The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 218: It’s more fun gossiping with more people of the same mental age

Chapter 218: It’s more fun gossiping with more people of the same mental age

"So let me get this straight,"

We were at the dining table now, Angwi ushered us to have lunch after my story more or less finished, and Izzi attempted to recap what I had been telling them.

"You met the Lord in your previous life, for about two months,"

"Uh-huh,"

"And then his soul came back to this world, while the body he possessed disappeared from your life, and you just lived your life until, well...you were...unalive,"

I had food in my mouth, so I just nodded, watching Jade and Ignis listening keenly to Izzi’s recap, like a pair of kids in front of a traveling bard, perching on the empty plate of jelly.

"That happened like--how long ago? Sixty-seven years? But you only woke up in Valmeier’s body after the war, like...eight months ago?"

"Yep,"

"But you didn’t know Lord Natha was that man you’ve met in your previous life, while he knew it was you from the start?" I nodded, and he continued. "And he didn’t tell you until a few weeks ago, during the inspection trip?"

I made a shooting gesture with my fingers. Izzi stopped his recap to stare at me for a while, as if trying to regain his wit. "So you’re telling me your beloved Demon Lord had been waiting for you for nearly seven decades?"

I paused and blinked at his words, before biting on my spoon and feeling myself blushed. I mean...I knew it already, but hearing someone spell it like that made me rather shy.

But also happy.

"Ugh--no wonder he’s so possessive," Zia muttered while biting her nails, eyes narrowed and darted around as if she was in the middle of planning something.

Which made me remember Natha’s disclaimer.

"Ah, Natha said you can’t use it for your book," I told her.

"Ah, why!!" Zia slammed the table and pursed her lips in protest. But Angwi was throwing her a warning glare so she shrunk back and lowered her voice. "But it’s dimensional travel! It’s such a good concept!"

"Well...he didn’t say anything about using the concept itself," I shrugged. "Just don’t use our story."

Zia still pouted in disappointment though, fiddling with the napkin even under Angwi’s disapproval stare.

"You can write about someone transmigrating to another world and having some adventure, or...you know, trying to make otherworld weapon..." Izzi threw an idea.

"Ugh--boring," Zia scoffed, to the elf’s dismay. Now it was Izzi who pursed his lips. "It’s basically what happened to that human Hero, what’s so interesting about that? Where’s the love? The Love!"

"What? You think there’s no romance in an adventure? Are you daft?" Izzi protested. "What’s the heroine for?"

"Oh, so you think a female character is only there to be a love interest?" Zia slammed her fork down.

Izzi startled at the succubus’s counter, but immediately talked back. "T-that’s not what I mean!" he argued. "Don’t you know the appeal of love blossoming in a life-and-death situation while adventuring?"

"But then the romance would be just a sprinkle, just a topping!" Zia crossed her arms. "Romance should be the main dish!"

Why did these two suddenly bickering by themselves? I shook my head and just continued with my lunch like the good boy that I was while Izzi and Zia continued to argue back and forth. Angwi seemed to have given up on the other two and rather focused her serving at me, piling more and more food on my plate.

[Master] while the succubus and the elf enter a heated discussion about romance versus action, the little bird hopped closer to me, stopping beside my hand and touching me with its wing. [Master...in the past...]

Jade seemed to have a hard time forming the sentence due to its limited vocabulary and structure. But Ignis seemed to understand what the little bird wanted to say, so the Salamander took over the question.

"So you have experienced death, Valen?" the Salamander looked at me with its bright blue eyes.

"Hmm...I assumed so," I shrugged.

[Master...dead?] Jade was quivering, and I had to scoop the suddenly saddened bird.

"But I’m alive now," I laughed softly and caressed the dropped green head. "And I can meet you because of that."

The green eyes peeked up Jade flew up to nuzzle my cheek as usual, sending me a lot of flowery image that was mixed with the image the little bird had of me when it saw me for the first time, on the roof of the Tower when it was born.

"But...you ’assumed’ you were dead?" Izzi tilted his head, looking at me with confusion. I didn’t know when, but he had stopped arguing with Zia, and they were now focusing on me again.

"Well, I was already on life support back then, and my memory was hazy. But I assumed my heart stopped beating at some point since my organs kept failing," I shrugged.

The golden eyes blinked, and I realized I never told him the details of it. "When you said you were hospitalized since you were a kid..."

Again, I shrugged. "Ah, so it seemed like I got sick because my soul isn’t whole, and I was half druid too," I gave them the context of my illness. "Without magic on that side of the world, my life force was draining rapidly, and no one could find out why."

"Ah..."

