The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 227: Again, a relationship between two people does not need consent from a third party

Chapter 227: Again, a relationship between two people does not need consent from a third party

On the other side of L’Anaak Edd, two towers were looming over the western district. One of them was the magic tower where the magician, alchemist, and formation masters did their work.

The other tower was a building that had been there for as long as the residents remembered. That building was where the Council of Elders was.

That was where Natha went this morning without even having his breakfast.

I guessed it was a play of some sort; sending him a summon at the break of dawn before he could properly gather himself or have a bite. At least he took a coffee while he got ready.

Of course, as the Lord, he could just ignore the summon. But doing that would mean he challenged the Council, and...well, that would be a whole another headache.

The Elders came from families who originally dwelled in the realm of greed, like Hagai’s family. Those families had their own fiefs, and while they followed the law stated by the Castle Lord, they could ignore those laws if the Lord challenged them. And if it wasn’t solved, those families could issue war--after all, they had their own soldiers, armory, and people on their estate.

It would be chaotic, so to speak.

So Natha had to answer this summon, whether he liked it or not. At the very least, he had to listen to them first before anything. Whether or not he responded kindly was a different matter.

The summon could be about anything, but honestly, it was an easy guess. And it couldn’t be anything nice if they did it this way, calling Natha during an ungodly hour. Of course, he told me not to worry, vanishing with a confident smile on his lips.

But that didn’t mean my worry would disappear.

So here I was, crouching on his office couch with the other vassals after a gloomy breakfast done in silence. It was only my second time here, and I should have been enjoying it if it wasn’t for the uncertainty of the situation.

"It’s just a meeting, Young Master, don’t worry too much about it," Arta crouched with me with a cookie tin in her hands; a bribe to calm me down, I guessed. Even Jade patted the cookie tin as if telling me to take it.

"Just a ’meeting’ with a summon letter at the break of dawn?" I replied with a frown, but took the cookie tin from her hand anyway. Whatever, maybe snacking would really calm my nerves.

Opti, who took advantage of Natha’s absence to sit on the Lord’s desk responded nonchalantly. "Eh--you know those old people are weird,"

I pursed my lips at that and bit into the cookie harshly. "This is because he proposed to me, isn’t it?"

"Well...maybe?" Arta grimaced, now with a glass of juice in her hands--in case I choked on the cookie, I guessed.

"But...His Lordship been calling Young Master Valen his bride all this time, and those old demons knew they had been living together," Caba responded from the floor beside the couch. He’d been mopping too, because Natha had gone away without taking him or any guards. "Why are they raising a fuss now?"

"Perhaps because nothing is truly official," Lesta shrugged.

Well, that was true. We might be living together, making tours together, and appearing at the banquet together, but there was no official announcement in the papers or anything that we were engaged. People could be thinking I was just a mere fascination, a paramour.

I swallowed my cookie and sighed. "Maybe they thought Natha would wake up one day and change his mind?"

Immediately after I said this, Arta, Caba, and Haikal rejected my notion. "No, Young Master, that’s--"

"Don’t lie to me," I glared at them. I didn’t know how menacing it would be with a cookie in my hand, though.

"...uhh, yeah, probably..." they smiled wryly.

"But now that Natha proposed to me openly, they couldn’t treat it as...Oh, I don’t know; a youthful dalliance, anymore," I finished my thought and shoved the cookie into my mouth.

Their silence was enough confirmation for me. I didn’t mind them pampering me, but I didn’t want them to treat me like a baby that needed to be protected from the right information. They let me rage-munch my cookie for a bit more, while Arta kept trying to give me something to drink.

I had to say though, that snacking when you were upset did help with the situation. At least, since my mouth was busy, I had no time to curse out loud or lash out angry words and make Jade scared. Caressing the little bird also lowered the heat in my head and I could more or less stop glaring at everyone and everything.

I let out a sigh and asked no one in particular. "Is it...so wrong for us to be together?"

"No! No, of course, it’s not wrong! There’s nothing wrong with being happy together!" Arta replied aggressively, slamming my empty glass on the table.

"It’s only wrong if either of you is under coercion in this relationship," Eruha, who was now sitting on the desk doing Natha’s paperwork chimed in.

"Which we are not," I said.

Well, technically now no one was being ’coerced’ or anything.

"Yes, so you don’t have to worry," Lesta patted my shoulder and moved to sit on the couch in front of me with his own paperwork.

That was what they kept telling me. But I knew reality wasn’t that nice. Yeah, so technically, people shouldn’t butt into other’s relationships, or try to break up a perfectly happy one. But...

