."

"P-please just call me by name, I’m not really comfortable with that...that title--especially when we are related..." I said hurriedly. "Oh, my name is Valen."

She seemed to be taken aback, pausing for a few seconds. "Not...Valmeier?"

Ah...she must have heard from the Sarteriels about me and my name. "I was Valmeier," I told her. Now I could say this with a confident smile and a calm heart. "But now I go by Valen."

She seemed to digest my words for a while. I had no idea what kind of story coming up in her head to explain this change, but she accept it pretty face, and nodded with a smile. "Yes, I understand. May I call you by that name; Valen?"

I looked at Natha, who was actually staring at me with wonder in his eyes. But he nodded, and thus I told her she could call me that. Anything really, rather than some royalty stuff.

"If you allow me, I still would like to examine your body further," she said, looking straight at my eyes. "But," she shifted her gaze toward Natha, who was still looking at me, turned out. "I still feel rather tired from the journey, so might we postponed it for tomorrow?"

What journey? You were teleporting here, weren’t you? I felt bashful at her way of saying ’you have a lot of things to talk about with each other so I’ll se myself out’ with that little smile of hers that truly reminded me of a teasing aunt.

Not that I ever had one.

But yeah...I didn’t think either me or Natha would be able to concentrate on anything but each other right now.