The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 326: I was told that Mother knows best

Chapter 326: I was told that Mother knows best

"Is it true that something happened with the Goddess?"

She did not reply immediately. The rich green eyes that looked like the heart of the forest stared at me with a scrutinizing gaze. All I could do was stare back at her, waiting, until she replied with a brief "Yes."

My heartbeat stopped for a second, before fluctuating immediately--even though I knew this was just my astral body. "Can you tell m--"

"No," she put her finger across my lips. "That is not your role, my child. Not your tale," she said, eyes bore into the depth of my soul. "Knowing too much is never a good thing, because knowledge outside one’s capacity is nothing but a burden."

"Then who--" I stopped just as soon as I blurted it out, because the answer was just right there at the top of my mind. "The Hero..."

"Hmm...yes, that’s what people call him, isn’t it?" she nodded and took my hands, wrapping them in a blanket of water that started to churn and clean my fingers from dirt. "There’s a reason why he came to this world, just like there’s a reason why you came here."

She cupped my face and stroked my cheek, the green eyes were softening, glimmering like a forest canopy. "Child, fate is like nature; there’s only so much you can do to bend them," she said. "You have your own role, and it’s already such a huge burden as it is."

I blinked slowly as I digested her words, and she only let my face go after I nodded. "Can I help a bit, though?" I asked before her fingers completely left my cheek.

She chuckled and pinched my cheek. "Sure. But let the one with the work do the work."

"Okay."

She gave me a sweet smile and patted my head, and I felt lighter all of a sudden. "Oh, are you sending me back?"

"It’s never a good thing to keep a mortal here for too long," she said, sounding lonely all of a sudden. She turned to look at the cabin, which no longer had a piece of my soul there. "Well, it’s nice to have you here, Valen."

As my body felt lighter and lighter, she caressed my hair and kissed my forehead. "Can I see you again, Mother?" I asked, with a voice that became fainter just like my whole body.

"A child can always see their mother."

That was the last thing I heard before darkness filled my sight for a second and I stumbled out of the gate. I stood there dazedly for a while, blinking my eyes at the sudden shift from a bright, sunlit garden to a dark plaza only illuminated by a few magic stone lanterns.

I staggered a little bit as my head adjusted from the feeling of my astral body to my physical body, and I felt a pair of cold arms catch me securely. "Sweetheart?"

"Oh..." I looked at him in a daze. I didn’t think I was in the garden for long, but...it felt long? By the look on Natha’s face, he didn’t look so worried, so I guessed time was halted while I was there--which made this sensation so worried. Perhaps it was my soul that went for longer instead.

Amarein, who was only one step away, looked at me keenly. "Oh, you met Mother."

"Did you?" Natha raised his brow.

"Yeah," I nodded, holding into his arms as I balanced myself. "Was I gone for long?"

"No, it’s just about two seconds late," Amarein said, looking back at the opening of the Great Tree, which the scribe just sealed again. "Perhaps because you were inside Alzeriya."

I nodded, looking up at the dark canopy. "She said the same thing."

Looking at the plaza, there were people who looked at me inquisitively, including Tiralein who was perking up the moment she heard that I met Mother. But right now, I didn’t want to talk to anyone but Natha.

Before the detail of that letter faded from my mind, I grabbed his hand tightly. "Let’s take a walk."

* *

By walk, I meant fly. We took a path illuminated by moonlight, and he flew me to the top of the cliff where the waterfall came out of the crack. We sat on the edge of the cliff, and the moonlit water below seemed to be a fitting backdrop for the tale I told him, of a couple making love under the moonlight.

It made me blush, not gonna lie, and I could hear Natha chuckle at the story and how I was stuttering a bit while talking about it.

"And yet you’re so bold in bed," he whispered, which prompted me to gift him with a slap on his knee.

His laughter, however, vanished when I came to the part of the dryad perishing after the Queen was born.

I had hesitated about whether or not I needed to tell him about this part, because I didn’t want him to get worried. But I remembered my promise to be truthful, and I didn’t want him to find out later about this from other sources, somehow.

"But don’t worry!" I gripped his hand and told him immediately. "I asked Mother and she said it wouldn’t happen because of the nature of Dryad’s essence and a druid or human’s essence is different."

"Are you sure?" his skepticism was drawn all over his frowning brows. "You still have a dryad blood."

"One-eighth of it," I shrugged. "I mean...if we can’t believe a Deity’s words, who is there to believe?"

"Hmm..."

I could sense that Natha was still reluctant about this whole thing. His grip on my waist was just getting tighter and tighter, as if reflecting his intention of never letting me go--especially to a place he couldn’t follow.

And I understood it. Just as I told the Goddess earlier, I too, was scared. I didn’t want to lose my life, and I didn’t want to lose Natha even more. His reluctance came from love, just like my willingness to go through.

"You know, She did say that I would have to do everything manually," I told him. "The binding, the extracting--things like that. So I will have complete control over it, and I’m sure I’ll know whether or not it would be dangerous to me."

"Will you?"

His skepticism knew no bounds. I would have smacked him if I didn’t feel so guilty about all the recklessness I had done. I leaned into him, and, as he wrapped his arms around me, I tried to assure him again.

"I’m going to study hard, okay?" I made a promise while playing with the cuff of his coat. "I’ll learn how to control my body and my mana to minute details. We’ll only try to do it once I get a passing mark from Amarein."

"And Teacher."

"And D’Ara, okay," I nodded in agreement, bypassing my real teacher, Eruha.

But still, Natha was yet to be satisfied. "And you’ll stop the process if you feel even just a tiny bit in danger," he insisted. "I don’t care if we can only repeat the process in the next month or the next year."

I couldn’t help but chuckle at how aggressively sweet he sounded. "Alright, I promised. Are you satisfied?"

He looked down, and slowly stroked the black pendant. The pulsing of our future child got a bit faster, and I put my fingers above his. "I guess," he finally muttered.

Like I thought; Natha too, just like me, wanted to meet Shwa as soon as possible.

"You know, I’m kind of happy that it is not without risk," I said. Natha frowned and I had to pat his arms to stop him from protesting. "I’m not trying to say that I’m seeking a thrill or anything, but...I learned that pregnancy is never without risk."

"Val..."

"I know, I know--it’s probably wrong of me to think about it like this. I know this is ridiculous, but..." I leaned against his chest and sighed. "I feel like it makes this whole thing feel...real, you know. It is hard to think about it when I don’t have a womb and the development of the fetus will be happening outside of my body. But this...this feels like...like I can validate myself becoming a...a mother...you know?"

Ah...I feel embarrassed now, but also...refreshed? Like something that had been clogging my heart got released. I took a deep breath, which felt lighter and sweeter somehow--it was just in my mind, I know, but it was sweet nonetheless.

And it felt sweeter when Natha caressed my head gently. "It is real," he said, pressing his lips on my temple and his hand over the black pendant. "You can feel it, can’t you?"

The beating of our child’s soul. Not a God, not a Creator, not an Unchallenged Power. Just a child, our future child who seemed to be as excited as we were about meeting us.

"Yeah," I closed my eyes, feeling the beating on my chest and the one against my back. "It’s beautiful. This whole thing is beautiful. So I don’t want you to say we can’t do it just because of a risk."

Natha gripped the pendant and pressed his lips harder on my temple. "Alright, we’ll do this."

Finally, I could hear his firm agreement, which we sealed with a sweet kiss under the moonlight.

Afterward, while looking at the pair of my own moonlight, I asked with a grin. "So, what do you think about looking for that spot before coming home?"