The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 355: Look at me trying to fix other’s relationship

Chapter 355: Look at me trying to fix other’s relationship

Let me make this clear; I knew! I knew that the extent of Natha’s wealth wasn’t something that I could ever comprehend. So I had readied myself to hear everything in the Demon Realm belonged to him.

But still...not everything in this world could be bought by money.

"How? He’s not a native. There’s no way he could be the owner of the land--this house looked like they had been here for a long time!"

Yes. You couldn’t buy something that wasn’t on the market. And I didn’t think someone who owned the land and the real estate in such a location would just sell them to a person who wasn’t even native to the realm.

Eruha curled his lips and replied simply. "Gambling."

"...what?!"

"He won it through a gamble with the previous owner," Eruha repeated, as if it wasn’t clear enough the last time.

That wasn’t why I was shocked.

"Is that person dumb?" I was so dumbfounded that I even forgot to filter my words. "Gambling with a Nightmare? And Natha of all people?!"

Someone who could read other’s thoughts? That was basically giving him free money!

"Young Master," Eruha spoke calmly--so calm that I became self-aware and cleared my throat in embarrassment.

"Ahem--yes?"

He lowered his voice, and there was a gleam in his eyes. "No one knew about His Lordship’s ability but you and his trusted vassals."

I clasped my mouth then--oh, how stupid! Of course, no one knew! He didn’t even like the ability in the first place, but it was also his ace card. How stupid of me.

"I see!" I suddenly gained an epiphany.

Was this also how he gained a lot of capital for his initial investment? Through gambling? Sure, he had his family’s trust fund, but he was also developing so fast, which meant he poured a lot of money into the industry at the start. If he got additional capital through gambling, however, that would be understandable.

"How sly! How wicked!" I whispered sharply, but my lips couldn’t stop grinning. "But it’s fine since he’s my future husband!"

I could hear Eruha’s slight chuckle, although it was already gone when I looked at him again. Hmm...this meant that Eruha was also a member of these trusted vassals. I bet the other ones were the siblings and probably...Angwi, if I had to guess.

I looked at the residential area again--we were passing by at a slower speed now, so I could observe this elite housing complex better. The place was nice and beautiful anyway, so it was pleasing to look at, even if I pushed aside the luxury--which made the whole gambling thing more confusing. "How could that person gamble the whole lot?"

"Oh, they didn’t," Eruha smirked. "It’s bit by bit--you know how a gambler would think they’d win it back the next time so they kept challenging with even bigger wager?"

Oh...the evil circle of gambling addiction. "Phew--" I shook my head and made a declaration. "I shall never gamble!"

"It’s fun sometimes, you can try it, Young Master," surprisingly, Eruha didn’t prevent me from such activity. "But only do it with limited funds. Just treat it like using your allowance, but never, ever, touch the capital."

"...okay?"

I didn’t think I had enough wit to just throw allowance money around. I mean...there were so many things I could buy with that many instead--like foods, and snacks, and...was it because I didn’t have any afternoon snacks these days? I kept thinking about them. Eruha wasn’t like other vampires who were obsessed with food, so we didn’t even stop for a tea break.

Hmm...was it because he could just indulge himself with his Eternal’s blood?

Oh, talking about these two...

"Eruha," I glanced at the red eyes that had been staring at a particular spot--or rather, a particular house since earlier.

"Yes?"

"Do you have one?" I asked carefully. "A house, here."

"...Yes," he replied in a quieter tone.

Ah--just hearing that defeated tone told me that he still couldn’t convince Lesta to live together outside the Castle. I had always assumed that Eruha would be the one who didn’t really care about this kind of thing, but...turned out, it was Lesta who didn’t see the need for them to stay more like a couple.

Oh, but then, now that I thought about it, Eruha was the one who had been silently courting Lesta for decades, so...

"Have you talked it out more with him?"

"Hmm..." Eruha leaned his head back, eyes still focused on what I assumed to be the house he had purchased for him and Lesta. "It’s rather a hard topic," he said with an underlying sigh. "We always ended up...bickering."

Well, they were both stubborn, headstrong people after all. They used to tip-toe around each other before, so it seemed like they clashed a lot now that they become more straightforward with each other.

"Why don’t you try to talk about it, but not only with Lesta," I decided to offer him some advice. Not because I had more experience, but because I happened to know both sides. Eruha tilted his head and looked at me inquisitively. "Umm...talk about it together with Lesta and his sisters," I added. Kind of awkward, you know, giving suggestions to your teacher. "I think...he might be overly cautious since he had a big fight about your sudden relationship before."

"Ah..." thankfully, he seemed to be able to see the problem now. His dimmed eyes brightened slightly, and his lips finally curled. "Hmm...yes, I think that’s worth a try."

Phew. Now I just needed to see the result.

* * *

When the carriage landed in the Castle’s yard, a tall, imposing figure of a blue-skinned demon had waited for me. He even opened the carriage door by himself, offering me a large, cold hand to help me alight from the couch.

"You’re waiting for me?" I took Natha’s hand in surprise.

"Of course," he did not let go of my hand after I stepped out of the carriage, holding it as we walked toward the castle. He glanced at me with a twinkling inside his silver eyes. "I need to seduce you enough to stay for dinner."

"Oh, we’ll have dinner together?" my brows raised and I scooted closer to him, lowering my voice. "What if I’m tempted to stay another night because of it?"

Natha stopped walking and looked at me. "Can’t you?"

Uhh...

"I can’t," I bit my lips against the screaming of my heart. The answer I whispered out biting into my tongue. "We made an oath."

I felt his lips on my forehead, staying for a few seconds before pulling away. "Very well," he said, voice tinged with disappointment, and continued to walk again.

He didn’t let me inside the Castle, however. We walked through the Castle’s corridor into the garden. The soft glow of the garden’s lights scattered around between the bushes, accompanying us toward the twinklings of the lake’s glowing water plants.

"Oh? In the greenhouse?" I asked as Natha led me toward the bridge.

He only replied with a smile, and I followed him excitedly. One thing that the Lair didn’t have was this greenhouse, which I sometimes longed for. It wasn’t just about being surrounded by colorful, vibrant plants, but also the feeling of being isolated from the world that I missed. Like there was only us in the whole world.

My heart, which had been beating fast from excitement, stopped for a second. My joyful step halted as we reached the center of the greenhouse. I gasped.

In front of me, where the couch and the coffee table used to be, was a small dining table with two chairs. Soft glowing lanterns around the table illuminated the area, which was naturally decorated in the greenhouse’s colorful flowers. And then, on the table covered with a beautifully embroidered tablecloth, was a set of candles that brought a scent of spring.

My hand gripped into Natha’s cold fingers as my heartbeat increased. "Nat, this is..."

"We can still have a date without going anywhere, can’t we?" his voice as he replied felt like a caressing silk, and I felt him tuck something between my ear and my hair.

My fingers flew there reflexively, and I could make the shape of a thin branch, and the soft petals attached to it. "The first white blossom of this year," Natha whispered. "It looks good on you."

My throat felt clogged up, and I looked at the dining table in a daze. "Did you..." I parted my lips, recalling his surprised face yesterday when he found out we would have dinner together with the vassals. "Yesterday...did you actually plan for this yesterday?"

He raised his brow slightly, before responding with a soft chuckle, as if he didn’t expect I would find out. My heart fell. "Oh, Nat--I’m so sorry!"

"It’s fine," he caressed my cheek and kissed my regretful head. "We can always do this anytime," he said gracefully, before walking toward one of the chairs and pulling it back. "Now, would you like to take a seat, my sweetheart?"