The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 289: Your child is the puzzle piece compeleting your heart

Chapter 289: Your child is the puzzle piece compeleting your heart

"I’m back!"

One peaceful afternoon, the door to the research room’s lounge area slammed open. Zia, still clad in a traveling cloak, appeared with a bright face and loud greeting.

"Your one and only mighty succubus is back!"

"You can leave the ’mighty’ part," Izzi muttered, and a traveling cloak hit him in the face.

I spread my arms and Zia jumped to hug me while laughing. It had been almost three weeks since we saw each other, and it was really good to finally reunite. Seeing her look healthy and safe put my heart at ease. My family is complete now; it felt like that.

And talking about family, a little gecko showed up above Zia’s head, and jumped onto my shoulder right away, slapping me with its tail. "Long time no see, Ignis."

The Salamander didn’t say anything, but it curled up in my shoulder, tail wrapped around my neck, and that was as warm as it could be.

"You look good," I patted her curl, and she looked up with a grin.

"It’s nice to see you again," she laughed and pulled away from me, plopping herself on the pile of pillows I was using. "And I finally punched that brother of mine!"

I watched Zia pump her arm with a raised brow, while Izzi grumbled with a cloak crumpling on his lap. "I know this girl is prone to violence."

This time, his face was rewarded with a fluffy pillow. Ignoring the elf’s grumble, Zia continued energetically. "I can’t do that before no matter how annoyed I am, since punching the Lord is punishable by law," she said, smirking deeply as the purple eyes gleamed. "But he’s not the Lord anymore, so I punched him once before I left that place."

Well, Zir’Kal was indeed irritating, and as long as the punishment I gave him was still in effect, it would mean he hadn’t changed at all. Zia already told me a lot of hurtful things the incubus said, as well as all the mockery about Zia’s dream of finding her one true love. That punch must have decades of resentment in it, and personally, the incubus deserved it.

"So where is he now?" I asked curiously.

"Well...he wasn’t making any crime worthy of jail time, so we can’t put him in prison," Zia said. "But we argued about him angering Lord Uncle, and the Council decided he would be exiled to the countryside and received a house arrest."

"I see..."

"Personally, I feel like it’s just a waste of taxpayer money to feed him in that mansion, but..." she pursed her lips in disappointment. "I guess Sister Aleena didn’t want her reign to be filled with her family’s blood."

I could see that. Personally, I didn’t like it when the fight for the throne had to be done by shedding siblings’ blood. It only birthed a vicious cycle where another sibling might think it was okay to kill the current ruler so they could reign. It would just keep repeating until only one last person was standing on a bloody throne.

Especially for the realm of Lust, with the previous Lord’s many wives and children. If infighting began from dissatisfaction, it would be chaotic from too many factions emerging. Conversely, should they unite instead, the realm of Lust might be able to rise again. At least to the point where they didn’t have to rely on the realm of greed’s--and Natha’s--money for sustenance.

And that was why Natha sent Zia back; to support Aleena and unite the other children.

"But...wouldn’t they want you to stay?" I asked curiously. As someone pivotal in this coup, and the glue to the siblings, Zia’s presence must be imperative.

"Well, they did want me to stay," Zia fixed her posture slightly while receiving the warm tea that the imps prepared. "But I don’t want to," she pursed her lips. It was clear from that expression alone that she was still salty about the mockery she received before. "I have better friends here, and Lord Uncle also said I might overshadow Sister Aleena if I stayed there too long. People might think I want to be the Lord--blergh."

Ah...make sense. If they were talking about bloodline, Zia had the purest one. Unlike Aleena, Zia’s mother was the first wife of the previous Lord, so her claim to the Lord’s position was stronger.

But I had known Zia long enough to know she didn’t want to be a Lord at all. She just wants to write stories and save a lot of money to roam around the world and find her true love. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Well, I’m glad you came back here," I told her, sincerely, from the depth of my heart. She was my best friend and my sister--cousin, technically, once I legally married to Natha. "I’ve missed you."

She pressed her lips and hugged me again, giggling. Our reunion turned out to be as nice as I imagined, until the Salamander threw me a question. "Valen, where is little Jade? I don’t feel the bird anywhere."

"Huh? You’re right," Zia looked around. "The little bird never missed the tea-time jellies before."

"Oh...that’s..." the moment they mentioned Jade, my heart sank. "Jade is...sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Zia tilted her head, reaching out to stroke my cheek. "Then why do you look sad?"

"I’m not sad, just..." I let out a sigh, pinching the hem of my sleeve. "It’s been five days, and Jade hasn’t woke up yet."

Zia’s eyes widened, and her hands retreated from my cheek. "Jade is sleeping for five days? Just like that?"

"What happened?" Ignis asked, raising its body and staring at me with rapt attention.

With another sigh, I started to tell them about the little bird. Starting from the ’secret’ that the little bird made with D’Ara, to the last time I fed it purified mana.

"Jade did tell me it would take longer this time, but...I thought it’d be just one or two days, you know," I bit my lower lip, recalling how at ease I was at first; how excited I was at the prospect of Jade’s evolution.

I had placed the condensed ball of mana inside Jade’s room, in the cradle of vines and woods. The last time Jade went through this growth spurt, it took the bird one whole night. That was why I thought this time, it would take twice as long--thrice, at most. I wasn’t worried during the first day, or even the second day. When the third day came, I was a bit concerned, but then the fourth day rolled by, and then the fifth, and Jade was still inside the cocoon of the mana ball.

I was confused, and I started to get scared.

What if there was something wrong? It wasn’t like I had a professional elemental bird expert to guide me. Not to mention, Jade was a special case, being bound to me since birth. Its growth rate was already different from normal elemental birds, so even consulting the books did not yield anything.

"I have no idea when Jade will wake up," I said. "I don’t even know if Jade will wake up."

"You’re being pessimistic again," Ignis slapped my shoulder with its flaming tail as if scolding me, the bright blue eyes glowing rather harshly.

"I see," Zia nodded, and casually added. "So you’re lonely."

Why was that your conclusion? I rolled my eyes, but...I couldn’t totally refute that. I had no idea about loneliness, but I felt empty. Jade had always been connected to my soul, but in its sleep, that connection was suspended. It wasn’t severed, certainly, just...there was a thick wall between us.

Yeah...it was like there was a hole in my soul, a gaping puzzle piece that couldn’t be found. It messed with my psyche, and I couldn’t help but feel sad each time I climbed the stairs and found out Jade was still unmoving inside the condensed mana ball.

"Hmm...that is confusing," Zia stroked my back in an attempt to cheer me up. "I wonder if Ignis will know something about it."

We looked at the Salamander, who tilted its head in contemplation. "I have to see little Jade first," Ignis replied.

"In that case, let’s visit little birdie. And then, we can visit the wyvern that Jade wanted to show us!" Zia filled our afternoon schedule quickly. "And then we will talk about your wedding."

"Uhh...I don’t know anything about that. You’ll have to ask Arta about it," I said.

"Oh, then we should have dinner together!"

It was fascinating to see how energetic Zia was when she had just come back from a long journey. Apparently, she traveled through land instead of using the inter-realm portal, because Ignis wanted to visit a volcano on the way.

But it was nice. Her youthful energy was infectious, and it lifted my sour mood instantly. I didn’t feel so down anymore with her cheerful voice filling the room. If I recall correctly, succubi had that kind of trait; improving other people’s mood in their vicinity.

"Hey," Izzi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke as Zia pulled me up from the pile of pillows. "Can’t you just ask that vampire progenitor? She’s the one who taught your birdie that, right?"

"...oh!"