The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 232: The most wonderful view usually bestowed from afar

Chapter 232: The most wonderful view usually bestowed from afar

"Oh!"

After I was done with the morning breathing exercise at dawn--earlier than usual--I ran to Natha downstairs, who was preparing my morning drink in the pantry. Surprisingly, Ignis was there too, eating some red rocks--fire mana stones--that Natha gave the Salamander for breakfast.

"Nat, Ignis--look at me!" I yelled at them, stopped at the entrance of the pantry, and stretched out my arms.

They looked at me confusedly at first, but instantly, they understood what I wanted them to do. Natha put my glass down and I saw their eyes gleaming slightly as they scanned me.

"You’re healed," Ignis was the first one to comment, and doing it in this dry, nonchalant voice like ’what’s the big deal, ugh’.

But it was fine, because Natha grasped my face and kissed me in response. I could feel his smile through the kiss, and I couldn’t help but giggle after.

Not that the rest of the blockade had hindered me a lot before, but the moment it was all cleared...even I could tell. It was different. It wasn’t just about getting all the blockade removed and my gates cleared; my whole mana system was boosted.

It was as if...now that there was no obstacle, that the mana flow didn’t have to get worried about crashing into the remaining obstructing wall, they moved fast. I looked at the city from the balcony, and just by thinking about it, mana flew to my eyes to help with my sight. Just like that. Feeling the mana flow and moving it was like an instinct now; I didn’t need to think too much and concentrated hard on many parts. It was like having an automated computation chip on my magic system.

Cool. Cool cool cool.

It was also cool that there was no one in the Lord’s quarters but us. Usually, once I woke up, I could hear the servants moving back and forth downstairs to clean the place carefully, prepare our morning drinks, and deliver our breakfast to the dining table.

But now, there was only me, Natha, and my two little companions because the servants were either in their own homes or in the servant’s mess getting ready for the blessing too.

It was nice, it was different. We had never been truly alone before, without anyone around us or in close proximity. It felt more...intimate. I grinned and clung to him. He lifted me to the counter and kissed me again, and then we heard a loud chirp from upstairs.

[Master is awake!]

Jade chirped loudly and dove straight to the pantry’s entrance. I had trained Jade to wait until I came out of the bedroom before greeting me, so it was usually just before we fed the egg or had breakfast; one or two hours later than today.

"Good morning, Jade," I greeted the little bird.

[Oh--good morning!] Jade giggled, following my greeting and landed on my shoulder, nuzzling my cheek. [Master quick today]

"Early," I corrected.

[Master early today!]

"We will go early today, Jade," I told the little bird while hopping off the counter. Taking the drink Natha made for me, I followed the Demon Lord back to our bathroom. "There will be an event in the Temple; a blessing. We will watch, but you can’t be noisy," I said, turning my voice into a whisper. "We will be hush-hush until the banquet, okay?"

The little bird, who literally couldn’t whisper, covered its beak with its colorful wings and nodded obediently. Because he had to be ready faster, Natha got ready first while I played with Jade and Ignis.

The Temple that would be used by Natha, of course, was the main Temple. It was up the hill overlooking the Castle Lord. The Temple itself looked like a dome-shaped building, and on the highest peak, there was a chamber jutted out of the roof. Natha’s first duty today was to light the beacon on that chamber.

The First Beacon was the signal for the cleric to start the procession. The nearest nearby Temples would light the beacon right after the one in the Lord Castle, and it would spread ~aaall the way through the Realm of Greed. I heard other realms had various customs regarding this; like using the sound of a gong or something else. But it was basically the same; the Lord started the first signal and the other Temples spread it.

So Natha would get ready first and depart with the vassals, and I would follow later--Arta and Haikal would chaperone and guard me through the whole thing.

Of course, I wouldn’t exactly go inside the Temple. I would only watch from one of the Temple’s watchtowers. The Temple itself was an open space with altars, pillars, and a dome-shaped roof, so I could still see the procession without being in the site. Lesta and Eruha would take the second shift of accompanying me as Arta and Haikal received their blessing.

By the way, I asked Izzi if he wanted to watch with me, but he barked at me that he didn’t have black robes to be worn to this event. He was rather sensitive, perhaps because he knew he couldn’t go to his hometown when the realm of nature celebrated its new year at the beginning of spring. Even if I wanted to take him, I couldn’t because of his banishment.