"Val..." Zia shifted her chair closer and grabbed my sleeve, so I just laughed to tell her that I was fine now, and patted her head.

"So you’re like me," Ignis said, curling its tail on my wrist as it climbed onto my arm. "You were dead and reborn again."

Huh...

"That’s right," I rubbed the warm, red tail around my wrist and laughed. "Yeah...I died and was given a better life."

"Mm," the little gecko nodded. "I decided to have a better life than my predecessor too, so I chose to make a contract with you."

[Master better now?]

"Of course, I’m better now," I stroked the plump cheek of the little bird. "I meet Natha again, and you, and Zia and Angwi," I squeezed the adorable face lightly. "And Izzi and everyone."

I leaned back on my chair and brought the little bird on top of my palm before continuing. "I can go outside and move around and eat a lot of delicious food, it’s wonderful," I laughed and Jade chirped joyfully to match my mood, rubbing its green head against my thumb.

I looked at Zia, and Izzi, and the slightly smiling Angwi. "And now, I can even call me by my own name."

"...Valen," Zia called, tugging on my sleeve again with a grin on her face. "So that’s why you introduced yourself as ’Val’ to me back then."

I grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I want to feel like you call for me, not Valmeier."

Zia laughed and pinched my cheek, just like Natha usually did. Hmm...was my cheek that plump now? They all seemed to like pinching, squeezing, poking, head-butting my cheeks.

"But..." Izzi suddenly spoke again, tilting his head inquisitively. "If you’re a native of that world...how was your body a half-druid?"

Ah...

"About that..." I tapped on the armrest to contemplate how much I could tell them. "So...it seemed like my grandma was actually a druid."

They paused to stare at me wordlessly for a few seconds, eyes wide and blinking hard slowly, before belatedly yelling in surprise. "What?!"

"So, it seemed like my Grandma got transmigrated--physically--to the other world during the war,"

"What even..."

"Also, she’s also Valmeier’s grandma,"

Izzi leaned back and looked dazedly at the ceiling. "And I thought I was the protagonist..."

What the hell? Where did this protagonist thing come from? As far as a story goes...

"Isn’t the Hero supposed to be the protagonist?"

Izzi looked down at me again with a raised brow, and I shrugged. "Ah!" he suddenly exclaimed, slamming his hand on the table. "Right! The novel! You said you knew about this world from a novel!"

"What novel?" Zia, an author of several novels, perked up.

So I told them all about the author girl and the prompt of the novel she wrote. I didn’t tell them much about the content of the novel itself, but I told them how I knew about the Amrita in Natha’s possession, which brought me to seek his whereabouts, including cornering one of his spies to deliver a letter, begging for an audience.

"Even though you knew nothing about him, and you were supposed to be an enemy?" Izzi parted his lips. "You sought him first? I thought he kidnapped you!"

I almost sprayed the water in my mouth. "No!"

I knew some people had this misconception that Natha was whisking me away from the human kingdom--whether they thought it was because he wanted to use me, or because he didn’t like how they treated me, I had no idea. But I didn’t think someone around me would think that.

"But you don’t even know whether he would kill you or not?"

"Well, I didn’t," I admitted, "But it wasn’t like I had much choice--either I died because of my condition, or died in his hand."

"Oh..." Izzi tilted his head to mull it over, before nodding in agreement. "I see, that makes sense. Do or die, huh?"

"More like die or die," I shrugged.

Thinking back about that time, though, I realized how desperate I was. Desperate and frustrated. What was the point of being reborn if I ended up dying too? It felt like a sick joke.

I recalled that I was so desperate that I was ready to become his servant. I was ready to be used however he liked, even if he sent me back to the human realm to wreak havoc.

Who knew he would brand me as his bride the next day?

I looked at the mark on the back of my hand, my lips stretched unconsciously.

"Who do you think this girl was? The author," Izzi wondered again. "How could she write the event happening in the other world?"

"Hmm...Natha said she might receive a ’revelation’, or get shown what happened so I would have a clue," I told them about my discussion with Natha. "But we don’t really know,"

Unconsciously, I glanced at Angwi, who was in turn raising her brow. It was a reflex on my part, perhaps because the existence of this author had something to do with what I wanted to discuss with them.

Izzi, meanwhile, leaned closer and spoke in a low, conspirational tone. "Do you think...she also got sent here?"

At Izzi’s question, Zia gasped and leaned forward too, so we looked like we were huddling at the lunch table. They all looked at me, including Jade and Ignis.

"Probably?" I replied back. "I think so," and then, with a whisper, I added. "I think she is a part of the Hero’s new companion."

Both the elf and the succubus gasped scandalously.