"But that’s not enough for them, right?" I glanced at the vassals, who were all gathered in Natha’s spacious office except for Malta, who was making a round in the Castle. I especially looked at Lesta, who would most likely tell me as it is.

"Hmm..."

I stared keenly at the dark eyes and made sure my voice was firm. "Tell me," I told them. "Tell me what exactly they see wrong with me."

At my question, Lesta let out a sigh, which prompted me to ask again. "Is it because I’m a human?"

Lesta leaned back and looked up to the ceiling, and as I looked at the other demons, they kind of averted their eyes. "Yeah, it’s because I’m a human, isn’t it? And I was the Priest of Judgment too,"

The one who gave me an answer, however, was Eruha. "Actually, to be fair, those old demons are just... purists."

I turned my head to look at the vampire, who was still reviewing the morning report while explaining. "Rather than you being a human, it’s because you’re not a demon."

"Not a pure-blooded demon, more like," Lesta added.

"Old generation likes to see the pure-blooded demon keep their purity, because their existence is in decline," Eruha continued.

"And Natha is a pure-blood."

"Yes,"

I took a deep breath and let it out heavily. I had no idea whether it was a better or worse reason. Thinking that it wasn’t a specific reason like "Oh, no--you can’t marry this human who used to slaughter our kin!" was kind of a relief. But if it was just that, we might still be able to convince those Elders somehow, just like we convinced the vassals and the citizens.

But...pure-blood demon?

It wasn’t something that we could argue unless I could change my race somehow. And honestly, I didn’t want to change anything about myself right now. The me that Natha fell in love with.

"Agh--still! People should be able to be with anyone they want, right?" Arta suddenly yelled loudly. It seemed that the anger and annoyance had infected her too. "What’s the use of keeping the blood pure if they are devoid of happiness?"

She looked fiercely toward the window, where Hagai had been standing there silently for a while now. The demon flinched and immediately shook his head and hands. "It’s not my Grandfather, I swear!"

Arta shifted her glare to the other two--Bhuwa and Kulmut--but they also shook their head. From their reaction, it seemed like even if their family was involved in this emergency summon, they had no idea about it. And Hagai’s grandfather did think I was useful at least.

Haa...once again, I let out a long sigh.

"Don’t worry, Young Master," Arta stroked my back. "It’s His Lordship, he wouldn’t let others dictate him."

"Except you," Lesta added, pointing at me, which couldn’t help but make my lips curl slightly. He smiled and said with that calm and soothing voice of him. "Just trust him, okay?"

"Mm..."

"And oh, congratulations."

I lifted my gaze at his words, blinking at his smile. I followed his gaze, which was pointed at the mark on my ring finger. Instantly, the atmosphere shifted. Arta and Opti especially were grinning widely.

Yeah, I remembered that after the proposal, Natha just dismissed his aides and told them he wouldn’t work anymore for the rest of the day. And then we ended up spending the rest of the day in bed, even having dinner in the bedroom, so we saw no one ever since Natha proposed. Jade was having a fit this morning because of that.

I looked down at the mark on my ring finger, and immediately felt my body filled with warmth. Even more in this situation, the mark felt like an unbreakable bond. It wasn’t like the worry dissipated completely, but it did make me put more faith in Natha’s stubbornness about us, and my lips just stretched in reflex.

"That’s right, you look prettier smiling like this instead of getting worried," Arta smiled and pinched my cheek lightly.

"Uhh..."

"Yep! I’d rather start planning out your wedding than think about this annoying meeting!" Arta suddenly clenched her fists and declared energetically.

"Wedding..."

I mean...yeah, I knew that ’that’ was the next step, but I guessed hearing someone spell it out loud like that made it feel...more real. And it made me blush like crazy.

"Mm, spring seems perfect, isn’t it?" Arta leaned against me and just started to plan. "Where should we do it?"

Opti jumped off the desk and suddenly sat on my other side, putting his arm around my shoulder. "The ceremony or the reception?"

"Wouldn’t the ceremony be in the Temple?"

"Oh, right. The reception then. How many days would be appropriate?"

I blinked and looked at Opti. "Wait--days?"

"Depends on the guest," Lesta chimed in. "It’ll probably be nice to have a small, intimate one first between close acquaintances," he tapped on his chin in contemplation. "Like...around the lake and the garden."

"Oh! That’s a good idea!"

I caught Arta’s arm and asked her again. "Hey, did you say days?"

But I couldn’t get the answer because then, the room got dimmer and colder, and we started to stand up. A flurry of black feathers swirled in the middle of the room, and a moment later, Natha was there.

And he looked pissed.

Totally, utterly, massively pissed.

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