Haa...should I talk to Issa about this when I visited the realm of nature in the spring? Yeah, I probably should.

"Can you put on your robes by yourself?" Natha asked before he departed and I rolled my eyes in response.

"I’m not a kid," I pursed my lips and shooed him away. "And Arta is here. Do you think he will let me get out of the door without looking presentable?"

Natha laughed and kissed my forehead before leaving. He was still rather reluctant to leave me behind, but I told him he would hurt Haikal’s pride if he acted like that. With one last laugh, he went away with the other vassals.

I lied though. I had no idea how to fasten this robe with the complicated sash--ugh. Wasn’t this supposed to be humble clothes used for worship? Why couldn’t they just be one layer of plain tunic and be done with it?

But yeah, Arta was here, so I didn’t have to waste the time fighting with these... contraptions. She also helped me arrange my hair in a simple braid because we shouldn’t use accessories anywhere else but the sash; an engagement or wedding token was allowed though. To compensate for that, apparently she woke up at dawn to pick up snow flowers--tiny little white flowers shaped like snowflakes--around the lake and used it to adorn my hair.

Did she know Ignis and Jade literally liked climbing up and down my hair?

But alright, I told my little companions not to mess my hair today. I also gave the flowers a little boost so they would stay fresh for the rest of the day; looking the part of my druid heritage, am I right?

My colorful little bird even gave me some plumes to decorate my sash even further, this aesthetic little kid. And Jade was so obedient today, staying still on my shoulder, hiding beneath my robe, and not chirping even once while we watched the procession.

The one to have the blessing in the main Temple was the resident of the Castle Lord, including the guards and the servants who didn’t come home, and those who lived around the estate. When I arrived at the watchtower, they already filled the Temple, a sea of black-robed demons.

The Realm of Greed was known to be the melting pot of all kinds of demons due to its nature as the center of commerce, so there were lots of different skin colors, body shapes, and sizes. But seeing them all in similar black robes was...fascinating. From my position, the difference in their sashes wasn’t so apparent, so they also almost looked the same.

They were all certainly different, but also the same. Wasn’t that wonderful?

We also arrived just on time as Natha climbed the dome-shaped roof to the top chamber, bearing the torch with a sacred flame that could only be snuffed by magic.

"That flame looked delicious," Ignis muttered on the other side of my shoulder.

"You can’t eat that," I warned the Salamander.

"I know," Ignis clicked its tongue--didn’t know a gecko could click its tongue.

I laughed quietly and focused back on Natha, who had already arrived at the chamber to light the beacon. I used mana in my eyes so I could zoom in on him, and I had to say, seeing him in that black robe made my heart flutter. It matched well with his blue skin and dark horn, and even the loose fabric couldn’t hide his well-built figure.

And that solemn expression--his Lord face, as I called it--as he lit the beacon was just...haa...breathtaking.

Augh--stop having this kind of thought, Val, this is a sacred day!

I smacked my cheeks lightly to make me focus back on the procession itself, even though I had to bite my lips when the silver eyes looked in my direction and Natha smiled at me before coming down. This cheeky Demon Lord!

And then, with Natha kneeling in front of the altar, all the black-robed demons kneeled in waves, starting from the first line behind Natha and moving to the back, as if it was choreographed. I sighed in awe but also in disappointment that I couldn’t join this wonderful procession. But I console myself by thinking that I could only watch the full beauty of this all because I was here, watching from afar.

And I think it was alright, to be able to see things from afar, to see the big picture and try to be objective.

Pfft--try. I literally had the love of my life in that crowd, what the hell am I talking about being objective?

So I went back to watch the procession. The cleric had moved to bless the Lord, and after that, Natha came to the side to precede the whole procession. The demons came one by one to be blessed by the Demon God through the cleric, and after they were done, they moved down the hill to the community banquet venue to wait until everyone was done with the blessing.

"Do you feel anything when you’re getting blessed?" I asked Arta curiously.

She answered with a smile. "You can experience it yourself later, Young Master," she said, and then continued with a teasing grin when I looked at her with confusion. "Once you’re married to His Lordship."

I pressed my lips to practice my poker face. Poker face. Poker face. How dare she make me blush and talk about marriage in this spiritual moment!

Huff. I took a deep breath to control my expression, thinking about one thing that would make me stop getting flustered;

Before thinking about a wedding or marriage, there was a trial I needed to go through first.